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Bioplastics are alternatives of conventional petroleum-based plastics. Bioplastics are polymers processed from renewable sources and are biodegradable. This study aims at conducting an environmental impact assessment of the bioprocessing of agricultural wastes into bioplastics compared to petro-plastics using an LCA approach. Bioplastics were produced from potato peels in laboratory. In a biochemical reaction under heating, starch was extracted from peels and glycerin, vinegar and water were added with a range of different ratios, which resulted in producing different samples of bio-based plastics. Nevertheless, the environmental impact of the bioplastics production process was evaluated and compared to petro-plastics. A life cycle analysis of bioplastics produced in laboratory and petro-plastics was conducted. The results are presented in the form of global warming potential, and other environmental impacts including acidification potential, eutrophication potential, freshwater ecotoxicity potential, human toxicity potential, and ozone layer depletion of producing bioplastics are compared to petro-plastics. The results show that the greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, through the different experiments to produce bioplastics, range between 0.354 and 0.623 kg CO2 eq. per kg bioplastic compared to 2.37 kg CO2 eq. per kg polypropylene as a petro-plastic. The results also showed that there are no significant potential effects for the bioplastics produced from potato peels on different environmental impacts in comparison with poly-β-hydroxybutyric acid and polypropylene. Thus, the bioplastics produced from agricultural wastes can be manufactured in industrial scale to reduce the dependence on petroleum-based plastics. This in turn will mitigate GHG emissions and reduce the negative environmental impacts on climate change.

Abstract Commercial potential in developing countries has always received a great attention from international investors, but this is not the case in Waste-to-Energy sector. Waste-to-Energy is bound up with various uncertainties rooted in its long-term nature therefore incorporating risks regarding political matters in developing countries makes it more complex. The present study substantiates the incompatibility of classic valuation methods in risky projects. Consequently, to deal with the riskiness of Waste-to-Energy investment in less developed countries, the combination of binomial tree analysis and Decoupled NPV is proposed. The hybrid approach is deployed to value a Waste-to-Energy project in Iran, and all evidence attest to the robustness of the method. The contribution of this paper can open up new vistas for investing in Waste-to-Energy industry, thus abating the catastrophic effects of landfill gas emissions.

Biogas is a viable alternative for supplying clean and sustainable energy. Despite all manner of policy measures introduced by the Government of India, biogas is not widely used in India. This article tries to identify factors that influence the decision to adopt biogas at household level. We examine a conceptual framework empirically in which a household wants to maximize utility from biogas by using the India Human Development Survey (IHDS) I, which is a nationally representative, multi-topic survey. By applying both maximum likelihood and penalized likelihood methods (Firthlogit) of logistic regression on a sample size of almost 10,384 households, it has been found that wealthy people are more likely to adopt biogas compared to the marginalized section of the society. We recommend more inclusive policy measures for the weaker section of the society to create an enabling environment to make it a self-promoting technology.

This paper develops a strategy for the continuing and improved supply of woodfuels to urban and industrial consumers in Sub-Sahara Africa. It argues that continued use of these fuels is not only a necessity, but is also in the best economic interest of most of the countries in this region. It shows that intensified and more orderly utilization of woodfuels can help to enhance, rather than impinge upon environmental parameters. Some examples are provided that illustrate how such strategies can be put into practice.

This paper presents experimental results of the impact of CO(2) co-feed on a gasification/pyrolysis process for various feedstocks (biomass, coal, and municipal solid waste (MSW)). Various feedstocks were thermo-gravimetrically characterized under various atmospheric conditions and heating rates. A substantial amount of char burn out was identified in the presence of CO(2) via a series of thermo-gravimetric analysis tests, which enabled high conversion of final mass (approximately 99%) to be achieved. The impact of CO(2) co-feed on the volatilization regime during the pyrolysis/gasification process was not apparent at a heating rate of 10-40 degrees C min(-1). However, the impact of CO(2) on the volatilization regime at a fast heating rate (950 degrees C min(-1)) was substantial. For example, significant enhancement in the generation of CO, by a factor of approximately 2, was observed in the presence of CO(2). The generation of major chemical species, such as CH(4) and C(2)H(4), were enhanced, but this was not as apparent as in the case with CO. In addition, introducing CO(2) to the pyrolysis/gasification process enabled the amount of condensable liquid hydrocarbons, such as tar (approximately 30-40%) to be significantly reduced in the presence of CO(2), in that injecting CO(2) into the pyrolysis/gasification process expedites cracking the volatilized chemical species. Experimental work confirmed that biomass and MSW could be feasible and desirable feedstocks for the pyrolysis/gasification process as these feedstocks can be easily treated compared to coal. To extend this understanding to a more practical level, various feedstocks were tested in a tubular reactor and drop tube reactor under various experimental conditions.

Ethanol has been claimed to potentiate greatly the lethality of propoxyphene, although published clinical data suggest only an additive effect. Mice were treated intraperitoneally with various doses of propoxyphene hydrochloride and ethanol. Isobolograms of the data show the combination to be less-than-additive for lethality and loss of motor coordination and, at worst, simply additive for sedation.

Excessive ethanol ingestion causes gastric mucosal damage through the inflammatory and oxidative processes. The present study was aimed to evaluate the protective effect of thalidomide on ethanol-induced gastric mucosal damage in mice. The animals were pretreated with vehicle or thalidomide (30 or 60 mg/kg, orally), and one hour later, the gastric mucosal injury was induced by oral administration of acidified ethanol. The animals were euthanized one hour after ethanol ingestion, and gastric tissues were collected to biochemical analyzes. The gastric mucosal lesions were assessed by macroscopic and histopathological examinations. The results showed that treatment of mice with thalidomide prior to the administration of ethanol dose-dependently reduced the gastric ulcer index. Thalidomide pretreatment significantly reduced the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines [tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6], malondialdehyde (MDA) and myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity. In addition, thalidomide significantly inhibited ethanol-induced nitric oxide (NO) overproduction in gastric tissue. Histological observations showed that ethanol-induced gastric mucosal damage was attenuated by thalidomide pretreatment. It seems that thalidomide as an anti-inflammatory agent may have a protective effect against alcohol-induced mucosal damage by inhibition of neutrophil infiltration and reducing the production of nitric oxide and inflammatory cytokines in gastric tissue.

In recent years, marine auxiliary diesel engine has been widely used to produce electricity in the large ocean-going ship. One of the main technical challenges for ocean-going ship is to reduce pollutant emissions from marine auxiliary diesel engine and to meet the criteria of disposal on ships pollutants of IMO (International Maritime Organization). Different technical changes have been introduced in marine auxiliary diesel engine to apply clean fuels to reduce pollutant emissions. The ultralow sulfur light fuel will be applied in diesel engine for emission reductions in China. This study is aimed to investigate the impact of fuel (ultralow sulfur light fuel) on the combustion characteristic, NOx and green house gas emissions in a marine auxiliary diesel engine, under the 50%-90% engine speeds and the 25%-100% engine torques. The experimental results show that, in the marine auxiliary diesel engine, the cylinder pressure and peak heat release rate increase slightly with the increase of engine torques, while the ignition advances and combustion duration become longer. With the increases of the engine speed and torque, the fuel consumption decreases significantly, while the temperature of the exhaust manifold increases. The NOx emissions increase significantly with the increases of the engine speed and torque. The NO emission increases with the increases of the engine speed and torque, while the NO2 emission decreases. Meanwhile, the ratio of NO2 and NO is about 1:1 when the diesel engine operated in the low speed and load, while the ratio increases significantly with the increases of engine speed and torque, due to the increase of the cylinder temperature in the diffusive combustion mode. Moreover, the CO2 emission increases with the increases of engine speed and torque by the use of ultralow sulfur light fuel.

Abstract This article focuses on the results obtained by the enforcement of a original greenhouse gas emissions policy, issued in recent years in several municipalities in Northern Italy. The Municipality of Reggio Emilia was one of the firsts in Italy to develop and adopt a voluntary building energy-consumption certification method called Ecoabita, aiming to promote energy efficiency in buildings over its jurisdiction. Several reasons make this project innovative: first, the certification method has been processed through and verified by a quality international agency, secondly the procedure is assisting financial-incentive policies both on mandatory (European Directive 2002/91/CE) and voluntary basis (Municipality Protocol Ecoabita), finally it allows to obtain eligible credits for avoided emissions that can be negotiated on the CO2 exchange market. With specific reference to Reggio Emilia case, acknowledged the amount of actions, that are normally scheduled in the municipality throughout a year, it has been evaluated the benefit, in terms of environmental improvement, descended from the protocol, also projecting their trend in future years up to 2020 as well, demonstrating the scheduled interventions are fundamental in sought of the achievement of the Kyoto and Copenhagen commitments. The entire procedure has been developed in accordance to the parameters given by UNFCCC for these kinds of analyses and has been recently confirmed to be one of the most accurate international accounting procedure by a survey developed by the scientific committee of the European Project LIFE-LAKS.