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A catchment and its relative coastal zone are both influenced by climate change, particularly by specific factors as precipitation, temperature and wind. In the Mediterranean predicted changes are expected to be superimposed over long-term alterations caused by both natural and anthropogenic pressures (IPCC, 2001). Therefore, climate modification will have an impact on the Po catchment and the Northern Adriatic Coastal system, affecting water resources, ecosystems, agriculture and food security, human settlements, financial services and human health. Climate pressure has the potential to exacerbate already existing problems (i.e. eutrophication, heavy metal pollution, subsidence). The connections between Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) and Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM), already studied and analysed in the EUROCAT project, have been re-analysed and the tools (models) used for the Po catchment study have been modified in relation to the climate change. In particular, this research activity aims to estimate the nutrient flux changes (using the MONERIS model) in the Po basin under possible climate change impacts. These preliminary studies have been done in order to understand and quantify direct and indirect relationships between climate change and estimated nutrient fluxes taking into consideration the specific pathways of the MONERIS model

This work numerically analyzes an innovative process layout considering a torrefaction processes followed by chemical looping combustion of biomass waste, solar hydrogen, and carbon methanation. System performances were evaluated by considering several agro-industrial residues (i.e., sugar beet pulp from sugar production, grape marc from winemaking and olive pits from olive oil production) as fuels, CuO supported on zirconia as oxygen carrier, and Ni supported on alumina as methanation catalyst. The torrefaction pre-treatment was proposed for upgrading the properties, namely heating values, moisture content as well as hydrophobicity, and storability, of the selected biomasses. To this aim, experimental runs were performed at 300 °C and 30 min in a lab-scale fixed bed reactor under an inert atmosphere of nitrogen. The study was complemented with an extensive investigation on fuel properties (i.e., ultimate analysis, proximate analysis, calorific values determination) of both the untreated and the torrefied samples, which provides useful input data for modelling their conversion processes. By considering that only electric energy from renewable sources is used, the capability of the proposed process to be used as an energy storage system was eventually assessed.

We present the preliminary results of a~230 m deep borehole drilled in the eastern part of the Paganica-San Demetrio-Castelnuovo Basin (PSC) (L'Aquila, central Italy), at the top of the Castelnuovo hill within the Valle Daria paleosurface. The PSC is a NW-SE trending graben bordered by active normal faults and filled by Plio-Quaternary deposits. The oldest ones, largely outcropping in the Valle Daria area, pertain to the San Demetrio-Colle Cantaro Synthem and are composed by several formations, laterally interfingered each other, representing different depositional environments of the Paleolake San Nicandro. The deep lacustrine facies (San Nicandro Fm.-SNF) is formed by laminated to massive whitish calcareous silts, bearing an endemic ostracod assemblage mainly composed by Caspiocypris ssp., allowing to ascribe the SNF to a late Piacenzian-Gelasian age. The outcropping part of the SNF, usually less than 50 m thick, shows a normal magnetic polarity in the basal 10 m, passing upwards to a reverse polarity. In addition, in the upper portion of the SNF, close to Castelnuovo village, three blackish tephra layers are present. Starting from these premises, the Castelnuovo deep borehole (CN1) was realized to investigate, in a palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic perspective, the early sedimentary infilling of the PSC and the evolution of the lacustrine system. The borehole reached a depth of 229.30 m b.g.l., drilling a succession mainly composed by cyclic alternations of fine-grained laminated and massive sediments. The cyclic variations of different parameters among which the CaCO3 content, the granulometry, the sediment colour and the magnetic susceptibility testify that sedimentation was controlled by orbital and climatic oscillations. In detail, the upper part of the well-log (<60 m), partly matching the outcropping succession, is characterized by the typical features of the SNF, consisting of a cyclic alternation of white calcareous silts and light grey clayey-silts couplets, often separated by a thin oxidized silty-sandy layer. In this interval, the CaCO3 content cyclically ranges between 50% and 90%, mostly occurring as lacustrine endogenic calcite. Between 60 and 115 m, clayey levels become more abundant and thicker and organic-rich clay levels appear, whereas minima CaCO3 contents are periodically recorded, around 25%. From 115 to 150 m, massive over-consolidated organic-rich clays are predominant, while calcareous silty levels become occasional and thin. From 150 to 190 m the sequence is formed by alternations of clayey-silts and whitish calcareous silts, while down to 220 m it is composed by alternations of clay and clayey-gravels, with coarser sediments becoming more and more frequent. Below 220 m, fine grain deposits almost disappear, passing to coarse calcareous breccias with rare clayey-silty layers. Several tephra layers are present between 25-30 m, 55-75 m, 100-105 m and 165-170 m. Ongoing analyses, consisting in a multidisciplinary approach that integrates sedimentology, micropaleontology, palynology, tephrochronology, geochemistry and magnetostratigraphy, will constrain the onset and subsequent evolution of the San Nicandro lacustrine system, unraveling the late Pliocene-early Pleistocene climatic variations in the central Mediterranean area and bringing new insights on the post-orogenic evolution of the central Apennines.

A new concept of a system for Combined Heat and Power generation is presented. The concept is based on hybrid use of two renewable energy sources, direct solar (thermodynamic solar) and biomass (indirect solar energy). Biomass combustion is conducted using a fluidized bed combustor. A second source of energy, given by the direct irradiation of the bed with a concentrated solar radiation, is integrated in the same system, using the fluidized bed as solar receiver. A Stirling engine converts heat into mechanical power. A Scheffler type mirror is adopted to allow irradiation of the system in a fixed focal point. Advantages of the proposed solution are illustrated and some preliminary results on the performance of the system, obtained with a simple model, are presented. The principal improvements with respect to existing systems of similar size and primary energy source are illustrated. The most important are the enhanced heat transfer processes that are realized with the help of the fluidized bed, and the possibility of continuous cogeneration during the day. Different working conditions are considered to estimate the contribution given by the burning of fuel, in presence as well as in absence of sun irradiation (as during the night). The distribution of energy shares among the different flux contributes is reported versus the amount of biomass burned per unit time. The results clearly demonstrate the advantage of coupling, in the same system, two sources for heat generation, thus maintaining the option of producing electricity without the supply of biomass fuel.

The city is the man-made structure with the largest consumption of energy. To achieve more sustainable levels of resource's use and to reduce its environmental impact, it needs to transform its way of working. For this purpose, it is necessary to act on the urban structure by ensuring that the resources necessary for its running, and for the same functional level, are less and less. To achieve the outcome we can act on the existing urban structure, improving the functioning, or on that to be planned ones, if an action of urban transformation is expected. In the latter case, it is necessary to build a plan containing elements of sustainability that, once implemented, will enable the direct achievement of the default aims. The paper wants to deepen the measurement of the effects of plans aiming to create urban areas with neutral consumption or Near Zero Neighborhoods (NZN). It is appropriate, in this regard, to define the most appropriate planning level to apply these innovative procedures. Even if the spatial dimension to be used may vary from case to case, it is possible to assume the neighbourhood/urban sector scale as the best scale, thanks to its basic features, namely the limited extension and the immediate possibility to transform the indications of plan in physical and functional elements.

In this paper a review of some improvements is proposed for trawlers propulsion systems. Basically, fishing activity is characterized by two different operative conditions: sailing and trawling. The technical solutions herein proposed can be adopted in new or in existing vessels. The propulsion system efficiency is mainly influenced by propeller and main engine efficiency. Engine and propeller must be coordinated through the reduction gear in such a way that optimum conditions are reached both for sailing and trawling phases. Typically, a free fixed pitch propeller is used for propulsion system in Italian fishing vessels. For a given propeller thrust and operating condition, a two-speed reduction gear box can be adopted to perform each fishing phase without overloading the main engine and saving fuel. Bollard pull tests demonstrated that using a ducted propeller, thrust is increased up to 25%, if compared with a conventional propeller with same diameter and pitch. Main engine efficiency can be improved using a new hybrid diesel-electric propulsion system. In the propulsion system herein proposed, the overall power required by the vessel can be subdivided in multiple power units, each one obtained coupling a diesel engine with a permanent magnet brushless electric generator, while the propeller is coupled with an electric motor. Through an electronic management system, it is possible to maintain power units at different operating points and guarantee the minimum overall fuel consumption. Tests demonstrated a fuel saving up to 15%. One characteristic of this abovementioned improvements is that they could be applied contemporary in the same fishing vessel, adding each benefit in propulsion system efficiency.

Responses to recent climatic changes in the sediment of subarctic Lake Saanajärvi in northwestern Finnish Lapland are studied by comparison of various biological and sedimentological proxies with the 200-year long climate record, specifically reconstructed for the site using a data-set of European-wide meteorological data. The multi-proxy evidence of simultaneously changing diatom, Cladocera, and chrysophyte assemblages along with the increased rates of organic matter accumulation and pigment concentrations suggest that the lake has undergone a distinct typological change starting from the turn of the 20th century. This change, indicating an increase in lake productivity, parallels a pronounced rise in the meteorologically reconstructed mean annual and summer temperatures in the region between ca. 1850 and 1930's. We postulate that, during the Little Ice Age, the lake was not, or was only weakly, thermally stratified during summer, whereas the subsequent increase in air and hence epilimnetic water temperatures resulted in the development of the present summer stratification. The increased thermal stability of the lake created more suitable conditions for the growth of phyto- and zooplankton and changed the overall primary production from benthos to plankton. Mineral magnetic and carbonaceous particle records suggest long-distance pollution, particularly since the 1920's, yet the observed changes in lake biota and productivity can hardly be explained by this very minor background pollution; the 20th century species configurations are typical of neutral waters and do not indicate any response to pollution.

Simecosag Project Results

FECUNDUS was a research project that focused on the co-gasification of coal, biomass and selected wastes with integrated CO2 capture and syngas cleaning. The project consortium included height beneficiaries from Italy, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, Czech Republic and Austria. Seven work-packages were foreseen dealing with management, dissemination, tailoring gasification schemes for integration with CO2 separation, development of materials for gas cleaning, char upgrading, and CO2 separation. Upon project completion, all tasks were executed and all deliverables produced. Experimental campaigns at different scales proved that both schemes, i.e. entrained flow and fluidized bed, envisaged for co-gasification are feasible under certain conditions. They are effective in order to produce a syngas to be processed for pre-combustion CO2 capture with the studied techniques. Full scale campaigns of co-gasification were successfully carried out. An economic assessment of gasification coupled with CO2 separation was executed on the basis of performances obtained from the experimental tasks. Other innovative outcomes include the development and test of new materials for the process, the integration of gasification with carbon separation for the FB option and the study the flexibility with respect to different feedstock.