Soy production and certification: the case of Argentinean soy-based biodiesel

With the rising emphasis on biofuels as a potential solution to climate change, this paper asks whether certification schemes, developed to promote sustainable feedstock production, are able to deliver genuine sustainability benefits. The Round Table on Responsible Soy (RTRS) is a certification scheme that aims to promote responsible soy production through the development of principles and criteria. However, can and does this initiative address the negative impacts associated with the intensive production of soy? Taking the example of soy biodiesel produced in Argentina, this paper asks whether the social and environmental impacts of soybean production can be mitigated by the RTRS. It concludes that at present certification schemes are unlikely to be able to address either the institutional challenges associated with their implementation or the detrimental impacts of the additional demand generated by biofuels.     

Emergy,nutrients balance,and economic assessment of soybean production and industrialization in Brazil

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the soybean production and industrial processing stages in Brazil using the emergy accounting methodology and economic cost and revenue estimation in order to assess the environmental and economic inputs to the soybean chain and to evaluate the amount of emergy and nutrients exported to European countries. The main findings of this work were that the agricultural stage uses the highest amount of resources. The emergy exchange ratio shows that farmers are delivering around six times more emergy in the soybean that is being sold than the emergy they are receiving with the money paid for it. Results demonstrate that producing raw soybean and soy meal for international markets makes Brazil lose a great amount of emergy and nutrients. Besides that, soybean production is nowadays providing low profitability to farmers because of low prices for soybean products and high prices for the chemicals used in soybean farming. Therefore, at present conditions, exporting soybean as a commodity results in low profit per unit of area.     

Life Cycle Assessment for biodiesel production under Greek climate conditions

The aim of this paper is to understand and to model the environmental performance of biodiesel produced by various Greek raw materials under current conditions. Three energy crops (rapeseed, sunflower and soybean) have been studied, with regard to their levels of biodiesel productivity. Throughout the entire process, current Greek climatic conditions and cultivation parameters have been taken into account. At the stage of assessment, we conclude that the environmental impacts per crop area indicate that soybean has the lowest environmental impacts. However, by assessing the results per quantity of produced biodiesel, the crop with the minimum environmental impacts is sunflower. This paper shows that environmental benefits from biodiesel have better results, compared to conventional diesel, thus leading to the conclusion that it is feasible to succeed improved environmental performance.     

中国大豆资源的虚拟土贸易及进口依存度分析

论文把大豆、豆粕和豆油及其它大豆加工制成品等统称为大豆资源,而豆粕和豆油是两大最主要的大豆加工制品。受中国耕地资源限制和国际大豆市场的影响,中国大豆产量徘徊不前;而随着饲料业、畜牧业的发展,以及人们对植物油需求的增加,国内对大豆资源的需求不断增加,大豆及其加工制品的进口量也逐年增加。包括大豆资源在内的农产品及其加工制品,均含有一定的虚拟土。根据生产地生产该产品实际所需要的土地资源数量计算,能反映一个国家(或地区)虚拟土贸易的实际状况;而根据需求地生产该产品所需要的土地资源数量计算,可以反映进口国家(或地区)土地资源节约的真实情况。论文首先从理论上研究了大豆资源虚拟土的量化方法,并计算了不同国家大豆资源的虚拟土含量。然后分析了中国2000-2009年大豆资源国际贸易下隐含的虚拟土贸易、耕地资源节约以及进口依存度。研究结果显示:①中国大豆、豆粕和豆油的虚拟土含量分别为0.60、0.50和1.24 hm²/t,而世界平均含量分别为0.43、0.34和0.89 hm²/t;②中国大豆资源的虚拟土实际净进口量由2000年的413.54×10⁴ hm²增加到2009年的1 729.14×10⁴ hm²,2009年从美国、巴西和阿根廷的进口比重分别为44.5%、37.4%和15.4%;③中国耕地资源的实际节约量由2000年的687×10⁴ hm²增加到2009年的2 851×10⁴ hm²。大豆资源虚拟土贸易的进口依存度由42.0%提高到76.1%,2009年中国对美国、巴西和阿根廷的进口依存度分别为36.1%、28.1%和12.4%。     

Assessing the environmental impact of metal production processes

Evaluating both new and existing processes for primary metal production to assess their environmental impacts is often difficult due to the many inputs and outputs involved. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a methodology that can be used for such purposes to identify those parts of the metal production life cycle that have significant environmental impacts. LCA has been used by CSIRO Minerals to assess the “cradle-to-gate” environmental impacts of a number of metal production processes practised either currently or potentially in Australia. The metals considered included copper, nickel, aluminium, lead, zinc, steel, stainless steel and titanium, by both pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical routes in some instances. The environmental profile included greenhouse and acid rain gas emissions, solid waste emissions and gross energy consumption. The results for various metals are compared in this paper. New process technologies for primary metal production can be expected to reduce the environmental impacts of metal production, and estimates of likely reductions for technologies involving stainless steel, titanium and aluminium are also presented in this paper.     

中国大豆压榨企业空间格局及其演变机制

随着中国居民生活水平的不断提高,国内肉蛋奶的消费需求逐年增长,致使作为主要饲料蛋白原料的豆粕需求也不断增加。而豆粕是大豆压榨行业的主要产品,因此,大豆生产、大豆压榨、饲料生产和畜禽养殖组成了一个密切关联的产业系统,大豆原料生产与供给区分布、饲料生产和畜禽养殖业布局又会对大豆压榨行业空间格局的形成产生重要影响。以大豆压榨企业为研究对象,通过产业链视角,运用平均最近邻分析、核密度分析方法,研究了1996-2016年间中国大豆压榨企业的空间格局演变规律与集聚特征,然后构建了条件Logit模型探讨影响中国大豆压榨企业区位选择的主要因素。结果表明：中国大豆压榨企业空间集聚程度较高,自1996年以来,经历了从大豆主产区向沿海港口城市集聚再沿长江、哈大铁路、陇海铁路等交通运输线路扩散的演化特点。各地原料资源禀赋、运费成本、市场规模与潜力、集聚经济以及政府政策都会不同程度地影响中国大豆压榨企业的空间格局,并且不同时期影响大豆压榨企业空间格局的因素显著性及强度都会有所变化。2000-2005年原料资源禀赋、运输成本、豆粕市场规模以及集聚经济发挥着较大作用;2006-2010年间集聚经济和政府政策共同主导了大豆压榨企业的区位决策;2010年以后市场潜力与集聚不经济则表现出更强的作用。     

Production of iturin A homologues under different culture conditions

Iturin A is a cyclic lipopeptide antibiotic and eight different kinds of iturin A have been reported based on its alkyl side chains. As iturin A is a promising biocontrol agent, total production of iturin A was tried to enhance and comparative production of its homologues was investigated by using different nitrogen and carbon sources. When Polypepton S and defatted soybean meal were used, total production as well as the ratio of the iturin A homologues were similar. However, production of iturin A was relatively lower and also the ratio of the iturin A homologues was different when Polypepton was used, where A2 was decreased and A4 was increased. Production ratio of the iturin A homologues was similar for the carbon sources like maltose, mannitol, sucrose and starch but relative production of iturin A2 was much enhanced compared to A3 when lactose or galactose was used. Interestingly production ratio of A4 was increased and A2 and A3 were decreased when no additional carbon source was used, and similar tendency was observed in the homologue ratio with glucose and fructose. Production of iturin A homologue A6 was significantly increased whereas A2 and A3 were decreased when defatted rapeseed cake was used. Utilization of different amino acids did not show significant differences in their production of the iturin A homologues. Oxygen supply found to be the factor affecting the production of iturin A homologues when it was investigated in a varied culture volume size and shaking speed. A2 found to be increased with increased oxygen supply where the production of A3 was affected inversely.     

菜籽粕对水溶液中Pb(Ⅱ)的吸附性能

以菜籽粕为吸附剂去除水溶液中Pb2+,考察了pH值、吸附剂投放量、反应时间对吸附性能的影响,研究了不同温度下菜籽粕对溶液中Pb2+吸附热力学和动力学。当Pb2+溶液浓度为100 mg/L时,吸附剂投放量为4 g/L,pH值3~5.5,吸附时间120 min,Pb2+去除率达到95%以上。铅吸附等温线很好地符合Langmuir等温方程,293 K时饱和吸附量达31.9 mg/g。对吸附热力学参数ΔGθ,ΔHθ,ΔSθ的计算表明,吸附过程属于熵驱动型的吸热自发过程。Pb2+在菜籽粕上动力学吸附符合准二级速率方程,表观吸附活化能Ea=49.6 kJ/mol。结合吸附前后红外光谱(FTIR)分析,Pb2+在菜籽粕上吸附主要发生在蛋白质的酰胺结构、-NH2、-C-S-上,具有化学吸附的显著特征。菜籽粕作为一种廉价的生物质吸附剂,对低浓度Pb2+溶液吸附量大,吸附速度快,具有良好的开发应用前景。     

食用植物油加工VOCs排放特征

获取了菜籽和大豆植物油加工行业VOCs排放系数、成分谱和臭氧生成贡献,并对其全国VOCs排放量进行了计算.结果表明,菜籽油加工过程VOCs排放系数为1.20kg/t菜籽用量和6.32kg/t菜籽油产量,大豆油加工过程VOCs排放系数为0.36kg/t大豆用量和2.35kg/t大豆油产量.菜籽油和大豆油加工排放的VOCs主要来自于有机溶剂挥发.VOCs排放占比最大的物种是正己烷,其次是甲基戊烷（包括3-甲基戊烷和2-甲基戊烷）,再次是甲基环戊烷.植物油加工行业OFP为931.47μg/m³,其中,烷烃贡献最大,占比为61.90%;其次是烯烃和OVOCs,占比分别为19.61%和15.14%,.2019年中国大豆和油菜籽植物油加工VOCs排放量为5.12万t,大豆和油菜籽植物油分别贡献65.4%和34.6%,山东、湖北、江苏、广东、河南、广西、天津、河北、湖南、福建是贡献最大的10个省份,合计占比72.0%.     

Environmental,financial and quality assessment of drinking water processes at Waternet

Waternet (formerly Amsterdam Water Supply) has been seeking a sustainable scenario for producing drinking water and offering services that fulfill the requirements of clients and regulations, and, at the same time, maintains a sound environmental performance while keeping costs as low as possible. Presently, the company is in the process of evaluating alternatives for the treatment of water that cause the least financial and environmental impacts. The quantification of these impacts, for the current conditions, was carried out in earlier investigations. However, until now, the water quality aspect was not yet considered.In order to include this water quality aspect into the financial and environmental assessment, a quality function was constructed created by comparing water quality parameter values for a current and an alternative treatment process. Four qualifications were assigned to the sum of these scores: “Worse”, “Same”, “Better” and “Much better”. The qualifications allowed the comparison of the water quality and the financial and environmental impacts of the selected alternatives using a graphical representation of them.The method was applied focusing on the environmental and financial assessment of six alternative processes for the Loenderveen–Weesperkarspel treatment line, and including the quality aspect, as a third parameter for comparison.     

Measurement of green productivity and its improvement

The measurement framework of the green productivity (GP) of a product system, or process, and its improvement are discussed. Two types of GP indicators are developed to help understand the practical concept and executive approaches of GP, using environmental management tools such as life cycle assessment (LCA) and total cost assessment (TCA). GP index is defined as the ratio of productivity of a system to its environmental impacts. This index is intended for estimating the GP performance of an existing product or process and comparing it with other equivalents. Specifically, the GP index is a measure of the GP performance of a product system throughout its entire life cycle. The “overall” GP index can be divided into a “direct” GP index and an “indirect” GP index which are intended to analyze the GP performances of direct production processes and indirect upstream processes, respectively. For internal managerial decision, GP ratio is developed to select one alternative out of a list of contenders in order to improve the GP performance of an existing system. In addition, GP portfolio is drawn up to check the strengths and weaknesses of alternatives. A case study of a petrochemical company in Korea is provided as an example for illustrating the feasibility of the indicators developed here (GP index and GP ratio) for the measurement of GP and its improvement.     

Cleaner production alternatives: Biomass utilisation options

The increasing price of energy, the security of supply, the reduction of green house gases, and the scarcity of oil and gas urge the use of more and more renewable energy. An important renewable energy source is the biomass which can be applied for heat, electricity, and transportation fuel production. The heat and electricity production are the so called “direct utilisation” alternatives and the transportation fuel production alternatives are the “indirect utilisation” alternatives of biomass energy. If efficient land use is considered, the alternatives can be compared on the basis of the utilisable energy produced from the biomass per hectare. It is shown that the bioethanol production from corn has about 89–99% less energy production capability than that of the direct utilisation alternatives. The cellulosic type bioethanol production technologies, since these partially directly utilise the biomass energy, have better energy utilisation potential, that is about 40–50% of direct alternatives.     

氮磷前体物质对磷酸盐还原系统产气效能的影响

实验用泥取自污水处理厂,经培养驯化为具有磷酸盐还原功能的厌氧活性污泥,通过调整不同磷源(大豆卵磷脂、骨粉、六偏磷酸钠、磷酸氢二钾、次磷酸钠、亚磷酸钠)、氮源(氯化铵、蛋白胨)及氮磷配比,考察磷化氢产气效能及磷酸盐去除率.结果 显示:所选的磷源及氮源均能使磷酸盐还原系统产生磷化氢气体,说明磷酸盐还原系统对各种形态氮磷化合...     

Assessment of sunflower germplasm for phytoremediation of lead-polluted soil and production of seed oil and seed meal for human and animal consumption

Phytoremediation is a valuable technology for mitigating soil contamination in agricultural lands, but phytoremediation without economic revenue is unfeasible for land owners and farmers. The use of crops with high biomass and bioenergy for phytoremediation is a unique strategy to derive supplementary benefits along with remediation activities. Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) is a high-biomass crop that can be used for the phytoremediation of polluted lands with additional advantages (biomass and oil). In this study, 40 germplasms of sunflower were screened in field conditions for phytoremediation with the possibility for oil and meal production. The study was carried out to the physiological maturity stage. All studied germplasms mopped up substantial concentrations of Pb, with maximum amounts in shoot?>?root?>?seed respectively. The phytoextraction efficiency of the germplasm was assessed in terms of the Transfer factor (TF), Metal removal efficiency (MRE) and Metal extraction ratio (MER). Among all assessed criteria, GP.8585 was found to be most appropriate for restoring moderately Pb-contaminated soil accompanied with providing high biomass and high yield production. The Pb content in the oil of GP.8585 was below the Food safety standard of China, with 59.5% oleic acid and 32.1% linoleic acid. Moreover, amino acid analysis in meal illustrated significant differences among essential and non-essential amino acids. Glutamic acid was found in the highest percentage (22.4%), whereas cysteine in the lowest percentage (1.3%). Therefore, its efficient phytoextraction ability and good quality edible oil and meal production makes GP.8585 the most convenient sunflower germplasm for phytoremediation of moderately Pb-contaminated soil, with fringe benefits to farmers and landowners.     

Life cycle assessment of sunflower and rapeseed as energy crops under Chilean conditions

An option for the agriculture and energy sectors in Chile is the cultivation of energy crops, but environmental studies are first needed in the framework of a sustainable national energy policy.In this study, we used a cradle-to-farm gate Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to compare environmental impacts and energy and water demand of rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) and sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) in Chile, as potential oleaginous crops for first-generation biodiesel production. National agricultural data are used for the LCA inventory and process data of international databases are adapted to local conditions. The effect of field N₂O emissions and land use change is evaluated. The results indicate that, compared to sunflower, rapeseed production has a better environmental performance in 9 out of the 11 impact categories evaluated, and lower water consumption. The energy demand of rapeseed is 4.9 GJ/t seed, 30% less than that of sunflower. Mineral fertilizers cause the highest environmental impact in both crops. The analysis of the life cycle of fertilizers indicates that extraction of raw materials and its production are key stages. Attempts to reduce the environmental impact and energy requirement of both crops should be mainly associated with the evaluation of other types of fertilization. In addition, particularly for sunflower, low impact herbicides should be evaluated, seed yield improved and cultivation practices optimized. If the crops are produced on degraded grasslands, the greenhouse gas emissions may be reduced.     

Less bad is not good enough: approaching zero emissions techniques and systems

Radical changes towards sustainable products and a clean and safe system of production have yet to be developed and implemented in all sectors of industry. Technology holds the key to addressing many environmental problems and achieving sustainable patterns of economic growth. In many cases, companies already have the appropriate technological solution. However, the technology may not be in widespread use because of market and systemic failures and cultural barriers. Examples of market failures are the lack of information about cleaner technologies. Examples of systemic failures are weaknesses in linkages among firms, universities, research and development (R&D) institutions, and others involved in developing, supplying and applying technology. Cultural barriers are caused by the differences in the way companies communicate and do business. This makes “zero emissions” a much needed approach. The Journal of Cleaner Production has devoted this special issue to “Zero Emissions Techniques and Systems – ZETS” in the production and the urgent issues surrounding, “How to make sustainable companies become reality”. To document the state of the art in this field and to report progress are main goals of this issue. The objective of the planners of this special issue is to present perspectives, case studies and pedagogic initiatives from, academic, governmental, business, technical and financial sectors, as well as from NGOs from around the world.It is, however, evident that the term “zero emissions” still has different meanings and refers to different strategies and technologies. “Zero Emissions Techniques and Systems” are really a “SYSTEMS” aspect and not a sectoral approach. It develops more and more like a discussion about a mosaic. Some speak of the image they expect to be seen at the end, others speak of the tesserae they have to shape or the cement that fills the gaps between.     

Global environmental consequences of increased biodiesel consumption in Switzerland: consequential life cycle assessment

This study assesses the direct and indirect environmental impacts to be expected if Switzerland should replace one percent of its current diesel consumption with imports of A) soybean methyl ester (SME) from Brazil, or B) palm methyl ester (PME) from Malaysia. In order to take into account possible future consequences, what-if scenarios were developed and assessed by means of a consequential LCA. In contrast to attributional LCA, the consequential approach uses system enlargement to include the marginal products affected by a change of the physical flows in the central life cycle. This means that the LCA considers all inputs and outputs which are linked to biodiesel production and that the product system is subsequently expanded to include the marginal products affected. Both future systems are assessed in comparison with the environmental scores of the fossil equivalent to biodiesel, i.e. diesel low in sulphur. The environmental burdens are measured by means of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), land occupation and various non-aggregated and aggregated environmental impact indicators.In sum, the environmental impacts of an increased SME consumption depend on the environmental scores of the marginal replacement products on the world market, rather than on local production factors. In other words, the marginal products assumed to be affected are most important for the results obtained, i.e. in particular the marginal vegetable oil, fodder cake and land areas. In this study it is SME production increased at the expense of the available soybean oil which shifts the impacts associated with soybean oil production to the production of the marginal vegetable oils on the world market. In this perspective, it is not relevant in which country biodiesel production takes place, but rather which vegetable oil is involved. With respect to PME, the most relevant determining factor for the environmental impacts is the land area affected by the increased cultivation of oil palms. Currently, this expansion displaces primarily peat land and rain forest. This causes GHG emissions which are much higher than the emissions of the fossil reference. All in all, both PME from Malaysia and SME from Brazil cause more environmental impact than allowed by the Swiss tax redemption on agro-biofuels (max. 60% GHG emissions and 125% UBP of the fossil reference).     

Standardized and simplified life-cycle assessment (LCA) as a driver for more sustainable biofuels

The assessment of environmental impacts along the life cycle of biofuels is a complex and resource-demanding task that cannot be afforded by small producers in developing countries. Therefore, certification schemes bear the risk that small and independent producers will be locked out and the market for sustainable biofuels will be dominated by international investors and large-scale plantations. However, many environmental impacts of various production chains of biofuels and feedstocks are already known. This knowledge has been used to create a web-based questionnaire for a “Sustainability Quick Check for Biofuels” (SQCB, http://www.sqcb.org). SQCB reduces the need for user entries to the most relevant and best-known parameters of the biofuel production chain. Based on this user input, a specific inventory is automatically modelled and linked to background data. SQCB then calculates the environmental impact assessment and checks the results against sustainability criteria. Since the results are calculated immediately, key environmental factors can be interactively analyzed. One major goal of the SQCB is to support the market entrance for local biofuel producers, given that strengthening local stakeholders is a key driver for empowering rural communities in development countries.     

The neglected heart of science policy: reconciling supply of and demand for science

The funding of scientific research is almost always justified in terms of the potential for achieving beneficial societal outcomes. In pursuing a particular societal outcome, how can we know if one research portfolio is better than another? In this paper we conceptualize: (1) science in terms of a “supply” of knowledge and information, (2) societal outcomes in terms of a “demand” function that seeks to apply knowledge and information to achieve specific societal goals, and (3) science policy decision-making as a process aimed at “reconciling” the dynamic relationship between “supply” and “demand.” The core of our argument is that “better” science portfolios (that is, portfolios viewed as more likely to advance desired societal outcomes, however defined) would be achieved if science policy decisions reflected knowledge about the supply of science, the demand for science, and the relationship between the two. We provide a general method for pursuing such knowledge, using the specific example of climate change science to illustrate how research on science policy could be organized to support improved decisions about the organization of science itself.     

利用城市污泥生产苏云金杆菌生物农药

用城市污水污泥和经酸水解后的城市污泥作为培养基发酵苏云金杆菌Bacillusthringiensis(B.t),与常规的黄豆粉培养基作比较.检测B.t发酵液的pH值变化,总细胞数及活孢子数以及在发酵48h后,用2龄家蚕作试虫比较3种发酵液的生物毒性.结果表明,用污泥培养的B.t总细胞数及活孢子数略低于黄豆粉培养基生产的B.t,但两者的细菌总数都在同一数量级,差别不显著.用污泥培养B.t,芽孢大量形成109个/mL的时间,比用黄豆粉培养基生产的B.t约提前10h,发酵周期明显缩短.生物毒性实验表明用污泥培养的B.t孢晶混合液比用黄豆粉生产的B.t孢晶混合液毒性高,在相同的稀释倍数下,家蚕的死亡率提高了10%,酸水解污泥毒性略差.