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.     

Environmental assessment of propionic acid produced in an agricultural biomass-based biorefinery system

This paper presents an environmental system study of the production of propionic acid in a biorefinery system based on agricultural by-products. Here, propionic acid is produced by fermentation of glycerol, a by-product from biodiesel production, as carbon source and potato juice, a by-product from starch production, as nitrogen source. Biomass-based propionic acid leads to a greenhouse gas reduction of 60% compared to propionic acid from fossil sources. However, the primary energy input is about twice as high for the biomass-based propionic acid. The choice of input energy and the efficiency of the process, as well as the technology applied, have high impacts on the environmental performance of the biorefinery concept. There is a potential for increased integration both on the input of substrates and the output of end products of the biorefinery system, which will further improve its environmental performance.     

Integrated environmental assessment of biodiesel production from soybean in Brazil

This paper presents the results of an environmental impact assessment of biodiesel production from soybean in Brazil. In order to achieve this objective, environmental impact indicators provided by Emergy Accounting (EA), Embodied Energy Analysis (EEA) and Material Flow Accounting (MFA) were used. The results showed that for one liter of biodiesel 8.8 kg of topsoil are lost in erosion, besides the cost of 0.2 kg of fertilizers, about 5.2 m² of crop area, 7.33 kg of abiotic materials, 9.0 tons of water and 0.66 kg of air and about 0.86 kg of CO₂ were released. About 0.27 kg of crude oil equivalent is required as inputs to produce one liter of biodiesel, which means an energy return of 2.48 J of biodiesel per Joule of fossil fuel invested. The transformity of biodiesel (3.90E + 05 seJ J^?1) is higher than those calculated for fossil fuels as other biofuels, indicating a higher demand for direct and indirect environmental support. Similarly, the biodiesel emergy yield ratio (1.62) indicates that a very low net emergy is delivered to consumers, compared to alternatives. Obtained results show that when crop production and industrial conversion to fuel are supported by fossil fuels in the form of chemicals, goods, and process energy, the fraction of fuel that can actually be considered renewable is very low (around 31%).     

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.     

生命周期视角下废弃餐饮油脂炼制生物柴油的环境效益分析

废弃餐饮油脂的资源化利用是关乎公众健康和环境保护的重要举措.目前我国废弃餐饮油脂炼制生物柴油的环境效益尚不明晰、国家政策模糊,相关产业发展滞缓.本研究以国内废弃餐饮油脂炼制生物柴油的典型企业为例,利用GaBi软件对废弃餐饮油脂的收集、预处理、酯化和运输等过程全生命周期阶段的资源环境影响进行系统核算,评估其环境效益,以期为国家生物柴油行业发展和相关政策制定提供科学依据.研究结果表明:①整个生命周期过程中,酯化阶段的环境影响最大,各指标占比为52.91%～96.05%,其环境影响主要是由燃煤、用电和甲醇消耗引起;②敏感性分析结果显示,燃煤、用电、甲醇消耗和收集距离的变化对整个生命周期环境影响结果有着较大影响;③废弃餐饮油脂炼制的生物柴油生命周期化石能源消耗16406 MJ·t~(-1)、温室气体排放815 kg CO_2 eq·t~(-1),与石化柴油相比,具有较好的节能和温室气体减排效益.     

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).     

不同施肥模式下甘薯乙醇生命周期能效与环境影响分析

采用生命周期分析方法,以1 000 L甘薯乙醇为单位功能单元,将甘薯乙醇生产体系分成作物种植、原料运输和乙醇转换等3个单元,对其生命周期能耗与环境排放进行清单分析和影响评价,比较习惯施肥与测土配方施肥下甘薯乙醇生命周期9类环境影响潜力的差异。结果表明：两种施肥模式下甘薯乙醇生产体系的生命周期能源效率分别为1.41和1.43。习惯施肥模式下甘薯乙醇生命周期主要环境影响类型包括人体毒性、富营养化、酸化、淡水生态毒性、能耗和全球变暖,其环境影响潜力分别相当于2000年世界人均影响潜力的40%、40%、31%、29%、25%和20%。测土配方施肥降低了化学氮肥和磷肥使用量,提高了肥料利用效率和甘薯单产,使富营养化、淡水生态毒性、酸化和全球变暖潜力分别降低了31%、15%、9%和7%。可见,测土配方施肥模式可改善甘薯乙醇生命周期的能源效率并显著缓解其负面环境影响。     

Cleaner production practices in a medium size gold-plated jewelry company in Brazil: when little changes make the difference

The paper reports the experiences of a medium size gold-plated jewelry company, located in São Paulo – Brazil, in order to reduce waste and pollution. Actions taken for this purpose are described, as well as the key factors affecting progress, the changes that have been introduced, their cost-effectiveness and the additional benefits accomplished. A waste minimization project was carried out to obtain environmental and economic benefits. The first cleaner production (CP) interventions targeting the improvement of the company's environmental performance are also described and related to economic benefits. Local scale performance indicators were employed to evidence the economic and the material savings by kilogram of piece produced. Additionally, savings achieved included 86% reduction in volume of degreasing solution and 36% reduction in electricity consumption. The results are complemented with the use of global scale performance indicators (Material intensity, MIs, and Emergy accounting), which look at upstream impacts and evaluate the environmental performance of the system on the biosphere scale, respectively. Material savings (MIs) account for each matter flow to and from a chain of processes from raw material to the final products, and were calculated in order to estimate the changes avoided in material flows and cycles due to the reduced use of inputs by the company. The total emergy of the savings is used as a quantitative measure of the total environmental support to the flows of energy and matter involved in the process, and is calculated to assess the work of nature spared by the reduced use of materials and energy by the company. Emergy values were converted to currency. Global scale performance indicators have shown that little changes within the company reduce upstream impacts and that benefits to the environment are greater than that observed in the companies neighborhood.     

曝气量对颗粒污泥制备生物柴油的影响

以处理葡萄糖废水的好氧颗粒污泥为研究对象,考察了不同曝气量对颗粒污泥的菌群结构以及后续制备生物柴油的影响.研究结果表明,不同曝气条件下的颗粒污泥形态以及细菌,真菌的菌群结构存在明显差异,曝气量为167L/（min·m³）时,丝状真菌比例最高（8.57%）,且单位生物量的生物柴油产量也最高,达到（48.62 ±1.36）mg/g SS.不同曝气条件下形成不同菌群结构的颗粒污泥,不仅影响了污泥制备生物柴油的产量,其组分也存在明显差异.曝气量为167L/（min·m³）条件下,亚油酸甲酯（C18：2）大幅增加,这可能与该条件下颗粒污泥中出现的酵母菌Dipodascus有关.由此可见,在实际工程中可以通过控制曝气量来提高生物柴油产量和调节其组分结构.     

华北高产粮区夏玉米生命周期环境影响评价

以山东省桓台县夏玉米生产体系为例,应用生命周期评价方法,以单位产量为评价功能单元,把夏玉米生命周期分为原料开采与运输、农资生产与运输、作物种植3个生产阶段,对不同施氮水平下夏玉米生命周期的资源消耗与污染物排放进行了清单分析和影响评价.结果表明,随着施氮量的增加,夏玉米生命周期环境影响呈指数上升趋势,其中,主要影响类型为水资源耗竭,这与农作物需水量较大、水分生产率较低有关.在低氮量条件下,主要污染影响类型是全球变暖,随着施氮量的增加,富营养化上升为主要污染影响类型.提高作物种植阶段水肥利用效率是控制夏玉米生命周期环境影响的关键,它可减少夏玉米对水资源和氮肥的需求,从而直接减少农田氮素损失污染影响,也间接降低了上游生产环节的资源消耗与污染物排放影响,进而有助于降低夏玉米生命周期环境影响总潜力.     

Gold mining in Australia: linking historical trends and environmental and resource sustainability

The mining of gold has been and continues to be an important aspect of Australian industry. Gold mining moved quickly from fossicking and alluvial sources in the 1850's to hard rock mining. This paper presents, arguably for the first time, a detailed historical compilation of Australian gold mining production data. This data is then analysed in the context of sustainability, focussing particularly on mineral resource sustainability and the broader aspects of environmental impacts now commonly reported by some mining companies in annual sustainability performance reports. The key trends which are demonstrated by the data include a long-term decline in ore grade, increased open cut mining, substantive increases in tailings and waste rock production, as well as showing the impact of new technologies and economics on available gold resources. The available environmental data on material and energy inputs to and pollutant emissions from gold production is also presented, showing a clear sensitivity to ore grade. In terms of sustainability, these relationships raise significant issues such as increasing greenhouse footprint per unit gold produced, potential impacts on energy and water consumption, as well as overall gold resource sustainability. The paper presents a unique case study of the resource and environmental sustainability of the Australian gold mining sector with major implications for sustainability policy and reporting.     

河口岛屿农村地区原位与分散生活污水处理模式的环境与经济对比分析

农村污水排放所导致的环境问题日益突出,各地均大力推动污水处理模式的建立与优化.但农村污水处理模式综合效能评价体系匮乏,且多以处理工艺为主,少量考虑了管网收集系统的环境经济影响.另外,河口岛屿因其独特的自然区位,生态更加脆弱敏感,研究其污水处理问题更具有价值与意义.因此,本研究选取河口岛屿为研究对象,以崇明为例,运用生命周期评价和经济性分析理论,对比分析了分散与原位两种生活污水处理模式,包含收集和处理系统两个子系统,以及建设和运行两个阶段的环境影响与经济性.结果表明：原位和分散模式环境影响总值分别为1.75×10^-11和0.66,分散模式更具环境优势;户均成本分别为1.80万元和1.66万元,相比原位模式而言,在相同去除效果条件下,分散模式处理更有利于节约单位投资费用;处理系统为污水处理模式主要环境影响贡献子系统,其运行阶段为主要贡献阶段,且收集系统更有环境无害化和经济优势;海洋生态毒性潜值和人体毒性潜值为主要环境影响类型.     

生物柴油的研究与应用

介绍了生物柴油的特点和性质以及主要的生产方法；综述了生物柴油的国内外研究、生产现状和发展趋势；分析了发展生物柴油对中国石油安伞、国民经济建设、农业产业结构调整和环境保护的作用；并展望了该产业的发展前景。     

Impacts of climate change and CO2 increase on agricultural production and adaptation options for Southern Québec, Canada

This study involves the assessment of the potential impacts of greenhouse gas climate change and changing ambient carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels on crop yields in Quebec, Canada. The methodology involves coupling the transient diagnostics of two Atmosphere-Ocean General Circulation Models, namely the Canadian CGCM1 and the British HadCM3, to the Decision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) 3.5 crop models to simulate current (1961–1990) and future (2040–2069) crop yields and changes. This is done for four different crop species, namely spring wheat, maize, soybean, and potato, and for seven agricultural regions of Southern Quebec. The results of this study focus on the main causative factors influencing crop yields, namely the direct CO₂ fertilization effect, the influence of the increase in growing season temperature, including optimal thermal conditions and acceleration in crop maturation, soil moisture availability, as influenced by precipitation and evapotranspiration, and nitrogen uptake by crops. Our results show that crop yield changes may vary according to climate scenario, crop species, and agricultural region. Consistent with other similar research, it would seem that these multiple causative factors very often seem to cancel each other out and dilute the impacts of climate change on crop yields.     

Environmental impacts of building materials and building services components for commercial buildings in Hong Kong

The growing concerns over the environmental impacts of buildings have led to increasing demands for more environmental friendly buildings and building materials. Hitherto, there are not any comprehensive studies that show the overall environmental impact profiles of building materials and building services components for buildings. This paper intends to bridge this gap by reporting overall lifecycle environmental profiles of buildings as well as the ranking orders of environmental impacts of all the building materials and building services materials and components for commercial buildings. Twenty-five commercial buildings in Hong Kong, which include three Grade A office buildings, four Grade B office buildings, one Grade C office buildings, four retail centers and three hotels, have been selected for our study. Based upon these collected samples, no statistical differences were found in the average lifecycle environmental impacts for different building types despite some minor variations were detected. Subsequently, 10 types of building materials and 10 types of building services components have been identified for their significant lifecycle environmental impacts on commercial buildings. Among all, concrete, reinforcement bar, copper power cables, and copper busbars were ranked to be the four most significant materials or components to the total lifecycle environmental impacts. These should form the major targets for improvements in environmental performance of commercial buildings.     

跨国公司的环境管理现状及影响因素分析

通过对企业的问卷调研及环境监测数据分析,讨论了跨国公司在华投资企业的环境管理现状,认为其环境管理和环境投资水平均略优于其他类型企业,并已经进入过程管理阶段,而企业规模是环境绩效差异的重要原因.运用企业组织理论,分析了影响在华投资企业的环境管理工作的外部因素和内部驱动力,发现企业的环境管理决策主要受到强制性的环境政策影响.     

Studies on crop growth modelling and simulation models in China

There is a close relationship between agricultural production and environmental meteorological conditions. In the study of the correlation between them, the simulation models are paid more attention to the crop growth. In this paper the development of the studies on the crop growth dynamic simulation model in China is briefly reviewed. The relationships between meteorological conditions and each process of crop growth (such as photosynthesis, respiration, accumulation and distribution of assimilation products and growth of leaf area) are studied and simulated basing on the results from field experiments. Preliminary models for rice, wheat, maize and soybean have been developed, and some investigations about modelling methods, procedures and parameters in simulation models are made.     

Resource use and waste management in Vietnam hotel industry

The hotel industry of Vietnam is expanding rapidly with increasing international arrivals and domestic tourists. At the same time, mounting costs of resources and impacts of waste could affect the income, environmental performance and public image of the hotel sector. The hotel industry’s resource management (energy and water) would contribute to the long-term sustainability of the tourism sector. This paper reports the results of a study conducted to assess the resource use and management in the hotel industry in Vietnam. This was obtained by carrying out a survey in 50 hotels on energy and water consumption, and waste generation. The energy and water use, as well as the waste generated in the various hotel categories have been estimated and compared with those in other countries. The current practices in the hotels to address these issues are highlighted, and benchmarks for efficient use of resources in Vietnamese hotels are presented.     

金属盐(SO42-/Cl-)固体酸催化剂在污泥制生物柴油中的应用

研究NaHSO₄·H₂O（布朗斯特酸位为主）和AlCl₃·6H₂O（路易斯酸位为主）两类金属盐固体酸催化剂在污泥制取生物柴油过程中的催化性能.结果表明,经过130℃脱水的NaHSO₄·H₂O较AlCl₃·6H₂O表现更为优异,两种催化剂的最优催化条件为催化剂投加量1.2g/10g冷冻干燥污泥、反应温度130℃、反应时间4h.虽然对粗脂肪的酯化率NaHSO₄·H₂O低于AlCl₃·6H₂O,分别为（63.4±2.6）％和（68.9±1.4）％（对应的生物柴油产率分别为9.73%~10.69％和10.80%~11.39％（污泥干基））,但经过GC-MS分析发现NaHSO₄·H₂O催化的生物柴油纯度更高,品质更好;两种催化剂的重复使用性<3~5次.两种催化剂均可实现低成本、高性能且环境友好的催化污泥制备生物柴油.     

Quantifying energy use, carbon dioxide emission, and other environmental loads from island tourism based on a life cycle assessment approach

The main purpose of industrial ecology is to evaluate and minimize impacts from economic activities of human society. Tourism as one economic activity, results in a full range of environmental impacts, but few applications of industrial ecology to tourism management have previously been discussed. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is used in this research to explore environmental impacts of island tourism, and then the environmental loads per tourist per trip can be found. Penghu Island in Taiwan is taken as an example to examine this new approach. Various environmental loads in transportation, accommodation, and recreation activity sector are all inventoried and calculated here. In summary, per tourist per trip uses 1606 MJ of energy, 607 L of water, and emits 109,034 g of CO₂, 2660 g of CO, 597 g of HC, 70 g of NO_x. In addition, per tourist per trip also discharges 416 L of wastewater, 83.1 g of BOD, and 1.95 g of solid waste. In terms of energy use, the transportation consumes the largest energy (67%); in particular, the airplane sector. Moreover, per Penghu tourist results in more environmental loads than local people; for example, the amount of solid waste discharge per tourist is 1.95 kg per day, while that of per local people is 1.18 kg. Finally, the advantages and limitations of such LCA approach are also discussed.