Environmental assessment of a Palette Modular Device for gold recovery from PVD

The novel “Palette Modular Device” (PMD) technology, addressing the recovery of wastes from Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD) maintenance, is evaluated according to a Life Cycle Assessent (LCA) approach. The PMD recovery technology was recently developed with the aim of an easier and more sustainable separation of the film layers used in PVD, with a particular emphasis on multi-material film productions, frequently adopted in the electronic industry. The PMD is briefly presented in the paper, along with three implementations for industrial purposes. Each implementation adopts a different light solvent for the metal recovery like acetone and formic acid. The usage of light solvents is a peculiar feature enabled by the system considered, as an alternative to traditional approaches. The LCA starts with the objectives and prosecutes with inventories of all material and energy flows for each different scenario considered. Additionally, a global impact assessment is provided in a specific section, in order to enable a quantitative comparison of the potential effects on the environment in every scenario. The results of this study allow the industrial designer to perform an overall environmental evaluation of the three strategies proposed and to compare the performances of the novel technology. The research, furthermore, highlights some critical points in the adoption of the PMD and suggests how to improve the implementation of this recovery process.     

Synergies and trade‐offs in achieving global biodiversity targets

After their failure to achieve a significant reduction in the global rate of biodiversity loss by 2010, world governments adopted 20 new ambitious Aichi biodiversity targets to be met by 2020. Efforts to achieve one particular target can contribute to achieving others, but different targets may sometimes require conflicting solutions. Consequently, lack of strategic thinking might result, once again, in a failure to achieve global commitments to biodiversity conservation. We illustrate this dilemma by focusing on Aichi Target 11. This target requires an expansion of terrestrial protected area coverage, which could also contribute to reducing the loss of natural habitats (Target 5), reducing human‐induced species decline and extinction (Target 12), and maintaining global carbon stocks (Target 15). We considered the potential impact of expanding protected areas to mitigate global deforestation and the consequences for the distribution of suitable habitat for >10,000 species of forest vertebrates (amphibians, birds, and mammals). We first identified places where deforestation might have the highest impact on remaining forests and then identified places where deforestation might have the highest impact on forest vertebrates (considering aggregate suitable habitat for species). Expanding protected areas toward locations with the highest deforestation rates (Target 5) or the highest potential loss of aggregate species’ suitable habitat (Target 12) resulted in partially different protected area network configurations (overlapping with each other by about 73%). Moreover, the latter approach contributed to safeguarding about 30% more global carbon stocks than the former. Further investigation of synergies and trade‐offs between targets would shed light on these and other complex interactions, such as the interaction between reducing overexploitation of natural resources (Targets 6, 7), controlling invasive alien species (Target 9), and preventing extinctions of native species (Target 12). Synergies between targets must be identified and secured soon and trade‐offs must be minimized before the options for co‐benefits are reduced by human pressures.     

TENORM employed as inert material for house building: a model for evaluating the radon activity enhancement

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Radon exhalation from soil and ores is among the most dangerous risks for the public health care. The impact becomes even more powerful when...     

The legacy of Bhopal: The impact over the last 20 years and future direction

Chemical process safety was not a major public concern prior to 1984. As far as chemical hazards were concerned, public fears focused on disease (cancer) and environmental degradation. Even a series of major process incident tragedies did not translate into widespread public concerns about major incidents in chemical plants that might disastrously affect the public. This situation changed completely after the December 1984 disaster at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal. Not only was the public's confidence in the chemical industry shaken, the chemical industry itself questioned whether its provisions for protection against major incidents were adequate.

The recognition of the need for technical advances and implementation of management systems led to a number of initiatives by various stakeholders throughout the world. Governments and local authorities throughout the world initiated regulatory regimes. Has all that has resulted from the legacy of Bhopal reduced the frequency and severity of incidents? How can we answer this question? As we move into more and more globalization and other complexities what are the challenges we must address? According to the authors, some of these challenges are widespread dissemination and sharing of lessons learned, risk migration because of globalization, changing workforce, and breakthroughs in emerging areas in process safety.