Environmental Optimisation in Fractionating Industrial Wastes Using Contribution Margin Analysis as a Sustainable Development Tool

This paper describes a method of estimating the “true” internal costs of industrial waste, aimed at promoting environmentally friendly waste management. The study employs contribution margin analysis and a model – The Model for Efficient Use of Resources for Optimal Production Economy (EUROPE) – introduced by the author for assigning industrial costs to waste. In a business sense, waste is regarded as having the same basic status as any normal industrial product – the equality principle. Application of the method is suggested to create incentives for environmental improvement and profitability improvement in companies. Although the results of two case studies show the generation of waste to have a substantial negative impact on the final operating income, due to the internal shadow price costs it creates, this is regarded as an unavoidable consequence of the companies' acting in accordance with the principle of sustainable development. Readers should send their comments on this paper to: BhaskarNath@aol.com within 3 months of publication of this issue.     

A two-stage ensemble Kalman filter for smooth data assimilation

The ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) applied to a simple fire propagation model by a nonlinear convection-diffusion-reaction partial differential equation breaks down because the EnKF creates nonphysical ensemble members with large gradients. A modification of the EnKF is proposed by adding a regularization term that penalizes large gradients. The method is implemented by applying the EnKF formulas twice, with the regularization term as another observation. The regularization step is also interpreted as a shrinkage of the prior distribution. Numerical results are given to illustrate success of the new method.     

Mobilization of heavy metals from contaminated paddy soil by EDDS,EDTA, and elemental sulfur

For enhanced phytoextraction, mobilization of heavy metals (HMs) from the soil solid phase to soil pore water is an important process. A pot incubation experiment mimicking field conditions was conducted to investigate the performance of three soil additives in mobilizing HMs from contaminated paddy soil (Gleyi-Stagnic Anthrosol): the [S, S]-isomer of ethylenediamine disuccinate (EDDS) with application rates of 2.3, 4.3, and 11.8 mmol kg⁻¹ of soil, ethylenediamine tetraacetate (EDTA; 1.4, 3.8, and 7.5 mmol kg⁻¹), and elemental sulfur (100, 200, and 400 mmol kg⁻¹). Temporal changes in soil pore water HM and dissolved organic carbon concentrations and pH were monitored for a period of 119 days. EDDS was the most effective additive in mobilizing soil Cu. However, EDDS was only effective during the first 24 to 52 days, and was readily biodegraded with a half-life of 4.1 to 8.7 days. The effectiveness of EDDS decreased at the highest application rate, most probably as a result of depletion of the readily desorbable Cu pool in soil. EDTA increased the concentrations of Cu, Pb, Zn, and Cd in the soil pore water, and remained effective during the whole incubation period due to its persistence. The highest rate of sulfur application led to a decrease in pH to around 4. This increased the pore water HM concentrations, especially those of Zn and Cd. Concentrations of HMs in the soil pore water can be regulated to a large extent by choosing the proper application rate of EDDS, EDTA, or sulfur. Hence, a preliminary work such as our pot experiment in combination with further plant experiments (not included in this study) will provide a good tool to evaluate the applicability of different soil additives for enhanced phytoextraction of a specific soil.