Comparative study on effect of blending,thermal barrier coating (LHR) and injector nozzle geometry on biodiesel-fuelled engines

Increased petroleum prices, increased threat to the environment from exhaust emissions and global warming have generated intense international interest in developing renewable and alternative non-petroleum fuels for internal combustion engines. Evolving suitable technology for addressing energy crisis creates a continued investigation into the search for sustainable and clean-burning renewable fuels. This work investigates suitability of different non-edible-derived biodiesels such as cotton seed oil methyl ester (COME), Honne oil methyl ester (HnOME) and Rubber seed oil methyl ester (RuOME) to four stroke, single cylinder compression ignition (CI) engine. Engine tests were conducted to study the effect of fuel blending, thermal barrier coating (TBC) or Low Heat Rejection (LHR) and injector nozzle geometry on the performance, combustion and emission characteristics of COME, HnOME and RuOME in the modified CI engine. Blends of biodiesels with diesel were varied from 20 to 80% in steps of 20%. Two thermal barrier coatings of partially stabilized zirconium (PSZ) and aluminium oxide (Al₂O₃) were provided on the engine to make it fully adiabatic. Nozzle injectors of 3, 4 and 5 holes, with size of orifice varied from 0.2 to 0.3 mm size were selected for the study. It was concluded that B20 biodiesel blend, PSZ-coated engine and four hole nozzle injector of 0.2 mm size resulted in overall better engine performance with increased brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and reduced HC, CO, smoke emissions for the fuel combinations tested. Combustion analysis to study the effect of biodiesel blends, LHR coatings, injector nozzle geometry on the performance of the biodiesel-fuelled engine has been presented to give more insight into the behaviour of operation.     

Economic and environmental value stream map (E2VSM) simulation for multi-product manufacturing systems

Value stream mapping (VSM) is a well-accepted tool within lean manufacturing concept which is often used for analysing and designing the flow of materials and information required to manufacture a product. However, the analysis is static and single product oriented, which fails to cope with either the variation of production plan or a multi-product environment. In addition, the environmental impact of a manufacturing system is highly associated with the dynamic consumption of energy and resources. Despite the recent integration of VSM with simulation or environmental studies (in the domain of energy efficiency), still neglected is the dynamic assessment of all the resources involved in a multi-product production environment. This paper presents a methodology for modelling multi-product manufacturing systems with dynamic material, energy and information flows with the aim to generate economic and environmental value stream maps (E²VSM). The proposed methodology is validated with an industrial case.     

Fine-grain spatial patterning and dynamics of land use and agrobiodiversity amid global changes in the Bolivian Andes

Our research addresses the gap in scientific research on the fine-grain spatial patterns and social–ecological interactions of land use and agrobiodiversity. The spatial dimension of agrobiodiversity dynamics potentially strengthens the social–ecological resilience and food security of smallholders by buffering risk and vulnerability. Our research integrates the scientific theories, concepts, and methods of spatial externalities, social–ecological interactions, geospatial land and global change sciences, and political ecology. We designed a case study of the Arbieto-Tarata landscape in the Bolivian Andes that comprises a globally significant agrobiodiversity hot spot of Andean maize. The Arbieto-Tarata landscape, which contains nearly 8000 fields at 2500–2800 masl, is representative of mixed-use smallholder agri-food systems amid global changes. Our research predicts spatial spillover and edge effects of combined social and environmental factors leading to the clustering of same-crop fields. Findings reveal significant levels of the predicted clustering between 2006 and 2012. The degree of this clustering is found to differ among geographic and environmental sub-areas reflecting fine-grain variation of local causal linkages. Extra-local causal linkages include high levels of migration, water resource shortages, and urbanization. Results show the influences of informal and formal coordination in the spatial clustering of same-crop fields. This field-level coordination improves the efficiency of resource allocations and lowers costs of production. It enables the viability of high-agrobiodiversity Andean maize in smallholder land use and agri-food systems amid global changes. The article discusses the broader policy and scientific implications of these findings including scaling up and support of the social–ecological resilience of agrobiodiversity globally.     

A review of potential physical impacts on harbours in the Mediterranean Sea under climate change

Regional Environmental Change - The potential impact of climate change on port operations and infrastructures has received much less attention than the corresponding impact for beach systems....     

Occurrence and fate of pharmaceutical products and by-products,from resource to drinking water

Among all emerging substances in water, pharmaceutical products (PPs) and residues are a lot of concern. These last two years, the number of studies has increased drastically, however much less for water resources and drinking water than for wastewater. This literature review based on recent works, deals with water resources (surface or groundwater), focusing on characteristics, occurrence and fate of numerous PPs studied, and drinking water including water quality. Through this review, it appears that the pharmaceutical risk must be considered even in drinking water where concentrations are very low. Moreover, there is a lack of research for by-products (metabolites and transformation products) characterization, occurrence and fate in all water types and especially in drinking water.     

Common buzzards (Buteo buteo) bio-indicators of heavy metals pollution in Sicily (Italy)

The aim of this study was to evaluate the accumulation of toxic (As, Cd and Pb) and essential (Cu, Mn and Zn) metals in samples (feathers, liver, kidney, lung, intestine and muscle) of common buzzards (Buteo buteo) from Sicily, used as bio-indicators for monitoring environmental metals pollution. All samples of buzzards were collected at the “Recovery Center of Wild Fauna” of Palermo, through the Zooprophilactic Institute. The quantitative determinations of metals were carried out using an atomic absorbtion spectrophotometer (AAS). The results obtained showed the presence of metals in all samples analyzed. For toxic metals the highest levels of Pb and As were found in liver and those of Cd in kidney; for essential metals Zn levels were higher than Cu and Mn in all tissues analyzed. Significant differences are observed in metal levels between female and male and juvenile and adult bird samples.Highest metal levels found in liver, kidney and muscle can be considered indicative of chronic exposure to metals while the presence of metals in feathers can be consequential to storing and elimination processes. The results obtained suggest that common buzzards (Buteo buteo) may be very useful as bio-indicators for monitoring environmental pollution.     

Impact of European legislation on marketed pesticides — A view from the standpoint of health impact assessment studies

The very significant impact of European legislation (Directive 91/414/EEC) on the authorization of plant protection products is reviewed herein, which has resulted in withdrawal of 704 active substances (AS) out of 889 assessed so far. The list of currently approved 276 AS includes 194 AS “existing” in the market before 1993 and 82 “new” AS introduced during the last 15 years. Results of toxicity characterization of the approved AS are also summarized, utilizing several well-known databases. Although significant data gaps exist for a rather large part of the approved AS, it is found that 84 AS are positive for at least one health effect (after chronic and/or acute exposure) including carcinogenicity, reproductive and neuro-developmental disorders, as well as endocrine disruption. The toxicity characterization results of this study are compared to those of recent assessments by other organizations (KemI, the Swedish Chemicals Agency, and the Pesticide Safety Directorate of the UK), where interpretation and use is made of AS “cut-off” criteria foreseen in new EU legislation. These studies report a comparatively smaller AS number with positive toxicity characterization. The possibility of some additional AS withdrawal in the near future, combined with the rather small rate of new AS introduction (approx. 5 per year) suggest that the list of approved AS over the next 10–15 years may not change very drastically. Consideration of the above trends is necessary and instructive in evaluating results of existing health impact assessment (HIA) studies, as well as in planning new ones. Due to the very drastic change in the number and type of marketed AS, that took place within the past 8–9 years, it is suggested that new HIA studies (based on epidemiological data after year 2000) should focus on a rather short time frame and, therefore, on appropriate cohort groups, e.g. young children. For the same reason, results of epidemiological studies of the past (involving banned AS) should be carefully interpreted and used with caution.     

Evaluating the role of environmental quality in the sustainable rural economic development of England

The issue of the sustainable development of rural economies in England has recently received considerable attention. This is because many of the poorest areas in the country are rural, often of high environmental quality, but suffering from high unemployment and a lack of services and facilities. The rapid decline in agricultural incomes and in-migration of affluent urban workers since 1990 has exacerbated economic inequality in such areas. A number of factors have the potential to drive rural development and this paper applies, and considers, the feasibility of a method from the USA for combining economic and environmental variables in a regional growth model to examine the hypothesis that environmental quality is an important determinant of sustainable rural development in England. The model output suggests that, although environmental quality does play a role in sustainable rural development in England there are other, more important, factors driving development. These include business and communications infra-structure, the degree and opportunities for commuting and underlying employment prospects. The robustness and limitations of the method for combining economic and environmental variables is discussed in relation to the spatial interrelatedness of Local Authority Districts in England, and conclusions are drawn about areas for refinement and improvement of the method.

Binding of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by humic acids formed during composting

Binding of two model polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phenanthrene and pyrene, by humic acids (HAs) isolated from an organic substrate at different stages of composting and a soil was investigated using a batch fluorescence quenching method and the modified Freundlich model. With respect to soil HA, the organic substrate HA fractions were characterized by larger binding affinities for both phenanthrene and pyrene. Further, isotherm deviation from linearity was larger for soil HA than for organic substrate HAs, indicating a larger heterogeneity of binding sites in the former. The composting process decreased the binding affinity and increased the heterogeneity of binding sites of HAs. The changes undergone by the HA fraction during composting may be expected to contribute to facilitate microbial accessibility to PAHs. The results obtained also suggest that bioremediation of PAH-contaminated soils with matured compost, rather than with fresh organic amendments, may result in faster and more effective cleanup.     

Fate of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in wastewater treatment plants - Conception of a database and first results

We created a database in order to quantitatively assess the occurrence and removal efficiency of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). From 117 scientific publications, we compiled 6641 data covering 184 PPCPs. Data included the concentrations of PPCPs in WWTP influents and effluents, their removal efficiency and their loads to the aquatic environment. The first outputs of our database allowed to identify the most investigated PPCPs in WWTPs and the most persistent ones, and to obtain reliable and quantitative values on their concentrations, frequency of detection and removal efficiency in WWTPs. We were also able to compare various processes and pointed out activated sludge with nitrogen treatment and membrane bioreactor as the most efficient ones.