Application of environmentally conscious manufacturing strategies for an automotive component

Application of appropriate environmentally conscious manufacturing strategies enables the sustainable development of products and processes. Automotive component manufacturers recognise the potential of applying appropriate strategies for attaining Triple Bottom Line benefits. In this context, three strategies such as eco-efficiency, waste minimisation and material efficiency are being applied to minimise environmental impacts associated with the manufacture of automotive products and its associated processes. A case study of an automotive component manufacturing firm has been exemplified. After conducting the study, the potential environmental impact was reduced by 20% and eco-efficiency was improved by 13%. Further, improvements have been observed in terms of overall resource consumption and material efficiency. The overall power consumption was reduced by 18% and weight of the component was reduced by 11%. The study aimed at improving the sustainable performance of product by incorporating green and environmentally friendlier manufacturing practices.

Abbreviations: USEPA: United Nations Environmental Protection Agency; OECD: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development; WBCSD: World Business Council for Sustainable Development; Eco-QFD: Environmental Quality Function Deployment; WCED: World Commission on Environment and Development; LCA: Life Cycle Assessment     

昭通市农田土壤和蔬菜重金属污染评价及相关性分析

以昭通市农田区域为研究对象,采用点对点协同采样的方法对昭通市农田土壤和蔬菜进行采集,测定了As、Pb、Cu、Zn、Cd和Cr 这6种重金属含量.使用地累积指数和潜在生态风险指数对土壤重金属污染进行评价,利用健康风险模型评估蔬菜对人体产生的风险情况.结果表明,研究区土壤存在Cu、Zn、Pb、Cd和Cr污染,相较于农用地风险筛选值,超标率分别为34.35%、6.87%、2.29%、80.15%和6.11%;蔬菜存在Pb、Cd和Cr污染,相较于食品中污染物限量,超标率分别为6.87%、15.27%和36.64%.土壤污染评价表明,土壤重金属Cd存在强生态风险,其余重金属存在轻微生态风险.人体健康风险评估模型显示,非致癌风险及致癌风险均超过可接受范围,且对儿童的影响更大.相关性分析表明,土壤中的As对蔬菜吸收Cu和Zn具有拮抗作用,而土壤中Cr对蔬菜吸收Cu和Zn具有促进作用.     

粉煤灰添加对城市多源有机废弃物联合堆肥效能及堆体细菌群落的影响

为实现粉煤灰和多源有机废弃物的高效资源化利用,采用好氧堆肥的方法,以厨余垃圾、鸡粪和锯末（15:5:2）混合原料为底物,添加底物总湿重的5 %和10 %的粉煤灰作为处理组（5 % FA和10 % FA）,并以不添加粉煤灰作为对照处理（CK）,通过测定联合堆肥过程中理化性质、养分元素和细菌群落结构的变化,探究不同粉煤灰添加量对联合堆肥的促进效果.结果表明,添加5 %和10 %粉煤灰可以显著提高联合堆肥的最高温度（56.6 ℃和56.9 ℃）并延长高温期持续时间（9 d）,相较于对照处理,堆体总养分含量分别提高了4.09 %和13.55 %.在整个堆肥过程中,细菌群落结构发生了较大变化,各处理的细菌多样性均出现了明显的提高.在堆肥前期,变形菌门（Proteobacteria）是主要的优势门类,相对丰度在35.26 %~39.40 %之间.进入堆肥高温期,添加5 %和10 %粉煤灰处理中厚壁菌门（Firmicutes）相对丰度达到最高值,分别为52.46 %和67.72 %.芽孢杆菌属（Bacillus）和放线菌属（Thermobifida）是5 %和10 %粉煤灰添加量处理高温期的优势菌属,相对丰度分别为33.41 %和62.89 %（芽孢杆菌属）、33.06 %和12.23 %（放线菌属）.冗余分析（RDA）结果表明不同理化指标对细菌群落均有不同程度影响,其中有效磷、速效钾、有机质以及pH是影响细菌群落结构的主要环境因子.综上,添加粉煤灰促进了城市多源有机废弃物联合好氧堆肥的无害化和腐熟化,优化了微生物群落结构,提高堆肥产品的质量和效率.     

农业综合开发投资不足的理性预期分析

为解决农业综合开发投资不足的问题,根据理性预期理论研究了投资预期不足的制度原因。与农业资源开发的巨大资金需求、农业可持续发展需求、提高农业综合生产能力的要求及提高国际竞争力相比,农业综合开发投资明显不足,投资预期不高是农业综合开发投资不足的重要原因,投资预期不足的制度原因是收益低、风险高,农业公共财政制度缺位,分级财政投资体制所产生的贫困地区财政紧张、土地产权制度和农村社会保障制度及金融制度缺陷等。应从建立健全农业公共财政制度框架下的农业综合开发投资机制及开展土地产权等农业基础制度创新和改革金融制度等方面健全农业综合开发投资预期机制。     

高温分解及烟气净化处理电子垃圾的技术和设备

提出高温分解及烟气净化处理废弃电子垃圾的技术。通过喷水系统调节分解炉内气氛,控制有机物分解速度,使有机物裂解成二氧化碳和水蒸气,有害成份经净化系统再次处理后达到环保排放标准。金属部分可进一步进行提炼回收,实现有机物和金属的绿色分离。     

废弃电器电子产品POPs/PTS减排环境管理实践研究

全球环境基金(GEF)"通过环境无害化管理减少电器电子产品的生命周期内持久性有机污染物和持久性有毒化学品(POPs/PTS)的排放全额示范项目"湖北省作为项目示范省之一.三家废弃电器电子产品拆解企业,分别开展了废弃电器电子产品拆解技术示范、湿法废弃印刷电路板处置BAT/BEP技术示范、利用再生铅连续熔炼炉协同处置阴极射线管含铅锥玻璃项目技术示范.电子废弃物全自动化分类与拆解生产线,为电子废弃物绿色循环与资源化提供了示范模式.     

“无废城市”建设推进政策及措施的国别比较研究

“无废城市”建设已经成为应对城市固体废物（以下简称“固废”）管理挑战的国际趋势，我国也启动了“无废城市”建设试点工作。本文介绍了国际“无废城市”实践的背景和发展趋势，对我国和其他高收入国家的“无废城市”相关政策和具体实施方案进行了对比分析。分析结果表明，“无废城市”的推进政策与实施措施存在国别差异，我国的“无废城市”采纳了“问题导向”的推进策略，而高收入国家则是“目标导向”。最后对进一步推进我国“无废城市”建设试点工作提出了四点建议。     

Potential energy production from organic waste and its environmental and economic impacts at a tertiary institution in Palestine

Municipal solid waste (MSW) is one of the most well-known biomass resources that can be utilized to produce renewable energy. Numerous countries are plagued by the proliferation of waste, particularly organic waste that can be utilized for energy recovery. Palestine suffers from inefficient solid waste management, and only recently have a few projects focused on bioenergy production been implemented. Throughout the years, the city of Tulkarm experiences power outages which cause a challenge to the Palestine Technical University-Kadoorie campus in Tulkarm. Thus, the possibility of energy recovery from the organic portion in Palestine Technical University-Kadoorie was evaluated. The analysis of an economic impact included discussions of a number of economic aspects, including Levelized cost of energy, internal rate of return, present worth, annual worth, and payback period. On the other hand, a carbon dioxide savings analysis and gas emission were evaluated. The outcomes of the energy optimization demonstrated that the suggested system could supply the institution with an average of roughly 7 MWh of electrical energy. According to the economic study, this project offers 0.25 million dollars in present value, 0.144 million dollars in annual value, a 13 percent internal rate of return, a payback period of 6 years, and a levelized cost of energy of 0.11 dollars for each kWh generated. Additionally, the environmental assessment revealed that this system might reduce CO₂ emissions by around 8,343,778 tons. For effective waste management, energy recovery, and emission reduction, it is advised to implement anaerobic digestion technology.     

Anaerobic digestion of agro-industrial waste enriched with bovine bone meal for improved biogas production and biofertilization

The increase in animal and agro-industrial production must be accompanied by the development of appropriate waste and by-product management strategies. Anaerobic digestion is a promising approach to recycle these wastes and reintegrate them into the economic production cycle of biogas and biofertilizer. In order to improve the performance of the anaerobic mesophilic digestion of abundant agro-industrial wastes constituted by potato peel (PP), and poultry waste (PW) and study the contribution of bovine bone meal (BB) as additive rich in phosphorus, which can help to neutralize the acidity of the substrate. The 10-point simplex-centroid design and the isoresponse surfaces strategy were used. This study demonstrated that in mesophilic bio-digestion, the using bovine bones in admixture with agroindustrial residue provided for the proper balance of chemical components required for proliferation of microbiological agent of bioconversion, which also resulted in an increase in biogas production capacity. The best formula was so composed by 66.67% bovine bone, 16.67% potatoes peel, and 16.67% poultry waste. The stability was achieved here after only 12 days. The digestate generated from it was fulfilled with the microbiological and chemical requirements for safety defined by the NF U44-551 standard. Germination test revealed that this optimal produced digestate, did not hinder growth, in fact, almost 85% of seed was germinated. Finally, fertilization experiments prove that this digestate can boost the growth of bell pepper (Capsicum annuum).     

Biohythane production from pineapple peel using Methanosarcina mazei enhanced with palm oil mill effluent (POME) sludge in single-stage anaerobic digestion

Biohythane production via single-stage anaerobic digestion (AD) is an effective way for sustainable energy recovery from lignocellulosic biomass. In this paper, biohythane was produced through the AD process from pineapple peel waste substrate using purely cultured Methanosarcina mazei with the enhancement of palm oil mill effluent (POME) sludge as the inoculum. This study focuses on the effects of the lignocellulosic pre-treatment method, the addition of POME sludge into M. mazei culture medium as inoculum, and various operational conditions (food to microorganisms (F/M) ratios, temperature, pH) on gas production performances. The experimental results indicate that these parameters influenced the efficiency of biohythane production by producing the peak maximum biohythane production rate values (HPR_max) and (MPR_max), H₂:CH₄ = 1.93:0.67 L/L-d, and biohythane yield (HY) and (MY), H₂:CH₄ = 1.18:0.55 mL/L-substrate. This study demonstrates that biohythane gas (H₂ + CH₄ + CO₂) production from pineapple waste can be accelerated by M. mazei only with the enhancement of POME sludge through single-stage AD system under mesophilic batch process conditions.