A vulnerability analysis in the Fei-tsui reservoir watershed in Taiwan

The vulnerability analysis method has been widely used in many environmental fields. In recent years, the tool has succeeded in comprehensive assessment of environmental problems. This study applied the vulnerability and resilience analysis method on watershed conservation and grasped the environmental change capacity that watershed could bear. The Fei-tsui reservoir watershed in Northern Taiwan provided the setting for the case study reported herein. This study considered both internal and external effect factors, including watershed vulnerability, rainfall energy and the distances between the outlet and subbasins, and developed a new index, WP, for the priority restraints strategies on the land-use activities. The land-use restraint index can be a significant criterion for watershed protection and management strategies.     

A GIS-based system for allocating municipal solid waste incinerator compensatory fund

To ease the NIMBY (not in my back yard) syndrome of constructing municipal solid waste (MSW) incinerators in Taiwan, compensatory funding is widely allocated to the impacted communities to gain the acceptance and support of residents living the impacted areas. This paper presents a spatial methodology for distributing a compensatory fund more logically based on the environmental impact on each neighborhood in Taipei City. This method integrates ten impact factors, which have been proposed by a local committee, to evaluate all neighborhoods using mathematical models combined with spatial analyses in an analytic hierarchy process. The compensatory fund is distributed according to the resulting final scores. A GIS (geographic information systems)-based system has been developed to assist in assigning the final scores to the neighborhoods impacted. Results on impact factors and fund distributions are combined; they are included in an information system and displayed in spatial scales. For Taipei City, the impact of air quality during the incinerator operating period is the item of greatest concern to the surrounding residents and thus, it receives a relatively higher weight of 0.2894. As a result, high impact scores were assigned to not only those neighborhoods hosting the incinerators, but also the neighborhoods where the maximum particulate air pollutants occurred. This approach could be applicable to other MSW incinerators with similar environmental impact problems and interest in compensation schemes.     

Carbon capture of biochar produced by microwave co-pyrolysis: adsorption capacity,kinetics, and benefits

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Microwave co-pyrolysis of sewage sludge and leucaena wood was conducted to produce biochar as an adsorbent for CO2 capture. Both microwave power level...