Many pledges and laws are setting recycling targets without clearly defining quality of recycling. Striving to close this gap, this study presents an operational framework to quantify quality of ...recycling. The framework comprises three dimensions: the Virgin Displacement Potential (VDP); In-Use Stocks Lifetime (IUSL); and Environmental Impact (EI). The VDP indicates to what extent a secondary material can be used as a substitute for virgin material; the IUSL indicates how much of a certain material is still functional in society over a given time frame, and the EI is a measure of the environmental impact of a recycling process. The three dimensions are aggregated by plotting them in a distance-to-target graph. Two example calculations are included on poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and glass. The results indicate that the recycling of bottle and container glass collected via a deposit–refund system has the lowest distance-to-target, at 1.05, and, thus, the highest quality of recycling. For PET bottles, the highest quality of recycling is achieved in closed-loop mechanical recycling of bottles (distance to optimal quality of 0.96). Furthermore, sensitivity analysis indicates that certain parameters, e.g., the collection rate for PET bottles, can reduce the distance-to-target to 0.75 when all bottles are collected for recycling.
•A techno-economic and profitability analysis of a food waste biorefinery is presented.•Four relevant products were analysed: potato, tomato, citrus fruits and olives.•Food waste from the products ...processing was quantified at the European level.•The value-added product market price was identified as key element for profitability.•A market analysis is necessary prior the biorefinery implementation.
Food waste represents a potential source to produce value-added materials replacing the use of virgin ones. However, the use of food waste as feedstock in biorefineries is still at an early stage of development and studies assessing its economic viability at large scale are lacking in the literature. This paper presents a techno-economic and profitability analysis of four food waste biorefineries that use wastes from tomato, potato, orange, and olive processing as feedstock. The study includes the assessment of potentially available quantities of those waste flows in Europe. Due to the low technology readiness level of this kind of biorefineries, a screening methodology to estimate the investment and manufacturing costs as well as two profitability ratios (the return on investment and the payback time) was adopted. Results show that not all the waste feedstocks have the same potential. The most profitable options are those related to implementing fewer plants, namely concentrating the production and capitalising on economies of scale while being at risk of increasing externalities, e.g. due to logistics of the feedstocks.
•The waste hierarchy is not enough for prioritizing food waste prevention measures.•The methodology proposed prioritizes measures using LCA and mathematical programming.•The methodology identifies ...quick wins – actions with low cost and high impact avoided.•The relevance of the weighting set used in the prioritization is limited.•Targets for food waste prevention must be set at the level of environmental impact.
Food waste has gained prominence in the European political debate thanks to the recent Circular Economy package. Currently the waste hierarchy, introduced by the Waste Framework Directive, has been the rule followed to prioritize food waste prevention and management measures according to the environmental criteria. But when considering other criteria along with the environmental one, such as the economic, other tools are needed for the prioritization and optimization. This paper addresses the situation in which a decision-maker has to design a food waste prevention programme considering the limited economic resources in order to achieve the highest environmental impact prevention along the whole food life cycle. A methodology using Life Cycle Assessment and mathematical programing is proposed and its capabilities are shown through a case study. Results show that the order established in the waste hierarchy is generally followed. The proposed methodology revealed to be especially helpful in identifying “quick wins” – measures that should be always prioritized since they avoid a high environmental impact at a low cost. Besides, in order to aggregate the environmental scores related to a variety of impact categories, different weighting sets were proposed. In general, results show that the relevance of the weighting set in the prioritization of the measures appears to be limited. Finally, the correlation between reducing food waste generation and reducing environmental impact along the Food Supply Chain has been studied. Results highlight that when planning food waste prevention strategies, it is important to set the targets at the level of environmental impact instead of setting the targets at the level of avoided food waste generation (in mass).
Spatial Transformer Networks are considered a powerful algorithm to learn the main areas of an image, but still, they could be more efficient by receiving images with embedded expert knowledge. This ...paper aims to improve the performance of conventional Spatial Transformers when applied to Facial Expression Recognition. Based on the Spatial Transformers’ capacity of spatial manipulation within networks, we propose different extensions to these models where effective attentional regions are captured employing facial landmarks or facial visual saliency maps. This specific attentional information is then hardcoded to guide the Spatial Transformers to learn the spatial transformations that best fit the proposed regions for better recognition results. For this study, we use two datasets: AffectNet and FER-2013. For AffectNet, we achieve a 0.35% point absolute improvement relative to the traditional Spatial Transformer, whereas for FER-2013, our solution gets an increase of 1.49% when models are fine-tuned with the Affectnet pre-trained weights.
The enhancement of resource efficiency in the manufacturing industry is a major key to achieve sustainable development. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the resource efficiency of metal ...working processes using different lubrication strategies: flood lubrication (FL) and minimum quantity lubrication (MQL). Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a suitable methodology to assess the resource efficiency. In this paper a LCA is carried out for three different materials: aluminium, steel and cast iron. The process related data had been provided by practical measurements on state of the art machines and missing data derived from literature and expert interviews. The used input and output data for the inventory analysis is documented in this paper. In a hotspot analysis using LCA, fourteen impact categories from CML 2001 had been analysed. Finally, parameters with a high influence on the resource efficiency of machining processes were examined.
The results of the LCA show that the significant parameters causing high environmental impacts are electricity, compressed air and FL oil. The comparison of the machining processes using FL and MQL technologies reveals that most of the analysed processes have a higher environmental impact using FL instead of MQL. This is mainly due to the high energy consumption for the lubricating pump and also because of the higher consumption of lubricants compared to MQL. Furthermore, the generation of hazardous waste, in form of used oil and used filter fleece also contributes. The MQL-technology requires less electricity and lubrication oil and avoids hazardous waste. However, the results show that the compressed air consumption of MQL is significantly higher compared to FL-related processes.
Through this study, new and specific LCA datasets for drilling and milling for three working materials including two lubricating strategies (FL and MQL) are generated for further research.
•Resource efficiency of lubrication strategies for machining processes is analysed.•LCA-datasets for drilling and milling of three working materials are generated.•Electricity, compressed air and flood lubricants are the most important parameters.•Minimum Quantity Lubrication performs environmentally better than Flood Lubrication.
Excavated soil and rock (ESR) and dredging spoils (DDS) account for 23 % of the total EU waste generation in 2020. This study performs a life cycle assessment and life cycle costing to quantify the ...potential environmental and cost savings resulting from increasing the level of ESR and DDS prepared for reuse and recycled in comparison to the business-as-usual practice. Scenarios for the waste management pathways based on the status quo, technical feasibility or normative impositions are assessed, including the potential contribution to achieving the European Green Deal goals. Results show that promoting preparing for reuse and recycling could lead to non-negligible GHG reductions (up to 3.6 Mt. CO2 eq.) and economic savings (EUR 12.3 billion) annually. Depending upon the scenario, 0.2 % to 1 % of the net annual GHG emissions reductions sought by the European Green Deal could be facilitated by scaling up improved circular management of ESR and DDS at the EU level. Finally, the study highlights the main barriers to scaling up to more circular (i.e., preparing for reuse and recycling) and better performing management options in Europe. The results provide new insights for the European Green Deal and circular economy policymaking for CDW.
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•Excavated soil and dredging spoil account for 23 % of the total EU waste generation.•Circular strategies have great potential for environmental and economic benefit.•Life cycle assessment and costing quantifies likely environmental and cost savings.•Preparing for reuse and recycling lead to savings of up to 3.6 Mt. CO2 eq. annually.•Economic savings could be between EUR 6.8 and 12.3 billion annually.
Foundation: restricted intrauterine growth requires intensive prenatal management to determine fetal status and delivery time.
Objective: To describe the perinatal outcomes of restricted intrauterine ...growth.
Methods: case series study developed at the Cienfuegos Hospital in 2022. The studied variables were: type of delayed intrauterine growth, results of Doppler ultrasound in maternal and fetal vessels, diseases that complicated the pregnancy, type of delivery, weight and gestational time to delivery, adverse perinatal outcomes. The distribution of clinically important variables was compared with adverse perinatal outcomes.
Results: delayed growth affected 4.7% of births, 25% had early onset; 17.3% had preeclampsia, 41.3% had MPI ArUt >95 p. 14.4% of fetuses presented alterations in Doppler flows (ICP<5 p with 42%); 98% had restricted growth grade I. 19% of pregnant women needed termination of pregnancy at week 34 or before. A cesarean section was performed in 44.6% and 18.7% of live newborns required admission to the NICU; there were three neonatal deaths and two late fetal deaths. Adverse perinatal outcomes were more frequent in fetuses with ICP<5 p, delivery before 34 weeks and birth weight less than 1500 g (p<0.05).
Conclusions: the alteration of the cerebroplacental index in the fetus, birth before 34 weeks and weight less than 1500 g at birth, increases the adverse perinatal risk in fetuses/neonates with restricted intrauterine growth.
•Future material demand in energy scenarios must consider life cycle material losses•The screening study includes losses of 6 critical materials from PV and wind energy•A framework for calculating ...material demand inlcuding life cycle losses is proposed•For each technology, at least one material will likely act as a limiting factor•Future cumulated demand overshoots current global reserves for Te, In and Se
Photovoltaic and wind power technologies will continue to play a crucial role in decarbonizing global energy systems in the next decades. Estimations of future material demands usually do not include life cycle material losses in its whole extent. This paper presents results of a screening study on life cycle losses including extraction, manufacturing and both scrap and end-of-life recycling processes for eight materials. Besides, a framework for calculating the future material demand taking into account the whole life cycle material losses is presented. Based on the projections of the “Beyond 2 Degree Scenario” by IEA-ETP 2017, the cumulated demands and annual demands are calculated and compared to geological reserves and annual production capacities, respectively. Results show that total future cumulated demand overshoots current global reserve estimates only for Tellurium, Indium and Selenium. Annual Tellurium, Indium and Gallium production capacities have to be expanded even in low penetration scenarios. Uncertainties of life cycle losses during manufacturing and extraction phases are higher than in both, scrap and end-of-life recycling. Including life cycle losses may increase material demand of the investigated technologies by factors of 15-37 for Ga, In, Pr and Se as well as by factors of 4-5 for Dy, Nd and Te. Including most optimistic assumptions and technological innovations may decrease material intensities by 1-18% for rare earth elements. These findings have implications for analysts that compare technology demand scenarios to reserve or resource figures since excluding life cycle losses is shown to drastically underestimate necessary material extraction. More explicit statistical tools for quantifying material demand under high uncertainties are suggested.
Nine plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria from different backgrounds were assayed on Glycine max var. Osumi to evaluate their potential as biotic elicitors to increase isoflavone (IF) levels. Strains ...were inoculated on 2 day old pregerminated seeds. Six days after inoculation, the seedlings were harvested. Biometric parameters were registered, and IFs were determined. Although only one strain (N21.4) increased total IF contents and only one (M84) caused significant decreases in total IF, five different behaviors were detected when the daidzein and genistein families were analyzed separately. All strains triggered IF metabolism so further studies have to be developed since the different beneficial effects of IF through the diet may be due to the different IF profiles. These are encouraging results from two points of view: (1) N21.4 increases IF in seedlings, and (2) all other beneficial strains trigger IF metabolism differentially; hence, both facts could be used to prepare food supplements or as enriched standardized foods after full development of the biotechnological procedure.
•This paper uses prospective material flow analysis (MFA) to investigate plastic recycling in Europe in 2030.•Implementation of mechanical and chemical recycling would improve plastic recycling rate ...up to 80%.•The MFA clearly distinguish the quantity of plastic-to-plastic recycling from plastic-to-chemicals and plastic-to-fuel.•The highest achievable plastic-to-plastic recycling is 61%.•Implementation of chemical recycling can help to reach recycled content target in 2030.
Plastic recycling rate in Europe is low, urging developments in recycling technology and strategies to increase circularity. Mechanical recycling (MR) has been the reference recycling technology for years, but in the near future chemical recycling (CR) options are expected to contribute to improve plastic circularity. This study uses a material flow analysis (MFA) at European level to provide quantitative estimates of the contribution of CR technologies to plastic recycling. Ten most used polymer types from five sectors are selected. A status quo 2018 scenario is modelled and compared to five potential future scenarios (in 2030) of plastic waste treatment, including one that only looks at improved waste collection, sorting, and MR technologies and four exploring developments of CR options. The so-called ‘missing plastics’, i.e., plastic waste generated but currently not accounted for in statistics, is considered in one of the future scenarios. The MFA results are compared by calculating four circularity indicators namely end-of-life recycling rate (EoL-RR), plastic-to-plastic rate, plastic-to-chemicals rate, and plastic-to-fuels rate. The results indicate that in the most optimistic scenario the EoL-RR in 2030 is 73–80% (sum of plastic-to-plastic and plastic-to-chemical rates, excluding plastic-to-fuel rate), in which 41–46% is plastic-to-plastic from MR, 15–38% is plastic-to-plastic from CR and 19–35% is plastic-to-chemicals. The highest achievable plastic-to-plastic rate is estimated to be 61% (46% from MR and 15% from CR). In all future scenarios, the plastic-to-fuel rate is estimated to be 3–6%. The MFA results are also used to estimate potential recycled content availability in 2030, which suggest that closed-loop recycling and processing the ‘missing plastics’ will be necessary to achieve the targets.
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