Different technological schemes for treating the leachate generated by an existing landfill were compared in a life cycle perspective. On-site advanced processes based on reverse osmosis and ...evaporation were compared to conventional off-site co-treatment with civil sewage in wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). The inventories of the different scenarios were built by both direct observation of existing facilities and by retrieving data from the literature and similar equipment. Particular care was given for evaluating the energetic and chemical needs for operating the on-site advanced treatments. The evaporation system required 40 kW h/m
of electricity and 18.5 kW h/m
of heat, whereas reverse osmosis needed only 8.5 kW h/m
of electricity. On the other hand the amount of liquid concentrate returned by the evaporation system was only about 0.03 m
/m
instead of about 0.30 m
/m
returned by reverse osmosis. The evaporation system also consumed the highest amount of chemicals. Life cycle analysis showed that the impact categories most affected by the different options were human toxicity, both non-cancer and cancer, together with freshwater ecotoxicity. The uncertainty analysis highlighted the major contribution associated with direct emissions from the processes. On the basis of mean values, the qualitative trends were substantially confirmed.
•The sustainability of the waste policy in Italy was assessed from 2007 to 2016.•Deterministic environmental, social and economic indicators were used.•Integrated sustainability indicator showed an ...increase sustainability of 10%.•Larger benefits were detect for PM reduction and policy target implementation.
The sustainability of the waste management system imposed by EU legislation was assessed using the Italian context as a case study by analysing the period from the year 2007 to the year 2016. An integrated sustainability indicator (ISI) based on environmental, social and economic life cycle approach was used.
Since the earlier directives the EU waste management policy was strongly oriented to the implementation of the higher levels of the hierarchy, i.e. preparation for reuse and recycling, and a contemporary ban of disposal activities and in particular of landfill. All this was stated in legal quantitative targets to be achieved within a given scheduled time, demonstrated by continuous implementation of a reliable economic, legal and political framework including, among others, penalties, economic support and extended producer responsibility. Noticeable increase of the amount of waste moved to recycling led to a decrease of main environmental burden due to kgCO2eq and kgPeq. The same activity led to avoided impacts detected for both kgPMeq and human health (DALY). A relevant role related to these benefits was also played by the waste to energy sector. Opposite trend was found for the whole average management costs that change from about 146 €/inhabitant in 2007 to about 218 €/inhabitant in 2016. A general decrease of the ISI of about 10% was also detected indicating an increase of the overall sustainability of the system.
Modern feces samples of the endangered red panda (Ailurus fulgens) were examined using multiproxy analysis to characterize the dietary patterns in their natural habitat in India. An abundance of ...Bambusoideae phytoliths and leaves (macrobotanical remains) provide direct evidence of their primary dietary plants. In contrast, Bambusoideae pollen is sporadic or absent in the pollen assemblages. An abundance of Lepisorus spores and its leaves along with broadleaved taxa, Betula, Engelhardtia, and Quercus are indicative of other important food sources. Average δ
C values (- 29.6‰) of the red panda feces indicate typical C
type of plants as the primary food source, while the, δ
N values vary in narrow range (3.3-5.1‰) but conspicuously reveal a seasonal difference in values most likely due to differing metabolic activities in summer and winter. The multiproxy data can provide a baseline for the reconstruction of the palaeodietary and palaeoecology of extinct herbivores at both regional and global scales.
The present study is the first attempt from any Indian wetland, where palynological data is assessed to understand the flooding histories of the Sakali and Duboi wetlands in the Majuli River Island, ...a part of the Indo-Burma hotspot. Palynological analyses of surface soil samples from these wetlands were carried out in order to explore the flooding histories of this island. The presence of extra-local taxa such as Rhododendron, Tsuga and Castanopsis, in the Sakali wetland is strongly suggestive of river water transportation and flooding on the Majuli Island in the recent past. In contrast, dominance of local arboreal taxa and low abundance or absence of extra-local pollen taxa in the Duboi wetland does not indicate flooding. Correspondence analysis (CA) was applied on the present dataset to reveal possible correlations between the surface samples of the wetlands and the major group of palynotaxa. The CA successfully discriminated the samples from the two wetlands and also marked strong correlations between flood indicators extra-local taxa with the samples of the Sakali wetland and local arboreal elements with the Duboi samples. The present result will not only provide a baseline for future palaeovegetation and palaeoclimate reconstructions, but will also help in deciphering palaeoflood episodes from these wetlands.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
BFBNIB, DOBA, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
•Demonstrates the influence of uncertainty in the lifeline of a landfill plant.•Uses stochastic modelling approach to account for parametric randomness.•First theoretical model with correct landfill ...lifeline estimate 12.5–33 years.•This facilitates designing and planning of successful landfill plant.•This study sets a benchmark for stochastic modelling in landfill dynamics.
A landfill represents a complex and dynamically evolving structure that can be stochastically perturbed by exogenous factors. Both thermodynamic (equilibrium) and time varying (non-steady state) properties of a landfill are affected by spatially heterogenous and nonlinear sub-processes that combine with constraining initial and boundary conditions arising from the associated surroundings. While multiple approaches have been made to model landfill statistics by incorporating spatially dependent parameters on the one hand (data based approach) and continuum dynamical mass-balance equations on the other (equation based modelling), practically no attempt has been made to amalgamate these two approaches while also incorporating inherent stochastically induced fluctuations affecting the process overall. In this article, we will implement a minimalist scheme of modelling the time evolution of a realistic three dimensional landfill through a reaction–diffusion based approach, focusing on the coupled interactions of four key variables – solid mass density, hydrolysed mass density, acetogenic mass density and methanogenic mass density, that themselves are stochastically affected by fluctuations, coupled with diffusive relaxation of the individual densities, in ambient surroundings. Our results indicate that close to the linearly stable limit, the large time steady state properties, arising out of a series of complex coupled interactions between the stochastically driven variables, are scarcely affected by the biochemical growth–decay statistics. Our results clearly show that an equilibrium landfill structure is primarily determined by the solid and hydrolysed mass densities only rendering the other variables as statistically “irrelevant” in this (large time) asymptotic limit. The other major implication of incorporation of stochasticity in the landfill evolution dynamics is in the hugely reduced production times of the plants that are now approximately 20–30 years instead of the previous deterministic model predictions of 50 years and above. The predictions from this stochastic model are in conformity with available experimental observations.
A heteropolysaccharide isolated from the gum (Katira) of
Cochlospermum religiosum was found to consist of
d-galactose,
d-galacturonic acid and
l-rhamnose in a molar ratio 2:1:3. Structural assignment ...of the polysaccharide was carried out using total acid hydrolysis, methylation analysis, periodate oxidation, Smith degradation and NMR studies (
1H,
13C, DQF-COSY, TOCSY, NOESY, HMBC and HSQC) and the repeating unit of the polysaccharide was established as
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A water-soluble polysaccharide, (Fr. I) isolated from the aqueous extract of an edible mushroom,
Volvariella diplasia, is composed of
d-glucose,
d-mannose, and
d-galactose in a molar ratio 3:1:1. ...Compositional analysis, methylation analysis, periodate oxidation study, Smith degradation, and NMR studies (
1H,
13C, DQF-COSY, TOCSY, NOESY, ROESY, HMQC, and HMBC) revealed the presence of the following repeating unit in the polysaccharide:
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Resilient supply chains are often inherently dependent on the nature of their complex interconnected networks that are simultaneously multi-dimensional and multi-layered. This article presents a ...Supply Chain Network (SCN) model that can be used to regulate downstream relationships towards a sustainable SME using a 4-component cost function structure — Environmental (E), Demand (D), Economic (E), and Social (S). As a major generalization to the existing practice of using phenomenological interrelationships between the EDES cost kernels, we propose a complementary time varying model of a cost function, based on Lagrangian mechanics (incorporating SCN constraints through Lagrange multipliers), to analyze the time evolution of the SCN variables to interpret the competition between economic inertia and market potential. Multicriteria decision making, based on an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), ranks performance quality, identifying key business decision makers. The model is first solved numerically and then validated against real data pertaining to two Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) from diverse domains, establishing the domain-independent nature of the model. The results quantify how increases in a production line without appropriate consideration of market volatility can lead to bankruptcy, and how high transportation cost together with increased production may lead to a break-even state. The model also predicts the time it takes a policy change to reinvigorate sales, thereby forecasting best practice operational procedure that ensures holistic sustainability on all four sustainability fronts.
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•Generalized cost function for a sustainable supply chain (cradle-to-utilization).•Lagrangian mechanics analyzing the time evolution of an Optimized Sustainable SCN (OSSCN).•Analytic Hierarchy Process ranking key econometric contributors in the OSSCN.•Case Studies of an anonymous Indian SME — two scenario model prediction & verification.•Model based policy prediction and monitoring towards a sustainable production line.
A water-soluble fucoglucan, isolated from alkali-treated edible mushroom,
Termitomyces robustus, consists of
l-fucose and
d-glucose in a molar proportion of 1:4. Structural investigation of the ...polysaccharide was carried out by using total hydrolysis, methylation analysis, and periodate oxidation followed by GLC–MS, and the final structure was determined using NMR experiments (
1H,
13C, DQF-COSY, TOCSY, NOESY, ROESY, HMQC, and HMBC). On the basis of the above experiments it is concluded that the following repeating unit is present in the polysaccharide:
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