•Pollutant levels are generally higher in open dumps compared to sanitary landfills.•Most of the data were from Asian dumpsites, making the waste inputs heterogeneous.•It would be desirable for the ...future to create a global database.
Using published data, this study examined differences in pollutant levels in the leachate between landfills and dumpsites in Africa, Asia and Latin America. It is the first to focus on the impacts of climate and the age of the site on the pollutants in these continents, from a holistic perspective. Differences between geographical regions were limited. While it was found that there were statistically significant differences in organic, inorganic loads and heavy metals between landfills and dumpsites, with higher concentration of pollutants in dumpsites. Links between selected metals were found, in particular for Cu, Cr, Zn, Pb and Mn. Contrary to the findings of others, climate and the age of the site generally did not have statistically significant impacts on pollutant levels. This suggests that the concentration of pollutants from sites in the three continents may be more influenced by local conditions, consumption patterns and the waste management habits of individuals. Implications for governance are discussed.
•More than 8 million electric cars may compose the Brazilian fleet of cars in 2030.•Car LIBs in Brazil may demand up to 86% of Brazilian co reserves from 2020 to 2030.•Up to 340,000 and 1400,000 ...waste Li-ion batteries are expected in 2030 and 2036.•Revenues from electrode material recycling in Brazil may surpass US$ 100 mi in 2030.•Technological development for graphite recycling may increase revenues in up to 11%.
The fleet of electric vehicles has increased worldwide, pushed by the necessity of building a low-carbon economy. In Brazil, the number of new electric cars registered per year is also increasing, especially after the promulgation of the Program Route 2030. Collection rates and management criteria for end-of-life lithium-ion batteries (EOL LIBs) in the country are still not defined. Therefore, in this paper, we aimed to assess how big the market of electric cars (EC) will be in Brazil in 2030 and to investigate how different management patterns can affect the flows of electrodes active materials in the country. Simulations were conducted using Matlab, considering three different scenarios of penetration of EC in the total fleet of cars in 2030: 1%, 4% and 10%, while three management strategies were analyzed for the year of 2030 using Material Flow Analysis. According to the model, the number of new electric cars entering the Brazilian market in 2030 can surpass 1,800,000 units, resulting in a demand of Li, Co, Ni, Mn and graphite of up to 8,700, 15,000, 46,000, 15,000 and 92,000 tonnes, respectively. The number of EOL LIBs in the same year may overcome 340 thousand. The amount of material available for recycling depends on the management strategy adopted. In any case, revenues from recycling LIBs electrode active materials result mainly from Co and Ni recovery (88–93%). In view of increasing circularity of materials and expected technological development, the adoption of repurposing and remanufacturing is recommended.
The demand for rare earth elements (REEs) has significantly increased due to their indispensable uses in integrated circuits of modern technology. However, due to the extensive use of high-tech ...applications in our daily life and the depletion of their primary ores, REE’s recovery from secondary sources is today needed. REEs have now attracted attention to policymakers and scientists to develop novel recovery technologies for materials’ supply sustainability. This paper summarizes the recent progress for the recovery of REEs using various emerging technologies such as bioleaching, biosorption, cryo-milling, electrochemical processes and nanomaterials, siderophores, hydrometallurgy, pyrometallurgy, and supercritical CO
2
. The challenges facing this recovery are discussed comprehensively and some possible improvements are presented. This work also highlights the economic and engineering aspects of the recovery of REE from waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). Finally, this review suggests that greener and low chemical consuming technologies, such as siderophores and electrochemical processes, are promising for the recovery of REEs present in small quantities. These technologies present also a potential for large-scale application.
In the Italian authorization procedure for the construction of a landfill, the risk analysis (RA) is mandatory in case of request for derogation from the current legislation (Ministerial Decree ...(D.M.) 27 September 2010) in order to demonstrate that there is no risk for the environment. This paper describes the experience of the Province of Brescia, public body appointed for giving authorizations for new landfills, and its collaboration with the University of Brescia for the specific topic of RA applied to landfills. The research was undertaken because a lack of complete and specific indications about the application of such methodology to landfills has been identified. In particular, the province of Brescia faced the issue of verifying the proper application of such methodology in relevant cases. After referring to the legal and technical framework, including the current national legislation and a summary of the technical documents available for the topic (guidelines and instructions by technical bodies), the paper outlines the technical-preliminary approach applied by the Province of Brescia. This is complemented by a description of the methodological approach followed for RA for groundwater and for gaseous emissions, with a focus on biogas, together with the presentation of the results for three relevant case studies. The critical aspects that were faced and the proposal to overcome them, which are under discussion with the responsible bodies, are described as well.
The Syrian civil war, which broke out in 2011, caused the displacement of more than one million refugees to Jordan. Most of them settled in the Northern Govenorates of Jordan. Due to this, the local ...services and infrastructures of the hosting communities, in particular the solid waste management (SWM), were put under great pressure. The aim of this study is to evaluate how the off-camp refugees impacted the SWM in the Greater Irbid Municipality (GIM; in the Irbid Governorate), both quantitatively and qualitatively. Data and results obtained from the studies carried out before the Syrian crisis are compared with data collected by the authors in 2016 using similar or comparable methodologies. Moreover, local citizen perceptions of and satisfaction with the solid waste (SW) service level were assessed. A deterioration of the SWM in GIM between 2011 and 2016 was observed in terms of service performance indicators (e.g., an increase of SW collection and transportation costs by 2.5 times and of fines for improper SW disposal by 2.2 times) and of citizens’ views (a decline in SWM quality was felt by 59% of the respondents). An attempt to cope with this situation has been made in recent years with international donors mobilizing efforts and resources to enable municipalities to meet the growing demand in basic SW services. There is however, still much to be done.
Stabilisation/solidification technologies are widely used for rendering industrial wastes inert. In this study, residual powdered paints were applied to treat different types of industrial wastes by ...stabilisation/solidification: Fumes from steel-making process, sludge from coagulation/flocculation treatments and powders from brushing and polishing metallic objects. Stabilisation/solidification trials were performed both under static conditions and in motion. It was observed that the residual paints could polymerise well in 60 min at 120 °C. The addition of water during the treatment resulted in highly porous and friable materials and, therefore, is not recommended. The mixture between wastes and paint influenced polymerisation. Specific heating conditions needed to be tested for each waste, varying from 80 °C to 150 °C. Significant reduction on leachability after treatment could be reached in most cases. Reduction on chlorides release up to 92.0% were achieved. Contents of other elements on the leachates, such as copper, molybdenum, nickel, zinc and dissolved organic carbon, could also be reduced in percentages up to 96.9%, 97.6%, 98.8%, 95.7% and 96.9%, respectively. For some types of wastes, however, especially those containing high contents of copper and mineral oils, the treatment was ineffective. Polymerisation in motion apparently improved binding capacity, but tests with increased content of paints are recommended to reduce the release of dissolved organic carbon.
Within the circular economy framework, our study aims to assess the rhamnolipid production from winery and olive oil residues as low-cost carbon sources by nonpathogenic strains. After evaluating ...various agricultural residues from those two sectors,
Burkholderia thailandensis
E264 was found to use the raw soluble fraction of nonfermented (white) grape marcs (NF), as the sole carbon and energy source, and simultaneously, reducing the surface tension to around 35 mN/m. Interestingly, this strain showed a rhamnolipid production up to 1070 mg/L (13.37 mg/g of NF), with a higher purity, on those grape marcs, predominately Rha-Rha C
14
-C
14
, in MSM medium. On olive oil residues, the rhamnolipid yield of using olive mill pomace (OMP) at 2% (w/v) was around 300 mg/L (15 mg/g of OMP) with a similar CMC of 500 mg/L. To the best of our knowledge, our study indicated for the first time that a nonpathogenic bacterium is able to produce long-chain rhamnolipids in MSM medium supplemented with winery residues, as sole carbon and energy source.
Key points
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Winery and olive oil residues are used for producing long-chain rhamnolipids (RLs).
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Both higher RL yields and purity were obtained on nonfermented grape marcs as substrates.
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Long-chain RLs revealed stabilities over a wide range of pH, temperatures, and salinities
A holistic assessment procedure has been used in this study for comparing conventional activated sludge (CAS) and membrane bioreactor (MBR) processes for the treatment of municipal wastewater. ...Technical, social, administrative, economic and environmental impacts have been evaluated based on 1 year of operational data from three full-scale lines (one MBR and two CAS) working in parallel in a large municipal treatment plant. The comparative assessment evidences a slight advantage of the conventional process in the studied case, essentially due to lower costs, complexity and energy consumption. On the other hand, the MBR technology has a better social acceptance and similar overall environmental footprint. Although these results are influenced by site-specific parameters and cannot be generalized, the assessment procedure allowed identifying the most important factors affecting the final scores for each technology and the main differences between the compared technologies. Local conditions can affect the relative importance of the assessed impacts, and the use of weighting factors is proposed for better tailoring the comparative assessment to the local needs and circumstances. A sensitivity analysis on the weighted final scores demonstrated how local factors are very important and must be carefully evaluated in the decision making process.
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