DOCSLIB.ORG

Waste Valorization, Loop-Closing, and Industrial Ecology Ange Nzihou, Reid Lifset

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Waste Valorization, Loop-Closing, and Industrial Ecology Ange Nzihou, Reid Lifset Waste Valorization, Loop-Closing, and Industrial Ecology Ange Nzihou, Reid Lifset To cite this version: Ange Nzihou, Reid Lifset. Waste Valorization, Loop-Closing, and Industrial Ecology. Journal of Industrial Ecology, Wiley, 2010, 14 (2), p.196-199. 10.1111/j.1530-9290.2010.00242.x. hal-01634025 HAL Id: hal-01634025 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01634025 Submitted on 22 Oct 2020 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Waste Valorization, Loop-Closing, and Industrial Ecology Ange Nzihou and Reid Lifset Recycling has always been a pivotal con- orization is the treatment of waste for beneficial cept in industrial ecology. From the seminal use as raw material or as an energy carrier, with article by Frosch and Gallopoulos (1989) the emphasis on processes and practices that re- in Scientific American that marks the begin- duce emissions and related environmental im- ning of this field, the productive use of what pacts. The term valorization typically refers to would otherwise be efforts to make use a waste has been seen Waste valorization is the treatment of of bulk, production- as central to resource related wastes, such as efficiency and the re- waste for beneficial use as raw mate- paper sludge, inciner- duction of environ- rial or as an energy carrier, with em- ator ash, metal slags, mental damage. phasis on processes and practices that pressure-treated wood In industrial ecol- wastes, or foundry ogy, recycling is of- reduce emissions and related environ- sands. These wastes ten framed broadly as mental impacts. The term valorization differ from household “loop closing,” an ex- typically refers to efforts to make use of wastes in that they are pression that alludes more homogenous and to the ecological anal- bulk, production-related wastes, such much larger in mag- ogy that is one of key as wood waste, paper sludge, incinera- nitude. The wastes of premises of the field. tor ash, metal slags, or foundry sands. interest in valoriza- The term refers to a va- tion are also generally riety of ways materials considered to be non- flows can form a loop so that resources are cycled hazardous both in the informal sense and in the through the economy rather than being disposed legal sense. (This, of course, varies widely by ju- of in a landfill. Loop closing includes the familiar risdiction and according to the specific waste in recycling of household wastes, but it also extends question. Whether the wastes are truly benign is to other phenomena, including industrial sym- also a matter of contention, as the debate over the biosis, the exchange or sharing of industrial by- land application of industrial wastes illustrates products and resources facilitated by geographic [Lifset 2001].) proximity. The field of waste valorization is increasingly One of the forms of recycling that falls within supported and engaged in by industry and govern- this realm is variously called waste valorization ment. The interest of industry is explained by the in Europe, Asia, and South America and bene- field’s multi- and interdisciplinarity and by the ficial use or reuse in North America. Waste val- focus on laboratory, pilot, and full-scale experi- ments with potential applications to the valoriza- tion of waste and biomass into energy and useful materials. This field is also shaped in important ways by legislation and regulation. Various challenges in the field of waste val- glaze (glaze frit). Laboratory tests indicate that orization have been identified and will be the the solubility of heavy metals contained in the object of significant effort in research for the ash is significantly reduced and that the inno- near future (Nzihou 2010). The emission of pol- vative and conventional frit are similar in their lutants and greenhouse gases is of particular con- thermal behavior. The authors use life cycle as- cern. Raw materials may contain elements, such sessment (LCA) to examine the environmental as chlorine, sulfur, and heavy metals, that can impacts on a comprehensive basis. To this pur- affect the quality of the end-of-pipe product. pose, they investigate environmental impacts of Energy efficiency (allotherm and autotherm) of two scenarios of end-of-life of bottom ash from the processes is another key focus. As a result, municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI)— modeling research has progressed rapidly. In that namely, landfill disposal (conventional scenario) respect, scientific investigation that presents ac- and bottom ash recovery for glaze frit production curate data on the composition and character- (innovative scenario). istics of the materials is a basic prerequisite for Alonso-Santurde and colleagues (2010) ex- any scheme in waste and biomass conversion. amine the use of foundry sands as raw material in The challenges extend to regulation and pol- brick making, focusing on the leaching of prob- icy: The environmental policy set in the 1990s lematic substances, primarily metals, during use is still in force and is mainly focused on dis- and at end of life. This area has been extensively posal and storage of waste and residues in land- investigated over the last 10 years by waste val- fills. This regulation no longer reflects current orization researchers, and it has shown tangible knowledge—thanks to progress in research in re- advantages in terms of producing ceramic mate- cent years—of the beneficial reuse of waste and rials from waste, thereby saving natural resources biomass. and reducing the amount of waste going to This issue of the Journal of Industrial Ecology in- landfill. Alonso-Santurde and colleagues’ (2010) cludes a special feature on waste valorization and assessment of the materials derived from the loop-closing. The articles are derived from the foundry sands, made according to the European second International Conference on Engineering leaching test standard (NEN7345:1995), show for Waste Valorisation, held in Patras, Greece, in that most of the pollutants listed in the June 2008, and from a call for papers distributed European Union’s Landfill Directive1 are lower to the membership of the International Society than the threshold for the inert waste category for Industrial Ecology. Professor Ange Nzihou, landfill, except for arsenic, chromium, and lead. of the Ecole des Mines d’Albi-Carmaux in Albi, Sablayrolles and colleagues (2010) examine France; Professor Matthew Leach, of the Cen- the application of wastewater sludge (biosolids) ter for Environmental Strategy at the University to agricultural land using LCA, focusing in par- of Surrey in the United Kingdom; and Professor ticular on toxic impacts to humans through plant Gerasimos Lyberatos, of the University of Patras uptake and comparing the environmental per- in Greece, served as the guest editors. Partial sup- formance of dried and composted sludge from port for the special feature was provided by the a wastewater treatment facility in France. They WasteEng Conferences, a series of meetings fo- find that dried biosolids are more harmful to cused on research on the valorization of waste the environment than the composted biosolids and biomass. for six out of the eight impact categories they The result of these efforts is five articles ad- study. dressing a diversity of topics in the domain of Posch (2010) examines the recycling of in- waste valorization and loop-closing. Two articles dustrial wastes but asks a very different set of discuss treatment processes to valorize industrial questions than the other contributors. Posch’s re- wastes—to make them useful as raw materials. search takes the existence of waste valorization or Barberio and colleagues (2010) investigate the loop closing for granted; instead of asking engi- viability and the environmental consequences neering questions about treatment and environ- of using municipal solid waste incineration bot- mental questions about impact, he examines the tom ash for production of glass frit for ceramic drivers and consequences. He explores whether industrial recycling networks or other forms of in- whether couched as waste valorization, benefi- dustrial symbiosis projects can be used as starting cial use, or loop-closing, that go to the heart of points for much broader intercompany cooper- industrial ecology and environmental engineer- ation for sustainable development. Researchers ing and that remain worthy of our attention and have previously suggested that the interaction research. catalyzed by by-product exchange could generate companies’ further collective efforts at sustain- able development. Posch investigates this ques- Note tion through surveys of recycling networks in 1. See http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/landfill_ Austria and Germany. He finds that the percent- index.htm for details on the Landfill Directive. age of by-products passed on to other compa- nies for recycling purposes is not higher among companies that belong to organized recycling References networks than among companies of the manufac- Alonso-Santurde, R., A. Coz, N. Quijorna, J. Vig- turing sector in Austria as a whole. The relation- uri, and A. Andres.´ 2010. Valorization of ships among recycling partners are found to be foundry sand in clay bricks at an indus- similar to conventional buyer−supplier relation- trial scale: Environmental behavior of clay- ships. The companies that engage in recycling sand mixtures. Journal of Industrial Ecology DOI: activities remain notably unaware of their mem- 10.1111/j.1530-9290.2010.00233.x. bership in the organized network, which raises Barberio, G., P. Buttol, P. Masoni, S. Scalbi, F. Andreola, L.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • A Apple Inc., 19, 178 B Basel Action Network, 116, 126 Basel
    Index A E Apple Inc., 19, 178 End-of-life returns, 149 End-of-use returns, 149 B Environmental legislation, 86, 133, 144, 145 Basel Action Network, 116, 126 E-waste, 8, 82–91, 107, 108, 110, 115–120, Basel Convention, 83, 86, 117, 118 125–127, 129–131, 142 Bio-fuel, 7, 30, 31, 33–35 Extended producer responsibility, 88, 117, 119, Blood supply chain, 50, 51, 57, 58, 63–65, 121, 123, 127, 144, 202 67, 68 British, 180, 182, 202 F Brominated Fire Retardants (BFRs), 116 Feedstocks, 29, 35 Footprint, 8, 14, 26, 31, 35, 36, 38, 77, 78, 92–95, 113, 123, 127, 175–180, 182, 183, C 185–191, 195 C40, 3, 14, 16, 24 Fossil hydrocarbon fuels, 35 Cap and Trade, 176, 202 Carbon-dioxide, 1, 4, 7, 9, 10, 30, 39, 81, G 115, 193 GHG emissions, 9, 10, 14, 16, 19, 23, 175–180, CDP project, 14, 190, 191 182, 185–191 Certifier, 168–170, 173 GHG Protocol, 19, 177, 180, 182, 189 Chemicals, 39, 85, 118, 119, 121, 176, 179 Green building, 81, 82, 176, 185 Clinton Climate Initiative, 14 Green building history, 101 Closed-loop supply chain, 8, 133, 149, 163 Green Electronics Council (GEC), 123 Cloud computing, 92–95 Green IT, 74–77, 80, 81, 90, 91 CO2-eq., 10, 11, 14, 16, 19, 21, 23, 175, 182, Greenpeace, 4, 117, 127 186–188 Collective producer responsibility (CPR), H 130–132, 135, 142, 143 Health care, 39, 42, 49–51, 70, 71 Construction, 54, 60, 81, 82, 120, 171, 180, Herman Miller, 179, 180, 191 185 Hewlett-Packard, 73, 76, 125 Credibility, 166, 169, 171 I D ICLEI, 16 Data center, 75, 76, 78–80, 82, 92–95, 123, 185 India, 2, 4, 7, 11, 14, 25, 74, 78, 79, 81–86, 90, Dell, 25, 76, 121, 123, 125, 143, 186, 190 91, 94, 95, 110, 117–119 Disposition decision, 150–153, 156, 158, 160, Industrial ecology, 219 161, 163 In-house manufacturing, 132 T.
    [Show full text]
  • Permaculture
    Permaculture What might it have to offer a green economist? Definition ‘The use of systems thinking and design principles that provide the organising framework for implementing a vision of consciously designed landscapes that mimic the relationships and patterns found in nature’ ‘Linear relationships are easy to think about: the more the merrier. Linear equations are solvable, which makes them suitable for textbooks. Linear systems have an important modular virtue: you can take them apart and put them together again—the pieces add up. Non-linear systems generally cannot be solved and cannot be added together . Non-linearity means that the act of playing the game has a way of changing the rules . That twisted changeability makes non-linearity hard to calculate, but it also creates rich kinds of behavior that never occure in linear systems’ James Gleick, Chaos: Making a New Science Traditional wisdom ‘Because of feedback delays within complex systems, by the time a problem becomes apparent it may be unnecessarily difficult to solve’ Translation: ‘A stitch in time saves nine’ ‘A diverse system with multiple pathways and redundancies is more stable and less vulnerable to external shock than a uniform system with little diversity’ Translation: Don’t put all your eggs in one basket Odum developed Howard Odum methods for tracking and measuring the flows of energy and nutrients through complex living systems Ways of understanding the links between flows of money and goods in society and the flows of energy in ecosystems ‘industrial man . eats potatoes largely made of oil’ Environment, Power and Society, 1971 ‘Odum proposed that a measurement of the amount of transformed solar energy embodied in any product of the biosphere or human society—for which he coined the term ‘emergy’—could provide a kind of ‘universal currency’ which would allow fair and accurate comparison of the human and natural contributions to any particular economic process.
    [Show full text]
  • Analysis of Promotion Policies for the Valorization of Food Waste from Industrial Sources in Taiwan
    fermentation Article Analysis of Promotion Policies for the Valorization of Food Waste from Industrial Sources in Taiwan Wen-Tien Tsai * and Yu-Quan Lin Graduate Institute of Bioresources, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Pingtung 912, Taiwan; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +886-8-7703202 Abstract: Growing concern about circular bioeconomy and sustainable development goals (SDGs) for the valorization of food waste has raised public awareness since 2015. Therefore, the present study focused on the promotion policies and regulatory measures for the valorization of mandatory recyclable food waste from industrial sources in Taiwan, including the animal/plant production farms and food-processing plants. According to the official data on the annual statistics during the period of 2015–2019, it showed that the food waste from alcoholic beverage manufacturers (i.e., lees, dregs, or alcohol mash) and oyster farms (i.e., waste oyster shell) accounted for about half (about 250,000 metric ton) of industrial food waste generation in Taiwan. In order to effectively reduce the burdens on incinerators/landfills and their environmental impacts, the central governing agencies jointly promulgated some regulatory measures for promoting the production of biobased products from the industrial food waste valorization like animal feed, soil fertilizer, and bioenergy. These relevant acts include the Waste Management Act, the Fertilizer Management Act, the Feed Management Act, and the Renewable Energy Development Act. In addition, an official plan for building the food waste bioenergy plants at local governments via anaerobic digestion process, which was estimated to be completed by 2024, was addressed as a case study to discuss their environmental Citation: Tsai, W.-T.; Lin, Y.-Q.
    [Show full text]
  • Understanding the Opportunities, Barriers, and Enablers For
    resources Article Understanding the Opportunities, Barriers, and Enablers for the Commercialization and Transfer of Technologies for Mine Waste Valorization: A Case Study of Coal Processing Wastes in South Africa Helene-Marie Stander 1,2,* and Jennifer L. Broadhurst 1 1 Minerals to Metals Research Initiative, Department of Chemical Engineering, Upper Campus, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, 7700 Cape Town, South Africa; [email protected] 2 Centre for Bioprocess Engineering Research, Department of Chemical Engineering, Upper Campus, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, 7700 Cape Town, South Africa * Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: The mining and minerals beneficiation industries produce large volumes of waste, the land disposal of which can lead to harmful environmental emissions and a loss of valuable resources. Glob- ally, researchers are developing technologies for recovering valuable minerals and converting mine waste into a resource with market value. However, university-developed technological innovations to long-term environmental problems can be difficult to transfer to the mining industry. This paper focuses on the barriers and enablers to technology transfer in the South African mining industry using the valorization of coal processing waste as a case study. Data and information derived from interviews with relevant experts and published literature were used to gain a better understanding Citation: Stander,H.-M.; Broadhurst, J.L. of the landscape of waste valorization technology implementation. Results indicated that financial Understanding the Opportunities, Barriers, and Enablers for the considerations and demonstration of technical feasibility will be vital in determining the success of Commercialization and Transfer of technology transfer, as will a changing perception of waste and its value within the sector.
    [Show full text]
  • Industrial Ecology: a New Perspective on the Future of the Industrial System
    Industrial Ecology: a new perspective on the future of the industrial system (President's lecture, Assemblée annuelle de la Société Suisse de Pneumologie, Genève, 30 mars 2001.) Suren Erkman Institute for Communication and Analysis of Science and Technology (ICAST), P. O. Box 474, CH-1211 Geneva 12, Switzerland Introduction Industrial ecology? A surprising, intriguing expression that immediately draws our attention. The spontaneous reaction is that «industrial ecology» is a contradiction in terms, something of an oxymoron, like «obscure clarity» or «burning ice». Why this reflex? Probably because we are used to considering the industrial system as isolated from the Biosphere, with factories and cities on one side and nature on the other, the problem consisting in trying to minimize the impact of the industrial system on what is «outside» of it: its surroundings, the «environment». As early as the 1950’s, this end-of-pipe angle was the one adopted by ecologists, whose first serious studies focused on the consequences of the various forms of pollution on nature. In this perspective on the industrial system, human industrial activity as such remained outside of the field of research. Industrial ecology explores the opposite assumption: the industrial system can be seen as a certain kind of ecosystem. After all, the industrial system, just as natural ecosystems, can be described as a particular distribution of materials, energy, and information flows. Furthermore, the entire industrial system relies on resources and services provided by the Biosphere, from which it cannot be dissociated. (It should be specified that .«industrial», in the context of industrial ecology, refers to all human activities occurring within the modern technological society.
    [Show full text]
  • Bio-Waste in Europe — Turning Challenges Into Opportunities
    EEA Report No 04/2020 Bio-waste in Europe — turning challenges into opportunities ISSN 1977-8449 EEA Report No 04/2020 Bio-waste in Europe — turning challenges into opportunities Cover design: EEA Cover photo: © Brendan Killeen Layout: Rosendahls a/s Legal notice The contents of this publication do not necessarily reflect the official opinions of the European Commission or other institutions of the European Union. Neither the European Environment Agency nor any person or company acting on behalf of the Agency is responsible for the use that may be made of the information contained in this report. Brexit notice The withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union did not affect the production of this report. Data reported by the United Kingdom are included in all analyses and assessments contained herein, unless otherwise indicated. Copyright notice © European Environment Agency, 2020 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. More information on the European Union is available on the Internet (http://europa.eu). Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2020 ISBN 978-92-9480-223-1 ISSN 1977-8449 doi:10.2800/630938 European Environment Agency Kongens Nytorv 6 1050 Copenhagen K Denmark Tel.: +45 33 36 71 00 Internet: eea.europa.eu Enquiries: eea.europa.eu/enquiries Contents Contents Authors and acknowledgements .............................................................................................. 4 Key messages .............................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Achieving Energy Efficiency in Manufacturing: Organization, Procedures and Implementation
    ACHIEVING ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN MANUFACTURING: ORGANIZATION, PROCEDURES AND IMPLEMENTATION _______________________________________ A Thesis presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School at the University of Missouri-Columbia _______________________________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science __________________________________________________________________ By SÂNDINA PONTE Dr. Bin Wu, Thesis Supervisor MAY 2011 © Copyright by Sândina Ponte 2011 All Rights Reserved The undersigned, appointed by the dean of the Graduate School, have examined the thesis entitled ACHIEVING ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN MANUFACTURING: ORGANIZATION, PROCEDURES AND IMPLEMENTATION presented by Sândina Ponte, a candidate for the degree of master of science and hereby certify that, in their opinion, it is worthy of acceptance. Professor Bin Wu Professor James Noble Professor Hongbin Ma Thank you to my wonderful husband for the much needed motivation during those last few weeks. Thanks to Dr. Wu for supporting this project and being such a wonderful advisor and friend. Thanks to my managers Bernt Svens and Stefan Forsmark at ABB Inc. for believing in Energy Efficiency and the need for sustainable development. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My thanks to my advisor, Dr. Bin Wu, for his contribution and support to my research. I also wish to thank Chatchai Pinthuprapa for his previous research on energy audits and web tool development. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...............................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Industrial Ecology: Concepts and Approaches L
    Proc. Nati. Acad. Sci. USA Vol. 89, pp. 793-797, February 1992 Colloquium Paper This paper serves as an introduction to the following papers, which were presented at a colloquium entitled "Industrial Ecology, " organized by C. Kumar N. Patel, held May 20 and 21, 1991, at the National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC. Industrial ecology: Concepts and approaches L. W. JELINSKI*, T. E. GRAEDEL, R. A. LAUDISE, D. W. MCCALL, AND C. K. N. PATEL AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ 07974 ABSTRACT Industrial ecology is a new approach to the and gases, and produce wastes of their own. These industrial design of products and processes and the implemen- wastes are in turn food for other organisms, some of tation of sustainable manufacturing strategies. It is a concept which may convert the wastes into the minerals used in which an industrial system is viewed not in isolation from its by the primary producers, and some ofwhich consume surrounding systems but in concert with them. Industrial each other in a complex network of processes in which ecology seeks to optimize the total materials cycle from virgn everything produced is used by some organism for its material to finished material, to component, to product, to own metabolism. Similarly, in the industrial ecosys- waste product, and to ultimate disposal. To better characterize tem, each process and network of processes must be the topic, the National Academy of Sciences convened a collo- viewed as a dependent and interrelated part of a larger quium from which were derived a number of salient contribu- whole.
    [Show full text]
  • Industrial Ecology a New Path to Sustainability: an Empirical Review
    INDEPENDENT JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT & PRODUCTION (IJM&P) http://www.ijmp.jor.br v. 5, n. 3, June - September 2014 ISSN: 2236-269X DOI: 10.14807/ijmp.v5i3.178 INDUSTRIAL ECOLOGY A NEW PATH TO SUSTAINABILITY: AN EMPIRICAL REVIEW Felichesmi Selestine Lyakurwa Mzumbe University, Tanzania E-mail: [email protected] [email protected] Submission: 15/12/2013 Revision: 02/01/2014 Accept: 10/01/2014 ABSTRACT The precise understanding of the link between industrial ecology and sustainability is vitally important for a continuous environmental performance. In this study, an intensive review of industrial ecology principles, its application areas and the extent to which industrial ecology has been applied was documented. It was observed that the effective application of industrial ecology is critical for sustainability, since the industry is the main polluter of the environment. It was further inferred that, there is inadequate applicability of the industrial ecology principles by developed countries. Thus I hypothesized that, there is a great opportunity for new investment in this field considering the absence of modern means for the liquid and solid waste management. For example, improper incineration of wastes such as hospital wastes, and the electrical and electronic equipment was perceived to bring health problems in the near future. Therefore, it is time for the governments in both developed and developing countries to increase the applicability of industrial ecology, for sustainable social, economic, political and environmental performances. Keywords: Industrial ecology, Sustainability, Environment, Resource, Materials, Energy [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/] Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License 623 INDEPENDENT JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT & PRODUCTION (IJM&P) http://www.ijmp.jor.br v.
    [Show full text]
  • Industrial Ecology: the Role of Manufactured Capital in Sustainability Helga Weisza,B,1, Sangwon Suhc, and T
    SPECIAL FEATURE: INTRODUCTION Industrial Ecology: The role of manufactured capital in sustainability Helga Weisza,b,1, Sangwon Suhc, and T. E. Graedeld The lack of quantitative results over two aResearch Domain Transdisciplinary Concepts & Methods, Potsdam Institute for Climate decades ago was paralleled by a compelling Impact Research, 14473 Potsdam, Germany; bDepartment of Cultural History and Theory and c underrepresentation of methodological sug- Department of Social Sciences, Humboldt University Berlin, 10117 Berlin, Germany; Bren gestions. Among the few exceptions in those School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, early papers were Ayres’ material flow anal- d CA 93106; and Center for Industrial Ecology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511 ysis of toxic heavy metals (17) and Duchin’s proposal to use economic input-output anal- ysis (18) to describe and analyze the meta- In 1992 PNAS presented a Special Feature with transition has increased in parallel, and the bolic connectedness among physical factors 22 contributions from a colloquium entitled technological and economic feasibility for such of production, industrial production, and “ ” Industrial Ecology, held at the National a transition has been demonstrated, especially consumptions sectors. Those two approaches Academy of Sciences of the United States in for the energy system (13, 14). have developed into core methods of Indus- Washington, DC (1). In these articles Industrial How did Industrial Ecology originally de- trial Ecology today (6, 19–25). The research Ecology was presented as an approach to un- fine its scope in what we now call sustain- articles included in the present Special Fea- derstand and ultimately optimize the total ma- ability science and what is its role today? If ture provide ample evidence for Industrial terial cycles of industrial processes (2).
    [Show full text]
  • Co-Management of Sewage Sludge and Other Organic Wastes: a Scandinavian Case Study
    energies Review Co-Management of Sewage Sludge and Other Organic Wastes: A Scandinavian Case Study Clara Fernando-Foncillas 1, Maria M. Estevez 2, Hinrich Uellendahl 3 and Cristiano Varrone 1,* 1 Section for Sustainable Biotechnology, Aalborg University Copenhagen, A.C. Meyers Vænge 15, 2450 Copenhagen, Denmark; [email protected] 2 Aquateam COWI, Karvesvingen 2, 0579 Oslo, Norway; [email protected] 3 Faculty of Mechanical and Process Engineering and Maritime Technologies, Flensburg University of Applied Sciences, Kanzleistr. 91–93, 24943 Flensburg, Germany; hinrich.uellendahl@hs-flensburg.de * Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: Wastewater and sewage sludge contain organic matter that can be valorized through conversion into energy and/or green chemicals. Moreover, resource recovery from these wastes has become the new focus of wastewater management, to develop more sustainable processes in a circular economy approach. The aim of this review was to analyze current sewage sludge management systems in Scandinavia with respect to resource recovery, in combination with other organic wastes. As anaerobic digestion (AD) was found to be the common sludge treatment approach in Scandinavia, different available organic municipal and industrial wastes were identified and compared, to evaluate the potential for expanding the resource recovery by anaerobic co-digestion. Additionally, a full-scale case study of co-digestion, as strategy for optimization of the anaerobic digestion treatment, was presented for each country, together with advanced biorefinery approaches to wastewater treatment and resource recovery. Citation: Fernando-Foncillas, C.; Estevez, M.M.; Uellendahl, H.; Varrone, C. Co-Management of Keywords: waste management; wastewater; sewage sludge; organic waste; anaerobic digestion; Sewage Sludge and Other Organic co-digestion; biorefinery; resource recovery Wastes: A Scandinavian Case Study.
    [Show full text]
  • From Deep Ecology to the Blue Economy 2011
    The Blue Economy From Deep Ecology to The Blue Economy A review of the main concepts related to environmental, social and ethical business that contributed to the creation of The Blue Economy written by Gunter Pauli February 2011 based on an original article written by the same author in 1999 © 2011, Gunter Pauli If I can see beyond the green economy today, It is thanks to the giants on whose shoulders I stand Environmental deterioration and the imbalance between man and nature increasingly preoccupy scholars, philosophers, businessmen and policy makers alike. The disparity between rich and poor and the continuous incapacity to respond to the basic needs of all (not only humans) preoccupies many. It seems that the only sustainable phenomena of our modern time is the loss of biodiversity and our incapacity to eliminate poverty. Even though we all look reality in the eye, we seem to lack the vision and the tools to make a difference and steer our excessive consumption society in general and our competitive business world towards sustainability. Our media continue to report on the loss of forest cover, biodiversity, and human dignity. My concern has always been: in spite of the statistics showing the downward trends, what can I do to make a material difference on the ground. Since the 1950s we have seen a series of ideas and conceptual frameworks that have emerged from studies that illustrate the disconnect between our exploitative culture and the Earth's limited resources. This document attempts to summarize the most important persons and organizations whose work has greatly influenced my present thinking on business, environment, social development and ethics.
    [Show full text]