Comparative life cycle analysis of municipal waste management systems: Kırklareli/Turkey case study

A comparative LCA of external wall assemblies in context of Iranian market: considering embodied and operational energy through BIM application

Building envelopes have a critical role in the sustainability of the construction sector. The goals of the current research are assessing the environmental impacts of typical exterior wall assemblies and presenting the best Iranian market option through taking account of both embodied and operational energy. Autodesk Green Building Studio (GBS) is used to determine the operating loads of each wall. Simapro, a life cycle assessment software, is applied for managing data on environmental impacts. The derived results demonstrate that human health is the most severe damage category for all the analyzed walls. Also, the end-of-life stage's environmental impact is insignificant compared to the production and use stages. Reducing carbon emissions has the highest priority, such that replacing 1 m2 of masonry brick wall (the worst option) with prefabricated extruded polystyrene (XPS) drywall (the best option) can result in saving 1257.85 kgCO2eq. The operational phase of the studied walls has a wide range of environmental impacts. Prefabricated Knauf drywall as well as prefabricated XPS drywall consumes less energy for the operating phase mainly due to providing sufficient quantity of isolations that leads to the better total environmental performance. In conclusion, it should be noted that the thermal performance of building materials should be given more attention.

Environmental and economic assessment of waste collection and transportation using LCA: A case study

The present study is aimed to evaluate the environmental and economic burden associated with current waste collection practices in Dhanbad city, Jharkhand, India. In this study various alternatives were suggested to mitigate these impacts by optimizing resource utilization and maximizing material recovery using life cycle approach. The functional unit adapted is the daily collection service provided for 180 tonnes of municipal solid waste generated in the study area. GaBi 10.6.1 software was used for impact assessment and impacts were assessed for five scenarios in terms of five different impact categories. This study assessed the collection services and treatment options jointly. Baseline scenario (S1) representing the current collection system had the highest impacts on all the impact categories and landfilling contributed the highest (67%) to the overall impacts on the environment. Scenario S2 involved the provision of material recovery facility and considered recycling of plastic wastes having sorting efficiency of 75% which reduced the overall impacts significantly (∼971%) compared to the baseline scenario. Scenario S3 considered composting of food waste (80% food waste sent for composting) and offered further overall impacts reduction (∼1052%) compared to the baseline scenario. In scenario S4, use of electric tippers was accounted which did not offer any significant impacts reductions. Scenario S5 considered the future electricity mix at grid (2030) in India which increased the benefits of using electric tippers. S5 had the least environmental impacts providing overall reductions of ∼1063% compared to baseline scenario and provided maximum economic benefits. Sensitivity analysis results found that variation in recycling had significant change in the environmental impacts. Considering the decrease in recycling rate from 100% to 50%, the impacts on abiotic depletion fossil increased by 136%, acidification by 176%, global warming by 11%, human toxicity by 172% and terrestrial ecotoxicity by 56%.

Comparative life cycle assessment of the linear and circular wine industry chains: a case study in Inner Mongolia, China

Environmental issues and the sustainability of the wine industry receive widespread public attention, but few studies address the environmental impact of the circular wine industry chain. Therefore, we applied the life cycle assessment (LCA) method to a wine enterprise in Inner Mongolia, China, to conduct a cradle-to-gate assessment and comparative analysis on the linear and circular wine industry chain scenarios. The results show that the circular industry chain (S2) has better environmental benefits; the total value of each environmental impact category of S2 is reduced by more than 80% compared with that of the linear industry chain (S1). The global warming potential of S1 is decreased from 4.88 kg CO2eq to 0.919 kg CO2eq for S2. Viticulture is the primary source of environmental problems in all life cycle stages of both scenarios, and electricity and diesel consumption are the key factors affecting the results. Our study shows that the optimization of S2 significantly improves resource efficiency and energy utilization and alleviates the environmental burden through proper waste recycling. Finally, we proposed optimization suggestions based on S2. This study provides scientific guidance for promoting the wine industry to build a circular industry chain and optimize the industrial structure, thus promoting the sustainable development of the industry.

Electricity Generation from Municipal Solid Waste in Nigeria: A Prospective LCA Study

Diverse opportunities and environmental impacts could occur from a potential move towards waste-to-energy (WtE) systems for electricity generation from municipal solid waste (MSW) in Lagos and Abuja, Nigeria. Given this, the purpose of this study is to use life cycle assessment (LCA) as a primary analytical approach in order to undertake a comparative analysis from an environmental impact perspective of different WtE scenarios, along with diesel backup generators (DBGs) and grid electricity. A functional unit of 1 kilowatt-hour of electricity produced was used in assessing the following environmental impact categories: abiotic depletion (fossil fuels) potential (ADP), global warming potential (GWP 100a), human toxicity potential (HTP), photochemical oxidation potential (POCP), acidification potential (AP), and eutrophication potential (EP). The overall result indicated that anaerobic digestion (AD) had the highest energy generated per one tonne of MSW processed for both Lagos (683 kWh/t) and Abuja (667 kWh/t), while landfill gas to energy (LFGTE) had the lowest for both (Lagos 171 kWh/t, Abuja 135 kWh/t). AD also had the lowest environmental impacts amongst the four WtE systems for both cities based on all the impact categories except for POCP. In contrast, LFGTE had the highest impact in all the categories except ADP and HTP. Extending the analysis to include diesel-based generators (DBG) and grid electricity saw the DBGs having the highest impact overall in ADP (14.1 MJ), HTP (0.0732 Kg, 1.4 DB eq), AP (0.0129 Kg SO2 eq), and EP (0.00313 Kg PO4 eq) and grid electricity having the lowest impact in GWP (0.497 Kg CO2 eq), AP (0.000296 Kg SO2 eq), and EP (0.000061 Kg PO4 eq). It was concluded that additional electricity supply from AD to the grid, with its potential to reduce the reliance on DBGs (worst scenario overall), would be a positive action in environmental impact terms.

Greenhouse gases emission reduction for electric power generation sector by efficient dispatching of thermal plants integrated with renewable systems

This research aims to contribute in developing a mathematical model for the composite probabilistic energy emissions dispatch (CPEED) with renewable energy systems, and it proposes a novel framework, based on an existing astute black widow optimization (ABWO) algorithm. Renewable energy power generation technology has contributed to pollution reduction and sustainable development. Therefore, this research aims to explore the CPEED problem in the context of renewable energy generation systems to enhance the energy and climate benefits of the power systems. Five benchmark test systems, combined with conventional thermal power plants and renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, are considered herein to obtain the optimum solution for cost and pollutant emission by using the ABWO approach. The ascendancy is not limited to environmental impacts, but it also provides the diversification of energy supply and reduction of reliance on imported fuels. As a result, the research findings contribute in lowering the cost of fuel and pollutant emissions, correlated with electricity generation systems, while increasing the renewable energy usage and penetration. Finally, the performance and efficacy of the designed scheme have been fully validated by comprehensive experimental results and statistical analyses.

The Role of Eco-Industrial Parks in Promoting Circular Economy in Russia: A Life Cycle Approach

As an approach to move towards a sustainable waste management system, circular economy (CE) is gaining an increased interest by most countries. Russia is among the countries where the CE is one of the priorities of the country’s economy, with a market value of the CE is USD$ 755.05 billion. However, such a strategy is facing challenges and barriers which are country specific. This study aimed to review the status of the CE in Russia and to identify the obstacles that are hindering the country from achieving its objectives. Moreover, the study aimed to evaluate the role of eco-industrial parks (EIP) in Russia in promoting the CE model. The study findings indicate that the CE adoption in Russia is still in its early stages. To create an enabling environment for CE promotion in Russia, there is a need to overcome several institutional, technical, and social barriers. Russian higher educational institutions are playing a major role to create the critical mass of experts that will help the country transition towards a CE model. Using life cycle assessment (LCA) to analyze the environmental performance of one of the EIPs in Russia revealed that such enterprises are more sustainable than the business-as-usual scenarios, under which the generated solid waste is buried into landfill. The comparison shows that by diverting 1.813 million tons of mixed municipal solid waste that is generated in Moscow to EIP would lead to a reduction in environmental impacts. The total global warming potential of the EIP scenario is less, by 59%, than the direct landfilling scenario, while the eutrophication, acidification, smog, and ozone depletion are less, and fossil fuel depletion impacts under the second scenario are less, by 81%, 26%, 18%, and 81%, respectively. Furthermore, the health impacts including carcinogenic, non-carcinogenic, eco-toxicity were found to be 92%, 96%, and 96%, respectively, less than the baseline scenario.