In order to enlarge the shelf life and avoid the waste of fresh-cut (FC) products, novel packaging techniques with antimicrobial properties have been proposed. In this work, we analyzed the potential environmental benefits of using films reinforced with bactericidal ZnO nanoparticles (NP) for FC produce packaging, when compared to the traditional polypropylene (PP) films. A biodegradable, polylactic acid (PLA) package and a non-biodegradable, polypropylene package, both coated with ZnO NP, were considered as novel technologies. The eco-profile of the considered alternatives was assessed via two life cycle assessments (LCAs). Firstly, an attributional LCA was performed in order to compare the materials in terms of their production and end of life (EOL) processes, allowing us to extend the conclusions to different food products. Secondly, a consequential LCA was performed taking into account the whole life cycle of the fresh vegetable, with special attention to the environmental implications of the produce losses among the chain. The uncertainties of the models were assessed via Monte Carlo approach. In both cases, the scenarios concerning the PLA and PP active packages with ZnO NP showed a better profile than the traditional techniques, specifically when considering the full supply chain of the FC vegetables in the consequential LCA. As agricultural production is the main contributor to the environmental impact of the cycle, the avoidance of wastes by extending the shelf life through the novel packages leads to the impact reduction of FC products.

Fresh-cut vegetables, namely those that undergo processes such as washing, sorting, or chopping while keeping their fresh state, constitute an important market element nowadays. Among those operations, the washing step becomes really important due both to the extensive use of water resources and to the utilization of controversial water sanitizing agents, such as chlorine. To ideally eliminate those chlorinated compounds while decreasing water consumption, four novel filtrating technologies (pulsed corona discharge combined with nanofiltration, NF-PCD; classical ultrafiltration, UF; nanofiltration membranes integrating silver nanoparticles, NF-AgNP; and microfiltration with cellulose acetate membranes containing chitin nanocrystals, ChCA) have been proposed to eliminate any contaminating agent in recirculated water. Here, we performed a life cycle assessment (LCA) to assess the environmental effects of introducing these new solutions and to compare those impacts with the burden derived from the current strategy. The novel technologies showed a decreased environmental burden, mainly due to the enhanced water recirculation and the subsequent decrease in energy consumption for pumping and cooling the water stream. The environmental gain would be maintained even if a certain amount of chlorine was still needed. This analysis could serve as an aid to decision-making while evaluating the introduction of new sanitizing techniques.

Developing an accurate concentrated solar power (CSP) performance model requires significant effort and time. The power block (PB) is the most complex system, and its modeling is clearly the most complicated and time-demanding part. Nonetheless, PB layouts are quite similar throughout CSP plants, meaning that there are enough historical process data available from commercial plants to use machine learning techniques. These algorithms allowed the development of a very accurate black-box PB model in a very short amount of time. This PB model could be easily integrated as a block into the PM. The machine learning technique selected was SVR (support vector regression). The PB model was trained using a complete year of data from a commercial CSP plant situated in southern Spain. With a very limited set of inputs, the PB model results were very accurate, according to their validation against a new complete year of data. The model not only fit well on an aggregate basis, but also in the transients between operation modes. To validate applicability, the same model methodology is used with a data from a very different CSP Plant, located in the MENA region and with more than double nominal electric power, obtaining an excellent fitting in the validation.

It is known that any environmental remediation process must be approached as a system and that the transport of materials is key to determining its sustainability. The aim of this work is to establish how far it was possible to transport plant material from a phytoextraction process in such a way that the environmental gain of the remediation process is not compromised. In the absence of a general methodology to answer our question, a new methodology based on spatial analysis and the life cycle perspective is proposed to calculate, under different hypotheses and depending on the type of remediation, the maximum distance that a lorry can travel, taking as a limit the distance in which the environmental benefit would be equal to 0. The results obtained show that there are significant differences depending on the type of optimisation proposed for the transport route as well as the type of valorization of the plant material to be carried out. Thus, in the case of bioethanol, biomass could be transported up to 25 km. For biodiesel, it can be shipped over distances between 255 and 415 km and finally, if it is valorized by anaerobic co-digestion, biodigesters up to 267 km away could be sought for the most favourable case.

One of the concerns of innovation-dependent organisations is that the gradual increase in the average age of their employees might affect their creativity and innovation rates, leading to losses in competitiveness. The purpose of this paper was to deepen the identification and understanding of the contributions done by senior researchers within a private organisation. This study was based on field qualitative research on a multinational company. Interviews were performed were senior researchers and the transcripts were analysed with a qualitative data analysis (QDA) software to organise, analyse and find insights in unstructured or qualitative data. Analysis was performed using axial coding, which relates data together to reveal codes and categories from participants’ voices within the collected data. The points of view of senior researchers were explicitly sought and the findings indicated that these veteran professionals can be more valuable for their contributions as experienced workers than for their scientific productivity at the individual level, without disregarding it. Senior researchers have acquired tacit skills linked to their experience, such as a holistic view of the issues and efficient work methodologies. Therefore, they develop formal or informal roles over time related to advice and knowledge transfer. Consequently, it was found that their tacit contributions and roles increase the intellectual capital of the organisation. This paper helps in understanding the contributions made by senior researchers within a private organisation. No other reviews have sought to obtain such information on this specific sector.