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Air quality monitoring and control are key issues for environmental assessment and management in order to protect public health and the environment. Local and central authorities have developed strategies and tools to manage environmental protection, which, for air quality, consist of monitoring networks with fixed and portable instrumentation and mathematical models. This study develops a methodology for designing short-term air quality campaigns with mobile laboratories (laboratories fully housed within or transported by a vehicle and maintained in a fixed location for a period of time) as a decision support system for environmental management and protection authorities. In particular, the study provides a methodology to identify: (i) the most representative locations to place mobile laboratories and (ii) the best time period to carry out the measurements in the case of short-term air quality campaigns. The approach integrates atmospheric dispersion models and allocation algorithms specifically developed for optimizing the measuring campaigns. The methodology is organized in two phases, each of them divided into several steps. Fourteen allocation algorithms dedicated to three type of receptors (population, vegetation and physical cultural heritage) have been proposed. The methodology has been applied to four short-term air quality campaigns in the Emilia-Romagna region.
Samuele Marinello; Massimo Andretta; Patrizia Lucialli; Elisa Pollini; Serena Righi. A Methodology for Designing Short-Term Stationary Air Quality Campaigns with Mobile Laboratories Using Different Possible Allocation Criteria. Sustainability 2021, 13, 7481 .
AMA StyleSamuele Marinello, Massimo Andretta, Patrizia Lucialli, Elisa Pollini, Serena Righi. A Methodology for Designing Short-Term Stationary Air Quality Campaigns with Mobile Laboratories Using Different Possible Allocation Criteria. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (13):7481.
Chicago/Turabian StyleSamuele Marinello; Massimo Andretta; Patrizia Lucialli; Elisa Pollini; Serena Righi. 2021. "A Methodology for Designing Short-Term Stationary Air Quality Campaigns with Mobile Laboratories Using Different Possible Allocation Criteria." Sustainability 13, no. 13: 7481.
A “cradle-to-grave” life cycle assessment is performed to identify the environmental issues of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) produced through a hybrid thermochemical-biological process using anaerobically digested sewage sludge (ADSS) as feedstock. The assessment includes a measure of the energy performance of the process. The system boundary includes: (i) Sludge pyrolysis followed by volatile fatty acids (VFAs) production; (ii) PHAs-enriched biomass production using a mixed microbial culture (MMC); (iii) PHAs extraction with dimethyl carbonate; and iv) PHAs end-of-life. Three scenarios differing in the use of the syngas produced by both pyrolysis and biochar gasification, and two more scenarios differing only in the external energy sources were evaluated. Results show a trade-off between environmental impacts at global scale, such as climate change and resources depletion, and those having an effect at the local/regional scale, such as acidification, eutrophication, and toxicity. Process configurations based only on the sludge-to-PHAs route require an external energy supply, which determines the highest impacts with respect to climate change, resources depletion, and water depletion. On the contrary, process configurations also integrating the sludge-to-energy route for self-sustainment imply more onsite sludge processing and combustion; this results in the highest values of eutrophication, ecotoxicity, and human toxicity. There is not a categorical winner among the investigated configurations; however, the use of a selected mix of external renewable sources while using sludge to produce PHAs only seems the best compromise. The results are comparable to those of both other PHAs production processes found in the literature and various fossil-based and bio-based polymers, in terms of both non-biogenic GHG emissions and energy demand. Further process advancements and technology improvement in high impact stages are required to make this PHAs production process a competitive candidate for the production of biopolymers on a wide scale.
Luciano Vogli; Stefano Macrelli; Diego Marazza; Paola Galletti; Cristian Torri; Chiara Samorì; Serena Righi. Life Cycle Assessment and Energy Balance of a Novel Polyhydroxyalkanoates Production Process with Mixed Microbial Cultures Fed on Pyrolytic Products of Wastewater Treatment Sludge. Energies 2020, 13, 2706 .
AMA StyleLuciano Vogli, Stefano Macrelli, Diego Marazza, Paola Galletti, Cristian Torri, Chiara Samorì, Serena Righi. Life Cycle Assessment and Energy Balance of a Novel Polyhydroxyalkanoates Production Process with Mixed Microbial Cultures Fed on Pyrolytic Products of Wastewater Treatment Sludge. Energies. 2020; 13 (11):2706.
Chicago/Turabian StyleLuciano Vogli; Stefano Macrelli; Diego Marazza; Paola Galletti; Cristian Torri; Chiara Samorì; Serena Righi. 2020. "Life Cycle Assessment and Energy Balance of a Novel Polyhydroxyalkanoates Production Process with Mixed Microbial Cultures Fed on Pyrolytic Products of Wastewater Treatment Sludge." Energies 13, no. 11: 2706.
Recently, wood pellets have become a reliable and clean renewable fuel for residential heating, replacing fossil fuels and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Wood pellets are normally produced in industrial pellet plants (centralised production), but decentralised small-scale local production also occurs. This study applies Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to quantify and compare the environmental profile of one centralised and two decentralised alternatives for wood pellet production for residential heating in Portugal: (1) industrial wood pellets production (centralised), (2) wood pellets production at sawmills (decentralised) and (3) wood pellets production at households (decentralised). System boundaries include the stages of forest management, wood pellet production, wood pellet distribution and wood pellet energetic conversion. The impact results show that industrial pellet production ranks as the worst alternative, while pellet production at households has the best environmental profile for all the impact categories under study. However, the environmental impacts of pellet production at the sawmill do not differ greatly from those of the pellet production at households; they are 14 to 16% higher for global warming and fossil resources scarcity and 0.3 to 3% higher for the remaining impact categories. The worst environmental performance of the industrial pellet production alternative is mainly due to high electricity and diesel consumption during wood pellet production and the use of logging residues to generate heat for drying biomass feedstock. A sensitivity analysis was performed to evaluate the influence of changing the distance travelled during the transport of packed pellets to stores and sawdust to households. The results show changes in the environmental performance ranking, highlighting that for short distances, both decentralised alternatives can be more sustainable from an environmental perspective than the centralised alternative, but for larger distances, the pellet production at households should be avoided.
Paula Quinteiro; Francesco Greco; Luís António Da Cruz Tarelho; Serena Righi; Luís Arroja; Ana Cláudia Dias. A comparative life cycle assessment of centralised and decentralised wood pellets production for residential heating. Science of The Total Environment 2020, 730, 139162 .
AMA StylePaula Quinteiro, Francesco Greco, Luís António Da Cruz Tarelho, Serena Righi, Luís Arroja, Ana Cláudia Dias. A comparative life cycle assessment of centralised and decentralised wood pellets production for residential heating. Science of The Total Environment. 2020; 730 ():139162.
Chicago/Turabian StylePaula Quinteiro; Francesco Greco; Luís António Da Cruz Tarelho; Serena Righi; Luís Arroja; Ana Cláudia Dias. 2020. "A comparative life cycle assessment of centralised and decentralised wood pellets production for residential heating." Science of The Total Environment 730, no. : 139162.
The ability of microalgae to sequester carbon and at the same time synthesise valuable compounds with potential applications in nutraceutical, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries makes them attractive for commercial deployment, especially in view of a blue bioeconomy. Among microalgae, the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum is considered as an important potential source of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, such as eicosapentanoic acid, an essential polyunsaturated fatty acid with anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties. The aim of this study was to perform the Life Cycle Assessment of the cultivation of P. tricornutum - at semi-industrial scale in photobioreactor - for the production of high-quality bioactive compounds comparing synthetic carbon dioxide supply to a supply with waste carbon dioxide from a biogas upgrading process hypothesizing industrial symbiosis network. The effect of renewable energy use instead of the European electricity mix was also examined. Primary data on the production process, including the stages of cleaning and sterilisation, cultivation, harvesting and freeze-drying, were used. The midpoint impact categories recommended in the ILCD Handbook were used for performing the impact assessment. A sensitivity analysis was also performed on algal productivity, culture medium recirculation factor and amount of solvents per cleaning cycle. Firstly, results indicate in general cultivation and freeze-drying as the most contributing stages to the impacts. Secondly, they demonstrate in the comparative assessment that the use of carbon dioxide from the biogas upgrading is a feasible and attractive alternative to the synthetic one, as it allows for the improvement of the environmental performance of the production process in all the analysed impact categories. Finally, sensitivity analysis suggests that the environmental performance could be further improved by acting on other key factors, such as electricity source, nutrients culture medium and cleaning solutions.
Roberto Porcelli; Federica Dotto; Laura Pezzolesi; Diego Marazza; Nicolas Greggio; Serena Righi. Comparative life cycle assessment of microalgae cultivation for non-energy purposes using different carbon dioxide sources. Science of The Total Environment 2020, 721, 137714 .
AMA StyleRoberto Porcelli, Federica Dotto, Laura Pezzolesi, Diego Marazza, Nicolas Greggio, Serena Righi. Comparative life cycle assessment of microalgae cultivation for non-energy purposes using different carbon dioxide sources. Science of The Total Environment. 2020; 721 ():137714.
Chicago/Turabian StyleRoberto Porcelli; Federica Dotto; Laura Pezzolesi; Diego Marazza; Nicolas Greggio; Serena Righi. 2020. "Comparative life cycle assessment of microalgae cultivation for non-energy purposes using different carbon dioxide sources." Science of The Total Environment 721, no. : 137714.
The practicality of adopting Life Cycle Assessment to support decision-making can be limited by the resource-intensive nature of data collection and Life Cycle Inventory modelling. The number of chemical products increases continuously, and long-term analyses show that overall growth of chemicals production and demand as well as faster growth in emerging regions is a behaviour that is expected to continue in the future. Regrettably, chemical inventories are typically among the most challenging to model because of the lack of available data and the large number of material and energy flows. This explains why it is so important for the Life Cycle Assessment community to have effective methods to implement life cycle inventories of chemicals available. This chapter deals with the issues of Life Cycle Inventory analysis for chemical processes and the related lack of data concerning inventories of basic and fine chemicals substances. The overall aim of the chapter is to illustrate the different possibilities/approaches that the scientific Life Cycle Assessment community has developed in order to overcome such a lack of data concerning the inventories of a specific (basic and/or fine) chemical substance both for input and output flows. Their main advantages and drawbacks are identified and discussed briefly.
Serena Righi; Alessandro Dal Pozzo; Alessandro Tugnoli; Andrea Raggi; Beatrice Salieri; Roland Hischier. The Availability of Suitable Datasets for the LCA Analysis of Chemical Substances. Life Cycle Assessment in the Chemical Product Chain 2020, 3 -32.
AMA StyleSerena Righi, Alessandro Dal Pozzo, Alessandro Tugnoli, Andrea Raggi, Beatrice Salieri, Roland Hischier. The Availability of Suitable Datasets for the LCA Analysis of Chemical Substances. Life Cycle Assessment in the Chemical Product Chain. 2020; ():3-32.
Chicago/Turabian StyleSerena Righi; Alessandro Dal Pozzo; Alessandro Tugnoli; Andrea Raggi; Beatrice Salieri; Roland Hischier. 2020. "The Availability of Suitable Datasets for the LCA Analysis of Chemical Substances." Life Cycle Assessment in the Chemical Product Chain , no. : 3-32.
The vertical distribution of PCBs was measured in a dated core from the continental shelf of the Korea Strait. The historical trend of deposition and fluxes of individual and total PCB agreed well with the dynamics of historical tendencies of PCBs consumption in South Korea up to mid-1980 and a peak of total PCBs of 810 ng kg−1 was recorded at the turn of the 1960s. A second period of deposition, when concentrations of total PCB up to 1007 ng kg−1 were reached, was evidenced between 1989 and 2010 after the ban of PCBs. Sediments deposited in 1990s–2010, and sediments deposited in the period of maximum PCBs use (1956–1983) are both enriched in the less chlorinated homologue groups (tri- and tetrachlorobyphenyls) and congener PCB 118. However, the ratio of dioxin-like PCBs, and dichloro- and hexachloro homologue groups disclosed compositional variations between the two time periods. Source analysis suggested that PCBs in the sediment record mainly originated from Kanechlor 300, Kanechlor 400 and Aroclor 1242 technical mixtures overlapped by secondary/unintentional combustion sources from regional steel making processes in the last decades (1990s-2010).
Roberta Guerra; Andrea Pasteris; Serena Righi; Gon Ok. Historical record of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the continental shelf of the Korea Strait. Chemosphere 2019, 237, 124438 .
AMA StyleRoberta Guerra, Andrea Pasteris, Serena Righi, Gon Ok. Historical record of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the continental shelf of the Korea Strait. Chemosphere. 2019; 237 ():124438.
Chicago/Turabian StyleRoberta Guerra; Andrea Pasteris; Serena Righi; Gon Ok. 2019. "Historical record of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the continental shelf of the Korea Strait." Chemosphere 237, no. : 124438.
A life cycle thinking approach focusing on energy and greenhouse gas savings has been applied to study the potential for energy recovery and organic matter reclamation from Waste Activated Sludge produced in Waste Water Treatment Plants by means of a catalytic thermo-chemical process. A generic Basic Sludge Processing line has been modelled following common waste water and sludge treatment stages found in several European plants. This has served to identify and divide generic sludge treatment units in order to compare the performance of different industrial configurations where a specific thermo-chemical technology treatment unit and related cogeneration was substituted or added to reference units. The considered technology is an enhanced intermediate pyrolysis screw reactor combined with a reforming process known as Thermo-Catalytic Reforming allowing for conversion of sewage sludge into energy carriers and reclamation of organic substances in the form of charcoal (biochar). In order to study the greenhouse gas savings, a calculator tool complying with Directive 2009/28/EC has been adopted. Results show that substantial benefits in terms of energy production and greenhouse gas emissions reduction of a sludge-to-energy system are expected if the secondary sludge is directly treated with the Thermo-Catalytic Reforming process, without an intermediate anaerobic digestion step.
Diego Marazza; Stefano Macrelli; Mirta D'Angeli; Serena Righi; Andreas Hornung; Andrea Contin. Greenhouse gas savings and energy balance of sewage sludge treated through an enhanced intermediate pyrolysis screw reactor combined with a reforming process. Waste Management 2019, 91, 42 -53.
AMA StyleDiego Marazza, Stefano Macrelli, Mirta D'Angeli, Serena Righi, Andreas Hornung, Andrea Contin. Greenhouse gas savings and energy balance of sewage sludge treated through an enhanced intermediate pyrolysis screw reactor combined with a reforming process. Waste Management. 2019; 91 ():42-53.
Chicago/Turabian StyleDiego Marazza; Stefano Macrelli; Mirta D'Angeli; Serena Righi; Andreas Hornung; Andrea Contin. 2019. "Greenhouse gas savings and energy balance of sewage sludge treated through an enhanced intermediate pyrolysis screw reactor combined with a reforming process." Waste Management 91, no. : 42-53.
In recent years advanced biorefineries based on organic residues and waste have gained increased attention for their potential to obviate first-generation biorefineries environmental burdens. During the conceptual design phase of an advanced biorefinery the role of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is crucial for providing information on its environmental performances, better solutions, preferable process setup, more suitable feedstock, trade-off, and so on. This review focuses on advanced biorefineries LCAs in order to accomplish a synthesis of the state of the art from the methodological point of view. Some main methodological issues have been analyzed and discussed on 24 LCAs. Attention has been drawn to functional units, system boundaries, inventory data collection, allocation methods and multifunctionality management approach. Results show different approaches and solutions to the analyzed aspects but some clear addresses can be pointed out. It has been observed that LCA of biorefineries can be classified in three different types in base on focal aim, and then functional units are consequentially defined. A large variability has been observed regarding system boundaries even if “cradle-to-gate” appears the most common. Inventories are mainly based on secondary data due to the very innovative features of the analyzed technologies. No general consensus has been observed concerning allocation of environmental impact between co-products.
Serena Righi. Life Cycle Assessments of Waste-Based Biorefineries—A Critical Review. Smart and Sustainable Planning for Cities and Regions 2018, 139 -154.
AMA StyleSerena Righi. Life Cycle Assessments of Waste-Based Biorefineries—A Critical Review. Smart and Sustainable Planning for Cities and Regions. 2018; ():139-154.
Chicago/Turabian StyleSerena Righi. 2018. "Life Cycle Assessments of Waste-Based Biorefineries—A Critical Review." Smart and Sustainable Planning for Cities and Regions , no. : 139-154.
Pesticides are commonly applied in conventional agricultural systems, but they can lead to serious environmental contamination. The calculation of on-field pesticide emissions in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies is challenging, because of the difficulty in the calculation of the fate of pesticides and, therefore, several literature approaches based on different dispersion models have been developed. PestLCI 2.0 model can provide simultaneous assessment of the emission fractions of a pesticide to air, surface water and groundwater based on many parameters. The goal of this study is to exploit the extent of PestLCI 2.0 sensitivity to soil variations, with the ultimate goal of increasing the robustness of the modelling of pesticide emissions in LCA studies. The model was applied to maize cultivation in an experimental farm in Northern Italy, considering three tests, which evaluated the distribution of pesticides among environmental compartments obtained considering different soil types. Results show that small variations in soil characteristics lead to great variation of PestLCI 2.0, with a significance that depends on the type of environmental compartment. The compartment most affected by soil variations was groundwater, whereas surface waters were dominated by meteorological conditions, pesticides' physical and chemical properties and wind drift, which are independent from soil characteristics. Therefore, the use of specific soil data in PestLCI 2.0 results in the availability of a comprehensive set of emission data in the different compartments, which represents a relevant input for the inventory phase of LCA studies and can increase their robustness. Nevertheless, PestLCI 2.0 requires a great effort for the data collection and a specific expertise in soil science for interpreting the results. Moreover, characterization factors for pesticide groundwater emissions should be developed, in order to exploit these detailed results in the impact assessment phase, Finally, the study provides further insights into future improvement of PestLCI 2.0.
Valentina Fantin; Alessandro Buscaroli; Teunis Dijkman; Alessandra Zamagni; Gioia Garavini; Alessandra Bonoli; Serena Righi. PestLCI 2.0 sensitivity to soil variations for the evaluation of pesticide distribution in Life Cycle Assessment studies. Science of The Total Environment 2018, 656, 1021 -1031.
AMA StyleValentina Fantin, Alessandro Buscaroli, Teunis Dijkman, Alessandra Zamagni, Gioia Garavini, Alessandra Bonoli, Serena Righi. PestLCI 2.0 sensitivity to soil variations for the evaluation of pesticide distribution in Life Cycle Assessment studies. Science of The Total Environment. 2018; 656 ():1021-1031.
Chicago/Turabian StyleValentina Fantin; Alessandro Buscaroli; Teunis Dijkman; Alessandra Zamagni; Gioia Garavini; Alessandra Bonoli; Serena Righi. 2018. "PestLCI 2.0 sensitivity to soil variations for the evaluation of pesticide distribution in Life Cycle Assessment studies." Science of The Total Environment 656, no. : 1021-1031.
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a powerful tool to identify direct and indirect environmental burdens associated with products, processes and services. A critical phase of the LCA methodology is the collection of representative inventory data for the energy and material streams related to the production process. In the evaluation of new and emerging chemical processes, measured data are known only at laboratory scale and may have limited connection to the environmental footprint of the same process implemented at industrial scale. On the other hand, in the evaluation of processes already established at commercial scale, the availability of process data might be hampered by industrial confidentiality. In both cases, the integration of simple process design techniques in the LCA can contribute to overcome the lack of primary data, allowing a more correct quantification of the life cycle inventory. The present paper shows, through the review of case study examples, how simplified process design, modeling and simulation can support the LCA framework to provide a preliminary estimate of energy and material consumption data suitable for environmental assessment purposes. The discussed case studies illustrate the implementation of process design considerations to tackle availability issues of inventory data in different contexts. By evidencing the case-specific nature of the problem of preliminary conceptual process design, the study calls for a closer collaboration of process design experts and life cycle analysts in the green development of new products and processes.
Serena Righi; Filippo Baioli; Alessandro Dal Pozzo; Alessandro Tugnoli. Integrating Life Cycle Inventory and Process Design Techniques for the Early Estimate of Energy and Material Consumption Data. Energies 2018, 11, 970 .
AMA StyleSerena Righi, Filippo Baioli, Alessandro Dal Pozzo, Alessandro Tugnoli. Integrating Life Cycle Inventory and Process Design Techniques for the Early Estimate of Energy and Material Consumption Data. Energies. 2018; 11 (4):970.
Chicago/Turabian StyleSerena Righi; Filippo Baioli; Alessandro Dal Pozzo; Alessandro Tugnoli. 2018. "Integrating Life Cycle Inventory and Process Design Techniques for the Early Estimate of Energy and Material Consumption Data." Energies 11, no. 4: 970.
Serena Righi; Filippo Baioli; Chiara Samorì; Paola Galletti; Emilio Tagliavini; Carlo Stramigioli; Alessandro Tugnoli; Peter Fantke. A life cycle assessment of poly-hydroxybutyrate extraction from microbial biomass using dimethyl carbonate. Journal of Cleaner Production 2017, 168, 692 -707.
AMA StyleSerena Righi, Filippo Baioli, Chiara Samorì, Paola Galletti, Emilio Tagliavini, Carlo Stramigioli, Alessandro Tugnoli, Peter Fantke. A life cycle assessment of poly-hydroxybutyrate extraction from microbial biomass using dimethyl carbonate. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2017; 168 ():692-707.
Chicago/Turabian StyleSerena Righi; Filippo Baioli; Chiara Samorì; Paola Galletti; Emilio Tagliavini; Carlo Stramigioli; Alessandro Tugnoli; Peter Fantke. 2017. "A life cycle assessment of poly-hydroxybutyrate extraction from microbial biomass using dimethyl carbonate." Journal of Cleaner Production 168, no. : 692-707.
Valentina Fantin; Serena Righi; Irene Rondini; Paolo Masoni. Environmental assessment of wheat and maize production in an Italian farmers' cooperative. Journal of Cleaner Production 2017, 140, 631 -643.
AMA StyleValentina Fantin, Serena Righi, Irene Rondini, Paolo Masoni. Environmental assessment of wheat and maize production in an Italian farmers' cooperative. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2017; 140 ():631-643.
Chicago/Turabian StyleValentina Fantin; Serena Righi; Irene Rondini; Paolo Masoni. 2017. "Environmental assessment of wheat and maize production in an Italian farmers' cooperative." Journal of Cleaner Production 140, no. : 631-643.
A Life Cycle Assessment is conducted on pyrolysis coupled to anaerobic digestion to treat corn stovers and to obtain bioenergy and biochar. The analysis takes into account the feedstock treatment process, the fate of products and the indirect effects due to crop residue removal. The biochar is considered to be used as solid fuel for coal power plants or as soil conditioner. All results are compared with a corresponding fossil-fuel-based scenario. It is shown that the proposed system always enables relevant primary energy savings of non-renewable sources and a strong reduction of greenhouse gases emissions without worsening the abiotic resources depletion. Conversely, the study points out that the use of corn stovers for mulch is critical when considering acidification and eutrophication impacts. Therefore, removal of corn stovers from the fields must be planned carefully.
Serena Righi; Vittoria Bandini; Diego Marazza; Filippo Baioli; Cristian Torri; Andrea Contin. Life Cycle Assessment of high ligno-cellulosic biomass pyrolysis coupled with anaerobic digestion. Bioresource Technology 2016, 212, 245 -253.
AMA StyleSerena Righi, Vittoria Bandini, Diego Marazza, Filippo Baioli, Cristian Torri, Andrea Contin. Life Cycle Assessment of high ligno-cellulosic biomass pyrolysis coupled with anaerobic digestion. Bioresource Technology. 2016; 212 ():245-253.
Chicago/Turabian StyleSerena Righi; Vittoria Bandini; Diego Marazza; Filippo Baioli; Cristian Torri; Andrea Contin. 2016. "Life Cycle Assessment of high ligno-cellulosic biomass pyrolysis coupled with anaerobic digestion." Bioresource Technology 212, no. : 245-253.
Highlights•Environmental impacts of a biofuel produced on laboratory scale have been evaluated.•Transesterification of soybean oil with dimethyl carbonate is the analysed process.•Biodiesel from soybean oil and fossil diesel have been taken as reference products.•"Cradle to gate" Life Cycle Assessment has been applied.•Results are encouraging although trade-offs are highlighted. AbstractIt is easy to predict that in the coming years in Europe biodiesel will play an increasingly important role in the transport sector. The European Commission has set at 10% by 2020 the proportion that biofuels should represent in total fuel used in transport and biodiesel is currently the most widely used biofuel in the European Union. The most common way to produce biodiesel is through transesterification of vegetable oils with methanol; glycerol is the main co-product. Although glycerol has many industrial applications, increased production of biodiesel could make complete market placement of this chemical difficult. In this context, increasing interest is paid towards different methods of biodiesel production that provide alternative co-products. This article offers a "cradle to gate" evaluation of potential environmental impacts caused by an innovative process for the production of DMC-BioD, an alternative biofuel to biodiesel which does not involve the production of glycerol. Transesterification of soybean oil with dimethyl carbonate to obtain DMC-BioD has been modelled with the aid of the Chemical Process Simulation software Aspen HYSYS® that produced the material and energy balances and the preliminary sizing of the process units. Results have been also compared with background information from database on the production of conventional biodiesel from soybean oil and of fossil diesel. The study suggests that DMC-BioD can be an interesting route for the production of biofuels from an environmental point of view. Compared to fossil diesel, GHG emissions can be decreased, although trade-offs are registered in other environmental categories. In any case, future investigation is needed in order to understand and optimize its environmental profile through the entire life cycle and possibly bring its production to a commercial scale. This preliminary analysis of potential environmental impacts provides useful information to continue the testing and scale-up phases and to improve the environmental performances of the process.
Serena Righi; Vittoria Bandini; Daniele Fabbri; Mauro Cordella; Carlo Stramigioli; Alessandro Tugnoli. Modelling of an alternative process technology for biofuel production and assessment of its environmental impacts. Journal of Cleaner Production 2016, 122, 42 -51.
AMA StyleSerena Righi, Vittoria Bandini, Daniele Fabbri, Mauro Cordella, Carlo Stramigioli, Alessandro Tugnoli. Modelling of an alternative process technology for biofuel production and assessment of its environmental impacts. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2016; 122 ():42-51.
Chicago/Turabian StyleSerena Righi; Vittoria Bandini; Daniele Fabbri; Mauro Cordella; Carlo Stramigioli; Alessandro Tugnoli. 2016. "Modelling of an alternative process technology for biofuel production and assessment of its environmental impacts." Journal of Cleaner Production 122, no. : 42-51.
Chiara Monari; Serena Righi; Stig Irving Olsen. Greenhouse gas emissions and energy balance of biodiesel production from microalgae cultivated in photobioreactors in Denmark: a life-cycle modeling. Journal of Cleaner Production 2016, 112, 4084 -4092.
AMA StyleChiara Monari, Serena Righi, Stig Irving Olsen. Greenhouse gas emissions and energy balance of biodiesel production from microalgae cultivated in photobioreactors in Denmark: a life-cycle modeling. Journal of Cleaner Production. 2016; 112 ():4084-4092.
Chicago/Turabian StyleChiara Monari; Serena Righi; Stig Irving Olsen. 2016. "Greenhouse gas emissions and energy balance of biodiesel production from microalgae cultivated in photobioreactors in Denmark: a life-cycle modeling." Journal of Cleaner Production 112, no. : 4084-4092.
A calculation model for determining the indoor dose due to building materials with significant concentration of radioactivity has been applied to the case study of ceramic tiles; the model allows the contribution of bearing walls and wall covering materials to be calculated. The model is implemented in FORTRAN 77 and provides a quantification of the gamma radiation field (in terms of external dose rate in air, nGyh(-1)) inside a room with known dimensions. Application model results have been validated both by comparison with the results obtained by other authors and by experimental measurements. Model sensitivity and performances have been analysed and lastly the case studies focused on ceramic tiles have been proposed.
Serena Righi; Simona Verità; Pier Luca Rossi; Marcelo Francis Maduar. A DOSE CALCULATION MODEL APPLICATION FOR INDOOR EXPOSURE TO TWO-LAYER WALLS GAMMA IRRADIATION: THE CASE STUDY OF CERAMIC TILES. Radiation Protection Dosimetry 2015, 171, 1 .
AMA StyleSerena Righi, Simona Verità, Pier Luca Rossi, Marcelo Francis Maduar. A DOSE CALCULATION MODEL APPLICATION FOR INDOOR EXPOSURE TO TWO-LAYER WALLS GAMMA IRRADIATION: THE CASE STUDY OF CERAMIC TILES. Radiation Protection Dosimetry. 2015; 171 (4):1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleSerena Righi; Simona Verità; Pier Luca Rossi; Marcelo Francis Maduar. 2015. "A DOSE CALCULATION MODEL APPLICATION FOR INDOOR EXPOSURE TO TWO-LAYER WALLS GAMMA IRRADIATION: THE CASE STUDY OF CERAMIC TILES." Radiation Protection Dosimetry 171, no. 4: 1.
Organic carbon (OC) content, elemental (C/N) and isotopic (δ 13C) composition of organic matter (OM) constrain relative contributions from both marine and terrestrial sources to modern sediments in the NE Gulf of Cádiz (GoC) shelf. C/N and (δ 13C) indicate a transition from a dominantly marine to a terrestrial input of OM deposited in Bay of Cádiz and the Guadalquivir prodelta. OC and mass accumulation rates (MARs, based on bulk density and 210Pb-derived sediment MAR) suggest that labile OM from primary productivity accounts for the low OC content and burial rates in sediments in the NE GoC shelf.
Roberta Guerra; Serena Righi; Enrique García-Luque. Modern accumulation rates and sources of organic carbon in the NE Gulf of Cádiz (SW Iberian Peninsula). Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 2015, 305, 429 -437.
AMA StyleRoberta Guerra, Serena Righi, Enrique García-Luque. Modern accumulation rates and sources of organic carbon in the NE Gulf of Cádiz (SW Iberian Peninsula). Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry. 2015; 305 (2):429-437.
Chicago/Turabian StyleRoberta Guerra; Serena Righi; Enrique García-Luque. 2015. "Modern accumulation rates and sources of organic carbon in the NE Gulf of Cádiz (SW Iberian Peninsula)." Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry 305, no. 2: 429-437.
The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology is widely applied in several industrial sectors to evaluate the environmental performance of processes, products and services. Recently, several reports and studies have emphasized the importance of LCA in the field of engineered nanomaterials. However, to date only a few LCA studies on nanotechnology have been carried out, and fewer still have assessed aspects relating to ecotoxicity. This is mainly due to the lack of knowledge in relation on human and environmental exposure and effect of engineered nanoparticles (ENPs). This bottleneck is continued when performing Life Cycle Impact Assessment, where characterization models and consequently characterization factors (CFs) for ENPs are missing. This paper aims to provide the freshwater ecotoxicity CF for titanium dioxide nanoparticles (nano-TiO₂). The USEtox model has been selected as a characterisation model. An adjusted multimedia fate model has been developed which accounts for nano-specific fate process descriptors (i.e. sedimentation, aggregation with suspended particle matter, etc.) to estimate the fate of nano-TiO₂ in freshwater. A literature survey of toxicity tests performed on freshwater organism representative of multiple trophic levels was conducted, including algae, crustaceans and fish in order to collect relevant EC₅₀ values. Then, the toxic effect of nano-TiO₂ was computed on the basis of the HC₅₀ value. Thus, following the principle of USEtox model and accounting for nano-specific descriptors a CF for the toxic impact of freshwater ecotoxicity of 0.28 PAFdaym(3)kg(-1) is proposed.
Beatrice Salieri; Serena Righi; Andrea Pasteris; Stig Irving Olsen. Freshwater ecotoxicity characterisation factor for metal oxide nanoparticles: A case study on titanium dioxide nanoparticle. Science of The Total Environment 2015, 505, 494 -502.
AMA StyleBeatrice Salieri, Serena Righi, Andrea Pasteris, Stig Irving Olsen. Freshwater ecotoxicity characterisation factor for metal oxide nanoparticles: A case study on titanium dioxide nanoparticle. Science of The Total Environment. 2015; 505 ():494-502.
Chicago/Turabian StyleBeatrice Salieri; Serena Righi; Andrea Pasteris; Stig Irving Olsen. 2015. "Freshwater ecotoxicity characterisation factor for metal oxide nanoparticles: A case study on titanium dioxide nanoparticle." Science of The Total Environment 505, no. : 494-502.
Recent studies suggest that the ecotoxicity of engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) is dependent upon the treatment of ENPs in suspensions (e.g. sonication or use of solvents) and on the mode of exposure to test organisms. We conducted several bioassays with Daphnia magna in order to determine how adverse effects of TiO2 nanoparticles (n-TiO2) are influenced by experimental set-up. Several treatments were applied, including three test media, several treatments of n-TiO2 suspensions (stirring, sonication) and different exposure modes (exposure duration and volume of test suspension). No adverse effects were observed when D. magna were exposed to 50 mL of suspension, regardless of TiO2 concentration (up to 250 mg/L) and exposure duration. Conversely, adverse effects were observed when D. magna were exposed to 2 mL of suspension for 96 h with a 50 % effect concentration EC50 values ranging from 32 mg/L to 82 mg/L. Test media had no significant influence on the outcome of all treatments. For a better mechanistic understanding of the experimental set-up at which adverse effects were observed, the particle size of n-TiO2 in the test media was characterized throughout the test duration. These measurements revealed a fast and strong agglomeration with a secondary particle size in the order of magnitude of micrometers. Our study describes how the effects of n-TiO2 on D .magna are influenced by the duration of exposure and volume of media, highlighting the need for standardization of experimental methods.
Beatrice Salieri; Andrea Pasteris; Jonas Baumann; Serena Righi; Jan Köser; Rosaria D’Amato; Benedetta Mazzesi; Juliane Filser. Does the exposure mode to ENPs influence their toxicity to aquatic species? A case study with TiO2 nanoparticles and Daphnia magna. Environmental Science and Pollution Research 2015, 22, 5050 -5058.
AMA StyleBeatrice Salieri, Andrea Pasteris, Jonas Baumann, Serena Righi, Jan Köser, Rosaria D’Amato, Benedetta Mazzesi, Juliane Filser. Does the exposure mode to ENPs influence their toxicity to aquatic species? A case study with TiO2 nanoparticles and Daphnia magna. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. 2015; 22 (7):5050-5058.
Chicago/Turabian StyleBeatrice Salieri; Andrea Pasteris; Jonas Baumann; Serena Righi; Jan Köser; Rosaria D’Amato; Benedetta Mazzesi; Juliane Filser. 2015. "Does the exposure mode to ENPs influence their toxicity to aquatic species? A case study with TiO2 nanoparticles and Daphnia magna." Environmental Science and Pollution Research 22, no. 7: 5050-5058.
In this paper the authors propose a framework for combining life cycle assessment (LCA) and Risk Assessment (RA) to support the sustainability assessment of emerging technologies. This proposal includes four steps of analysis: technological system definition; data collection; risk evaluation and impacts quantification; results interpretation. This scheme has been applied to a case study of nanofluid alumina production in two different pilot lines, "single-stage" and "two-stage". The study has been developed in the NanoHex project (enhanced nano-fluid heat exchange). Goals of the study were analyzing the hotspots and highlighting possible trade-off between the results of LCA, which identifies the processes having the best environmental performance, and the results of RA, which identifies the scenarios having the highest risk for workers. Indeed, due to lack of data about exposure limits, exposure-dose relationships and toxicity of alumina nanopowders (NPs) and nanofluids (NF), the workplace exposure has been evaluated by means of qualitative risk assessment, using Stoffenmanager Nano. Though having different aims, LCA and RA have a complementary role in the description of impacts of products/substances/technologies. Their combined use can overcome limits of each of them and allows a wider vision of the problems to better support the decision making process.
Grazia Barberio; Simona Scalbi; Patrizia Buttol; Paolo Masoni; Serena Righi. Combining life cycle assessment and qualitative risk assessment: The case study of alumina nanofluid production. Science of The Total Environment 2014, 496, 122 -131.
AMA StyleGrazia Barberio, Simona Scalbi, Patrizia Buttol, Paolo Masoni, Serena Righi. Combining life cycle assessment and qualitative risk assessment: The case study of alumina nanofluid production. Science of The Total Environment. 2014; 496 ():122-131.
Chicago/Turabian StyleGrazia Barberio; Simona Scalbi; Patrizia Buttol; Paolo Masoni; Serena Righi. 2014. "Combining life cycle assessment and qualitative risk assessment: The case study of alumina nanofluid production." Science of The Total Environment 496, no. : 122-131.