| 1. |
- Bjorn, A., et al.
(författare)
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Review of life-cycle based methods for absolute environmental sustainability assessment and their applications
- 2020
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Ingår i: Environmental Research Letters. - : IOP Publishing Ltd. - 1748-9326 .- 1748-9318. ; 15:8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In many regions and at the planetary scale, human pressures on the environment exceed levels that natural systems can sustain. These pressures are caused by networks of human activities, which often extend across countries and continents due to global trade. This has led to an increasing requirement for methods that enable absolute environmental sustainability assessment (AESA) of anthropogenic systems and which have a basis in life cycle assessment (LCA). Such methods enable the comparison of environmental impacts of products, companies, nations, etc, with an assigned share of environmental carrying capacity for various impact categories. This study is the first systematic review of LCA-based AESA methods and their applications. After developing a framework for LCA-based AESA methods, we identified 45 relevant studies through an initial survey, database searches and citation analysis. We characterized these studies according to their intended application, impact categories, basis of carrying capacity estimates, spatial differentiation of environmental model and principles for assigning carrying capacity. We then characterized all method applications and synthesized their results. Based on this assessment, we present recommendations to practitioners on the selection and use of existing LCA-based AESA methods, as well as ways to perform assessments and communicate results to decision-makers. Furthermore, we identify future research priorities intended to extend coverage of all components of the proposed method framework, improve modeling and increase the applicability of methods. © 2020 The Author(s).
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| 2. |
- Karlson, Agnes M. L., et al.
(författare)
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Linking consumer physiological status to food-web structure and prey food value in the Baltic Sea
- 2020
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Ingår i: Ambio. - Stockholm : Springer Netherlands. - 0044-7447 .- 1654-7209. ; 49:2, s. 391-406
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Declining physiological status in marine top consumers has been observed worldwide. We investigate changes in the physiological status and population/community traits of six consumer species/groups in the Baltic Sea (1993-2014), spanning four trophic levels and using metrics currently operational or proposed as indicators of food-web status. We ask whether the physiological status of consumers can be explained by food-web structure and prey food value. This was tested using partial least square regressions with status metrics for gray seal, cod, herring, sprat and the benthic predatory isopod Saduria as response variables, and abundance and food value of their prey, abundance of competitors and predators as predictors. We find evidence that the physiological status of cod, herring and sprat is influenced by competition, predation, and prey availability; herring and sprat status also by prey size. Our study highlights the need for management approaches that account for species interactions across multiple trophic levels.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Albertsson, Ann-Christine, et al.
(författare)
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Design of renewable hydrogel release systems from fiberboard mill wastewater
- 2010
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Ingår i: Biomacromolecules. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1525-7797 .- 1526-4602. ; 11:5, s. 1406-1411
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A new route for the design of renewable hydrogels is presented. The soluble waste from masonite production was isolated, fractionized, and upgraded. The resulting hemicellulose rich fraction was alkenyl-functionalized and used in the preparation of covalently cross-linked hydrogels capable of sustained release of incorporated agents. Said hydrogels showed a Fickian diffusion-based release of incorporated bovine serum albumin. Also, a method for the coating of seeds with hydrogel was developed. The sustained release of incorporated growth retardant agents from the hydrogel coating on rape seeds was shown to enable the temporary inhibition of germination.
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| 5. |
- Albertsson, Ann-Christine, et al.
(författare)
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Emission of volatiles from polymers - A new approach for understanding polymer degradation
- 2006
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Ingår i: Journal of Polymers and the Environment. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1566-2543 .- 1572-8919 .- 1572-8900. ; 14:1, s. 8-13
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Emission of low molar mass compounds from different polymeric materials was determined and the results from the volatile analysis were applied to predict the degree of degradation and long-term properties, to determine degradation rates and mechanisms, to differentiate between biotic and abiotic degradation and for quality control work. Solid-phase microextraction and solid-phase extraction together with GC-MS were applied to identify and quantify the low molar mass compounds. Volatiles were released and monitored at early stages of degradation before any matrix changes were observed by e.g. SEC, DSC and tensile testing. The analysis of volatiles can thus also be applied to detect small differences between polymeric materials and their susceptibility to degradation. The formation of certain degradation products correlated with the changes taking place in the polymer matrix, these indicator products could, thus, be analysed to rapidly predict the degree of degradation in the polymer matrix and further to predict the long-term properties and remaining lifetime of the product.
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| 6. |
- Groning, M., et al.
(författare)
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Phenolic prepreg waste as functional filter with antioxidant effect in polypropylene and polyamide-6
- 2006
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Ingår i: Polymer degradation and stability. - : Elsevier BV. - 0141-3910 .- 1873-2321. ; 91:8, s. 1815-1823
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Milled phenol-formaldehyde glass-fibre scrap (prepreg) was mixed with polypropylene (PP) and polyamide-6 (PA6). The oxidation induction time (OIT) of PP/prepreg composite measured by both chemiluminescence (CL) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) was significantly longer than the oxidation induction time of unstabilised base PP. In addition, mechanical testing showed that the prepreg filter stabilised both PP and PA6 towards oxidation during long-term accelerated ageing. Headspace-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (HS-GC/MS) showed that PP/prepreg composites emit somewhat larger amounts of volatile compounds compared to the reference PP/glass fibre composites, while the amount of volatile components emitted from PA6/prepreg composites was similar to the reference PA6/glass fibre composites. The new prepreg composites could have potential in thermally demanding applications especially if a secondary phosphite stabiliser is added to further increase the oxidative stability through synergy effects.
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| 7. |
- Hakkarainen, Minna, et al.
(författare)
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Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) in polymer characterization - Long-term properties and quality control of polymeric materials
- 2003
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Ingår i: Journal of Applied Polymer Science. - : Wiley. - 0021-8995 .- 1097-4628. ; 89:3, s. 867-873
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) in combination with GG-MS was applied to quality control polyamide 6.6 collected for recycling and to study the long-term properties and degadation of nitrile rubber, polyethylene, and polyamide 6.6. The migration of plasticizer and other additives reduces the service-life and changes the properties of the material. It is also a possible health hazard, for example, legislation against the use of brominated flame retardants in plastic materials, is under discussion, and fast and reliable methods are required to detect such compounds in plastic materials collected for recycling. SPME rapidly and effectively extracted several brominated compounds from in-plant collected polyamide 6.6. Migration of tris(2-butoxy-ethyl)phosphate plasticizer and its degradation products from nitrile rubber during long-term thermal ageing at 60 and 80degreesC was shown by SPME-GC-MS, while the plasticizer was not volatile enough to be detected by traditional HS-GC-MS. In accordance the number of degradation products extracted from thermo-oxidized PE by HS-SPME was three times larger than the number detected after HS-GC-MS analysis. SPME-GC-MS could also detect early signs of degradation in thermo-oxidized virgin and in-plant recycled polyamide 6.6 before any signs of degradation were observed by, for example, tensile testing or FTIR.
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| 8. |
- Michalak, M., et al.
(författare)
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Recycling Oxidized Model Polyethylene Powder as a Degradation Enhancing Filler for Polyethylene/Polycaprolactone Blends
- 2016
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Ingår i: ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 2168-0485. ; 4:1, s. 129-135
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Polyethylene (PE) powder with different degrees of oxidation was prepared to model end-of life polyethylene that has been oxidized during processing and/or service-life. The nonoxidized and preoxidized PE powders were blended with PCL to evaluate the possibility to recycle PE powder in PCL blends. Good elongation at break was reached for all 25/75 (w/w) PE/PCL films and the elongation at break correlated well with the carbonyl index of the original PE powder, indicating that the oxidation of PE increased the interfacial adhesion with PCL and improved the blend properties. The preoxidized PE powder in combination with surfactant and pro-oxidant greatly accelerated the degradation rate of PCL as measured by molecular weight decrease during low temperature thermo-oxidative aging. This coincided with the fast initial increase in PE carbonyl index. The degradation accelerating effect was larger when preoxidized PE was blended with PCL as compared to when nonoxidized PE was added. However, the degree of preoxidation had minor impact on PCL degradation rate. Without PE powder the degradation rate of PCL was not enhanced by the addition of pro-oxidant and surfactant alone.
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| 10. |
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