| 1. |
- Hansson, Julia, 1978, et al.
(författare)
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COSTS FOR REDUCING GHG EMISSIONS FROM ROAD AND AIR TRANSPORT WITH BIOFUELS AND ELECTROFUELS
- 2023
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Ingår i: European Biomass Conference and Exhibition Proceedings. - : ETA-Florence Renewable Energies. - 2282-5819. ; , s. 368-372
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The potential future role of different biofuels, hydrogen, and so-called electrofuels/power-to-X (produced by electricity, water, and carbon dioxide, CO2) in different transportation sectors remains uncertain. The CO2 abatement cost, i.e., the cost for reducing a certain amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, is central from a societal and business perspective, the latter specifically in the case of an emission reduction obligation system (like in Germany and Sweden). The abatement cost of a specific fuel value chain depends on the production cost and the GHG reduction provided by the fuel. This paper analyses the CO2 abatement costs for different types of biofuels, biomass-based jet fuels and electrofuels for road transport and aviation, relevant for the Swedish and EU context. Since most assessed alternative fuel pathways achieve substantial GHG emission reduction compared to fossil fuels, the fuel production cost is, in general, more important to achieve a low CO2 abatement cost. The estimated CO2 abatement cost ranges from -0.37 to 4.03 SEK/kgCO2 equivalent. Fuels based on waste feedstock, have a relatively low CO2 abatement cost. Fuel pathways based on electricity or electricity and biomass have relatively high CO2 abatement cost. The CO2 abatement cost for lignocellulosic based pathways generally ends up in between.
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| 2. |
- Finnveden, Göran, et al.
(författare)
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Policy instruments towards a sustainable waste management
- 2013
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Ingår i: Sustainability. - Basel : MDPI AG. - 2071-1050. ; 5:3, s. 841-881
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this paper is to suggest and discuss policy instruments that could lead towards a more sustainable waste management. The paper is based on evaluations from a large scale multi-disciplinary Swedish research program. The evaluations focus on environmental and economic impacts as well as social acceptance. The focus is on the Swedish waste management system but the results should be relevant also for other countries. Through the assessments and lessons learned during the research program we conclude that several policy instruments can be effective and possible to implement. Particularly, we put forward the following policy instruments: “Information”; “Compulsory recycling of recyclable materials”; “Weight-based waste fee in combination with information and developed recycling systems”; “Mandatory labeling of products containing hazardous chemicals”, “Advertisements on request only and other waste minimization measures”; and “Differentiated VAT and subsidies for some services”. Compulsory recycling of recyclable materials is the policy instrument that has the largest potential for decreasing the environmental impacts with the configurations studied here. The effects of the other policy instruments studied may be more limited and they typically need to be implemented in combination in order to have more significant impacts. Furthermore, policy makers need to take into account market and international aspects when implementing new instruments. In the more long term perspective, the above set of policy instruments may also need to be complemented with more transformational policy instruments that can significantly decrease the generation of waste.
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| 3. |
- Kasiuliene, Alfreda, et al.
(författare)
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Hydrothermal carbonisation of peat-based spent sorbents loaded with metal(loid)s
- 2019
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Pollution Research. - : Springer. - 0944-1344 .- 1614-7499. ; 26:23, s. 23730-23738
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Hydrothermal carbonisation (HTC) is a wet and relatively low-temperature process where, under autogenous pressures, biomass undergoes a chain of reactions leading to the defragmentation of organic matter. As well as its other uses (e.g. for producing low-cost carbon-based nano-compounds), HTC is utilised for the treatment of wet wastes, such as manure and biosludge. This study aimed to determine if hydrothermal carbonisation is a feasible treatment method for spent sorbents that are highly enriched with arsenic, chromium, copper, and zinc. The chemical properties of hydrochar and process liquid were evaluated after HTC treatment, where peat-based spent sorbents were carbonised at 230 °C for 3 h. Analysis of Fourier transform-infrared spectra revealed that during HTC, the oxygenated bonds of ethers, esters, and carboxylic groups were cleaved, and low-molecular-weight organic fragments were dissolved in the process liquid. A large fraction of arsenic (up to 62%), copper (up to 25%), and zinc (up to 36%) were transferred from the solids into the process water. Leaching of these elements from the hydrochars increased significantly in comparison with the spent sorbents.
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| 4. |
- Schade, Jutta, et al.
(författare)
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Greenhouse gas emissions and sustainability of green roofs and stormwater systems at a district level – comparisons with a life cycle perspective
- 2022
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Ingår i: Proceedings of LCM 2021: 10<sup>th</sup> International Conference on Life Cycle Management. - : EDP Sciences.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- To reach future climate targets, it is important to verify that materials and technologies used for construction are sustainable and have a minimal environmental impact. The goal of this project was to add a broad life cycle perspective for quantifying energy and greenhouse gas emission, from the upstream flow of the construction process and the operational phase by including buildings and stormwater systems at a district level. The hypothesis was that green roofs might have a higher impact on greenhouse gas emissions as more material is needed compared to a standard roof. In return, green roofs reduce and retain stormwater, which may reduce the risk of hydraulic overloading in connected stormwater systems. This may lead to reduced CO2 emission if an upgrade of existing systems is not necessary. To evaluate this complex issue, a framework was developed combining construction modelling, energy simulation, stormwater system modelling, and life cycle assessment. The result of this theoretical study indicates that green roofs reduce and retain stormwater but are in most cases not sufficient to reduce the risk of hydraulic overloading in connected stormwater systems. The results demonstrated that green roofs should be not solely implemented to reduce and retain stormwater in the Nordic climate.
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| 5. |
- Ahlström, Johan, 1990, et al.
(författare)
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Economic potential for substitution of fossil fuels with liquefied biomethane in Swedish iron and steel industry – Synergy and competition with other sectors
- 2020
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Ingår i: Energy Conversion and Management. - : Elsevier Ltd. - 0196-8904 .- 1879-2227. ; 209
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In Sweden, the iron and steel industry (ISI) is a major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Most of the emissions result from the use of fossil reducing agents. Nevertheless, the use of fossil fuels for other purposes must also be eliminated in order to reach the Swedish emissions reduction targets. In this study, we investigate the possibility to replace fossil gaseous and liquid fuels used for heating in the ISI, with liquefied biomethane (LBG) produced through gasification of forest residues. We hypothesize that such utilization of fuels in the Swedish ISI is insufficient to independently drive the development of large-scale LBG production, and that other sectors demanding LBG, e.g., for transportation, can be expected to influence the economic potential for the ISI to switch to LBG. The paper investigates how demand for LBG from other sectors can contribute to, or prevent, a phase-out of fossil fuels used for heating purposes in the ISI under different future energy market scenarios, with additional analysis of the impact of a CO2 emissions charge. A geographically explicit cost-minimizing biofuel production localization model is combined with heat integration and energy market scenario analysis. The results show that from a set of possible future energy market scenarios, none yielded more than a 9% replacement of fossil fuels used for heating purposes in the ISI, and only when there was also a demand for LBG from other sectors. The scenarios corresponding to a more ambitious GHG mitigation policy did not achieve higher adoption of LBG, due to corresponding higher biomass prices. A CO2 charge exceeding 200 EUR/tonCO2 would be required to achieve a full phase-out of fossil fuels used for heating purposes in the ISI. We conclude that with the current policy situation, substitution of fossil fuels by LBG will not be economically feasible for the Swedish ISI.
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| 6. |
- Alkaradaghi, Karwan, et al.
(författare)
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Landfill Site Selection Using GIS and Multi-criteria Decision-making AHP and SAW Methods: A Case Study in Sulaimaniyah Governorate, Iraq
- 2022
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Ingår i: Research Developments in Geotechnics, Geo-Informatics and Remote Sensing. - Cham : Springer Nature. ; , s. 289-292
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Lack of land for waste disposal is one of the main problems facing urban areas in developing countries. The Sulaimaniyah Governorate, located in Northern Iraq, is one of the main cities of the country in the Kurdistan Region, covering an area of 2400 km2. Currently, there is no landfill site in the study region that meets the scientific and environmental requirements, and the inappropriate dumping of solid waste causes adverse effects to the environment, economic and urban aesthetic. To overcome this phenomenon, it is crucial to suggest a landfill site, even in countries that recycle or burn their waste to protect the environment. Landfill sites should be carefully selected taking into account all regulations and other restrictions. The integration of geographic information systems and the multi-criteria decision analysis were used in this study to select suitable landfill locations in the region. To this end, thirteen layers prepared according to their importance including slope, geology, land use, urban area, villages, rivers, groundwater, slope, elevation, soil, geology, road, oil and gas, land use, archaeology and power lines. Two different methods (simple additive weighting and analytic hierarchy process) were implemented in a geographical information system to obtain the suitability index map for candidate landfill sites, where all these conditions satisfied the scientific and environmental criteria adopted in this study. The comparison of the maps resulting from these two different methods demonstrates that both methods produced consistent results.
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| 7. |
- Baran, Tomasz, et al.
(författare)
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Copper oxide-based photocatalysts and photocathodes: Fundamentals and recent advances
- 2021
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Ingår i: Molecules. - : MDPI AG. - 1420-3049 .- 1420-3049 .- 1431-5157. ; 26:23
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- This work aims at reviewing the most impactful results obtained on the development of Cu-based photocathodes. The need of a sustainable exploitation of renewable energy sources and the parallel request of reducing pollutant emissions in airborne streams and in waters call for new technologies based on the use of efficient, abundant, low-toxicity and low-cost materials. Photoelectrochemical devices that adopts abundant element-based photoelectrodes might respond to these requests being an enabling technology for the direct use of sunlight to the production of energy fuels form water electrolysis (H2) and CO2 reduction (to alcohols, light hydrocarbons), as well as for the degradation of pollutants. This review analyses the physical chemical properties of Cu2O (and CuO) and the possible strategies to tune them (doping, lattice strain). Combining Cu with other elements in multinary oxides or in composite photoelectrodes is also discussed in detail. Finally, a short overview on the possible applications of these materials is presented.
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| 8. |
- Böckin, Daniel, 1989, et al.
(författare)
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Business model life cycle assessment: A method for analysing the environmental performance of business
- 2022
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Ingår i: Sustainable Production and Consumption. - : Elsevier. - 2352-5509. ; 32, s. 112-124
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper introduces business model life cycle assessment (BM-LCA), a new method for quantifying the environmental impacts of business models. Such a method is needed to guide business decisions towards decoupling economic activity from environmental impact. BM-LCA takes the business model itself as the unit of analysis and its economic performance as the basis of comparison. It can be applied to any type of business model involving material or resource use. In BM-LCA, monetary flows are coupled to material and energy flows. The methodology expands on conventional life cycle assessment (LCA) by elaborating the goal and scope definition and dividing it into two phases. The first descriptive phase details the business models to be compared. It includes a mapping of product chain actors and identifying business operations and transactions related to the product. The second coupling phase defines a profit-based functional unit and sets up the coupling equations expressing the economic relations to the product. Thereafter, conventional LCA procedures are followed to assess environmental impacts. The key innovation on LCA methodology is the development of a functional unit that captures the economic performance of a business model and links it to a product system. BM-LCA provides thus an important link between LCA and business competitive advantage.
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| 9. |
- Isaksson, Raine, et al.
(författare)
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Supplementary Cementitious Materials in Building Blocks—Diagnosing Opportunities in Sub-Saharan Africa
- 2023
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Ingår i: Sustainability. - : MDPI. - 2071-1050. ; 15:7
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sustainable building should at least be affordable and carbon neutral. Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is a region struggling with housing affordability. Residential buildings are often constructed using block-based materials. These are increasingly produced using ordinary Portland cement (PC), which has a high carbon footprint. Using alternative Supplementary Cementitious Materials (SCMs) for block production might reduce the footprint and price. The purpose is to assess the level of information for SCM use in blocks in SSA and to use this information for Diagnosing the improvement potential as part of an Opportunity Study. Results from the scoping review show that aggregated information on SCMs and the quantities available is limited. Diagnosing the theoretical improvement potential in using cassava peel ash, rice husk ash, corn cob ash, volcanic ash and calcined clays, indicates that SCMs could represent a yearly value of approximately USD 400 million, which could be transferred from buying cement to local production. The use of SCMs could save 1.7 million tonnes of CO2 per year and create some 50,000 jobs. About 5% of the PC used for block production could be substituted, indicating that, in addition to using SCMs, other solutions are needed to secure production of sustainable blocks.
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| 10. |
- Kasiuliene, Alfreda
(författare)
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Peat Coated with Iron Oxides : Purification of Metal(loid)-Contaminated Water and Treatment of the Spent Adsorbent
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In Sweden due to the industrial activities, such as wood impregnation, multiple point sources of arsenic (As) contamination in soil and water bodies are scattered over the country. Metals, such as chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), nickel (Ni), cadmium (Cd) or zinc (Zn) at varying concentrations are usually present as well. Since adsorption is a common method to purify contaminated water, research and development of adsorbents have been actively carried out in the last few decades. However, seldom spent sorbent is safely handled afterwards and often end up in landfill, thus creating new problems and posing new risks to humans and environment.The aim of this study was to develop a waste-based adsorbent for simultaneous removal of As and associated metals: Cr, Cu and Zn, and to analyse sustainable ways how to manage the spent adsorbent without creating secondary pollution.In the model system two well-establish adsorbents: Fe oxides (deriving from FeCl3) and peat (waste-based), were combined and the concept of simultaneous removal of cationic and anionic contaminants was tested in a batch adsorption experiment. Due to Fe coating, removal of As and Cr increased by 80% and 30%, respectively, as compared to non-coated peat. Removal of Cu and Zn was higher (up to 15%) on non-coated peat than on Fe-coated peat. Similar results were obtained in the up-scaled column adsorption experiment, where Fe salt was substituted with a waste-based Fe hydrosol. Within the same pH environment (pH=5), Fe-coated peat effectively adsorbed all four investigated contaminants (As, Cr, Cu and Zn). Non-coated peat was effective for Cr, Cu and Zn. While, Fe oxides (coated on sand) adsorbed only As.Three management strategies for spent adsorbents, obtained after column adsorption experiment, were investigated in this study. i) Long-term deposit in a landfill was simulated by exposing spent adsorbents to a reducing environment and evaluating metal(loid) leaching. Leaching of As increased manifold (up to 60% in a 200-day experiment) as compared to the standardized batch leaching experiment under oxidizing conditions. It was determined that about one third of As(V) was reduced to As(III), which is more mobile and toxic. ii) Valorisation of the spent adsorbent was attempted through hydrothermal carbonisation. It was expected that obtained hydrochar could be used as a beneficial soil amendment. However, treatment resulted in the process liquid and the hydrochar both having high loads of As, Cu and Zn. Additional treatment of process water and hydrochar imply higher management costs for spent adsorbents. iii) Possibility of thermal destruction was investigated by combusting spent adsorbents. After the treatment volume of the waste (ash) was by 80-85% smaller as compared to spent adsorbents. Combustion at higher temperature (1100 °C vs 850 °C) resulted into a weaker metal(loid) leaching from ashes. Furthermore, co-combustion with calcium (Ca)-rich lime (waste-based) decreased leaching of all four investigated elements, Cr in particular, below the limit values for waste being accepted at landfills for hazardous waste. Therefore, combustion enabled possibility of safe and long-term deposit of As-bearing ashes. At the same time, less As would be circulating in society. For the future work, studies that could broaden the spectrum of contaminants targeted by Fe-coated peat would be beneficial. At the same time it is important not only to find alternative utilisation methods for Fe-coated peat, but also investigate other management options for the spent adsorbents.
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