| 1. |
- Arvidsson, Rickard, 1984, et al.
(author)
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Life cycle assessment of hydrotreated vegetable oil from rape, oil palm and Jatropha
- 2011
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In: Journal of Cleaner Production. - : Elsevier BV. - 0959-6526 .- 1879-1786. ; 19:2-3, s. 128-137
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A life cycle assessment of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) biofuel was performed. The study wascommissioned by Volvo Technology Corporation and Volvo Penta Corporation as part of an effort to gaina better understanding of the environmental impact of potential future biobased liquid fuels for cars andtrucks. The life cycle includes production of vegetable oil from rape, oil palm or Jatropha, transport of theoil to the production site, production of the HVO from the oil, and combustion of the HVO. The functionalunit of the study is 1 kWh energy out from the engine of a heavy-duty truck and the environmentalimpact categories that are considered are global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP),eutrophication potential (EP) and embedded fossil production energy. System expansion was used totake into account byproducts from activities in the systems; this choice was made partly to make thisstudy comparable to results reported by other studies. The results show that HVO produced from palmoil combined with energy production from biogas produced from the palm oil mill effluent has thelowest environmental impact of the feedstocks investigated in this report. HVO has a significantly lowerlife cycle GWP than conventional diesel oil for all feedstocks investigated, and a GWP that is comparableto results for e.g. rape methyl ester reported in the literature. The results show that emissions from soilcaused by microbial activities and leakage are the largest contributors to most environmental impactcategories, which is supported also by other studies. Nitrous oxide emissions from soil account for morethan half of the GWP of HVO. Nitrogen oxides and ammonia emissions from soil cause almost all of thelife cycle EP of HVO and contribute significantly to the AP as well. The embedded fossil production energywas shown to be similar to results for e.g. rape methyl ester from other studies. A sensitivity analysisshows that variations in crop yield and in nitrous oxide emissions from microbial activities in soil cancause significant changes to the results.
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| 2. |
- Hagman, Johan, 1984, et al.
(author)
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Do biofuels require more water than do fossil fuels? Life cycle-based assessment of jatropha oil production in rural Mozambique
- 2013
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In: Journal of Cleaner Production. - : Elsevier BV. - 0959-6526. ; 53, s. 176-185
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Biofuels are advanced to replace fossil fuels in order to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and other environmental impacts. Yet freshwater scarcity is another growing concern and increased production of biofuels may increase this problem. In order to assess whether biofuels truly have a higher water use than do fossil fuels, a life cycle assessment study of a low input jatropha plantation in northern Mozambique was conducted. In addition to different water use indicators, the fossil energy use and global warming potential were assessed for 1 MJ of jatropha oil. The analysis compares results for jatropha oil with fossil diesel, generally showing lower global warming potential and fossil energy use for jatropha oil. However, aspects related to land use may alter the global warming potential of jatropha oil. Regarding water use, the choice of the water use indicator strongly influences the results. Specifically the indication of (1) so-called green water flows, (2) formation of so-called blue water and (3) water scarcity show crucial influences on the comparison. Depending on these specific features, jatropha oil may have higher or lower water use than fossil diesel. A number of uncertainties, such as the jatropha oil yield, are also shown to have a considerable impact on the results.
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| 3. |
- Molander, Sverker, 1957, et al.
(author)
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Förnybara energikällors inverkan på de svenska miljömålen
- 2010
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- I denna rapport beskrivs olika förnybara energikällors negativa påverkan på desvenska miljömålen. Resultatet har presenterats i form av ett antal konceptuellabilder som länkar miljöpåverkan i energislagens livscykelsteg till specifika miljömål.De energislag som studerats är vattenkraft, vindkraft, tunnfilmssolceller, kiselbaseradesolceller, solfångare, värmepumpar samt odlade biobränslen (såsometanol och raps metylester), biobränslen från avfall (såsom biogas) och biobränslenfrån skogsråvara (såsom flis och pellets). Miljöpåverkan har inte kvantifierats idenna studie, och ingen jämförelse energislagen emellan har utförts. Vad som dockvisats är att de ovan listade energislagen påverkar många svenska miljömål, ochden påverkan kommer att växa om de aktuella svenska målen för förnybar energiförverkligas. Mer detaljerade studier kring de förnybara energislagens påverkan påmiljömålen krävs således för att undvika negativ miljöpåverkan från förnybar energii framtiden. Denna rapport har utifrån dagens vetenskapsläge kartlagt de viktigasteverkningarna på de svenska miljömålens uppfyllelse från förnyelsebar energiteknik,och utgör således en grund för ett sådant mer omfattande arbete. Avslutningsvisges ett antal rekommendationer inför fortsatta studier på området.
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| 4. |
- Afrane, George, et al.
(author)
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A product chain organisation study of certified cocoa supply
- 2013
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In: 6th International Conference on Life Cycle Management, LCM2013, 25-28 August 2013,Göteborg.
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Cocoa supplies may become limited in the future. Demands for sustainable cocoa sparked an exploration of the product chain organisation of conventional and certified cocoa from Ghana. The comparison shows that transparency requirements have led to a more complex product chain. Even so, certification has yielded important productivity increases resulting in environmental benefits (e.g. reduced greenhouse gas emissions) and improved livelihoods for smallholder farmers.
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| 5. |
- Arvidsson, Rickard, 1984, et al.
(author)
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Assessing the Environmental Impacts of Palm Oil
- 2011
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In: Palm Oil: Nutrition, Uses and Impacts. - : Nova Science Publishers, Inc.. - 9781612099217 ; , s. 159-186
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Book chapter (other academic/artistic)abstract
- Palm oil is used for cooking in Southeast Asia and Africa and as a food additive in a number of processed foods world-wide. The production of palm oil is increasing, and it is of special interest from a nutritional point of view due to its high energy content and its significant content of micronutrients. In addition, palm oil is increasingly used to produce various biofuels. Due to large production volumes and diverse applications of palm oil, it is highly interesting and important to study the environmental impacts of its production. This chapter discusses how the environmental impacts of palm oil can be assessed, focusing on the life cycle environmental impacts of palm oil in comparison to similar products. A brief overview of life cycle assessment as a method is given, and results are presented together with suggestions for environmental improvements of palm oil cultivation and production. It is shown that the magnitude of the environmental impacts connected to palm oil in relation to other products is heavily affected by the choice of environmental indicators, which in LCA studies consist of both an environmental impact category and a so-called functional unit. Regarding impact categories, the global warming and acidification potentials of palm oil are lower than those of rapeseed oil per kg oil. The water footprint of palm oil and rapeseed oil are about the same on a mass basis, but for the two land use indicators soil erosion and heavy metal accumulation, rapeseed oil has a lower impact than palm oil. Specific interest is given to the life cycle energy use of palm oil in response to the unclear and diverse definitions of this impact category in different studies. It is concluded that there is a need to carefully define the energy use impact category when reporting on palm oil or similar products, and also to differentiate between different kinds of energy sources. If instead of mass the micronutrient content is applied as functional unit, palm oil still has lower global warming potential and acidification than rapeseed oil when compared on the basis of vitamin E content. However, if β-carotene content is used as functional unit, rapeseed oil is not relevant for comparison due to its negligible content of β-carotene. For that case, palm oil is therefore instead compared to tomatoes on a β-carotene basis, since tomatoes are rich in β-carotene. The tomatoes were shown to perform better then palm oil regarding global warming potential on a β-carotene basis. The effects of time and scale on the environmental impacts of palm oil, which includes changes in technical performance and electricity sources, are also discussed in this chapter. It is shown that combustion of the methane formed from the palm oil mill effluent can significantly reduce the global warming potential.
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| 6. |
- Arvidsson, Rickard, 1984, et al.
(author)
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Assessing the Environmental Risks of Silver from Clothes in an Urban Area
- 2014
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In: Human and Ecological Risk Assessment (HERA). - : Informa UK Limited. - 1549-7860 .- 1080-7039. ; 20:4, s. 1008-1022
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The environmental risks from the use of silver-containing clothes (“silver clothes”)were assessed for an urban area. First, we evaluated whether the use of silver clothesmay cause contamination of wastewater treatment sludge that exceeds certain risk thresholds. Second, we assessed the risk of silver exposure to earthworms from applyingthe sludge as fertilizer to agricultural land. The most critical parameter was the concentration of silver in silver clothes, for which estimates in the literaturevary by more than five orders of magnitude. For concentrations at the high end of that parameter range, there is considerably increased concentration of silver in the sludge, and toxic effects on earthworms even at modest use rates of silver clothes suggest high risk. At the low end, no risks can be expected. The main recommendationfrom this study is that if silver is used in clothes, the silver concentration must be kept at the lower end of the range applied in this study if risks are to be avoided.This can be done either by design choices of companies, or by regulation. If the function of the applied silver is not maintained at these lower levels, the use of silver clothes should be minimized.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Arvidsson, Rickard, 1984, et al.
(author)
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Challenges in Exposure Modeling of Nanoparticles in Aquatic Environments
- 2011
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In: Human and Ecological Risk Assessment. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1080-7039 .- 1549-7860. ; 17:1, s. 245-262
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Managing the potential environmental risks of nanoparticles requires methods to link nanoparticle properties with macro-scale risks. This study outlines challenges in exposure modeling of nanoparticles in aquatic environments, such as the role of natural organic matter, natural colloids, fractal dimensions of agglomerates, coatings and doping of particles, and uncertainties regarding nanoparticle emissions to aquatic environments. The pros and cons of the exposure indicators mass concentration, particle number concentration, and surface area are discussed. By applying colloid chemistry kinetic equations describing particle agglomeration and sedimentation for the case of titanium dioxide nanoparticles, a limited exposure assessment including some of the factors mentioned is conducted with particle number concentration as the exposure indicator. The results of the modeling indicate that sedimentation, shear flows, and settling are of less importance with regard to particle number based predicted environmental concentrations. The inflow of nanoparticles to the water compartment had a significant impact in the model, and the collision efficiency (which is affected by natural organic matter) was shown to greatly affect model output. Implications for exposure modeling, regulation and science are discussed. A broad spectrum of scientific disciplines must be engaged in the development of exposure models where nano-level properties are linked to macro-scale risk.
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| 9. |
- Arvidsson, Rickard, 1984
(author)
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Contributions to Emission, Exposure and Risk Assessment of Nanomaterials
- 2012
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Doctoral thesis (other academic/artistic)abstract
- In recent years, synthetic nanomaterials have begun to be produced and used in increasingly larger volumes. These materials may cause new or increased risks to the environment, but no harmonized methods for structured assessment of their environmental risks exist. The main aim of this thesis is to contribute to the development of emission and exposure assessment methods, and thus also risk assessment methods, for nanomaterials. The second aim is to apply developed methods to specific nanomaterials. The nanomaterials assessed were titanium dioxide nanoparticles, silver nanoparticles, and graphene. Starting from the two methods of risk assessment of chemicals and substance flow analysis, three different methods were outlined. The first method is called particle flow analysis, and can be used to assess current and future potential particle number-based emissions of nanoparticles. The second method is an exposure model for nanoparticles based on colloidal stability. This method can be used to derive particle number-based predicted environmental concentrations of nanoparticles. The third method is exposure modeling of nanomaterials based on partitioning factors, a method that can be used to derive mass-based predicted environmental concentrations. By applying the particle flow analysis method, it was shown that antibacterial clothing is a large source of particle number-based emissions of silver nanoparticles, and could become an even larger source. Applying the same method to titanium dioxide nanoparticles showed that both the currently highest, and potentially also the future highest, particle number-based emissions come from sunscreen. By applying the exposure method based on partitioning factors, it was shown that if the silver content of antibacterial clothing is as high as some measurements have indicated, there is considerable risk of high silver levels in wastewater treatment sludge and in agricultural land if the sludge is applied as fertilizer. A review of risk-related properties of graphene showed that the risk-related data is very scarce, but what is available gives reason for concern in relation to high potential emissions, high persistence, hydrophobicity, and considerable toxicity. The developed methods, case study results, and some reflections and suggestions for future research together constitute contributions to emission assessment, exposure assessment, and risk assessment of nanomaterials.
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| 10. |
- Arvidsson, Rickard, 1984, et al.
(author)
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Energy use indicators in energy and life cycle assessments of biofuels: review and recommendations
- 2012
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In: Journal of Cleaner Production. - : Elsevier BV. - 0959-6526 .- 1879-1786. ; 31, s. 54-61
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this study we investigate how indicators for energy use are applied in a set of life cycle assessment (LCA) and energy analysis case studies of biofuels. We found five inherently different types of indicators to describe energy use: (1) fossil energy, (2) secondary energy, (3) cumulative energy demand, (4) net energy balance, and (5) total extracted energy. It was also found that the examined reports and articles, the choice of energy use indicator was seldom motivated or discussed in relation to other energy use indicators. In order to investigate the differences between these indicators, they were applied to a case. The life cycle energy use of palm oil methyl ester was calculated and reported using these five different indicators for energy use, giving considerably different output results. This is in itself not unexpected, but indicates the importance of clearly identifying, describing and motivating the choice of energy use indicator. The indicators can all be useful in specific situations, depending on the goal and scope of the individual study, but the choice of indicators need to be better reported and motivated than what is generally done today.
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