| 1. |
- Andersson, Hanna, 1982, et al.
(författare)
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SUPFES: ENVIRONMENTAL RISK ASSESSMENT ON SHORT-CHAIN PER- AND POLYFLUOROALKYL SUBSTANCES APPLIED TO LAND IN MUNICIPAL SEWAGE SLUDGE
- 2014
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Ingår i: 6th INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP on Per- and Polyfluorinated Alkyl Substances - PFASs.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In a recent risk assessment of sludge application to Swedish farmlands perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) was identified as a substance contributing to risks to the environment and a regulation of permissible levels in sludge was proposed. This is only one of many actions taken to regulate the so called long-chain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a group of substances which include e.g. PFOS, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and their precursors. These regulations are enforced due to concerns regarding the persistence, bioaccumulation potential and effects for wildlife and human health of the long-chain PFAS. With the regulation and phase out of PFAS products containing long perfluoroalkyl chains, PFAS products containing short-chain perfluoroalkyl chains are seen as viable alternatives by the manufacturing industry, but to date knowledge about these alternative emerging products is limited and risk assessments have not yet been conducted. In this project, which is a subproject of the Swedish research programme SUPFES (www.supfes.eu), we assess the risks associated with short-chain PFAS in municipal sewage sludge applied to agricultural land in Sweden. Different scenarios are created regarding the loads of PFAS to wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). Further modelling scenarios are undertaken to estimate the loading of PFAS to agricultural land in Sweden as well as the subsequent fate and uptake in agricultural plants and leakage to water. The model predicted concentrations provide a basis for environmental risk assessment. With the long-chain PFAS as a benchmark, the study also aims to assess if the transition from long- to short-chain PFAS is beneficial from an application of sludge to agricultural land perspective. The risk assessment is connected to a life cycle assessment (LCA) on possible sludge handling alternatives which helps to place the problems associated with PFAS risks into a larger LCA perspective. The project results will help to determine if action is needed by water authorities to reduce the diffuse emissions of PFAS to agricultural land by introducing improved treatment technologies to remove PFAS from WWTP. This is thus an important contribution to the overarching goal of the SUPFES project which is to quantify and, if necessary, reduce diffuse emissions of PFAS to the environment. In the poster preliminary results from the risk assessment will be presented and ideas for further work discussed. Important methodological issues will be highlighted.
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| 2. |
- Harder, Robin, 1983
(författare)
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Beneficial Recirculation of Nutrients and Organic Matter to Agriculture: Meeting the Needs of Farmers and Soils
- 2020
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In April 2018, we set out to learn from 10 organic vegetable producers in British Columbia about their perspectives on new and innovative fertilizer products rendered by the treatment of human excreta (i.e. urine and feces), wastewater, and other organic residuals. This report summarizes the findings from the interviews we conducted and is a part of a larger project designed to bring a greater understanding of various alternative nutrient sources, and improve their utilization.
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| 3. |
- Harder, Robin, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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Estimating human toxicity potential of land application of sewage sludge: the effect of modelling choices
- 2017
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Ingår i: International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1614-7502 .- 0948-3349. ; 22:5, s. 731-743
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose:Many municipalities are facing increasing pressure to adapt solid waste and wastewater management infrastructures in order to better close nutrient cycles. The focus of this study is on the estimation of the human toxicity potential associated with chemical contaminants released upon the application of sewage sludge to agricultural land. More specifically, this study investigated the effect of modelling choices regarding fate and exposure assessment.Methods:Monitoring data were collected for contaminants present in the sewage sludge from the wastewater treatment plant in Gothenburg and from other municipal wastewater treatment plants in Sweden. Based on these monitoring data, an overall burden of disease was estimated using characterisation factors taken from the USEtox models (versions 1.01 and 2.0). For the exposure through vegetables, an alternative life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) model was developed. The intake fractions thus obtained were used in combination with human health effect factors taken from the USEtox 2.0 database. The model results were compared with the USEtox models, and whether these two versions of the USEtox model provide significantly different results was also examined. The potential relevance of accidental ingestion of sludge was also considered.Results and discussion:The different LCIA models provided burden of disease estimates that differed from one another for individual contaminants (up to five orders of magnitude). The aggregated burdens of disease (i.e. sum for all contaminants considered in this study) estimated through different model variants, however, were of the same order of magnitude. For both metals and organic contaminants, only a small set of contaminants was found to make significant contributions to the aggregate burden of disease. However, it is uncertain whether the 15 metals and 106 organic contaminants covered by this study are those of greatest health significance of all contaminants potentially present in sewage sludge.Conclusions and recommendations:The results of this study indicate that the technical information provided by the various approaches to modelling human toxicity in life cycle assessment (LCA) in the context of land application of sewage sludge management is consistent on the whole. However, given the uncertainties associated with the assessment of human toxicity in LCA, it is important to also contemplate the extent to which LCA in general is capable of informing the sewage sludge debate when it comes to human toxicity and possibly also other indicators. Future research could focus on identifying which types of questions of interest in the context of sewage management can be answered by LCA and which cannot.
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| 4. |
- Harder, Robin, 1983
(författare)
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Fresh Perspectives on the Assessment of Sewage Sludge Management
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Sewage sludge management and its role in closing nutrient cycles have received considerable attention in recent years. This thesis quantified phosphorus flows in Gothenburg, Sweden, under current and possible future waste management practices, and aimed to improve the assessment of wastewater and sludge management from an environmental and human health perspective through blending risk assessment (RA) and life cycle assessment (LCA). A review of previous environmental assessment case studies revealed inconsistent use of terminology regarding what is meant by integration, combination, hybridisation, or integrated use of RA and LCA. To facilitate a better understanding and more transparent communication of the nature of a given case study, this thesis proposed a design space that outlines choices to be made when blending RA and LCA. For the assessment of human health effects, this thesis suggests that a case study should only be referred to as a combination or integration of RA and LCA if it addresses two distinct perspectives: risks for specific members of a given human population (RA perspective) and overall impacts for a given human population (LCA perspective). RA and LCA can also be blended by transferring model elements from one framework to the other. This thesis explored the transfer of elements of quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) to an LCA framework in order to account for adverse effects of pathogens on human health. Such practice was found to be adequate, but it is important to ensure that exposure pathways and parameters are chosen in accordance with the principles applied in the LCA study of which the assessment is a part. Also, in the context of sewage sludge management, the consideration of non-routine operation scenarios in LCA may be warranted. This thesis also explored different models to assess human health effects related to chemical contaminants in the context of land application of sewage sludge. The different model variants investigated provided different burden of disease estimates for individual chemical contaminants, but an aggregate burden of disease estimate of the same order of magnitude. Overall, this thesis emphasises the importance of explicitly contemplating which type of question relevant to sewage sludge management can be answered by quantitative assessment tools such as RA and LCA.
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| 5. |
- Harder, Robin, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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Including Pathogen Risk in Life Cycle Assessment of Wastewater Management. 1. Estimating the Burden of Disease Associated with Pathogens
- 2014
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Ingår i: Environmental Science & Technology. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0013-936X .- 1520-5851. ; 48:16, s. 9438-9445
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The environmental performance of wastewater and sewage sludge management is commonly assessed using life cycle assessment (LCA), whereas pathogen risk is evaluated with quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA). This study explored the application of QMRA methodology with intent to include pathogen risk in LCA and facilitate a comparison with other potential impacts on human health considered in LCA. Pathogen risk was estimated for a model wastewater treatment system (WWTS) located in an industrialized country and consisting of primary, secondary, and tertiary wastewater treatment, anaerobic sludge digestion, and land application of sewage sludge. The estimation was based on eight previous QMRA studies as well as parameter values taken from the literature. A total pathogen risk (expressed as burden of disease) on the order of 0.2–9 disability-adjusted life years (DALY) per year of operation was estimated for the model WWTS serving 28 600 persons and for the pathogens and exposure pathways included in this study. The comparison of pathogen risk with other potential impacts on human health considered in LCA is detailed in part 2 of this article series.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Harder, Robin, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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Including pathogen risk in life cycle assessment: the effect of modelling choices in the context of sewage sludge management
- 2016
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Ingår i: International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1614-7502 .- 0948-3349. ; 21:1, s. 60-69
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose: Recent attempts to include adverse effects of pathogens on human health in life cycle assessment (LCA) have focused on integrating results obtained through quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) as an impact category in LCA. This study aimed to investigate whether the use of QMRA can be an adequate way of integrating pathogen impact potential in LCA and to quantify how pathogen impact potential is affected by choices regarding model structure and mathematical relationships used.Methods: This study was performed for the context of sewage sludge management and is based on pathogen concentrations in treated sludge reported in the literature. Eight reference pathogens were included in order to address important microbial groups. The pathogen impact potential associated with land application of sewage sludge was quantified based on a QMRA model for eight distinct exposure pathways. The modelling choices investigated were linearisation of dose-response and severity assessment and different modelling approaches and parameter choices in fate and exposure assessment.Results and discussion: The linearisation of effect and severity assessment had a minor impact on the results for exposure pathways where pathogen doses were low but had a major impact where pathogen doses were high. The assumptions regarding fate and exposure conditions, such as pathogen decay time, number of individuals exposed and frequency of exposure, had a significant effect on overall pathogen impact potential. If pathogen impact potential is to be integrated in LCA, a range of different parameterisations for each exposure event may be warranted rather than only the one with the highest risk per individual exposed as commonly reported for QMRAs. This is also in line with the ordinary LCA practice of focusing on average rather than extreme conditions. Conclusions: This study suggests that the use of QMRA can be an adequate way of integrating adverse effects of pathogens on human health in LCA. However, analysts should be careful when choosing model parameters such as the number of people exposed or the frequency of exposure, as LCA may require a different parameterisation than an ordinary risk assessment (RA). Therefore, a direct integration of the results of a QMRA study into LCA may be problematic. Also, in order to avoid potential bias, analysts should carefully consider whether or not pathogen impact potential and human toxicity potential need to be estimated based on a similar set of exposure pathways.
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| 8. |
- Harder, Robin, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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Perspectives on quantifying and influencing household metabolism
- 2017
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Ingår i: Journal of Environmental Planning and Management. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1360-0559 .- 0964-0568. ; 60:2, s. 178-203
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Household metabolism is a concept that is concerned with the analysis of stocks and flows of energy, matter, and information at the household scale. This paper starts by providing a brief overview of the concept of household metabolism. Rather than attempting an in-depth review and analysis of this field, the article subsequently maps the contributions and perspectives of a broad variety of research traditions that have an interface with the concept of household metabolism. Next, this paper highlights a number of controversial issues connected to household metabolism, and studies at the interface of household metabolism. Finally, this paper argues that the concept of household metabolism can provide valuable help in diagnosing misalignments between enacted system dynamics and expressed societal goals, and can help to design research that facilitates their alignment.
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| 9. |
- Harder, Robin, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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Quantification of goods purchases and waste generation at the level of individual households
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal of Industrial Ecology. - : Blackwell Publishing. - 1088-1980 .- 1530-9290. ; 18:2, s. 227-241
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Quantifying differences in resource use and waste generation between individual households and exploring the reasons for the variations observed implies the need for disaggregated data on household activities and related physical flows. The collection of disaggregated data for water use, gas use, electricity use, and mobility has been reported in the literature and is normally achieved through sensors and computational algorithms. This study focuses on collecting disaggregated data for goods consumption and related waste generation at the level of individual households. To this end, two data collection approaches were devised and evaluated: (1) triangulating shopping receipt analysis and waste component analysis and (2) tracking goods consumption and waste generation using a smartphone. A case study on two households demonstrated that it is possible to collect quantitative data on goods consumption and related waste generation on a per unit basis for individual households. The study suggested that the type of data collected can be relevant in a number of different research contexts: eco-feedback; user-centered research; living-lab research; and life cycle impacts of household consumption. The approaches presented in this study are most applicable in the context of user-centered or living-lab research. For the other contexts, alternative data sources (e.g., retailers and producers) may be better suited to data collection on larger samples, though at a lesser level of detail, compared with the two data collection approaches devised and evaluated in this study.
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| 10. |
- Harder, Robin, 1983
(författare)
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Quantifying the Metabolism of Individual Households
- 2013
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The magnitude of the flows of matter and energy resulting from human activities is influenced by human needs and demands as well as the practices and technologies applied to fulfil them. The aim of this study was to explore differences in resource use and waste generation between individual households through the simultaneous quantification of physical flows entering and leaving the households. A pilot study was initiated where infrastructure-mediated sensing was combined with manual data collection approaches for fine-grained monitoring of resource use and waste generation at the level of individual households. A further aim was to relate resource and waste flows to specific household activities. This thesis presents the main findings from the pilot study, embeds the concept of household metabolism within the research field of socio-economic metabolism, and outlines which other research fields contribute to, or benefit from the quantification of household metabolism. The main scientific contribution of this thesis is the development and evaluation of two approaches for the collection of highly disaggregated data on goods consumption and related waste generation. In conclusion, comprehensive data collection at the level of detail envisaged in this study is challenging. Data collection can potentially be significantly simplified once easy to install single-point sensors for sensing disaggregated consumption data become commercially available, and data on goods consumption can be more readily obtained from retailers. Based on the work on household metabolism presented in this thesis, two meaningful possible directions for future research emerge. First, quantification of household metabolism can be embedded in living lab facilities in order to assess the impact of innovations on resource consumption and waste generation. Second, researchers and household members could co-develop a way to comprehensively track and evaluate resource consumption and waste generation of individual households. This could include seeking cooperation with supermarkets and retailers to provide consumption data to households.
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