Inventory and life cycle assessment of an Italian automotive painting process Abstract In the current context of the European Environmental legislation and standards, the automotive sector is expected to continuously improve the vehicles life cycle with solutions able to minimise emissions of greenhouse gases and other negative effects on the environment and on human health. The vehicle painting process has been identified to be responsible of significant potential impacts, but recent primary inventory data and impact results are currently scarcely available in the literature. The novelty of this paper is the provision of a comprehensive life cycle inventory and life cycle assessment (LCA) of a painting process, with reference to a large and highly automated plant located in Turin (Italy). To achieve these goals, the highly recognised methodology of LCA has been followed, as indicated in ISO 14040-44. A detailed inventory is disclosed (both as input/output table and ILCD file) for the four main phases of the painting process (electrodeposition, primer application, top coat application and final drying and revision). Impact results on the categories of climate change, acidification, terrestrial eutrophication and photochemical ozone creation potential are quantified as well. These latter show that the major hot points are the high-energy consumption (specifically, the integrated provision of technological heating and chilled water is responsible of almost half of the total emissions of greenhouse gases), the direct emission of volatile organic compounds into air (for a total of 7.44 kg/car) and the waste production and treatment [giving a significant contribution to the impact categories of ozone depletion (99%), freshwater eutrophication (66%) and freshwater ecotoxicity potential (60%)]. This study contributes to increase the pool of publicly available life cycle data for specific applications in the automotive sector. In addition, the easy replicability and adaptation of the provided inventory is expected to boost enterprises to increase their overall sustainability. Finally, this study provides data and tools for the development of further research in alternative painting technologies. Graphic abstract

Life cycle assessment of preserved plum production in Southern China Abstract The fruit preservation industry in developing countries is growing rapidly and presents unique opportunities for promoting environmental sustainability. However, very few life cycle assessment studies have evaluated the environmental performances of current production technologies in developing countries. This study represents the first life cycle assessment to compare two common production lines of the preserved plum industry in Southern China and suggested strategies for improving their environmental performances. The first line, commonly adopted by medium-sized plants, included washing, osmotic treatment, blanching, superheated steam coupled with far-infrared radiation for drying, packaging and wastewater treatment stages. The second line, commonly utilized by small-sized plants, consisted of washing, osmotic treatment, drying by natural ventilation, packaging and wastewater treatment stages. The comparison suggested that the first production line resulted in higher fossil fuel depletion, ozone depletion, human health noncancer, respiratory and ecotoxicity impacts than the second production line. In contrast, the second production line resulted in higher photochemical formation, global warming, acidification, human health cancer and eutrophication impacts. Electricity and wastewater treatment, together, were the dominating contributors to most of the life cycle environmental impact categories. The sensitivity analyses suggested that the life cycle global warming impacts were most sensitive to electricity use, while the wastewater amount ranked as the most influential factor for the life cycle eutrophication impacts. In addition, the scenario analyses indicated that upgrading the activated sludge process to a membrane bioreactor process, for in-plant wastewater treatment, alone would increase life cycle fossil fuel depletion, photochemical formation, acidification and respiratory impacts. However, the combinational adoption of a membrane bioreactor process and electricity derived from wind or lignocellulosic biomass can significantly reduce life cycle environmental impacts of the plum preservation plants. Graphic abstract

Effect of manufacturing and installation location on environmental impact payback time of solar power Abstract Solar photovoltaic (PV) systems are a promising technology to reduce the environmental impacts of electricity production. Several locations in the USA are favorable for solar PV deployment due to having a high solar potential. This study evaluates the environmental impact payback time (PBTI) for installing multi-crystalline silicon PV systems in multiple US cities, Seattle, Miami, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Indianapolis, with varying electricity mixes and solar potential, using life cycle inventory data and the Tool for the Reduction and Assessment of Chemicals and other environmental impacts as the impact assessment method. China, USA and European manufacturing scenarios were analyzed to compare the effect of the electricity mix used during manufacturing on PBTI. The results show that the PBTI ranges between < 1 year and 3000 + years across all impact categories. A Chinese manufacturing scenario increased the PBTI in some impact categories (i.e., global warming) compared to the USA and Europe manufacturing, but had no effect for others. The PBTI is within the solar panel life span for the impact categories of global warming, acidification and fossil fuel depletion, but is longer than the lifespan for other impact categories (i.e., eutrophication and ozone depletion). According to the global warming PBTI, policies should incentivize solar panels in the following order: Phoenix, Indianapolis, Miami, Los Angeles, Seattle. This work provides guidance to policy makers and manufacturers on the PBTI when the manufacturing location, solar potential and electricity mix are known. Graphic abstract

Effect of the climatic conditions in energy efficiency of Spanish existing dwellings Abstract The member states of the European Union must increase the energy efficiency in residential buildings within the plan to reduce the external energy dependence and energy shortage. In the present work, a standard building representative of the existing buildings in Spain built before 1980 was used. An evaluation of the energy rating of that building in each climatic zone of Spain was carried out to assess the influence of these climatic conditions on energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. This analysis was carried out with Cerma software according to the calculation procedure demanded by the Spanish Building Technical Code. Results show that E or F energy score was obtained for the different climatic zones and with significant differences in CO2 emissions, even for climatic zones with the same energy rating. A sensitivity study of the necessary enhancements in each climatic zone was carried out to analyze the influence of most common energy demand and thermal system improvements, and combinations of them. Also, the minimum requirements to obtain D qualification in each Spanish climatic zone were obtained. As a result, it is possible to reduce emissions in Spain by over 3.5 Mt CO2 per year. In climatic zones with initial qualification E, it is possible to reach a D label, avoiding 40% of the initial CO2 emissions and reducing primary energy consumption to about 50 kWh/m2 year (over 60% reduction). For the climatic zones with initial qualification F, over 53% of the initial CO2 emissions are avoided by reaching D label. Zones with the highest heating demand (over 230 kWh/m2 year) and very low cooling demand need to improve thermal systems by means of a heat pump. Finally, some policy measures to create lines of financial aids or subsidies for the implementation of actions to reduce energy demand in Spanish homes are proposed. Graphic abstract

Mapping incinerability of municipal solid waste in Indian sub-continent Abstract Effective municipal solid waste (MSW) management is essential for sustainable development of a region. Waste management strategies are, consequently, aimed at waste minimisation with material and energy recovery. Rising MSW generation rates, acute shortage of land resources and improving thermal characteristics have collectively contributed to the growth of waste-to-energy sector in developing countries like India. Negligible source segregation and the resultant heterogeneity of the MSW necessitate ascertaining its incinerability to assess the feasibility of the technology. Incinerability index or i-Index is, hence, used to estimate the incinerability of MSW generated in cities across the Indian sub-continent. An incinerability-based map is developed to illustrate the variations in incinerability across the country. The lifestyle habits, topography, income level of the residents, culture and food habits are found to affect the composition and in turn the incinerability. The variations in incinerability of MSW generated in the northern, southern, eastern and western regions are graphically identified using incinerability plot or i-Plot. The reported power generation potential from MSW in Indian states is also found to be consistent with the incinerability of the MSW feed and the daily waste generation rates. Graphic abstract

Correction to: Integrating MCDM and GIS for renewable energy spatial models: assessing the individual and combined potential for wind, solar and biomass energy in Southern Spain In the original article by Díaz et al. (2019), the authors have become aware of an error in the application of Equation 4, aimed at checking the validity of the method.

Potential of bacterial cometabolism as another means of antibiotic decomposition in a wastewater treatment facility

Achieving a cleaner environment via the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis: determinants of electricity access and pollution in India Abstract According to the IPCC report, energy remains the major contributor to global anthropogenic greenhouse emissions, due to its role in economic development. Hence, developing a conceptual tool that examines the determinants of environmental pollution for India is valuable given its population, current, and forecast energy demands. Using a national-level time series data from 1990 to 2017, Prais–Winsten and Cochrane–Orcutt regression models were used to examine the nexus between pollution and economic development in the transition from dirty to clean energy. The study confirmed the existence of a U-shaped relationship at a turning point of US$ 1802. Thus, India’s industrialised economy is energy and carbon-intensive which promotes environmental pollution. At the household level, the use of multiple fuels, especially dirty fuels, are likely to remain a key part of the sociocultural energy tradition among rural communities that will impact low carbon and cleaner energy transition. We argue that decoupling energy from economic growth can encourage clean energy transition. Graphic abstract

Renewable resources of the northern half of the United States: potential for 100% renewable electricity Abstract We previously presented a model for deep penetration of renewables in the electricity sector of the southern half of the United States (Khoie and Yee in Clean Technol Environ Policy 17(4):957–971, 2015). In this paper, we present a strategy for the northern half of the United States to utilize its available renewable resources to gradually decrease its reliance on fossil fuels in electricity generation and develop energy portfolios with increasing share of renewables. Using the electricity generation data from the US EIA (Electricity, electric power monthly, 2019d. https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/), and the renewable resource maps produced by NREL (Geospatial data science, 2018a. http://www.nrel.gov/gis/solar.html; Geospatial data science, 2018b. http://www.nrel.gov/gis/wind.html), we develop strategies for the states in the northern half of the USA. We group these states into seven regions: West Coast, Mountain States, Middle West States, Lake States, Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, and New England states. For each region, we determine when and if the electricity generation from renewables will meet the region’s electricity need while accounting for a 1% annual increase in electricity demand. The renewable resources included in our models are solar (rural, urban, and rooftop photovoltaic), wind (onshore), hydro, biomass, and geothermal which vary greatly from region to region. We also include nuclear, coal, natural gas, and petroleum. Our results show that the West Coast, Mountain, and Middle West regions have the potential to become 100% renewable in the years 2041, 2039, and 2038, respectively. Additionally, our results show that the four regions of Lake, Mid-Atlantic, South Atlantic, and New England states may not be able to produce 100% of their electricity demand from their renewable resources. Graphic abstract

A cleaner enzymatic approach for producing non-phthalate plasticiser to replace toxic-based phthalates Abstract Dioctyl phthalate (DOP) is industrially commonly used as a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plasticiser. As DOP does not form a chemical link with PVC, it migrates from flexible PVC segments into the media in contact, a matter that arose concerns due to its noxious effect. Despite the introduction of several non-DOP-based plasticisers recently, most of these new plasticisers are petroleum derived, which is a non-renewable resource. Accordingly, this research aims to produce a natural-based plasticiser using clean production method. Epoxidised 2-ethylhexyl oleate (E-2-EHO) was produced through an esterification and epoxidation reaction between oleic acid and 2-ethyl hexanol; both reactions occur simultaneously, in the presence of hydrogen peroxide as oxygen donor in a solvent-free environment. Candida antarctica lipase (Novozym 435) was used as a cleaner biocatalyst. Several reaction parameters that affect the synthesis of (E-2-EHO) were analysed using response surface methodology based on full factorial central composite design for four variables. The maximum experimental conversion was 94.2% while the value of the predicted conversion was 95.3%. The operation conditions were a temperature of 65 °C, enzyme load of 4 wt%, alcohol-to-oleic acid molar ratio of 4:1, hydrogen peroxide-to-C=C molar ratio of 0.5:1, molecular sieve/g acid of 0.425 g and reaction time of 2 h. In addition, the plasticising effectiveness of (E-2-EHO) to substitute toxic DOP was studied. Comparison with conventional DOP highlighted that (E-2-EHO) had superior and significantly reduced glass transition temperature (tg) and improved mechanical properties. In the proposed study, (E-2-EHO) was proved to be an efficient substitute to DOP by replacing up to 80% of the total plasticiser. Moreover, the product yield obtained in a short time reaction along with the proven stability of Novozym 435 during operation both showed that this ecofriendly and maintainable alternative is favourable when used in large-scale applications. Graphic abstract