Abstract Hydrogen could be considered a synthetic secondary power carrier fuel in the years to come, subsequent to the fossil fuels economy. Thus the concept 'hydrogen economy' shall be defined, and it will also have a great influence in the future years.The field of power generation (producing electric power), transports, (electric cars), chemistry (hydrogen is a major raw material) are potential users of hydrogen.The experts support, by means of a series of economical and strategic analysis ma...
Autori: Corina Rădulescu, Elisabeta Păsculete, Florentina Condrea
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=25111

This paper brings a review on the trends of arc plasma reactors, in the new millennium, as an alternative contribution to the reduction of carbon emission at global level. The development of technically and economically feasible plasma processes for the production of hydrogen is analyzed. Literature provides data on achievable intensification of the involved chemical processes comparing with those from the classic reactors. The hydrogen production is studied starting from hydrocarbons and alcoho...
Autori: Iulian Rusu
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=25128

AbstractMunicipal solid waste (MSW) management is an important and challenging issue for sustainable development. It is also one of themost controversial problems and a subject of an ongoing debate between different interested parties. A particularly controversial issue is MSW incineration (with or without energy recovery) which has in many countries become a socially unacceptable option for dealing with solid waste. On the other hand, the increasing amounts of waste each year demand immediate a...
Autori: Adisa Azapagic
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=25147

Contain all the articles from this issueICEEM /02 PLENARY SESSION:"Environmental Engineering and Management in the Context of Sustainable Development"Design for sustainability (D4S): towards advanced product conceptsHan Brezet, Sacha SilvesterICEEM/02 - ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING SECTION"Water and Wastewater Treatment Technologies"Complex approach to the problem of persistent organic pollutants degradation in water environmentVictor Covaliov, Olga Covaliova, Angela Cincilei, Gilles Mailhot, Pasca...
Autori:
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=25176

Contain all the articles from this issueBiosorption of Cu2+ ions from aqueous solution by Enteromorpha sp.Loredana Brinza, Matthew Dring, Maria Gavrilescu  Environmental impact assessment for steel processingBrindusa Robu, Carmen Zaharia, Matei MacoveanuEnhanced primary treatment of municipal wastewater by ion exchange and membrane processesDaniela Teleman, Peter A. Wilderer, Carmen Teodosiu, Thilo K?śtzle Best practices in kraft pulping - benefits and costs Dan GavrilescuAspects of waste m...
Autori:
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=25177

Contain all the articles from this issueNitrous oxide decomposition over Fe-ZSM-5 catalysts prepared by different methodsMircea Teodor Nechita, Ioan Rosca, Daniel Sutiman, Gabriela Apostolescu, Ioan Iordache Geometrical correlation method for global estimation of the ecosystem stateCamelia Popa, Cornel Cojocaru, Matei MacoveanuImmobilized lipases as biocatalysts for organic synthesis 1. Transesterification of ethyl acetate with alcohols in the presence of free Candida antarctica lipase BBrindusa...
Autori:
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=25181

AbstractDepletion of world recourses, increasing pollution, and climate change make us shift from linear economy to system economy - an economy of technologies integrated to reach a non-polluting zero emissions production system. Transition to renewable resources requires replacement the present crude oil refinery by biomass refinery. Along with conventional biomass refinery technologies bioengineering and nano-technologies become significant players of systems in the design of clusters of integ...
Autori: Arnis Kokorevics, Janis Abolins, Janis Gravitis
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=25304

AbstractPulp and paper mills generate various quantities of energy-rich biomass as wastes, depending on technological level, pulp and paper grades and wood quality. These wastes are produced in all stages of the process: wood preparation, pulp and paper manufacture, chemical recovery, recycled paper processing, waste water treatment. Energy recovery from wastes of different origin has become a generally accepted alternative to their disposal. Pulp and paper industry expresses an interest in adap...
Autori: Dan Gavrilescu
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=25307

AbstractA present challenge for research is to determine how to use the combination of oil, gas and coal most efficiently with the minimum environmental damage. In this paper the authors have compared technologies to produce the electricity using natural gas and coal. The objective of this paper consists in evaluation of the life cycle assessment of the natural gas and coal in order to compare their greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. In this way, three systems with and without CCS were examined: ...
Autori: Adrian-Alexandru Badea, Cristian Dincă, Gheorghe Lăzăroiu, Tiberiu Apostol
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=25355

Abstract Bioremediation of heavy metal contaminated soil is one of the major concerns of our days. Phytoextraction has been lately utilized as an alternative of in situ remediation technology for polluted soils but is generally perceived to be too slow. Even so, phytoextraction is an efficient long lasting, accessible and environmentally friendly technique. The aim of this paper was to evaluate the phytoextraction potential of bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) in stress conditions induced by heavy me...
Autori: Alina Stingu, Irina Volf, Valentin I. Popa
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=25508

? AN ASSESSMENT OF OPERATIONAL PARAMETERS FOR THE REMOVAL OF CHLOROPHENOLS FROM WASTEWATER ? ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES: A PSYCHOLOGICAL-BEHAVIORAL MODEL FOR RESEARCHERS ? ECOLOGICAL AGRICULTURE: DYNAMICS OF THE BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES IN SOILS CULTIVATED WITH MAIZE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ORGANIC FERTILIZATION ? SOLAR-ASSISTED JOULE-BRAYTON ENGINES USED TO REDUCE CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS ? STUDY OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS OF HEATING SYSTEMS ? MIXED JET-VORTEX METHOD FOR ...
Autori:
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=25662

Hydrogen production via biomass steam gasification and partial oxidation is analyzed from exergy aspect. Based on cypress sawdust gasified from 800°C to 1200°C, the exergy value of H2 from steam gasification rises from 1410.80 kJ kg-1 to 7922.89 kJ kg-1, while that from partial oxidation increases from 988.30 kJ kg-1 to 3097.81 kJ kg-1. The exergy efficiency of H2 from biomass also increases for both steam gasification (6.42–36.08%) and partial oxidation (4.50–14.11%). However, the exergy ...
Autori: Yaning Zhang, Bingxi Li, Hongtao Li, Bo Zhang, Hui Liuhttp://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=25693

Abstract:The increasing of energy consumption and fossil fuel emissions (especially CO2, SO2 and NOx) and the limitation of crude oilreserves, determined a growing trend toward renewable energy technologies, like solar, wind, geo-thermal energy and biomass forbiofuels.From all the renewable energies sources, biomass attracts more and more interest being a renewable resource with economicpotential, which can be found all over the world, with positive environmental properties due to neutral emissi...
Autori: Anca Sauciuc, Angela Potetz, Georg Schlaub, Gerald Weber, Hermann Hofbauer, Lucia Dumitrescu, Reinhard Rauch, Ziad Abosteif
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=25762

Biomass is a very interesting natural source to obtain renewable energy as well as chemical products based on a renewable feedstock. Fuel produced from renewable resources is widely regarded as an option to substitute traditional fossil fuels and thus to answer to the adjunct climate debate. For the production of chemical substances from renewable substrates many process options are in investigation worldwide at the moment. However the ecological benefits of these technological options have to b...
Autori: Anton Friedl
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=25856

This paper is part of LCA studies performed in the frame of FP7 project �Recovered Paper Sorting by Innovative Technologies - SORT IT�. It analysis the results obtained by Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) of the reference case for recycled packaging paper manufacturing (current sorting technology), which will constitute a comparison base for new sorting technology developed in SORT IT project. The main stages considered in the life cycle were: recovered paper (RP) transport from collectio...
Autori: Alina Iosip, Antonio Dobon, Elena Bobu, Mercedes Hortal
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=25860

AbstractDue to high energy costs and the rising consciousness of energy issues in the textile industry, saving energy became a significantproblem. Since a large amount of the energy required in textile finishing is needed in the form of steam for various processes,recovering wastewater heat has great potential for cost reduction. In this research, it was studied the heat recovery from cellulosictextiles finishing wastewater, based on a case study in a textile company. After examining the wastewa...
Autori: Armand F. Bertea, Gheorghe Condurache, Răzvan Berariu, Romen Butnaru
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=26013

The book edited by Haibo Xie and NicholasGathergood focuses on one of the most importantscientific issues of the 21 century which is thereplacing fossil fuel with sustainable alternatives suchas biomass. Fossil fuels are conventional rawmaterials for many industrial sectors includingchemical and energy production. Usage of fossil fuelis limited by their availability, price and carbonfootprint. Biomass is a renewable resource globallyavailable, cheaper and carbon sequestering. Step bystep shiftin...
Autori: Adrian Catalin Puitel
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=26101

Abstract Our researches have focused primarily on variations of different biophysical and biochemical effects on vegetal and animal material at macro, micro, and ultra-micro scale resulted from changes in environmental condition. Growth and spectral parameters of rapeseed seedlings from seeds exposed to UVA-VIS radiation with a high pressure lamp which emits incoherent continuously radiation for different time periods were examined 14 days after germination. These studied parameter...
Autori:
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=26138

Abstract Pesticides can be considered useful to eliminate pests, but can also induce negative effects to the processes of germination, growth and development of plants or disrupt some physiological and metabolic processes. By studying the effect of pesticides on treated seeds germination, and determination of growth indices, it was possible to evaluate the positive or negative influence or toxicity of the chemical compounds. The aim of this research is to highlight the effects of d...
Autori: Daniela Nicuţă
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=26142

AbstractGlobal warming is happening due to increasing level of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. In orderto reduce this rising level of CO2 emitted by human activities, carbon capture and storage technologies are being developed.The present paper investigates and compares, from a techno-economical point of view, two of the most used conceptual methods(post- and pre- combustion) for CO2 capture generated from the fossil fuel power generation sector. For post-combustio...
Autori: Anamaria Padurean
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=26217

AbstractHealthcare waste management is one of the most important environmental problems in the world and particularly in Tunisia,because of the potential environmental hazards and public health risks. The collection of infectious healthcare waste is a highlyvisible and important service that involves large expenditures. This study discusses the off-site transport problem of infectioushealthcare waste from the 12 hospitals in the governorate of Sfax (Tunisia) to a planned steam sterilization disp...
Autori: Wafik Hachicha
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=26252

AbstractThe right individuation of the more convenient solution for final treatment and destination of sewage sludge deriving fromwastewater plants, normally after anaerobic digestion process, is a very interesting problem, in accounting of urgent needs foracceptable solutions. The produced sludge, primarily after thermal drying, can be sent to energetic valorization processes as, forexample, incineration, gasification and also pyrolysis. In this work we examined the thermal solutions (both dire...
Autori: Deborah Panepinto
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=26435

AbstractIn this study a new generation of plate-type laboratory air treatment biofilter is applied for the removal of gaseous contaminantsfrom air. The packing material for the biofilter consists of porous plates arranged vertically one after the other to produce acapillary humidification effect. The porous plate is made of polymer to secure the stiffness of the plate. Birch fibre granulesthermally treated in a steam explosion reactor are fixed on both sides of the polymer board. The granules ar...
Autori:
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=26480

Abstract The caraway (Carum carvi L.) samples were collected from little meadows situated in Harghita Mountain (Mădăraş Ciuc, Harghita Băi, Jigodin, Tuşnadu Nou), where a relatively small area was covered by a group of rich populations of wild cumin. The harvested plants are dried by: a) convective laboratory dryer in thick layer, b) static outdoors in sunshine, and (c) static in a warm indoor place in darkness. The hand-picked seeds were separated from debris by sie...
Autori: Csaba Dezső András
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=26646

Abstract The utilization of manure for waste-to-bioenergy conversion processes may be a sustainable development choice rather than its traditional use as a fertilizer. Furthermore, the valorization of manure via thermochemical conversion routes and their integration with biological processes can provide an additional pathway in the utilization of residual biomass. On the other hand, the use of metal oxides might enhance the performance of thermochemical processes such as pyrolysis by either ...
Autori: Maria Fernandez-Lopez
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=26647

Abstract Anaerobic processes have been successfully applied in the treatment of municipal and industrial wastewaters. Judicious use of nutrients in anaerobic treatment has not been systematically investigated. The optimal nutrient dosage for anaerobic wastewater treatment systems is largely unknown. In this paper, COD:N:P ratio used by various researchers in anaerobic wastewater treatment systems for treating different types of wastewaters are compiled and critically analyzed. In order to ha...
Autori: Athar Hussain
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=26697

Abstract Hydrolysates of Arundo donax, a crop offering high productivity in contaminated or salinized soils with no inputs of irrigation and agrochemicals, were used in a discontinuous fermenter to grow the oleaginous yeast Lipomyces starkey, to obtain microbial oils potentially useful for the production of 2nd-generation biodiesel. A mixture of fermentable sugars was obtained by steam-explosion and subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis of the lignocellulosic materials. The concentration of Ni2+ ...
Autori: Domenico Pirozzi
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=26789

Abstract Energy costs not included in consumer utility invoices include human health problems triggered by air pollution from burning fossil fuels, and environmental degradation caused by global warming, acid rain, and water pollution. Such costs, peripheral to energy pricing, are called externalities because electricity producers and users do not pay for them directly. Society as a whole must pay. This pricing system masks the true costs of fossil-based electricity generation plants, result...
Autori: Hasan Karimzadegan
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=26862

Abstract This paper analyses mass and energy balances of some Integrated Municipal Solid Waste Systems (IMSWS) focusing on MSW sorting, treatment and energy recovery conversion chains suitable for the last entries into the European Union (EU). In particular the Romanian case-study has been developed as reference scenario. In this context the actions timelines for the case-study are immediate (S1A), midterm (S1B) and long term (S2). In the scenarios S1A, S1B a poor selective collection (SC) i...
Autori: Gabriela Ionescu
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=26878

The production process of wine and distilled generates several by-products (20-30% of total production). Currently, most of the solid by-products (pomace, stalks, lees and seeds) obtained as downstream of the vinery industry, are conferred to the distillery or, less frequently, used in agriculture and for energy production. As a consequence, much of the antioxidant compounds contained in the grape is unused in the products of processing and is lost. These substances (among which the most impo...
Autori: Paola Zitella
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=27135

The need for ensuring safety of energy supply, as well as the tendency to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has led to greater use of energy efficient technologies and renewable energy sources. Cogeneration (combined production of heat and electricity) is one of high-efficiency technologies, because the losses of primary energy are less than losses from the separate generation of heat and power. Consequently, in 27 EU member-states 70% of the district heating is based on cogeneration plants. Us...
Autori: Vladimir Vukašinović
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=27177

Common issues of the gasification systems relate to filtering apparatus. Dry filtering processes are simple and reliable. However, the filtering material defines the maximum and minimum temperature at which the filter can operate properly. In addition, dry filtration is not effective on light tar compounds (i.e. benzene and toluene) or ammonia compounds. On the other hand, despite being very efficient, wet filters drop the gas temperature below the line of condensation of tar, ammonia and ste...
Autori: Giulio Allesina
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=27412

A series of column experiments were conducted to study volatile contaminant (benzene) removal and process principles using soil vapor extraction (SVE) under different thermal conditions. Compared with the normal SVE method, two thermal methodssteam injection and electrical resistance heating effectively increased the benzene vapor diffusion and removal rates. The removal efficiency of benzene with the electrical resistance heating method was 96.5%, which was significantly higher than that with t...
Autori: Peng Li
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=27534

A coal-fired steam power plant, located near an open pit coal mine in Mae Moh, Lampang, a province in the north of Thailand, has been in operation since 1978, with a generating capacity of 2,400 megawatts, and lignite consumption of 40,000 tons/day. A maximum hourly concentration of SO2 of 3,418 μg/m3 was measured and an emission of 150 tons/hour of SO2 from the power plant was estimated. In order to mitigate the impacts of the emission on human health, crops and livestock, several measures h...
Autori: Athikom Bangviwat
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=27621

This paper exposes the research activities regarding REBAF (Energetic Recover of River Biomasses) project, focused on the maintenance operations self-sustainability of the Secchia river (Italy). Poplar was found as the most abundant and representative wood plant of Secchia riverbanks, with a good behavior during gasification process: from 1 hectare of maintenance every three year, it was possible to produce 23 MWh of electrical power and 31 MWh of thermal power. The biochar obtained was characte...
Autori: Vittorio Vezzali
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=27804

Hierarchical distance-based fuzzy multi-criteria group decision making (DBF–MCDM) was applied to evaluate the health-care waste (HCW) treatment alternatives for Qom hospitals. A list of aspects consisting of 6 criteria and 21 sub-criteria were evaluated based on a linguistic term set by five decision-makers. Also, four HCW treatment alternatives including “incineration”, “steam sterilization”, “chemical disinfection” and “controlled landfill”...
Autori: Ramin Nabizadeh
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=27865

Air cooled and water cooled slag samples were obtained from a demonstration plasma gasification / vitrification unit. The leachability of the major heavy metals present (Cr, Cu, Mn, Fe, Pb and Zn) in both the air cooled and water cooled slag when in contact with acidic solutions was investigated under different temperature, stirring and contact time conditions. Water cooled slag showed better resistance to heavy metals leaching. The vitrification process immobilised Cr and Pb. The leachabilit...
Autori: Konstantinos Moustakas
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=27882

This manuscript presents the bicriteria optimization of a polygeneration system to be installed in a tertiary sector building, considering economic and environmental objective functions. Electricity, hot water, steam, and cooling demands were considered. The bicriteria problem considered the annual costs and the annual carbon footprint. Updated environmental information was obtained through the application of the Life Cycle Assessment methodology and implemented within a Mixed Integer Linear Pr...
Autori: Bruno Campos Teixeira de Carvalho
ISSN: 1843 - 3707
http://www.ecozone.ro/reviste.php?RID=28103