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ABSTRACT BACKGROUND D-limonene, a high-value added molecule found in the flavedo of orange peels (about 0.7% w/w), is used in the nutritional, pharmaceutical and cosmetic fields. An accelerated moderate temperature extraction was investigated in order to recover D-limonene. Furthermore, the residue from the extraction was used for energy recovery through the pyrolysis process. RESULTS The proposed extractive process was able to recover D-limonene up to 0.48 ± 0.002% w/w (on a wet basis) from orange peels at the highest investigated temperature (130 °C for 60 min). The residual matrix was then subjected to a dehydration step, which was carried out at room temperature for 10 days, in order to decrease the moisture from the porous surface, and then to a pyrolysis process. The average chemical energy recovery efficiency (91% ± 0.04) suggested that the thermochemical process is suitable for biofuel production. CONCLUSION Orange peels can be exploited for the recovery of an important bio-product and the residue can be used as feedstock for biofuels. This work has confirmed that accelerated extraction is more efficient than Soxhlet extraction (more than 68% w/w against 37% w/w of total D-limonene, respectively), and that a pyrolysis process can be successfully performed on the residue. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with an evaluation of some environmental impacts of a normal workday. The aim is to compare the environmental load associated to different standard meals provided by a canteen, and a series of transport options from home to the workplace, adopting the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. LCA is a holistic methodology that evaluates the environmental burdens associated to industrial productions or anthropic activities, over the whole life cycle of a product. The environmental load associated to a service is characterized by a number of impact indicators internationally accepted, such as gross energy requirement, global warming potential (GWP), ozone layer depletion and others. The present paper shows the environmental impacts, calculated with the environmental product declaration and the cumulative energy demand methods, associated to some typical food courses and means of transportation. The present analysis considers as subject a generic worker who lives and works in a European urban area. The results highlight how often environmental impacts coming from the lunch, in particular when the menus contain meat, are higher than the ones attributable to the transport. Taking into account the GWP as example, this study assesses how the contribution for producing a single beef steak (120 g) is equivalent to drive a car for ca. 30 km. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The application of an ISO standard procedure ( Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement (GUM)) is here discussed to quantify uncertainty in human risk estimation under chronic exposure to hazardous chemical compounds. The procedure was previously applied to a simple model; in this article a much more complex model is used, i.e., multiple compound and multiple exposure pathways. Risk was evaluated using the usual methodologies: the deterministic reasonable maximum exposure (RME) and the statistical Monte Carlo method. In both cases, the procedures to evaluate uncertainty on risk values are detailed. Uncertainties were evaluated by different methodologies to account for the peculiarity of information about the single variable. The GUM procedure enables the ranking of variables by their contribution to uncertainty; it provides a criterion for choosing variables for deeper analysis. The obtained results show that the application of GUM procedure is easy and straightforward to quantify uncertainty and variability of risk estimation. Health risk estimation is based on literature data on a water table contaminated by three volatile organic compounds. Daily intake was considered by either ingestion of water or inhalation during showering. The results indicate one of the substances as the main contaminant, and give a criterion to identify the key component on which the treatment selection may be performed and the treatment process may be designed in order to reduce risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]