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To overcome abiotic stress such as high salinity or drought, plants will synthesise specific metabolites to enhance the tolerance level. These metabolites are used as markers to relate to the potential metabolite pathways to alleviate salinity or drought stress with enhanced tolerance. The application of plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) is of high potential in reducing the symptoms induced under salinity or drought stress. However, limited studies have reported on the potential metabolite markers to represent the relationship between PGPB and plants to alleviate the salinity or drought stress. This review aims to summarise and develop a novel metabolite framework to relate the potential metabolite markers synthesised under salinity or drought stress as induced by PGPB. The metabolite framework is built based on a range of PGPB-induced metabolite markers modulated in different plants for stress alleviation and growth enhancement. From this review, major metabolite markers induced by PGPB under salinity and drought stress were identified as amino acids (ethylene, indole-3-acetic acid, salicylic acid, and proline) and isoprenoid (abscisic acid) in different plants. This framework is vital for constructing the metabolite network to decipher the underlying mechanisms for PGPB to enhance the tolerance of plants under salinity or drought stress in the future.

World energy consumption has been increasing drastically due to the increment world population, with the high consumption from industry, residential, commercial and community service buildings. Locally Integrated Energy Sector (LIES) is introduced to minimize the energy consumption for the commercial and residential units integrated. The LIES concept extended from the Pinch Analysis-based multiple-processes Heat Integration considers energy intermittency and storage. The LIES started from thermal energy conservation, then extended to power and heat energy optimisation. The methodology aimed to maximize the energy recovery between processes across time for minimizing the overall energy consumption, which lead to energy and operating cost saving. The system integrates with steam turbines and energy storages (heat and power) to minimize the waste heat available in the LIES system. This research focuses on the energy source for overall LIES system, which the conventional boiler is replaced with a combined cycle CHP system with gas turbine. The CHP system consumes natural gas to generate heat and power energy for the system. The sequence of heat and power optimisation, via heat and power integration, is also studied in this research. The design and operating parameter of the gas turbine system is affected by the sequences of optimisation. The CHP system operates to fulfil the heat demand or power demand at the first place, which leads to different overall consumptions. The integration options are compared based on the overall energy consumption and operating costs. Result shows that the power-to-heat optimisation has the least overall energy consumption (1,434 kW/y), which contributes to the highest annual energy saving and operation cost saving (203,397 USD/y).

Biochar has a broad application owning to its physicochemical properties and low cost by origin (by-products or generated from waste). Wide research attention received is the application to the soil as carbon sequestration. In contrast to the efficiency evaluation, the overall cost feasibility and environmental performance of the application still deserves broader analysis and discussion. This study aims to enumerate the advantages, and potential drawbacks of the different applications, in term of cost and the environmental footprints. The other alternatives (e.g. the conventional methods) in achieving the same purpose are compared. Special attention is given to the application of biochar to the soil as carbon sequestration. This study could serve as a guideline in evaluating the pros and cons of biochar application to ensure the unburdening footprints can offset the burdening footprint associated with the generation and other downstream processes towards sustainability.

Integrated GIS-AHP network design optimization models via LP is proposed to solve the bi-objective biomass supply chain optimization problems inclusive of the management of cost-effective biomass resourcing spatial availability, optimal sites of biorefinery, and transportation network. The formulation is modeled through LP to minimize the logistic costs and GHG emissions. The case study focused on 78 palm oil plantations in Johor.

The Water-Energy-Carbon Emissions (WEC) nexus has been drawing increasing attention. However, very few studies, to date, were conducted to comprehensively review the assessment approaches, challenges and trends of future works for regional and sectoral CWC nexus. This paper aims to analyse and review the WEC nexus assessment methods, challenges of WEC network management and ways to go in the future. Eight different kinds of WEC nexus assessment methods are introduced, as well as their advantages and drawback. Five future work directions of WEC nexus assessment are proposed. This study provides a better understanding of the WEC nexus and more approaches to assess the WEC nexus.

Soil salinisation is recognised as a serious form of soil degradation, affecting crop production and compromising food security. It is crucial to remediate the negative impacts of soil salinisation to improve the associated soil functions. This paper review the various role of biochar, derived through the pyrolysis of fibrous biomass, to improve the physical properties (soil porosity, soil aggregation, water holding capacity, hydraulic conductivity and organic carbon content) and chemical properties (pH, electrical conductivity, exchangeable sodium percentage and sodium adsorption ratio) of saline soil. Physical adsorption and ion exchange are found to be the most common remediation mechanisms of saline soil by biochar.

Heat exchanger network (HEN) retrofit is an effective way to reduce energy consumption and improve energy efficiency. A key criterion in industrial practice to evaluate the performance of a retrofit plan is the minimising total annualised cost. However, when pursuing the goal of minimising total annualised cost by graphical tools, sub-optimal solutions are inevitable because of the difficulty in finding the balance of utility cost and investment. In this study, a method based on constrained particle swarm optimisation (PSO) algorithm is developed for the annual cost minimisation when retrofitting HENs. The proposed method is applied based on an initial retrofit plan obtained by graphical tools. It can achieve the aim of total annualised cost reduction by adjusting the inlet and outlet temperatures of each heat exchanger through PSO with the consideration of different utility prices and investment. The results show that this method can find optimal temperature spans for heat exchangers to reduce the total annualised cost.

This article evaluates the processing of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) and its contribution to sustainability from the viewpoint of its net exergy balance. The evaluation follows the recent framework for estimation of Exergy Footprint and Exergy Profit for a given Process System. The method evaluates the Exergy Assets and Liabilities, estimating the Exergy Profit as the balance of these two. The concept of avoided exergy by substituting the useful chemical to its primary production, similar to the concept of avoided emission is also proposed in this work. The obtained estimate is the specific contribution of the considered MSW processing system. For estimating the overall impacts, the obtained Exergy Profit has to be added to the contributions of the potential upstream and downstream processes. The results show the potential value that can be obtained and sustainability contribution to be achieved by the extraction of useful chemicals from waste and waste-to-energy conversion. The chemical extraction option shows a marginally higher Exergy Profit compared with the typical MSW incineration practice, indicating that, as long as there is a sufficient market demand for the chemical products, this route can be more beneficial. An important outcome is that the product substitution can lead to three-fold increase in the Exergy Profit and the related emission savings.

Intensive agricultural practices with excessive use of chemical fertiliser have led to the deterioration of soil fertility where soil losses its ability to sustain a consistent crop system with high yield. Compost is a potential substitution to chemical fertiliser. As a biological additive, compost can improve soil quality and crop productivity, controlling plant diseases and reduce nutrient loss and water pollution. However, the effect of compost application to enhance the quality of the soil may be inconsistent due to the slow release nature of the nutrients, compost quality, types of feedstocks and other factors. To evaluate the effects of compost application, it may involve a large number of parameter analyses, which can be costly and time ineffective. There is no indicator to reduce the number of analyses concerning the effect of compost application on soil fertility. In this study, a ranking method is proposed to identify the minimum number of parameters able to track the effect of compost application on soil fertility and the environmental impact. A total of 23 soil parameters were selected through literature review and ranked for their importance to show the effect of compost use. The ranking method was developed based on (1) the reporting frequency of environmental and soil fertility parameters and (2) impact of the selective parameter to the environment. Soil C and N contents were found to be the most frequently reported parameters (85 and 90 %) to affect soil fertility upon compost application. Both contents in the soil also change significantly before and after compost application. Heavy metals and N2O emissions were found to impact the environment most due to the toxicity of heavy metal to the environment and human health and high global warming potential of N2O. Based on the ranking method, nine parameters (N, NO3--N, P, K, micro-nutrients, heavy metals, C, pH and N2O emissions) were selected. 60 % of soil analyses were reduced following this ranking method. For the future study, a weightage system could be implemented on each criterion to decide the more essential parameters to be evaluated based on different soil or crop type and under different agricultural practices.

The production of biochar from waste materials by pyrolysis can play a significant role in materialising the circular economy. The application of biochar with positive impacts are attributed by the unique properties of biochar, including its surface area, porous structure, functionality and adsorption capacity. The application of biochar with higher stability and resistance due to higher fixed C content contributes to a better C sequestration in the soil. The application of biochar with higher surface area and electrical conductivity is better for adsorption whereas biochar rich with nutrient element is suitable for plant uptake and agricultural purposes. The properties enabling such applications are found to have a varying degree of dependence on the feedstock composition and pyrolysis temperature. The biochar has been conventionally produced from lignocellulosic-rich biomass. There is increasing interest in the use of manure and food waste to produce biochar via pyrolysis. These wastes differ significantly on their lignocellulosic content and mineral content, ash content and elemental content. This difference could give rise to different biochar yield and providing varying properties. Different structural and degradability of the organic pools could lead to different optimum processing condition and the properties of biochar. In this review, the feedstock of interest is lignocellulosic biomass, food waste and manure where the variation in their compositions may contribute to specific properties of the biochar, such as stability, polarity, pH, cation exchange capacity, heating value, surface area and minerals content. The desired applications of biochars include C sequestration, fuel, soil amendment, enhanced crop nutrient and adsorption for pollutant remediation. This paper provides an overview for an optimal selection of the feedstock composition and the properties of the biochar produced via pyrolysis, and their subsequent applications. Overall, it was found that the applications as a soil amendment and adsorption material are the most commonly suited applications for biochar derived from the three reviewed feedstock. Lignocellulosic biomass-derived biochar showed a more significant advantage for C sequestration and as fuel, while manure- and food waste-derived biochar showed a greater functionality in retaining soil nutrients and absorbing pollutants.

Sophisticated approaches have been proposed to reduce material utilities such as water and hydrogen by designing resource allocation networks. For resource targeting, graphical methods have been developed for single quality material recycle/reuse. Up to now, systematic approaches to targeting fresh resources in a multi-contaminant material recycling network ahead of the detailed design are not readily available. This work presents a rigorous resource targeting procedure in the domain of multiple constraints (e.g. multi-contaminants). The problem is formulated as a resource-allocation superstructure model and modified to determine the model characteristics and obtain the optimal solution. These conditions are then transformed into a table and graphical forms to identify the minimum resource target. By inferring from the mathematical formulations, multiple cascades with individual contaminant/quality have to be analysed sequentially. The main issues are the identification of the proper assignment of material sinks or sources as well as their ranking into each cascade. An example is solved to illustrate the accuracy and applicability of the method. The method also provides insights into the problem as it could identify the limiting constraints for individual sinks.

Enabling a higher share of renewables in power planning at the municipal and regional scale is essential for offering local communities a path to sustainable development. However, the utilisation of renewables also carries certain environmental burdens which have to be accounted for in the process of system design and planning. The current paper takes this issue as a departure point, adding the electrical energy storage as a degree of freedom and its influence on the environmental footprints – represented by Greenhouse Gas and Water Footprints. The proposed model and the illustration case study clearly demonstrate the strong dependence of the footprints on the size of the storage facility. Future work should extend the model to account for all essential problem features – including a longer planning horizon, additional footprints and their inter-relationships, as well as the interaction with the economic performance of the system.

Heat exchanger network (HEN) retrofit has been widely studied to achieve energy savings. Different types of heat exchangers such as shell and tube, double-pipe, spiral plate, and spiral tube have their working temperature ranges and prices. However, considering the type of heat exchangers in the HEN retrofit process is rarely seen in previous publications. Selecting suitable types of heat exchangers according to their temperature ranges and prices is a crucial aspect in industrial implementation. The above-mentioned issue can be solved by the proposed Shifted Retrofit Thermodynamic Grid Diagram with the temperature range of heat exchangers (SRTGD-TR). The aim is to minimise the total cost, including utility cost and capital cost. The methodology is illustrated using a case study.

A huge amount of energy is consumed by residential, industrial, workplace and service sector. The operating units in Locally Integrated Energy Sectors (LIES) contributes negatively to global greenhouse gases emission. Energy efficiency is particularly important to overcome the growth of energy demand. Many countries in the world have implemented a number of methods to increase energy efficiencies. Combined Cooling, Heat and Power system (CCHP) is also known as the tri-generation system has been proven to be more efficient on sustainability and environmentally as compare to conventional generating system in terms of energy consumption, operational costs, heat loss and greenhouse gases emission. CCHP system tends to produce more products using waste heat. The expected outputs of tri-generation systems are power, heating utility system, cooling down utility system and waste heat. Process Integration through Pinch analysis is a tool for reducing energy consumptions and maximizing energy recovery. Total Site Heat Integration (TSHI) is an extended methodology of the individual process Pinch Analysis on heating targeting. Power Pinch Analysis (PoPA) is used to optimize the power from process, tri-generation and co-generation systems. CCHP Integration can be connected to form a comprehensive energy integration network among the energy supply and demand within a local area, as proposed by LIES. The new methodology deals with variable heating, chilling and power supply and demand, with a heat and battery storage system. The system is connected to a trigeneration energy system for optimizing the operation of the proposed system. The trigeneration system provides great flexibility for the optimization of the energy system. A case study is performed for verifying the proposed methodology, whereby energy recovery (cooling, heat and power) opportunities are found from the system studied. The case study showed 100 % reduction of steam, chilled water and electricity demand. The system managed to produce more electricity than required. This developing methodology provides better guidance to engineers, especially during the design stage on the performance limitations and specific compromises within a system.

The strategic management process is the full set of decisions, commitments, and activities required for policymakers to attain strategic competitiveness for global energy management. The initial step of the process is investigating the external environments to determine the opportunities and threats. The objective of this study is to scan and analyse the economic segment of the external environment. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis is applied to identify factors that have a direct effect on global energy management. The research results are required for the decision-makers to understand the critical factors in the economic segment and their implications for selecting and implementing the appropriate strategies.

The use of metallurgical slag for the synthesis of ceramics is considered as an alternative way to manage this waste. A significant effect on the physic-mechanical characteristics of ceramic materials when metallurgical slags are added is exerted by the heat treatment mode. Aluminosilicates were used as the main raw material metallurgical slags of lead and copper production were used as an additive-regulator of the properties of ceramics. It is shown that the addition of slag leads to an increase in mechanical strength. It was established that the maximum mechanical strength of 73.43 MPa is possessed by a sample obtained from a mixture of zeolite-bentonite-copper slag in the proportions of 50 % – 30 % - 20 %, at a moisture content of 15 % after calcination at 1,000 °C.

Thousands of conferences held all over the world annually are closely related to the theme of environmental sustainability. Various methods and measures have been presented in the effort to reduce environmental impacts. However, the impact of the conference itself receives relatively less attention. This study proposed a mathematical model to identify the optimal conference locations with minimal environmental footprints in travelling to and from the conference by the participants. The historical data of Conference on Process Integration for Energy Saving and Pollution Reduction (PRES) consisting the origin of the participants is applied to demonstrate the location selection. The model is developed to include air transport for short and long distances where the environmental impact is considered in the form of external cost. Participants are geographically distributed into points considering the capital of countries. Socio-economic and geographic data are used to estimate the expected number of participants through a linear regression model. Population, the absolute difference in religion, the distance between countries (with a positive impact on total attendance) and continent conservation (negative impact) were found to be significant. The result suggests the Czech Republic as the optimal location with the external cost of about 242 € / cap. The subsequent locations are Estonia and Romania. Future studies can cover multi-objective decision making, including price and more problematically quantified features as safety, health issues and attractiveness.

The condensation of vapour in the presence of noncondensing gas inside the channels of Plate Heat Exchanger (PHE) is studied on the example of steam condensation from its mixture with air. The mathematical one dimensional model of the process is developed. It is represented by the system of ordinary differential equations accounting for the change of process local parameters along the channel length. The identification of correlations for heat and mass transfer coefficients, as also pressure losses in condensing two-phase flow, is performed based on a comparison of modelling results with experimental data. The experimental model of PHE channel corrugated field consists of four corrugated plates forming three channels. The plate length is 1 m, its width is 0.225 m and a height of corrugations 0.005 m. The corrugations inclination angle to the main flow direction is 60 °. The correlations for two-phase flow are based on single-phase correlations obtained for a considered channel. For mass transfer coefficient, the most accurate results are obtained using approach accounting for transverse mass flux influence based on a stagnant film model with correction for density variation across the turbulent boundary layer. For the prediction of pressure drop in two-phase condensing flow the separate phases, model is used at low Reynolds numbers of the liquid film and dispersed annular flow model further on channel length, with growing mass flow rate of condensed liquid. The resulting mathematical model with correlations identified on experimental data can be used for the design of PHE for condensation of steam from its mixture with air.

A water main is an interface between water sources and sinks to reduce the complexity of the Total Site Integration for water reuse. The selection of the contaminant concentration of water main can significantly affect the site freshwater use and wastewater generation. This paper proposes a hierarchical approach to the selection of the inter-plant water main concentration for minimising the water utilities. The algorithm first performs Plant-Level Water Integration, exposing to the site level only the residual water sources and sinks. The case study shows that, for the water main inlet concentration increase from 100 ppm to 800 ppm, the minimum freshwater input increases from 127.5 t/h to 133.3 t/h, and the wastewater generation increases from 132.5 to 138.4 t/h. The trend, in this case, can be explained by the fact that the water sinks require cleaner water than the water main can offer. The conclusion is that the selection of the water main contaminant concentration requires balancing the availability from water sources and the demand by water sinks at the site level.

Global energy demands are increasing, and various forecast have indicated a continuing growth trend in the future. The increased demand often leads to a more stringent impact on the environment and, consequently, on humankind. To obtain a more efficient energy supply and utility network, analysis should consider improvement in i) efficiency of utility transport, ii) energy efficiency within various energy sectors (intensification), and iii) integration of different sectors. The potential of this last improvement has been only vaguely analysed, considering the business-as-usual approaches. To reveal the potential in the integration of different energy sectors, it is necessary to define the energy needed rather than considering traditional utility levels. Instead of using the top-down approach of first selecting the type and level of utility and only consequently covering the needs from available utilities, using a bottom-up approach can be beneficial. In the latter, the type and level of energy are derived for energy demands in a certain sector for the most common activities, and based on derived energy type and level requirement, the energy supply and utility network can subsequently be constructed. The aim of this study was to decrease overall primary energy source utilisation, while still covering the increasing energy demands. In this study, the types and levels of energy demands were first derived within each sector for the most common activities. The resulting solution based on cross-sector energy integration indicated heat demand reduction of 43 % and 41 % reduction of EU fossil-based GHG emissions in 2016.

Integrating existing diesel station with renewable energy (RE) technologies into a hybrid system has been an attractive solution towards mitigating greenhouse gases emissions problem of diesel power system. Apart from offering cleaner power supply, hybrid systems could also contribute towards reduction of diesel fuel cost. Application of insight-based Power Pinch Analysis (PoPA) method to integrate diesel plants and RE systems with the aim to minimise total generation and runtime of diesel generator has been proposed. This work utilises an extended PoPA tool called the Probability-Power Pinch Analysis (P-PoPA) to achieve the supplementation of RE technologies with existing diesel system. P-PoPA can provide accurate results as those established from the PoPA approach within a shorter time of analysis as it eliminates the manual matching of power sources and demands step. Correction factors based on all possible routes from the RE sources and the diesel generator to the demands are computed to determine the minimum diesel power target for the integrated system. Result of an illustrative case study shows that 31 % saving in the diesel fuel requirement can be achieved after the integration of the existing diesel plant with RE systems. The result of the P-PoPA method is accurate with an only 0.61 % difference to the result targeted using the conventional PoPA technique.

Sustainable Enterprise Resource Planning (S-ERP) system is an integrated system enabling decision makers to integrate and manage business process within organisation in a sustainable manner. The S-ERP implementation is huge, which requires an integration of all business units in value chain. Practitioners need guidelines that show important steps to implement the S-ERP systems. A development of S-ERP guidelines has been highlighted in the previous work. However, the reliability of the steps needs to be evaluated by a number of experts. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the S-ERP guidelines using expert review methods. Twelve experts have been involved to contribute in this study through in-depth interviews. The results of the interview are recorded and transcripted for the analysis process. In this regard, a qualitative analysis technique consisting three main activities including data reduction, data display, and representing/validating conclusions is applied to get the final S-ERP guidelines. The validated S-ERP guidelines are important and beneficial for practitioners as its accuracy and reliability have been assessed by the experts. The S-ERP guidelines will assist them to effectively implement the S-ERP systems in their organisations.

Terrain has been one of very significant impact factors of air pollution formation and distribution. The relationship between air-pollution and terrain has been studied for a long time. It is still a very hot topic, especially in the context of global environmental deterioration, being represented by severe haze, acid rain, local area air pollution and greenhouse gas emission as well. It is significant to obtain deeper insight into this relationship. This paper overviewed the mechanism of air-pollution terrain nexus, summarised some methods for modelling, monitoring and predicting the air pollutants distribution, flow and settling that influenced by terrain. The limitation and challenges of related studies were discussed. In conclusions, this paper aims at reviewing the nexus of terrain and air pollutions and the methods in this field, trying to highlight the current challenges.

The high rate of population growth along with economic and industrial development especially in city areas have led to significant increase in the generation of municipal solid waste (MSW) in China. It has been a challenging task for government and municipalities to develop a sustainable solid waste management, especially in the developing countries. Organic waste predominates MSW composition across countries with different level of income. Due to the absence of waste segregation at source, China has 55.86 % of food waste (FW) from MSW with high moisture content. Composting is a viable technology to manage organic waste sustainably by transforming FW into organic fertiliser. This study focuses on the sustainable development of organic waste management model via large-scale FW composting based on a case study in Minhang District, Shanghai, China. The study evaluates the upstream, bio-waste management, and downstream level involved in the organic waste management along with the strategies implemented that will impact the sustainability of the framework, such as waste collection, availability of policy and incentive, the role of authority as well as compost quality and its market. The assessment of the sustainable model of organic waste management can be very beneficial for improving the compost application towards sustainable composting in the developing countries.

Among many alternative fuels, oxygenated fuels like biodiesel and biomass-based energy (biofuel) such as bioalcohol have greater potential to enhance engine performance and mitigate particulate exhaust emissions in compression-ignition (CI) engines. The main objective of this study is to determine the optimal ternary green diesel (GD) blends formulation by identifying the most feasible diesel/biodiesel/alcohol that meeting the ASTM D975, Standard Specification for petro-diesel. Three steps of product design optimization (PDO) has been performed, (1) specify the fuel target properties based on Euro5; (2) optimize the formulation for ternary GD blends; (3) rank and select the optimal ternary GD blends. The ranking and selecting the optimal ternary GD blends were focused on the correlation of the higher cetane number (CN) over the cost of fuel. The PDO model indicated the most cost-effective and environmentally friendly diesel/biodiesel/alcohol ternary GD blends shall contain 74 % Malaysia petro-diesel, 16 % palm methyl ester (PME) and 1 % of butanol. Notably, the higher CN, the shorter the fuel ignition and the better the combustion efficiency. High CN fuels can significantly burn faster and more completely and hence reduce the harmful exhaust emissions such as SO2.

Waste to energy (WtE) is one of the suitable alternatives in handling municipal solid waste (MSW). This study assesses the GHG emissions (CO2eq) of incineration and anaerobic digestion (AD) under different electricity production mix. The electricity production mix of China, Malaysia, Japan, Russia, UK, US (East), Czech Republic, Germany, France and Finland were considered. Incineration has a lower net CO2eq emission in China and Malaysia. However, the AD is environmentally preferable than incineration in Russia, Japan, Czech Republic, Germany, US (East), UK, Finland and France. The net CO2eq emission of incineration in China (9.41 kg CO2eq/t MSW) is lower than a country with greener electricity mix e.g. France (401.76 kg CO2eq/t MSW) where the main electricity source is nuclear. This is due to the higher avoided CO2eq emission compare to generate electricity from fossil fuel. Electricity produces from the WtE process is identified as the major factors in affecting the net CO2eq emission than the other two assessed factors (waste collection and transportation (distance), the efficiency of the WtE process). This suggests energy efficiency plays a significant role in enhancing the net CO2eq emissions and to reduce the carbon intensity of WtE.

Liquid fertiliser contains nutrient compounds that could be applied as plant enhancer and are used in urban agriculture as it does not require soil medium and environmentally friendly. An organic liquid fertilizer can be produced from bio-wastes composting as it contains more organic nutrients that are essential to promote healthy plant growth. Liquid fertiliser can be collected during the composting process (compost leachate) or by mixing compost with a certain solution (compost tea). Both the end solid and liquid fertilizer compost could be commercialised as organic fertilisers. Although there are a lot of studies regarding the nutrient characteristic of the end product compost and liquid fertiliser, the correlation of nutrient composition between liquid fertiliser and solid compost is unclear. The variation of waste input creates an unclear nutrient range of end compost in both solid and liquid products. This study aims to develop a correlation between the nutrients available in the liquid fertilizer (both compost leachate and compost tea) with regards to the nutrients available in the end solid compost from different bio-waste source. Based on the physical and nutrient characterisation, liquid fertiliser contains elements such as nitrogen (N), potassium (K) and phosphorus (P) that are essential for plant growth. Due to high organic content in the liquid fertiliser, dilution or pre-treatment is needed to avoid plant and soil damage. By using a graphical analysis and simple linear regression model, a formula can be developed to predicting the nutrient composition of the compost products. The formula allows predicting the nutrient composition of the compost by analysing the liquid fertiliser and save the cost and time of the analysis.

Thermogravimetry coupled to FTIR analysis of evolved gas was applied to the quantitative determination of key-components formed in the slow pyrolysis and thermal decomposition of tobacco samples. Eight key-components were selected for the study: carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, water, acetaldehyde, glycerol, isoprene, nicotine, and phenol. Specific calibration techniques developed for FTIR evolved gas analysis were applied to carry out the quantitative analysis of evolved gases. Deconvolution techniques were applied to identify the contributions of the key-components of interest to the overall FTIR spectra. The results obtained allowed the characterization of evolution profiles of most of the key components of interest. Phenol and isoprene results were below the detection limits of the technique, while the calibration technique was not suitable for glycerol characterization due to condensation and decomposition phenomena during calibration runs. Quantitative data were obtained for carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, water, acetaldehyde and nicotine evolution in pure nitrogen and dry air.

Accidental fires in Oil&Gas facilities have a significant potential for severe consequences, endangering personnel safety, environment, asset integrity, production continuity and company reputation. Moreover, in-plant accident propagation (domino effects) may further increase the outcomes of fires. Fireproofing is a crucial safety barrier in preventing the escalation of fire scenarios. Maintenance and cost considerations require the application of such protection only where an actual risk of severe fire scenarios is present. Available methodologies for the identification of fireproofing zones in on-shore installations are based on simplified assumptions and do not consider the effect of jet-fire scenarios. Experience has tragically shown though the importance of including such scenarios (e.g. Valero accident in 2007). In the present study, a risk-based methodology for the identification of fireproofing zones was developed. The procedure addresses both the prevention of domino effect and the mitigation of asset damage due to the primary fire scenario (pool and jet fires), taking into account the specific issues of on-shore applications. Specific criteria were introduced to assess escalation hazard. A risk-based identification of the reference accident scenarios was developed, allowing a more detailed definition of the plant items that should be considered for fireproofing application. The method is mainly oriented to early design application, allowing the identification of fireproofing zones in the initial lay-out definition. The potential outcomes of the methodology are investigated by applying them to case-studies of industrial interest.

The availability of hazard identification methodologies based on early warnings is a crucial factor in the prevention of major accidents. Accidents like Seveso, Buncefield and Toulouse, where severe consequences occurred seemingly unexpected by the plant safety management, have made it clear that a comprehensive and complete identification and assessment of potential hazards in the process industry are of primary importance for the prevention and the mitigation of accident scenarios. The accident scenarios deviating from normal expectations of unwanted events or worst-case reference scenarios captured by common HAZard IDentification (HAZID) techniques are usually defined as “atypical”. The main issue posed by the prevention of atypical scenarios is the availability of techniques able to identify them within a routine HAZID process, capturing evidence of new hazards and learning from ‘early warnings’ as soon as they come to light. For this reason a specific method named Dynamic Procedure for Atypical Scenarios Identification (DyPASI) was developed. The method was conceived as a development of conventional bow-tie identification techniques. DyPASI is a method for the continuous systematization of information from early signals of risk related to past events. It dynamically integrates in the bow-ties the results of information retrieval activities. DyPASI features as a tool to support emerging risk management process, having the potentiality to contribute to an integrated approach aimed at breaking “vicious circles”, helping to trigger a gradual process of identification and assimilation of previously unrecognized atypical scenarios. The current contribution presents the technique and demonstrates the application by a selected case-study of practical application (Toulouse AZF accident, Buncefield oil depot accident, LNG regasification terminal, CCS plant).

On the 29th of June, 2009 the derailment of a rail-tanker containing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in the Viareggio station produced a large cloud of flammable vapours, which ignited in a flash-fire, causing 31 fatalities and extensive property damage. The literature models applicable to the simulation of flash fires differ for the hypothesis made and the complexity. The majority of models assume homogenous clouds, usually at stoichiometric concentration. However the dispersion of the substances released in accidental events frequently results in non-homogeneous stratified clouds. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models have limited applicability due to the large scale of the scenario, yielding extremely high computational burdens. Integral models based on empirical parameters are necessary for routine quantitative risk assessment practice, and more generally, for prevention and mitigation of the scenario. In this study the models for simulating flash fires of stratified vapour clouds are applied to the study of the Viareggio accident. The model by Raj & Emmons was modified to include the correct description of the combustion of pre-mixed and diffusive flame. The considerations underlying the models by Feng and Kaptein & Hermance for flame velocity were implemented. The comparison with the actual outcomes of the accident, as recorded by an on-site survey, allowed for model validation. Copyright �� 2013, AIDIC Servizi S.r.l.

The installation of fireproofing materials on equipment and structures is a widely applied and effective solution for the protection of critical process elements against severe fires, in order to prevent possible damages escalation. The choice and design of fireproofing materials is crucial for granting adequate performances. As a matter of fact, properties such as, among others, thermal conductivity and density change substantially when the material is exposed to severe temperatures. In the present study, a methodological approach, integrating experimental and modelling activities, was proposed. Focus was set on a particular class of PFP: inorganic fireproofing materials. A reference set of commercial PFP materials (rock wool, glass wool, silica blanket, etc.) was selected. Small scale experiments allowed determining the variation of the most relevant thermal properties of the coatings and to obtain detailed correlation models for their description. A finite element model (FEM) was developed in order to reproduce the behaviour of real scale equipment exposed to fire and to provide a sound design of the fire protection system.

In recent years, severe natural events raised the concern for the so-called NaTech (natural-technological) accident scenarios: technological accidents caused by the impact of a natural event on an industrial facility or infrastructure. Severe scenarios typical of the process industry, as fires, explosions, toxic releases, and water pollution were reported as the consequence of natural events in industrial areas. The historical analysis of accidental scenarios triggered by lightning shows that the impact of a lightning on an atmospheric storage tank might be the initiating event of a severe accident. The analysis of past accident evidences that several alternative damage mechanisms and accident scenarios may follow lightning impact. Although lightning hazard is well known and is usually considered in the risk analysis of chemical and process plants, well accepted quantitative procedures to assess the contribution of accidents triggered by lightning to industrial risk are still lacking. In particular, the approaches to the assessment of accident scenarios following lightning strike are mostly based on expert judgment. In the present study, a detailed methodology is presented for the assessment of quantified event trees following lightning impact on an atmospheric tank. Different damage mechanisms have been considered in order to assess the frequencies of loss of containment due to lightning strikes. The results were used in a case study to assess the overall risk due to lightning impact scenarios in typical lay-outs of tank farms of oil refineries.