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Our research examined the attitudes of owners and managers of small and medium-sized enterprises in the V4 countries, who behave responsibly - they use corporate social responsibility in their managerial practice on issues focused on the market and operational area of business. The paper is based on a questionnaire survey with data collection from September 2019 to January 2020. Statistical methods of Pearson's chi-square and z-score were used to assess the hypotheses. The results proved that there are significant differences in companies in services and tourism in the context of implementing the CSR concept. Entrepreneurs who implement social responsibility with a significant positive difference agree that a company places great emphasis on the innovation of its products and services. Researchers found that the sector has an impact on the perception of decreasing customers' requests on specific products/services. We found that corporate social responsibility and its implementation in corporate practice positively affects the relationship of V4's small and medium enterprises in the services and tourism sector to service production innovation issues, which helps increase business performance and decline customer complaints.

This study aims to evaluate the perception of bankruptcy by small and medium-sized enterprises from the V4 region. CSR implementation in business activities was selected as the comparison criterion. The research paper is based on a questionnaire survey of 1585 respondents. The data were collected from September 2019 to January 2020. The research hypotheses were evaluated using the χ-quadrat test and Z-score statistical methods. Differences between the enterprises which implemented CSR in business and other companies were found. The research focused on bankruptcy perception as a natural part of the business and as a valuable experience for future company development. Entrepreneur failure and self-confidence showed that V4 SMEs with implemented CSR are less likely to go bankrupt if adverse economic developments occur. However, less than 50% of entrepreneurs consider bankruptcy as a valuable experience for further business. The majority of managers who have experience with CSR implementation positively differed in their opinions versus those without this experience. In general, V4 entrepreneurs who implemented CSR have a more positive perception of bankruptcy questions. The results may be interesting for those who promote or implement CSR in the focused countries. Our findings can be helpful for entrepreneurs to consider the benefits of being socially responsible in the working environment conception.

The most common drinking water clarification technology worldwide is based on precipitation using the floccules of iron(III) oxide-hydroxide FeO(OH). The coagulation sludge obtained is usually mixed with biowaste and composted. Inexperienced farmers are interested in these composts, in the expectation that the smallest fractions of the precipitated organic matter together with the colloidal particles of clay captured during the clarification process might increase the level of soil organic matter as well as cation-exchange capacity (CEC) of soil and increase crop yields. Nevertheless, those who have used these composts observed that plants on treated soil show signs of phosphorus (P) insufficiency, despite having been fertilized appropriately. It has been published recently that the traces of iron (Fe) from the FeO(OH) turn the soil P into Fe phosphates (FeP), which makes P not readily available to agricultural plants. A 6-year field-scale experiment was carried out and was accompanied by robust analyses on soils and yields. It was confirmed that the traces of Fe from the coagulation sludge worsen the availability of soil P to plants. However, for the first time, evidence has been obtained concerning the fact that the Fe also damages the efficiency of P fertilizers applied afterward. A questionnaire was conducted among drinking water treatment plant operators and regulators to identify a reason why similar practices have not been banned yet. The results showed a growing awareness of the issue among experts, but politicians seem to prefer putting off unpopular measures. We recommend abandoning the application of these composts onto arable land and the revitalization of the affected fields using biochar activated by calcium and aluminum phosphates (CaP and AlP) so that the problem is not delayed to such an extent that its solution would become a problem for future generations.

Research background: Deteriorating economic conditions and a negative outlook increase the pressure on financial management and the need to show high financial performance. According to Positive Accounting Theory, the growing risk of bankruptcy is associated with the phenomenon of earnings management. Bankruptcy risk and the quality of reported profits, along with other aspects of financial performance, vary throughout the company's life cycle. Nevertheless, these factors or their interactions are investigated only to a very small extent. Purpose of the article: The aim of this study is to clarify the impact of corporate life cycle and bankruptcy on earnings management, in order to describe behaviour of companies at different stages of corporate life cycle. Methods: A hierarchical mixed model with a random time and industry effect was chosen as appropriate because it allows the investigation of multilevel data that is not independent. The sample covers the financial indicators of more than 33,000 Central European companies from 2015?2019. The non-sequential Dickinson model, company age, and three models of accrual earnings management were used as proxies for the company's life cycle and quality of reported profit. Findings & value added: Earnings management and bankruptcy risk have a U-shape, indicating that financially distressed firms reduce reported accounting profit at the Introduction, Decline and, to a lesser extent, at the Growth stage. Slovak and Czech companies manipulate profits to a similar extent, Hungarian companies increase accounting profit to a greatest extent than the surveyed countries by controlling bankruptcy ? life cycle effect; however, the variability of accounting manipulations across industries has not been demonstrated. These findings imply that start-ups and declining businesses provide crooked financial statements to obtain more favourable debt covenants, and estimating discretionary accruals using life-cycle subsamples can improve the predictive power of accrual earnings management models.

The amount of fermentation residues from biogas plants is rising rapidly worldwide. Nevertheless, farmers are losing their interest in its incorporation into soil since the level of nutrients as we...

Foodwaste (hereinafter, FW) is the most voluminous solid waste and its amount is growing rapidly all over the world. The turning of FW into biogas via anaerobic fermentation is widely recognized as...

The aim of this paper is to investigate whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) is affected by firm characteristics (firm age and size) or not. The study is conducted on a firm-level data collection through a questionnaire. The paper uses factor analysis to compose the CSR variable and nonparametric methods to examine the above associations in a sample size of 822 small and medium-sized enterprises (454 firms from Czech Republic and 368 firms from Slovakia). The results revealed that the CSR is not perceived similar in both countries leading to country differences. It was found no association between CSR and firm size. Hence, size do not matter in CSR for firms operating in both countries. However, firm age matters in CSR, especially for Slovak firms. Moreover, evidence showed that the older Slovak firms are less prone towards CSR. In the Czech sample, one indicator of CSR reflected positive relationship with firm age. The current study adds to the literature by offering insights on linking firm characteristics to CSR. By studying factors which influence CSR, the paper offers the possibility to better understand entrepreneurship mindset in the context of the Central Europe. © 2020, Centre of Sociological Research. All rights reserved.

This article focuses on the perception of the importance of business ethics among Czech and Slovak entrepreneurs (this includes business owners and managers) within the SME sector. The comparison is based on an analysis of the approach to business ethics according to a set of parameters, namely company size, years in business, and the gender and education of the entrepreneurs. Empirical research was conducted in 2020 on a sample set consisting of 454 respondents in the Czech Republic and 368 respondents in Slovakia. The most important outcome of the research was the finding that business ethics is considered extremely important in both countries. The research results not only revealed that just over 90% of Czech entrepreneurs and 88% of Slovak entrepreneurs within the SME sector agreed that they should take into account the moral and ethical consequences of their decisions, but that the structure of their answers was very similar. Also, of interest were the findings that women were more aware of business ethics than their male counterparts, as were those entrepreneurs who possessed a higher education over those with a secondary education.

A great number of researchers argue that the development of large swathes of the global economy and competitiveness are influenced by fluctuations in international oil prices. The aim of this article is to determine to what extent those fluctuations in oil prices influence the value of the Euro relative to the value of USD. Data on the EUR/USD exchange rate were used for the analysis, with the time series that follow based on the price of Brent Crude. Statistica software (version 13) was used for the data processing. The research was based on a unified procedure with gradual changes in one parameter, namely in the time series (1, 5, 10 and 30 days), following which a regression analysis using neural networks was performed based on 10,000 networks that were generated for each experimental combination. As a result, eight calculations and eight different outcomes were obtained. From each experiment, the 5 artificial neural networks that showed the best results were retained. The outcomes suggest that the EUR/USD exchange rate is strongly dependent on the international price of oil. The impact of fluctuations in the price of oil on the EUR/USD exchange rate can therefore be accurately predicted. These results imply that it is also possible to predict the impact of such fluctuations on the performance of national economies. These predictions can be used to enhance competitiveness, including that of companies actively operating in international markets.

The warming climate results in higher losses in potato production, storage and processing, especially in developing countries. Feeding, anaerobic fermentation, combustion, composting and charring of potato peels with reject potatoes were analyzed on a pilot scale. It was revealed that feeding is the most promising alternative; however, additional energy inputs for potato waste steaming are advisable to break down trypsin inhibitors that naturally decrease protein digestibility. Other results indicate that it is advisable to ferment the slurry obtained with post-harvest residues into biogas and subsequently pyrolyze dewatered fermentation residues into biochar. It is appropriate to subsequently enrich the biochar by the liquid fraction of fermentation residues via filtration. Enough indications was found that this setup provides multiple horizontal synergies as well as parallel synergies, both technical and economic, that altogether create prerequisites for sustainability of developing agriculture.

The share of renewables is rising rapidly, especially in developed countries. Biogas production from purpose-grown phytomass is undergoing the fastest growth. The trend is linked to the production ...

Lignin is a natural biopolymer. A vibrant and rapid process in the synthesis of silica nanoparticles by consuming the lignin as a soft template was carefully studied. The extracted biopolymer from coir pith was employed as capping and stabilizing agents to fabricate the silica nanoparticles (n Si). The synthesized silica nanoparticles (n Si) were characterized by ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) spectrophotometry, X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Energy-Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDAX), Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) and Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). All the results obtained jointly and independently verified the formation of silica nanoparticles. In addition, EDAX analysis confirmed the high purity of then Si composed only of Si and O, with no other impurities. XRD spectroscopy showed the characteristic diffraction peaks forn Si and confirmed the formation of an amorphous nature. The average size ofn Si obtained is 18 nm. The surface charge and stability ofn Si were analyzed by using the dynamic light scattering (DLS) and thus revealed that then Si samples have a negative charge (−20.3 mV). In addition, the seed germination and the shoot and root formation on Vigna unguiculata were investigated by using then Si. The results revealed that the application ofn Si enhanced the germination in V. unguiculata. However, further research studies must be performed in order to determine the toxic effect of biogenicn Si before mass production and use of agricultural applications. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland., 1/2018/187, DST-FIST fund [SR/FST/LS-1/2018/187]

The United Nations estimates the rate of deforestation over 10 million hectares per year, with additional infested wood available due to drought, bark beetle calamity and other damage vectors. Processing the hard-to-reach infested wood into biochar via mobile pyrolysis units seems to be a good option for fire prevention. However, since most biochar is currently produced mainly from biological waste, there is not enough experience with wood biochar on a large scale. Review of current knowledge, followed by techno-economic assessment reveals that following the chemical composition of the feedstock, wood biochar outperforms other types of biochar in terms of high porosity. Therefore, wood biochar shows excellent results in increasing the amount of plant-available water content in soil and appears to be an excellent tool for recycling nutrients (especially into plant-available forms of phosphorus and nitrogen). The overall positive effects of biochar application change from abiotic to biotic over time because as it decays, many of its physical properties disappear, but it can boost soil microbial communities on which soil fertility depends. As global climate change creates a wide range of factors that damage forest cover, wood biochar consequently represents untapped potential in the field of soil, nutrient, and energy management.

Biochar refers to the high-carbon, black fine-grained product of biomass pyrolysis. Independent studies repeatedly confirmed that its incorporation into arable land is a reliable carbon sequestration method that significantly improves soil quality. The latest development leads to a reduction in the production cost (− 10 to 30 USD t−1); however, the use of biochar in commercial agriculture remains scarce. The reason is that biochar can substitute lower-quality charcoals (150–300 USD t−1). Therefore, farmers tend to sell their biowaste for energy purposes, respectively, preferring a quick profit over the forgotten soil-improving practices, which hold long-term benefits. A review of the current state of the art was performed in order to search directions toward the most profitable biochar farming applications. There are indications that a promising direction might be its on-farm production followed by on-farm use and nutrient recycling, or more precisely, special fertilization applications.

Clarification via floccules of ferric hydroxide is a globally leading technology in processing and treating surface water, and converting it into drinking water. The ferric–based coagulation sludge obtained is routinely dewatered and mixed with biowaste, assuming that the finest colloidal fractions of clay present will improve the cation–exchange capacity of the composts produced. However, in relation to the application of these types of compost, farmers repeatedly and independently of one another reported lower yields and crops suffering from phosphorus deficiency, even under proper phosphorus fertilization. A 5-year study revealed that the cation–exchange capacity tends to increase, which is beneficial over the long term. Nevertheless, the analyses performed revealed, for the first time, that this widespread practice lowers the level of mobile phosphorus, on average, by 62% and the level of extractable phosphorus by 55%. To make things worse, the quality of the extractable phosphorus declines, since the biologically available calcium, magnesium and aluminum based phosphates are gradually being replaced by ferric phosphates (originating from the ferric sludge). Given that phosphorus is the most expensive nutrient, this finding is of great environmental and economic importance, since the formation of ferric phosphates locks this most expensive nutrient into a form available neither to soil microbiota nor plants. It is recommended that new ways of using ferric–based coagulation sludge be developed.

There is wide consensus that Spirulina can serve as a tool for wastewater management and simultaneously provide feedstock for biorefining. However, the economic aspects associated with its use remain a significant challenge. Spirulina cultivated in wastewater decreased the concentrations of both ammonia and nitrate and also served as a biodiesel source. The oil obtained in the feedstock was subjected to transesterification and turned into biodiesel. The biodiesel was subsequently analyzed in a test motor (water-cooled, four-stroke, single-cylinder compression ignition with injection). The tests were conducted at a constant 1500 rpm, and the output power was 3.7 kW. Mixtures of diesel and biodiesel were also enriched with carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The amount of CNTs added to the diesel was 30 mg L−1. The algae and de-oiled biomass were characterized using XRD analysis, and an ultrasonicator was used to mix the CNTs with diesel and spirulina blends. A series of tests were conducted at different load conditions (25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%) for all fuel blends. Test results were compared with a neat diesel engine with a CR of 17.5:1. Among the fuel blends, the B25 reported improved brake thermal efficiency and reduced emissions. The outcomes are a reduction in thermal efficiency of 0.98% and exhaust gas temperature of 1.7%. The addition of Spirulina biodiesel blends had a positive impact on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, including reductions of 16.3%, 3.6%, 6.8%, and 12.35% of CO, NOx, and smoke, respectively. The specific fuel consumption and CO2 emissions were reduced by 5.2% and 2.8%, respectively, for B25 fuel blends compared to plain diesel and B50. Concerning cost competitiveness, vigorous research on microalgae for the production of biodiesel can cut production costs in the future.

The economics of producing energy-valuable gases by fermenting phytomass is deteriorated by the costs associated with waste management of highly diluted (typically 95% water) fermentation residues (FR). Previously, no better solution was known than to plough FR into the arable land and claim that it is an irrigation with soil improving and fertilizing effect. However, farmers soon realized that FR organic matter is of little agronomic value and nutrients are at agronomically insignificant levels. As FR watering has proved economically irrational in many countries the practice of separating water from the FR and using the solid fraction for energy purposes (such as charcoal) has dominated. However, most nutrients are lost in this way. For the first time it is proposed to activate the charred FR via calcium chloride (whose price is insignificant as it would be used for fertilization purposes anyway) and using the resulting sorbent to capture phosphorus (P) out of the FR's liquid fraction. It is reported for the first time that the activated char is capable of capturing 37.5 ± 4.7 kg P t−1 whereas the P availability for plant nutrition outperforms FR as well as struvite. In addition, the char demonstrates the potential to improve soil characteristics and the metabolism of soil biota. The cost breakdown and subsequent market analysis indicates that the novel fertilizer shows signs of competitiveness.

In the last two decades, subsidised purchase prices for electricity produced from biogas generated from purpose-grown crops has seen the construction of hundreds of biogas plants across Central Europe in response. The resulting intensive cultivation of monocultures has had a negative impact on the environment and has been a waste of taxpayers’ money. In addition, this policy has made the processing of other biowaste uncompetitive, resulting in further public funds being spent on their disposal in landfill sites, thereby raising more environmental concerns. Given that the conditions under which the subsidies are provided cannot be changed retroactively, proposals are being sought to increase the efficiency of biogas generation in order to reduce the volume of purpose-grown feedstock required, thereby mitigating the negative impacts on the environment and public funds alike. A new proposal, as outlined in this article, sees the incorporation of a steam explosion device at a later stage of the fermentation process, rather than at the beginning (pre-treatment of feedstock) as conventional wisdom would have it. This proposed process change was applied on a commercial scale and techno-economically assessed. The process change generated significant savings in feedstock (29% reduction due to the intensification of the process parameters ceasing to be limited by the formation of inhibitors) whilst maintaining the same level of electricity production. As a result, the payback period was reduced by 9%, which is a good prerequisite for commercial expansion. However, this comes at a cost, namely in the form of a doubling of water demands. Intensive work is now being conducted to determine how this issue can be overcome.

Impacts of red beet consumption both on human and animal health are subject of intense research. In particular, products that are not heat-processed contain plethora of bioactive compounds that hold promise against numerous degenerative and aging-associated diseases. However, high level of nitrates (typically more than 2 g NO3- kg-1) whose health effects are perceived with reasoned objections counterbalance these benefits. Following the above, from a certain level, the increased consumption of red beet has contrary impacts, creating a limiting factor not only from the economic point of view but also in terms of beneficial compounds intake. Reduction of NO3- levels (- 35%) has been achieved by soil amendment via increased doses of biochar. The data obtained indicates that the mechanism can be explained as follows. The soil improvement reduces soil density, increases soil temperature, improves water retention, and other prerequisites for increased activity of soil microorganisms. Accelerated metabolism of soil biota turned more nitrogen from fertilizers into organic forms. Hence, less mineral nitrogen is left for red beet intake.

It is well known that pandemics not only change people's social habits but have also changed most activities related to energy consumption, especially industry and transport. Over the past year, a plethora of case studies have been published mapping the environmental impacts in specific locations in terms of changes in wastewater composition, noise, solar radiation and more. However, policymakers are demanding a global perspective and are looking for a synthesis of all these reports that will indicate whether, or to what extent, these changes interact with global climate change. The most urgent question is whether artificially inducing such a pandemic could be justified, given the loss of human life and economic losses. Robust analysis on air pollutants such as PM2.5, PM10, NOx, SO2, CO, O3 and NH3 confirmed significant improvement in air quality indicators especially in India and China. The study indicates that key hypotheses can be confirmed or refuted, but further measurements are needed.

For several decades, researchers have been struggling to obtain minimum phosphorus (P) capture costs to meet the parameters for discharging wastewater into the watercourse. Findings from ongoing practices suggest that the Modified University of Cape Town process is currently the cheapest P capture method in the USA, whereas struvite precipitation seems to be the most cost effective method in the rest of the developed world. P sorption via biochars is becoming widespread in developing countries because this technique allows for the turning of voluminous biowaste into fertilizer with soil improving properties. Nevertheless, the reliability of this technology fluctuates throughout the year according to biowaste characteristics. For the first time, it has been proposed to use broken cellulose casings, which are readily available in increasing quantities worldwide. The sorbent obtained was subsequently activated by calcium chloride (CaCl2), whose cost is irrelevant as it would be used for agronomical purposes anyway. Pilot scale experiments show that this novel sorbent is capable of capturing 31.8 kg P t−1 from sludge water that contains 52.5 mg of extractable P L−1. More importantly, it was reported that the novel sorbent captures P, mostly in calcium phosphates (CaP) forms (191.5 g CaP t−1), which are the most valuable for plant nutrition. Enough evidence was obtained to claim that the ongoing technological race to meet the P discharge standards at the lowest cost possible should also reflect the agronomic value of P to plant nutrition to increase its competitiveness.

Disc cultivators are a commonly used method in soil processing when growing maize in Central Europe. However, the slope of the land leads to soil losses through water erosion. Therefore, conservation technologies for soil treatment—strip-till and no-till—are recommended. The aim of this research was to assess these technologies in terms of the labile fractions of soil organic matter and the structural state of the soil. Another goal of the work was to find the most sensitive indicators of change in the labile fractions of soil organic matter, which would indicate changes even over a relatively short-term experiment (three years). The experiment was conducted in Central Bohemia, Czech Republic on plots of sandy-loam cambisol. Changes in soil structure and carbon and nitrogen content in various soil fractions were monitored. The obtained results of two soil conservation technologies (strip-till, no-till) were compared with the results for a commonly used technology (disc cultivation). The strip-till technology led to the highest accumulation of a very labile fraction of organic soil matter and the most sensitive indicator of change was the content of water-extractable organic carbon. The no-till technology protected the soil organic matter from decomposition by physical protection in soil aggregates. Most of the soil organic matter remained un-decomposed. Sensitive indicators of change were the nitrogen content in particulate organic soil matter and the content of water-extractable organic nitrogen. It was found that changes in the labile fraction of soil organic matter can be monitored through suitable indicators during a short-term experiment. Furthermore, we found that no-till technology contributes to the protection of unstable soil organic matter against decomposition, especially through physical protection in soil aggregates. In terms of the content of labile fractions of soil organic matter and their possible effect on the potential soil fertility, it was shown in this short-term experiment that strip-till technology was optimal.

Biochar refers to carbon-based dusty residues obtained from biomass pyrolysis. This recently rediscovered traditional soil improver is currently being glorified for its wide portfolio of favorable environmental aspects. With its lifetime of several centuries, it is being widely accepted as a promising method of carbon sequestration. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that biochar can reduce bioavailability of some heavy metals and that it has a high adsorption capacity to persistent organic pollutants. These effects are explained by a complex of physical, chemical and biological mechanisms. Besides agriculture, it has been currently used in food and chemical industries, as well as in the building industry. Many other promising applications are under investigation. However, contrary to many enthusiastic proclamations, no revolution in agriculture or environmental management is taking place. Despite significant achievements in reduction of biochar production costs, high demand from the industry and energy sector keeps the biochar price still high, which prevents a return of the ancient farming practice on a commercial scale.

In order to reduce phosphorus (P) discharge into aqueous systems, wastewater treatment plants usually precipitate sludge water with iron or aluminum salts and produce slow–release P fertilizer (struvite). Continued tightening of P discharge limits require additional equipment and larger doses of these salts which increase wastewater treatment cost. Many research teams are involved in P recovery and theoretical knowledge is rapidly increasing. However, most new proposals are only economically viable with the support of public funds. Novel and technically undemanding concepts are designed and techno–economically assessed on a pilot scale. The cheapest biochar derived from fermentation residues that are pyrolyzed by waste heat, was used as sorbent. Multiple austerity measures have been designed to modify the sorbent by ferric (Fe3+) and calcium (Ca2+) chemisorption. It is firstly reported that over 2.5 kg of P per 100 kg of modified biochar from the 80 mg P L–1 environment can be obtained, whereas the P forms are more readily available to plant nutrition than struvite. Provided that a majority of used reactants are recovered from waste, or their price is irrelevant (subsequently used for their original purpose), there are indications that the newly proposed technology is one of the few environmentally friendly measures that can swiftly become widespread in the wastewater industry for economic reasons.

Regarding the price of meat product filling in comparison with the negligible cost of the collagen casings, whole roll of the casings is discharged only on suspicion of a small cut during handling. Once the casings are designed to be biologically resistant, they represent relatively problematic waste that is nowadays rather transported to landfills. This represents a significant cost; once the role is opened, it becomes extremely voluminous. The long-term study that was carried out on a commercial scale assessed two methods of utilization: composting of highly disintegrated casings and composting of charred casings. Robust qualitative and financial analysis revealed that the composting of charred casings was more meaningful both from agrochemical and financial point of view.

Grape seed oil is recognized for its high quality bioactive compounds, however, these are sensitive to increased temperatures during manufacture. Technical and economical potential of the pretreatment in combination with the mixture of hydrolyzing enzymes have been analyzed. It was confirmed that the shockwave pretreatment significantly enhances the subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis, which subsequently better liberates the vacuoles rich in oil (without exceeding the temperature limitation). The assessment of oil yields achieved together with the holistic cost analysis indicates that this technology has significant technical potential. Admittedly, it still faces difficulties linked with increased cost of production.

This paper focuses on compost use in overpasses and underpasses for wild animals over roads and other similar linear structures. In this context, good quality of compost may result in faster and more resistant vegetation cover during the year. Inter alia, this can be interpreted also as reduction of damage and saving lives. There are millions of tones of plant residue produced every day worldwide. These represent prospective business for manufacturers of compost additives called "accelerators". The opinions of the sale representatives' with regards to other alternatives of biowaste utilization and their own products were reviewed. The robust analyzes of several "accelerated" composts revealed that the quality was generally low. Only two accelerated composts were somewhat similar in quality to the blank sample that was produced according to the traditional procedure. Overlaps between the interests of decision makers on future soil fertility were weighed against the preferences on short-term profit. Possible causes that allowed the boom of these underperforming products and the possible consequences are also discussed. Conclusions regarding the ethical concerns on how to run businesses with products whose profitability depends on weaknesses in the legal system and customer unawareness are to follow.

This article describes the current stage in development of the phytomass disintegration apparatus based on the pressure shockwaves. Previous findings confirmed that the batch system provides disintegration to larger extents. However, the time delays connected with filling and discharging of the batch pressure vessel would naturally burden its commercialization. New generation of the continuous prototype that enables to interference the pressure shockwaves was designed. Robust analysis on the biodegradability, microporosity, and the oil yield was carried out. The data shows that this development step outperforms the original batch system. Closer examination of the process economics was conducted. Admittedly, the financial analysis shows that the pilot still apparatus can not compete with the established commercial scale prices. However, under certain assumptions, an assumption that the commercial version will be profitable can be formulated.

Maize silage (Atletico, FAO 280) is being anaerobically fermented with cow manure (45 °C, pH 7.1, hydraulic retention time 67 days) in a commercial scale (8,210 MWh electric power and 8,700 MWh heat power per year). The fermentation residues are being mechanically separated into the liquid fraction and the solid pulp (0.9 % hemicelluloses, 8.4 % cellulose, 5.7 % lignin). The solid pulp is being predryed and subsequently pyrolyzed. The pyrolysis takes place in the newly developed horizontal continuous pyrolysis reactor. The technology is run by the hot flue gases (410 ± 11 °C) from the biogas combustion engine (383 m3 of biogas per hour). The carbon powder obtained is being technologically and economically analyzed as a solid biofuel instead of biochar. The results obtained by standardized methods show that the new variety of products obtained outperforms many of the conventional solid biofuels not only in technological and environmental indicators, but also from the economical point of view.