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The negative effects of municipal solid waste management to the environment are associated with greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, especially regarding the biodegradation of the organic fraction of the waste in landfills, which is considered its final destination. With the objective to change this inefficient practice and incorporate the circular economy principals to the solid waste management, the anaerobic digestion is considered to be a promising alternative for the organic fraction treatment. Therefore, this chapter proposes an evaluation of a current and an alternative scenario for the food waste management from a specific case study in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, considering the municipal large food waste generators, such as supermarkets and street fairs. A carbon footprint analysis was conducted for both scenarios and GHG emissions were quantified. The results indicate emissions of 138.51 t CO2e.day−1 for the current scenario and a reduction of 90% of this total amount by the alternative scenario adoption, with incorporation of an anaerobic digestion treatment unit. Finally, with one-year implementation of this alternative scenario, it is expected to avoid 45,291.33 t CO2e emissions. Apart from GHG emission reduction, the alternative scenario promotes the circular economy of food waste, with the possibility of 181,586.32 kg of biosolid and 38,549.26 m3 of biogas production, which are valuable products that can be used as a resource for supply wholesalers and retailers activities demands and on agriculture production.

This article examines the CO2 emissions from the combustion of a biodiesel-diesel blend in stationary internal combustion engines to generate electricity. Emissions were analyzed according to the feedstock used for biodiesel production – soybean oil, palm oil, waste frying oil – through the methyl and ethyl routes. The chosen blends were composed of petroleum diesel and biodiesel, with the latter accounting for 20% or 50% of the blend. The results were analyzed using the Tukey test and showed, in general, that higher engine loads led to a decrease in CO2 emissions in comparison with the standard B4 (4% biodiesel) blend mandated in Brazil. Therefore, this paper provides an original and complete approach to analyze and compare in pairs the results of CO2 emissions of different biodiesel production routes, feedstocks and engine loads in order to find the best blend option for each load level.

In Brazil, the transportation sector is based on diesel, gasoline and ethanol consumption for the road transport, which is responsible for 32.4% of total energy consumed, corresponding to 82.7 Mtep. Considering this context, this chapter aims to evaluate the carbon footprint of 52 mil kilometers of the Brazilian highway network. Real data was obtained from a recent National Traffic Counting Plan which considers a qualifying counting of vehicles, during 24 h in a 7 days period, and an origin and destination interviews performed in a total of 300 traffic survey stations. More than 17 million vehicles were counted and classified and 1,384,330 interviews were obtained. From the estimation of the annual average daily traffic for the roads under federal operation and management rules, the carbon footprint was evaluated using a bottom-up approach. The carbon footprint analysis presents more than 8500 TgCO2eq emissions per day, with the major responsibility of light-duty vehicle flow which uses gasoline, ethanol and diesel as fuels.

Anaerobic digestion (AD) has been seen as an attractive alternative for the treatment of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW), with the potential to provide useful products such as bio-methane, bio-hydrogen, and a highly concentrated compost. Among the different AD technological routes, dry AD stands out because it makes better use of resources and can handle higher solids concentration, being more robust and flexible as compared to wet AD systems. In this contribution, a systematic review was carried out on the evolution of AD systems, giving emphasis to the role of the dry AD route for OFMSW treatment throughout the last 15 years. As it has been seen as a current trend in the field, the opportunities for technological development of dry AD systems and the challenges to be faced for their implementation in large-scale settings were assessed. Furthermore, aspects associated with input substrates and biodigesters operating conditions were addressed, along with the most important dry AD reactor configurations and commercial technologies. The research studies show that dry AD is most implemented under mesophilic conditions in continuous processes. Furthermore, apart from being influenced by many operational factors (temperature, pH, total solids content, substrate to inoculum ratio, organic loading rate and hydraulic/solids retention time), the performance of dry AD systems in terms of biogas productivity depends on the characteristics of the substrates, co-substrates and inoculum. Laboratory-scale tests are found to be essential to overcome the operational obstacles in full-scale plants, allowing for better system performance, stability and process control.

The amount of municipal solid waste generated in 2014 in Rio de Janeiro, a Brazilian megacity, was 21,834 tons/day of which 68.4% was destined to sanitary landfills and 9.9% to dumps. In 2012, Rio de Janeiro's city produced 1.6 millions of tons of CO2eq related to urban waste disposal. Therefore, this chapter evaluates the carbon footprint of selective collection of a case study in Rio de Janeiro. Six scenarios are developed to program the selective collection by regions of the city. From the results, it is possible to conclude that the scenario that considers the total selective collection emits an amount of greenhouse gases (GHG) 13% bigger than the business-as-usual scenario. On the other hand, the use of optimization route software could reduce the GHG emissions of the collection & transportation with the reduction of the total kilometers traveled.

O consumo de cimento no Brasil cresce de ano a ano, chegando em 2012 no patamar de 69 milhões de toneladas. Sendo um produto perecível e de baixo valor agregado, o transporte é considerado um fator estratégico para a manutenção da competitividade e do mercado neste setor. Diante disso, este trabalho tem como objetivo descrever o modelo da rede de transporte da indústria cimenteira e utilizando como exemplo um estudo de caso da cimenteira Lafarge no estado do Rio de Janeiro. O artigo mostra que no Brasil, embora a indústria do cimento movimente grandes volumes de insumo e produtos acabados, sua cadeia logística depende exclusivamente do transporte rodoviário, destacando uma infraestrutura logística deficiente que não se encaixa no modelo ideal onde o uso de modos de maior capacidade, como ferroviário e o marítimo de cabotagem deveriam apresentar participação. Esta situação faz com que a eficiência neste setor dependa de soluções criativas que venham de forma a integrar as decisões estratégicas da companhia.

The purpose of this article is to evaluate the performance, in terms of specific consumption in g/kWh, of biodiesel produced from soybean oil, palm oil and residual frying oil, by means of ethylic and methylic routes, in blending percentages of 20% and 50%, at different power levels, for electric power generation from stationary internal combustion engines. The results are evaluated by Tukey′s range test, which enables the comparison of any and all contrasts between two averages of a variable. The results evidence that the 20% blend of biodiesel from soybean oil produced by methylic route seems to be the one whose performance is the closest to the reference fuel′s, and that the proportion of biodiesel has affected more significantly the performance of the blend tested than the type of raw material or route, in relation to the specific consumption for all power levels.

Considering the importance of the waste collection sector, mainly in developing countries, this paper evaluates the implementation of the selective collection of recyclable waste so that it can be reused to have an appropriate final destination other than the landfill. The analysis of this study was carried out using the vehicle routing software ORTEC Routing and Dispatch in order to optimize the operation of a company that performs the collection of municipal solid waste from 1764 commercial establishments in Rio de Janeiro. We have considered political and economic aspects and all the actors involved in a real case. The results of 19 scenarios show that, despite the increase in total mileage traveled, it was possible to obtain a reduction of 45.40% in the total cost per client when the whole collection region gradually carries out recyclable waste separation. Therefore, despite the difficulties of planning and implementation of the selective collection of recyclable waste, we show that this can be beneficial to private companies and presents social and environmental benefits for the city.

O óleo residual de fritura (ORF) é a matéria-prima mais barata para a produção de biodiesel. É uma prática de cooperativas populares a coleta e o agrupamento do ORF de modo a gerar escala de fornecimento a fábricas de biodiesel. No entanto, para a sobrevivência e atuação dessas cooperativas, estas devem gerar lucro. Assim sendo, este artigo tem como contribuição a estruturação e a apresentação de um procedimento composto por quatro etapas, voltado a auxiliar cooperativas populares quanto à análise de geração de lucro referente à operação de coleta do ORF. Esse procedimento foi aplicado à realidade de uma associação de cooperativas localizada na região metropolitana do Rio de Janeiro. A partir dessa aplicação, verificou-se que se a coleta fosse realizada de modo planejado a partir de um software de roteirização, o seu custo teria uma redução de quase 34% em relação ao custo real praticado e a associação de cooperativas estaria apta a gerar lucro, mesmo se o preço do ORF atingisse seu menor preço de mercado, estando protegida contra variações de preço estabelecidas pelo mercado.

O objetivo deste trabalho é relatar o desenvolvimento de um jogo de empresas, com aplicação em cursos de gestão portuária, capaz de simular as principais operações de um terminal de contêineres e seus impactos ambientais. A revisão bibliográfica contempla a atividade portuária, seus impactos ambientais e a formação de gestores para atuarem na área de planejamento operacional de terminais de contêineres, por meio do emprego de jogos de empresas. O método utilizado foi o Estudo de Caso tendo o desenvolvimento do jogo de empresas TECON-AMBIENTAL como objeto de estudo. As técnicas utilizadas para coleta de dados foram revisão bibliográfica e análise documental. Os resultados mais relevantes indicam que o planejamento operacional de terminais de contêineres e os impactos ambientais desta atividade podem ser considerados de forma conjunta em um ambiente simulado – jogo de empresas – para formação de gestores que atuam na área portuária. Conclui-se, que as variáveis operacionais e ambientais utilizadas possuem verossimilhança com a realidade e que a simulação realizada por meio do uso do jogo de empresas TECON-AMBIENTAL possui elementos suficientes para que haja transferência de conhecimento, desenvolvimento de habilidades e incentivo a atitudes, proporcionando que o participante aplique o que aprendeu em outras situações.