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Mining and industrial activity are contributing to the increase of heavy metal (HM) pollution in the environment, especially in soil. These metals leach into water, spread to plants and enter the food chain. Phytoremediation coupled to selected rhizosphere microbiota is an environmentally friendly technology designed to promote HM bioremediation in soils. In this study, sunflower ( Helianthus annuus L.) was used together with Rhizophagus irregularis, an arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), and Cupriavidus sp. strain 1C2, a plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR), as a phytoremediation strategy to remove Zn and Cd from an industrial soil (599 mg Zn kg and 1.2 mg Cd kg ) and produce plant biomass - an agricultural soil was also used to obtain a H. annuus growth and metal accumulation control. The H. annuus biomass in the contaminated industrial soil was 17% lower, at harvest than that in an agricultural soil. Removals of ca. 0.04 and 0.91% of Zn and Cd respectively were obtained with the biomass produced in the industrial soil in a single crop. Bioaccumulation, remediation and translocation factors corroborated the higher Zn and Cd accumulation in the roots, compared to other plants parts. The survival of applied microbiota was indicated by a high root colonization rate of AMF and identification of strain 1C2 in the rhizosphere at the end of the phytoremediation assay. Changes in the bacterial community occurred in the industrial soil and were possibly associated to the phytoremediation effect on the rhizosphere: metals removal by the plant together with the synergic relationships established between AMF, PGPR and the autochthonous microbial community might have favoured specific soil bacterial genera, namely Nitrospira, Acidobacterium and Candidatus Koribacter. In this study, an optimized phytomanagement strategy applied to a real contaminated soil was successfully tested, and plant biomass with potential for upstream energetic valorisation purposes was produced.

Phycocyanin is a light-blue water-soluble natural pigment with wide application in fields including pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industry. Arthrospira platensis is considered a natural bio-factory for obtaining phycocyanin, and although suitable cultivation conditions can enhance the pigment content, the importance of extraction and purification should not be overlooked, because the chemicals used in those steps can affect the quality of phycocyanin. Further, changes in temperature, or approaches used to extract other protein types from biomass, have been reported to degrade phycocyanin, influencing its final quality, while also contributing to higher energy consumption in the extraction process. Hence, this work compares several approaches for phycocyanin extraction, and analyzed the effects of changes in operating conditions, such as exposure time, application of solvent buffer, and ultrasonication, on the extraction yield, the extracts purity, and the process energy use efficiency. Experimental results point to promising improvements in the extraction yield with high purity of phycocyanin (44.24 mg/g with purity ratio of 0.34), when suitable operating parameters were used (2 h exposure to potassium phosphate buffer with 20 min of ultrasonication).

6th International Conference on Energy and Environment Research, July 22–25, 2019, University of Aveiro, Portugal, Similar to oil, biological origin feedstock can be converted into a number of products allowing to recover the maximum value from the raw biological material, within what is nowadays called a biorefinery. Among other biological materials, microalgae are a very interesting biomass due to the high economic value of certain cellular components, such as carotenoids and polyunsaturated fatty acids. In this project, a genetically modified cyanobacteria, that produces ethanol as an extracellular product, was used as the basis of this study. In order to assess the optimal configuration of the biorefinery, different scenarios were designed, each one with different sequences of unit operations, equipment and products. With the design stage completed, an economic analysis was performed to choose the 2 scenarios with the best economic performance., Project UID/EQU/00511/2019 – Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy – LEPABE funded by national funds through FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC), Portugal; project “LEPABE-2-ECOINNOVATION”-NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000005, funded by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

The increase in the world’s energy demand has contributed to the emergence of new sustainable energy sources, such as microalgae, with their great potential to provide biofuels and other high value co-products for the food and health’s markets. However, current biorefinery methodologies are either too complex to extract the targeted components such as high-value products, or require solvents with toxicity for humans and the environment. This work aims to evaluate different lipid extraction approaches applied to three microalgal species: Chlorella zofingiensis, Phaeodactylum tricornutum, and Arthrospira platensis, while employing less toxic and more economical solvents for the lipids extraction. Experimental results showed a promising outcome to tune current biorefinery methodologies, enhancing product yield as well as decreasing potential hazards. Keywords: Arthrospira platensis, Biodiesel, Biorefinery, Chlorella zofingiensis, Lipid extraction, Microalgae, Phaeodactylum tricornutum

The decline in annual rainfall, coupled with the growing demand for water in agricultural fields, triggered a new crisis in today’s world. Thus, the focus is on finding solutions to new water resources. Taking a look at the normal daily life, most of the households’ effluents can be ranked into a less-polluted category, called greywater. Excluding human dejects, greywater comprises the outflow from washing machines, dishwashers and bathtubs. It is considered an effluent with a more economic treatment, because it contains less microbial pollution. Hence, this work revises the effects of greywater irrigation on the quality of crops, and provides a comprehensive study of the effects of greywater on the quality of soil. Furthermore, a comprehensive discussion is carried out to evaluate the energy consumption of facilities for both greywater and wastewater treatment to provide water used in irrigation. It also addresses current methodologies for treating greywater and evaluates the effects of crops irrigation with treated and untreated greywater, indicating the type of treatment chosen depending on the type of crop to be irrigated., Authors thank the financial support of the project IF/01093/2014/CP1249/CT0003 and research grants IF/01093/ 2014 and SFRH/BPD/112003/2015 funded by national funds through FCT/MCTES, Portugal, and project UID/EQU/ 00305/2013 – Center for Innovation in Engineering and Industrial Technology, Portugal – CIETI. This work was financially supported by : project UID/EQU/00511/2019 – Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy – LEPABE funded by national funds through FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC), Portugal; Project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006939 (Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy – EPABE, UID/EQU/00511/2013) funded by FEDER, Spain through COMPETE2020-POCI and by national funds through FCT; Project “LEPABE-2-ECO-INNOVATION” – NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000005, funded by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Chlorella zofingiensis has been in the center of attention due to its viability of cultivation, capability to yield various products, and applicability in various industrial sectors. Several research studies have evaluated this microalga as a bio-factory for carotenoids and lipids production, which are interesting compounds for industrial applications. The microalgae's robustness to various environmental and stress conditions such as light, temperature, salinity, and nutrients' deficiency/excess promotes its importance as a promising source of the mentioned valuable products. Hence, this study intends to review the most prominent contents of C. zofingiensis (i.e., lutein, astaxanthin, exopolysaccharides or EPS, lipids, etc.) and analyze the cultivation and stress conditions which directly influence the quality and quantity of the desired compounds. Upon review, discussions will be conducted to investigate the ability to combine stress factors to increase the contents of interest. Following an investigation over the composition and content induction approaches, several commercial applications of this microalga will be listed and explained, in particular, to obtain valuable products which have been discussed. These applications are chosen to cover multiple sectors, from medical and pharmaceutical, to food and feedstock, biofuel and energy, and wastewater treatment. The broad capability and robustness of C. zofingiensis make it a suitable investment to target more than one sector. Finally, it is discussed and presented a tentative design of a pipeline combining several applications to increase the economic viability of obtaining multiple products. (c) 2021 Elsevier B.V.

Adding value to agro-industrial residues is becoming increasingly important, satisfying needs to promote resources’ use efficiency and a more sustainable and circular economy. This work performs a parametric and kinetic study of enzymatic esterification of lard and tallow with high acidity, obtained by the rendering of slaughter by-products, allowing their use as a feed ingredient and increasing their market value. After an initial analysis of potential enzyme candidates, a Candida antarctica lipase B was selected as a biocatalyst for converting free fatty acids (FFA) to esters, using excess ethanol as the reagent. Results show that the fat acidity can be reduced by at least 67% in up to 3 h of reaction time at 45 °C, using the mass ratios of 3.25 ethanol/FFA and 0.0060 enzyme/fat. Kinetic modelling shows an irreversible second-order rate law, function of FFA, and ethanol concentration better fitting the experimental results. Activation energy is 54.7 kJ/mol and pre-exponential factor is 4.6 × 106 L mol−1 min−1, This work was financially supported by project PP-IJUP2014-SOJA DE PORTUGAL; Base Funding—UIDB/00511/2020 of Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Bio-technology and Energy—LEPABE—funded by National funds through the FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC); Base Funding— UIDB/04730/2020 of Center for Innovation in Engineering and Industrial Technology, CIETI—funded by national funds through the FCT/MCTES (PID-DAC); António Martins thanks FCT (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) for funding through program DL 57/2016—Norma transitória.

The saccharification of sugarcane bagasse by enzymatic hydrolysis is one of the most promising processes for obtaining fermentable sugar to be used in the production of second-generation ethanol. The objective of this work was to study the immobilization and stabilization of two commercial enzymes: Endocellulase (E-CELBA) in dextran coated iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles activated with aldehyde groups (DIOMNP) and β-glucosidase (E-BGOSPC) in glyoxyl agarose (GLA) so that their immobilized derivatives could be applied in the saccharification of pretreated sugarcane bagasse. This was the first time that the pretreated sugarcane bagasse was saccharified by cascade reaction using a endocellulase immobilized on dextran coated Fe2O3 with aldehyde groups combined with a β-glucosidase immobilized on glyoxyl agarose. Both enzymes were successfully immobilized (more than 60% after reduction with sodium borohydride) and presented higher thermal stability than free enzymes at 60, 70, and 80 °C. The enzymatic hydrolysis of the sugarcane bagasse was carried out with 15 U of each enzyme per gram of bagasse in a solid-liquid ratio of 1:20 for 48 h at 50 °C. Under these conditions, 39.06 ± 1.18% of the cellulose present in the pretreated bagasse was hydrolyzed, producing 14.11 ± 0.47 g/L of reducing sugars (94.54% glucose). In addition, DIOMNP endo-cellulase derivative maintained 61.40 ± 1.17% of its enzymatic activity after seven reuse cycles, and GLA β-glucosidase derivative maintained up to 58.20 ± 1.55% of its enzymatic activity after nine reuse cycles., The authors thank sugarcane refinery Jalles Machado S.A for the sugarcane biomass donation; This work was supported by Institute of Catalysis and Petrochemistry (ICP) belonging to the Spanish Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) and Center for Innovation in Engineering and Industrial Technology (CIETI). This research is part of the project titled ProEMiBiL supported bu European Union’s Horizon 2020 funded by Marie Skłodowska-Curie, grant number #867473. This work was financially supported by Base Funding-UIDB/04730/2020 of Center for Innovation in Engineering and Industrial Technology, CIETI-funded by national funds through the FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC); Base Funding-UIDB/0051/2020 of Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy-LEPABE-funded by National funds through the FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC).

The 7th International Conference on Energy and Environment Research (ICEER 2020) followed six previous successful editions hosted in three European Countries (Portugal, Spain, Czech Republic). This last edition was planned to be held in Italy first, and then in Portugal, due to the pandemic situation. Finally, for safety reasons, it was decided to organize a virtual event, which was held from 14 to 17 September 2020. Despite the limitations imposed by COVID-19 spreading, the online format did not affect the original spirit of the Conference, which was born as “a privileged space to discuss current matters related to energy and the environment research”. This year the Conference main topic was “Driving Energy and Environment in 2020 towards a Sustainable Future”, bringing attention to the dramatic changes that occurred in the energy and environment sectors in the last years, speeded up by the pandemic, and their perspectives for a sustainable future. This paper gives a comprehensive outline of the conference organization as well as of the main research topics addressed in the three keynote speeches and in the dedicated sessions planned to enhance the event effectiveness and boost discussion and interaction among experts in those fields.

Ennoblement of carbon dioxide, particularly the one produced by anaerobic digestion or by biomass combustion, is a motivation to develop novel or improving already existing processes. In this context, an interesting idea is to use carbon dioxide combined together with methane and water. Therefore, bi-reforming of methane (BRM) for syngas production appears to be a good choice. In this work, BRM was studied over a Ni-catalyst supported on a ZnO-doped zeolite 13X in the temperature range 300 to 900 °C. This material was deeply characterized by different techniques. The pure zeolite 13X shows relative good sorption capacity for CO2 at low temperatures (

Sustainable solutions to engineering problems are increasingly multidisciplinary, in which Soft Skills are gaining importance relative to Hard Skills. During the dialogue for the development of the global project, Control Engineering concepts are used, such as Feedback, Steady State Error, among others, whose understanding by the various partners must be clear. At present, not all engineering courses have Control Engineering content in their curriculum since it was not necessary in the past, once the global solution development was done through partial project layers. There is also the need for training for the global development of multidisciplinary solutions, given that traditional laboratories are only disciplinary (e.g. automation, heat transfer, etc.). It is also important that the educational tools available to support teaching and learning should be developed for students, so they should be developed with their support. This work presents some means developed in a collaborative environment with students to support teaching / learning.

The World is changing fast. With ever increasing population at an exponential rate, the need for water, food, energy and many other resources is increasing at a fast pace and becoming unsustainable. Every year, the Earth Overshoot Day takes place sooner in the year, and in 2020, in spite of the World lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic, this occurred on the 22nd August! This unbearable situation must change, and the younger generation is aware of it, aiming to do the necessary to change the situation. Thus, the concept of Sustainable Development is gaining increasing importance. Although changing attitudes and behavior is known to take time and be hard, it can be promoted by education at all levels, with potential cascading impact results if implemented in the Higher Education system. In fact, near future young professionals are being educated in this system, and whatever they learn today will certainly be replicated tomorrow, not only in their personal but also in their professional life. Furthermore, although they are young and inexperienced, their ingenuity can help disrupt some established ideas and practices that hinder the changes needed to promote the common well-being. In this Track of TEEM’20, it was presented and discussed a series of different approaches implemented by professors of Higher Education in different fields of knowledge. It was shown that the concepts of Sustainable Development and Sustainability can be well assimilated by young adults by using well thought recreational pedagogical activities. Nevertheless, all the intervenient have highlighted the need to include a feedback loop as a way to adapt and change the activities according to the students’ prior experience and motivation, as well as to the available means and their individual styles.

Biofuels from microalgae have the potential to replace fossil fuels, without competing with other products derived from crops. This study aims to perform a cradle-to-gate Life Cycle Assessment of the industrial production of microalgal biodiesel, using an autochthonous Chilean Phaeodactylum tricornutum strain, considering 1 MJ of biodiesel as the functional unit. For the compilation of the Life Cycle Inventory, real experimental data were obtained from the pilot-scale cultivation in a photobioreactor (PBR) module located in the city of Concepcion, in Chile. The scale-up to the industrial plant considers that PBR modules are of the same size as those used in the pilot-scale. The Life Cycle Impacts Analysis considered the ReCiPe 2016 Endpoint (H) V1.00 method. Results show that the whole process contributes to a total of 5.74 kgCO2eq per MJ of biodiesel produced. PBR construction materials and energy consumption are the main contributors to the life cycle environmental impacts. The sensitivity analysis shows that energy consumption, water reuse and transportation distance of seawater from ocean to the industrial plant are the critical parameters that most affect the overall environmental performance of the system. The rate of water reuse is particularly critical to the global warming potential. Results also show that the valorization of co-products is an important aspect to improve the environmental performance of microalgal biodiesel production. Therefore, this study supports the decision-making process in biofuel production to promote the development of sustainable pilot and large-scale algae-based industry.

Microalgae have been reported as a promising alternative for biofuels production. However, the use of microalgae for biofuels is still a challenge due to the intense energy use and the generation of a significant amount of biomass residues in the process. In order to analyze the environmental impacts of different technological processes for the production of biodiesel from microalgae, several studies have been published making use of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology, which allows the recognition of the process bottlenecks and supports the identification of alternatives for a more efficient use of the feedstock. Therefore, in this study, a Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) is compiled, based on real pilot-scale process data, which was scaled-up to a microalgae biomass industrial plant for biofuel production. Values of energy, nutrients, water, and materials consumption are used to create an inventory of inputs and outputs for biomass cultivation and biodiesel production, in order to acquire data to conduct a complete LCA modeling in future studies. According to this model, to produce 1 kg of biodiesel it is necessary about 12 kg of dried algae biomass. This study supports the decision-making process in biofuel production to promote the development of sustainable pilot and large-scale algae-based industry, through the identification of critical factors., This work was funded by: project IF/01093/2014/CP1249/CT0003 and research grants IF/01093/2014 and SFRH/BPD/112003/2015 funded by national funds through FCT/MCTES, Portugal, and project UID/EQU/00305/2013 – Center for Innovation in Engineering and Industrial Technology – CIETI. This work was financially supported by: project UID/EQU/00511/2019 – Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy – LEPABE funded by national funds through FCT/MCTES, Portugal (PIDDAC); Project POCI-01- 0145-FEDER-006939 (Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy – LEPABE, UID/EQU/00511/2013) funded by FEDER through COMPETE2020-POCI and by national funds through FCT, Portugal; Project “LEPABE-2-ECO-INNOVATION” – NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000005, funded by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Program (NORTE 2020), under PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Authors also acknowledge the “Grupo Interdisciplinario de Biotecnologia Marina (GIBMAR) and “Convenio de Desempeno Ciencia, Tecnologia e Innovacion para la Bioeconomia” from University of Concepcion, Chile, for supporting the experimental data collection at the ´ pilot-plant in Concepcion, Chile, during the Research Visit of M. Branco-Vieira.

Portugal has made great progress in implementing renewable energy systems (RES) to use its endogenous renewable resources. As the cost of renewable energy generation is decreasing, mainly for photovoltaic energy, a significant increase in its production is expected, in particular at the local and domestic levels. Yet, much investment and development is still needed to fulfil the goals for renewable energy generation defined by the Portuguese government and the European Union, in order to decarbonize energy generation and reduce energy dependence. Besides limitations in the installed capacity, the full potential of existing and future RES is not fulfilled, mainly due to imbalances in supply and demand, resulting from the varying climatic conditions and limited energy storage capacity. Although some investment was made in large scale Energy Storage Systems (ESS), especially pumped hydro, distributed energy storage (DES), in particular for stationary domestic storage appliances, have received little attention from decision makers. When properly defined, designed and implemented, they can contribute to increase the efficiency of existing and future RES and the capacity factor. Thus, in this work the questions regarding the implementation of DES are analysed. The main criteria that have to be considered when selecting the proper storage technology for DES are defined, taking into account information and data from current legislation and/or strategic plans and goals, and the technical and scientific literature, in order to support decision making and policy definition at different levels. The proposed application of the various criteria leads to the conclusion that for DES, electrochemical based ESS are the most adequate, among which Li ion batteries and redox flow batteries, particularly suited for local and/or household applications. The current policies sought out for Portugal are also examined in order to identify which aspects should be improved to promote and increase the relevance of DES in the Portuguese energy mix, and it is concluded that specific policies and support are needed to increase the relevance of decentralized electricity storage systems. info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Methane (CH4), a highly reduced C1 compound, is one of the long-lived atmospheric gases with high global warming potential i.e., 28–36 times that of CO2 over 100 years. The atmospheric levels of CH4 reached ∼1863 part per billions (ppb) in 2014, and annual increase of atmospheric CH4 level thereafter measured as ∼10 ppb. The CH4 is projected to drive the rise in global temperature of ∼4–6◦C by 2050, and thus it is currently considered as the main target for global climate stabilization and mitigation (COP-21, 2015). Capturing anthropogenic CH4 to produce value products is highly feasible, but the great challenge is that to tap, concentrate, purify, store, transport, and utilize the CH4 from different point emission sources is presently not economically viable.

Battery storage technologies have been showing great potential to address the vulnerability of renewable electricity generation systems. Among the various options, vanadium redox flow batteries are one of the most promising in the energy storage market. In this work, a life cycle assessment of a 5 kW vanadium redox flow battery is performed on a cradle-to-gate approach with focus on the vanadium electrolytes, since they determine the battery's storage capacity and can be readjusted and reused indefinitely. The functional unit is 1 kWh stored by the battery. The initial results show that the environmental hotspots reside mainly in the structural and material components of the battery, evidencing the need for alternative or recycled materials, preferably produced locally. Since the quantity of electrolytes determine the amount of storable electricity, an analysis was conducted on the variation of the impacts with the increase of storage capacity. An alternative scenario with reused electrolytes was also performed. Results show that with the increase of storage capacity, the contribution of the electrolytes to the impacts decrease significantly by stored kWh. In the reused electrolytes scenario, impacts were reduced mainly for the Acidification and Mineral, fossil and renewable resource depletion categories. A joint organization of University of Aveiro (UA), School of Engineering of the Polytechnic of Porto (ISEP) and SCIence and Engineering Institute (SCIEI). - The 6th International Conference on Energy and Environment Research, July 22-25, 2019, University of Aveiro, Portugal

Microalgae are a rich source of proteins, carbohydrates and lipids, among other components, and thus, are considered to be the next generation biomass. However, in order to enhance the economic viability of its industrial production, all biomass components need to be valorized, requiring a multi-product biorefinery. Thus, this work proposes and conceptually analyses biorefinery processes for valorizing Phaeodactylum tricornutum for biofuels and high-value compounds, based on real data from a pilot-scale process. The algal biomass was biochemically characterized and the production was scaled-up to an industrial approach to analyze three biorefinery configurations, based on a 18 ton·year−1 of microalga biomass. The biomass revealed a composition of 7.85 wt% carbohydrates, 38.40 wt% proteins, 9.08 wt% lipids, 0.86 wt% fucoxanthin and 5.19 wt% biosilica. The biorefinery process addressed for biofuels production has an estimated annual production of 1.72, 0.35 and 1361 m3·year−1 of respectively biodiesel, bioethanol and biomethane. The biorefinery addressed for high-value compounds yields 0.18, 0.93 and 6.95 ton·year−1 of respectively fucoxanthin, biosilica and protein. The biorefinery designed for valorizing full microalgae biomass, showed to be more beneficial for promoting a circular economy. Biorefinery approach is useful for making sound and profitable decisions regarding microalgae bioproducts.

This study aims to evaluate the influence of cultivation conditions on the bioenergy and high value biocompounds contents of Chlorella vulgaris. Results show that the use of nitrate rich media, from 170.7 mg/L, favors a faster biomass growth, reaching values above 800 mg/L biomass. In addition, it favors higher pigments concentrations with more emphasis for the cultures with a nitrate concentration of 569 mg/L, where chlorophyll-a and carotenoids reached maximum concentrations of 6 and 2 mg/L, respectively. As regards the lipid content, nitrate deprivation (, Authors thank the financial support of the project IF/01093/2014/CP1249/CT0003 and research grants IF/01093/2014 and SFRH/BPD/112003/2015 funded by national funds through FCT/MCTES, and project UID/EQU/00305/2013 – Center for Innovation in Engineering and Industrial Technology – CIETI. This work was financially supported by: project UID/EQU/00511/2019 – Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy – LEPABE funded by national funds through FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC); Project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006939 (Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy — LEPABE, UID/EQU/00511/2013) funded by FEDER through COMPETE2020-POCI and by national funds through FCT; Project “LEPABE-2-ECO-INNOVATION” — NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000005, funded by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

New processes that may reduce the net carbon emissions and contribute to a more circular economy are needed. Bi-reforming of methane (BRM) is a promising method for syngas production, with a hydrogen-to-carbon monoxide ratio of two in the reaction products, relevant for example when the purpose is methanol synthesis. In this work, reaction studies were carried out over a nickel-based catalyst varying the temperature (798–1123 K). Three main temperature zones have been identified; a low temperature zone where the conversion of carbon dioxide is almost null, a middle temperature range where steam reforming of methane (SRM) is dominant while the conversion of carbon dioxide via dry reforming of methane (DRM) is low, and finally a high temperature range where DRM becomes more significant. The results show that syngas can be successfully produced using this process. For the range of operating conditions studied, the carbon dioxide and methane conversions increase with temperature, reaching 40% and 100%, respectively at the largest temperature studied. However, the production of syngas in a molar ratio of 1:2 for CO-to-H2requires the use of high temperatures. Most probably the nickel agglomerates on top of the γ-alumina support are responsible for the poor catalyst performance. Keywords: Bi-reforming of methane, BRM, CO2 ennoblement, Syngas production, Methanol

The growing impacts of climate change mainly due to the increasing emissions of GHG, especially carbon dioxide, has led to the development and implementation of specific strategies and policies to reduce them. Carbon capture and utilization (CCU) is currently seen as a good option, as it contributes to reduce the net carbon emissions and fulfil the goals of the Paris Agreement. This work analyses the economic potential of CO2 biofixation by microalgae from the exhaust gas of a Portuguese Natural Gas Combined Cycle (NGCC) power plant. Literature and real operational data are used, collected from reports of Portuguese power generation companies. A preliminary design and economic analysis of the carbon biofixation system was done. Results show that, although requiring a very large investment, the process is economically viable. In further studies a more in depth approach and detailed project combined with a sensitivity analysis, and a comparison with the chemical based CO2 fixation will be done. Keywords: Biological fixation, Microalgae, CO2 emissions, Natural gas combined cycle power plant

Inefficient use of water represents a major source of direct cost of water production, but especially of excessive energy use to purify it. Greater efficiency could be achieved if management were supported by objective data in addition to the rules of good practice that have been disseminated. This work aims to contribute directly to the reduction of water consumption and indirectly to the huge amount of energy used to pump water from its reserves and then to treat and make it drinkable through the use of a decentralized consumption monitoring system. Keywords: Buildings, Monitoring of water consumption, Resources management, Sustainability, Water management

In spite of raising awareness of the environmental impacts associated to the production and utilization of plastics, in many situations, the use of plastics is advantageous, and options are still unavailable or under development, representing an opportunity to develop more sustainable options, such as less energy intensive solutions. In this work, the LCA methodology is used to evaluate the environmental impacts of boxes, bowls and plates produced using Areca palm (Areca catechu) sheath, a waste material common in southern India. The inventory is a combination of primary data from a company in India, complemented with secondary data from the Ecoinvent v2.1 (Simapro V7.3). Results show that the main contributors to the potential environmental impact categories and the most energy intensive life cycle steps, are transportation, shipping and electricity generation. Carbon footprints of 1180, 1033 and 1090 kg CO2eq/ton were obtained for Areca boxes, plates and bowls, respectively. Plates made from Areca palm sheath have lower environmental impacts than plastic plates, except in the ozone layer depletion and terrestrial toxicity impact categories. Keywords: Areca palm sheath, Life cycle assessment, Plastic containers, Renewable, Waste materials

The reduction of the fish oil acidity is a significant problem in the rendering industry, as the oil’s range of applications and market value strongly depend on this parameter. In particular, the lower the acidity, the larger the oil’s market value. This work aims to study the potential of enzymatic esterification for reducing the fish oil acidity, by converting the free fatty acids into esters. Thus, four commercial lipases were used and a parametric study was performed to identify the best operating conditions, varying the reaction temperature, enzyme/oil mass ratio and alcohol/FFA mass ratio. All experiments were performed in duplicate with a very good reproducibility of results. Results showed that Lipozyme TL 100L contributed to greater acidity reduction (75% from an initial acid value of 10–14 mg KOH/g oil) for esterification at 40 °C, using ethanol 96% v/v, enzyme/oil and alcohol/FFA mass ratios of 0.01 and 3.24 w/w, respectively, reaching 3.13 mg KOH/g oil of final acid value or 1.57% FFA content. The reaction kinetics were also studied and it was found that a second order rate law as a function of the alcohol and oil concentrations is more adequate, with 35.44 kJ/mol of activation energy and 1.94 × 103 L mol− 1 min− 1 of pre-exponential factor. In conclusion, this work shows that the enzymatic esterification to reduce the fish oil acidity is technically feasible, increasing its market value.

Buildings are responsible for a significant part of the global energy consumption. Besides the need to improve their energy efficiency, new buildings also need to generate their own energy, preferably from renewable sources, to become more sustainable. As renewable energy generation is strongly dependent on the climatic conditions, energy storage must be considered when designing such a system. In this study, a cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) study of a renewable energy generation system with a prototype Vanadium flow battery integrated in a Near Zero Energy Building (NZEB) is performed. A combined grid-connected PV and a solar thermal system generates the energy, and it was dimensioned to supply the annual energy needs of a household in Porto, Portugal considering the local climatic conditions. As an end of life scenario, it is assumed that the battery is dismantled and most of the materials are recycled. A functional unit of 1 kWh of supplied energy to the system was considered, and study results show that environmental impacts are reduced when the energy is produced onsite and the battery components are recycled or reused. A sensitivity analysis was conducted changing the household's geographic location. A joint organization of University of Aveiro (UA), School of Engineering of the Polytechnic of Porto (ISEP) and SCIence and Engineering Institute (SCIEI). - The 6th International Conference on Energy and Environment Research, July 22-25, 2019, University of Aveiro, Portugal.

The objective of this work was to find the ideal pretreatment conditions with high efficiency to obtain a hydrolyzate rich in fermentable sugars and low possible inhibitors levels. Thus, it was applied diluted phosphoric acid to pretreat the sugarcane biomass. Through a Central Composite Design, it was evaluated the influence of temperature, operating time and acid concentration. The pretreatment efficiency was verified by the concentration of total monosaccharides in the liquid fraction after the reaction. The phosphoric acid concentration of 4.95% at 80 °C, during 375 min, resulted in a hemicellulosic hydrolyzate with the highest concentration of fermentable sugars (saccharification greater than 99%), with the absence of HMF and furfural, and relatively low amounts of acetic acid., The authors thank sugarcane refinery Jalles Machado S.A for the sugarcane biomass donation, and to Thályta Fraga Pacheco for the statistical analysis consulting. This research is part of the project titled ProEMiBiL supported and financially by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie funding [grant number 867473]; This work was supported by: UID/EQU/00305/2020 – Center for Innovation in Engineering and Industrial Technology — CIETI, Portugal; Base funding – UIDB/00511/2020 of the Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy — LEPABE, Portugal – funded by national funds, Portugal through the FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC).

In either unicellular or multi-cellular form, microalgae are photosynthetic microorganisms, mainly known for being part of the human diet in several world regions. More recently, they have been in the spotlight of researchers, not only because of their nutritional value, but also due to their high value-added components. This work reviews five microalgae genera: Dunaliella, Botryococcus, Chlamydomonas, Chlorella and Arthrospira, considered among the most promising for commercial biotechnological applications. The analysis shows that, although the research paradigms are generally shared among species, parameterization changes of culture environment and stress conditions, several applications can be envisaged for the cultivated species, which is discussed in this work. Besides, several applications in which these microalgae are being widely used, or are intended to be used, are analyzed and discussed. The potential applications depend on the type of metabolites found in each microalgae species, which is discussed in this work, giving examples of application and describing methods for their cultivation, harvesting and biomass processing. Thus, in addition to being used in human diet supplementation, microalgae can be used as ingredients for animal feed, medicines, cosmetics pigments, biofuels, bioplastics and biostimulants., This work was supported by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement number 867473; by project IF/01093/2014/CP1249/CT0003 and research grants IF/01093/2014 and SFRH/BPD/112003/2015 funded by national funds through FCT/MCTES; by project UID/EQU/00305/2019 - Center for Innovation in Engineering and Industrial Technology - CIETI; and the project EXTRATOTECA - POCI-01-0247-FEDER-033784 - High Added Value Microalgae Extracts, funded by Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) through the Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI). This work was financially supported by: Base funding - UIDB/00511/2020 of the Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy–LEPABE - funded by national funds through the FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC); Project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006939 (Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy - LEPABE, UID/EQU/00511/2013) funded by FEDER funds through COMPETE2020–Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI) and by national funds (PIDDAC) through FCT/MCTES; Project “LEPABE-2-ECO-INNOVATION”–NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000005, funded by NortePortugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

This work aims to evaluate the carbon footprint (CF) of microalgae production in a closed pilot-scale multi-tubular photobioreactor (PBR), on a gate-to-gate approach. Primary data from real production conditions complemented with data from the literature and life cycle inventory databases was used. The carbon embedded in the PBR’s construction materials and nutrients necessary for the microalgae growth were considered. A global CF of 68.34 kg CO2-eq/kg dry biomass was obtained. A CF of 1.72 kg CO2-eq/kg dry biomass was calculated for the PBR construction stage, contributing to 3 % of the overall value. For 74 kg of dry biomass/year produced with this PBR, the CF for this stage was 66.62 kg CO2-eq/kg dry biomass, corresponding to 97 % of the total global CF. In this study, electricity production for the reactor operation is the major contributor (79 %) to the overall CF, followed by the production of nutrients used to prepare the culture medium (21 %). CO2 fixation by microalgae reduces the global value by 3 %.

A correct definition of the most adequate strategies and/or course of action to improve the sustainability of the wine industry must start with an evaluation, as objective and accurate as possible, of the sustainability performance of its products and processes. The main goal of this work is to perform a comparative sustainability evaluation of two Portuguese wines: a high market value “terroir” wine produced in small quantities, using grapes from a single vineyard, and a branded wine with lower market value, produced in large quantities using grapes from various regions. The evaluation follows a life cycle perspective and is based on seven sustainability indicators, selected taking into account the main issues pertinent to the wine industry. The functional unit is 0.75 L of wine produced that is the most common capacity of the wine bottles. The environmental and economic information used for the evaluation is mainly primary data obtained from the company, and complemented whenever necessary with secondary data from the literature or life cycle inventory databases. Results show that the main differences between the two wines are their water intensity and wastewater generated, being the values of the branded wine more than double those of the “terroir” wine, which is attributable to differences in the winemaking process, in particular the need to remove the SO2 added in the branded wine production. The calculated values for the carbon emissions are in good agreement with literature works. Some recommendations for improvement of the process sustainability are given.