1. The environmental and biodiversity impacts of a new cableway system : a comprehensive life cycle assessmentAnnamaria Vujanović, Andrea Mio, Rok Pučnik, Nicola Blasuttigh, Damjan Krajnc, Maurizio Fermeglia, 2024, original scientific article Abstract: Cars are still used as the primary mode of transportation for daily commuting, with their emissions significantly affecting urban air quality, contributing to overall greenhouse gas emissions. Efforts to reduce car dependency have led to exploration of alternative transportation options such as cableway systems in urban areas. However, limited information exists regarding the environmental impacts and biodiversity implications of such systems. This study conducted a comparative life cycle assessment between a proposed cableway system for the city of Trieste, Italy and its current car transportation mode. The analysis considered both daily operational profiles and passenger occupancy rates of the cableway system. Drawing from similar cableway systems worldwide, it was calculated that the proposed Trieste cableway would accommodate 2007 daily passengers, on average. Results from the environmental assessment revealed that the cableway's operational phase had by far the greatest impact on all environmental categories, followed by its construction and by land clearance. Additionally, the use phase was found to be the major cause for most biodiversity loss, particularly towards terrestrial ecosystems. Comparisons of life cycle GHG emissions between the cableway and car transportation indicated that the cableway system would be a preferable option if the daily average passengers would reach at least 3,908, which is almost double than the expected ones. Furthermore, the cableway system exhibited larger environmental impacts across most categories compared to current car transportation. Thus, this study challenges the perception that the cableway system is a more sustainable option compared to conventional modes of transport, as additional factors need to be considered for a broader overview of the environmental performances.
Keywords: life cycle assessment, cableway, ropeway, urban, biodiversity, carbon footprint
Published in DKUM: 23.04.2025; Views: 0; Downloads: 1
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2. When technology meets sustainability: microplastic removal from industrial wastewater, including impact analysis and life cycle assessmentJan Puhar, Michael Toni Sturm, Erika Myers, Dennis Schober, Anika Korzin, Annamaria Vujanović, Katrin Schuhen, 2025, original scientific article Abstract: Microplastics (MPs) that are ubiquitous in aquatic environments and industrial wastewater streams have been identified as key hotspots of MP contamination. It is significantly more effective to remove MPs at these points before they enter municipal wastewater streams. This study is an environmental assessment of a novel pilot plant for the removal of MPs and the chemical oxygen demand (COD) from wastewater with a high MP contamination from a plastics manufacturer in Germany. MP removal is based on physical–chemical agglomeration–fixation by organosilanes. Formed agglomerates are separated using a belt filter. The COD is removed by an adsorption process. The resulting MP removal was 98.0 ± 1.1% by mass and 99.9987 ± 0.0007% by particle count, while the COD was reduced by 96 ± 2.7%. The system’s sustainability is evaluated using the Life Cycle Assessment methodology, evaluating system construction, operation, and end-of-life considerations. The current pilot plant is also compared to an optimized circular and sustainable upgrade, where drivers of environmental burdens are eliminated and collected MPs are reused. Significant reductions in environmental impact categories are achieved and the global warming potential is reduced by 96%. This study provides a sustainability assessment of a novel technology and circular solution to remove MPs from highly polluted industrial wastewater.
Keywords: microplastics, life cycle assessment, impact analysis, removal technology, sustainable process design, carbon footprint, water quality, circular economy
Published in DKUM: 14.03.2025; Views: 0; Downloads: 4
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3. Life cycle assessment (LCA) of the impact on the environment of a cosmetic cream with gold nanoparticles and hydroxylated fullerene ingredientsRebeka Rudolf, Peter Majerič, Zorka Novak-Pintarič, Andrej Horvat, Damjan Krajnc, 2024, original scientific article Abstract: This review provides a comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of a cosmetic cream to assess the environmental impacts throughout its entire life cycle, from raw material extraction to disposal, using the methodology according to international standards. The LCA was performed using the OpenLCA 2.0.1 software, with data from the Ecoinvent 3.8 database and relevant literature. The assessment focused on multiple impact categories, including climate change, acidification, eutrophication (freshwater, marine and terrestrial), ecotoxicity (freshwater), human toxicity (cancer and non-cancer), ionizing radiation, land use, ozone depletion, photochemical ozone formation, resource use (fossils, minerals and metals), and water use. The LCA of a cosmetic cream containing gold nanoparticles revealed significant environmental impacts across critical categories. The total climate change potential was 2596.95 kg CO2 eq., driven primarily by nanoparticle synthesis (60.7%) and electricity use (31.9%). Eutrophication of freshwater had the highest normalized result (3.000), with nanoparticle synthesis contributing heavily, indicating the need for improved wastewater treatment. The resource use (minerals and metals) scored 1.856, while the freshwater ecotoxicity reached 80,317.23 CTUe, both driven by the nanoparticle production. The human toxicity potentials were 1.39 × 10−6 CTUh (cancer) and 7.45 × 10−5 CTUh (non-cancer), linked to emissions from synthesis and energy use. The LCA of the cosmetic cream revealed several critical areas of environmental impact. The most significant impacts are associated with gold nanoparticle synthesis and electricity use. Addressing these impacts through optimized synthesis processes, improved energy efficiency, and alternative materials can enhance the product’s sustainability profile significantly.
Keywords: life cycle assessment, cosmetic cream, environmental impacts, gold nanoparticles
Published in DKUM: 17.12.2024; Views: 0; Downloads: 15
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4. Hydrogen production, storage and transport for renewable energy and chemicals : An environmental footprint assessmentRobert Hren, Annamaria Vujanović, Yee Van Fan, Damjan Krajnc, Jiri Klemeš, Lidija Čuček, 2023, original scientific article Keywords: hydrogen producing technologies, hydrogen storage, hydrogen transport, life cycle assessment, different electricity sources, energy and environmental footprints, eco-benefit and eco-cost, comparative impact assessment
Published in DKUM: 10.05.2024; Views: 240; Downloads: 82
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5. Life Cycle Assessment of Pilot-Scale Bio-Refining of Invasive Japanese Knotweed Alien Plant towards Bio-Based Bioactive CompoundsRobert Hren, Katerina Naumoska, Urška Jug, Lidija Čuček, Blaž Likozar, Uroš Novak, Annamaria Vujanović, 2023, original scientific article Abstract: Japanese knotweed is an invasive alien plant species with characteristic rapid expansion in Europe and North America and resistance to extermination. It displaces autochthonous biodiversity and causes major damage to infrastructure, thus causing global ecological and economic damage. The Japanese knotweed plant is usually eradicated using various chemical, biological, or mechanical techniques, which at a large scale include heavy equipment, usually followed by incineration. Therefore, excavation is preferred to eradication techniques, and as a biomass waste recovery method due to the extraction of high-value biocompounds. This is supported by the fact that the Japanese knotweed possesses various bioactive compounds with beneficial effects on human health. Its rhizome bark extract produces strong and stable antioxidant activity over time, as well as apoptotic, antibacterial, and other beneficial activities. In this work, an environmental impact assessment, including greenhouse gas footprint, acidification, eutrophication, and ecotoxicity for extraction route of the Japanese knotweed rhizome bark, is performed. A comparative case study between the lab-based and proposed pilot-scale production of active added-value extract was evaluated. The results show the pilot-scale production exhibits lower environmental burdens, mainly due to greater electricity requirements for the lab-scale alternative.
Keywords: Japanese knotweed rhizome bark extract, invasive alien plant species, bioactive compounds, lab-scale, pilot-scale, life cycle assessment (LCA), environmental burden assessment
Published in DKUM: 19.03.2024; Views: 236; Downloads: 20
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6. Energy indicators and topics in food supply chains' life cycle assessmentPetra Vidergar, Rebeka Kovačič Lukman, 2019, original scientific article Abstract: Food supply chains have a significant impact on the environment, using large amounts of fossil energy resources and other non-renewable resources. Energy is directly and indirectly needed in all the steps along the food supply chain. This paper explores energy-related indicators in food supply chains and life cycle assessment within sixty-six research papers, gathered from the Web of Science database. Furthermore, a quantitative content analysis was carried out to assess the research trends and future opportunities regarding energy-related topics. The results revealed that a holistic perspective is needed, as energy-related indicators should be included in the use and end-of-life stages, not only in the production processes, and that the inclusion should follow the life cycle assessment methodology. The current research topics are energy issues related to production processes and environmental impacts. Improvements are possible in extending research areas to renewable resources, whole lifecycle perspectives, and socio-economic consequences.
Keywords: energy, food supply chain, life cycle assessment, Leximancer
Published in DKUM: 05.12.2023; Views: 368; Downloads: 6
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7. Circular blue bioeconomy for shrimp shell waste valorization: environmental impact assessment : magistrsko deloRok Pučnik, 2023, master's thesis Abstract: The seafood processing industry generates substantial amounts of waste, particularly from the shells of crustaceans. These shells currently hold limited to no value within the food sector, and the current methods of disposal can have negative impact on the natural bioecology. However, these shells still contain valuable compounds such as polymers, minerals, and polyphenols, which could be further utilized. Extracting these compounds using a biorefinery approach, which emphasizes sustainability, could be a viable solution.
This master thesis aims to assess the environmental implications, using the Life Cycle Assessment methodology, of a shrimp shell biorefinery process, to produce valuable products, like proteins, chitin, astaxanthin and calcium carbonate. The laboratory-scale biorefinery process was initially upscaled to both pilot and industrial scales, based on equipment design. Also, a comparison between the calculated power demand of units and the power demand of units, derived from Aspen Capital Cost Estimator, was also done. For the laboratory, pilot and industrial sized process, the energy consumption was determined combined with the environmental impact assessment, such as global warming, eutrophication, acidification, ecotoxicity potentials and other. The functional unit was the production of 1 kg of chitin, where the capacity of the laboratory process was linearly scaled up.
The evaluation of energy consumption revealed significant disparities among the different scales. Specifically, the upscaled laboratory process exhibited significantly higher energy consumption per kg of chitin (5,882.1 kWh) in comparison to the pilot (62.3 kWh) and industrial (21.1 kWh) scales. This outcome underscores the inadequacies of employing a linear scale-up in environmental analysis. Notably, centrifugation dominated electrical energy consumption at the laboratory-scale and industrial-scale, while refrigeration took over this role at the pilot-scale process.
Related to impact assessment it was found that both pilot- and industrial-scale processes demonstrated lower overall environmental impacts, compared to the laboratory-scale process in all evaluated categories. Acidification, photochemical oxidation, eutrophication and global warming potential exhibited the most significant variations, with reductions ranging up to 97 %, while ozone layer depletion displayed only a 17 % decrease. Importantly, all three scales also exhibited some positive effects (unburdening the environment) due to the use of shrimp shell materials, with particularly noticeable improvements in the category of terrestrial ecotoxicity.
Keywords: Shrimp shells, Biorefinery, Process design, Life cycle assessment (LCA), Circular bioeconomy, Process Scale-up
Published in DKUM: 04.10.2023; Views: 473; Downloads: 0
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8. Sustainable development in transport and logisticsVasja Omahne, 2021, master's thesis Abstract: The support for an ongoing global pursuit of sustainable development, consumer awareness about sustainability, and regulations have affected the transport and logistics sector due to the fact that it presents ample environmental, social and economic challenges. The transport sector contributes globally to about 14% of greenhouse gas emissions, and around one third of the European Union's emissions, yet also represents an important economic sector, employing around 10 million individuals, thus requiring an in-depth discussion, especially regarding environmental impact. Due to increasing global concern for the environment, companies and policymakers are facing pressure to reduce the environmental impact related to transport and logistics activities and make them more sustainable. Before choosing a best practice for improvement, especially regarding the environmental perspective, a thorough analysis regarding the environmental impact has to be carried out based on reliable data and methodology. For such purposes, the life cycle assessment (LCA) defined by standards ISO 14040 and 14044 is commonly used. While the LCA focuses only on the environmental perspective, sustainability is represented by three dimensions, which are environmental, economic and social and those are interlinked, which presents a challenge, as each dimension has a major impact on every stage of the life cycle of a product, process or service. Thus there is a need to evaluate all three perspectives of sustainability in order to make transport and logistics processes more sustainable. Another option to make transport and logistics processes more sustainable and to achieve sustainable development is through education. Thus, it is important to integrate sustainability-oriented topics in logistics programs and courses, and consequently educate future logisticians about sustainability. Considering environmental burdens and sustainable development in transport and logistics, we explored LCA regarding its use in transport and logistics and studied the integration of sustainability into logistics education in EU, as it is important to educate future logistics managers and decision makers to gain sufficient knowledge on the importance of sustainability. Also, as logistics processes pose several environmental challenges and impacts, social and economic impacts are the ones that are frequently overlooked. Thus we additionally focused on performing an applicable comprehensive sustainability evaluation of a monkey toy and evaluated its environmental (through LCA), social (through SLCA) and economic (through LCC) impacts through the life cycle. At the same time, we explored options to enhance the present CE concept in the monkey toy company. Exploring the use of LCA in transport and logistics, we focused on the state-of-the-art of transport-related life cycle assessment studies, as they are important for the decision-making processes. Our research of LCA & transport studies was framed around the requirements of the International Organization for Standardization. A specific focus was given to the quality of life cycle assessment phases, comprehending goal and scope, inventory, life cycle impact assessment, and interpretation. Thirty-four research and review papers were studied, sourced from the Web of Science database. Studying the monkey toy, we firstly assessed the environmental impacts of the toy through LCA and additionally combined it with SLCA and LCC to evaluate the toy's sustainability comprehensively. Based on the results of the sustainability evaluation, we gained an insight into environmental, economic and social hotspots that the monkey represents. We then presented a possible enhancement of the CE concept. Lastly, focusing on logistics education, we analyzed and elaborated upon an integration of sustainability topics at higher education programs in logistics and their curricula for bachelor and master degrees at universities across Europe.
Keywords: logistics, transport, sustainability, life-cycle assessment, logistics education
Published in DKUM: 26.03.2021; Views: 1689; Downloads: 83
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9. Life cycle assessment (ISO 14040, ISO 14044)Manuela Ingaldi, Dorota Klimecka-Tatar, Vladimir Permyakov, Vitaly Parfenov, Sergei Alexandrov, Yuri Sivkov, Arthur Nikiforov, 2016, independent scientific component part or a chapter in a monograph Keywords: environmental management, life-cycle assessment, LCA, environmental impact, ISO 14040, ISO 14044
Published in DKUM: 11.05.2018; Views: 4857; Downloads: 576
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10. Environmental management & audit 4: Environmental assessment - featured articles : Tempus project Recoaud2016, scientific monograph Abstract: The present scientific monograph, entitled “Environmental management & audit“, is the result of three years’ work on an international project entitled “Environmental management in Russian companies – retraining courses for the sensibilization for and integration of Eco-Audit programs in corporate decision-making (RECOAUD)”. Within its more than 600 pages, the monograph features interesting texts written by 31 authors from the European Union and the Russian Federation, edited by dr. Borut Jereb, Darja Kukovič and dr. Daria Meyr.
The monograph “Environmental management & audit“ is composed of four books: “Scarcity and Introduction of Environmental Management”, “Management Systems”, “Controlling and Stakeholders”, and “Environmental Assessment” (Featured Articles). These four topics reflect the complexity, heterogeneity and multidisciplinary of the project Tempus RECOAUD.
The reader of the monograph gets a comprehensive overview of theoretical perspectives of environmental management and audit in the chosen areas. Furthermore, the monograph also highlights the results of research in the field of environmental management and audit as well as trends and challenges in the development of this field. Providing insight into theoretical and research findings, the monograph will prove useful to both practitioners and researchers in the field of environmental management and audit; it can also be used for study purposes.
Keywords: logistics, environment, climate change adaptation, sustainability, reverse logistics, life cycle assessment, environmental impact assessment, waste management, oil industry, gas industry, pollution
Published in DKUM: 09.05.2018; Views: 2257; Downloads: 136
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