The Experts below are selected from a list of 111 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Michael Narodoslawsky - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Renewable energy from wastewater - Practical aspects of integrating a wastewater treatment plant into local energy supply concepts
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2017Co-Authors: Rene Kollmann, Georg Neugebauer, Florian Kretschmer, Barbara Truger, Helene Kindermann, Gernot Stoeglehner, Thomas Ertl, Michael NarodoslawskyAbstract:Abstract The main purpose of wastewater treatment plants concerns water pollution control. However, recent research has shown, that wastewater treatment plants also seem to be interesting from an energetic point of view, as they have high potentials for heat generation beyond common digester gas combustion. Focusing on a case study we intend to feed the available surplus energy of the wastewater treatment plant into public energy distribution grids to supply external consumers. Different software tools are applied to support optimised integration: a central role plays the Geographical Information System based Energy Zone Mapping to analyse existing and future energy demands of different spatial units. Process Network Synthesis is applied to perform optimisation on an economical level. With the Sustainable Process Index the ecological footprint of the regarded technologies is assessed. Besides describing the theoretical background and the practical application of the tools, the paper presents the results obtained from the case study. The investigations give clear evidence, that significant amounts of heat could be supplied to the adjacent consumers at competitive costs and with considerable ecological benefit. Consequently, the wastewater treatment plant analysed provides local energy planners with an “unexpected” and locally available renewable source of energy.
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Sustainable Process Index
Assessing and Measuring Environmental Impact and Sustainability, 2015Co-Authors: Michael NarodoslawskyAbstract:Sustainable development requires environmental concerns to be integrated into engineering design on the same level as economic considerations. The Sustainable Process Index (SPI) addresses this need and provides a comprehensive evaluation of ecological sustainability based on the concept of strong sustainability using only material and energy balances known to an engineer, even in the early stages of design. The SPI calculates an ecological footprint by taking the whole life cycle of a product or service provided by a technology into account. It calculates the area that is necessary to embed the provision of the service or product sustainably into the ecosphere if neither global material cycles (e.g., the global carbon cycle) nor the quality of local environmental compartments (atmosphere, water systems, or soil) shall be disturbed. It takes all material flows exchanged with the environment along the life cycle into account, whether they are raw material extraction, emissions, or waste generation.
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Biogas Production from Intercropping (syn-energy)
Chemical engineering transactions, 2014Co-Authors: Khurram Shahzad, Stephan Maier, Michael NarodoslawskyAbstract:The cultivation of two or more crops in association to each other is an ancient method of utilising agricultural area to get optimum crop productions. The increased cultivation of energy crops to fulfil energy requirements have led to the necessity of optimisation of bio productivity of the available land use, which should be carried out without compromising on the land quality and environmental conditions. Syn-Energy II is an Austrian national project, which focuses on the possibilities of synergetic expansion of agricultural biogas production. The field experiment results reveals that cultivation of intercrops for biogas production between the main crops enhances crop rotation yields, while it reduces erosion, greenhouse gas emissions and ground water pollution. Similarly synergetic calculations will be made for conservational soil cultivation and biological crop rotation systems. The project not only focuses on production of biogas for conventional use (heat and electricity production), but also biogas cleaning to natural gas quality (96 % methane content) which can be injected to the gas grid and its usage as an alternate fuel in the agricultural practice making a recycling loop (Niemetz and Kettl, 2012). The ecological assessment is carried out utilising Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) based methodology known as Sustainable Process Index (SPI) (Krotscheck and Narodoslawsky, 1996). A web based tool SPIonWeb (http://spionweb.tugraz.at/en/welcome) is used to calculate ecological footprint and dynamic modelling for biogas production scenarios, based on comprehensive energy and material flows from a variety of intercrop-systems. The Process evaluation provides reliable information to figure out ecological hotspots for Process optimisation (Kettl and Narodoslawsky, 2013).
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spionweb ecological Process evaluation with the Sustainable Process Index spi
Computer-aided chemical engineering, 2014Co-Authors: Khurram Shahzad, Rene Kollmann, Stephan Maier, Michael NarodoslawskyAbstract:Abstract Chemical engineers however need quick and reliable cradle-to-grave evaluations, conforming to the ISO norm 14040, already at the design stage in order to assess the ecological performance of their design compared to design alternatives as well as to identify ecological hotspots in order to decrease the ecological impact of the Process in question. The Sustainable Process Index methodology has been particularly developed for this purpose and has been widely applied to the measurement of the ecological performance in production systems. Ecological performance is expressed in aggregate form as Ecological Footprint per service unit, thus allowing the engineer to take decisions. De-aggregation into different environmental pressure categories that this methodology allows as well helps the engineer to understand, what causes the engineer to pinpoint the Process steps that are critical to the overallperformance of the ecological pressure in a certain Process step. For the modelling of these problems the software tool SPIonExcel has been in use in the last decade. SPIonWeb is a web browser based software tool substituting SPIonExcel, which allows to model industrial Processes on a thoroughly revised data base and a still more encompassing methodological base. Basic Processes like electricity, transport, base chemical production chains are provided in a life cycle based database. Dynamic modelling allows creating Process loops which allows simulating changes in the final product ecological performance if sub-Process modification are assumed. Besides the Ecological Footprint (calculated with the SPI method) theprogram also features Process visualization, detailed material balance for inputs and emissions, CO2 and GWP life cycle emissions. The paper provides examples of ecological Process evaluation for different chemical engineering applications, in particular Processes providing energy from different renewable sources and bio-chemical Processes, e-g. bio-plastic production. Analysing these thoroughly different Process chains will be used to highlight the information that can be gleaned from ecological Process evaluation during chemical engineering design.
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Comparison of ecological footprint for biobased PHA production from animal residues utilizing different energy resources
Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, 2013Co-Authors: Khurram Shahzad, Karl Heinz Kettl, Michaela Titz, Hans Schnitzer, Martin Koller, Michael NarodoslawskyAbstract:Realizing a Sustainable development of our planet requires a reduction of waste production, harmful emissions, and higher energy efficiency as well as utiliza- tion of renewable energy sources. One pathway to this end is the design of Sustainable biorefinery concepts. Utilizing waste streams as raw material is gaining great importance in this respect. This reduces environmental burden and may at the same time contribute to economic performance of biorefineries. This paper investigates the utilization of slaughtering waste to produce biodegradable polyesters, polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), via bioconversion. PHA are the target product while production of high quality bio- diesel along with meat and bone meal (MBM) as by- products improves the economic performance of the pro- cess. The paper focuses on ecological comparison of dif- ferent production scenarios and the effect of geographical location of production plants taking different energy pro- duction technologies and resources into account; ecological footprint evaluation using Sustainable Process Index methodology was applied. Keeping in mind that the carbon source for PHA production is produced from waste by energy intensive rendering Process, the effect of available energy mixes in different countries becomes significant. Ecological footprint results from the current study show a bandwidth from 372,950 to 956,060 m2/t PHA production, depending on the energy mix used in the Process which is compared to 2,508,409 m2/t for low density polyethylene.
Khurram Shahzad - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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An ecological feasibility study for developing Sustainable street lighting system
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2018Co-Authors: Khurram Shahzad, Nadeem Ali, Muhammad Imtiaz Rashid, Hamad A. Al-turaif, Rabia Nazir, Lidija Cucek, Muhammad Sagir, Abdul-sattar Nizami, Iqbal Mohammad Ibrahim IsmailAbstract:The recognition of the humans, vehicles or any other objects in the outdoor environment, such as roads, streets, pedestrian ways, car parking and public parks, is only possible with illumination after dark. The outdoor lighting consumes significant amounts of electricity. The best short-term payout period for reduction in energy consumption is implementation of energy efficiency solutions. A shift from traditional illumination technology to the advanced lighting solutions has the ability for significant energy savings. The main focus of this study is to find out the most suitable, environmentally friendly and “green” solution(s) to fulfill the outdoor lighting requirements. It includes ecological impact assessment of commonly available lighting technologies for outdoor illumination, such as high pressure sodium, compact fluorescent and light emitting diode, by using Sustainable Process Index methodology. The effects of different alternative energy resources and the impacts of geographical locations due to variations in energy provision system (i.e. energy mix) are also considered in this study. The obtained results show that Sustainable Process Index ranges from 258 km2 to 7760 km2 and carbon footprint from 930 t CO2 eq. to 48,496 t CO2 eq. to fulfill lighting requirement for 100,000 h of lighting. These results are compared with Sustainable Process Index and Carbon Footprint caused by high pressure sodium and light emitting diode luminaires providing electricity from Saudi Arabian electricity network.
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ecological evaluation of biogas from catch crops with Sustainable Process Index spi
Energy Sustainability and Society, 2017Co-Authors: Stephan Maier, M. Szerencsits, Khurram ShahzadAbstract:Ever increasing global population requires to find additional options or increase the efficiency of food and feed supply to fulfil its dietary needs. In agricultural sector, competing situations with energy supply occur and ask for more Sustainable solutions in an ethically correct manner. The Sustainable Process Index (SPI) provides a powerful method for an ecological evaluation of various Processes. The comparison of partial ecological pressures allows to identify main spots of ecological pressure and provides a base for an integrated discussion about ecological improvement. The results show scenarios about different options to change typical agricultural business as usual (BAU) successions. Mulching and fermentation of catch crops show high grades of reduction potential of the ecological footprint evaluated with the SPI method. A comparison to natural gas equivalent shows the direct potential to improve agricultural farming towards higher sustainability. The highest reduction of the ecological footprint can be between 56% in case of summer catch crops with wheat as a main crop and 59% in case of winter catch crops with maize as a main crop in comparison to the BAU scenario without catch crops. Besides energy generation, the use of catch crops instead of main crops in biogas plants has several additional ecological benefits. Leaving main crops untouched for food and feed purposes, the additional seeding of catch crops after the harvest of main crops reduces the risk of erosion and nitrate leaching as well reduce the application of mineral fertiliser. Additionally, soil humus content improves due to the application of fermentation residues to the fields.
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A Case Study for Developing Eco-efficient Street Lighting System in Saudi Arabia
Chemical engineering transactions, 2016Co-Authors: Khurram Shahzad, Muhammad Sagir, Abdul-sattar Nizami, Lidija Čuček, Tariq Iqbal, Talal Almeelbi, Iqbal Mohammad Ibrahim IsmailAbstract:It is now well-known phenomenon that energy efficiency has highest short-term pay out period to decrease overall energy consumption. The replacement of conventional lighting technology with innovative lighting solutions can save up to 40 % of lighting energy. The ecological evaluation of street light provision system in King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah is carried out using Sustainable Process Index (SPI) methodology. This study is carried out selecting three commonly used street illuminating devices i.e. High Pressure Sodium (HPS) lamps, Compact Fluorescent (CF) lamp and Light Emitting Diode (LED). The results show that energy consumption can be decreased by a factor of 1 to 4 by replacing HPS lamp with high efficiency LED lamp. Similarly, environmental assessment results reveal that ecological footprint as well as carbon footprint caused by lighting service can also be lowered by replacing HPS and CF lamps with LED lamps.
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Biogas Production from Intercropping (syn-energy)
Chemical engineering transactions, 2014Co-Authors: Khurram Shahzad, Stephan Maier, Michael NarodoslawskyAbstract:The cultivation of two or more crops in association to each other is an ancient method of utilising agricultural area to get optimum crop productions. The increased cultivation of energy crops to fulfil energy requirements have led to the necessity of optimisation of bio productivity of the available land use, which should be carried out without compromising on the land quality and environmental conditions. Syn-Energy II is an Austrian national project, which focuses on the possibilities of synergetic expansion of agricultural biogas production. The field experiment results reveals that cultivation of intercrops for biogas production between the main crops enhances crop rotation yields, while it reduces erosion, greenhouse gas emissions and ground water pollution. Similarly synergetic calculations will be made for conservational soil cultivation and biological crop rotation systems. The project not only focuses on production of biogas for conventional use (heat and electricity production), but also biogas cleaning to natural gas quality (96 % methane content) which can be injected to the gas grid and its usage as an alternate fuel in the agricultural practice making a recycling loop (Niemetz and Kettl, 2012). The ecological assessment is carried out utilising Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) based methodology known as Sustainable Process Index (SPI) (Krotscheck and Narodoslawsky, 1996). A web based tool SPIonWeb (http://spionweb.tugraz.at/en/welcome) is used to calculate ecological footprint and dynamic modelling for biogas production scenarios, based on comprehensive energy and material flows from a variety of intercrop-systems. The Process evaluation provides reliable information to figure out ecological hotspots for Process optimisation (Kettl and Narodoslawsky, 2013).
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spionweb ecological Process evaluation with the Sustainable Process Index spi
Computer-aided chemical engineering, 2014Co-Authors: Khurram Shahzad, Rene Kollmann, Stephan Maier, Michael NarodoslawskyAbstract:Abstract Chemical engineers however need quick and reliable cradle-to-grave evaluations, conforming to the ISO norm 14040, already at the design stage in order to assess the ecological performance of their design compared to design alternatives as well as to identify ecological hotspots in order to decrease the ecological impact of the Process in question. The Sustainable Process Index methodology has been particularly developed for this purpose and has been widely applied to the measurement of the ecological performance in production systems. Ecological performance is expressed in aggregate form as Ecological Footprint per service unit, thus allowing the engineer to take decisions. De-aggregation into different environmental pressure categories that this methodology allows as well helps the engineer to understand, what causes the engineer to pinpoint the Process steps that are critical to the overallperformance of the ecological pressure in a certain Process step. For the modelling of these problems the software tool SPIonExcel has been in use in the last decade. SPIonWeb is a web browser based software tool substituting SPIonExcel, which allows to model industrial Processes on a thoroughly revised data base and a still more encompassing methodological base. Basic Processes like electricity, transport, base chemical production chains are provided in a life cycle based database. Dynamic modelling allows creating Process loops which allows simulating changes in the final product ecological performance if sub-Process modification are assumed. Besides the Ecological Footprint (calculated with the SPI method) theprogram also features Process visualization, detailed material balance for inputs and emissions, CO2 and GWP life cycle emissions. The paper provides examples of ecological Process evaluation for different chemical engineering applications, in particular Processes providing energy from different renewable sources and bio-chemical Processes, e-g. bio-plastic production. Analysing these thoroughly different Process chains will be used to highlight the information that can be gleaned from ecological Process evaluation during chemical engineering design.
Christian Krotscheck - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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what can we learn from ecological valuation of Processes with the Sustainable Process Index spi the case study of energy production systems
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2004Co-Authors: Michael Narodoslawsky, Christian KrotscheckAbstract:The Sustainable Process Index is an ecological evaluation system specially developed for the requirements of Process engineering. It allows reliable as well as convenient and quick valuation of Processes on the base of data available to a Process engineer even in the early stages of planning. The paper will discuss the application of this Index in practical examples of interest to many Process engineers. Energy systems are of great importance for almost any Process, as they cause a considerable part of investment, as well as operating costs. From the ecological point of view, they may be even more influential as they cause direct emissions (e.g. SO2, NOx) as well as contributions to global ecological problems, most prominently global warming. The right decision about energy systems within a Process therefore is of considerable importance for any Process engineer. A comparison of different energy systems with the SPI will reveal the most important ecological features of energy systems using different conversion technologies as well as different raw materials and energy sources. The various pressures exerted by these systems on the environment will be discussed. However, the most important information derived from a valuation with the SPI is the relative size of these pressures. This bases the decision about the right energy system on an equal footing for all technological contenders. It allows also the setting of engineering and optimisation priorities.
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integrated ecological optimization of Processes with the Sustainable Process Index
Waste Management, 2000Co-Authors: Michael Narodoslawsky, Christian KrotscheckAbstract:Abstract The concept of Sustainable development is gaining ever more interest in the political discussion. However it is often overlooked that this concept has important repercussions for technological development. This is especially true for Process industry as this sector is responsible for most material flows within human society as well as the exchange of material and energy with the environment. Based on an operationalised set of criteria for sustainability and on conventional mass and energy balances, the concept of the Sustainable Process Index (SPI) measures the potential impact (pressure) of Processes (or more generally ‘activities') on the ecosphere. The SPI compares mass and energy flows induced by human activities with natural flows [Krotschak C, Narodoslawsky M. The Sustainable Process Index—a new dimension in ecological evaluation. Ecological Engineering 1996;6(4):241]. As natural flows are always linked to area (examples are the growth of biomass, precipitation and, most importantly, solar radiation) the basic unit of the SPI is area. It is the total surface area that is required by any activity that exchanges material with the environment to be “sustainably embedded into the ecosphere (=environment)”. Integrated assessment of Processes with the SPI aggregates resources as well as emissions to the three different ecological compartments air, water and soil [Krozer J. Operational indicators for progress towards sustainability (no. EV-5V (T94-0374). EU project final report. Den Haag (The Netherlands), TME, 1996]. The lower the requirement of area for a given activity is, the lesser is the impact of this activity on the environment. The SPI concept allows a quick and reliable evaluation of very diverse Processes according to their environmental impact from a Sustainable development point of view [Krotscheck C. How to measure sustainability? Comparison of flow based (mass and/or energy) highly aggregated indicators for eco-compatibility. EnvironMetrics, 1997; 8: 661]. It uses data available to a Process engineer even at a very early stage in Process development and may therefore be used as a tool for optimising Processes in the course of their development.
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Quantifying the Interaction of Human and the Ecosphere: The Sustainable Process Index as a Measure for Co-existence
Eco Targets Goal Functions and Orientors, 1998Co-Authors: Christian KrotscheckAbstract:It is argued that the most effective way to couple the evolution of humans and ecosphere sustainably is achieved by measuring the interaction of anthroposphere and ecosphere. Interactions link economy and ecology. Interactions are the bases of co-existence and are manifested in a very complex mass and energy flow network.
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the Sustainable Process Index a new dimension in ecological evaluation
Ecological Engineering, 1996Co-Authors: Christian Krotscheck, Michael NarodoslawskyAbstract:Abstract The Sustainable Process Index (SPI) is a measure developed to evaluate the viability of Processes under Sustainable economic conditions. Its advantages are its universal applicability, its scientific basis, the possibility of adoption in Process analyses and syntheses, the high sensitivity for Sustainable qualities, and the capability of aggregation to one measure. It has proved to be useful in industrial strategic planning. The concept of the SPI is based on the assumption that in a truly Sustainable society the basis of economy is the Sustainable flow of solar exergy. The conversion of the solar exergy to services needs area. Thus, area becomes the limiting factor of a Sustainable economy. The SPI evaluates the areas needed to provide the raw materials and energy demands and to accommodate by-product flows from a Process in a Sustainable way. It relates these areas to the area available to a citizen in a given geographical (from regional to global) context. The data necessary to calculate the SPI are usually known at an early stage in Process development. The result of the computation is the ratio between the area needed to supply a citizen with a given service and the area needed to supply a citizen with all possible services. Thus, it is a measure of the expense of this service in an economy oriented towards sustainability.
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the Sustainable Process Index spi evaluating Processes according to environmental compatibility
Journal of Hazardous Materials, 1995Co-Authors: Michael Narodoslawsky, Christian KrotscheckAbstract:Abstract Process industry needs a strategic measure that takes environmental considerations into account as a base for decisions on future projects. Emission standards alone are not sufficient for this purpose. They are based on our knowledge of the environmental risk of substances which is fragmentary and inconclusive. On top of that emission standards are susceptible to changes in societal risk assessment. Both factors are chaning rapidly undermining the usefulness of these standards for strategic planning. The SPI is based on an operationalized form of the principle of sustainability. It uses only Process data known at an early stage of planning and data of natural concentrations of substances (not on their presumable impact which is usually not known). The core of the SPI evaluation is the calculation of the area needed to embed a Process completely into the biosphere. Low SPI values indicate Processes that are competitive under Sustainable conditions and that are environmentally compatible in the long-term view.
Karl Heinz Kettl - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Comparison of ecological footprint for biobased PHA production from animal residues utilizing different energy resources
Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, 2013Co-Authors: Khurram Shahzad, Karl Heinz Kettl, Michaela Titz, Hans Schnitzer, Martin Koller, Michael NarodoslawskyAbstract:Realizing a Sustainable development of our planet requires a reduction of waste production, harmful emissions, and higher energy efficiency as well as utiliza- tion of renewable energy sources. One pathway to this end is the design of Sustainable biorefinery concepts. Utilizing waste streams as raw material is gaining great importance in this respect. This reduces environmental burden and may at the same time contribute to economic performance of biorefineries. This paper investigates the utilization of slaughtering waste to produce biodegradable polyesters, polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), via bioconversion. PHA are the target product while production of high quality bio- diesel along with meat and bone meal (MBM) as by- products improves the economic performance of the pro- cess. The paper focuses on ecological comparison of dif- ferent production scenarios and the effect of geographical location of production plants taking different energy pro- duction technologies and resources into account; ecological footprint evaluation using Sustainable Process Index methodology was applied. Keeping in mind that the carbon source for PHA production is produced from waste by energy intensive rendering Process, the effect of available energy mixes in different countries becomes significant. Ecological footprint results from the current study show a bandwidth from 372,950 to 956,060 m2/t PHA production, depending on the energy mix used in the Process which is compared to 2,508,409 m2/t for low density polyethylene.
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Ecological Footprint Comparison of Biobased Pha Production from Animal Residues
Chemical engineering transactions, 2012Co-Authors: Karl Heinz Kettl, Khurram Shahzad, Michael Eder, Michael NarodoslawskyAbstract:Utilization of waste streams is gaining more and more importance to reduce costs at the input side of a Process. This affects not only costs, as environmental impacts can be minimized due to utilization of recovered waste streams too. ANIMPOL is an EU funded research project which is focused on the production of biopolymers from animal residues. This report compares conventional plastic production against fermentation of animal residues to polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) which constitutes a group of biobased and biodegradable polyesters. Beside PHA high quality biodiesel and meat and bone meal are produced which improves the economic feasibility of the whole Process design. Through hydrolysis of specific residues the substitution of inorganic nitrogen can be achieved (Kettl et al., 2011a). For comparison of different production scenarios Ecological Footprint evaluation, according to the Sustainable Process Index methodology (Sandholzer et. al., 2005; Narodoslawsky and Krotscheck, 1995) was applied. Sub-Process sharp information is available to figure out ecological hotspots within every Process step. Ecological optimization potentials as well as production cost reduction are pointed out to address cleaner production already in the Process designing phase.
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Ecological and economic evaluation of biogas from intercrops
Energy Sustainability and Society, 2012Co-Authors: Nora Niemetz, Karl Heinz KettlAbstract:Background Biogas made from main crops (e.g., corn) is commonly used for producing electricity and heat. Nevertheless, the production of energy from monocultures is highly unSustainable and not truly renewable. Since neither monocultures nor food competition are desirable, intercrops can be used to increase the yield per hectare instead of leaving agricultural fields unplanted for soil regeneration. The extra biomass can be used for biogas production. In a case study, the economic as well as the ecological feasibility of biogas production using intercrops, cattle manure, grass and corn silage as feedstocks for fermenters was analyzed. Methods The set-up for the case study included different feedstock combinations as well as spatial distributions of substrate supply and heat demand for modeling and optimization. Using the Process network synthesis, an optimum structure was generated representing the most economical technology constellation which included transport of substrates, heat and biogas (when applicable). The ecological evaluation was carried out by using the Sustainable Process Index method. Results The application of both methodologies to different scenarios allowed a constellation to be found which is economically feasible while entailing low ecological pressure. It is demonstrated that the production of intercrops for producing biogas has so far not been regarded as a viable option by the farmers due to a variety of barriers. Sensitization is needed to emphasize that planting intercrops holds many advantages like positive effects on soil regeneration and raised nitrogen fixation, as well as increased biomass output per hectare and, last but not least, it allows the production of energy without conflicts between food and energy production. Conclusions Using intercrops for the production of biogas has the potential to decrease the ecological footprint decisively while still offering opportunities in the lucrative biogas market. The transfer of know how regarding this option should be taken up by agricultural training.
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Process optimization for efficient biomediated pha production from animal based waste streams
Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, 2012Co-Authors: Michaela Titz, Karl Heinz Kettl, Hans Schnitzer, Khurram Shahzad, Martin Koller, Michael NarodoslawskyAbstract:Conventional polymers are made of crude oil components through chemical polymerization. The aim of the project ANIMPOL is to produce biopolymers by converting lipids into polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) in a novel Process scheme to reduce dependence on crude oil and decrease greenhouse gas emissions. PHA constitutes a group of biobased and biodegradable polyesters that may substitute fossil-based polymers in a wide range of applications. Waste streams from slaughtering cattle are used as substrate material. Lipids from rendering are used in this Process scheme for biodiesel production. Slaughtering waste streams may also be hydrolyzed to achieve higher lipid yield. Biodiesel then is separated into a high- and low-quality fraction. High-quality biodiesel meets requirements for sale as fuel and low quality is used for PHA production as carbon source. Selected offal material is used for acid hydrolysis and serves as a source of organic nitrogen as well as carbon source for PHA-free biomass with high production rate in fermentation Process. Nitrogen is a limiting factor to control PHA production during the fermentation Process. It is available for bacterial growth from hydrolyzed waste streams as well as added separately as NH4OH solution. Selected microbial strains are used to produce PHA from this substrate. The focus of the paper is about an overview of the whole Process with the main focus on hydrolysis, to look for the possibility of using offal hydrolysis as an organic nitrogen substitute. The Process design is optimized by minimizing waste streams and energy losses through cleaner production. Ecological evaluation of the Process design will be done through footprint calculation according to Sustainable Process Index methodology.
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Regional Optimizer (RegiOpt) – Sustainable energy technology network solutions for regions
Computer Aided Chemical Engineering, 2011Co-Authors: Karl Heinz Kettl, Michael Eder, N. Sandor, Nora Niemetz, Istvan Heckl, Michael NarodoslawskyAbstract:Abstract Developing energy strategies for the future is an important strategic task for regions and municipalities. Renewable based technologies and decentralized energy supply based on regional resources have the potential to locally and regionally increase added value, provide new jobs, decrease the dependency on limited fossil resources as well as on external energy providers and may have a positive impact on ecological stability. Regional Optimizer (RegiOpt) software tool is based on the concept of Process Network Synthesis (PNS) (Friedler et. al, 1995 and Halasz et. al, 2005) and of the Sustainable Process Index (SPI) (Kotscheck et. al., 1996 and Sandholzer et. al., 2005). Both methodologies are combined in RegiOpt to enable the user to create economically optimal Sustainable energy technology networks and at the same time evaluate them with respect to environmental sustainability. Inputs to the software are (renewable) resources (e.g. amount of crops available for energetic use, biowaste, waste heat, etc.) and regional energy demand profiles. Both resource provision and energy demand can be provided in time dependent form. On top of that the user may supply contextual information like costs and prices of particular resources and services. Result of the calculation with RegiOpt is the economically optimized technology network that fulfils the energy needs defined by the user and renders the highest regional added value. RegiOpt also provides the ecological footprint according to the SPI methodology. The user is able to calculate different scenarios based on different input data. RegiOpt software tool will be provided in two versions. Web based “Conceptual Planner” as a simple analysis for regional stakeholders and an “Advanced Designer” for a more detailed technology network scenario generation meant for expert use.
Stephan Maier - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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ecological evaluation of biogas from catch crops with Sustainable Process Index spi
Energy Sustainability and Society, 2017Co-Authors: Stephan Maier, M. Szerencsits, Khurram ShahzadAbstract:Ever increasing global population requires to find additional options or increase the efficiency of food and feed supply to fulfil its dietary needs. In agricultural sector, competing situations with energy supply occur and ask for more Sustainable solutions in an ethically correct manner. The Sustainable Process Index (SPI) provides a powerful method for an ecological evaluation of various Processes. The comparison of partial ecological pressures allows to identify main spots of ecological pressure and provides a base for an integrated discussion about ecological improvement. The results show scenarios about different options to change typical agricultural business as usual (BAU) successions. Mulching and fermentation of catch crops show high grades of reduction potential of the ecological footprint evaluated with the SPI method. A comparison to natural gas equivalent shows the direct potential to improve agricultural farming towards higher sustainability. The highest reduction of the ecological footprint can be between 56% in case of summer catch crops with wheat as a main crop and 59% in case of winter catch crops with maize as a main crop in comparison to the BAU scenario without catch crops. Besides energy generation, the use of catch crops instead of main crops in biogas plants has several additional ecological benefits. Leaving main crops untouched for food and feed purposes, the additional seeding of catch crops after the harvest of main crops reduces the risk of erosion and nitrate leaching as well reduce the application of mineral fertiliser. Additionally, soil humus content improves due to the application of fermentation residues to the fields.
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Ecological evaluation of biogas from catch crops with Sustainable Process Index (SPI)
Energy Sustainability and Society, 2017Co-Authors: Stephan Maier, M. Szerencsits, K. ShahzadAbstract:Background Ever increasing global population requires to find additional options or increase the efficiency of food and feed supply to fulfil its dietary needs. In agricultural sector, competing situations with energy supply occur and ask for more Sustainable solutions in an ethically correct manner. Methods The Sustainable Process Index (SPI) provides a powerful method for an ecological evaluation of various Processes. The comparison of partial ecological pressures allows to identify main spots of ecological pressure and provides a base for an integrated discussion about ecological improvement. Results The results show scenarios about different options to change typical agricultural business as usual (BAU) successions. Mulching and fermentation of catch crops show high grades of reduction potential of the ecological footprint evaluated with the SPI method. A comparison to natural gas equivalent shows the direct potential to improve agricultural farming towards higher sustainability. The highest reduction of the ecological footprint can be between 56% in case of summer catch crops with wheat as a main crop and 59% in case of winter catch crops with maize as a main crop in comparison to the BAU scenario without catch crops. Conclusions Besides energy generation, the use of catch crops instead of main crops in biogas plants has several additional ecological benefits. Leaving main crops untouched for food and feed purposes, the additional seeding of catch crops after the harvest of main crops reduces the risk of erosion and nitrate leaching as well reduce the application of mineral fertiliser. Additionally, soil humus content improves due to the application of fermentation residues to the fields.
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Biogas Production from Intercropping (syn-energy)
Chemical engineering transactions, 2014Co-Authors: Khurram Shahzad, Stephan Maier, Michael NarodoslawskyAbstract:The cultivation of two or more crops in association to each other is an ancient method of utilising agricultural area to get optimum crop productions. The increased cultivation of energy crops to fulfil energy requirements have led to the necessity of optimisation of bio productivity of the available land use, which should be carried out without compromising on the land quality and environmental conditions. Syn-Energy II is an Austrian national project, which focuses on the possibilities of synergetic expansion of agricultural biogas production. The field experiment results reveals that cultivation of intercrops for biogas production between the main crops enhances crop rotation yields, while it reduces erosion, greenhouse gas emissions and ground water pollution. Similarly synergetic calculations will be made for conservational soil cultivation and biological crop rotation systems. The project not only focuses on production of biogas for conventional use (heat and electricity production), but also biogas cleaning to natural gas quality (96 % methane content) which can be injected to the gas grid and its usage as an alternate fuel in the agricultural practice making a recycling loop (Niemetz and Kettl, 2012). The ecological assessment is carried out utilising Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) based methodology known as Sustainable Process Index (SPI) (Krotscheck and Narodoslawsky, 1996). A web based tool SPIonWeb (http://spionweb.tugraz.at/en/welcome) is used to calculate ecological footprint and dynamic modelling for biogas production scenarios, based on comprehensive energy and material flows from a variety of intercrop-systems. The Process evaluation provides reliable information to figure out ecological hotspots for Process optimisation (Kettl and Narodoslawsky, 2013).
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spionweb ecological Process evaluation with the Sustainable Process Index spi
Computer-aided chemical engineering, 2014Co-Authors: Khurram Shahzad, Rene Kollmann, Stephan Maier, Michael NarodoslawskyAbstract:Abstract Chemical engineers however need quick and reliable cradle-to-grave evaluations, conforming to the ISO norm 14040, already at the design stage in order to assess the ecological performance of their design compared to design alternatives as well as to identify ecological hotspots in order to decrease the ecological impact of the Process in question. The Sustainable Process Index methodology has been particularly developed for this purpose and has been widely applied to the measurement of the ecological performance in production systems. Ecological performance is expressed in aggregate form as Ecological Footprint per service unit, thus allowing the engineer to take decisions. De-aggregation into different environmental pressure categories that this methodology allows as well helps the engineer to understand, what causes the engineer to pinpoint the Process steps that are critical to the overallperformance of the ecological pressure in a certain Process step. For the modelling of these problems the software tool SPIonExcel has been in use in the last decade. SPIonWeb is a web browser based software tool substituting SPIonExcel, which allows to model industrial Processes on a thoroughly revised data base and a still more encompassing methodological base. Basic Processes like electricity, transport, base chemical production chains are provided in a life cycle based database. Dynamic modelling allows creating Process loops which allows simulating changes in the final product ecological performance if sub-Process modification are assumed. Besides the Ecological Footprint (calculated with the SPI method) theprogram also features Process visualization, detailed material balance for inputs and emissions, CO2 and GWP life cycle emissions. The paper provides examples of ecological Process evaluation for different chemical engineering applications, in particular Processes providing energy from different renewable sources and bio-chemical Processes, e-g. bio-plastic production. Analysing these thoroughly different Process chains will be used to highlight the information that can be gleaned from ecological Process evaluation during chemical engineering design.
