Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Composits with waste'

This work sums up results of tests of ecotoxicity that were made on different kind of industrial waste materials like classical ash, fluid and fly ash, slags as well as anorganic composites containing waste materials. Composites might be used for building materials in the future. Ecotoxicological tests were used for evaluation of ecotoxicity, represented by 4 trophic levels, with several bioindicators evaluated at different exposure time periods. The battery of classical tests includes a growth inhibition test of the freshwater alga Raphidocellis subcapitata, an immobilization test of the cladoceran Daphnia magna and freshwater fish Poecilia reticulata and a test of inhibitive effects on the root growth of white mustards Sinapis alba. Tests with enchytraeidae, collembolan and lettuce were chosen from group of contact tests. It was realized confrontation between classical test with seeds of mustard and contact tests with seeds of lettuce. Results of ecotoxicity tests were determination of percentage of mortality, immobilization, stimulation or inhibition of growth for testing organisms. It was made comparison of results individual ecotixicity tests. Results of classical aquatic tests were compared with contact tests realized in artificial ground.

Thesis (PhD) - Swinburne University of Technology, Industrial Research Institute Swinburne - 2006.
A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Industrial Research Institute Swinburne, Swinburne University of Technology - 2006. Typescript. "August 2006". Includes bibliographical references (p. 361-389).

Composting is a sustainable method to deal with huge amount of daily organic waste due to its robustness and easy operation. However, food waste (FW) as the main material in composting has disadvantages such as the heterogenous properties, high foreign matters contamination, high moisture content, low C/N ratio, poor structure, low porosity and high acidity during the initial phase of composting. These shortcomings not only influence degradation efficiency but also cease the composting process. Therefore, a bulking agent is required to increase the porosity and adjust the moisture content as well as C/N ratio of the composting mixture (Wong et al., 2010). For previous research, sawdust (SD) and tree barks were commonly used as the bulking agent in composting system but the demand for sawdust and tree barks significantly increased the cost of the composting process, and this has stimulated the demand of alternative substitutes. Therefore, the ideal situation is to find the bulking agent which is not only suitable for composting but is also a waste. Traditional Chinese medicine is widely used nowadays and huge amount of residues are accumulated and treated in landfilling (Wang and Li, 2013). According to previous research, only 5% of the active ingredients can be extracted from the medicinal plants which means there are still a large fraction of active ingredients remain in the herbal residues (Wu et al., 2013). In addition to the bulking property of Chinese medicinal herbal residues (CMHRs), it is assumed mature CMHRs compost have the ability to hinder regular metabolic pathway of phytopathogens after land application (Bernal-Vicente et al., 2008). The first experiment of this study investigated the formula between food waste, sawdust and CMHRs in order to achieve efficient composting. The experimental results demonstrated positively the use of CHMRs is a suitable candidate to co-compost with food waste. In terms of biodegradation decomposition efficiency and compost maturity, the treatment 1:1:1 (FW: SD: CHMRs, dry wt. basis) showed the best performance among all treatments with 67% organic matter degradation and 157% seed germination index. Only well-matured composting product can suppress plant diseases in soil since it has some microorganisms which can inhibit phytopathogens. The treatment 5:5:1 (FW: SD: CHMRs, dry wt. basis) also reached maturity but with a longer composting period; however, it was the treatment which could accommodate the highest quantity of food waste. The log copy number of the bacterial population was 7-8 initially, which decreased and stabilized along the composting. Results revealed that the CHMRs can be used as a bulking agent with food waste, and a dry weight ratio of 1:1:1 (FW: SD: CHMRs) would be optimum to achieve higher organic decomposition and faster maturity. However, the initial lower microbial population in the treatment, though without any adverse effect on the overall microbial decomposition, will warrant further work to indicate the total population is not a practical means to illuminate the effective microbial decomposition. Besides, the advantage in using CHMRs will need further experiment to indicate its potential pathogen suppression capability. Humification during co-composting of food waste, sawdust and CMHRs was investigated to reveal its correlation with compost maturity. The huge decrease in the treatment 1:1:1 (FW: SD: CHMRs, dry wt. basis) of aliphatic organics in humic acids (HA) demonstrated the degradation of the readily available organics, while an increase in aromatic functional groups indicated the maturity of compost. Disappearance of hemicellulose and weak intensity of lignin in the CMHRs treatments indicated that the lignin provided the nucleus for HA formation; and the CMHRs accelerated the compost maturity. Humic acid to fulvic acid (HA/FA) ratio of 1:1:1 treatment was the highest at the end of composting and showed a clear correlation with compost maturity as also evidenced through the presence of higher aromatic functional groups in the HA fraction. Pyr-TMAH-GC-MS results indicated that dominant groups were aliphatic and alicyclic esters and ethers at the early composting stages in all treatments. Long chain fatty acids were broken down into smaller molecular compounds earlier in treatment 1:1:1 (FW: SD: CHMRs, dry wt. basis), resulting from the faster decomposition rate. The complicated ring-structure components appeared dominantly at the later phase of composting. The peak intensities in treatment 1:1:1 (FW: SD: CHMRs, dry wt. basis) indicated that the composts became mature earlier than the other two treatments. In brief, the treatment with dry weight ratio 1:1:1 had greatest humification degree with more cyclic structures and stable final products at the end of composting. Water and acetone extract of composts with food waste and CMHRs were tested with their antipathogenic effect on two kinds of commonly found phytopathogens, Alternaria solani (A. solani) and Fusarium oxysporum (F. oxysporum). Seventeen bacterial species and 22 fungal species were isolated and identified as prevalently existed microbes during composting process. The results of MIC50 indicated that the treatment with dry weight ratio 1:1:1 (FW: SD: CHMRs, dry wt. basis) required least concentration of composts extraction to kill half quantity of the phytopathogens, 16% for A. solani and 22% for F. oxysporum extracted by acetone. The phytopathogen suppression capacity of composts was partially due to antagonistic abilities from some of the isolated microorganisms as well as the inhibition of active compounds. As shown in the comparison, the interfere/compete between antagonistic microorganisms and target pathogens were more powerful than individually influenced by chemical compounds. However, the influencing factors should not be considered independently since antagonistic interactions between microbes in composts and phytopathogens are highly dependent on the abiotic properties of the composts and the alternative environment. In a word, the antipathogenic effects from composts were synergism of both antagonism and chemical factors. Suppressive capacity on phytopathogens is one of the major function of mature composts and the antipathogenic effect was stimulated when CMHRs was used as the bulking agent in composting process. The abiotic inhibitory rates of treatment 1:1:1 (FW: SD: CHMRs, dry wt. basis) indicated that more powerful bioactive components were remained at the end of composting than in the treatment 5:5:1 and control which had no CMHRs but plastic beads as the bulking agent. Hence sensitive and comprehensive analytical technique of ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTOF-MS) was utilized to acquire a better understanding of the complicated structures of final composting products. Seven dominant among 22 active compounds with antibacterial/antifungal properties were obtained in the treatments with CMHRs while 17 kinds of compounds with higher contents were shared in all treatments, which should be derived from food waste. The bioactive components from CMHRs composting were mainly from the groups of alkaloids, flavonoids and coumarins. Mature composts were used as biofertilizer to protect plants (Brassica chinensis and Lycopersicon esculentum) from phytopathogenic infection. This study showed the crop yields were increased with the addition of mature CMHRs composts to acid soil, and 5% CMHRs compost was the optimum application rate, while at the higher application rate of 10% (dry weight basis, w/w) plant growth was inhibited which might be due to the higher salt contents and the phytotoxicity of alkaloids, flavonoids and coumarins in the CMHRs. According to the biomass results, Brassica chinensis was more sensitive to the inhibitory effect of phytopathogen inoculation, while nutrient supply was to a less extent due to the short growth period as compared to Lycopersicon esculentum. The present study showed clearly that mature compost provided Lycopersicon esculentum and Brassica chinensis sufficient nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. Additionally, the advantage of using mature CMHRs compost as a soil conditioner was also observed for blocking phytopathogenic infection from plant roots. The mechanism was mainly derived from the bioactive components in mature CMHRs compost which inhibited phytopathogenic activities in soil. Many identified compounds were alkaloids, flavonoids and coumarins which have powerful antifungal and antibacterial abilities and most of them maintained during growth period though their amounts reduced greatly due to their photolytic and pyrolytic properties. Therefore, mature CMHRs compost can be the substitute to reduce the usage of fungicides and its associated environmental hazards. The present study demonstrates clearly the beneficial effects of using CMHRs as a bulking agent to co-compost with food waste with the additional phytopathogens suppression property. Therefore, it is concluded that Chinese medicinal herbal residues can be a good choice of bulking agent in food waste composting system. Organic matter degradation and humification process were accelerated by CMHRs addition and mature CMHRs compost had antipathogenic effect and protect plants from infection

Composting is considered as an effective and sustainable food waste treatment technology from the perspectives of volume reduction, stabilization and releasing the pressure on landfills. Community composter is a decentralized composting facility in fed-batch operational mode which is usually being installed in the backyard of institutes, hospitals, housing estate etc. to handle the food wastes generated daily. Albeit numerous operational issues including high initial acidity and oil content, poor decomposition and odor generation are commonly encountered in these facilities, which make it difficult to be accepted by the public. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to develop a composting mix formulation that can provide a solution to all these issues in a fed-batch food waste composting process. The first phase of this study aims at finding out an optimized formulation in a batch-scale food waste composting process through the use of alkaline amendments and microbial inoculum. For the first two experiments, artificial food wastes were prepared by mixing 1.3kg bread, 1kg boiled rice, 1kg cabbage, 0.5kg fully boiled pork and mixed with sawdust to obtain a C/N of 30 and adjusted moisture of the mixtures to 55%. The effect of different concentrations of zeolite compared to lime was studied in the first experiment. Zeolite was amended with food wastes and sawdust mixtures at 2% (ZI-2), 5% (ZI-5), 10% (ZI-10) to compare with lime in 2.25% (L-2.25) w/w (dry weight basis) and composted for 56 days. Results demonstrated that 10% of zeolite was optimal amendment rate compared to lower dosage of zeolite (2% & 5%) with stronger pH buffering capacity and greater decomposition efficiency. Addition of 2.25% of lime buffered the pH efficiently but increased the ammonia loss significantly which eventually reduced total nitrogen (TN) content of final product and posed odor emission problem. Amendment of 10% zeolite provided a higher adsorption affinity on ammonia resulting in 2.05% of TN value of final product which was higher than 1.72% of lime treatment. Furthermore, significantly higher seed germination 150% was achieved of ZI-10 compost compared to 135% of L-2.25 due to low ammonium content of product. The first experiment showed that application of less than 10% zeolite was not sufficient to buffer the acidity; as a result, organic matter decomposition was inhibited. However, the cost and reduction in treatment percentage of food waste in 10% application rate of zeolite is an issue of concern. To tackle this dilemma, food waste was amended with struvite salts at 1:2 molar ratio of MgO and K2HPO4 (Mg:P) with or without zeolite amended at either 5% or 10% amendment (Mg:P, Z5 + Mg:P & Z10 + Mg:P) and a control treatment with food waste only was also included. Results showed that treatment of Z10 + Mg:P was synergistically achieved of pH and EC buffering, and N conservation but not for the case of 5 % zeolite. Treatment of Z10 + Mg:P further reduced the N loss to 18% compared to 25% and 27% of Mg:P and Z5 + Mg:P respectively. However, there was insignificant difference in the final nitrogen content and decomposition rate among all treatments with struvite salts amendment. Comparing to the treatment of Z-10 of the first experiment to Z10 + Mg:P of the second experiment, Z-10 showed superior performance since better decomposition efficiency, shorter time to require to pass the GI (28 Days) and lower cost because of salts exclusion. To develop a multipurpose formulation for the fed-batch operational food waste composter, high lipids problem in food waste cannot be neglected because it is a critical factor to hinder the decomposition efficiency. Inoculation of oil degradative microorganisms was reported as an effective approach to facilitate the lipids. Therefore, the third experiment was to investigate the overall composting performance supplemented with 10% zeolite and microbial consortium. 10% zeolite with bacterial consortium significantly reduced the lipid contents from 7% to 1% compared to control treatments. Furthermore, treatments amended with 10% zeolite was proved to reduce ammonia emission and total volatile fatty acids level in the composting mass, therefore the total odor emission level can be reduced. Zeolite at 10% was found to be a suitable optimum additive for both synthetic and real-food wastes. Therefore, treatment of 10% zeolite with bacterial consortium is selected as an optimized formulation for further study of its application in a fed-batch composter. Following the food waste zeolite composting formulation obtained in Phase I, the aim of Phase II was to develop an ideal composting mix formulation for on-site commercial composters. Although the results have been demonstrated 10% zeolite with bacterial consortium facilitated the composting efficiency in batch composter, those amendments may be over-estimated if applied in a fed batch composter by using real food wastes. With this constraint, the applicability of these additives in commercial fed-batch composter needs to be assessed using locally generated food wastes. Treatments included food waste and sawdust mixtures at 4:1 mixing ratio (wet weight basis) were mixed with 2.25% of lime (L2.25), 10% of zeolite (Z10) and 10% zeolite with bacterial inoculum (Z10+O) and a control of food waste with sawdust mixture only was also included. 35 kg compost mixture was fed into each composter respectively daily for a period of 42 days. Only Z10+O was the most suitable composting mix for fed-batch food waste composting process with continuous sustained high temperature (55-60oC), optimal moisture (55%-60%), alkaline pH and low EC during the experimental period. Bacterial inoculum significantly improved the lipids decomposition from 22.16% (C) to 3.10% (Z10+O) after the composting period. In contrast, lime and zeolite alone treatments could not maintain the optimal pH that led to reduce degradation and longer stabilization period. Only compost taken from Z10+O treatment could be classified as mature compost. The aim of the third study phase was to examine an optimal application rate of food waste compost produced from decentralized food waste composter for plant. A plant growth experiment was conducted in this phase to evaluate the change in soil properties and plant growth of Brassica chinensis and Lycopersicon esculentum. The experiment was conducted in a loamy soil amended with 0%, 2.5%, 5% and 10% food waste compost amendment rate compared to the control soil with chemical fertilizer amendment only. Results indicated that 5% was the optimal application rate of food waste compost for both crops among all treatments which can be evidenced by the highest biomass production and nutrients value of the plant tissues. Plant available nutrients such as NH4+, NO3-, PO43- were proportionally increased with increase in compost application rate. However, 2.5% of the food waste compost did not provide sufficient nutrients for plant growth and 10% showed negative effects due to increased salts content. Plants amended with chemical fertilizer had relatively low biomass production compared to compost amended treatments due to soil compaction and fast leaching of nutrients. It can be concluded that application of 10% zeolite with microbial consortium is an ideal composting mix formulation for on-site commercial composters and 5% is an optimal application rate of food waste compost of Brassica chinensis and Lycopersicon esculentum

Buildings construction and realization of public infrastructures have always been a primary need in the human society, developing low cost and user-friendly materials which also encounter safety and durability requirements. Portland cement is the most used material in construction industry from the industrial revolution up to date, but the raising concerns related to the climate change are pushing the governments worldwide to replace it with more eco-friendly and greener materials. Geopolymers are considered to be best alternatives to Portland cement in construction industry, but issues related to cost and mechanical properties are still hindering the commercialization of this material. Geopolymer incorporating wastes is one of the solutions. Fly ash, a thermal power plant by-product, and borosilicate glass, a recycled glass from pharmaceutical vials, are suitable candidates in geopolymers activation. NMR and FTIR spectroscopies demonstrated that borates from borosilicate glass are active compounds in geopolymerization, substituting the alumina is its role, composing a B-Al-Si network never observed before. Various fly ash and borosilicate glass weight contents were studied in terms of mechanical properties (compression test, 3-point bending test). It was found that fly ash 55 wt.% and borosilicate 45 wt.% composition activated in 13 M NaOH solution holds the best compressive and flexural strength (45 and 4 MPa respectively), 25% stronger than similar counterparts found in literature. Cellulose fibres in different weight contents were dispersed into the geopolymeric paste to produce geopolymer composites, with the aim to render the material more suitable for structural applications. 3-point bending test showed an improvement of the flexural strength of about 165% (12 MPa), while the chevron notch method displayed a fracture toughness of 0.7 MPam1/2, in line with the results of geopolymer composites found in literature. In this thesis work, fly ash was also successfully densified in 3 M NaOH solution and distilled water through a new method based on hydraulic pressure, called hydro-pressure sintering. This innovative technology involves a drastic reduction of NaOH utilization in geopolymerization, rendering the material more eco-friendly. XRD spectroscopy conducted on produced samples revealed a higher formation of crystals, most likely induced by the application of hydraulic pressure (450 MPa).

In this thesis, a study was undertaken on the premise that the world population living in urban centers is expected to increase from 3.8 billion to 5.2 billion, from 2005 to 2025, representing 54% and 65% of total world population, respectively. The urban population (UP) growth will produce remarkable amounts of urban food waste (UFW) that will add more pressure on already overloaded municipal solid waste (MSW) management systems of cities. This problem is more serious in countries experiencing major economic growth such as China where UP is expected to increase from 44% to 66% of the total country population, from 1995 to 2025. Asia produces the largest amount of UFW, which is expected to increase from 251 million ton to 418 million ton (45% to 53% of total world UFW) from 1995 to 2025. On site treatment of UFW along with a limited movement of world population from rural to urban areas are suggested to reduce pressure on MS W management system for the upcoming decades.
In this thesis, a project was also undertaken to develop compost recipes for urban center such as downtown Montreal. Monthly (June to August) average residential FW production was found to 0.61 (+/-0.13) kg capita-1 day-1 and that of a restaurant was found to be 0.56 (+/-0.23) kg customer-1 day-1. From trial tests, the best compost recipes mixed 8.9 kg, 8.6 kg and 7.8 kg of UFW for every kg of wheat straw, hay and wood shaving, on a wet mass basis. However, quantity and characteristics of FW vary from one month to another; therefore, regular adjustment of compost recipe is recommended. When using wood shavings as bulking agent, it is strongly recommended to correct the acid pH.

Cette thèse se concentre sur la caractérisation, la dispersion, ainsi que les différentes applications d'un nouveau type de matériaux dérivé de la dégradation de biométhane dans le cadre d'un projet Européen, le projet PlasCarb. Nous appelons ces matériaux les nanopalets de carbone (CNP). Notre étude commence avec la caractérisation des CNP, puis nous poursuivons avec l'obtention de dispersions aqueuses bien définies et hautement concentrées de CNP. Ces dispersions ont été utilisées pour la préparation de films conducteurs et de composites conducteurs avec du caoutchouc naturel. Enfin, la photoluminescence des CNP dispersés et solubilisés dans un milieu liquide a été évaluée. Des tests préliminaires montrent une photoluminescence dans le bleu très prometteuse
This PhD thesis is focused on the characterization, dispersion and applications of graphitic material (in this manuscript referred as carbon nanopuck (CNP)) that derives from the splitting of biogas and obtained within the framework of the European project “PlasCarb”. This study starts with CNP characterization. Afterwards, well-defined, high concentrated CNP dispersions in water, calibrated insize have been obtained. These dispersions have been used to prepare conductive films and as components of conductive composites with natural rubber. Ultimately, the photoluminescence of CNP dispersed and dissolved in liquid media has been tested. Preliminary tests of these systems exhibit promising blue PL

Consumption composites is a project in which I want to reflect about the concept of recycling, to explore the idea of a society result of recycling, to see if it could be helpful to think in it in another way.   I explore the act of recycling as a statement, as a discourse not as a solution for industrial production waste, the relation between the semiotics of the discarded material and the recycled resulting piece but most the interaction between these two and the final user/ spectator[1]. By looking at the soprum[2] is possible to see estrange combinations for instance baby pap packages with liquor bottles, political propaganda together with brochures advertising winter sports, a table with beer cans and a painting it. It is a composition in itself is a sort of collage where all possible come together. I found inspiring how waste could be classified from one criterion but mixed in other criteria like the cultural and semiotic one. Although there are differences between neighborhoods and municipalities, the half-ton of garbage produced by a Swedish citizen per year is classified by if the material could be recycled, composted, burn, landfilled or if it is hazardous for the environment or humans[3]. I put the waste together in order to create structures that further on could be used to build either furniture or spaces. I worked only with materials that were classified in the same category for instance newspapers or uncolored glass, keeping as much as possible the original form of the existing material in order to be able to see their original meaning or purpose. I noticed that the material transform to something new while keeping some of their form and semiotic properties when it is covered with a sort of layer. Something that reminds me the landfill, where the material is buried and then it is a new beginning but there is some transformation in the landscape that never would be the same. This is more an intervention in the materials in their way to their following step either landfill, recycling, burn or compost. The form and statement is the result of consumption from Stockholm where the material was collected and my own aesthetic intentions. [1](Debord, 1994) [2]Soprum: Swedish word for “garbage room” there are several versions of it but it is basically a room where the garbage can be sorted in different bins. [3]Avfall Sverige – Swedish Waste Management, was founded in 1947. It is a stakeholder and trade association in the field of waste management and recycling.

The full version contain an image is only for the archive because it contain a picture without copyright

The waste from olive oil production is a valuable source of nutrients that has the potential, when used well, to be a useful organic amendment to aid crop growth. It does have some drawbacks with potential phytotoxicity due to being likely to have a high amount of phenols present and a high conductivity. The waste from olive oil production used in these trials was composted with different animal manures to produce a number of products with different characteristics. In some of the trials a replacement form of organic amendment in the form of chicken manure was used instead. In addition to these amendments, some of the trials included biochar as an additional organic amendment to see if the properties of the biochar had any effect on plant development and yield. The trials discussed in this thesis take place over a 3 year period on 3 different crops: winter wheat, oilseed rape and strawberries. The wheat was grown at both field and pot scale in the trials. The field scale trials with oilseed rape and winter wheat showed no significant differences between yields when comparing a mineral fertiliser to a substitute chicken manure fertiliser. In the first harvest year the oilseed rape showed significantly higher yields on the plots that received biochar as an amendment, however this result was not replicated by the winter wheat in that or the subsequent harvest year. When the olive mill waste compost was used as a substrate replacement for strawberries, the strawberry crop showed no significant patterns or changes in development due to the amendment applied in the first year. In the subsequent when used again as a growth media and more graduated inclusion amounts (% v/v) the OMW caused plant mortality in plants receiving more than 20% inclusion of compost. The compost used in this year had a high conductivity to which the high plant mortality was attributed. The plants that received more than15% OMW compost also produced significantly less marketable fruit, and the fruits produced were more poorly pollinated. In the same year, the OMW was applied to wheat at pot trial scale, but used as a fertiliser and applied at the same nitrogen loading rate as the mineral nitrogen applied. In this trial there was no plant mortality of the wheat, and no discernible difference in the plant development. These trials have shown that compost of olive mill waste and animal manures can be used as an alternative to traditional mineral fertilisers on both arable and horticultural crops in the UK and as a soilless media replacement, however it is important to consider the characteristics of the OMW before applying it.

This degree project investigated landfills that takes care of municipal solid waste in an area around the Mekong delta, namely An Giang province, Vietnam. The main objective for this study was to provide basic work in order to create a discussion with the local food markets to separate the household’s food waste from the rest. Such a discussion is possible to create through collaboration with local authorities and inform or guide stakeholders on how waste management can be improved, out of existing knowledge from Sweden. Therefore, this study aims to illuminate and give knowledge for improvements in questions regarding efficiency, organisation, participation, recycling and opportunities associated with a more efficient waste management system.Since a significant percentage of the household waste generated in Long Xuyen City, An Giang province are organic, the opportunity to convert organic waste into soil amendments was examined. Leachate from one of the landfills in the area was also analysed in order to get further understanding for its composition, focusing on organic parameters.
Det här examensarbetet undersökte deponier som tar hand om hushållsavfall i ett område runt Mekongdeltat, närmare bestämt An Giang provinsen, Vietnam. Det främsta målet för den här studien var ett ge underlag till att skapa en diskussion med lokala matmarknader för att få dem att separera hushållens matavfall från övrigt avfall. En sådan diskussion är möjlig att skapa genom samarbete mellan lokala myndigheter och att informera eller vägvisa intressenter om hur avfallshanteringen kan förbättras, ut ifrån befintlig kunskap från Sverige. Därför fokuserar den här studien på att förklara och ge kunskap för förbättringar i frågor rörande effektivitet, organisation, deltagande, återvinning och möjligheter associerade med ett mer effektivt avfallshanteringssystem. Eftersom en stor andel av hushållsavfallet som genereras i Long Xuyen, An Giang-provinsen är organiskt, undersöktes möjligheten att konvertera organiskt avfall till jordförbättringsmedel. Lakvatten analyserades från en av deponierna i området för att få en djupare förståelse för dess sammansättning, med fokus på organiska parametrar.

A novel advanced reprocessing method, EURO-GANEX, has been developed to further separate wastes, in comparison to the PUREX route, and to enhance the proliferation resistance of reprocessing. It produces a waste-stream that contains fission products only, free of traceable actinides. A Synroc derivative wasteform, Synroc-Z, has been developed to contain minimal host phases for actinides and could immobilise up to 35 wt.% EURO-GANEX waste. Synroc-Z was prepared via hot uniaxial pressing and hot isostatic pressing to compare the phase composition and microstructure. Consolidation of the Synroc-Z by hot pressing techniques resulted in a dense microstructure with low porosity (< 0.5 vol%). Processing temperature was the most important factor in controlling density and phase composition. The suggested hot uniaxial pressing conditions determined from this study are a temperature of 1150-1200oC with pressure of >10 MPa for dwell time of 3 h. Another potential matrix is French borosilicate glass, R7T7, which was prepared via melting vitrification and hot isostatic pressing. However, the applied pressure did not enhance the solubility of Ru, Pd, Te and Mo compared to melting vitrification. The processing conditions, waste loading and surface roughness were varied, and their effects on Synroc-Z durability and microstructure were examined. Synroc-Z samples with dense microstructures displayed similar leach resistance performance and behaviour. Leached samples formed Ti-oxide films and crystals on their surfaces that act as a barrier to mitigate elemental loss. Synroc-Z with low (< 20 wt.%) waste loadings showed slightly poorer durability than Synroc-C while at high (> 20 wt.%) waste loadings, Synroc-Z displayed less degradation in performance compared to Synroc-C. In contrast, the secondary phases formed on the R7T7 glass offer little protection during durability testing as the leach rates of R7T7 displayed only a 1.4 times decrease compared to the 14 times reduction for Synroc-Z between 3 and 28 days.

This study proposed and evaluated a waste-to-resource strategy for beneficially using solid waste as ceramic raw materials. The sludge generated from waterworks and sewage treatment processes contains significant amounts of aluminum and iron, and the industrial sludge is enriched with high metal content. The hazardous metals in waste sludge may lead to metal bioaccumulation and cause adverse effects for ecosystem. This study aims to stabilize copper- and zinc-laden sludge in commonly available ceramic products, and to beneficially use waterworks and sewage sludge to incorporate waste metals. The study was first investigated by sintering simulated metal-laden sludge with Al-rich (γ-Al2O3, -Al2O3, kaolinite, mullite) and Fe-rich (Fe2O3) precursors. Secondly, the practicability of recycling Cu-bearing electroplating sludge as a part of ceramic raw materials was evaluated through thermal interaction with Al-rich precursors. Furthermore, the potential of using water and sewage treatment works sludge to stabilize metals were also examined. Sintering procedures were carried out within 650-1450 oC for 3 h, and phase transformations were studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD) with the quantification technique of Rietveld refinement analysis. The formation of CuAl2O4 spinel was initiated at 650 oC using γ-Al2O3, and the maximum copper transformation reached 80%. The copper incorporation into CuAl2O4 started at 850 oC and reached 95% in -Al2O3 system. The growth of CuAl2O4 was found at 750 oC using kaolinite, but at 900 oC in mullite system. The maximum copper transformation for both kaolinite and mullite reached ~80%. With CuAl2O4, decomposing, the formation of CuAlO2 predominated in alumina systems, but CuO and Cu2O were found in kaolinite and mullite systems. When using Fe2O3, the CuFe2O4 with tetragonal structure was observed at lower temperatures, and the cubic CuFe2O4 became predominant at 1000 oC. The formation of ZnAl2O4 spinel started at 750 oC in γ-Al2O3 system and at 950 oC in -Al2O3 system, respectively. The zinc transformation completed in both γ-Al2O3 and -Al2O3 systems at higher temperatures. The coexistence and competition between ZnAl2O4 and Zn2SiO4 were found using kaolinite and mullite. The increase of temperature to 1350 °C resulted in complete zinc transformation to ZnAl2O4 in mullite system. Through leaching tests, aluminates and ferrites were found to be superior to oxide and silicate phases in immobilizing hazardous metals. The leachates of aluminates and ferrites exhibited the behavior of incongruent dissolution, and the Zn2SiO4 leachate showed congruent dissolution. The CuAl2O4 spinel was observed when sintering Cu-laden electroplating sludge with aluminate precursors. The copper leachability decreased with CuAl2O4 developing and the lowest copper concentration in leachates was within the optimal temperature range for CuAl2O4 generation. Both copper and zinc were successfully incorporated into the spinel structure using waterworks sludge, and the cubic CuFe2O4 became the main component when using sewage sludge to stabilize copper. Overall, this study demonstrated a promising process to stabilize hazardous metals in waste materials, such as sludge, ash, and slag, through sintering with the inexpensive ceramic precursors. This may provide an avenue for economically reduce the environmental hazards of toxic metals by reliably blending them into the marketable ceramic products.
published_or_final_version
Civil Engineering
Doctoral
Doctor of Philosophy

Cements and cement-based systems have excellent potential as immobilising matrices for toxic inorganic wastes. This potential is a result of the unique chemical and physical mechanisms which operate on particular waste species to prevent their release into ground waters. These mechanisms are reviewed in this thesis. Some wastes are suitable for direct cementing, such as waste streams form nuclear fuel reprocessing, where cement technology is applied. Other wastes are less well characterised and may be unsuitable for direct cementing. This often arises because waste species concentrations are higher than maximum permissable levels, but are still too dilute for economical cementing. In such cases, a preconcentration step prior to cementing is the favoured strategy. Arsenic and lead wastes present an additional challenge because they are expected to exist as soluble oxyanions under alkaline pore fluid conditions. Both arsenic and lead have also been shown to affect setting characteristics by interfering with normal cement hydration reactions. The materials studied in this thesis were chosen because of their known, or suspected, potential as anion exchangers. It may be possible to preconcentrate arsenic or lead in the anion exchanging solid before incorporation into cement. A further advantage of this method is that an additional barrier against re-release of the toxic species is created. The aim of this project was to determine the uptake capacity of different ion exchanging materials which are compatible with cement systems for hazardous oxyanion species. Three types of material were studied, hydrotalcite (a clay mineral), thaumastic (a phase which is isostructural to ettringite) and phosphate-modified zeolites (a new type of material derived from zeolites). The first two are known to occur in cements, the last is rather an unknown quantity, but many zeolites have been shown to be compatible with cement environments.

This work is a critique to the stigmatisation of trash as something we should not live close together with. Due to this derogative conceptualisation of waste together with the inherent characteristics of landfills, Mexico City’s government implemented a “far and out” policy locating the final disposal areas distant and out from the city. Then, the proposal is the opposite approach: a local waste management system. So waste that usually ends kilometers away is handled in the community where it was produced in order to lengthen the life cycle of materials. The project is developed in Xochimilco for the challenges regarding the door-to-door collection of waste in this municipality. The local system focuses in the sorting process; being the most inefficient part of the current system as this activity is primarily executed by informal workforce. Besides, the type of waste that the community is able to manage completely locally is organic materials which are the principal element of the system for the regeneration of wetlands.

Les développements récents de la législation associée aux impacts environnementaux des déchets plastiques d’origine post-consommation ont mené à des efforts sur le développement de techniques viables de recyclage. Ainsi, le but de cette recherche était de produire des composites bois-plastique (WPC : wood plastic composites) à partir de la fraction légère des déchets plastiques municipaux (post-consommation) et de résidus de transformation du bois (sciure). Afin d’améliorer la compatibilité et l’adhésion entre le polyéthylène (PE) et le polypropylène (PP), un copolymère d’éthylène-octène (EOC: ethylene-octene copolymer) a été utilisé pour développer la compatibilité entre les phases polymères tout en agissant comme modificateur d’impact. L’ajout de PE et PP maléatés (MAPE: maleated polyethylene; MAPP maleated polypropylene) a permis de fournir une meilleure compatibilité entre la matrice polymère et la farine de bois. Les effets combinés de tous les composants ont mené à la production de composites présentant des propriétés morphologiques (dispersion et adhésion) et mécaniques (traction, torsion, flexion et impact) intéressantes après l’optimisation de l’ensemble des additifs (mélanges d’agents couplants). Dans un second temps, des composites structuraux à trois couches ont été produits à partir des matériaux composites mentionnés plus haut afin d’étudier l’effet des paramètres de design sur les performances en flexion et à l’impact. Les paramètres étudiés incluent la teneur en bois, l’épaisseur des couches individuelles de composite, ainsi que la séquence et la configuration d’empilement des différentes couches (structures symétriques et asymétriques). Enfin, la théorie classique des poutres a été utilisée avec succès pour prédire le module en flexion et ce, avec un maximum de 10% de déviation pour ces structures complexes.
Recent legislations associated with environmental impacts of post-consumer plastic wastes have driven substantial attention toward developing viable recycling techniques. Therefore the aim of this research was to produce wood plastic composites (WPC) from the light fraction of municipal plastic wastes (post-consumer) and wood processing residues (sawdust). In order to improve compatibility and adhesion between polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), an ethylene-octene copolymer (EOC) was used to compatibilize the polymer phases and also to act as an impact modifier. Addition of maleated polyethylene (MAPE) and maleated polypropylene (MAPP) provided improved compatibility between the polymer matrix and the wood flour. The combined effect of all the components was found to produce composites with interesting morphological (dispersion and adhesion) and mechanical properties (tension, torsion, flexion and impact) after optimization of the additive package (blend of coupling agents). In the second phase, three-layered structural composites were produced from the aforementioned composites to investigate the effects of design parameters on their flexural and impact performance. The studied parameters include wood content, thickness of individual composite layers, as well as stacking sequence and configuration (symmetric and asymmetric structures). In addition, the classical beam theory was successfully used to predict the flexural modulus within 10% of deviation for these complex structures.

Unsold bread makes up a signification fraction of waste occurring in Swedish supermarkets. This thesis seeks to address the problem of food waste, by cultivating filamentous fungi on bread waste and producing chitinous films and nonwovens from them. Rhizopus delemar was cultivated on bread waste in liquid-state fermentation in order to obtain mycelia biomass. The biomass was processed by alkali or protease treatments to disrupt the fungal cells and remove proteins and fats. Afterwards it was subjected to a bleaching treatment to remove lignin fractions of bread residues. The treated biomass was then subjected to a grinding treatment for a homogeneous dispersion of mycelial fibers, where the dispersion was confirmed by microscopic images. The chemically and mechanically processed biomass was used for the preparation of films and nonwoven composites by employing a wet-laid papermaking process. The films exhibited plastic-like features, due to their brittleness and their smooth upper surface. Films and nonwoven composites were characterized on their tensile properties, surface water contact angle and their surface morphology by scanning electron microscopy. Treating fungal biomass by alkali and then bleaching resulted in films with atensile modulus of 3.38 GPa and an ultimate tensile strength of 71.50 MPa. These are the highest reported tensile properties for mycelia derived films to date. Water contact angle measurements confirmed a hydrophobic quality of mycelial films. Scanning electron microscopy showed a very dense and even surface without an obvious fibrous morphology. Fungal biomass and viscose fibers together form a rigid nonwoven composite, in which fungal biomass takes over the role of a natural eco-friendly binding matrix. Flexural rigidity measurements were out of bounds and need to be confirmed by future studies. Additionally, a second strain of fungi, Fusarium venenatum, was cultivated on bread particles in water suspension in order to determine optimum growth conditions for future scale-up investigations.

L’augment en la generació de residus sòlids municipals (RSM), principalment degut al creixement de la població i als nous patrons de consum, és un assumpte important per a la Unió Europea (UE) i per la majoria de països d’arreu del món. Polítiques sostenibles per a la gestió dels RSM han estat components claus en les directives de la UE (Directives 1999/31/EC and 2008/98/EC). Aquesta tesis doctoral te com a objectiu estudiar les tecnologies per al tractament dels RSM i avaluar els impactes ambientals derivats de l’ús de la matèria orgànica (compost) com a fertilitzant en cultius. Els estudis s’han basat en la anàlisis del cicle de vida utilitzant les metodologies CML i ReCipe. El capítol 2, fa referencia a l’avaluació ambiental de l’autoclavatge de residus, tecnologia que fins al moment ha estat principalment utilitzada per a l’esterilització de residus sanitaris. Els resultats de l’avaluació ambiental dels processos autoclave, separació i tractament biològic varen ser comparats amb els escenaris d’incineració i abocador. Els resultats mostraren, que els sistemes que consideraven la digestió anaeròbica, tenien els menors impactes per les categories d’eutrofització i escalfament global. En canvi, la incineració obtingué els millors resultats per la resta de categories d’impacte ambiental estudiades. Per altra banda, l’abocador obtingué els majors valors en totes les categories d’impacte. El capítol 3, correspon al segon cas d’estudi que es va dur a terme per comparar els resultats ambientals i agronòmics de dos compost (industrial i casolà) amb fertilitzant mineral. Els fertilitzants varen ser aplicats a cultius de coliflor. Els resultats varen mostrar un major rendiment agronòmic (fruita·ha-1) per cultius abonats amb fertilitzant mineral; en canvi, el millor perfil ambiental va ser pels cultius fertilitzats amb compost casolà. El capítol 4, correspon al tercer cas d’estudi en el qual dos composts procedents d’auto-compostatge van ser produïts mitjançant dos sistemes de gestió diferents, la diferent gestió va donar lloc a diferències significatives en termes d’emissions. Les emissions de metà, òxid nitrós i amoníac van ser experimentalment mesurades en ambdós composts. Els resultats mostraren que les emissions d’òxid nitrós i metà contribuïren considerablement a la categoria d’impacte d’escalfament global. En canvi, les emissions d’amoníac contribuïren a les categories d’acidificació, eutrofització i oxidació fotoquímica. Es va observar que aquestes emissions gasoses depenien considerablement de les pràctiques de gestió durant la producció del compost, tals com: qualitat i tipus de residus, freqüència de barreja del compost, control rigorós d’algunes característiques fotoquímiques (humitat, pH, temperatura), entre d’altres. El Capítol 6, correspon al quart cas d’estudi en el qual es va comparar la idoneïtat ambiental de fertilitzants orgànics i minerals en una seqüència de cultius de coliflor i tomàquet. A més a més, es compararen dos procediments per l’assignació del compost als cultius. El primer basat en el temps de duració del cultiu i el segon en el grau de mineralització del nitrogen al sòl. En general, el cultiu de coliflor mostrà un millor perfil ambiental que el del tomàquet en totes les categories d’impacte estudiades. Per altra banda, els impactes totals de la seqüència de cultius (suma d’impactes de la coliflor i tomàquet) varen ser menors que els impactes individuals (coliflor i tomàquet) pels tres tractaments de fertilització. Finalment, la Tesis conclou recomanacions per la gestió dels residus orgànics (Capítol 5). Aquestes recomanacions varen ser enfocades a la producció de compost domèstic i la seva aplicació hortícola. S’inclou un model V2V “vegetals a vegetals”. Aquest és un model de bucle tancat que comença des de els residus de cultius (hortalisses, vegetals i fruites) fins la transformació d’aquests novament en fertilitzants orgànics per ser aplicats a cultius. Les recomanacions van dirigides als agricultors i qualsevol persona interessada en la producció de compost domèstic.
El aumento en la generación de residuos sólidos municipales (RSM) debido al crecimiento de la población y nuevos patrones de consumo es un asunto importante en la Unión Europea (UE) y para la mayoría de países alrededor del mundo. Políticas para la gestión de los RSM de una manera sostenible han sido componentes claves en las directivas de la UE (Directives 1999/31/EC and 2008/98/EC). Esta tesis doctoral tiene como objetivo estudiar tecnologías para el tratamiento de los RSM y evaluar los impactos ambientales originados por usar la materia orgánica como fertilizante en cultivos. Los estudios están basado en el análisis del ciclo de vida usando las metodologías de CML and ReCipe. Capítulo 2, se refiere a la evaluación ambiental de la autoclave, la cual es una tecnología normalmente utilizada para la esterilización de residuos farmacéuticos. Esta tecnología ofrece la posibilidad de recuperar una parte importante de los RSM mezclados tales como: la fibra orgánica (OF) y los reciclables. Los resultados de la evaluación ambiental de los sistemas (autoclave + separación + tratamiento biológico) fueron comparados con incineración y vertedero. Los resultados indicaron que los sistemas que consideraron la digestión anaeróbica tuvieron los menores impactos para las categorías de eutrofización y calentamiento global. Mientras que, incineración tuvo los mejores resultados para el resto de las categorías estudiadas. Capítulo 3 corresponde al segundo caso de estudio el cual se llevó a cabo para comparar los resultados ambientales y agronómicos de dos composts (industrial y casero) con fertilizantes minerales. Los fertilizantes fueron aplicados a cultivos de coliflor. Los resultados mostraron un mejor rendimiento agronómico (fruta· ha-1) para los cultivos fertilizados con fertilizante mineral pero el mejor desempeño ambiental fue para los cultivos fertilizados con el compost casero. Capítulo 4, corresponde al tercer caso de estudio, en el cual dos composts caseros fueron producidos por dos sistemas de gestión de producción diferentes en los cuales se observaron diferencias significativas en términos de emisiones. Emisiones de metano, óxido nitroso y amoniaco fueron experimentalmente medidos para ambos composts. Los resultados mostraron que las emisiones de óxido nitroso, y metano contribuyeron considerablemente en la categoría de calentamiento global. Mientras que las emisiones de amoniaco contribuyeron en las categorías de acidificación, eutrofización y oxidación fotoquímica. Se observó que esas emisiones gaseosas dependen considerablemente de las prácticas de gestión cuando se produce el compost, tales como: calidad y tipo de residuos, frecuencia de mezclado del material, control riguroso de algunas características físico-químicas tales como: humedad, pH, y temperatura, entre otras. Capítulo 6, corresponde al cuarto caso de estudio en el cual se comparó el desempeño ambiental de fertilizantes orgánicos y minerales en una secuencia de cultivos de coliflor y tomate. Además se compararon dos procedimientos para la asignación del compost a los cultivos. El primero estuvo basado en el tiempo de duración del cultivo y el otro en el grado de mineralización del nitrógeno en el suelo. En general, el cultivo de coliflor mostró un mejor desempeño ambiental que el del tomate en todas las categorías de impacto estudiadas. Por otro lado, en ambos cultivos, el tratamiento de fertilización realizado con compost casero mostró un menor impacto ambiental que el compost industrial y el fertilizante mineral en la mayoría de las categorías estudiadas. Por otro lado, los impactos totales de la secuencia de cultivos (suma de impactos de la coliflor y el tomate) fueron menores que los impactos individuales (coliflor y tomate) para los tres tratamientos de fertilización. Finalmente, la tesis incluye recomendaciones para la producción y gestión de los residuos orgánicos (Capítulo 5). Estas recomendaciones se enfocaron en la producción de compost doméstico y su aplicación en horticultura. Se incluye el modelo V2V “vegetables to vegetables” que es un modelo de bucle cerrado empezando desde la generación de residuos de cultivos (hortalizas, vegetales y frutas) hasta que los mismos son transformados nuevamente en fertilizantes orgánicos para ser aplicados en cultivos.
The increased generation of municipal solid waste (MSW) due to population growth and new patterns of consumption is an important issue for European Union (EU) and countries around the world. Policies for managing MSW in a sustainable manner have been key components of EU directives (Directives 1999/31/EC and 2008/98/EC). This doctoral thesis aims to study technologies for the treatment of MSW and assess the environmental impacts of using organic waste to fertilize crop in order to optimize resources and reduce waste. The studies are based on life cycle analysis using CML and ReCipe methodologies. Chapter 2 is dedicated to the assessment of autoclaving a technology normally used for the sterilization of pharmaceutical waste. This technology offers the possibility of recovering the valuable portion of mixed MSW such as the organic fiber (OF). The processes of autoclaving, sorting and biological treatment were compared to two known technologies: incineration and landfill. The results showed that the systems which considered the anaerobic digestion had the lowest impacts in eutrophication potential and global warming potential. Meanwhile, incineration had the best results for the remainder five impact categories studied. On the other hand, landfill had the highest impact in all studied categories. Chapter 3, the second case study was carried out to compare the environmental and agronomical results of two composts (industrial and home) with mineral fertilizers. Fertilizers were applied to horticultural cauliflower crops. The results showed a better yield (fruit · ha-1) for the crops fertilized with mineral fertilizers but the best environmental performance was for the crops fertilized with home compost. Chapter 4, the third case study, two home composts were produced by two different methods (i.e. production management), resulting in significant differences in terms of emissions. Emissions of methane, nitrous oxides and ammonia were experimentally measured for both composts. The results showed that nitrous oxides and methane emissions contributed considerably the category of global warming potential. While ammonia emissions contributed to the categories of acidification potential, eutrophication and photochemical oxidation. It was observed that these gaseous emissions depend on the management practices employed when producing the compost such as: quality and type of waste stream, frequency mixing of the composting material, rigorous control of some physico-chemical characteristics (humidity, pH, temperature, etc.), among others. Chapter 6, the fourth case study was carried out to compare the environmental performance of organic and mineral fertilizer in a crop sequence of cauliflower and tomato. Furthermore, two procedures for allocating life cycle impacts to crops were also studied. The first one was based on time allocation and the other one in the mineralization N degree in soil. In general, the results showed a better environmental performance for cauliflower crop than tomato in all impact categories considered. Meanwhile, in both crops, the fertilization treatment with home compost showed the lowest impacts than industrial compost and mineral fertilizers in the most impact categories studied. Additionally, the total impacts for the crop sequence (sum of impacts of cauliflower and tomato) were lower than single (i.e. cauliflower and tomato) impacts for the three fertilization treatments. Finally, the dissertation also includes guidelines for organic waste management (Chapter 5). These guidelines focused on domestic compost production and its application in horticulture. The guidelines show the V2V “vegetables to vegetables” model, a closed loop model starting from food waste (e.g. vegetables and fruits) compost until it is again transformed in organic fertilizer to be applied to crops. The guidelines are targeted towards farmers and anyone interested in domestic compost production.

Composites have been increasingly used in different applications in the last decade, especially in aerospace due to their high strength and lightweight characteristics. Indeed, the latest models of Airbus (A350) and Boeing (B787) have employed more than 50 wt% of composites, mainly Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymers (CFRP). Yet, the increased use of CFRP has raised the environmental concerns about their end-of-life related to waste disposal, consumption of non-renewable resources for manufacturing and the need to recycle CFRP wastes. In this study, a generic model is developed in order to propose an optimal management of aerospace CFRP wastes taking into account economic and environmental objectives. Firstly, a life-cycle systemic approach is used to model the environmental impacts of CFRP recycling processes focusing on Global Warming Potential (GWP) following the guidelines of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The whole supply chain for recycling CFRP pathways is then modelled from aircraft dismantling sites to the reuse of recycled fibres in various applications. A multi-objective optimisation strategy based on mathematical programming, -constraint and lexicographic methods with appropriate decisionmaking techniques (M-TOPSIS, PROMETHEE-GAIA) has been developed to determine CFRP waste supply chain configurations. Various scenarios have been studied in order to take account the potential of existing recycling sites in a mono-period visions as well as the deployment of new sites in a multi-period approach considering the case study of France for illustration purpose. The solutions obtained from optimisation process allow developing optimal strategies for the implementation of CFRP recovery with recycled fibres (of acceptable quality) for the targeted substitution use while minimising cost /maximising profit for an economic criterion and minimising an environmental impact based on GWP.

Le but de ce travail est de développer un béton fluide résistant au feu renforcé en fibres de polypropylène pour les colis de stockage des déchets radioactifs de moyenne activité à vie longue. Le défi de ce travail consiste à utilizer des fibres de polypropylène qui, même ajoutées en petite quantité, améliorent la résistance au feu mais diminuent de manière significative la maniabilité des bétons frais. Des essais à l’échelle du laboratoire sont effectués afin d’évaluer les comportements rhéologique et à haute température des matériaux cimentaires contenant des fibres de polypropylène. Dans la première partie, une étude du comportement rhéologique des matériaux cimentaires avec des fibres de polypropylène a été réalisée. Le but de cette étude est d’étudier l’influence de ces fibres sur le seuil d’écoulement des pâtes de ciment et des mortiers. Un modèle qui permet d’évaluer la quantité de pâte supplémentaire nécessaire pour compenser l’effet des fibres de polypropylène en fonction de la fluidité du béton frais a été développé.Ensuite, une étude expérimentale et numérique sur le comportement des matériaux cimentaires avec des fibres de polypropylène à haute température a été réalisée afin d’optimiser le choix des fibres pour améliorer la stabilité thermique d’un matériau cimentaire. Des essais de perméabilité résiduelle radiale et des essais feu sur les trois matériaux avec squelettes granulaires différents contenant des fibres de polypropylène de différentes géométries et dosages ont été réalisés dans un but de sélectionner une géométrie et un dosage optimal des fibres. Puis, des simulations thermomécaniques ont été développées à l’échelle macroscopique et mésoscopique. Le choix du diamètre, de la longueur et du dosage des fibres a été fait en fonction de la taille maximale des granulats.Finalement, une méthode de formulation du béton autoplaçant avec des fibres de polypropylène optimisé à la fois du point de vue de la rhéologie et de la résistance au feu a été présentée. Avec cette méthode, la conformité aux critères imposés sur les propriétés à l’état frais et à l’état durci du béton est vérifiée. Des éprouvettes de bétons sont testées sous chargement mécanique uniaxial et, en fonction des résultats, les formulations finales sont sélectionnées pour les futurs essais feu à l’échelle plus importante
The aim of the thesis is to design a self-compacting concrete with polypropylene fibers resistant to fire for a use in storage containers of medium activity long-lived waste. The challenge of the work is presented by the use of polypropylene fibers that enhance fire resistance but drastically diminish workability of concrete even when added at small volume fractions. Tests on laboratory scale are conducted with a purpose of evaluating rheological behavior and high temperature behavior of cementitious materials containing polypropylene fibers.In the first part, a study of rheological behavior of cement-based materials containing polypropylene fibers was done. The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of polypropylene fibers on the yield stress of cement pastes and mortars. A model is proposed to be able to evaluate the quantity of paste necessary to compensate the addition of polypropylene fibres according the fluidity of fresh concrete.Then an experimental and numerical investigation of behavior of cementitious materials with polypropylene fibers at high temperature was done so as to optimize the choice of polypropylene fibers for cementitious material to improve its thermal stability. Three different cementitious materials with three different granular skeleton containing various polypropylene fiber geometries and dosages were tested (residual radial permeability test and fire test) in order to select an optimal fiber geometry and dosage. Then thermomechanical computations was developped at maco and meso scale. Then, a choice of diameter, length and dosage of fibres is proposed according to the maximum size of gravels.Finally, a method of concrete formulation with polypropylene fibers optimized from perspectives of rheology and resistance to fire is presented. In this method, fresh and hardened state properties are verified to ensure an accordance with performance criteria specified by the project. At the end, designed mixes were tested in fire tests conducted on uniaxially compressed prisms and, based on outcomes, final mixes are selected for further fire tests on higher scale concrete

A seven-step sequential extraction scheme was used to track changes in operationally defined copper speciation during the composting of a mixture of grass clippings and sawdust originating from tanalised timber. Starting materials were either unamended or treated with differing amounts of soluble copper, using a copper acetate solution, and then composted in the laboratory. Results showed that at the start of the experiment over 80% of the copper present in the unamended materials occurred in forms not immediately available for plant uptake. However, composting processes enabled the release of this copper which then, over time, became more bioavailable. Large amounts of copper in the copper amended materials were initially detectable in all fractions except the residual one, but over time it was seen to move from all fractions to the EDTA extractable fraction, thought to determine organically complexed / chelatable metals (Amir, 2005). This continued until an equilibrium was reached and then the water and calcium nitrate extractable forms appeared to hold the excess. Copper as determined by these extracts would be available for plant uptake. In the second experiment, three different organic wastes (grass/sawdust, pig slurry/sawdust and sewage sludge cake/sawdust) to which copper had been added as copper acetate, sulphate or EDTA, were composted in the laboratory. Samples were taken at 0, 105 and 318 days and subjected to a range of analyses: copper by sequential extraction using two different extraction schemes, a chelating resin membrane (CRM) procedure and by XRF spectrometry; FTIR analysis for functional groups; total carbon, nitrogen and sulphur; pH, EC, NH4+ and NO3- nitrogen, COD, germination indices and optical properties of water extracts. Sequential extractions demonstrated clear changes in copper distribution amongst various fractions within the materials, with copper originally present in the materials being transferred from the oxidisable fractions to easily extractable (and hence potentially phytoavailable) fractions. Transfer of copper from available to less available fractions in copper amended materials was also seen with movement of copper within copper EDTA treated materials being the slowest of all. Initial amounts of copper in fraction 1 extracted from all samples determined the rate at which copper was transformed. CRM determined copper correlated strongly with copper from fraction 1 of the Tessier scheme, although changes over time did not correspond well. Other parameters measured indicated that that the material was maturing (decreases in C/N and polysaccharide functional groups). However, other results demonstrated that the composts were still immature and unstable. Such slow decomposition was attributed to the high lignin content of the materials. Nevertheless, immobilisation of potentially phytotoxic level of copper was still demonstrated. The usefulness of chelating resin membrane as a predictor of phytoavailable copper is also discussed.

Waste management in the leather industry worldwide is an issue of major importance for both solid and liquid wastes. It has been recognised that there are major environmental impacts from the poorly managed disposal of such wastes and these have a clear health impact upon human society. Within Europe, under EU driven legislation, the costs of wastes management are increasing rapidly and there is a clear need to research improved methods to cost effectively deal with leather industry wastes. Biodegradation (anaerobic), as a management option, of solid wastes from the leather industry is an area that is attracting increased interest in recent years as being a technique that has wide public acceptability as well as process efficiency. However, tanning agents that prolong the lifetime of leather goods have a negative impact on biodegradation and this needs to be addressed before efficient treatment can occur. To drive the agenda this research has the aims of • Highlighting the effects of tanning agent on anaerobic digestion. • Understanding the mechanism(s) by which different leather tannages can biodegraded. • Developing a process to reverse the action of tannage. Leather solid wastes were anaerobically digested using Serum Bottle Assays (SBA). The effect of a range of vegetable, mineral and aldehyde tanning agents of leather on the rate of anaerobic digestion was assessed. Common tanning agents used included; myrica, valonea, glutaraldehyde and chrome. To further identify key factors for cost effective anaerobic digestion, tanned hide powders and tanned leathers were also pre-treated using autoclaving, liming, enzymes etc, in an attempt to determine whether tannage may be reversed. Major techniques used in the research include: anaerobic digestion, Biochemical Methane Potential (BMP), Total Solids contents (TS), Gas Chromatography (GC) and Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). Hydrolysable tannins are less resistant to anaerobic digestion than condensed tannins. However, enzymatic pre-treatment reduces the resistance and this offers a new effective pre-treatment route. Thermal pre-treatment also decreased resistance to anaerobic digression especially for chrome, glutaraldehyde, myrica and tannic acid tanned leathers. Chemical pre-treatment also generally lowered the resistance to anaerobic digestion. Selective pre-treatment offers a means of improving the cost effectiveness of anaerobic digestion of leather and therefore enabling a new waste management method to be adopted by the industry. A relationship emerges, in some cases, between chemical structure of tanning agent and inhibition of anaerobic digestion. This offers the possibility of producing new, designed organic tanning agents with, suitable properties, to be adopted by the industiy, The research agenda within the leather industry is still ongoing and recommendations for future research are addressed

Les déchets issus de caoutchouc (pneus usagés) sont produits en grand nombre par nos industries et par notre mode de vie. Afin de réduire leur impact sur l’environnement et de s’inscrire dans une logique d’économie circulaire, il est envisageable de recycler ces déchets dans des matériaux granulaires dans le but d’obtenir des composites aux propriétés notables. L’objectif de ce projet est d'étudier si l'ajout de grains de caoutchouc dans les sols à base de sable améliore les propriétés des matériaux ainsi obtenus. Ce projet porte ainsi sur l’étude des composites caoutchouc-sable et en particulier sur la relation entre la qualité du mélange obtenu et les propriétés mécaniques. Les expériences caractérisant le mélange du sable et du caoutchouc ont été effectuées. La caractérisation de nos mélanges sable/caoutchouc a montré la présence de ségrégation. Dans le but de quantifier l’effet de cette dernière sur les propriétés mécaniques de nos mélanges, des tests mécaniques classiques à l’oedomètre ont été réalisés et en plus des simulations de type éléments discrets (DEM) ont été réalisées. L’importance de cette ségrégation sur les propriétés mécaniques n’est pas forcément cruciale, notamment à forte fraction volumique de caoutchouc. Nous avons également montré que des outils numériques pouvaient être utilisés à bon escient pour comprendre les mécanismes à l’échelle du grain
A huge amount of waste tires is dumped at the landfill sites. Such a waste is posing an environmental hazard. It is high time to reduce their impact on the environment in a sustainable way and hence recycle them. One of the options is to recycle these waste tires, convert them into powdered form and use this granular rubber with other granular materials, e.g. soil to improve their properties. This study is based on the analysis of such sand-rubber mixtures. In particular, the focus of this study is to investigate the effect of quality of mixing on the mechanical response of such sand-rubber mixtures. The study began with characterizing the segregation of sand and rubber for specific conditions, i.e. mixing and under vertical taps. The experiments pointed out segregation in such mixtures. Hence, it was interesting to study its effect on the mechanical response of these mixtures by performing classic oedometer experiments and also with the help of Discrete Element Method (DEM) simulations. It was concluded that the segregation did not have a crucial effect on the mixtures, especially for important rubber volume fractions. For rubber volume fractions up to 25% however, it showed a considerable effect on the mechanical response of these mixtures. The use of DEM simulations helped to better understand the effect of mixing quality by relating the properties observed at the grainscale level such as contact forces, force distribution, etc. with the macroscopic response of these mixtures

Bovine hair, resulting from the unhairing of hides and skins, forms a major component of tannery solid wastes that is often disposed to landfill. However, following increasing environmental legislation restricting the disposal of commercial and industrial organic wastes to landfill, alternative treatment of tannery solid hair waste is necessary. The overall aim of this research was to develop conditions favourable for the decomposition of bovine hair waste in a composting environment. In this study, chemical pretreatments of bovine hair were carried out to enhance susceptibility to enzymatic digestion. Pretreatment using a combination of potassium thioglycolate and sodium hydroxide enhanced enzymatic digestibility of hair. Comparative solubilisation of black, brown and white hair samples with sodium sulfide showed that, the percentage soluble nitrogen, from white hair was 73% (w/w) as compared to 28% (w/w) and 24% (w/w) of black and brown hair, respectively; indicating that white hair was more vulnerable to solubilisation. Although chemical pretreatment was effective, it was considered non-compatible with the composting process. Consequently, enzymatic and microbial degradation were considered suitable alternatives. The results of the preliminary biochemical studies indicated that, the breakdown of the hair structure was enhanced when treated with a combined protease solution containing proteinase K and trypsin enzymes as compared with individual enzymes. Enzymatic and microbial degradation of hair was observed to be preferential, starting with the least resistant components, in this sequence: (1) cell membrane, (2) endocuticle, (3) medulla, and (4) cytoplasmic material and fibrillar components of the cortex. The cuticle was most resistant to degradation. Synergistic action of microbial-expressed enzymes was observed to be the fundamental mechanism for the enhanced hair degradation. Composting of bovine hair, mixed with dry leaves, soil, and wood chips/sawdust was performed in a rotary drum under controlled conditions. Optimum conditions, in order to sustain thermophilic microbial flora, were found to be (1) a moisture content of 55-+2% RH, (2) pH 7-8, (3) temperature of 49-+ C, and (4) a carbon to nitrogen ratio of 35:1. Structural changes in hair, assessed during composting using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), indicated that degradation occurred under these conditions. Microscopy results further indicated that the addition of an inoculant, containing a microbial crude enzyme, expressed by the bacteria of Bacillus species, improved the biodegradation of hair during the controlled composting process. The compost stability evaluated by monitoring the humification parameters and carbon to nitrogen ratio, indicated that the final product reached the following values: degree of humification (73 - 78%), humification ratio (26 - 32%), humification index (0.29 - 0.35), and a carbon to nitrogen ratio (25 - 29). The high level of humification of the end-product indicated reasonable stability, suggesting the product from the composted bovine hair may be suitable, suggesting the product from the composted bovine hair may be suitable for agronomical purposes. The use of composting as alternative technology for the treatment of tannery solid bovine hair waste, as a value added product, has been demonstrated.

Nowadays, lot of attention is devoted both to the application of bio-based polymers as promising alternative to the currently used petro-based polymers, and to the recycling of waste materials coming from agriculture industry. However, a series of economic barriers hinder the application of bio-based polymers in large scale. The aim of this study was to evaluate the application of PLA composites containing up to a 30 %wt of wastes deriving from coffee production. The waste was coffee silverskin which is the main byproduct of coffee roasting process. The composites were formulated in three different proportions of waste including 10 %wt, 20 %wt, and 30 %wt of the composites. The mechanical properties, microstructure, and crystallinity of the composites, as well as thermal stability, water uptake, and contact angle have been evaluated. The results show that coffee silverskin did not compromise the thermal stability and degree of crystallinity of the composites, while it changed the mechanical properties. Specifically, tensile strength gradually decreased on addition of coffee silverskin, while the Young’s modulus slightly increased. The distribution of filler throughout the matrix was almost homogeneous without porosities in the composites. An increase in the value of water uptake was obtained, but the water absorption behavior was not modified. Furthermore, the values of contact angle were constant for all the composites. Due to the production conditions of this study, in order to obtain acceptable properties for the composites, the amount of waste should be limited up to 20 %wt. The simple and low cost operations performed on the waste for obtaining the filler, lead to a decrease in material price on account of PLA reduction. Moreover, using coffee waste as filler in production of green composites, in addition to adding value to agricultural waste, would results in minimizing the dependency on petro-based polymers.

Soluble sulphate ions in nuclear wastes can have detrimental effects on cementitious wasteforms and disposal facilities based on Portland cement. For safe immobilisation of sulphate-bearing nuclear wastes, Ba(OH)2-Na2SO4-Blast Furnace Slag composites were synthesised via a newly developed single-step method and studied. These composites promote precipitation of insoluble BaSO4 and the consequent activation of the BFS. Six month aged Ba(OH)2-Na2SO4-BFS composite samples, successfully produced via the single-step method, revealed that phases formed are low solubility salts of BaSO4 and BaCO3, calcium aluminosilicate hydrate (C-A-S-H) with some barium substitution as the main binder phase, with barium also present in Ba-substituted AFt, and a hydrotalcite-type layered double hydroxide. Long term stability investigation, up to 18 months, showed that the BaCO3 initially formed reacts with the sulphate contained in different phases to form less soluble BaSO4 without disturbing the physical stability of the bulk materials. Gamma irradiation resistance of the proposed composite cement system is the focus of the second half of this thesis. An early age BFS-PC system is studied as a reference to provide information regarding the expected behaviour of slag-rich cements under irradiation, and then early age Ba(OH)2-Na2SO4-BFS composites are studied to evaluate their performance under exposure to gamma rays by comparison. Irradiated samples were compared with control and also heat-treated samples to identify potential effects of the temperature rise during irradiation exposure. The gamma irradiation resulted in the formation of cracks in the BFS-PC system as a result of the radiolysis of the free water, whereas Ba(OH)2-Na2SO4-BFS composites could withstand gamma irradiation without any obvious reduction in the integrity of the products.

Two significant pieces of legislation in California have mandated that cities and counties must reduce their waste streams. Assembly Bill 341 establishes that California must divert 75% of its waste from landfills by the year 2020. The first bill that included composting, Assembly Bill 1826, was passed in 2014 and requires that commercial users enact composting beginning in 2016. These initiatives have led cities and counties to seek ways of implementing composting programs. Using the City of Napa as a case study, this thesis argues that a composting program can be integrated into any existing waste hauling service. Although there are some challenges, including effectively reaching all residents eligible for the program and finding ways to encourage people to change waste disposal habits, other communities should be able to adopt Napa’s model. Napa’s program should act as an outline for other communities to develop similar outreach strategies, public education initiatives, and pilot programs. Once implemented, cities can continue creating a sustainable community through the use of new technologies. Not only will creating a composting program allow cities and counties to be in compliance with Assembly Bill 1826, it will also offer benefits that extend beyond the local scope, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Le composite à matrices polymériques renforcées de fibres de carbone (CFRP) est un matériau précieux en raison de ses excellentes propriétés mécaniques, légèreté et durabilité. Un gain important d’efficacité et une réduction des émissions de carbone peuvent être obtenus en remplaçant les pièces métalliques par les CFRPs dans l'industrie du transport. Toutefois, le recyclage de déchets CFRP est problématique, car le renfort de fibres de carbone est chimiquement lié à la matrice de résine réticulée. Néanmoins, la réutilisation de fibres de carbone couteuses rend le recyclage des CFRPs potentiellement viable en termes d’économie. Dans notre laboratoire, une étude multi-échelle d’un procédé de vapo-thermolyse a été réalisée, dont l'objectif est de séparer les fibres de carbone de matrices polymériques en utilisant la vapeur d’eau surchauffée. Afin d’obtenir une meilleure compréhension du comportement de dégradation thermique des matériaux CFRP, de nombreuses analyses thermiques ainsi que les caractérisations physico-chimiques ont été effectuées sur différentes fibres de carbone, résines polymériques (époxyde ou polyphénylène sulfide) et les composites correspondants. Une étude cinétique a été également abordée. Les plans d’expériences réalisées à l'échelle pilote dans un réacteur sophistiqué permettent de déterminer les conditions expérimentales optimales du procédé semi-industriel. Les fibres de carbone récupérées à partir de conditions optimisées apparaissent propres, sans résine et conservent plus de 90% de leur résistance à la traction d’origine. Les phases gazeuse et liquide émises ont également été quantitativement analysées. La modélisation de l’écoulement et des transferts thermiques du réacteur ainsi que la simulation de la dégradation de matrices polymériques montrent les résultats comparables avec les observations expérimentales. L’analyse du cycle de vie indique que le recyclage des CFRPs peut être favorable pour l’environnement par rapport au scénario de mise en décharge.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:26:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2012-08-17Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:13:23Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 scoton_ej_me_bauru.pdf: 11700204 bytes, checksum: 4b50447a64f592bc0b8288e6d2b3ee17 (MD5)
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)
O desenvolvimento econômico e a necessidade de proporcionar melhor qualidade de vida a toda a população, constituem alguns aspectos responsáveis para que a produção de residuos sólidos seja cada dia maior, aumentando a necessidade da busca de soluções ambientais corretas, para sua destinação. A compostagem consiste em importante ferramenta para o tratamento da fração orgânica dos resíduos sólidos, através do uso de tecnologias que processam os resíduos originados da agricultura, agroindústria, silvicultura, dos domicílios e, ainda, do loda da estação de tratamento de esgoto, adequando-os para serem incorporados ao solo e contribuindo para redução de adubos químicos. No Brasil, o emprego do processo de compostagem, é ainda bastante restrito, pelo alto grau de empirismo utilizado no controle e avaliação do processo e por falta de conhecimento técnico. Este estudo aborda o problema do tratamento de resíduos sólidos orgânicos provenientes das estações de tratamento de esgoto, através de pesquisa experimental de co-compostagem com outros resíduos orgânicos. No processo desenvolvido, denominado de método respirométrico, utilizou-se metodologia na qual os parâmetros de degradação biológica dos resíduos são quantificados na fase gososa. Os parâmetros avaliados, nesse trabalho, na fase gasosa de processos de co-compostagem do lodo de esgoto, possibilitaram a determinação do consumo de O2 e a geração de CO2 e da demanda bioquímica de oxigênio (DBO). Ao obter valores em substância totalmente homogênia, seu emprego apresentou como vantagens maior representatividade, precisão e confiabilidade, representando uma evolução quando comparados aos métodos tradicionais, permitindo o acompanhamento on line e contínuo. Os resultados foram muito superiores, quando...
Economic development and the need to provide better quality of life for the entire population, are responsible for some aspects of the production of solid waste each day is greater, increasing the need to search for environmental solutions right to your destination. Composing is an important tool for the treatment of the organic fraction of solid waste throgh the use of technologies that process the waste generated from agriculture, agribusiness, forestry, households, and also sludge from sewage treatment plant, adapting them to be incorporated into the solid and contribuing to reduction of chemical fertilizers. In Brazil the use of traditional composting process is still very limited, the high degree of empirism used in the control and evaluation of the process and lack of technical knowledge. This study addressed the problem of the treatment of organic solid waste from the sewage treatment plants, through experimental research of co-composting with other organic waste. In the process developed, called respirometric method was used methodology in which the parameters of biological degradation of waste are quantified in the gas phase. The parameters evaluated in this study, in the gas phase of the co-composting of sewage sludge, allowed the determination of O2 consumption and CO2 generation and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). By obtaining values in totally homogeneous substance, its use had advantages as greater representation, accuracy and reliability, representing an evolution when compared to traditional methods, enabling monitoring on line and continuous. The results were far superior when compared to the traditional method, obtaining data lines 1440/day, while in the conventional process, these data are sun up to a daily measurement of temperature, which makes the respirometric method an... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Orientador: João Antonio Galbiatti
Banca: Carlos Eduardo Angeli Furlani
Banca: Fábio Olivieri de Nobile
Resumo: A riqueza de nutrientes presentes nos resíduos orgânicos é fonte alternativa para uso de adubo na agricultura e para a recomposição de matas nativas. Com o objetivo de avaliar o comportamento de mudas de Pterogyne nitens (amendoim bravo), espécie florestal nativa da mata atlântica, em substratos contendo composto orgânico de lixo e poda de árvore, conduziu-se experimento em ambiente protegido, no Departamento de Engenharia Rural da Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias, Unesp, Campus de Jaboticabal-SP. As plantas foram dispostas em tubetes distribuídos ao acaso com 8 tratamentos em esquema fatorial 4x2 (4 substratos e 2 níveis de irrigação) com 3 repetições. Os substratos utilizados foram: 80% composto de poda de árvore e 20% composto de lixo; 100% substrato comercial; 100% composto de poda; 80% poda e 20% substrato comercial. A irrigação foi realizada manualmente calculada em níveis de 50% e 100% da evapotranspiração. Foi avaliado o desenvolvimento da planta por meio da altura, diâmetro do caule, número de folíolos e massa seca. Os parâmetros de desenvolvimento das plantas de amendoim bravo foram significativos, no substrato 80% poda de árvore e 20% composto de lixo. Não houve diferença em relação aos níveis de irrigação. Os resíduos orgânicos da poda de árvore e do lixo domiciliar na proporção 80% poda de árvore e 20% composto de lixo apresentaram melhor desempenho que os demais substratos, incluindo o substrato comercial
Abstract: The richness of nutrients in organic waste is an alternative source of fertilizer for use in agriculture and for restoration of native forests. The use of alternative substrates for the production of seedlings of native species should be studied to achieve higher efficiency and availability of substrate for the farmer, encouraging recovery and environmental sustainability of their property. Aiming to evaluate the performance of seedlings Pterogyne nitens (amendoim bravo), a forest species native to the rainforest, on substrates containing organic compost and pruning the tree, we conducted the experiment in a greenhouse at the Department of Rural Engineering Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences, UNESP, Jaboticabal - SP. The plants were placed in tubes randomly allocated to four treatments, two irrigation levels in a 4x2 factorial arrangement and three replications. The substrates used were composed of 80% and tree pruning waste compost 20%, 100% commercial substrate, 100% composed of pruning, pruning 80% and 20% commercial substrate. Irrigation was performed manually at 50% and 100% evapotranspiration. Was evaluated through the development of plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves and dry weight. The development of peanut plants was significantly brave, substrate 80% and 20% of pruning waste compost. No difference in relation to levels of irrigation. We conclude that the conditions under which the experiment was conducted organic waste from tree trimming and garbage at home 4:1 ratio performed better than the other substrates, including the commercial substrate
Mestre

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:23:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-08-02Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:30:06Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 silva_fg_me_jabo.pdf: 207990 bytes, checksum: 5e3ea22a783169f86c5601397fb83169 (MD5)
Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)
A riqueza de nutrientes presentes nos resíduos orgânicos é fonte alternativa para uso de adubo na agricultura e para a recomposição de matas nativas. Com o objetivo de avaliar o comportamento de mudas de Pterogyne nitens (amendoim bravo), espécie florestal nativa da mata atlântica, em substratos contendo composto orgânico de lixo e poda de árvore, conduziu-se experimento em ambiente protegido, no Departamento de Engenharia Rural da Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias, Unesp, Campus de Jaboticabal-SP. As plantas foram dispostas em tubetes distribuídos ao acaso com 8 tratamentos em esquema fatorial 4x2 (4 substratos e 2 níveis de irrigação) com 3 repetições. Os substratos utilizados foram: 80% composto de poda de árvore e 20% composto de lixo; 100% substrato comercial; 100% composto de poda; 80% poda e 20% substrato comercial. A irrigação foi realizada manualmente calculada em níveis de 50% e 100% da evapotranspiração. Foi avaliado o desenvolvimento da planta por meio da altura, diâmetro do caule, número de folíolos e massa seca. Os parâmetros de desenvolvimento das plantas de amendoim bravo foram significativos, no substrato 80% poda de árvore e 20% composto de lixo. Não houve diferença em relação aos níveis de irrigação. Os resíduos orgânicos da poda de árvore e do lixo domiciliar na proporção 80% poda de árvore e 20% composto de lixo apresentaram melhor desempenho que os demais substratos, incluindo o substrato comercial
The richness of nutrients in organic waste is an alternative source of fertilizer for use in agriculture and for restoration of native forests. The use of alternative substrates for the production of seedlings of native species should be studied to achieve higher efficiency and availability of substrate for the farmer, encouraging recovery and environmental sustainability of their property. Aiming to evaluate the performance of seedlings Pterogyne nitens (amendoim bravo), a forest species native to the rainforest, on substrates containing organic compost and pruning the tree, we conducted the experiment in a greenhouse at the Department of Rural Engineering Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary Sciences, UNESP, Jaboticabal - SP. The plants were placed in tubes randomly allocated to four treatments, two irrigation levels in a 4x2 factorial arrangement and three replications. The substrates used were composed of 80% and tree pruning waste compost 20%, 100% commercial substrate, 100% composed of pruning, pruning 80% and 20% commercial substrate. Irrigation was performed manually at 50% and 100% evapotranspiration. Was evaluated through the development of plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves and dry weight. The development of peanut plants was significantly brave, substrate 80% and 20% of pruning waste compost. No difference in relation to levels of irrigation. We conclude that the conditions under which the experiment was conducted organic waste from tree trimming and garbage at home 4:1 ratio performed better than the other substrates, including the commercial substrate

Land application of poultry litter has been successfully practiced for centuries to maintain and improve soil fertility, although over application may promote loss of nutrients through runoff or leaching. To decrease the potential for adverse environmental impacts of N and P in groundwater, a new approach developed in this research was to use a composted mixture of poultry litter (PL) and yard waste (YW) as a soil amendment for corn (Zea mays L.) production. Objectives of this research were to evaluate effects of pre-compost C:N substrate ratios for poultry litter-yard waste compost (PYC) on the availability of soil P, to determine the P response of corn plants to inorganic P, PL and PYC application, and to study relationships between P availability and both inorganic P and PYC application. Langmuir isotherms were used in this research to select soils with relatively high P fixation capacities. Phosphorus sorption maximum for soils evaluated were as follows: 304 and 449 micrograms of P per gram for A horizon Coastal Plain soils (Series: Kempsville and Myatt, respectively); 487 micrograms of P per gram for an A horizon Ridge and Valley soil (Series: Frederick); 918 and 603 micrograms of P per gram for A horizon Piedmont soils (Series: Elioak and Vance, respectively); 1099 microgram of P per gram for mine tailings (Series: Emporia located in the Coastal Plain); and 1524 microgram of P per gram for A and upper mixed horizon soil (Series: Starr from Piedmont region). Based on intermediate to high P sorption maxima, soil from the Vance and Starr series and mine tailing from Emporia series were selected for greenhouse research to evaluate P availability of PYC . Treatments applied to the soil in the greenhouse and field studies consisted of various levels of P as Ca(H₂PO₄)₂.H₂O, PL and PYC from 15:1, 20:1, and 25:1 C:N ratio substrates. Each P source increased dry weight of corn plants grown in the greenhouse by alleviation of P deficiency. Phosphorus uptake from PYC and PL application was either equal to or higher than P uptake from an equal level of P application as Ca(H₂PO₄)₂.H₂O. Application of 87.2 kg of P per ha increased corn grain yields in a field experiment on Vance sandy loam from 6340 kg per ha on the control to a range of 10,170 to 11,350 kg ha for PYC digested from the three C:N ratio substrates. The yields on PYC treatments were attributed to a combination of factors including slow mineralization of P with less fixation during the growing season. The low P fixing capacity results from the blockage of H₂PO₄^- sorption by competition of negative charge from organic material and from the displacement of H₂PO₄^- in soil solution by OH^- from application of the alkaline composts. It would be desirable from the standpoint of more PL utilization to prepare composts from low substrate ratio substrates. Hence, in this research composts were prepared from 15:1, 20:1, and 25:1 C:N substrates, which consisted of PL and YW. The composting process was complete after only four months for the PYC from the 20:1 and 25:1 C:N ratio substrates. Yard waste compost without PL may require somewhere between two to three years for complete composting as opposed to four months with PL addition. The composting was incomplete in four months (presence of undigested leaves and NH₃) for the PYC from the 15:1 C:N ratio substrate. The latter compost resembled poultry manure rather than a high quality compost after the 4-month composting period.
Ph. D.

La demande mondiale en fibre de carbone est estimée à 89 000 tonnes en 2020. Une quantité croissante de déchets de composites renforcés à fibres de carbone (PRFC) est donc attendue. Le recyclage des fibres de carbone, produits de forte valeur ajoutée, contenues dans les composites, présente des avantages économiques et environnementaux qui sont aujourd'hui la force motrice pour le développement des filières de recyclage. L'objectif est de récupérer les fibres de carbone afin de pouvoir envisager un réemploi dans d'autres applications. Leurs propriétés mécaniques et structurales doivent alors être le plus proche possible de celles des fibres neuves. C'est dans ce but que le procédé de vapo-thermolyse a été développé au sein du laboratoire RAPSODEE. La vapo-thermolyse est le procédé qui combine la pyrolyse et la vapeur d'eau surchauffée à pression ambiante afin de décomposer la matrice organique du composite. Le travail a consisté à effectuer une étude de l'échelle laboratoire à l'échelle pilote sur la valorisation des composites à fibres de carbone par le procédé de vapo-thermolyse. Notre étude se focalise sur les composites thermoplastiques provenant des chutes de fabrication. Deux types de composites, disponibles en industrie, avec les matrices polyamide 6 et polysulfure de phénylène ont été utilisées. Les analyses thermogravimétriques et l'étude cinétique ont permis une compréhension initiale du comportement thermique des composites et ont prouvé l'efficacité de la présence de la vapeur d'eau. A l'échelle pilote, des plans d'expériences ont été effectués pour déterminer les meilleures conditions opératoires du procédé de vapo-thermolyse, en regardant l'efficacité de la dégradation des résines polymériques et la qualité des fibres obtenues. Les fibres récupérées avec les conditions opératoires optimales sont propres, régulières et similaires aux fibres neuves. Elles conservent plus de 80 % de leur résistance à la traction initiale. Les liquides et gaz sortants du procédé ont été identifiés et quantifiés. A la fin, une analyse du cycle de vie (ACV) a permis de comparer les impacts environnementaux d'un scénario sans recyclage des composites et un autre avec recyclage par le procédé de vapo-thermolyse. Cette étude montre que la valorisation des composites par récupération des fibres de carbone, amène des avantages évidents d'un point de vue environnemental
The global demand for carbon fiber is forecast to rise to 89,000 tonnes by 2020, therefore an increasing amount of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) waste is expect to be generated. Recycling of carbon fibers, a high value added material, from the composite waste offers both environmental and economic incentives for the development of recycling routes. The aim is to recover the carbon fibers, as close as possible to their initial state, in order to envisage a reuse in other applications. For this purpose, steam-themolysis has been developed at RAPSODEE Laboratory. Steam-thermolysis is a process that combines pyrolysis and superheated steam at atmospheric pressure to decompose the organic matrix of the composite. The work consists of a study of recovering carbon fibers by steam-thermolysis of the composites at both the laboratory and pilot scale. In this work the samples under investigation includes thermoplastic composites from manufacturing cut-offs. Two commercially available composites of polyamide and polyphenylene sulfide resins were studied. Thermo-gravimetric analyses and kinetic studies were conducted to understand the thermal behavior of the samples and to prove the efficiency of the steam-thermolysis compared to conventional pyrolysis. At the pilot scale, an experimental design was carried out to determine the best possible operational conditions of the steam-thermolysis process in terms of the removal efficiency of the polymer matrix and the quality of the recovered carbon fibers. The carbon fibers recovered from the optimized steam-thermolysis process presented a resin free and uniform surface. They retained over 80 % of their original tensile strength. The outgoing liquids and gases of the process were identified and quantified. Finally, a life cycle assessment (LCA) was performed to compare a scenario without recycling with one where the composites are recycled by steam-thermolysis. According to this study, the recycling of CFRP, with recovery of carbon fibers, provides clear environmental advantages

With the inevitable exhaustion of supplies of oil and other fossil fuels looming on the horizon, coupled with the increasing concern regarding the environmental impact of using these resources, governments worldwide are under pressure to invest in the development of renewable replacements for fuel, as well as natural alternatives to oil based materials such as plastics. One of the main sources of interest is lignocelluloses, comprised of three main components - lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose each of which can be a valuable raw material for fuel or polymer production. The problem however is that the three components are bound together chemically, and efficient separation requires a combination of physical and chemical treatments. It is the aim of this project, therefore, to develop novel processing for the hydrolysis of lignocellulose. The process will involve the use of Ionic Liquids, essentially salts which are liquid below 100°C. While these chemicals have been known of for decades, it is only in the last twenty years or so that research into their potential as solvents, catalysts, reaction media, etc. has accelerated and interest has increased in their use in biorefining. This project is concerned specifically with novel methods incorporating an acidic, hydrophobic ionic liquid in the hydrolysis of lignocellulose with the aim being to produce nanocellulosic fibres and examine their performance as composite fillers. This began with the analysis of novel ionic liquids based on phosphonium and choline cations in the hydrolysis of wheat straw. From this the most promising medium was evaluated in its ability to refine cellulose and compared with a traditional hydrolysis method using dilute sulphuric acid. Furthermore novel lignocellulosic feedstocks, anaerobic digestate and spent mushroom compost, were analysed to determine their suitability as sources for nanocellulosic fibres which would represent an innovative use of these waste materials.

A compostagem é uma solução inteligente para a destinação final de resíduos orgânicos. O presente trabalho baseou-se na hipótese de que é possível, por meio da aplicação de compostos orgânicos ao solo, alcançar patamares de produção agrícola equivalentes aos obtidos pela adubação nitrogenada mineral. O experimento foi realizado em vasos com Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu em dois solos, um de textura argilosa e outro de textura média. Objetivou-se avaliar a dose de nitrogênio (N) proveniente de composto de lixo, composto de lodo de esgoto e composto de lodo de dejetos suínos que fosse equivalente à dose de 150 mg dm-3 de N proveniente da adubação nitrogenada mineral. Para isso, as doses de composto orgânico foram determinadas com base nas frações de mineralização de N, estimadas em 30, 15 e 7%. Assim, para a obtenção de 150 mg dm-3 de N mineralizado, foram aplicadas doses de, respectivamente, 500, 1.000 e 2.143 mg dm-3 de N total, provenientes dos compostos orgânicos. Foram realizados três cortes no capim Marandu, sendo mensurados, a cada corte, o teor de clorofila, o número de folhas e de perfilhos, a área foliar, a biomassa e o teor de N total da parte aérea das plantas. Os resultados foram submetidos à análise de variância, teste de médias e análise de regressão. Foi possível, por meio dos compostos orgânicos, obter resultados de adubação nitrogenada equivalentes, e até superiores, aos obtidos pela adubação mineral, dependendo do tipo de composto, a dose aplicada e a escala temporal. De modo geral, os tratamentos com composto de lodo de esgoto, a partir da dose 1.000 mg dm-3 de N, foram superiores ao com adubação mineral no primeiro corte, equivalentes no segundo corte, e superiores no terceiro corte do capim Marandu. A quantidade de N liberada ao sistema por meio dos compostos de lixo e de lodo de dejetos suínos chegou aos patamares dos tratamentos com adubação mineral no segundo corte, na dose 2.143 mg dm-3 e no terceiro corte, na dose 1.000 mg dm-3 de N. As frações de mineralização de N que geraram resultados mais próximos aos da adubação nitrogenada mineral foram, em média, de 15% para o composto de lodo de esgoto e de 7% para os compostos de lixo e de lodo de dejetos suínos
Composting is a smart final destination for organic residues. The present work was based in the hypothesis that it is possible to obtain similar agricultural productivity levels applying organic compounds on soil in comparison with mineral nitrogen application. The experiment was conducted in pots with Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu in two soil types, with clay and sandy clay loam texture. The objective was to evaluate if estimated doses of nitrogen (N) from waste compost, sewage sludge compost and and pig manure compost, when applied on the soil, was equivalent to 150 mg dm-3 of mineral Nitrogen fertilizer. The doses of organic composts applied were based in estimations of N mineralized of 30, 15 and 7%, correspondent, respectively, to doses of 500, 1000 and 2143 mg dm-3 of total N. The grass was harvested three times, on each time the chlorophyll level, the number of leaves, number of branches, leaf area, biomass and total N were measured in the aerial part of the plants. The results were submitted to variance analysis, and regression analysis. It was possible, trough the N fertilization by organic composts, to obtain similar and even superior results, in comparison to the mineral N, depending on type of compost, the applied dose and the time frame. The treatment with sewage sludge compost in the dose of 1000 mg dm-3 of N was superior to the mineral N in the first harvest, similar in the second and superior in the third harvest of the grass. The waste and pig manure composts reached similarity with the mineral fertilization in the second harvest, in the dose of 2143 mg dm-3, and in the third harvest, in the dose of 1000 mg dm-3 of N. The mineralization fractions of N found for the composts that were the most similar the mineral fertilization were, in average, of 15% for the sewage sludge compost and 7% for the waste and pig manure compost