The concern about sustainability is growing and the Mediterranean diet has been extensively ident... more The concern about sustainability is growing and the Mediterranean diet has been extensively identified as a promising model, with benefits for human and environmental health. This systematic review aims to identify and describe the indicators that have been used to evaluate the sustainability of the Mediterranean diet and the results from their application. A methodology using PRISMA guidelines was followed, and searches were performed in Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and GreenFile. A total of 32 studies assessing the sustainability of the Mediterranean diet were identified. Twenty-five of these studies quantified the environmental impact, 7 studies evaluated the nutritional quality, and 12 studies assessed the daily cost of this dietary pattern. A total of 33 distinct indicators were identified, of which 10 were used to assess the environmental dimension (mainly, carbon, water, and ecological footprint), 8 were used to assess the nutritional dimension (mainly Health score and Nut...
This Special Issue (SI) “Sustainable Food Production and Consumption” intends to be the union of ... more This Special Issue (SI) “Sustainable Food Production and Consumption” intends to be the union of multidisciplinary areas of knowledge, under the sustainability pillar, based on knowledge about one of the most relevant agents for overall environmental impacts: food production and consumption [...]
This paper compares the environmental impacts of the operation of a novel Gas-to-Liquid (GtL) pro... more This paper compares the environmental impacts of the operation of a novel Gas-to-Liquid (GtL) process for synthetic crude oil production with conventional crude oil production. This process uses novel microreactor technology (NetMIX) applied in Steam Methane Reforming and Fischer-Tropsch (FT-SMR) for the conversion of associated gas originated on offshore Oil and Gas exploration. Data from literature for Oil and Gas extraction together with data obtained from Aspen Plus ® simulations was used to build the life cycle inventory. An attributional Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was performed to compare the FT-SMR pathway to conventional crude oil production, using 1 MJ LHV as the functional unit. An additional assessment was also conducted by reporting the impact to 1 barrel. This is done to assess the effect that the add-on technology may have on the impact of current crude production. Converting associated gas using the FT-SMR pathway produces a synthetic crude with negative net GWP impacts. This is because the amount of avoided emissions is larger than the emissions due to the operation of the pathway. The remaining impact categories increase since the FT-SMR has additional intermediary steps, with added fuel energy needs, and additional process emissions. Moreover, the amount of natural gas required to produce 1 MJ of synthetic crude oil (abbreviated in the text as syncrude) results in larger impacts in the extraction phase, than those associated with the extraction of 1 MJ of conventional crude. The obtained syncrude has a GWP impact of -0.34 [-0.62, -0.14] kg CO2 eq/MJ, in comparison to 0.012 [0.009, 0.017] kg CO2 eq/MJ of conventional crude. A reduction of 8% to the impacts per daily barrel of crude (70.3 kg CO2 eq/barrel and 64.6 kg CO2 eq/barrel before and after using the FT-SMR pathway) was observed for a reduction of 34% of the total flared gas mass.
2020 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), 2020
This paper aims to present the interdisciplinary interactions between design students (Master in ... more This paper aims to present the interdisciplinary interactions between design students (Master in Product and Industrial Design - MDIP) and engineering students (Integrated Master in Environmental Engineering - MIEA) at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP), Portugal, through the development of an academic project based on the environmental sustainability pillar. The experience reported here includes a description of the project methodology, shared information, tools used in the analysis, and results obtained in quantifying and assessing the environmental impacts of the product. The outcome was an extra motivation to learn and incorporate environmental concerns in design. With this experience, students could understand the importance of the interdisciplinary methodology to develop rigorous projects to more environmental sound products.
Dissertação apresentada à Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto para obtenção do grau ... more Dissertação apresentada à Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia de Materiais, sob orientação do Prof. Fernando Jorge Monteiro
This study gives an overview of selected Industrial Ecology (IE) tools in current use by industry... more This study gives an overview of selected Industrial Ecology (IE) tools in current use by industry and that could be used to assess the environmental performance. The tools selected are considered to be useful for a decision support tool (DST) that takes a company perspective, while considering environmental and economic aspects on the decision-making process. We define criteria for a first selection of IE tools. The criteria are related to the usefulness of a tool in an analysis that: 1) takes a company perspective; 2) includes environmental and economic aspects of decision making; 3) includes a complete coverage of the potential environmental impacts and 4) allows for an assessment of the consequences of pollution reduction strategies. Based on the purpose of our DST, together with the criteria, we identified twelve tools. These twelve tools are reviewed with respect to their purpose, methodology, final product, strengths, weaknesses and relevance for an environmental analysis taki...
ABSTRACT The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the environmental impacts deriving from ... more ABSTRACT The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the environmental impacts deriving from the production of natural cork stoppers in Portugal, in order to identify the most significant stages and processes (hotspots) and to suggest improvement actions and alternative scenarios. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology is used by applying a cradle-to-bottling approach. This approach includes the stages of forest management (not considered in related LCA studies), cork preparation, natural cork stoppers production, finishing and distribution to the bottling locations. The results show that the forest management stage has the largest contribution to the environmental impact of natural cork stoppers in the majority of the impact categories. More specifically, the greatest influence derives from the operations of pruning and spontaneous vegetation cleaning. Additionally, the preparation stage and the production stage influence two impact categories each, while the finishing stage is the hotspot in one impact category. These contributions are mainly caused by the energy requirements of these stages. The total environmental impacts may be decreased by 3% to 65% if maintenance pruning operations are not performed and simultaneously cleaning operations are undertaken by rotary mowers instead of disc harrows in the forest management stage. Changes in the production stage, such as decreasing the transport distance between the preparation and the production factory or the use of a combination of manual and mechanical punching, do not show great influence in the total environmental impact.
ABSTRACT This study presents an overview of options aiming to reduce emissions to air, soil and w... more ABSTRACT This study presents an overview of options aiming to reduce emissions to air, soil and water from an aluminium die casting plant located in Portugal. We identify eighteen pollution reduction options and then estimate their potential to reduce the pollution, and the costs associated with their implementation to the die casting plant. The different types of options considered include typical end-of-pipe solutions, as well as alternative techniques or modifications in process operations of the plant. Finally, we calculate the implementation costs for the company of each reduction option.We conclude that there are promising opportunities to reduce the pollution from aluminium pressure die casting. Our inventory includes options with net negative costs, indicating that the company may in fact gain from implementing these options. Even though our study specifically focuses on one particular plant, the results may be interesting for the aluminium pressure die casting sector industry in general.
ABSTRACT The increasing scarcity of freshwater in many parts of the world triggered a growing con... more ABSTRACT The increasing scarcity of freshwater in many parts of the world triggered a growing concern about freshwater use and its quality degradation. Currently, a number of methods to assess the potential environmental harm in ecosystems services derived from freshwater use are available under the framework of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). In this study, the assessment of the quantitative freshwater use impact of a Portuguese wine (white ‘vinho verde’) was undertaken using the methods suggested by: Pfister et al. (2009), Frischknecht et al. (2009a, b), Ridoutt et al. (2010), and Milà i Canals et al. (2009). These methods differ significantly concerning the type of freshwater, freshwater scarcity level, and characterisation factors considered. The quantitative freshwater use of white’ vinho verde’ considering both viticulture and wine production stages (disaggregated into foreground and background sub-systems) is analysed at the inventory and impact assessment levels. Moreover, the freshwater footprint profile i.e. the compilation of quantitative and degradative environmental impacts related to freshwater use is also evaluated. The inventory results of freshwater use obtained by the Milà i Canals et al. (2009) method differ significantly from the ones obtained by other used methods due to the consideration of land use effects. At the impact assessment level, a large variability for the freshwater use impact was obtained, mainly due to different characterisation factors considered by each method. Besides, the background sub-systems arise as the major hotspots for all methods other than that proposed by Milà i Canals et al. (2009) and for all degradative impact categories other than eutrophication.
The concern about sustainability is growing and the Mediterranean diet has been extensively ident... more The concern about sustainability is growing and the Mediterranean diet has been extensively identified as a promising model, with benefits for human and environmental health. This systematic review aims to identify and describe the indicators that have been used to evaluate the sustainability of the Mediterranean diet and the results from their application. A methodology using PRISMA guidelines was followed, and searches were performed in Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and GreenFile. A total of 32 studies assessing the sustainability of the Mediterranean diet were identified. Twenty-five of these studies quantified the environmental impact, 7 studies evaluated the nutritional quality, and 12 studies assessed the daily cost of this dietary pattern. A total of 33 distinct indicators were identified, of which 10 were used to assess the environmental dimension (mainly, carbon, water, and ecological footprint), 8 were used to assess the nutritional dimension (mainly Health score and Nut...
This Special Issue (SI) “Sustainable Food Production and Consumption” intends to be the union of ... more This Special Issue (SI) “Sustainable Food Production and Consumption” intends to be the union of multidisciplinary areas of knowledge, under the sustainability pillar, based on knowledge about one of the most relevant agents for overall environmental impacts: food production and consumption [...]
This paper compares the environmental impacts of the operation of a novel Gas-to-Liquid (GtL) pro... more This paper compares the environmental impacts of the operation of a novel Gas-to-Liquid (GtL) process for synthetic crude oil production with conventional crude oil production. This process uses novel microreactor technology (NetMIX) applied in Steam Methane Reforming and Fischer-Tropsch (FT-SMR) for the conversion of associated gas originated on offshore Oil and Gas exploration. Data from literature for Oil and Gas extraction together with data obtained from Aspen Plus ® simulations was used to build the life cycle inventory. An attributional Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was performed to compare the FT-SMR pathway to conventional crude oil production, using 1 MJ LHV as the functional unit. An additional assessment was also conducted by reporting the impact to 1 barrel. This is done to assess the effect that the add-on technology may have on the impact of current crude production. Converting associated gas using the FT-SMR pathway produces a synthetic crude with negative net GWP impacts. This is because the amount of avoided emissions is larger than the emissions due to the operation of the pathway. The remaining impact categories increase since the FT-SMR has additional intermediary steps, with added fuel energy needs, and additional process emissions. Moreover, the amount of natural gas required to produce 1 MJ of synthetic crude oil (abbreviated in the text as syncrude) results in larger impacts in the extraction phase, than those associated with the extraction of 1 MJ of conventional crude. The obtained syncrude has a GWP impact of -0.34 [-0.62, -0.14] kg CO2 eq/MJ, in comparison to 0.012 [0.009, 0.017] kg CO2 eq/MJ of conventional crude. A reduction of 8% to the impacts per daily barrel of crude (70.3 kg CO2 eq/barrel and 64.6 kg CO2 eq/barrel before and after using the FT-SMR pathway) was observed for a reduction of 34% of the total flared gas mass.
2020 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON), 2020
This paper aims to present the interdisciplinary interactions between design students (Master in ... more This paper aims to present the interdisciplinary interactions between design students (Master in Product and Industrial Design - MDIP) and engineering students (Integrated Master in Environmental Engineering - MIEA) at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP), Portugal, through the development of an academic project based on the environmental sustainability pillar. The experience reported here includes a description of the project methodology, shared information, tools used in the analysis, and results obtained in quantifying and assessing the environmental impacts of the product. The outcome was an extra motivation to learn and incorporate environmental concerns in design. With this experience, students could understand the importance of the interdisciplinary methodology to develop rigorous projects to more environmental sound products.
Dissertação apresentada à Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto para obtenção do grau ... more Dissertação apresentada à Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia de Materiais, sob orientação do Prof. Fernando Jorge Monteiro
This study gives an overview of selected Industrial Ecology (IE) tools in current use by industry... more This study gives an overview of selected Industrial Ecology (IE) tools in current use by industry and that could be used to assess the environmental performance. The tools selected are considered to be useful for a decision support tool (DST) that takes a company perspective, while considering environmental and economic aspects on the decision-making process. We define criteria for a first selection of IE tools. The criteria are related to the usefulness of a tool in an analysis that: 1) takes a company perspective; 2) includes environmental and economic aspects of decision making; 3) includes a complete coverage of the potential environmental impacts and 4) allows for an assessment of the consequences of pollution reduction strategies. Based on the purpose of our DST, together with the criteria, we identified twelve tools. These twelve tools are reviewed with respect to their purpose, methodology, final product, strengths, weaknesses and relevance for an environmental analysis taki...
ABSTRACT The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the environmental impacts deriving from ... more ABSTRACT The purpose of the present study is to evaluate the environmental impacts deriving from the production of natural cork stoppers in Portugal, in order to identify the most significant stages and processes (hotspots) and to suggest improvement actions and alternative scenarios. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology is used by applying a cradle-to-bottling approach. This approach includes the stages of forest management (not considered in related LCA studies), cork preparation, natural cork stoppers production, finishing and distribution to the bottling locations. The results show that the forest management stage has the largest contribution to the environmental impact of natural cork stoppers in the majority of the impact categories. More specifically, the greatest influence derives from the operations of pruning and spontaneous vegetation cleaning. Additionally, the preparation stage and the production stage influence two impact categories each, while the finishing stage is the hotspot in one impact category. These contributions are mainly caused by the energy requirements of these stages. The total environmental impacts may be decreased by 3% to 65% if maintenance pruning operations are not performed and simultaneously cleaning operations are undertaken by rotary mowers instead of disc harrows in the forest management stage. Changes in the production stage, such as decreasing the transport distance between the preparation and the production factory or the use of a combination of manual and mechanical punching, do not show great influence in the total environmental impact.
ABSTRACT This study presents an overview of options aiming to reduce emissions to air, soil and w... more ABSTRACT This study presents an overview of options aiming to reduce emissions to air, soil and water from an aluminium die casting plant located in Portugal. We identify eighteen pollution reduction options and then estimate their potential to reduce the pollution, and the costs associated with their implementation to the die casting plant. The different types of options considered include typical end-of-pipe solutions, as well as alternative techniques or modifications in process operations of the plant. Finally, we calculate the implementation costs for the company of each reduction option.We conclude that there are promising opportunities to reduce the pollution from aluminium pressure die casting. Our inventory includes options with net negative costs, indicating that the company may in fact gain from implementing these options. Even though our study specifically focuses on one particular plant, the results may be interesting for the aluminium pressure die casting sector industry in general.
ABSTRACT The increasing scarcity of freshwater in many parts of the world triggered a growing con... more ABSTRACT The increasing scarcity of freshwater in many parts of the world triggered a growing concern about freshwater use and its quality degradation. Currently, a number of methods to assess the potential environmental harm in ecosystems services derived from freshwater use are available under the framework of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). In this study, the assessment of the quantitative freshwater use impact of a Portuguese wine (white ‘vinho verde’) was undertaken using the methods suggested by: Pfister et al. (2009), Frischknecht et al. (2009a, b), Ridoutt et al. (2010), and Milà i Canals et al. (2009). These methods differ significantly concerning the type of freshwater, freshwater scarcity level, and characterisation factors considered. The quantitative freshwater use of white’ vinho verde’ considering both viticulture and wine production stages (disaggregated into foreground and background sub-systems) is analysed at the inventory and impact assessment levels. Moreover, the freshwater footprint profile i.e. the compilation of quantitative and degradative environmental impacts related to freshwater use is also evaluated. The inventory results of freshwater use obtained by the Milà i Canals et al. (2009) method differ significantly from the ones obtained by other used methods due to the consideration of land use effects. At the impact assessment level, a large variability for the freshwater use impact was obtained, mainly due to different characterisation factors considered by each method. Besides, the background sub-systems arise as the major hotspots for all methods other than that proposed by Milà i Canals et al. (2009) and for all degradative impact categories other than eutrophication.
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