Reducing the environmental impact of distribution centres: Designing green-enveloped biobased alternatives to compare with reference steel and concrete designs

The climate emergency calls for a global shift towards a low-carbon economy, to preserve natural resources and biodiversity, while limiting global warming and its consequences. This project focuses on the impact of distribution centres, intended for the storage of commercial goods. Warehouses are characterised by large flexible spaces and simple...

Assessing the Social Performance and Social Risks of Wastewater Treatment Systems Through Social Life Cycle Assessment: A Case Study of the WATER MINING Project in Spain

Water scarcity problems will continue to exacerbate in many parts of the world, urging society to mitigate or adapt. Consequently, unconventional water resources, such as municipal wastewater, are becoming more relevant. This thesis aims to measure and evaluate the social impacts of wastewater treatment (WWT) systems potentially stemming from...

Reducing the environmental impacts of the production of melamine etherified resin fibre

Conventional plastic products present a serious burden to the environment, especially during their end-of-life phase. To tackle the rapid growth in plastic production, use and pollution, it is desirable to produce plastic materials more sustainably. Amongst these plastic materials which could be produced sustainably are Melamine Etherified...

Environmental design guidelines for circular building components based on LCA and MFA: Lessons from the circular kitchen and renovation façade

The transition towards a Circular Economy (CE) in the built environment is vital to reduce environmental impacts, resource consumption and waste generation. The built environment can be made circular by replacing building components with more circular ones. There are many circular design options for building components and knowledge about...

Assessing the environmental performance of a novel coal mine brine treatment technique: A case in Poland

Although the energy transition results in decreased use of coal for power production, hard coal extraction will continue due to its importance in steel production and coal mine wastewater will continue generating after mines closure. The coal mining sector produces wastewater which results in environmental burdens and often contains valuable...

The technical or biological loop? Economic and environmental performance of circular building components

The construction sector can become more sustainable by applying the Circular Economy concept, which distinguishes two main pathways: substituting materials for biological materials, or optimizing the use or reuse of technical materials. Practitioners sometimes choose one pathway over the other, but knowledge of which of these pathways yields...

Azolla: a small fern with a high potential: Assessing the environmental impacts of Azolla-based feed in the transition to a circular agricultural system

The Azolla Filiculoidis is a subtype of aquatic fern species that thrives on fresh surface water bodies, and has a nutritive profile similar to soybean. In this thesis research, it was examined to what extent the large-scale implementation of Azolla-based livestock feed production will affect the future environmental sustainability performance...

Reducing the environmental impact of distribution centres: Environmental impact assessment of the load-bearing structures of distribution centre design alternatives

Buildings influence the environment due to the emission of greenhouse gases, energy use, water consumption, and waste generation. The load-bearing structures of buildings also have a significant share in these emissions. Currently, European and national regulations oblige to focus on sustainability in designs as well. In this research, it is...

Quantifying the Net Environmental Impact of Using IoT to Support Circular Strategies—The Case of Heavy-Duty Truck Tires in Sweden

The idea of leveraging the Internet of Things (IoT) to support strategies in line with the circular economy (CE) has been gaining traction in literature. However, previous work has predominantly focused on the opportunities that these technologies can bring, and few studies have critically assessed the environmental viability of the proposed...

Application of LCA and LCC in the early stages of wastewater treatment design: A multiple case study of brine effluents

Technological developments are opening new avenues to facilitate the circular economy through resource recovery from industrial wastewater. This paper presents the use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) in the development of technology solutions for the treatment of brine wastewater and recovery of by-products. Four...

A circular economy life cycle costing model (CE-LCC) for building components

The building industry is responsible for the highest resource use, amount of waste and emissions of all industries. The principles of the Circular Economy (CE) could offer an approach to create a more sustainable built environment. For a transition towards a circular built environment, a comprehensive assessment method is needed to support...

Quantifying Life Cycle Environmental Benefits of Circular Steel Building Designs: development of an environmental assessment tool for reuse of steel members in building designs for the Netherlands

The re-use of building components and structural elements is an underdeveloped practice which could be an important strategy in the global paradigm shift towards a circular economy. Steel is one of the most important structural building materials which combines incredible strength, favourable mechanical properties and excellent durability...

Metrics of Green Chemistry and Sustainability: Past, Present, and Future

The first green chemistry metrics - the E factor (kgs waste/kg product) and atom economy (mol wt of product/sum of mol wts of starting materials) - were introduced in the early 1990s and were actually green chemistry avant la lettre. In the last two decades, these two metrics have been adopted worldwide by both academia and industry. The E...