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Straw pulp in China, which is the world's largest producer of this material, suffers from water and energy shortages during its entire life cycle. However, limited systematic studies have focused on these issues, and decision makers need be provided with improvement methods for the environmental performance. Thus, an impact-oriented energy and carbon coupled water footprint analysis was conducted in this study based on ISO standards. Results showed that the impact of energy consumption and carbon emissions exceeded that of water footprint. Carcinogens, non-carcinogens, and freshwater ecotoxicity also played effective roles in improving the environmental performance. Optimizing key indirect processes, including chemicals production, steam preparation, electricity generation, wood pulping, and fertilizer recovery, dominated the reduction in environmental burdens. Direct freshwater consumption and wastewater disposal played additional effective roles in controlling water footprint. The water network was thus optimized by a water pinch analysis to decrease the freshwater consumption and pollutant emissions by maximum values of 91.5% and 99.7% after optimization, respectively. Meanwhile, carbon dioxide, methane, chromium, arsenic, mercury, titanium, copper, strontium, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, BOD5, and COD were the main pollutants. Overall, the environmental impact can be further reduced by diminishing coal power ratio in national energy structure, adopting recovered steam, and considering multistage regeneration water network to cope with different water use demands.

Research has revealed the existence of an energy-efficiency gap – the difference between optimal and actual energy end-use, suggesting that energy efficiency can be improved. Energy management (EnM ...

The purpose of this study was to assess the environmental impacts of the Norwegian pulp and paper industry, considering the production of pulp fibres and printing paper. The pulp fibres included in this study are thermo-mechanical pulp and kraft pulp fibres, which differ with respect to the energy consumption and chemicals used during production. The assessed paper grades were super-calendered paper and newsprint. The study was a cradle to gate approach, and corresponds to an attributional life cycle assessment (LCA). The LCA was based on data collected from main pulp and paper producers in Norway. Importantly, aspects related to the increasing use of mineral fillers in the production of newsprints were assessed. The results showed that a reduction of more than 18% climate change impact (kg CO2 eq.) was achieved by increasing the fraction of fillers, in the newsprint furnish. Furthermore, the total climate change impact reduction depended on the applied energy mix. Assuming that the production of printing paper was based only on Norwegian energy mix, yielded a reduction of the climate change impact by more than 44% in 2011, compared to the production based on Scandinavian and European energy mix. Additionally, the input and output transport contributed to more than 20% impact in several cases. We thus concluded that the estimated environmental impacts were affected by; i) the furnish composition of a given paper quality, ii) the input and output transport and iii) the use of different primary grid energy sources.

Social life cycle assessment (S-LCA) is a tool to address social impacts from a life cycle perspective. This work presents the first S-LCA of the Portuguese pulp and paper sector. It presents the social risks and the positive social impacts of the sector, which have not been extensively covered in the scientific literature. Two different approaches were used to compile the social life cycle inventory based on input-output analysis. Approach 1 was based on impact analysis of changes in added value. Approach 2 was based on structural path analysis, supporting the disaggregation by production levels (or tiers). The functional unit was the production of 1 United States Dollar in the Portuguese pulp and paper sector. In the social life cycle impact assessment, the social risk assessment was conducted using the Social Hotspots Database. The positive impacts were addressed considering indicators of employment and remuneration, namely total employment, number of employees, labor compensation, and compensation of employees. Based on Approach 1, the results of the social risks showed the Portuguese pulp and paper industry, commerce and forestry sectors, and the Spanish forestry sector as the critical sectors. Based on Approach 2, Portugal and Spain continued to be the countries having the greatest social risks. Other contributions of countries were identified at different production levels, particularly China in tier 3. In both approaches, the stakeholder category ‘worker’ was the most critical. Regarding the positive social impacts, Approach 1 showed that Portugal and Spain contribute to the highest employment level linked to the pulp and paper, commerce, and forestry sectors. Approach 2 supported the differentiation of employment and remuneration at different production levels. Tier 2 (direct suppliers) presented the highest employment level and people engaged and the lowest remuneration level. The results showed that Approach 1 provides a faster and more aggregated assessment of social risks and positive social impacts. Furthermore, Approach 2 allowed a more detailed evaluation, providing a better understanding of the social risks and positive social impacts on the supply chain. Thus, Approach 2 is encouraged for different applications since it produces a better understanding of where social risks and positive social impacts occur, providing better guidance for corrective measures and decision-making.

Developing separation materials for rapidly oil absorption and emulsions separation is urgently needed and remains a great challenge. Here, a biomass-derived banana peel/waste paper (BPWP) hybrid aerogel with hierarchical porous structure has been successfully fabricated via combination of freezing-cast, freeze-drying and pyrolysis approach, for application in oil adsorption and water-in-oil emulsions separation. In this hybrid system, the microsheets that derived from banana peel immobilize were immobilized on surface of the waste paper fibers, forming a hierarchical structure. The resulting BPWP aerogels exhibit a compression strain of 75%, high-hydrophobicity (WCA of 149.3°)/underair superoleophilicity (OCA of 0°), and high porosity, which can absorb of free oils in water with high oil sorption capacity of 35–115 times its own weight. Moreover, these aerogels effectively separate various surfactant-stabilized water-in-oil emulsions driven solely by gravity, with high separation efficiency above 99.6% and higher fluxes of up to 8550 L m−2 h−1 than traditional filtration membranes with pressure driven, even the sizes of emulsified droplets are smaller than the pore size of the BPWP aerogels. More importantly, the BPWP aerogels exhibit a superior antifouling property and regenerability for emulsion separation, which match well with the requirements for treating the real emulsions. Due to the advantages of banana peel/waste paper aerogels in rich source and high oil separation efficiency, the obtained banana peel/waste paper aerogel can be a potential candidate in industrial applications and environmental protection. This work opens up a new avenue for design new hierarchical biomass-derived aerogels for a variety of applications including energy storage, sensors and pressure-sensitive electronics.

The design and testing of a novel vermicomposting system, acronymed FLUVTS ─ FLippable Units Vermireactor Train System ─ is presented. It enables rapid vermicomposting of paper waste without the need of pre-composting and requires animal manure supplementation to the extent of only 10:1 paper: manure mass ratio in contrast to reported systems which must have 50% or more of the feed mass as animal manure. Moreover, the system enables the vermicomposting to be accomplished at a high rate, achieving near-total convertion of feed to vermicast at solid retention times of just 30 days in comparison to conventional systems which take 90–120 days for the same process. Uninterrupted vermireactor operation for 6 months, during which the feed was put in and its vermicompost harvested once in 30 days, demonstrates the robustness and the consistency of the system. The suitability of the paper-waste vermicompost as an organic fertilizer was then tested in terms of it's effect on seed germination and early growth of four food plants chilly (Capsicum annuum), ladies finger, (Abelmoschus esculentus), cucumber (Cucumis sativus), and tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum). In general, the paper waste vermicompost when applied at levels

High pressure laminate has a key role at the protection of wood-based panels. Borax and recycled papers can be used for production of high pressure laminate which may impart the multitude effects. The readily availability of waste papers and borax may be a useful alternative to expensive papers with high quality, and also can compensate the strength losses of recycled papers. The recycled paper and borax are relatively inexpensive and environmentally friendly, and this results the production of not only a cleaner product but also provides an excellent performance against applied load, humidity and high temperature. In this study, three types of waste papers including newsprint, writing and paperboard were first recycled to be used for production of high pressure laminate. Phenol formaldehyde and borax were utilized to improve the strength and fire retardancy of high pressure laminate. Bending resistance, flame resistance and water absorption of high pressure laminate samples were tested. The results of the experiments showed that high pressure laminate made of recycled newspaper and borax had a superior performance when compared to samples that made from writing paper and paperboard. For example, an increase up to 1.4 times was observed in the bending resistance. The mixing of borax with resin increased the strength of high pressure laminate at 95 percent confidence level. The amount of water absorption after 2 h, bending resistance, glowing time and char length of high pressure laminate with recycled newspaper and borax were equal to 14%, 41 mNm, 37 s and 0.7 cm, respectively. The bending strength of coated particleboard with this overlay increased up to 1.5 times. High pressure laminate produced from recycled paper and borax was introduced as an environmentally acceptable product.

The aim of this study was the valorization of paper sludge waste from paper industry in designing one-part geopolymer cement using ground granulated blast furnace slag as main precursor. The effects of increasing the amount of paper sludge pretreated with a constant amount of sodium hydroxide (2% of slag) on mechanical strength, heat evolution, setting time and durability were analyzed. The reaction products were characterized using X-ray diffraction and thermogravimetric analysis. The findings showed that paper sludge can successfully be used as a secondary source of calcium carbonate in the one-part (“just add water”) geopolymer. The compressive strength of the cured geopolymer increased with increasing the amount of paper sludge, and the non-reacted sludge acted as a filler. The maximum strength (42 MPa, 28 d) was reached at 18 wt-% paper sludge addition. The main reaction products were calcium aluminate silicate hydrate and hydrotalcite-like cementitious gels. From the perspective of its blast-furnace slag content, strength properties, water absorption and setting time, the one-part geopolymer cement could be classified as a CEM IIIC and Type 32.5N class cement under the European standard EN-197.

The global cement industry produces over four billion tonnes annually. In recent years, the quest for increasing energy efficiency has led this industry to test and use “waste” materials as alternative fuels (AF). The objective of this study was to examine the use, as alternative fuel, of the shredded non-recycled plastics and paper residue (NRPP) of a materials recovery facility at the Balcones plant in San Antonio, Texas; this material has a Lower Heating Value (LHV) of about 17 MJ/kg and is called “engineered fuel” (EF). The results showed that EF consists of mostly paper fiber, a biogenic material, so its use helps to decrease CO2 emissions from cement production. In the US, on an average about 4.3 MJ of thermal energy are used to dry, decompose, and sinter the carbonate minerals to produce one kg of “clinker” that is then ground to cement powder and mixed with other compounds. If the maximum amount of EF that can be used by the U.S. cement industry (83 million tonnes of cement per year) were to be separated at Material Recovery Facilities and used as alternative fuel in cement kilns, the diversion of non-recycled paper and plastics from landfills would amount to 17.7 million tonnes of EF. The general methodology used for the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is Eco-indicators 99 that uses the SimaPro database and four scenarios were assessed. The corresponding chemical structure of the EF was calculated and the associated emissions during combustion were determined. The laboratory analyses determined the average makeup of the sampled fuels consisted of 20% fossil based carbon and 80% biogenic. The use of EF in the cement industry reduces greenhouse gas emission by up to 3 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of EF used in place of a high-quality coal. The study also found that use of EF in cement production has no adverse effect on the stack emissions of cement plants, nor on the quality of cement produced. The mercury concentration in the stack gas of U.S. cement kilns is well below the U.S. standard and the total dioxin emissions of all cement plants amount to only 0.05% of the dioxins emitted by all U.S. sources. Furthermore, the cement process incorporates the residual ash in the EF into the final clinker, thus resulting in both energy and materials recovery.

Sustainability measurement in economics includes assessment of environmental and economic effects in an integrated manner. In this study, system level economic data are integrated with environmental impacts determined from a life cycle assessment (LCA) of a common product. We adopt a costing methodology that captures conventional costs, but additionally incorporates externality costs to present a convenient, easily interpretable metric. Green Net Value Added (GNVA) is a type of full cost accounting that incorporates total revenue, the cost of production, depreciation, and environmental externalities. We present externality costs disaggregated by upstream sectors, full cost of production, and GNVA to evaluate the relative sustainability of Bounty® paper towels manufactured at two production facilities. We found that the longer running, more established line had a higher GNVA. The predominant components contributing to externality costs come from the stationary sources in the supply chain: electricity generation (27–35%), refineries (20–21%), pulp and paper making (15–23%). Health-related externalities from Particulate Matter (PM2.5) and Carbon Dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions are to a great extent driven by electricity usage and emissions by the facilities, followed by pulp processing and transport. Supply chains for other facility purchases, product distribution, and end-of-life management contribute the least to the environmental health-related costs.

The ability of Trichoderma harzianum WL1 crude laccase and the fungal system for the biobleaching of wastepaper pulp and treatment of paper industry effluent was investigated. Three different modes of treatment, enzyme, enzyme-alkali and enzyme-EDED were employed for the bleaching of wastepaper pulp. The process parameters such as treatment period, pulp consistency, temperature and enzyme charge had a great influence on the quality of paper pulp. The paper industry effluent was subjected to eight different treatments via. aerobic, anaerobic, fungal and combination of these treatments. Fungal followed by anaerobic treatment was found to be effective in paper industry effluent treatment.

Currently there are several methodologies available for estimating the carbon footprint of products. In this study a comparison has been made between the outcomes and the implications of three different methodologies applied to office paper: (1) the ISO 14040/14044 standards limited to the analysis of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the corresponding impact category global warming; (2) the PAS 2050; and (3) the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI) framework. The carbon footprint of office paper from cradle-to-costumer is 4.64, 4.74 and 4.29 g CO 2 eq per A4 sheet according to, respectively, the ISO 14040/14044 standards, the PAS 2050 and the CEPI framework. The ISO 14040/14044 standard methodology allows the quantification of 98% of the total GHG emissions with the smallest effort in data collection. The major hot spots are the stages of eucalypt pulp and office paper production and chemical and fuel production for all methodologies. General methodologies such as those analysed in this study are not enough for the comparison of products. More specific rules, such as Product Category Rules, that limit the degree of freedom in the choice of the functional unit, system boundary, allocation rules, data quality, between others, should be developed.

There has been much debate on the topic of whether stricter environmental regulations can promote environmental performance and economic performance at the same time. Different researchers have used different indicators to measure environmental performance and economic performance in their empirical studies. However, it is a surprise that few studies have checked the relationship between environmental regulation and eco-efficiency, as the latter is widely regarded as a quite powerful tool of considering ecology and economy together. In this study the background is the implementation in 2003 of the Stricter Discharge Standard (SDS) in Shandong Province's Pulp and Paper Industry (SPPI), compared to the national standards of China. The stricter regulations were intended to promote corporate change from passive management to active control and from end-of-pipe treatment to cleaner production. This study investigated the eco-efficiency trends of SPPI from 2001 to 2008 in three fields: water efficiency, energy efficiency and environment efficiency. A "de-linking" and "re-linking" tool was used to attain a further evaluation. The study showed that with the implementation of stricter regulation most of the efficiency indicators (except CO2 emission and energy consumption) had achieved significant improvements, and the overall environmental performance trends of SPPI showed it to be more sustainable. However, the study also found that it was not enough to address a single indicator in the environmental regulation of the pulp and paper industry. More holistic eco-efficiency indicators need to be further considered and introduced to the industry as the next step to create true sustainable development. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved, (Less)