Ettore Trulli

Treatment and disposal of tyres: two EU approaches. A review

The treatment and disposal of tyres from vehicles has long been of considerable environmental importance. The main problem lies in the mixed composition of the tyres. Studies have been undertaken to modify the structure of the tyres, especially with reference to the percentage of granulated rubber incorporated, in order to improve their performance, and also to reduce their environmental impact during normal functioning (noise, particulates, etc.) and facilitate recycling and final disposal. The aim of the present study is to review and compare how used tyres are treated and disposed of in two different EU countries. The first is Italy, which has been part of the European Union since its inception, and has important industrial traditions. The second is Romania, an emerging country which recently became part of the EU, and whose economic and industrial development has had a major boost in recent years, with a strong growth in waste production, together with consumption in urban areas. The occasion was useful to consider the situation concerning the evolution of the different aspects related to the management of the end-of-life tyres. In particular, the paper considers the properties of tyre waste and their potential reuse, the enhancement of end-of-life tires and the various types of recovery, such as the reconstruction of tyres and the material recovery. The aspects related to the energy recovery and the use of the life cycle analysis, as a tool to support the choices of the best management system, were also taken into consideration, not forgetting that an adequate end-of-life planning is important when developing a sustainable product, since it can affect considerably its overall life cycle.

Influence of feeding mixture composition in batch anaerobic co-digestion of stabilized municipal sludge and waste from dairy farms

Waste anaerobic co-digestion applications are particularly useful in Southern Mediterranean areas where large quantities of agricultural waste materials and waste from agro-industries are produced. This waste can be added to urban waste together with the sludge produced by wastewater treatment processes, which, when combined, guarantee the supply of organic matrixes for treatment throughout the year. The implementation of facilities to service vast areas of the agricultural economy and which are heterogeneous in terms of production can provide a good solution. We present an experimental investigation into the anaerobic co-digestion of municipal sludge and bio-waste produced in the Mediterranean area. We conducted anaerobic treatability tests, with measures of biogas production and pH of the mixture in digestion. Our main aims were to identify an optimal mix of substrates for the production of biogas, and to analyse the influence on the composition of biogas and the variation in pH values of the substrates. This analysis was conducted considering the variation of the input, in particular due to the addition of waste acids, such as biological sewage sludge.

Sustainable mechanical biological treatment of solid waste in urbanized areas with low recycling rates

Landfill is still the main technological facility used to treat and dispose municipal solid waste (MSW) worldwide. In developing countries, final dumping is applied without environmental monitoring and soil protection since solid waste is mostly sent to open dump sites while, in Europe, landfilling is considered as the last option since reverse logistic approaches or energy recovery are generally encouraged. However, many regions within the European Union continue to dispose of MSW to landfill, since modern facilities have not been introduced owing to unreliable regulations or financial sustainability. In this paper, final disposal activities and pre-treatment operations in an area in southern Italy are discussed, where final disposal is still the main option for treating MSW and the recycling rate is still low. Mechanical biological treatment (MBT) facilities are examined in order to evaluate the organic stabilization practices applied for MSW and the efficiencies in refuse derived fuel production, organic waste stabilization and mass reduction. Implementing MBT before landfilling the environmental impact and waste mass are reduced, up to 30%, since organic fractions are stabilized resulting an oxygen uptake rate less than 1600 mgO2 h-1 kg-1VS, and inorganic materials are exploited. Based on experimental data, this work examines MBT application in contexts where recycling and recovery activities have not been fully developed. The evidence of this study led to state that the introduction of MBT facilities is recommended for developing regions with high putrescible waste production in order to decrease environmental pollution and enhance human healthy.

An Example Of The Removal Of Organic Pollutants From Off-gas Generated From Small Activities In The Proximity Of Urban Areas

This article describes a theoretical application aimed at the potential recovery of organic pollutants poorly soluble in water and with a molecular weight higher than that of water. The organic pollutants must be present in the gas stream to be treated only in low concentrations. A case study was considered in which chlorobenzene was taken as the organic pollutant of reference. The application can be interesting when applied to industrial off-gases, especially if generated in the proximity of urban areas. Indeed, often in most industrialized regions of northern Italy, urban/industrial planning has not adequately separated the residential and productive areas: the presence of a number of small polluting activities can create critical conditions of human exposure even in the absence of large emitters. The system is developed according to two alternative process schemes (liquid–liquid separator equipped with a coalescer and separation using membrane process). The goal is twofold: from an environmental point of view, the aim is to treat the gas flow, limiting the dispersion into the atmosphere of hazardous pollutants; to this, an economic target should be added, with the opportunity to simultaneously retrieve reusable substances in industrial production cycles.

Fire simulation in a full-scale bilevel rail car: experimental analysis to assess passenger safety

The increasingly occurrence of fires risk within public transport facilities prompted many countries to improve public vehicle security implementing specific researches. The provision of a useful reference point for the compatibility of passengers and goods rail transport, with final attention to the preservation of the environment and the human health, represent the general target of such investigations. As a result, this manuscript presents the outcomes of a full-scale experimentation of fire in a bilevel rail car for passengers’ transport, useful to evaluate human exposure to toxic loads during a fire. The research consisted in the temperature measurement in various positions and its comparison with a simulation model based on the theoretical approach. Furthermore, visibility and air quality (O2, CO2, CO, TOC, particulate matter) were analyzed inside the rail car. The comparison between numerical methods and data obtained allow understanding that the numerical model is an effective simulation tool of fire dynamics, especially within the lower deck, although it underestimates the trend of air temperature in the upper deck. Overall, the fire causes a rapid and considerable reduction of oxygen, down to a minimum value of 9.6% by volume, and an increase of particulate matter concentration and total organic carbon, up to maximum values of respectively 2200 mg/Nm3 and 800 mg/Nm3. Evaluations about the toxicological risk for human health and the environment are reported within the study, highlighting difficulties and threats in fire risk prediction and human exposure to toxic load as function of numerous factors, such as construction materials of railcars and passenger health state.

A Monitoring System For Torrential Regime Rivers: First Results Of The Action Taken On Basento River.

Abstract The aquatic environmental protection from degradation due to human activities must be based on a monitoring program that allows for water quality assessment as a function of basin pollution sources and river self-cleaning capacity. The objectives of the research are: firstly, to set up a basin scale water quality monitoring program, secondly, obtain a baseline water quality evaluation and thirdly, identify and analyse the relations between water quality and pollution discharges from the basin. The design of the technical monitoring program on a local scale requires the determining of the location of sampling stations, sampling procedure for water, control parameters and the selection of temporal frequencies. A preliminary campaign was carried out to validate the water sampling methodology by exploring the transversal and vertical changes of dissolved oxygen concentration in the river cross section. A dissolved oxygen profile along the river put the emphasis on the minimum oxygen values, representative of organic load pollution peaks, and on the rivers capacity for recovering. A monthly monitoring program has been going on since April 1997, focusing on water quality assessment.