William Finnegan

Environmental impacts of milk powder and butter manufactured in the Republic of Ireland

The abolition of the milk quota system that was in place in Europe was abolished in 2015, which instigated an immediate increase in milk production in many European countries. This increase will aid in addressing the worlds ever growing demand for food, but will incur increased stresses on the environmental impact and sustainability of the dairy industry. In this study, an environmental life cycle assessment was performed in order to estimate the environmental impacts associated with the manufacture of milk powder and butter in the Republic of Ireland. A farm gate to processing factory gate analysis, which includes raw milk transportation, processing into each product and packaging, is assessed in this study. Operational data was obtained from 5 dairy processing factories that produce milk powder (4 of which also produce butter). Results for each environmental impact category are presented per kilogram of product. Energy consumption (raw milk transportation and on-site electrical and thermal energy usage) contributes, on average, 89% and 78% of the total global warming potential, for milk powder and butter respectively, for the life cycle stages assessed. Similarly, energy consumption contributes, on average, 86% and 96% of the total terrestrial acidification potential for milk powder and butter respectively, for these life cycle stages. Emissions associated with wastewater treatment contribute approximately 10% and 40% to the total freshwater eutrophication potential and marine eutrophication potential, respectively, for both milk powder and butter production. In addition, packaging materials also has a significant contribution to these environmental impact categories for butter production. Results were also presented for three milk powder products being manufactured by the factories surveyed: skim milk powder, whole milk powder and full fat milk powder. The analysis presented in this paper helps to identify opportunities to reduce the environmental impacts associated with post-farm processing of milk powder and butter.

A Novel and Validated Protocol for Performing MIC Tests to Determine the Susceptibility of Piscirickettsia salmonis Isolates to Florfenicol and Oxytetracycline

This paper presents a validated protocol, using a novel, specifically formulated medium, to perform broth microdilution antimicrobial susceptibility assays of the salmonid bacterial pathogen Piscirickettsia salmonis. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) for florfenicol and oxytetracycline against 58 P. salmonis isolates recovered from various outbreaks occurred in Chilean salmonid farms were determined using this protocol. Normalized resistance interpretation (NRI) analysis was applied to these data to calculate appropriate protocol-specific epidemiological cut-off values. These cut-off values allow the isolates to be categorized as either fully susceptible wild type (WT) members of this species, or as manifesting reduced susceptibility non-wild type (NWT). The distribution of MIC values of florfenicol was bimodal and the distribution of the normalized values for the putative WT observation had a standard deviation of 0.896 log2 μg mL-1. This analysis calculated a cut-off value of ≤0.25 μg mL-1 and categorized 33 (56%) of the isolates as manifesting reduced susceptibility to florfenicol. For the oxytetracycline MIC data the NRI analysis also treated the distribution as bimodal. The distribution of the normalized values for the putative WT observation had a standard deviation of 0.951 log2 μg mL-1. This analysis gave a cut-off value of ≤0.5 μg mL-1 and categorized five isolates (9%) as manifesting reduced susceptibility to oxytetracycline. The susceptibility testing protocol developed in this study was capable of generating MIC data from all the isolates tested. On the basis of the precision of the data it generated, and the degree of separation of values for WT and NWT it achieved, it is argued that this protocol has the performance characteristics necessary for it to be considered as a standard protocol.

Global warming potential associated with Irish milk powder production

Climate change is an ever growing issue and a major concern worldwide. Both producers and processors need to address the issue now by reducing their carbon footprint. Additionally, if Ireland is to meet their climate and energy targets, as outlined in Food Harvest 2020, which outlines a range of objectives for the Irish agricultural sector, the efficient use of resources and fuels within the industry will need to be increased. In Ireland, agriculture accounts for 29.2% of the total greenhouse gas emissions (58.5 million tonnes CO2eq). Therefore, in this paper, a single agri-food product, milk powder, is examined in order to estimate the global warming potential (GWP) associated with its manufacture using life cycle assessment. A cradle-to-processing factory gate analysis, which includes raw milk production, raw milk transportation to the processing factory, its processing into each product and product packaging, is assessed in this study using data collected circa 2013. The factories surveyed processed approximately 24%of the total raw milk processed in the Republic of Ireland in 2013, which was 5.83 billion liters. The average total GWP associated with the manufacture of milk powder is 9.731 kg CO2eq∙kg–1 milk powder, which has a standard deviation of 2.26 kg CO2eq∙kg–1 milk powder, for the life cycle stages analyzed in this study. The most significant contributor to GWP is raw milk production (84%), followed by dairy processing (14%), with the remainder of the life cycle stages contributing approximately 2%.

Numerical modelling to aid in the structural health monitoring of wave energy converters

A vital aspect of ensuring the cost effectiveness of wave energy converters (WECs) is being able to monitor their performance remotely through structural health monitoring, as these devices are deployed in very harsh environments in terms of both accessibility and potential damage to the devices. The WECs are monitored through the use of measuring equipment, which is strategically placed on the device. This measured data is then compared to the output from a numerical model of the WEC under the same ocean wave conditions. Any deviations would suggest that there are problems or issues with the WEC. The development of accurate and effective numerical models is necessary to minimise the number of times the visual, or physical, inspection of a deployed WEC is required. In this paper, a numerical wave tank model is, first, validated by comparing the waves generated to those generated experimentally using the wave flume located at the National University of Ireland, Galway. This model is then extended so it is suitable for generating real ocean waves. A wave record observed at the Atlantic marine energy test site has been replicated in the model to a high level of accuracy. A rectangular floating prism is then introduced into the model in order to explore wave-structure interaction. The dynamic response of the structure is compared to a simple analytical solution and found to be in good agreement.

Evaluation of dairy processing wastewater biotreatment in an IASBR system: aeration rate impacts on performance and microbial ecology

Highlights • Dairy processing wastewater biotreatment using IASBR technology is proposed.• Minor (0.2 LPM) aeration rate variations heavily influenced efficiency and ecology.• Optimal nutrient removal efficiencies (≥92%) achieved under 0.6LPM aeration rate.• Comamonadaceae stably enriched in reactor biomass (>80% relative abundance).• Comamonadaceae top contributor of nitrogen and phosphorus assimilation genes.

Numerical Simulations of Wave–Structure–Soil Interaction of Offshore Monopiles

AbstractOcean energy converters (OECs) are becoming a more popular source of electricity generated from the ocean. The main obstacle associated with the use of OECs is their high initial installation cost. In light of this, geotechnical engineers have been challenged with revisiting the foundation system, aiming toward more economical design. In this study, finite-element (FE) modeling was used to examine the influence of wave-induced lateral loads on a monopile, a common foundation system for OECs, where wave–structure–soil interaction was considered explicitly. Measured data were used to arrive at two different wave scenarios in conjunction with both regular and irregular wave-surface profiles; the wave-induced lateral forces on the monopile foundation were calculated for each case using diffraction theory and used as input loads in the FE model. A parametric study was then undertaken to examine the influence of a range of wave characteristics and pile/soil parameters on monopile response. The results o...