1,288 research outputs found
An integrated approach for monitoring efficiency and investments of activated sludge-based wastewater treatment plants at large spatial scale
No full textWISE, the Water Information System for Europe, is the web-portal of the European Commission (EU) that disseminates the quality state of the receiving water bodies and the efficiency of the municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in order to monitor advances in the application of both the Water Framework Directive (WFD) as well as the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD). With the intention to develop WISE applications, the aim of the work was to define and apply an integrated approach capable of monitoring the efficiency and investments of activated sludge-based WWTPs located in a large spatial area, providing the following outcomes useful to the decision-makers: (i) the identification of critical facilities and their critical processes by means of a Performance Assessment System (PAS), (ii) the choice of the most suitable upgrading actions, through a scenario analysis. (iii) the assessment of the investment costs to upgrade the critical WWTPs and (iv) the prioritization of the critical facilities by means of a multi-criteria approach which includes the stakeholders involvement, along with the integration of some technical, environmental, economic and health aspects. The implementation of the proposed approach to a high number of municipal WWTPs highlighted how the PAS developed was able to identify critical processes with a particular effectiveness in identifying the critical nutrient removal ones. In addition, a simplified approach that considers the cost related to a basic-configuration and those for the WWTP integration, allowed to link the critical processes identified and the investment costs. Finally, the questionnaire for the acquisition of data such as that provided by the Italian Institute of Statistics, the PAS defined and the database on the costs, if properly adapted, may allow for the extension of the integrated approach on an EU-scale by providing useful information to water utilities as well as institutions. © 2015 Elsevier B.V
I reati di criminalità organizzata, con finalità di terrorismo e di eversione dell'ordine democratico
No full textAssessing the public perception of islanders regarding the implementation of new technologies to optimize the municipal solid waste management system: A Mediterranean case study
No full textOne of the most important contemporary challenges for small islands is to make more sustainable human activities as the management of municipal solid waste (MSW). The recent EGADI project involved the realization of two pilot project actions in a small Mediterranean island of Southern Italy (Island of Favignana) with the goal to adapt the current MSW management system to the logic of the 3Rs approach (reduce, reuse & recycle). The actions concerned the installation of a water kiosk to reduce plastic waste production and a community composter to recover material from the organic fraction of MSW. Additionally, non-structural actions as a communication plan and an environmental education campaign were implemented with the intent of increasing public awareness on the addressed topics. In this context, the study was aimed to investigate the public perception and knowledge of islanders with reference to the two pilot actions before and after the implementation of such activities so as to provide guidance for optimizing the MSW management system of the island. A structured questionnaire was implemented and administered to the students of a secondary school and their parents before and after the implementation of the planned actions. The obtained data were processed by using descriptive statistics and Multiple Correspondent Analysis (MCA) in order to achieve a global view on the level of knowledge and public perception as well as to establish as a whole, the rate of satisfaction and the goodness of the project actions. The feedbacks on the implemented actions were critically discussed highlighting both positive and negative aspects. Some drawbacks were to be connected to the adopted communicative plan which resulted to be not so effective in reaching the target since its random character. Islanders perceived positively the new technologies implemented. The water kiosk was perceived positively if it only serves residents. Furthermore, islanders positively perceived the kerbside separate collection preferring at the same time the community composting as strategy for the management of the organic fraction, at least in the most densely populated areas. The social assessment that was conducted during the investigation provided guidance of the optimum MSW management system of the island. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Virulence Factors, Drug Resistance and Biofilm Formation in Pseudomonas Species Isolated from Healthcare Water Systems
No full textPseudomonas aeruginosa is a frequent causative agent of healthcare-associated diseases, but recently, other members of the Pseudomonas genus have been recognized to cause human colonization and infection. Since the aquatic environment could be an important source of contamination, we studied the drug resistance and virulence profiles in Pseudomonas species isolated from healthcare water systems. 17 Pseudomonas spp. out of 57 were randomly selected and their drug resistance and virulence profiles were later evaluated. Based on the positivity to the tests, the adhesion capability and biofilm formation on polystyrene and glass surfaces were studied in 6 strains, each belonging to different species. Six Pseudomonas strains (35%) were α-hemolytic, nine (53%) showed a positivity to the gelatinase test, and P. acidovorans 2R only was capable to degrade DNA. All Pseudomonas strains presented urease activity and the production of siderophores was widely observed (64,7%). Most of the strains showed one of the three types of motilities, 15 Pseudomonas (88.23%) resulted bacteriocin producers and all strains were resistant to one or more antibiotics. Lastly, among the six selected strains, P. aeruginosa 98.5 and P. fluorescens 97.4 were the best biofilm producers. Our study has highlighted how the majority of isolates shows biological characteristics that contribute to the pathogenicity of Pseudomonas. These features emphasize the virulence potentiality of other members of the Pseudomonas genus besides Pseudomonas aeruginosa, making them potentially pathogenic, especially against immunocompromised individuals
Optimal post-combustion conditions for the purification of CO₂-rich exhaust streams from non-condensable reactive species
No full textAbstract not availableM. de Joannon, A. Chinnici, P. Sabia, R. Ragucc
HDDI in Mild combustion
No full textMild combustion is an emerging technology in several fields of practical applications, from material treatment to energy conversion as well as to pollutant abatement [1]. In a survey of potential keys for the mitigation of environmental problem, it represents a flexible and clean process that is the result of a trade-off in the optimization of fuel conversion with respect to efficiency (in term of energy saving and pollutant abatement) while not requiring drastic changes in the configuration of traditional plants. In this chapter the attention will be focused on non-premixed combustion processes, thus on configurations where the fuel and the oxidant flows are fed separately, then mix and react. A combination of both heating and dilution of oxidant and/or fuel yields a not premixed combustion process which is named Hot Diluted Diffusion Ignition (HDDI) [2, 4] when
• heating contributes significantly to the creation of an oxidative structure in the sense that no combustion process occurs without it;
• dilution is so intense that the maximum temperature attainable inside this structure is so low that, in turn, it affects significantly its placement in the mixture fraction domain, the structure itself and the physical and chemical kinetics when compared to a diffusion flame process
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