Publications

@article{Santagata2021,

title = {Food waste recovery pathways: Challenges and opportunities for an emerging bio-based circular economy. A systematic review and an assessment},

author = {R. Santagata and M. Ripa and A. Genovese and S. Ulgiati},

url = {https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0959652620355360},

doi = {10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.125490},

issn = {09596526},

year  = {2021},

date = {2021-03-01},

journal = {Journal of Cleaner Production},

volume = {286},

pages = {125490},

publisher = {Elsevier},

abstract = {The transition towards a Circular Economy in the agri-food supply chain will require appropriate support mechanisms. Globally, 1/3 of food is wasted, generating by-products which could be treated and processed. In a bioeconomy perspective, qualitatively and quantitatively assessing the availability of secondary raw materials and classifying the different conversion systems is crucial for the transition to happen. For this reason, a literature review of food waste conversion pathways, and related trade-offs and opportunities, has been carried out. Ecological performances of EU28 food waste treatment processes have been assessed through Life Cycle Assessment and Emergy Accounting methods, providing information from a donor and a consumer side perspectives for supporting policies. The added value of this work is the commixture of the analysis of food waste recovery and recycle pathways, their environmental assessment and the indication of opportunities and constraints. A conversion pathways database has been generated and classified. A major interest towards recovery of mixed food waste and biological type of conversion processes is highlighted. The main identified opportunities are the reduced environmental pressure and better management of resources, the avoided loss of economic value and the generation of work opportunities, as well as conditioning stakeholders' behaviors. On the other hand, it is highlighted that bad management of food waste can pose a threat on human health. The planning of these processes must carefully acknowledge local characteristics.},

keywords = {Bioeconomy, Circular economy, Emergy Accounting, Food waste, LCA},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Santagata2020,

title = {Assessing the sustainability of urban eco-systems through Emergy-based circular economy indicators},

author = {Remo Santagata and Amalia Zucaro and Silvio Viglia and Maddalena Ripa and Xu Tian and Sergio Ulgiati},

url = {https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1470160X19308532},

doi = {10.1016/j.ecolind.2019.105859},

issn = {1470160X},

year  = {2020},

date = {2020-02-01},

journal = {Ecological Indicators},

volume = {109},

pages = {105859},

publisher = {Elsevier},

abstract = {Circular Economy (CE) concepts and tools are getting increasing attention with regard to their implementation in agricultural, urban and industrial sectors towards innovative business models to optimize resource use, process performances and development policies. However, conventional biophysical and economic indicators hardly fit CE characteristics. Life cycle assessment, footprint and economic cost-benefit indicators, do not fully capture the specificity of a closed loop CE framework, characterized by feedbacks and resource use minimization and quality assessment. Commonly used mono-dimensional indicators seem unable to successfully relate the process performance and the use of ecosystem services and natural capital, in that they do not assess the environmental quality and sustainability (renewability, fit to use, recycle potential) of resources and the complexity of interaction between agro/industrial/urban environments and socioeconomic systems, and translate into an incomplete and inadequate picture, far from an effective CE perspective. In this study, Emergy Accounting method (EMA) is used to design an improved approach to CE systemic aspects, focusing on the importance of new indicators capable of capturing both resource generation (upstream), product (downstream) and systems dimensions. This conceptual scheme is built around the case study of the City of Napoli's economy (Campania region, Southern Italy) considering the surrounding agro-industrial area with its smaller urban settlements. In order to design a reasonable and reliable CE framework, a number of already existing and innovative processes is analyzed and discussed, through a bottom-up procedure capable to account for CE development options based on the recovery of locally available and still usable resources (i.e., conversion of waste cooking oil into biodiesel, conversion of slaughterhouse residues to power and chemicals, recovery and conversion of agro-waste residues, amongst others). The result highlighted that EMA was capable to keep track of the improvement generated by the implemented circularity patterns in terms of reduced total emergy of the system. Moreover, EMA indicators suggested that, in any case, the CE business framework should be intended as a transitional strategy towards more feasible paradigms.},

keywords = {Circular economy, Circular indicators, Emergy Accounting, Sustainability assessment, Urban systems},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Santagata2019,

title = {Power generation from slaughterhouse waste materials. An emergy accounting assessment},

author = {Remo Santagata and Silvio Viglia and Gabriella Fiorentino and Gengyuan Liu and Maddalena Ripa},

url = {https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0959652619308376},

doi = {10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.03.148},

issn = {09596526},

year  = {2019},

date = {2019-06-01},

journal = {Journal of Cleaner Production},

volume = {223},

pages = {536--552},

publisher = {Elsevier},

abstract = {The linear path “extraction-production-consumption-waste” imposed by humans to natural ecosystems, where all material flows are instead circular, has become unsustainable. Understanding the potential value of some of these “by-products” in order to exploit them effectively in a biorefinery perspective, may help overcoming resource shortages and decrease environmental impacts. This study investigates energy and resource restoration from animal by-products. The slaughterhouse waste undergoes a rendering process to separate residual meal and fat. The latter is combusted in a co-generation plant to produce electricity and heat. The process is carefully assessed using Emergy Accounting approach with the aim of evaluating benefits and environmental load of the process considering the advantages achieved compared with the demand for ecosystem services and natural capital depletion. Moreover, the case aims at exploring three different methodological assumptions referring to the upstream burdens carried by the waste management system, proposing a modified exergy-based allocation rule. The electricity generated shows performances in terms of Unit Emergy Values ranging between 2.7E+05 sej/J, 2.2E+06 sej/J and 3.1E+07 sej/J among the different cases investigated, comparable to power from fossil fuels and renewables sources, and it provides an environmentally sound alternative to conventional waste disposal.},

keywords = {Animal by-products, Bio-refinery, Electricity generation, Emergy Accounting, Resource recovery, Waste management},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}

@article{Corcelli2017,

title = {End-of-life treatment of crystalline silicon photovoltaic panels. An emergy-based case study},

author = {F. Corcelli and M. Ripa and S. Ulgiati},

url = {https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0959652617309563},

doi = {10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.05.031},

issn = {09596526},

year  = {2017},

date = {2017-09-01},

journal = {Journal of Cleaner Production},

volume = {161},

pages = {1129--1142},

publisher = {Elsevier},

abstract = {Although photovoltaic (PV) technology has been projected as one of the most promising candidates to replace conventional fossil based power generation, claims about the potential disadvantages of the PV panels end-of-life (EoL) deserve careful attention in order to fully establish a feasibility and viability baseline and support technological and implementation policies. The current challenge concerning PV technology resides in making them efficient and competitive in comparison with traditional power generation systems, without disregarding the appraisal of EoL impacts. The emergy analysis method proved to be a reliable approach for the evaluation of the efficiency, effectiveness and environmental friendliness of technological processes under a global scale perspective and may likely be applied to the EoL PV investigation as a complement of conventional energy and economic assessments. Therefore, this method was used in this study to evaluate the sustainability of a PV panel recycling process. In addition, this paper aims to explore the implications of methodological assumptions when Emergy Accounting (EMA) tackles waste management systems, in order to address the shortcomings in this field. Results show that the PV panel treatment can generate large environmental benefits not only at the local scale of the process, but also at the larger scale of the industrial manufacture and material recovery, as well as at the even larger scale of the biosphere where resources come from and pollution is released. The comparison between the emergy invested for electricity production via PV and fossil energy sources also including EoL resource and environmental costs, highlights that PV technology is competitive under both energy and environmental points of view. This comparison reveals that the solar technologies imply remarkable emergy savings (1.45E+12 sej/kWh for fossil sources versus 3.57E+11 sej/kWh for crystalline silicon photovoltaic down to 2.31E+11 sej/kWh for cadmium telluride photovoltaic). Results clearly show that PV solar power can be considered a mature technology and can favorably compete with other renewable and non-renewable options for electricity generation. However, efficiency improvements of PV panels thermal recovery are still possible and may lead to further decrease of still too large emergy costs of the treatment process, not to talk of potential recovery alternatives such as chemical treatment for silicon cells and better upstream industrial design.},

keywords = {c-Si photovoltaic panel, Emergy Accounting, Recycling, Thermal treatment},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}