Pub Date : 2025-10-22DOI: 10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100362
Vu Ngoc Xuan , Pham Xuan Hoa , Nguyen Thi Phuong Thu
This study examines the dynamic relationship between research and development (R&D) investment, financial development, energy use, and environmental pollution in the United States over the period 1990–2023, using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach. The results confirm a significant long-run cointegration among the variables. Specifically, a 1 % increase in R&D investment reduces CO2 emissions by approximately 0.45 %, whereas a 1 % rise in financial development and energy use increases emissions by 0.21 % and 0.55 %, respectively. The error-correction term indicates that about 63 % of short-run disequilibrium adjusts to the long-run equilibrium annually. These findings highlight that while innovation significantly mitigates environmental degradation, unregulated financial and energy expansion exacerbate it. Policy implications suggest that US authorities should intensify green R&D incentives, promote sustainable financing instruments, and accelerate the transition toward clean energy to achieve national decarbonization targets.
{"title":"Relationship between R&D investment, financial development, energy use, and carbon dioxide emissions in USA: New insights from ARDL methodology","authors":"Vu Ngoc Xuan , Pham Xuan Hoa , Nguyen Thi Phuong Thu","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100362","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100362","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines the dynamic relationship between research and development (R&D) investment, financial development, energy use, and environmental pollution in the United States over the period 1990–2023, using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach. The results confirm a significant long-run cointegration among the variables. Specifically, a 1 % increase in R&D investment reduces CO<sub>2</sub> emissions by approximately 0.45 %, whereas a 1 % rise in financial development and energy use increases emissions by 0.21 % and 0.55 %, respectively. The error-correction term indicates that about 63 % of short-run disequilibrium adjusts to the long-run equilibrium annually. These findings highlight that while innovation significantly mitigates environmental degradation, unregulated financial and energy expansion exacerbate it. Policy implications suggest that US authorities should intensify green R&D incentives, promote sustainable financing instruments, and accelerate the transition toward clean energy to achieve national decarbonization targets.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"19 ","pages":"Article 100362"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-10-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145363525","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-22DOI: 10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100363
Benedikt Verkic, Lieve Göbbels, Kathrin Greiff
Through innovative exchange of resources, industrial symbiosis can contribute to the circular economy and decrease environmental impacts. Similarly, urban symbiosis focuses on synergies involving cities. Even though many literature reviews exist in the field of industrial symbiosis, overviews on currently used and suitable indicators for measuring environmental impacts are lacking. Therefore, this scoping review provides an overview and descriptive analysis of relevant environmental indicators in the field of industrial and urban symbiosis used in scientific and gray literature. To ensure a comprehensive and exhaustive overview, eco-industrial parks and circular economy on the meso level are included. The aim is to provide a solid basis for future industrial and urban symbiosis assessment frameworks to improve and accelerate the identification of individually appropriate indicators. In total 3349 indicators across 457 sources were identified and clustered into 624 comprehensive indicators. The indicators are evaluated regarding overall use and use over time, category, type and R-strategy. Our results showed that most indicators are available in the area of material, waste and water, followed by environment and emissions. The paper identified good coverage of high-circularity R-strategies but limited coverage for other strategies. These results form a solid basis for the development of holistic and standardized assessment frameworks in the field of industrial and urban symbiosis. The most used indicators could for instance serve as a basis for relevance when utilized by companies, industrial park operators, and urban administrations.
{"title":"Analysis of environmental indicators assessing industrial symbiosis and urban symbiosis for an improved indicator selection process: A scoping review","authors":"Benedikt Verkic, Lieve Göbbels, Kathrin Greiff","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100363","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100363","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Through innovative exchange of resources, industrial symbiosis can contribute to the circular economy and decrease environmental impacts. Similarly, urban symbiosis focuses on synergies involving cities. Even though many literature reviews exist in the field of industrial symbiosis, overviews on currently used and suitable indicators for measuring environmental impacts are lacking. Therefore, this scoping review provides an overview and descriptive analysis of relevant environmental indicators in the field of industrial and urban symbiosis used in scientific and gray literature. To ensure a comprehensive and exhaustive overview, eco-industrial parks and circular economy on the meso level are included. The aim is to provide a solid basis for future industrial and urban symbiosis assessment frameworks to improve and accelerate the identification of individually appropriate indicators. In total 3349 indicators across 457 sources were identified and clustered into 624 comprehensive indicators. The indicators are evaluated regarding overall use and use over time, category, type and R-strategy. Our results showed that most indicators are available in the area of material, waste and water, followed by environment and emissions. The paper identified good coverage of high-circularity R-strategies but limited coverage for other strategies. These results form a solid basis for the development of holistic and standardized assessment frameworks in the field of industrial and urban symbiosis. The most used indicators could for instance serve as a basis for relevance when utilized by companies, industrial park operators, and urban administrations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"19 ","pages":"Article 100363"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-10-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145474203","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-17DOI: 10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100355
Maneechotiros Rotthong , Shabbir H. Gheewala , Vladimir Strezov , Witsanu Attavanich , Pichaya Rachdawong , Trakarn Prapaspongsa
This study develops a comprehensive framework for evaluating the environmental impacts of municipal solid waste (MSW) management in Thailand using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The framework covers collection, transportation, treatment, and avoided product utilization, considering different cluster sizes and technologies. Four conceptual scenarios were modeled: reference, current, waste management master plan, and improvement scenarios incorporating centralized and on-site systems. Results show that landfilling and incineration are major contributors to global warming, acidification, and eutrophication, while recycling and energy recovery technologies, including refuse-derived fuel (RDF) with waste-to-energy (WTE), substantially reduce impacts. Effective strategies vary by cluster size. For large clusters, optimal integration includes anaerobic digestion, composting, RDF with WTE, recycling, and landfilling. Medium clusters benefit from composting, RDF with WTE, recycling, and landfilling, whereas small clusters are best served by on-site home composting, incineration with WTE, recycling, and landfilling. A diversion of 95 % of waste from landfills, combined with a 30 % recycling rate, can lower climate change impacts by nearly 200 %. Sensitivity analysis indicates that reducing MSW transport distances further decreases impacts. Applying spatial differentiation in Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) and using different LCIA methods yielded consistent trends. Overall, the proposed framework supports the development of carbon-neutral MSW management systems by optimizing technology integration, maximizing recycling and energy recovery, and minimizing landfill disposal. The cluster-based approach offers tailored solutions for developing countries, significantly mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts.
{"title":"Life cycle assessment of integrated waste management systems towards carbon neutrality and environmental sustainability","authors":"Maneechotiros Rotthong , Shabbir H. Gheewala , Vladimir Strezov , Witsanu Attavanich , Pichaya Rachdawong , Trakarn Prapaspongsa","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100355","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100355","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study develops a comprehensive framework for evaluating the environmental impacts of municipal solid waste (MSW) management in Thailand using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The framework covers collection, transportation, treatment, and avoided product utilization, considering different cluster sizes and technologies. Four conceptual scenarios were modeled: reference, current, waste management master plan, and improvement scenarios incorporating centralized and on-site systems. Results show that landfilling and incineration are major contributors to global warming, acidification, and eutrophication, while recycling and energy recovery technologies, including refuse-derived fuel (RDF) with waste-to-energy (WTE), substantially reduce impacts. Effective strategies vary by cluster size. For large clusters, optimal integration includes anaerobic digestion, composting, RDF with WTE, recycling, and landfilling. Medium clusters benefit from composting, RDF with WTE, recycling, and landfilling, whereas small clusters are best served by on-site home composting, incineration with WTE, recycling, and landfilling. A diversion of 95 % of waste from landfills, combined with a 30 % recycling rate, can lower climate change impacts by nearly 200 %. Sensitivity analysis indicates that reducing MSW transport distances further decreases impacts. Applying spatial differentiation in Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) and using different LCIA methods yielded consistent trends. Overall, the proposed framework supports the development of carbon-neutral MSW management systems by optimizing technology integration, maximizing recycling and energy recovery, and minimizing landfill disposal. The cluster-based approach offers tailored solutions for developing countries, significantly mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"20 ","pages":"Article 100355"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145658876","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This study presents a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of mussel farming in the Gulf of La Spezia (Liguria, Italy), a site of particular interest due to its proximity to the Cinque Terre National Park, the presence of a major industrial port, and the coexistence with traditional aquaculture practices. Innovatively, this study combines LCA with alternative scenarios analysis to explore circular economy strategies in mussel farming, providing practical solutions to reduce environmental impact and valorize by-products.
The results highlight the importance of reducing imports, limiting the use of plastic materials, and optimizing waste management practices. In particular, the farming phase, mainly driven by the import of mussels from abroad, accounts for more than 90 % of the total impacts in 10 out of 11 categories analyzed. Scenario analysis shows that reducing imports by 50 % (Scenario C) decreases impacts by about 42–48 %, while their complete elimination (Scenario D) leads to drastic reductions, exceeding 85 % in all categories and reaching up to 97 % for Global Warming.
The goal is to advance toward a sustainable and circular blue economy model that supports environmental protection, promotes responsible food, and contributes to the development of the local economy while also addressing new production scenarios.
{"title":"Evaluation of Environmental Hotspots and improvements for sustainable mussel production: An LCA approach on the case study of La Spezia (Italy)","authors":"Letizia Caroscio , Cristian Chiavetta , Alessandra Bonoli","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100352","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100352","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study presents a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of mussel farming in the Gulf of La Spezia (Liguria, Italy), a site of particular interest due to its proximity to the Cinque Terre National Park, the presence of a major industrial port, and the coexistence with traditional aquaculture practices. Innovatively, this study combines LCA with alternative scenarios analysis to explore circular economy strategies in mussel farming, providing practical solutions to reduce environmental impact and valorize by-products.</div><div>The results highlight the importance of reducing imports, limiting the use of plastic materials, and optimizing waste management practices. In particular, the farming phase, mainly driven by the import of mussels from abroad, accounts for more than 90 % of the total impacts in 10 out of 11 categories analyzed. Scenario analysis shows that reducing imports by 50 % (Scenario C) decreases impacts by about 42–48 %, while their complete elimination (Scenario D) leads to drastic reductions, exceeding 85 % in all categories and reaching up to 97 % for Global Warming.</div><div>The goal is to advance toward a sustainable and circular blue economy model that supports environmental protection, promotes responsible food, and contributes to the development of the local economy while also addressing new production scenarios.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"19 ","pages":"Article 100352"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145324774","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-17DOI: 10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100349
Ruiyang Deng, Ondřej Procházka, Sebastian Kilchert
This study develops and applies a life cycle assessment (LCA) framework combined with predictive market models to evaluate the environmental impacts of electricity and hydrogen for transport in the EU27+UK from 2020 to 2050. By linking evolving power sector scenarios with hydrogen supply models, we assess the well-to-wheels (WTW) performance of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) under consistent energy assumptions. Results show that electricity decarbonization can reduce GWP by up to 80% by 2050, but increases land use and mineral/metal demand due to renewable infrastructure expansion. The environmental impacts of hydrogen production are strongly influenced by the electricity mix, especially in high electrolysis scenarios. WTW analysis indicates that while BEVs consistently achieve lower WTW GWP than FCEVs across all scenarios, both drivetrains exhibit notable trade-offs in other impact categories. Scenarios dominated by blue hydrogen, although not optimal in terms of GWP, present a more balanced environmental profile, making them a viable transitional pathway in contexts that prioritize minimizing other environmental impacts.
{"title":"Life cycle assessment of future electricity and hydrogen systems: Implications for low-carbon transport","authors":"Ruiyang Deng, Ondřej Procházka, Sebastian Kilchert","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100349","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100349","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study develops and applies a life cycle assessment (LCA) framework combined with predictive market models to evaluate the environmental impacts of electricity and hydrogen for transport in the EU27+UK from 2020 to 2050. By linking evolving power sector scenarios with hydrogen supply models, we assess the well-to-wheels (WTW) performance of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) under consistent energy assumptions. Results show that electricity decarbonization can reduce GWP by up to 80% by 2050, but increases land use and mineral/metal demand due to renewable infrastructure expansion. The environmental impacts of hydrogen production are strongly influenced by the electricity mix, especially in high electrolysis scenarios. WTW analysis indicates that while BEVs consistently achieve lower WTW GWP than FCEVs across all scenarios, both drivetrains exhibit notable trade-offs in other impact categories. Scenarios dominated by blue hydrogen, although not optimal in terms of GWP, present a more balanced environmental profile, making them a viable transitional pathway in contexts that prioritize minimizing other environmental impacts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"19 ","pages":"Article 100349"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145324776","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-16DOI: 10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100357
Franca Carlotta Foerster, Moritz Wagner
Environmental sustainability is increasingly recognized as a critical aspect of agricultural production. An adequate strategy to improve sustainability of the wine industry must start with an objective quantification of its sustainability performance. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a widely accepted tool for this. Grape production processes can vary considerably between wineries. Consequently, conducting LCA to identify potentials for improvement of environmental sustainability is highly context-specific, labor-intensive and requires expertise of the LCA methodology. Therefore, it is not yet a hands-on tool for many wineries. Simplifying LCA models could increase its use as a management and decision tool. This study aimed to develop a method for simplifying LCA specifically adapted for the agricultural context to conduct reliable environmental impact estimation in viticulture using only a small set of key parameters while fixing less influential inputs at generic values. Therefore, average vineyard management data and their probabilistic distributions were gathered from literature and expert input, then analyzed using Monte Carlo simulation and global sensitivity analysis in Brightway2. Results show that environmental impacts can be reliably estimated using just 15 easily quantifiable parameters, while 40 less influential inputs can be fixed at their median values without significant loss of accuracy. The simplified model closely matches full LCA results, offering a practical, robust tool for non-experts. This approach enables rapid, accessible sustainability assessments in viticulture and the established method could be adapted for broader adoption in agricultural management.
{"title":"A simplified LCA model to facilitate viticulture sustainability assessment","authors":"Franca Carlotta Foerster, Moritz Wagner","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100357","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100357","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Environmental sustainability is increasingly recognized as a critical aspect of agricultural production. An adequate strategy to improve sustainability of the wine industry must start with an objective quantification of its sustainability performance. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a widely accepted tool for this. Grape production processes can vary considerably between wineries. Consequently, conducting LCA to identify potentials for improvement of environmental sustainability is highly context-specific, labor-intensive and requires expertise of the LCA methodology. Therefore, it is not yet a hands-on tool for many wineries. Simplifying LCA models could increase its use as a management and decision tool. This study aimed to develop a method for simplifying LCA specifically adapted for the agricultural context to conduct reliable environmental impact estimation in viticulture using only a small set of key parameters while fixing less influential inputs at generic values. Therefore, average vineyard management data and their probabilistic distributions were gathered from literature and expert input, then analyzed using Monte Carlo simulation and global sensitivity analysis in Brightway2. Results show that environmental impacts can be reliably estimated using just 15 easily quantifiable parameters, while 40 less influential inputs can be fixed at their median values without significant loss of accuracy. The simplified model closely matches full LCA results, offering a practical, robust tool for non-experts. This approach enables rapid, accessible sustainability assessments in viticulture and the established method could be adapted for broader adoption in agricultural management.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"19 ","pages":"Article 100357"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145363524","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-15DOI: 10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100358
Yuree Kwon , Yongchul Jang , Jinjoo An
As industries increasingly adopt sustainability-oriented strategies, economic assessment methods should evolve to incorporate environmental externalities and long-term system impacts. While conventional techno-economic analysis (TEA) evaluates financial feasibility, it may exclude life cycle-based costs and environmental burdens. This study focuses on TEA practices that have yet to fully incorporate life cycle considerations and compares them with life cycle costing (LCC) approaches under sustainability-driven contexts. A meta-analysis was conducted to compare the system boundaries, cost coverage, and decision-making implications of both methods. Furthermore, a case study on recycled methanol production at a low technology readiness level (TRL) demonstrates how LCC enhances traditional TEA by internalizing environmental costs. Environmental costs were monetized using two methodologies (LIME3 and Ecovalue12), both of which monetize environmental impacts, and the results showed that the minimum selling price increased by 3–4 % (LIME3) and 125–160 % (Ecovalue12) compared to the TEA results. These findings highlight the variability resulting from the integration of environmental costs and the necessity for standardizing monetization methodologies. This work shows how life cycle-based cost assessments can provide a more comprehensive basis for sustainability-oriented decision-making, particularly in emerging chemical technologies.
{"title":"From short-term profitability to long-term sustainability: exploring life cycle cost in chemical processes","authors":"Yuree Kwon , Yongchul Jang , Jinjoo An","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100358","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100358","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As industries increasingly adopt sustainability-oriented strategies, economic assessment methods should evolve to incorporate environmental externalities and long-term system impacts. While conventional techno-economic analysis (TEA) evaluates financial feasibility, it may exclude life cycle-based costs and environmental burdens. This study focuses on TEA practices that have yet to fully incorporate life cycle considerations and compares them with life cycle costing (LCC) approaches under sustainability-driven contexts. A meta-analysis was conducted to compare the system boundaries, cost coverage, and decision-making implications of both methods. Furthermore, a case study on recycled methanol production at a low technology readiness level (TRL) demonstrates how LCC enhances traditional TEA by internalizing environmental costs. Environmental costs were monetized using two methodologies (LIME3 and Ecovalue12), both of which monetize environmental impacts, and the results showed that the minimum selling price increased by 3–4 % (LIME3) and 125–160 % (Ecovalue12) compared to the TEA results. These findings highlight the variability resulting from the integration of environmental costs and the necessity for standardizing monetization methodologies. This work shows how life cycle-based cost assessments can provide a more comprehensive basis for sustainability-oriented decision-making, particularly in emerging chemical technologies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"19 ","pages":"Article 100358"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145363462","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-15DOI: 10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100359
Diana Dimande, Bettina Mihalyi-Schneider, Michael Harasek, Walter Wukovits
Meeting Austria's 2040 carbon neutrality target requires a rapid transition to industrial-scale processes. Biomass-based technologies are pivotal in this shift, as they reduce reliance on fossil resources while producing high-value products. This study models and evaluates the potential environmental impacts of producing biomass-based synthetic natural gas (Bio-SNG) through gasification and methanation, incorporating scenario analysis. Seven impact categories were assessed: acidification potential, eutrophication, land use, fossil resource use, water use, particulate matter, and climate change. Among the Bio-SNG scenarios, the Bio-SNG-W scenario, which utilises wind-generated electricity, shows the lowest impacts across climate and most non-climate categories. Using the IPCC, 2021 methodology, the base case (bio-SNG) estimated net global warming emissions of 41 kgCO2 eq./MWhBio-SNG, mostly due to wood chip preparation and electricity consumption. Thus, when wind power is used as the electricity source (Bio-SNG-W), the greenhouse gas emissions reduce to 25 kgCO2 eq./MWhBio-SNG. In comparison, the emissions for natural gas production and processing, excluding the higher impact use phase, stand at 16 kgCO2 eq./MWhNG. Except for fossil resource use, Bio-SNG-related scenarios show higher emissions than their fossil-based counterpart, underscoring these processes' resource and energy intensity as well as showing a potential burden-shifting effect.
{"title":"Modelling and life cycle assessment of biomass-based synthetic natural gas production","authors":"Diana Dimande, Bettina Mihalyi-Schneider, Michael Harasek, Walter Wukovits","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100359","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100359","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Meeting Austria's 2040 carbon neutrality target requires a rapid transition to industrial-scale processes. Biomass-based technologies are pivotal in this shift, as they reduce reliance on fossil resources while producing high-value products. This study models and evaluates the potential environmental impacts of producing biomass-based synthetic natural gas (Bio-SNG) through gasification and methanation, incorporating scenario analysis. Seven impact categories were assessed: acidification potential, eutrophication, land use, fossil resource use, water use, particulate matter, and climate change. Among the Bio-SNG scenarios, the Bio-SNG-W scenario, which utilises wind-generated electricity, shows the lowest impacts across climate and most non-climate categories. Using the IPCC, 2021 methodology, the base case (bio-SNG) estimated net global warming emissions of 41 kg<sub>CO2 eq</sub>./MWh<sub>Bio-SNG</sub>, mostly due to wood chip preparation and electricity consumption. Thus, when wind power is used as the electricity source (Bio-SNG-W), the greenhouse gas emissions reduce to 25 kg<sub>CO2 eq.</sub>/MWh<sub>Bio-SNG</sub>. In comparison, the emissions for natural gas production and processing, excluding the higher impact use phase, stand at 16 kg<sub>CO2 eq./MWhNG</sub>. Except for fossil resource use, Bio-SNG-related scenarios show higher emissions than their fossil-based counterpart, underscoring these processes' resource and energy intensity as well as showing a potential burden-shifting effect.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"19 ","pages":"Article 100359"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145325791","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-14DOI: 10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100356
Marco A. Vargas , Luis A. Cisternas , Daniel Calisaya-Azpilcueta
The rapid expansion of mining operations has accelerated water resource depletion and increased energy consumption. To tackle these issues, the circular economy provides a framework for managing resource use and reducing environmental impacts. This study introduces an innovative method for assessing circularity in mineral processing, supported by a case study that demonstrates the methodology. The approach is based on circularity indices and employs Monte Carlo simulations to account for epistemic uncertainties that are typical in this field. If the results are not sufficiently robust, global sensitivity analysis is utilized to pinpoint critical variables that require refinement to enhance the outcomes. Additionally, multicriteria decision analysis methods are applied to further the study. In a case study focused on copper concentration through flotation, optimizing water recovery methods significantly improved water circularity metrics. Furthermore, dewatering technologies increased the system's circularity by 28 %, with similar improvements across different setups, reducing water extraction by approximately 42 % and lowering water loss from 0.56 in the base case to 0.29, a 48.6 % decrease. This highlights the effectiveness of dewatering technologies in circular resource management. Then, by applying multicriteria decision-making methods and giving more weight to general indicators related to the water–energy nexus, paste tailings thickening technology was identified as the best option for improving circularity and advancing sustainability. This methodology provides a solid foundation for assessing the transition from a recirculation-based economy to a truly circular model, offering global applicability for comparing technologies, companies, and other relevant factors in mineral processing.
{"title":"Assessment of technologies and water circularity in mining processes: An innovative methodological approach","authors":"Marco A. Vargas , Luis A. Cisternas , Daniel Calisaya-Azpilcueta","doi":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100356","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100356","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The rapid expansion of mining operations has accelerated water resource depletion and increased energy consumption. To tackle these issues, the circular economy provides a framework for managing resource use and reducing environmental impacts. This study introduces an innovative method for assessing circularity in mineral processing, supported by a case study that demonstrates the methodology. The approach is based on circularity indices and employs Monte Carlo simulations to account for epistemic uncertainties that are typical in this field. If the results are not sufficiently robust, global sensitivity analysis is utilized to pinpoint critical variables that require refinement to enhance the outcomes. Additionally, multicriteria decision analysis methods are applied to further the study. In a case study focused on copper concentration through flotation, optimizing water recovery methods significantly improved water circularity metrics. Furthermore, dewatering technologies increased the system's circularity by 28 %, with similar improvements across different setups, reducing water extraction by approximately 42 % and lowering water loss from 0.56 in the base case to 0.29, a 48.6 % decrease. This highlights the effectiveness of dewatering technologies in circular resource management. Then, by applying multicriteria decision-making methods and giving more weight to general indicators related to the water–energy nexus, paste tailings thickening technology was identified as the best option for improving circularity and advancing sustainability. This methodology provides a solid foundation for assessing the transition from a recirculation-based economy to a truly circular model, offering global applicability for comparing technologies, companies, and other relevant factors in mineral processing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34616,"journal":{"name":"Cleaner Environmental Systems","volume":"19 ","pages":"Article 100356"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9,"publicationDate":"2025-10-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145325794","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-14DOI: 10.1016/j.cesys.2025.100351
Kai Rüdele , Till Justus Niemann , Christoph Herrmann , Christian Ramsauer
Large and listed companies must publish annual reports to inform about financial figures and commercial success. In recent years, these companies have also increasingly been issuing sustainability reports to provide insights into their current environmental performance and progress. However, these reports lack key figures that integrate both efficiency and environmental perspectives. Therefore, a novel indicator is proposed and tested. The weight-related carbon intensity (ciw) relates cradle-to-gate emissions to the aggregated production weight of passenger cars. Using publicly available data from five global OEMs, we demonstrate that ciw provides more robust insights into production efficiency and sustainability performance than conventional CO2 per vehicle metrics. Our findings show that ciw can uncover inefficiencies that remain hidden under traditional reporting. The results highlight the need for weight-adjusted benchmarks in the automotive sector and suggest that ciw can serve as a complementary metric for corporate reporting, enhance emissions tracking and support climate action by expressing another CO2 truth.
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