Airborne pathogens diffusion: A comparison between tracer gas and pigmented aerosols for indoor environment analysis.

The evaluation of airborne pathogens diffusion is a crucial practice in preventing airborne diseases like COVID-19, especially in indoor environments. Through this transmission route, pathogens can be carried by droplets, droplet nuclei and aerosols and be conveyed over long distances. Therefore, understanding their diffusion is vital for prevention and curbing disease transmission.

Assessment of hemp hurd-derived biochar produced through different thermochemical processes and evaluation of its potential use as soil amendment.

Biochar is a carbon-rich and porous material that finds application in different sectors and can be extremely useful in agriculture as soil improver. This paper provides a comparison between biochars produced with different slow pyrolysis processes and biochar produced in a downdraft gasifier. A blend of residual lignocellulosic biomasses (hemp hurd and fir sawdust) was pelletized and used as starting feedstock for the tests.

Effects of different gasification biochar grain size on greenhouse gases and ammonia emissions in municipal aerated composting processes.

This work is aimed at investigating the effects derived from the application of minimum amounts of two different sized biochars, obtained through biomass gasification, on the greenhouse gases and ammonia emissions from a co-composting process of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste. The chosen biochar-to-organic waste share is set to 3% w/w dry, and the results obtained are compared with a conventional composting process without biochar. Nine aerated static pilot-scale bins with a volume of 1.

Impacts of gasification biochar and its particle size on the thermal behavior of organic waste co-composting process.

This work investigates the effects of gasification biochar on the thermal behavior of organic municipal waste composting. Two different biochar granulometries were mixed in a 3% w/w share with the organic fraction of municipal waste and tested in nine (three per thesis and three as control) reactors of 1 m of volume, designed to simulate full-scale aerated static piles. The temperatures of each composter were monitored for 31 days of the active composting phase and used as key parameters for air flow tuning.

Spent Coffee Grounds in the Production of Lightweight Clay Ceramic Aggregates in View of Urban and Agricultural Sustainable Development.

This paper presents an innovative application for spent coffee grounds (SCGs) used as filler for the formulation of lightweight clay ceramic aggregates (LWA). LWA can be used for urban and agricultural purposes as a sustainable solution. Spent coffee grounds were tested as a pore forming agent partially acting as a replacement for red clay in material formulation before firing.

Combined effects of LED lights and chicken manure on Neochloris oleoabundans growth.

In this study a photobioreactor prototype is presented for the culture growth of microalgae model organism Neochloris oleoabundans by using chicken manure waste as feedstock along with the optimum combination of led light wavelengths and light intensity. Particularly interesting results are observed on the strains fed by chicken manure medium under the proper combination of red and blue LED light illumination, the microalgal growth resulted comparable with the strains fed by the costly commercial microalgal growth medium (BG 11 medium). Cell concentration, optical density, growth rate, cell size, total lipid and photosynthetic pigment content have been monitored during a time-course experiment.

Biodiesel and electrical power production through vegetable oil extraction and byproducts gasification: modeling of the system.

Aim of this work is to introduce an alternative to the standard biodiesel production chain, presenting an innovative in situ system. It is based on the chemical conversion of vegetable oil from oleaginous crops in synergy with the gasification of the protein cake disposed by the seed press. The syngas from the gasifier is here used to produce electrical power while part of it is converted into methanol.

Modeling and investigation of the channeling phenomenon in downdraft stratified gasifers.

Downdraft stratified gasifiers seem to be the reactors which are most influenced by loading conditions. Moreover, the larger the reactor is, the higher the possibility to stumble across a channeling phenomenon. This high sensitivity is due to the limited thickness and superficial placement of the flaming pyrolysis layer coupled with the necessity to keep all the zones parallel for a correct running of this kind of gasifier.