Assessing the environmental performances of waste-to-energy plants: The case-study of the EMAS-registered waste incinerators in Italy.

This study evaluated the environmental performances of 15 Italian waste incineration (WI) plants registered to EMAS. From the EMAS Environmental Statements, the validated data related to 5 environmental aspects (emissions to air, energy consumption/production, waste production and reagent consumption) and 24 key indicators were analyzed to describe and assess the environmental performances of the plants in 2017-2019 in relation to the best available techniques associated emission levels (BAT-AELs) and other sectorial reference values. All air pollutants' average concentrations resulted significantly below the upper BAT-AELs, the majority under the lower BAT-AELs, with an overall slightly decreasing trend (-4.

Investigation of the anaerobic digestion of cosmetic industrial wastes: Feasibility and perspectives.

This study assessed the anaerobic digestion (AD) of wastes deriving from cosmetics production: sludge from onsite wastewater treatment plant (sWWTP), residues of shampoo/conditioner (RSC) and sludge from mascara production (MS), considered as single substrates and as mixture according to the produced amounts (54 %-wt sWWTP, 31 %-wt RSC, 13 %-wt MS, plus 2 %-wt food waste from the canteen, FW). Total COD (COD) was 624-1436 g O/kg while soluble COD was 5-23 %-wt of COD. AD tests at 35 °C achieved the following biogas yields: 0.

Deposition fluxes of PCDD/Fs in the area surrounding a steel plant in northwest Italy.

The paper aims at investigating the contribution of a steel plant located in a rural area in northwestern Italy (700,000 tons of steel/year) to the deposition fluxes of Polychorinated Dibenzo-p-dioxins and Polychorinated dibenzofurans (PCDD/PCDFs) at local level through the analysis of sampling data, literature data, and air dispersion model (AERMOD)output data. Total measured deposition fluxes of PCDD/PCDFs in three monitoring stations were consistent with other studies carried out in Italy in urban and suburban areas and in rural European areas; while these were lower than those measured in other European urban/suburban areas or in sites influenced by industrial sources. Furthermore, the measured fluxes were also compared with the pattern of PCDD/Fs in ambient air sampled at the same sites in a previous study.

The role of a steel plant in north-west Italy to the local air concentrations of PCDD/Fs.

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) are ubiquitous contaminants, mainly released into the environment during combustion processes (point sources), but also from other sources (traffic, uncontrolled combustion). This study aims at investigating the contribution of a steel plant in NW Italy (700000tons of steelyear(-1)) to the air concentrations of PCDDs/PCDFs at local level, through the analysis of measured, modelled and literature data. The study was carried out in an area of 600km(2), using air quality data measured by the institutional monitoring network, data obtained from AERMOD simulations and literature data.