Combination of product environmental footprint method and eco-design process according to ISO 14006: The case of an Italian vinery.

To support the sustainable development of the primary sector, in line with green new deals emerging worldwide, eco-design of new agri-food products is a priority. The wine industry, due to its growing market, has matured the need to develop an approach for understanding the environmental impacts of its products and to develop strategies to reduce such impacts in a life cycle perspective. This study has a two-fold aim: presenting the development of a methodological proposal for the use of PEF and PEF-CR in the eco-design of wine products; testing its applicability in a case study in the wine sector. The methodological proposal considered the combination of ISO 14006 and PEF methods into a procedure consisting of 8 steps. The proposal was successfully applied in the case of an Italian vinery committed to develop a new red wine product with improved performance if compared to its standard red wine production. The study occurred between 2018 and 2020, collecting primary data related to vineyards and vinery operations. Results proved that PEF method and PEF-CR can be effectively used in the eco-design of new wine products with reduced environmental impacts. Moreover, the study confirmed that PEF method can be used within the framework of ISO 14006. The study on standard red wine production confirmed that the fuel and pesticide consumption in the vineyard operation are environmental hotspots. To reduce these impacts, a new selection of Merlot Khorus grapes was made by the Italian vinery. Results of the eco-designed proved that the new product scored a reduction in the potential environmental impacts.

Life cycle assessment applied to waste management in Italy: A mini-review of characteristics and methodological perspectives for local assessment.

Life cycle assessment (LCA) and related tools are commonly used to evaluate the potential environmental impacts of waste treatment scenarios. This manuscript presents a mini-review of studies published over the last 10 years in Italy and aims to investigate how life cycle thinking tools are applied to assess the environmental sustainability of local-level waste policies. Results reveal that different waste flows, technologies and policies have been investigated independently and in varying detail. Review suggests that boundary selection significantly affects LCA results; integration of different waste systems is therefore crucial to avoid spatial or temporal shifts of environmental impacts. Moreover, the description of methodological characteristics, limitations and transversal aspects of Italian waste management studies allows various stakeholders to assess the reliability of past and future research for waste policy planning and rebound effects prevention. This review also highlights the need to define minimum requirements of transparency and ease of reporting of the studies to private and public stakeholders. Finally, the paper investigates whether using both the organisational LCA and the life cycle sustainability approach for the overall waste management process may be useful to develop a standard method to address multi-functionalities and multiple sites.

Life Cycle Assessment of Polyurethane Foams from Polyols Obtained through Chemical Recycling.

In this research, the results of the life cycle assessment of polyurethane (PUR) foams with different recycled polyol contents are presented. A methodological framework implementing laboratory activities directly into the life cycle assessment has been developed. Laboratory activities made the primary data related to the recycled polyol production available through the glycolysis of polyurethane scraps and the subsequent production and characterization of the foams. Five different formulations were analyzed with glycolyzed polyol content ranging from 0 to 100%. A comprehensive set of impact categories was considered. To ensure the robustness of the results, the influence of two different end-of-life allocation approaches was investigated, and the model was subjected to sensitivity and uncertainty analyses. Formulations with recycled content of 50 and 75% scored better environmental impacts compared to others. The main contributions to the overall impact resulted to be related to the production of isocyanate and virgin polyol. Physical characteristics such as density and thermal conductivity emerged as the main variables to be considered to minimize the overall environmental impacts of PUR foams.

Life Cycle Assessment Framework To Support the Design of Biobased Rigid Polyurethane Foams.

A methodological framework implementing laboratory activities and life cycle assessment is presented and applied to determine which parameters should be considered to develop biobased rigid polyurethane foams for thermal insulation with improved environmental performances when compared to their fossil counterparts. The framework was applied to six partially biobased (produced from bio-based polyols obtained from azelaic acid and/or lignin) and one fossil-based formulations. A comprehensive set of impact assessment categories was investigated including uncertainty and sensitivity analysis. Results proved that physical characteristics such as thermal conductivity and density are the most important variable to be optimized to guarantee better environmental performances of biobased polyurethane rigid foams for thermal insulation. Care should be taken with reference to ozone depletion potential, marine eutrophication, and abiotic depletion potential because of the uncertainty related to their results. The methylene diphenyl diisocyanate and foam production process were identified as the major sources of impacts. Overall environmental superiority of biobased polyurethanes cannot always be claimed with respect to their fossil counterpart.

Determining the life cycle energy efficiency of six biofuel systems in China: a Data Envelopment Analysis.

This aim of this study was to use Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to assess the life cycle energy efficiency of six biofuels in China. DEA can differentiate efficient and non-efficient scenarios, and it can identify wasteful energy losses in biofuel production. More specifically, the study has examined the efficiency of six approaches for bioethanol production involving a sample of wheat, corn, cassava, and sweet potatoes as feedstocks and "old," "new," "wet," and "dry" processes. For each of these six bioethanol production pathways, the users can determine energy inputs such as the embodied energy for seed, machinery, fertilizer, diesel, chemicals and primary energy utilized for manufacturing, and outputs such as the energy content of the bioethanol and byproducts. The results indicate that DEA is a novel and feasible method for finding efficient bioethanol production scenarios and suggest that sweet potatoes may be the most energy-efficient form of ethanol production for China.

Design and modeling of sustainable bioethanol supply chain by minimizing the total ecological footprint in life cycle perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a model for designing the most sustainable bioethanol supply chain. Taking into consideration of the possibility of multiple-feedstock, multiple transportation modes, multiple alternative technologies, multiple transport patterns and multiple waste disposal manners in bioethanol systems, this study developed a model for designing the most sustainable bioethanol supply chain by minimizing the total ecological footprint under some prerequisite constraints including satisfying the goal of the stakeholders', the limitation of resources and energy, the capacity of warehouses, the market demand and some technological constraints. And an illustrative case of multiple-feedstock bioethanol system has been studied by the proposed method, and a global best solution by which the total ecological footprint is the minimal has been obtained.

Emergy analysis and sustainability efficiency analysis of different crop-based biodiesel in life cycle perspective.

Biodiesel as a promising alternative energy resource has been a hot spot in chemical engineering nowadays, but there is also an argument about the sustainability of biodiesel. In order to analyze the sustainability of biodiesel production systems and select the most sustainable scenario, various kinds of crop-based biodiesel including soybean-, rapeseed-, sunflower-, jatropha- and palm-based biodiesel production options are studied by emergy analysis; soybean-based scenario is recognized as the most sustainable scenario that should be chosen for further study in China. DEA method is used to evaluate the sustainability efficiencies of these options, and the biodiesel production systems based on soybean, sunflower, and palm are considered as DEA efficient, whereas rapeseed-based and jatropha-based scenarios are needed to be improved, and the improved methods have also been specified.

Quality management of Body Donation Program at the University of Padova.

Quality management improvement has become a recent focus of attention in medical education. The program for the donation of bodies and body parts (Body Donation Program) at the University of Padova has recently been subjected to a global quality management standard, the ISO 9001:2008 certification. The aim of the present work is to show how the above standard is useful in enhancing the efficiency of body donation procedures and the quality and output of medical education. The program is managed by means of the following interlinked procedures: the collection of body donations, death certificates, data, and body parts from living donors; the transportation and identification of cadavers; the management of bodies, body parts, equipment, instruments, purchasing of necessary materials, and setting up anatomical training sessions; the management of preventive and corrective actions; the management of documents and registration; the management of internal and external quality audits; and the review of outcomes and improvement planning. Monitoring indicators are identified in the numbers of donors and of donated body parts per year, education sessions, and satisfaction of learners and donors, as evaluated by questionnaires. The process management approach, the integrated involvement of medical, technical, and administrative staff in defining procedures, and the application of monitoring indicators allow quality improvement in all aspects of the Body Donation Program.

A model of quality assurance and quality improvement for post-graduate medical education in Europe.

BACKGROUND: The issue of quality assurance (QA) and quality improvement (QI), being the quality of medical education intimately related to the quality of the health care, is becoming of paramount importance worldwide. AIM: To describe a model of implementing a system for internal QA and QI within a post-graduate paediatric training programme based on the ISO 9001:2000 standard. METHODS: For the ISO 9001:2000 standard, the curriculum was managed as a series of interrelated processes and their level of function was monitored by ad hoc elaborated objective indicators. RESULTS: The training programme was fragmented in 19 interlinked processes, 15 related procedures and 24 working instructions. All these materials, along with the quality policy, the mission, the strategies and the values were made publicly available. Based on the measurable indicators developed to monitor some of the processes, areas of weakness of the system were objectively identified and consequently QI actions implemented. The appropriateness of all this allowed the programme to finally achieve an official ISO 9000:2001 certification. CONCLUSIONS: The application of the ISO 9001:2000 standard served to develop an internal QA and QI system and to meet most of the standards developed for QA in higher and medical education.