Abstract The aim of this study was to increase the knowledge of environmental impact associated with producing fabrics for hotel textile services. The project was carried out in two parts: studies on hotel textiles and on textile services in three major Scandinavian laundering companies. This paper presents the results of the hotel textile study. The environmental impact was studied by applying the main principles of the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. Life-cycle assessments provide useful information on the quantities of energy and resources consumed and emissions associated with production systems. The impact assessment is still under development but some scenarios have been made to describe possible local, regional and global environmental consequences of the system under study. The inventory calculations proved that cotton fibre production consumes about 40% less energy than polyester fibre production. Cotton growing requires, however, huge amounts of water: irrigated amounts vary from 7 to 29 tons per kg of raw cotton fibres. Pesticides and fertilizers used in traditional cotton cultivation have ecotoxic effects in contrast to organic cotton cultivation, where natural alternatives to agrochemicals are used. It could also be concluded that 50/50 CO/PES sheets in hotel use have fewer environmental impacts than 100% CO sheets. This is due to the higher durability as well as lower laundering energy requirements of 50/50 CO/PES sheets.

Life Cycle Assessment - Theory and Practice

Plant biomass are woody and non-wood materials (e.g., oil palm, bamboo, rattan, bagasse, and kenaf) and are abundant and renewable resource. Unfortunately, the heavy reliance on this resource is a threat to forest ecosystems and a recipe for accelerated land resource degradation. Due to the increasing scarcity of wood resources, many rural communities have shifted to utilization of crop residues for many different applications. The non-wood biomass is readily available, environmental friendly, and technologically suitable, and therefore, an excellent raw material for the future. The non-wood materials like bamboo, rattan, oil palm, and bagasse have superior properties and durability, which can be further prolonged by the modifi cation treatment. The modifi cation treatments increase the performance of the non-wood and could make it suitable for applications in many fi elds ranging from construction industry to automotive industry. This chapter deals with the properties improvement techniques of the selected non-wood biomasses and evaluates its applications for various purposes. The new developments dealing with the improvement of non-wood properties have also been presented in the chapter. The performance of non-wood biomass materials has been compared to the wood-based materials. Recent studies pertaining to the above topics have also been cited. Finally, the advanced applications of the improved non-wood biomasses have been highlighted.

Biomass and bioenergy

Jatropha curcas L. (Jatropha) is a potential biodiesel crop that can be cultivated on marginal land because of its strong tolerance to drought and low soil nutrient content. However, seed yield remains low. To enhance the commercial viability and green index of Jatropha biofuel, a systemic and coordinated approach must be adopted to improve seed oil and biomass productivity. Here, we present our investigations on the Jatropha-associated nitrogen-fixing bacteria with an aim to understand and exploit the unique biology of this plant from the perspective of plant–microbe interactions. An analysis of 1017 endophytic bacterial isolates derived from different parts of Jatropha revealed that diazotrophs were abundant and diversely distributed into five classes belonging to α, β, γ-Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria and Firmicutes. Methylobacterium species accounted for 69.1 % of endophytic bacterial isolates in leaves and surprisingly, 30.2 % which were able to fix nitrogen that inhabit in leaves. Among the Methylobacterium isolates, strain L2-4 was characterized in detail. Phylogenetically, strain L2-4 is closely related to M. radiotolerans and showed strong molybdenum-iron dependent acetylene reduction (AR) activity in vitro and in planta. Foliar spray of L2-4 led to successful colonization on both leaf surface and in internal tissues of systemic leaves and significantly improved plant height, leaf number, chlorophyll content and stem volume. Importantly, seed production was improved by 222.2 and 96.3 % in plants potted in sterilized and non-sterilized soil, respectively. Seed yield increase was associated with an increase in female–male flower ratio. The ability of Methylobacterium to fix nitrogen and colonize leaf tissues serves as an important trait for Jatropha. This bacteria–plant interaction may significantly contribute to Jatropha’s tolerance to low soil nutrient content. Strain L2-4 opens a new possibility to improve plant’s nitrogen supply from the leaves and may be exploited to significantly improve the productivity and Green Index of Jatropha biofuel.

/pdf/leaf-residing-methylobacterium-species-fix-nitrogen-and-2rlkntaf6o.pdf

Leaf-residing Methylobacterium species fix nitrogen and promote biomass and seed production in Jatropha curcas.

Two jatropha business models are compared on seven key sustainability areas of concern, which are operationalized into various quantitative and qualitative indicators. The assessment is based on two Tanzanian real-life cases, a wide range of primary and secondary sources are used. Results indicate that both the decentralized smallholder model and the centralized plantation model can lead to positive socio-economic and environmental impacts, but substantial differences are also apparent. The smallholder model scores better on land rights, GHG balance and biodiversity and it reaches more people, whereas the plantation model creates more employment and higher (local prosperity) benefits for smaller numbers of people, and could lead to higher yields. Negative impacts of the smallholder model are minimal, whereas the plantation model could lead to decreased food security, loss of land rights and biodiversity. This could permanently affect the livelihood situation of the local population, but this is not inevitable as there is considerable scope for implementing mitigating policies. The way in which a particular model is implemented in practice, its management and company values, can have a major influence. However, the biggest hurdle towards achieving sustained positive societal impacts in both models is their marginal profitability at current yields, costs and prices. Still, these results are highly sensitive to uncertain yields and oil prices. Better outcomes in the future are therefore not foreclosed. A reliable sustainability assessment requires many location-specific and operational company data. More quantitative indicators are ideally required to improve assessment of social impacts and effects on environment. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

/pdf/comparative-analysis-of-key-socio-economic-and-environmental-3mnxe0rrv1.pdf

Comparative analysis of key socio-economic and environmental impacts of smallholder and plantation based jatropha biofuel production systems in Tanzania

Biofuel development was mainly promoted in several parts of Africa as an energy security or rural development strategy. Jatropha was the biofuel feedstock that received the most interest across Africa from investors. However, jatropha expansion gave rise to a number of contested issues, which produced conflicts, winners, and losers. Access to land was at the heart of several of these conflicts. Though some success stories of individual jatropha projects have been documented, the overwhelming majority of these projects in Africa have either collapsed or faced significant difficulties. Understanding the reasons behind the failure of the jatropha sector is an important gap in the academic literature, while the lessons learnt from failed projects could inform future policies and practices. This literature review synthesizes the key drivers of failure of the jatropha sector in Ghana as identified in the literature, and complemented through site visits and expert interviews. It identifies a number of reasons behind the failure of individual jatropha projects such as poor business planning, institutional barriers, limited community participation, unfair compensation practices, obstacles posed by civil society and unconstructive involvement of chiefs. The findings indicate the systemic nature of these problems as they often worked synergistically to catalyse the collapse of many jatropha projects in Ghana. Re-vitalising the biofuel, and especially the jatropha, industry is virtually impossible given the current challenges. This would require a renewed political interest in Ghana particularly to deal with the deficits of the land administration institutions.

/pdf/biofuel-development-in-ghana-policies-of-expansion-and-4gdxqr7yv6.pdf

Biofuel development in Ghana: policies of expansion and drivers of failure in the jatropha sector

Global greenhouse gas implications of land conversion to biofuel crop cultivation in arid and semi-arid lands - Lessons learned from Jatropha

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Global greenhouse gas implications of land conversion to biofuel crop cultivation in arid and semi-arid lands - Lessons learned from Jatropha