In 2002, the Biscuit Wildfire burned a portion of the previously established, replicated conifer unthinned and thinned experimental units of the Siskiyou Long-Term Ecosystem Productivity (LTEP) experiment, southwest Oregon. Charcoal C in pre and post-fire O horizon and mineral soil was quantified by physical separation and a peroxide-acid digestion method. The abrupt, short-term fire event caus...

On 1 January 2007, Romania entered the European Union. For that reason Romania must comply with all the EU directives in the field of the management of the environment. In 2007, in Romania, Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) was generally landfilled without pre-treatment and energy valorization absent. Some initiatives are in progress but landfilling is still dominant. The entrance in the EU gave an i...

Commercial transportation fuels are complex mixtures containing hundreds or thousands of chemical components, whose composition has evolved considerably during the past 100 years. In conjunction with concurrent engine advancements, automotive fuel composition has been fine-tuned to balance efficiency and power demands while minimizing emissions. Pollutant emissions from internal combustion engi...

In Central Europe, the utilization of low enthalpy reservoirs for electricity production has not yet fully developed. Reliable technological experience will only be obtained from future projects. Currently, the utilization is still at an experimental stage and the failure of only a single project could easily have dramatic consequences for the continuation of other projects due to limited publi...

We argue that sequestering of carbon waste is inherently more efficient and will probably cost less than using the carbon for biomass burning. The ratio of carbon emitted per unit of primary energy released through combustion, C/E, favors sequestration for fundamental reasons of chemistry and engineering, strongly suggesting a low C/E strategy. This is a more direct way of analysis than assigni...

Alternative gaseous fuels, like syn-gas and bio-gas, are attractive fuels for internal combustion engines due to energy and environmental concerns. Although the worldwide use of alternative gaseous fuels has increased, the knock properties of these fuels are not well understood. The methane number (MN) knock rating technique was selected based on its range and sensitivity. Eight alternative gas...

During the past twenty years, the use of wood has become popular as an alternative to conventional home heating fuels. Part of this movement has been due to uncertainty about the availability of fossil fuels. About ten percent of space heating in urbanized areas of the northern United States is from wood burning, with up to fifty percent in some .smaller, rural towns (42, 63, 75, 85). Wood is o...

The health impacts of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), the most concerning organic pollutants, depend not only on the locations and strengths of emission sources, but also on individual susceptibility. Moreover, trans-boundary transport makes them a global concern. In this study, a comprehensive analysis of the global health impacts of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in ambient ...

Homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) engines are attracting attention as next-generation internal combustion engines mainly because of very low NOx and PM emission potential and excellent thermal efficiency. Particulate emissions from HCCI engines have been usually considered negligible however recent studies suggest that PM number emissions from HCCI engines cannot be neglected. This...

In the present review article focus on highlighting the sources, properties and health risks of carcinogenic PAHs both on human health and environment. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) comprises a broad family of compounds that are also described as semi volatile organic compounds (SVOC). This term refers to the fact that PAHs are distributed between gas and particle phases. In fast budd...