Poor sanitation is one of the major hindrances to the global sustainable development goals. The Reinvent the Toilet Challenge of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is set to develop affordable, next-generation sanitary systems that can ensure safe treatment and wide accessibility without compromise on sustainable use of natural resources and the environment. Energy recovery from human excret...

A chemical mass balance (CMB) receptor model using particle-phase organic compounds as tracers is applied to apportion the primary source contributions to fine particulate matter and fine particulate organic carbon concentrations in the southeastern United States to determine the seasonal variability of these concentrations. Source contributions to particles with aerodynamic diameter < or =2.5 ...

Due to increasing energy demand and limited fossil fuels, renewable energy sources have gained in importance. Particulate matter (PM) in general, but also PM from the combustion of wood is known to exert adverse health effects in human. These are often related to specific toxic compounds adsorbed to the PM surface, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), of which some are known human ca...

Fuel blending is a widely used approach in biomass combustion, particularly for feedstocks with low calorific value and high moisture content. In on-site sanitation technologies, fuel blending is proposed as a pre-treatment requirement to reduce moisture levels and improve the physiochemical properties of raw faeces prior to drying. This study investigates the co-combustion performance of wood ...

This study was designed to determine the effects of particle emissions from biofuel combustion in household cooking devices, commonly used in rural India, on surface activity of model lung surfactants using Langmuir monolayers. The effect of wood and dried particles from combustion of cowdung on the surface activity of model lung surfactant dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC), DPPC:PG (phosph...

This study, through an incubation experiment, evaluates the effect that different biomass ashes exert on the extractability of nutrients and some chemical parameters and dehydrogenase activity of a slightly acid soil. Three types of as were selected: two new ashes generated by the dry combustion of olive cake or by gasification of greenhouse vegetable wastes, and a third produced by wood combus...

Occupational exposures to wood dust have been associated with an elevated risk of sinonasal cancer (SNC). Wood dust is recognized as a human carcinogen but the specific cancer causative agent remains unknown. One possible explanation is a co-exposure to; wood dust and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). PAHs could be generated during incomplete combustion of wood due to heat created by use...

A series of source tests was conducted to determine the chemical composition of fine particle emissions from the fireplace combustion of six species of woods grown in the northeastern United States: red maple, northern red oak, paper birch, eastern white pine, eastern hemlock, and balsam fir. Results include fine particle emission rates for total mass, organic and elemental carbon, ionic specie...

Thermal treatment of CCA impregnated waste wood is a way to utilize the energy resource of the wood and at the same time to reduce the volume of the waste. An issue of concern in relation to the thermal treatment is As emission to the air. Meanwhile there is still a matter to cope with when methods to avoid As emission are implemented; the residues with increased concentrations of Cu, Cr and As...

In 2008, the European Union Commission put forward a proposal for a new directive on renewable forms of energy. Each of the member states should increase its share of renewable energies in an effort to boost the total share of the EU from the current 8.5% to 20% by 2020. The level of renewable energy in Finland was 28.5% in 2005, and the national target share of renewable energy by 2020 is 38%....