Refine
Institute
Keywords
- Biogas (2)
- Biogasproduktion (1)
- Built environment (1)
- Food Waste Management (1)
- Kompost (1)
- Latin America (1)
- Makroalgen (1)
- Mexico (1)
- People Approach (1)
- Pflanzenkohle (1)
A more careful consideration of food waste is needed for planning the urban environment. The research signals links between the organization of individuals, the built environment and food waste management through a study conducted in Mexico. It recognizes the different scales within which solid waste management operates, explores food waste production at household levels, and investigates the urban circumstances that influence its management. This is based on the idea that sustainable food waste management in cities requires a constellation of processes through which a ‘people centered’ approach offers added value to technical and biological facts. This distinction addresses how urban systems react to waste and what behavioral and structural factors affect current sanitary practices in Mexico. Food waste is a resource-demanding item, which makes for a considerable amount of refuse being disposed of in landfills in developing cities. The existing data shortage on waste generation at household levels debilitates implementation strategies and there is a need for more contextual knowledge associated with waste. The evidence-based study includes an explorative phase on the culture of waste management and a more in-depth examination of domestic waste composition. Mixed data collection tools including a household based survey, a food waste diary and weighing recording system were developed to enquire into the daily practices of waste disposal in households. The contrasting urban environment of Mexico City Metropolitan Area holds indistinctive boundaries between the core and the periphery, which hinder the implementation of integrated environmental plans. External determinants are different modes of urban transformation and internal determinants are building features and their consolidation processes. At the household level, less and more affluents groups responded differently to external environmental stressors. A targeted planning proposition is required for each group. Local alternative waste management is more likely to be implement in less affluent contexts. Further, more effective demand-driven service delivery implies better integration between the formal and informal sectors. The results show that efforts toward securing long-term changes in Mexico and other cities with similar circumstances require creating synergy between education, building consolidation, local infrastructure and social engagement.
In the early 2000s the pre-Columbian, anthropologically produced black soil in the Amazon basin, „Terra Preta de Índio“, received greater scientific attention. Compared to the surrounding poor soils, this very fertile anthrosol contains significantly higher levels of microorganisms and nutrients. The reason for this was determined to be the likewise high levels of charred biomass. This stable carbon, now called biochar, has since been intensively examined as an option to improve soil and to store carbon.
Although the creation of Terra Preta was most likely based on a purposeful utilization of organic residues from households and gardens, biochar plays no role in the current recycling of bio-waste. However, the implementation of biochar could lead to many improvements. Results from agricultural research suggest that not only the yield capacity of soils can be increased but also the process performance of composting and biogas plants.
The latter is especially relevant since currently about 40% of all collected bio-waste in Germany is recycled in an energy-material cascade consisting of anaerobic digestion and composting. The use of biochar in this cascade could then sequentially increase biogas yields, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and improve compost quality.
To realize the aforementioned advantages, the concept of biochar has to be integrated into the existing bio-waste cascade as practically as possible. This was done by the development of a theoretical scenario that allowed the analysis of energy and material flows to evaluate biochar’s recycling performance. Furthermore, the legal and economic framework were examined to assess the feasibility of the extended cascade and to suggest possible adjustments to the frameworks.
Marine Makroalgen besitzen vielversprechende Eigenschaften und Inhaltsstoffe für die Verwendung als Energieträger, Nahrungsmittel oder als Ausgangsstoff für Pharmazeutika. Dass die Quantität und Qualität der in natürlicher Umgebung wachsenden Makroalgen schwankt, reduziert jedoch deren Verwertbarkeit und erschwert die Erschließung hochpreisiger Marktsegmente. Zudem ist eine Ausweitung der Zucht in marinen und küstennahen Aquakulturen in Europa gegenwärtig wenig aussichtsreich, da vielversprechende Areale bereits zum Fischfang oder als Erholungs- bzw. Naturschutzgebiete ausgewiesen sind. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wird demzufolge ein geschlossenes Photobioreaktorsystem zur Makroalgenkultivierung entwickelt, welches eine umfassende Kontrolle der abiotischen Kultivierungsparameter und eine effektive Aufbereitung des Kulturmediums vorsieht, um eine standortunabhängige Algenproduktion zu ermöglichen. Zur Bilanzierung des Gesamtkonzeptes einer Kultivierung und Verwertung (stofflich oder energetisch) werden die spezifischen Wachstumsraten und Methanbildungspotentiale der Algenarten Ulva intestinalis, Fucus vesiculosus und Palmaria palmata in praktischen Versuchen ermittelt.
Im Ergebnis wird für den gegenwärtigen Entwicklungsstand der Kultivierungsanlage eine positive Bilanz für die stoffliche Verwertung der Algenart Ulva intestinalis und eine negative Bilanz für die energetische Verwertung aller untersuchten Algenarten erzielt. Wird ein Optimalszenario betrachtet, indem die Besatzdichten und Wachstumsraten der Algen in der Zucht erhöht werden, bleibt die Energiebilanz negativ. Allerdings summieren sich die finanzielle Einnahmen durch einen Verkauf der Algen als Produkt auf jährlich 460.869€ für Ulva intestinalis, 4.010€ für Fucus vesiculosus und 16.913€ für Palmaria palmata. Im Ergebnis ist insbesondere eine stoffliche Verwertung der gezüchteten Grünalge Ulva intestinalis anzustreben und die Produktivität der Zuchtanlage im Sinne des Optimalszenarios zu steigern.