scholarly journals A Human Health Toxicity Assessment of Biogas Engines Regulated and Unregulated Emissions

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (20) ◽  
pp. 7048
Author(s):  
Alarico Macor ◽  
Alberto Benato
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Internal Combustion Engines ◽  
Impact Analysis ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Human Health Damage ◽  
Dioxins And Furans ◽  
Health Damage ◽  
Unregulated Emissions ◽  
Biogas Engines

The aim of the work is to evaluate the damage to human health arising from emissions of in-operation internal combustion engines fed by biogas. The need of including also unregulated emissions like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), aldehydes and dioxins and furans is twofold: (i) to cover the lack in biogas engine emissions measurements and (ii) to complete the picture on biogas harmfulness to human health by identifying the substances with the highest impact. To this purpose, an experimental campaign is conducted on six biogas engines and one fed by natural gas all characterised by an electric power of 999 kWel. Collected data are used to perform an impact analysis on human health combining the Health Impact Assessment and the Risk Assessment. Measurements show that PAHs, aldehydes and diossin and furans are almost always below the detection limit, in both biogas and natural gas exhausts. The carcinogenic risk analysis of PAHs for the two fuels established their substantial equivalence. The analysis of equivalent toxicity of dioxins and furans reveals that biogas is, on average, 10 times more toxic than natural gas. Among regulated emissions, NOx in the biogas engines exhausts are three times higher than those of natural gas. They are the main contributors to human health damage, with approximately 90% of the total. SOx ranks second and accounts for about 6% of the total damage. Therefore, (i) the contribution to human health damage of unregulated emissions is limited compared to the damage from unregulated emissions, (ii) the damage per unit of electricity of biogas engines exhausts is about three times higher than that of natural gas and it is directly linked to NOx, (iii) obtaining a good estimation of the human health damage from both biogas and natural gas engines emissions is enough of a reason to consider NOx and SOx.

scholarly journals Costs to Reduce the Human Health Toxicity of Biogas Engine Emissions

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (19) ◽  
pp. 6360
Author(s):  
Alberto Benato ◽  
Alarico Macor
Keyword(s):  
Human Health ◽  
Internal Combustion Engines ◽  
Impact Analysis ◽  
Combustion Engine ◽  
Combustion Process ◽  
Internal Combustion ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Disability Adjusted Life ◽  
The Impact

The anaerobic digestion of biodegradable substrates and waste is a well-known process that can be used worldwide to produce a renewable fuel called biogas. At the time of writing, the most widespread way of using biogas is its direct usage in combined heat and power internal combustion engines (CHP-ICEs) to generate electricity and heat. However, the combustion process generates emissions, which in turn have an impact on human health. Therefore, there is a need to: (i) measure the ICE emissions (both regulated and unregulated), (ii) compute the impact on human health, (iii) identify the substances with the highest impact and (iv) calculate the avoided damage to human health per Euro of investment in technology able to abate the specific type of pollutant. To this end, the authors conducted an experimental campaign and selected as a test case a 999 kWel biogas internal combustion engine. Then, the collected data, which included both regulated and unregulated emissions, were used to calculate the harmfulness to human health and identify the more impactful compounds. Thus, combining the results of the impact analysis on human health and the outcomes of a market analysis, the avoided damage to human health per Euro of investment in an abatement technology was computed. In this manner, a single parameter, expressed in DALY -1, provided clear information on the costs to reduce each disability-adjusted life year (DALY). The impact analysis on human health, which was performed using the Health Impact Assessment, showed that NOx was the main contributor to damage to human health (approximately 91% of the total), followed by SOx (6.5%), volatile organic compounds (1.4%) and CO (0.7%). Starting from these outcomes, the performed investigation showed that the technology that guarantees the maximum damage reduction per unit of cost is the denitrification system or the oxidizing converter, depending on whether the considered plant is already in-operation or newly built. This is an unexpected conclusion considering that the most impacting emission is the NOx.

scholarly journals Regulated Emissions of Biogas Engines—On Site Experimental Measurements and Damage Assessment on Human Health

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 1044 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alarico Macor ◽  
Alberto Benato
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Health Impact Assessment ◽  
Combustion Products ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Natural Gas Engines ◽  
Experimental Campaign ◽  
Biogas Plants ◽  
Design Power ◽  
Biogas Engines

Despite biogas renewability, it is mandatory to experimentally assess its combustion products in order to measure their pollutants content. To this purpose, the Authors selected six in-operation biogas plants fed by different substrates and perform an on-site experimental campaign for measuring both biogas and engines exhausts composition. Firstly, biogas measured compositions are compared among them and with data available in literature. Then, biogas engines’ exhaust compositions are compared among them, with data available in literature and with measurements obtained from an engine characterised by the same design power but fuelled with natural gas. Finally, the Health Impact Assessment analysis is used to estimate the damage on human health caused by both biogas and natural gas engines emissions. Results show that biogas causes a damage on human health three times higher than the natural gas one. But, this approach does not consider biogas renewability. So, to include this important aspect, also an analysis which considers Global Warming categories is carried out. Results highlight that natural gas is twice harmful than biogas.

scholarly journals Assessing local impacts of water use on human health: evaluation of water footprint models in the Province Punjab, Pakistan

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Mikosch ◽  
Markus Berger ◽  
Elena Huber ◽  
Matthias Finkbeiner
Keyword(s):  
Human Health ◽  
Water Use ◽  
Water Deprivation ◽  
Water Footprint ◽  
Local Scale ◽  
Water Supply Systems ◽  
Domestic Water ◽  
Income Loss ◽  
Human Health Damage ◽  
Health Damage

Abstract Purpose The water footprint (WF) method is widely applied to quantify water use along the life cycle of products and organizations and to evaluate the resulting impacts on human health. This study analyzes the cause-effect chains for the human health damage related to the water use on a local scale in the Province Punjab of Pakistan, evaluates their consistency with existing WF models, and provides recommendations for future model development. Method Locally occurring cause-effect chains are analyzed based on site observations in Punjab and a literature review. Then, existing WF models are compared to the findings in the study area including their comprehensiveness (covered cause-effect chains), relevance (contribution of the modeled cause-effect chain to the total health damage), and representativeness (correspondence with the local cause-effect chain). Finally, recommendations for the development of new characterization models describing the local cause-effect chains are provided. Results and discussion The cause-effect chains for the agricultural water deprivation include malnutrition due to reduced food availability and income loss as well as diseases resulting from the use of wastewater for irrigation, out of which only the first one is addressed by existing WF models. The cause-effect chain for the infectious diseases due to domestic water deprivation is associated primarily with the absence of water supply systems, while the linkage to the water consumption of a product system was not identified. The cause-effect chains related to the water pollution include the exposure via agricultural products, fish, and drinking water, all of which are reflected in existing impact assessment models. Including the groundwater compartment may increase the relevance of the model for the study area. Conclusions Most cause-effect chains identified on the local scale are consistent with existing WF models. Modeling currently missing cause-effect chains for the impacts related to the income loss and wastewater usage for irrigation can enhance the assessment of the human health damage in water footprinting.

scholarly journals Human Health Damage Modelling in Life Cycle Assessment: A Valuable Addition to the Evaluation of Medical Interventions?

2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. A731
Author(s):  
S Debaveye ◽  
W De Soete ◽  
S De Meester ◽  
D Vandijck ◽  
B Heirman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Medical Interventions ◽  
Valuable Addition ◽  
Damage Modelling ◽  
Human Health Damage ◽  
Health Damage

Versatile polymer-based strategies for antibacterial drug delivery systems and antibacterial coatings

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kexin You ◽  
Bin Gao ◽  
Meiyu Wang ◽  
Xiaoyu Wang ◽  
Kingsley Chidiebere Okoro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drug Delivery ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Bacterial Infections ◽  
Drug Delivery Systems ◽  
Bacterial Resistance ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Antibacterial Drug ◽  
Antibacterial Materials ◽  
Human Health Damage ◽  
Health Damage

Human health damage and economic losses due to bacterial infections are very serious worldwide. Excessive use of antibiotics has caused an increase in bacterial resistance. Fortunately, various non-antibiotic antibacterial materials...

Development of human health damage factors for tropospheric ozone considering transboundary transport on a global scale

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 2339-2348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Longlong Tang ◽  
Tatsuya Nagashima ◽  
Kouichi Hasegawa ◽  
Toshimasa Ohara ◽  
Kengo Sudo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Health ◽  
Tropospheric Ozone ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Human Health Damage ◽  
Health Damage ◽  
Transboundary Transport

scholarly journals The Risk of Human Health Damage when Consuming Palm Oil

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 275-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Antipova ◽  
◽  
T. Кomisova ◽  
A. Sak
Keyword(s):  
Human Health ◽  
Palm Oil ◽  
Human Health Damage ◽  
Health Damage
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document