Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2022"
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- Economia Circular no Setor da Água e Saneamento em Portugal: Situação Atual e Linhas de Atuação FuturaPublication . Pereira, Alda; Pedroso, Álvaro; Santos, Ana; Eusébio, António; Taneco, Bernardo; Cavaco, Carla; Varandas, Clara; Sousa Rocha, Cristina; Ferraz, Elza; Ferreira, Fernando; Saraiva, Helena; Costa, Pedro; Martins, António; Jorge, Sandra; Silva, Sandra; Silva, Susana; Fernandes, ZéliaRESUMO: A economia circular, nos últimos anos, tem ocupado um espaço recorrente na agenda Europeia e Nacional. O aumento populacional e a consequente pressão sobre os recursos naturais têm vindo a evidenciar a necessidade urgente de mudar profundamente o paradigma atual de economia linear, tornando-se fundamental a adoção de um novo modelo de economia circular, baseado na redução, reutilização, recuparação, reciclagem e valorização de materiais, produtos, serviços e energia.
- Qualitative Assessment Methodology for Positive Energy District Planning GuidelinesPublication . Neumann, Hans-Martin; Garayo, Sergio Díaz; Gaitani, Niki; Vettorato, Daniele; Aelenei, Laura Elena; Borsboom, Judith; Etminan, Ghazal; Kozlowska, Anna; Reda, Francesco; Rose, Jørgen; Tuominen, PekkaABSTRACT: Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) have recently become an important concept for urban development. However, the number of publications on the transfer of the PED concept to practice is still very limited. This conference paper presents an analysis of the current state of the art in guidelines regarding the planning and implementation of PEDs based on the analysis of 25 PED guidelines reported by anonymous contributors, collaborating in the development of the IEA EBC Annex 83 activities. From this analysis, it becomes clear that nearly all documents including were produced in the period 2018–2020. Most guidelines address local and/or regional governments, focusing predominantly on urban development and planning processes or technological solutions, mostly at the scale level of the district or city, and less often at building block or individual building level. Although some of the documents are journal papers with a very narrow view on specific technological design or implementation aspects, seven guidelines can provide city administrations, urban stakeholders, solution providers and research with overall information on and suggestions for the process of planning, implementing, monitoring and evaluation of PEDs, and a description of the potential impact of PEDs. They result of the analysis will serve as baseline for the future work within IEA Annex 83, in particular for drafting IEA Annex 83 guidelines for the planning and implementation of PEDs.
- Remote sensing applied to litho-structural and regolith mapping of the SW of Angola (PLANAGEO Project)Publication . Gumiel, J.C.; López-Bahut, T.; Martín-Banda, Raquel; Quental, LídiaABSTRACT: IGEO (Geological Institute of Angola) has developed the sosubprograms was focused on the remote sensing survey of the country. The main objective of the study is the use of satellite Earth Observation data in order to support preliminary geological and regolith mapping. This allows us to obtain a first approximation to cartography 1:250.000. Litho-structural and regolith maps are elaborated over eight blocks, covering one-third of the country area and including different geological contexts.
- Definitions of Positive Energy Districts: A Review of the Status Quo and ChallengesPublication . Albert-Seifried, Vicky; Murauskaite, Lina; Massa, Gilda; Aelenei, Laura Elena; Baer, Daniela; Krangsas, Savis Gohari; Alpagut, Beril; Mutule, Anna; Pokorny, Nikola; Vandevyvere, HanABSTRACT: This paper presents an overview of PED definitions used in five prominent EU programmes and nine PED-relevant projects across Europe. By drawing similarities and finding discrepancies between them, the paper aims to identify the gaps and challenges in existing work. Through systematic comparison, the paper recognises common traces and differences between existing definitions. The main challenges include the definition of PED boundaries, the method for calculating energy balance, the scope of non-energy matters and the assessment of qualitative requirements. As the PED definitions are to be applied to locations with considerably different local contexts, it would be sensible to develop PED definitions in the form of an adaptive framework. This review marks the start of a quest for a universal framework of PED definitions that addresses the existing challenges. The goal is to provide the evidence base for policymakers and other relevant stakeholders in strengthening the PED concept and ease its implementation.
- Challenges and opportunities of decarbonization for the economic recovery post-pandemic: The question of directionality in innovation policiesPublication . Bento, Nuno; Fontes, Margarida; Barbosa, Juliana; Mamede, Ricardo PaesABSTRACT: Countries face a double challenge of unprecedented scale consisting in drastically reducing carbon emissions in the time of a generation, while recovering the economy from the worst pandemic crisis in a century. Innovation is key in the response to this double challenge. Innovation policies are increasingly directed at achieving both goals, as governments seek opportunities for transforming the economic structure along with decarbonization. We raise the question of the effect of the direction in the success of the policies for the sustainability transition to achieve the economic transformation. We start by analyzing the processes of change in the economic structure. We identify three possible strategies of transformation: decarbonization, dematerialization and digitalization. Then we compare the evolution of the economic complexity of Portugal, which aspires to transform its economy, with that of three countries that are respectively reference in each one of the three strategies: Denmark, The Netherlands, and Ireland. Successful strategies evidence specialization in products that involve extensive and sophisticated knowledge, produced with high connectivity to other activities and with low carbon footprint. Based on these results and informed by the theory, we propose a set of conditions—related to the promotion of connectivity to growing sectors, high social return technologies and variety—that need to be aligned in the direction of the policies in order to increase their potential for transformative change.
- Trailing Capelo and Ivens 2nd African journey, through their geological samplesPublication . Brandão, José Manuel Moraes Vale; Soares, S.
- Production of Hemicellulosic Sugars from Residual Lignocellulosic Biomass in an Integrated Small-Scale Biorefinery: Techno-Economic and Life Cycle AssessmentsPublication . Lopes, Tiago; Duarte, Luís C.; Carvalheiro, Florbela; Cardona, Carlos A.; Gírio, FranciscoABSTRACT: Biorefineries design, as for other industries, usually target the economy of scale approach, maximizing processing capacities to achieve economic viability. However, the installation of large-scale biorefineries has some drawbacks, namely their high capital costs and the difficulty to assure a proper supply of biomass at regional level. Small-scale, self-sustainable, biorefineries can solve several of the challenges of their larger competitors and are also reported to expand environmental and social benefits, but several hurdles for their deployment still exist. This chapter describes a methodology for the implementation of an integrated small-scale self-sustainable biorefinery in a rural area, based on a design that takes advantage of the synergies of processing two types of feedstock (corn stover and swine manure). A detailed explanation for the process selection by performing a heuristic analysis, process simulation, mass and energy balances alongside with the techno-economic assessment of the biorefinery is provided. The full life cycle assessment (LCA) of producing xylo-oligosaccharides (XOS) and ethanol from lignocellulosic residues, i.e. corn stover, under a biorefinery concept to be located in Portugal is also assessed.
- D-lactic acid production from hydrothermally pretreated, alkali delignified and enzymatically saccharified rockrose with the metabolic engineered Escherichia coli strain JU15Publication . Fernandes, M. C.; Alves Ferreira Caturra, Júnia Aparecida; Duarte, Luís C.; Pereira, Helena; Carvalheiro, Florbela; Martinez, AlfredoABSTRACT: Rockrose lignocellulosic residues (RR) were selectively fractionated for hemicellulose separation using autohydrolysis, followed by an alkaline treatment to solubilize the lignin. The cellulose-enriched solids were used to study the effect of solid loading (SL: 2-10%) and enzyme dosage (ED: 6.34-23.66 FPU/g dry biomass) on saccharification using a Doehlert experimental design, followed by fermentation with the metabolic engineered Escherichia coli strain JU15 to produce D-lactic acid (DLA). Pretreatment increased glucan content and enzymatic digestibility up to 84%. A significant positive effect of SL and ED was found for glucose production, but SL negatively impacted glucose yield. DLA concentrations and productivity varied from 8.85 to 32.98 g/L and 1.11 to 2.17 g/(Lh), respectively. Overall process efficiency strongly depended on saccharification yield and varied from 33 to 71%. These results indicate that sequential autohydrolysis, delignification, and fermentation of RR may be a potential relevant strategy for D-lactic production in the biorefinery framework.
- Mortars from the Palace of Knossos in Crete, Greece: A Multi-Analytical ApproachPublication . Carvalho, Fernanda; Sousa, Pedro; Leal, Nuno; Simão, J.; Kavoulaki, Elissavet; Lima, M.M.R.A.; Silva, Teresa; Águas, Hugo; Padeletti, GiuseppinaABSTRACT: The study of building materials constituting cultural heritage is fundamental to understand their characteristics and predict their behavior. When considering materials from archaeological sites, their characterization can provide not only relevant information for a broader understanding of the site and its importance and significance but can also increase knowledge about ancient materials and their performance. The Palace of Knossos is a very important archaeological site in the European history context, and its preservation benefits from the characterization of the constituent materials. Samples of mortars from this monument were collected under the scope of the H2020 HERACLES project, where a multi-analytical approach was chosen using established protocols for the different sample typologies. Instrumental techniques such as optical microscopy (OM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and simultaneous thermogravimetry and differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA) were used for the chemical, mineralogical, and morphological characterization of these mortar samples. The results indicate that the majority are lime mortars, both aerial and hydraulic, but gypsum-based mortars were also identified. Differences in the chemical composition of the samples in distinct areas of the monument allowed us to reflect on the variety of materials used in the construction of the Palace of Knossos.
- Strategies for Efficient Expression of Heterologous Monosaccharide Transporters in Saccharomyces cerevisiaePublication . Knychala, Marília; Santos, Angela A. dos; Kretzer, Leonardo; Gelsleichter, Fernanda; Leandro, Maria José; Fonseca, César; Stambuk, BorisABSTRACT: In previous work, we developed a Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain (DLG-K1) lacking the main monosaccharide transporters (hxt-null) and displaying high xylose reductase, xylitol dehydrogenase and xylulokinase activities. This strain proved to be a useful chassis strain to study new glucose/xylose transporters, as SsXUT1 from Scheffersomyces stipitis. Proteins with high amino acid sequence similarity (78-80%) to SsXUT1 were identified from Spathaspora passalidarum and Spathaspora arborariae genomes. The characterization of these putative transporter genes (SpXUT1 and SaXUT1, respectively) was performed in the same chassis strain. Surprisingly, the cloned genes could not restore the ability to grow in several monosaccharides tested (including glucose and xylose), but after being grown in maltose, the uptake of C-14-glucose and C-14-xylose was detected. While SsXUT1 lacks lysine residues with high ubiquitinylation potential in its N-terminal domain and displays only one in its C-terminal domain, both SpXUT1 and SaXUT1 transporters have several such residues in their C-terminal domains. A truncated version of SpXUT1 gene, deprived of the respective 3 '-end, was cloned in DLG-K1 and allowed growth and fermentation in glucose or xylose. In another approach, two arrestins known to be involved in the ubiquitinylation and endocytosis of sugar transporters (ROD1 and ROG3) were knocked out, but only the rog3 mutant allowed a significant improvement of growth and fermentation in glucose when either of the XUT permeases were expressed. Therefore, for the efficient heterologous expression of monosaccharide (e.g., glucose/xylose) transporters in S. cerevisiae, we propose either the removal of lysines involved in ubiquitinylation and endocytosis or the use of chassis strains hampered in the specific mechanism of membrane protein turnover.