Of olives, waste, heavy metals and sewage
The waste obtained from olive during the oil extraction process can be used to eliminate heavy metals from sewage or waste waters of productive activities. Olive pits, pomace and remains (from olive tree pruning) present an outstanding capacity to retain the lead present in this water, which confirms their capacity as biosorbents for their application in the depuration of effluents on an industrial scale.
Science Daily reported that this is one of the main conclusions of the doctoral thesis "Characterization and application of residual biomass for the elimination of heavy metals" carried out by Mª Ángeles Martín Lara in the department of Chemical Engineering of the University of Granada, which has been supervised by professors Francisco Hernáinz Bermúdez de Castro, Gabriel Blázquez García and Mónica Calero de Hoces.
To view the full article go to Science Daily at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090603091304.htm . This story was sourced from the Resource Recovery Forum (www.resourcesnotwaste.org)
Sydney Water saves water and energy in new headquarters
Sydney Water ‘s new premises at Parramatta, is a building using about 65% less energy than the utility’s former headquarters in the CBD and 75% less water than a standard commercial office block. The new building cuts the utility’s overall emissions by 30%, which Sydney Water said would help in meeting its stated target of becoming carbon neutral by 2020.
The water savings will be achieved through rainwater harvesting and wastewater recycling. A recycling system has been installed in the building’s basement to facilitate water re-use for toilet flushing, cooling towers and irrigation.
“Solar panels have been fitted to the roof and water efficient showers, toilets and taps will significantly reduce water use,” said Managing Director, Dr Schott said. “A high performance glass façade that provides lots of natural light and controls the amount of heat entering the building has been used. Recycling bins for paper, bottles, toner cartridges, batteries and polystyrene are on every floor.”
Sustainable features hardwired into the design, as well as savings that result, include:
• a 100,000 litre rainwater tank that provides water for toilets and cooling towers;
• the total reduced water consumption saving about $56,000 a year and resulting in up to 90% less wastewater entering the sewerage system;
• solar heating panels to supplement hot water requirements;
• energy efficient internal lighting and sensors in some meeting rooms to detect when users enter or exit, to automatically turn lights on or off;
• a chilled beam cooling system instead of conventional air-conditioning, which works by putting chilled water through cooling elements in the ceiling, cooling rising warm air through natural convection. The system reduces energy use by up to 30% compared to a traditional air conditioning system;
• a building management system monitors water and energy use to ensure ongoing efficient use of the building; and
• the building is expected to reduce the utility’s energy use by an overall 65%, saving around $680,000 compared to the former CBD site along Sydney’s Bathurst Street.
Story and photo sourced from: http://www.environmentalmanagementnews.net/StoryView.asp?StoryID=1003090
Business lessons from an aeroplane collision - the Notion of Mindfulness
Professors Cyril Bouquet and Ben Bryant from top European International Management School, IMD, use the investigation of the Tenerife aeroplane collision of 12 years ago to illustrate:
“You must avoid two common extremes in reacting to events. How you respond to the world can affect how fast your company responds to an economic downturn.”
On March 27, 1977, two Boeing 747s, one KLM and the other Pan Am, collided on the runway at the Tenerife airport in the Canary Islands, killing 583 people. The KLM captain was deemed to be largely responsible for what remains the worst accident in aviation history. He had taken off before receiving official clearance to do so, failed to heed the air traffic controller's instruction to stand by for takeoff, ignored his copilot's requests for clarification and didn't abandon takeoff even though he had evidence that the Pan Am aircraft was still taxiing. Yet he was one of KLM's most able and experienced pilots, with nearly 12,000 flight hours to his credit.
What could have gone wrong? The Spanish Ministry of Transport and Communication's investigation of the crash found that the KLM captain had acted as if he "was a little absent from all that was heard in the cockpit." He communicated several times with air traffic controllers, but ultimately appeared to be immune to their instructions.
Decision makers often suffer from poor attention management, being obsessed with the wrong types of signals and ignoring possibilities that could significantly improve the fate of their undertakings. The KLM captain is an extreme case, but the problem is widespread. Our research shows that two kinds of attention disorder often exacerbate the difficulties companies face in economic downturns and their subsequent attempts at recovery. These kinds of disorder are fixation (pre-occupation with a few signals and ignoring the rest) and relaxation (becoming less vigilant to subtle changes in information after sustained periods of concentration).
For more on fixation and relaxation and the insights of this article go to: http://www.imd.ch/research/challenges/TC029-09.cfm?MRK_CMPG_SOURCE=webletter-jun-09&wt.mc_id=webletter-jun-09
Amcor saves 90% of mill water usage
Amcor, one of the world’s top three packaging manufacturers, has slashed potable water consumption at its Cartonboard Mill in Queensland by 90%, adding up to a massive annual savings of 1 GL, the company said. The improvement has been achieved through a switch from using mains water in the water-intensive cartonboard manufacturing process to using purified recycled water.
Amcor (www.amcor.com) in partnership with the Moreton Bay Regional Council and the Queensland Government adapted the Murrumba Downs wastewater treatment plant near the mill to process wastewater into purified recycled water. The recycled water was supplied to Amcor’s Petrie Mill.
The Moreton Bay Regional Council Mayor Allan Sutherland said Amcor is one of the area’s largest employers and an “important driver of the local economy”.
“By using purified recycled water from the upgraded Murrumba Downs treatment plant, Amcor will free up enough drinking water to fill up eight Olympic sized swimming pools every week, or more than enough water for the entire Redcliff Peninsular under current consumption targets. It’s a good result and means we can preserve water capacity for future population growth.”
Amcor has additionally implemented a “water giving” project as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives. The project involves harvesting rainwater from large roof areas of selected Amcor and supplying it to meet the needs of local communities.
Five factories are currently involved and have the potential to collect and give away 6 ML of water per year. For more on this story go to: www.amcor.com.
Story and photo sourced from: http://www.environmentalmanagementnews.net/StoryView.asp?StoryID=1003164
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