Increasingly, entrepreneurial growth is discussed in relation to business sustainability and the wider questions of ‘growth’ – economic, green, or sustainable. This chapter will discuss the challenges and opportunities of teaching circular economy and Cradle to Cradle (C2C) models of sustainable production. The course applying circular economy theory to corporate case studies at the liberal arts college in The Netherlands will be discussed. Students were given the assignment to advise an existing company how to make a transition from a linear to circular economy model. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78714-501-620171028 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
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The current development of tourism is environmentally unsustainable. Specifically, tourism's contribution to climate change is increasing while other sectors are reducing their greenhouse gas emissions. This paper has two goals: reveal the main structural cause for tourism's emission growth and show the consequences thereof for (mitigation) policies. It is reasoned that the main cause for tourism's strong emission growth is the time-space expansion of global tourism behavior. Contemporary tourism theory and geography fail to clearly describe this geographical development, making it difficult to understand this expansion and develop effective policies to mitigate environmental impacts. Therefore, this paper explores some elements of a 'new tourism geography' and shows how this may help to better understand the causes of the environmentally unsustainable development of tourism with respect to climate change and devise mitigation policies.
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This article outlines issues to be tackled when considering increases in biofuel usage in the European Union (EU) and examines a potential scheme to increase the use of biofuels in the road transport sector; the development of biofuels corridors. An EU biofuels corridor is defined as a long-distance and cross-border route on the Trans-European Transport (TEN-T) Network roads on which blends with a high biofuel content (referred to as high blends) are offered at regular intervals along the entire route. The article first defines the current framework of EU biofuels development. A case study on the feasibility of one possible EU biofuels corridor, from Rotterdam, Netherlands, to Constanta, Romania, is analyzed along four potential biofuels corridor designs (under different future scenarios). The case study includes interviews with key stakeholders, transport flows analysis, refueling infrastructure, and biofuels policy in the relevant member states. The results are extrapolated to the complete EU level in order to assess the potential effect of the biofuels corridor approach as a measure of stimulating the use of biofuels. It is concluded that EU biofuels corridors can increase the use of biofuels. However, if applied as a stand-alone measure a maximum contribution is limited. The effectiveness of biofuels corridors is not larger mainly due to the fact that the transport flows on the TEN-T Network roads are not representative of actual fuel sales at stations on this network (i.e., motorway stations). In addition, various recommendations are made for further research. © 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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The Cashing Cashew project focuses on isolation and purification of Cashew Nut Shell Liquid (CNSL) from Cashew Nut Shells (CNS) in order to fully utilize this valuable by-product of the cashew nut production. Global cashew nut production is about 4 million mt/ tons/yr. Of the cashew nut, about 70 % is shell that is removed in processing and currently typically burned as a dirty and inefficient fuel or discarded as waste. This is not only creating an environmental issue but also wasting valuable by-products. The shell contains circa 20-30 % brown viscous liquid, Cashew Nut Shell Liquid (CNSL). This natural resin contains valuable chemical components, for example, cardanol, cardol, and anacardic acid. CNSL and its derivatives have several industrial uses as for example biobased additives, polymeric building blocks, and biodiesel. Part of the CNSL can be extracted during the roasting process prior to separating the shell and nut kernel. The shell waste still has a high CNSL concentration that can be isolated by solvents or pressing (expeller). Expeller process is simple and not capital-intensive; therefore it is commonly used. The main disadvantages of the method are the high energy consumption and that 3-5 % oil remains in the press-cake producing harmful gases in burning. Also, the resulting cake is too dense to be further processed to charcoal or other useful application. The objective of this project is to study the purification of the CNSL obtained from pyrolytic isolation to find the most efficient way of making use of the CNSL oil and the total Cashew Nut Shell biomass. An initial evaluation of potential applications is also performed.
Fucoxanthine is een van de meest voorkomende carotenoïden en wordt voornamelijk geproduceerd door bruinwier en microalgen. Er is veel belangstelling voor de farmaceutische en cosmetische werking van fucoxanthine, zoals bescherming tegen UV-B geïnduceerd melanoom en huidveroudering. Desondanks zijn fucoxanthine extracten niet of nauwelijks verkrijgbaar als cosmetisch ingrediënt. Project FUCOS wil daarom zelf de productie van FUCOS extracten ontwikkelen en deze toepassen in cosmetische prototypen. Project FUCOS zal de fucoxanthine inhoud van commercieel beschikbare bruinwieren zoals Saccharina latissima en Undaria pinnatifida alsmede de microalg Isochrysis galbana evalueren om zo de meest rendabele biomassa grondstof te selecteren. Hier vanuit zullen kleinschalig verschillende groene, voedselveilige extractie methoden ontwikkeld en vergeleken worden op fucoxanthine opbrengst en kosten efficiëntie. De resulterende extracten kunnen worden toegepast in cosmetische prototypen na evaluatie van de biologische activiteiten. Hiermee zet project FUCOS een nieuwe stap richting de exploitatie van algen en wieren als biobased grondstof en de ontwikkeling van duurzame cosmetica.
The SMEs participating in the NUTSHELL-project approached Avans to assist them in evaluating the pyrolytic extraction of valuable oils from Cashew Nut Shell (CNS). CNS is waste generated in the production of edible cashew nut. For the 2017 the predicted cashew nuts crop yield is 3 million tons; resulting to 2 million tons of CNS waste. CNS contains circa 30-35% brown viscous liquid, called Cashew Nut Shell Liquid (CNSL) , this is a natural resin containing valuable components, for example cardanol, cardol and anacardic acid. CNSL and its derivatives have several industrial uses as biobased additives, polymeric building blocks and biodiesel. Part of the CNSL can be extracted during the roasting process prior to separating the shell and nut kernel. The shell waste still has a relatively high CNSL concentration that can be isolated by solvents or pressing (expeller). Expeller process is simple and not capital-intensive; therefore it is commonly used in a small scale production. The main disadvantages of the method are the relatively high energy consumption and its low oil recovery, the level of oil in the press-cake remains 3 to 5%. The residual oil produces harmful gases in burning hence hindering the use as fuel. Also the resulting cake is too dense to be further processed to charcoal or other useful application; hence forming a significant waste stream. One of the main advantages of the pyrolysis route as envisaged by the SME partners is using the total CNS biomass. The objective of this project is to study a process where in the pyrolytic isolation of CNSL oils is achieved and the remaining cake can be further pyrolysed to form charcoal or biochar.
