Nine wineries and a water bottling plant situated in the Franschhoek Valley, South Africa, have decided to lead the way towards creating a safer and more sustainable environment in the Valley. As part of the Vignerons de Franschhoek ECO Association (VFEA), they adopted a multi-site approach and obtained, in December 2003, the first ISO 14001 multi-site certification in South Africa. This proact...

Biogeochemistry is the discipline that strives to understand intricate processes, often microbially mediated ones, that transform and recycle both organic and inorganic substances in soils, sediments, and waters. These processes, manifestations of diverse and highly evolved cellular mechanisms catalyzed by Bacteria and Archaea, maintain the biosphere. Progress in biogeochemistry relies upon the...

Waste from construction and demolition activities represents one of the highest volumes of waste in Europe. 500 million tonnes are produced throughout the whole EU every year. In some EU members like Spain, approximately 83 per cent of such waste is disposed in landfills. The remaining part is classified and processed in treatment facilities so that it can later be used as recycled aggregates i...

Water problems are typically studied at the level of the river catchment. About 70% of all water is used for agriculture, and agricultural products are traded internationally. A full understanding of water use is impossible without understanding the international market for food and related products, such as textiles. The water embedded in commodities is called virtual water. Based on a general...

Reaction conditions, temperature and pressure ranges, for various chemical recycling proc‐ esses of polyesters are sketched in Figure 1. So far, various recycling processes for polyesters have been investigated and developed, as reviewed by Paszun and Spychaj [1]: alcoholysis with methanol or ethanol, glycolysis with ethylene glycol or propylene glycol, alkali hydrolysis with sodium hydroxide, ...

Previous studies on hydroformylation of methyl oleate with rhodium and triphenylphosphine or triphenylphosphite have led to a laboratory process for recycling the precious metal catalyst. Another catalyst recycling process has now been studied as the basis for converting commercially available oleic acid into the enol ether of methyl formylstearate. The process involves one-step esterification-...

All measurements of photorespiration and gross photosynthesis in leaves, whether using isotopes or not, are underestimated because of the recycling of O(2) or CO(2). On the basis of a simple diffusion model, we propose a method for the calculation of the recycling and the corresponding underestimation of the measurements. This procedure can be applied when the stomatal resistance is known, and ...

During natural fasting conditions in postweaned northern elephant seal (NES) (Mirounga angustirostris) pups, urinary water loss is minimized and percent total body water (TBW) is maintained constant. However, following infusion of hypertonic saline, glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and urine output increased in fasting pups. Therefore, we quantified the magnitude of the hypernatremia-induced di...

In April, California Governor Jerry Brown ordered the state’s first mandatory water restrictions in response to a fourth year of severe drought. The regulations are designed to cut urban water use by 25%in part by prohibiting the use of potable water to irrigate street medians and lawns on certain types of properties. To meet these requirements, water utilities are encouraging conservation eff...

Water revitalization for a space station can consist of membrane filtration processes and a distillation process. Water recycling equipment using membrane filtration processes was manufactured for ground testing. It was assembled using commercially available components. Two systems for the distillation are studied; one is an absorption type thermopervaporation cell and the other is a vapor comp...