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This study investigates the environmental and economic impact of integrating hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) in horse farms to produce hydrochar with potential environmental and economic benefits as a fertilizer. The results indicate that HTC has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and eutrophication impacts compared to traditional methods. Despite the high CAPEX making the HTC integration economically unfeasible, the system can become viable if hydrochar is used instead of purchased fertilizers and if the capital investment is reduced by 54%. To realize these environmental and economic benefits, financial support to lower the initial investment will be required. In addition, further R&D and increased demand for small-to-medium scale HTC can reduce capital cost.

Modern civilization is defined by the unsustainable consumption of most of the Earth’s natural resources and the contribution with different kinds of hazards to the air, water and soil. More than two centuries since the industrial revolution have caused the accu-mulation of different contaminants in different forms in most of the environmental compartments, therefore, there is an urgent need to shift this trend to sustainable solu-tions where protecting our environment needs to be in the core of new strategies. Waste management is one of the major areas where development towards sustainable devel-opment has a potential by implementing new strategies to protect the environment and also providing societies with secondary resources for the continuation of living on this Earth. In this chapter, an integrated waste management system based on the European hierarchy is introduced as an input towards reducing the impact of losing virgin mate-rials as wastes. In addition, international and European regulations and policies are also presented as a crucial tool to save the environment.

This study aimed to analyze the production and financial risks of paddy rice farming in Pronojiwo district, Lumajang Regency, East Java, Indonesia. The research was conducted in March to May 2021, after the case of Semeru eruption in December 2020. The villages sample were Oro-Oro Ombo and Supiturang, the two most affected by the Mount Semeru lava flow. Primary data were obtained from the amount of 95 respondents chosen randomly. The risk of production and financial were analyzed by Coefficient of Variation (CV). Meanwhile, the factors affecting farm risk is analyzed by using regression method. The result of production risk on paddy rice farming in Pronojiwo, Lumajang Regency shows a low risk, namely indicated by CV of 35.38 %. However, the farm income risk is much higher, indicated by CV of 79.08 %. The factors affecting production risk is usage of chemical fertilizer. The increased number of chemical fertilizer will increase production risk of rice farming.

Bojonegoro Regency has an oil mining location where it is estimated that Indonesia's crude oil reserves are 25 % of national needs. The location is in Forest Management Unit (Kesatuan Pengelolaan Hutan - KPH) Parengan which has a teak forest (Tectona grandis L.) with a very close oil mining radius. The aim of the research is to determine the differences in the characteristics of teak growing places and to determine the types of petroleum fractions in active oil mines, former oil mines and those without oil mines. The research method uses a circle plot (17.8 m) with a Sampling Intensity (IS) of 20 % with data analysis results using a one sample test and a Least Significant Difference (LSD) alpha test of 5 %. The characteristics of the teak growing area at each location have different values for height, P content, C content, number of oil fractions and temperature. The types of petroleum fractions in active oil mines are naphtha, kerosene, fuel oil and wax. Ex-oil mines contain gasoline (premium), kerosene, aviation fuel, light gas, fuel oil, lubricating oil, wax and asphalt. In locations without oil mines there is kerosene, aviation fuel, gasoline (premium) and light gas.

Urbanization has created a substantial pressure on the ecological sys-tem where many functions are already suffering from degradation such as the water ecological cycle. On the other hand, many cities around the globe are try-ing to tackle environmental degradation through innovative and green solutions such as parks, green roofs and others. One of the promising methods in this re-gard is planting city streets and parks with different kinds of trees which could contribute to in first-hand the infiltration of storm water and in second hand in reducing the climate change effect through absorption of atmospheric carbon dioxide. In this investigation, we studied the distribution of trees in Kalmar Stadsparken southeastern Sweden. The data for this study was collected by Kalmar municipality and we analyzed the effect of trees on the water infiltra-tion and carbon oxide absorption using an i-Tree program. The results are promising and emphasis the considerable effect of city trees on the urban areas.

Informatics and Communication Technology (ICT) provides relevant agricultural information, which is essential in agricultural development attempts, in timely fashion. Aiming to find out if it is able to improve the efficiency of agricultural counseling agents, this study examined agricultural counseling agents in Luwu Regency, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. As explanatory quantitative research, simple random sampling was applied to respondents of google form questionnaire and the data were analyzed as per Structural Equation Model (SEM) and supported by smart PLS application. The result came out with R2 value of 0.868, representing the agricultural counseling agent's proficiency and ICT application signified agricultural counseling agent's efficiency at 86.8 %. It is therefore conclusive that agricultural counseling agent's efficiency in extension activities relies on both their proficiency and ICT application.

Major environmental challenges are directly facing the life of hu-mankind on the Earth like the continuous increase in the Earth temperature due to climate change, pollution and most importantly water shortage. Considerable volumes of water are used on a daily and global basis and most of this water is discharged directly to the recipients without proper treatment. Many countries including Sweden are following programs to reduce and mitigate contaminants in wastewater to levels approaching that of drinking water. However, efforts re-garding materials and energy consumption during the treatment of wastewater are lost through the discharging of the treated water to recipients. This study presents life cycle analysis results of saving materials, economy and energy through recycling reclaimed water as resource in society instead of discharging to recipient. The study is focusing on the challenges facing sustainability of re-claimed water as an important source for future needs.

VA-kluster Mälardalen bildades år 2010 med syftet att samla regional forskningskompetensoch verksamhetsutövare inom VA-organisationer kring ett samarbete rörandereningstekniker, uppströmsarbete, resursåterföring och digitalisering inom VA-sektorn.Klustret utgörs idag av fem universitet, tretton VA-organisationer och två forskningsinstitut,som tillsammans forskar för en hållbar och resurseffektiv VA-sektor. Klustrets har drivitsamarbetet mellan VA-organisationer och lärosäten/institut på ett sätt som ger VAorganisationerna möjlighet att prioritera och initiera samarbetsprojekt inriktad på FoU samtrelevanta forskningsfrågor kopplade till VA-organisationers dagliga aktiviteter och verkligaproblem.Klustret har varit en viktig plattform för att såväl kommunicera och informeraforskningsresultat internt inom klustret som nationellt och internationellt inom de treprioriterade forskningsområdena: i) System och reningstekniker med närings- ochresursåterföring; ii) Metodik, teknik och kunskap för uppströmsarbete och hållbara kretslopp;och iii) Digitala tekniker för resurseffektiva avloppssystem. VA-kluster Mälardalen har totaltgenomfört cirka 100 forsknings- och utvecklingsprojekt fram tills nu. Många av projektenhar dessutom genomförts i samarbete med andra VA-organisationer utanför klustret samtmed internationella samarbetspartners. VA-kluster Mälardalen har bidragit med ökadkunskap och utveckling av framtida hållbara reningsverk i Sverige, EU och övriga världen. 

In this research, biogas production potential from beach wrack collected in Riga Gulf (Ragaciems, Jaunķemeri, Bigauņciems) and in coastline of Sweden (Kalmar) was studied using an anaerobic digestion method. Selected beach wrack masses laying ashore and containing macroalgal biomass of common macroalgae types specific to the Baltic Sea were mixed for consolidated samples. Anoxic fermentation of untreated beach wrack was carried out in 16 bioreactors applying a single filling mode at 38 °C. The study revealed that by utilizing beach wrack accumulated ashore as a feedstock for anaerobic digestion methane can be utilized if pretreatment and conditioning of the samples are performed.

The study was continued for selected brown algae containing biomass tested with three dewatering pretreatment methods: a) keeping in tap water for 24 hours; b) washing with running fresh water for one hour, and c) drying to relatively constant weight. The resulting methane outcome was compared with the data corresponding to raw brown algae. The study confirmed that washing of macroalgal biomass applied as pretreatment prior to anaerobic fermentation avoids inhibition of salts and promotes biomethane production.

Global resource limits and increasing demand for non-fossil energy sources have expanded the research on alternative fuels. Among them, algal biomass is designated as a third-generation feedstock with promising opportunities and the capability to be utilized for energy production in the long term. The paper presents the potential for converting beach wrack containing macroalgal biomass into gaseous fuel as a sustainable option for energy production, simultaneously improving the organic waste management that the coastline is facing. Beach wrack collected in the northern Baltic Sea region was converted by gasification technology applicable for carbon-based feedstock thermal recovery, resulting in syngas production as the main product and by-product biochar. Proximate and ultimate analysis, trace and major element quantification, detection of calorific values for macroalgal biomass, and derived biochar and syngas analysis were carried out. A higher heating value for beach wrack was estimated to be relatively low, 5.38 MJ/kg as received (or 14.70 MJ/kg on dry basis), but produced syngas that contained enough high content of CH4 (42%). Due to macroalgal biomass specifics (e.g., high moisture content and sand admixture), an adjusted gasification process, i.e., the combination of thermochemical procedures, such as mild combustion and pyrolytic biomass conversion, might be a better choice for the greater economic value of biowaste valorization