Wastewater management towards a sustainable futureDairy production: a study case

The increasing demand for heat, electricity, fuels and chemicals is pushing naturalresources towards a non-reversible situation. Current solutions have to be adapted,and alternative (desirably sustainable) sources have to be found. With growth as-sured due to an increasing global population, waste is able to provide a plethora ofcomponents in the near future. This work approaches waste management, by usingwastewater from a dairy production. The current state-of-the-art which concernsindustrial and municipal wastewater treatment focuses on single process design andoptimization or, at most, on a set of competing unitary processes. In this study,a superstructure-based model for industrial wastewater integration and valorizationis presented. It is formulated as a MILP problem with the objective of minimizingoperational costs, while constrain investment costs. It comprises traditional wasteconversion roots, but more importantly it proposes greener solutions in order torecover the intrinsic chemical and energetic potential of industrial waste.Starting with a reference scenario of 23.4 Meof operating costs and an exergyefficiency of 25 %, corresponding to a typical (optimized) wastewater treatmentplant, with proper investment, exergy efficiency can go as high as 70 %, which as adirect link to environmental impact. The compromise solution that minimizes totalcost, shows external electricity reduction by 70 %, providing an investment of 27Me, recoverable in 12 years. Innovative solutions, like solid oxide co-electrolysiscells and methane synthesis from syngas are, with the present costs assumptions,non-profitable. Nevertheless, with incentives for bio-SNG production, as well as areduction in electricity prices, an innovative and highly efficient solution is proposed,yielding an exergy efficiency of 86 %. The current work provides operating andinvestment costs of new technologies, as well as relevant technical data.

Alternative Methods for Assessing Air Quality and Energy Strategies for Developing Countries: A Case Study on Cuba

Jessie Madrazo Bacallao

The worldwide increasing energy consumption is mainly based on fossil fuel which leads to a large number of environmental problems. Indeed, the combustion of fossil fuels releases into the atmosphere different greenhouse gases and harmful pollutants which are responsible for climate change and cause air quality degradation. Moreover, fossil fuel resources are limited and their depletion will happen sooner or later. Governments of the whole world are urged to take relevant measures and policies for energy transition. To support their choices, different decision support approaches have been developed, mainly in industrialized countries. However, these approaches usually lack coherent integration and rely on expensive and often unavailable detailed data, especially in developing countries. This PhD aims at developing alternative methods for the assessment of air quality and energy strategies in the framework of developing countries. The developed methods are implemented in Cuba which seems an excellent test case to design and apply energy strategies for developing countries. The first part of this work deals with methods intended to reliable assess air quality. For this purpose, an air pollution measurement campaign was carried out in Havana. It provided data to implement and improve a pre-existing methodology capable of estimating Cuban vehicle emission factors. Statistical analysis indicated that traffic accounted for around 50% of particular matter concentration levels. Furthermore, vehicles pre-1980s were identified as the most polluting technologies at the street level. This work also demonstrates the usability of an emission inventory designed for air quality simulations. Benchmarking tools developed in the framework of the Forum for Air Quality Modelling in Europe helped to pinpoint differences between global and regional inventories, and identify where efforts should concentrate for improving emission data. This research also sets up simplified algebraic relationships (i.e. so-called Source-Receptor Relationship) capable of predicting the impacts on concentration levels resulting from regional emission abatement strategies, while being more time-efficient than traditional methods. The second part is dedicated to exploring scenarios for a reliable Cuban energy transition. To this end, the energy fluxes between resources, technologies and final demand were computed for the year 2015. A set of scenarios were then designed on the basis of different mixes of energy resources. These scenarios have been compared according to three criteria that seemed the most relevant for the country geopolitical and economic situation: energy security (degree of dependence from energy imports), sustainability of the energy resources and population exposure to harmful pollutants. Overall, the results indicated that energy security and sustainability increase with wind and solar penetration at different rates. A penetration rate of 20% of the demand significantly decreases fossil fuel requirements and imports. Once raised to 50%, Cuba can achieve complete energy independence. The scenario which fulfils 100% of the electricity demands from solar and wind resources shows the maximum of sustainability. Not surprisingly, the penetration of renewables had positive effects on air quality.

EPFL2018

The shaping effects of innovation and technology: from micro business model evolution to macro environment sustainability

Qinli Lu

Innovation is a prerequisite guarantee for the development of a country in this new era. It is an important driver not just for corporate growth but also for national social and economic transformation. Considering the strategic supporting role of innovation in the modern economic system, this thesis approaches the shaping effects of innovation and technology mainly from two important micro and macro perspectives, business model evolution and national sustainable development. The first essay takes business model innovation (BMI) in China as an entry point to investigate how novel elements can shape business models. There is a widespread perception that Chinese companies, compared to their Western counterparts, are not good at creating novel products and services. But in the arenas of e-commerce and other digital businesses, Chinese companies have become highly successful. This has led some observers to hypothesize that while Chinese firms may not excel at developing new-to-the-world products and services, they may be good in inventing new-to-the-world business models. To explore this phenomenon, I analyzed 137 suggested innovative business models in detail to investigate new-to-the-world features, yielding an overview of BMI in China. Based on these cases, a theoretical framework was proposed to investigate how innovative features can prompt successful BMI. I summarize the reasons behind BMI in China. The second essay explores the support from open innovation (OI) for BMI based on literature review and some inspiration from the first essay. Theoretical underpinnings are often cited as a necessity to advance the research of BMI. The study proposes that the development of OI and BMI keeps pace within a dynamic innovation process. To develop a consistent body of knowledge about BMI and OI, this conceptual paper sheds light on the relationships between OI and BMI by providing a framework and discussing its implications. The main investigations are as follows: 1) Why OI has strong impacts on BM development; 2) How OI can shape BMs; 3) What support OI can provide for BMI. The third essay analyzes the shaping effects of technology on environmental issues by carrying out an empirical study of tracing the imbalance of carbon emissions embodied in trade. The technological differences among developing and developed nations are tremendous, which have kept having strong impacts not only on economic and societal development but also on environmental sustainability. Thus, this study provides a new and critical perspective to reconsider the imbalance of carbon emissions regionally and globally, revealing essential policy implications for region-specific sustainable development strategies. The thesis makes several important contributions. For micro business model evolution, the thesis develops a theoretical framework to show how the values are delivered in a business model system and how innovative features can further prompt successful business model innovations, as well as a comprehensive analysis of the theoretical underpinning from open innovation for business model advance. For macro environmental sustainability, the thesis presents a comprehensive spatio-temporal analysis of carbon emissions embodied in trades of nations within and beyond BRI, contributing to methodological advances of measuring the impacts of technological differences on carbon footprints and emissions leakage, which is largely underexplored in current studies.

EPFL2020

Alternative Methods for Assessing Air Quality and Energy Strategies for Developing Countries: A Case Study on Cuba

Jessie Madrazo Bacallao

EPFL2018

The shaping effects of innovation and technology: from micro business model evolution to macro environment sustainability

Qinli Lu

EPFL2020