Browsing by Author "Silva, Gabriela Ventura"
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- Indoor Air Quality Improvement Using Nature-Based Solutions: Design Proposals to Greener CitiesPublication . Mata, Teresa M.; Oliveira, Gisela M.; Monteiro, Helena; Silva, Gabriela Ventura; Caetano, Nídia; Martins, António A.Low indoor air quality is an increasingly important problem due to the spread of urbanization. Because people spend most of their time inside, poor indoor air quality causes serious human health issues, resulting in significant economic losses. In this work, the current state of affairs is presented and analyzed, focusing on the current problems and the available solutions to improve the quality of indoor air, and the use of nature-based solutions. These involve the cultivation of microalgae in closed photobioreactors. In these systems, photosynthetic organisms can capture CO2 and other pollutants generated in indoor environments, which they use to grow and develop biomass. Several possible layouts for the implementation of microalgae-based indoor air cleaning systems are presented, taking into account the systems that are currently available at a commercial scale. A critical analysis of the microalgae indoor purification systems is presented, highlighting their advantages and disadvantages, and suggesting potential improvements and future lines of research and development in the area
- Life cycle analysis of a particleboard based on cardoon and starch/chitosanPublication . Mata, Teresa Margarida; Freitas, Clara; Silva, Gabriela Ventura; Monteiro, Sandra; Martins, Jorge Manuel; Carvalho, Luísa Hora de; Silva, Luís Manuel; Martins, Antonio AreosaThis work analyzes the life cycle environmental impacts of producing a particleboard based on cardoon fibers and a starch/chitosan adhesive from a “cradle-to-gate” perspective, considering the following life cycle steps: raw material production, adhesive preparation (component mixing and heating), cardoon fiber preparation (crushing and sieving), adhesive and fiber mixing, hot-pressing and final processing. The functional unit is a particleboard with the dimensions of 220 × 220 × 16 mm3. For the life cycle inventory, experimental data obtained from the production of particleboard on a pilot scale were used. The Aspen Plus V9 software was used to simulate the heating process in the manufacture of the biological adhesive and obtain the data associated with this stage. Portuguese or European conditions were considered for the background processes, using data from the EcoInvent V3.5 LCI database. The environmental impacts were quantified using the RECIPE methodology. To complement the study, the VOCs present in the panel were analyzed using the “active headspace” technique. The results show that for most of the environmental impact categories, energy consumption is dominant, followed by starch and chitosan production. Using fully renewable electricity produced in photovoltaic panels, instead of the Portuguese electricity mix, significantly reduces the impacts in most of the environmental impact categories, for example, the carbon footprint is reduced by 34%. Future studies will analyze how the environmental impacts can be further reduced, and how process scale-up may influence them.