Impacts of offshore oil spill accidents on island bird communities: A test run study around Orkney and Svalbard archipelagos.

The sea area around the Orkney archipelago, Scotland is subjected to substantial maritime shipping activities. By contract, the Svalbard archipelago, Norway currently has a rather low marine traffic profile. Future projections, however, indicate that the Trans-Arctic route might change the whole transportation picture and Svalbard may be at the centre of maritime activities. Both archipelagos have sensitive environmental resources at sea and inland, including bird communities. There are, for instance, 13 Red Listed species present in Orkney and 2 in Svalbard. In this regard, it is important to address oil spill risks along existing and projected shipping routes. Hypothetical spills were simulated in twelve scenarios for both the Orkney and Svalbard archipelagos with the OpenDrift open-source software. The results indicate risks to seabird communities. For Orkney, the spills resulted in the most extensive contamination of the sea and land environments in autumn. For Svalbard, autumn spills on the contrary presented the lowest risk to seabirds. Based on the simulations, we recommend increased caution for shipping activities in the problematic seasons, improved local readiness for ship accidents and sufficient pre-incident planning.

Carbon footprint at institutions of higher education: The case of the University of Oulu.

As an answer to the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, organizations are increasingly making efforts to account for their carbon footprint. While general guidelines for carbon footprint calculation exist, they usually do not consider special characteristics of organisations such as institutions of higher education. Case studies can act then as learning tools, and comparisons between applied methodologies can be used to develop best practices. However, a lack of case studies published in peerreviewed journals limits access to the calculation results. This work provides a case study for a Northern European institution to extend the pool of available calculation methodologies tested under real-life conditions. The carbon footprint calculation of the University of Oulu utilises a hybrid model, combining approaches of Environmentally Extended Input-Output Analysis and Life-Cycle Assessment. The focus of the work was to consider included scopes and categories of emissions that represent indirect and non-energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, such as commuting or procurement of research and laboratory equipment. In 2019, the institution's emission inventory sums up to 19,072 t CO2e, with the highest share due to the use of district heat on campus. Another goal of conducting this research was to show the limitations researchers might encounter when analysing caused emissions on an organisational level, and how the calculated carbon footprint can help to identify the best mitigation measures and possibilities for universities to reach carbon neutrality. It was found that the availability of information and missing strategies for data collection are prominent limiting factors. Favourable mitigation measures include the implementation of energysaving policies and improved policies for procurements.

Electronic waste recovery in Finland: Consumers' perceptions towards recycling and re-use of mobile phones.

This paper examines consumers' awareness and perceptions towards mobile phone recycling and re-use. The results are based on a survey conducted in the city of Oulu, Finland, and analysed in the theoretical framework based on the theories of planned behaviour (TPB) and value-belief-norm (VBN). The findings indicate that consumers' awareness of the importance and existence of waste recovery system is high; however, awareness has not translated to recycling behaviour. The survey reveals that 55% of respondents have two or more unused mobile phones at homes. The more phones stored at homes, the more often reasons 'I don't know where to return' and/or 'have not got to do it yet' were mentioned. This indicates that proximity and the convenience of current waste management system are inadequate in promoting the return of small waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). To facilitate re-use, and the highest level of recovery, consumers will need to be committed to return end-of-use electronics to WEEE collection centres without delays. Further, the supply and demand of refurbished mobile phones do not meet at this moment in Finland due to consumer's storing habits versus expectations of recent features under guarantee and unrealistic low prizes. The study also points out that, in order to change current storing habits of consumers, there is an explicit need for more information and awareness on mobile phone collection in Finland, especially on regarding retailers' take-back.

Alkaline modified oil shale fly ash: optimal synthesis conditions and preliminary tests on CO2 adsorption.

Environmentally friendly product, calcium-silica-aluminum hydrate, was synthesized from oil shale fly ash, which is rendered so far partly as an industrial waste. Reaction conditions were: temperature 130 and 160°C, NaOH concentrations 1, 3, 5 and 8M and synthesis time 24h. Optimal conditions were found to be 5M at 130°C at given parameter range. Original and activated ash samples were characterized by XRD, XRF, SEM, EFTEM, (29)Si MAS-NMR, BET and TGA. Semi-quantitative XRD and MAS-NMR showed that mainly tobermorites and katoite are formed during alkaline hydrothermal treatment. Physical adsorption of CO(2) on the surface of the original and activated ash samples was measured with thermo-gravimetric analysis. TGA showed that the physical adsorption of CO(2) on the oil shale fly ash sample increases from 0.06 to 3-4 mass% after alkaline hydrothermal activation with NaOH. The activated product has a potential to be used in industrial processes for physical adsorption of CO(2) emissions.

Micellar-enhanced ultrafiltration for the removal of cadmium and zinc: Use of response surface methodology to improve understanding of process performance and optimisation.

In this study, removal of cadmium and zinc from their respective water samples was conducted by micellar-enhanced ultrafiltration (MEUF), using sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) as the surfactant. Response surface methodology (RSM) was used for modelling and optimising the process, and to gain a better understanding of the process performance. Face Centred Composite (CCF) Design was used as the experimental design. The factors studied were pressure (P), nominal molecular weight limit (NMWL), heavy metal feed concentration (C(Zn), C(Cd)) and SDS feed concentration (C(SDS)). Using RSM the retention of heavy metals was maximized while optimising the surfactant to metal ratio (S/M). Response surface plots improved the understanding the effect of the factors on permeate flux. Concentration polarisation was negligible and therefore, high NMWL membranes with high pressure provided high flux with negligible effect on the retention of heavy metals. The optimal conditions of zinc removal were C(SDS)=13.9 mM, C(Zn)=0.5 mM, NMWL=10 kDa and P=3.0 bar, and for cadmium removal C(SDS)=14.2 mM, C(Cd)=0.5 mM, NMWL=10 kDa and P=3.0 bar. The retentions achieved were 98.0+/-0.4% for zinc and 99.0+/-0.4% for cadmium. To improve resource efficiency, the surfactant was reclaimed after use; 84% of the initial SDS was recovered by precipitation.