Eutrophication climate change impacts

The inventory results should be presented in clear form, how much and what substances from the environment enter the system and how much get out. These results serve for subsequent life cycle impact assessment [48], The aim of the life cycle impact assessment is to measurably compare the environmental impacts of product systems and to compare their severity with new quantifiable variables identified as impact category. The impact categories are areas of specific environmental problems such as global warming, climate changes, acidification, eutrophication, ecotoxicity and others. Already in the phase of definition of the LCA study scope, it is necessary to describe what impact category will be applied and which of their environmental mechanisms will serve as a basis for impact assessment [46],... 

It is very important to continue investigation and assessment of the impact of the regional climate change, pollution, eutrophication and other human activities on fish stocks and fishing, as well as impact of fishing on the ecosystem state, and to elaborate measures to protect species and habitats. Development of aquaculture could promote restoration of resources and reduction of a fishing pressure on marine living resources and Black Sea ecosystem. 

As mentioned above, there are characterization factors for a number of different impact categories, e.g. acidification, eutrophication, climate change, human toxicity and ecotoxicity. However, characterization factors are missing for many additives, especially for human toxicity and ecotoxicity, which makes it difficult to assess the potential impact that a product will cause during its entire life cycle. A major reason that characterization factors are often missing is the lack of data regarding substance properties, such as physical chemical properties and toxicity. 

Exhaustion of abiotic resources Land surface occupation Climate change Destraction of stratospheric ozone layer Human toxicity Eco-toxicity Formation of photo-oxidants Acidification Eutrophication Loss of biodiversity Impacts of ionizing irradiations Odors SmeUs Drying out... 

In this study the ReCiPe methodology (Goedkoop et al., 2008) [3] was adopted. The following midpoint impact categories are included climate change, ozone depletion, human toxicity, photochemical oxidant, particulate matter formation, ionizing radiation, acidification, freshwater eutrophication, marine eutrophication, terrestrial ecotoxicity. 

Recently, some papers were published showing the need for conducting LCA of nanoproducts. A group of Brazilian researchers studied the LCA of cellulose nanowhiskers. Vegetal fibres are an important source of cellulose for the extraction of nanowhiskers, which can be used to enhance the mechanical properties of different polymers. The study contributes to the environmental performance of cellulose nanowhisker production processes in the development stage. Environmental aspects and related impacts of two cellulose nanowhiskers product systems are evaluated nanowhiskers extracted from unripe coconut fibres (EUC system) and from white cotton fibres (EC system). The comparison between the two systems showed that nanowhiskers produced in the EC system required less energy and water, emitted fewer pollutants, and contributed less to climate change, human toxicity and eutrophication than those produced in the EUC system. 

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a methodological framework for estimating and assessing the environmental impacts attributable to the life cycle of a product, such as climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion, tropospheric ozone (smog) creation, eutrophication, acidification, toxicological stress on human health and ecosystems, the depletion of resources, water use, land use, noise, and others [3,4]. 

Most LCAs are performed only xmtil Step 2, since impact assessment and interpretation involve many more qualitative assumptions. In this case, LCA are called life cycle inventories (LCIs). This latter is a tool required to estimate the direct and indirect inputs of each step of a biofuel pathway. The results are the use of resources (eg, energy consumption) and the environmental emissions (eg, CO2, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides). LCIs permit the assessment of impact categories, such as climate change, photooxidant formation, acidification, eutrophication, ecotoxicity and human toxicity, and the depletion of biotic and abiotic resources. These factors of the LCI will be converted into environmental damages. Various indicators can be derived from these mechanisms at intermediate levels (midpoints) or damage levels (endpoints) after normalization, often weighting approaches. 

During the past decades, the basic features of the biogeochemical structure of the Black Sea have radically changed under the impact of climatic and anthropogenic factors. The amounts of selected nutrients (for example, nitrates owing to eutrophication) have increased, while those of others (such as silicon due to the regulation of the Danube runoff) have decreased. 

---