Erica Castanheira

Erica Castanheira
University of Coimbra | UC · Department of Mechanical Engineering

PhD

About

46
Publications
14,259
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953
Citations

Publications

Publications (46)
Article
Full-text available
Purpose Microalgae biodiesel has attracted considerable attention as a potential substitute for fossil fuels and biodiesel from food crops. Nevertheless, its reported climate impacts in the scientific literature vary significantly. This article describes and synthesizes the range of results found in the life cycle assessment (LCA) literature regard...
Article
This paper brings together several contemporary topics in energy systems aiming to provide a literature review based reflection on how several interrelated energy systems can contribute together to a more sustainable world. Some directions are discussed, such as the improvement of the energy efficiency and environmental performance of the systems,...
Article
This paper compares the water footprint profiles of four feedstocks used for biodiesel production: palm, soya, rapeseed and waste cooking oil (WCO). The profiles include: (a) a water scarcity footprint related to freshwater consumption impacts and (b) a water quality degradation footprint related to freshwater degradation impacts. The water scarcit...
Article
Sunflower is an important feedstock for food and energy purposes in southern European countries. The main goal of this article is to present an environmental life-cycle assessment of sunflower cultivated in Portugal comparing irrigated and rainfed systems, incorporating parameter uncertainty and assessing alternative land-use change scenarios. The...
Article
Life-cycle assessment (LCA) has been applied to calculate the environmental impacts of various nuts; however, no studies were found for chestnut. This article presents a LCA of fresh and frozen chestnut produced in Portugal, intended both for export and domestic consumption. A “cradle-to-plate” life-cycle model was implemented considering cultivati...
Article
Full-text available
Purpose Palm biodiesel life cycle studies have been mainly performed for Asia and focused on greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity. The purpose of this article is to present an environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) of biodiesel produced in Portugal from palm oil (PO) imported from Colombia, addressing the direct effects of land-use change (LUC), diffe...
Book
Full-text available
Guia desenvolvido no âmbito do projeto ECODEEP - Ecoeficiência e Ecogestão no setor Agroindustrial (FCOMP-05-0128-FEDER-018643).
Article
The purpose of this article is to present a life-cycle assessment of soybean methyl ester addressing three alternative pathways: biodiesel totally produced in Brazil and exported to Portugal; biodiesel produced in Portugal using soybean oil and soybean imported from Brazil. Soybean cultivation was assessed for four states in Brazil: Mato Grosso; Go...
Article
As an alternative transportation fuel to petrodiesel, biodiesel has been promoted within national energy portfolio targets across the world. Early estimations of low lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of biodiesel were a driver behind extensive government support in the form of financial incentives for the industry. However, studies consisten...
Article
The main goal of this article is to assess the life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity of palm oil produced in a specific plantation and mill in Colombia. A comprehensive evaluation of the implications of alternative land use change (LUC) scenarios (forest, shrubland, savanna and cropland conversion) and fertilization schemes (four synthetic and...
Article
Biodiesel production in Brazil has grown from 736 m(3) in 2007 to 2.7 Mm(3) in 2012. It is an emergent bioenergy for which it is important to guarantee environmental sustainability. The objective of this article is to characterise the biodiesel production chain in Brazil, to identify potential environmental impacts and to analyse key drivers and ba...
Article
The increase in soybean production as a source of protein and oil is being stimulated by the growing demand for livestock feed, food and numerous other applications. Significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can result from land use change due to the expansion and cultivation of soybean. However, this is complex to assess and the results can vary...
Conference Paper
New biofuel mandates like the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) in the United States or the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) in the European Union promote the production and use of biofuels. Waste cooking oils (WCO) have been gaining prominence as an alternative feedstock for biodiesel production due to is potential to improve the environmental perfor...
Article
An environmental assessment was carried out in order to quantify the environmental consequences of the life cycle of mature cheese production from a cradle-to-gate perspective and to identify the environmental hotspots. To do so, an international cheese-making dairy factory located in Portugal was assessed in detail and inventory data for the diffe...
Article
Milk and dairy products constitute an important ingredient in the human diet. Ultra-high temperature (UHT) milk is the main dairy product consumed in Portugal and its production entails large inputs of resources which derive on negative environmental effects such as nutrient enrichment of the ecosystem and climate change. In this study, Life Cycle...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
Neste trabalho, no âmbito do Projeto BIOACV/CNPQ, é apresentado um levantamento dos GEE emitidos ao longo do ciclo de vida do biodiesel produzido a partir de soja proveniente dos principais estados produtores do Brasil (Mato Grosso, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul e Goiás). Consideraram-se neste estudo as seguintes fases de ciclo de vida do biodiesel de...
Article
Purpose The dairy sector covers multiple activities related to milk production and treatment for alimentary uses. Different dairy products are available in the markets, with yoghurt being the second most important in terms of production. The goal of this study was to analyse from a cradle-to-grave approach the environmental impacts and energy balan...
Conference Paper
This paper presents a life-cycle (LC) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions assessment of biodiesel produced in Portugal, based on soybean cultivated in Latin-America. The implications of different cultivation systems and land use change (LUC) scenarios are assessed. Multifunctionality in the soybean biodiesel chain is also addressed, based on a sensitivi...
Conference Paper
The increased use of palm oil as feedstock for biodiesel production has been a focus of discussion due to several environmental problems. This paper presents a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of biodiesel from palm oil (PME). Alternative land use change (LUC) scenarios and fertilization types have been evaluated. A life-cycle inventory and modeling of...
Article
The activities associated with raw milk production on dairy farms require an effective evaluation of their environmental impact. The present study evaluates the global environmental impacts associated with milk production on dairy farms in Portugal and identifies the processes that have the greatest environmental impact by using life cycle assessme...
Article
European Union supports alternative fuels, in particular, biofuels to comply with the triple objective of reducing greenhouse gases emissions, diversifying fuel supply and developing long-term replacements for fossil fuels. The European Community set the goal to substitute 20% of the fossil fuels for road transport with alternative fuels by 2020 bu...
Conference Paper
Full-text available
The greenhouse effect is influenced and increased by human activity, chiefly by the use of fossil fuels, which increases the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. In addition, methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) are also important greenhouse gases (GHG), being mainly emitted by agricultural activities. The anthropogenic emission of GH...
Article
A succession of unusual situations with forest fires spreading into urban areas in Portugal during 2005, causing severe property damage and loss of human lives, has brought the question of wildfires in the wildland–urban interface (WUI) firmly to the forefront of public and scientific concern. The fire risk in the WUI poses several problems, in par...
Article
Full-text available
RESUMO Perante a necessidade de reduzir os impactes ambientais associados aos resíduos de origem bovina, a digestão anaeróbia apresenta-se actualmente como uma tecnologia capaz de contribuir para esse objectivo, permitindo a sua valorização através da produção de biogás. Devido aos encargos de implementação de sistemas de tratamento deste tipo, a s...
Article
Resource scarcity and rising costs will cause the global economy to contract in a near future. On a remarkable paper, Odum and Odum (in press) refer the existence of two hypotheses for the time of economic descent ahead. (1) The way down will lead us to crash and restart, which occurred with so many once-proud and enormous civilizations in history....

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