Joanna Kulczycka

• Head of Department at Mineral and Energy Economy Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences

This work discusses the drivers and barriers (legal, chemical, biological, technical) related to implementing a circular economy model in the tire sector in Poland. The aim of this work was to identify and prioritize key factors determining the implementation of the circular economy business model, both among tire manufacturers and recyclers. The a...

The energy transition, aimed at significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions to combat climate change, presents both opportunities and challenges in addressing energy poverty. This article explores the differing approaches of Poland and Sweden in energy poverty alleviation within the context of this transition. Poland, with its historical depend...

The properties and composition of the sludge generated in water treatment systems depend primarily on the type and composition of the water to be treated, the treatment methods, and the type and doses of chemical reactants. The sludge produced in the water treatment plant (WTP) under study follows the technological processes of coagulation, floccul...

The textile and clothing industry is one of the most resource-intensive and polluting industries. The circular economy (CE) is one of the solutions to these problems. The textile industry has been identified as one of the most in need of transformation towards CE. The transition to a circular economy requires changes in the behavior and actions of...

Recycling strategies demonstrate different life cycle environmental performance. In order to assess this performance, a life cycle assessment may be used. In such studies, the recycling should be linked with multifunctionality and allocation. This requires it to be modelled accordingly, especially in terms of environmental burdens and credits. The...

In the era of the circular economy, solutions aimed at increasing the circularity of materials and products are highly welcome. Eco-design and waste management strategies are crucial for ensuring circularity and resource-saving. Strategies should be driven by assessing life cycle-based environmental performance. Tools to measure this performance sh...

The valorisation of sewage sludge for sustainable agricultural use and biofuel production proposes an effective and beneficial management of sewage sludge in a closed-loop cycle. The management of sewage sludge biowaste is a rising problem due to increasing waste storage expenses. In this sense, the use of circular economy principles in sewage slud...

The world is in the midst of a triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution and waste. The global economy is consuming ever more natural resources, while the world is not on track to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. The scientific community has never before been more aligned or more resolute on the need for urg...

The interplay between just transition and stakeholder involvement appears to be central to discussions on climate change, sustainability, the green economy, and achieving climate neutrality. Given that this transition involves long-term and profound changes across many socio-economic and environmental areas, the role of stakeholders in addressing t...

Measuring circular-economy progress requires indicators to examine the implementation of management systems. A complex quality indicator for assessing production systems at the circular-economy micro level was proposed. One innovative aspect of this evaluation of quality indicators is the classification of a set of sixty selected options divided in...

This study presents the developing process of the Śmiłowo Eco-Park, located in the Noteć valley region (Poland), is a part of the biggest Polish agri-food consortium, from its initial small waste management company to its final structure as an eco-industrial park using industrial symbiosis methods. The industrial symbiosis applied in the Eco-park p...

More and more attention is paid to the circular economy (CE) and indicators that enable the monitoring and verification of the progress of transformation at various levels (the European Union, countries, regions, companies, etc.). Many analyses of CE indicators for different levels have been presented in the literature, but the benefits of their im...

A complex method developed to assess quality within a proposed framework and at a certain scope of measurement for circular economy (CE) quality indicators is presented. This was used to compare three different scenarios for municipal waste management systems: 1—incineration; 2—recycling and reuse of separated municipal waste and the transformation...

Biofuels are playing an increasingly important role since they are an attractive alternative to fossil fuels, access to which has been limited. Moreover, they can help the European Union countries meet their climate and energy objectives. There is a growing interest in the production of biofuels from the organic fraction of municipal solid wastes a...

The paper presents different aspects of biomass-based fertilizer production along with technological challenges, relevant law — the European Union guidelines concerning renewable resources, in particular bio-based wastes valorization for fertilizer purposes — and products introduction to the market. Fertilizer technology employs different types of...

Today, the energy sector requires special attention, and the widespread introduction of digital technologies, including gamification, allows key problems related to the energy policies of the European Union to be solved. The literature analysis presented here discusses the use of gamification among home energy production customers. However, there i...

The life cycle phase of fossil fuel extraction is mainly considered in the life cycle assessment (LCA) when evaluating the energy production processes. It is then only one of many unit processes, which contribute to the blurring of mining-relevant results. There are few items in the literature focusing exclusively on the lignite mining phase and an...

Sustainable access to raw materials has been growing concern for the EU policy from 2008. Germany, Finland, United Kingdom, Portugal and Greece were the first European countries to introduce and develop own minerals policy (2010–2012). Each of Member State prioritized own targets, but sustainability, waste management and climate were also underline...

The inevitable energy transformation can be perceived as an opportunity and as a threat to the actions undertaken to prevent energy poverty in European mining regions. Silesia is a special exemplification of the European region whose economy has been based on coal industry for centuries. There are still about 70,000 miners and coal is also widely u...

LCA analysis with 16 impact categories was used for the comparison of two developed combustion technologies: Scenario I—the combustion of meat bone meal produced from all types of meat waste; Scenario II—the combustion of meat bones from the production of meat products. The key hotspots determined were electricity and natural gas consumption, cover...

Development of the bioeconomy is one of the strategic tasks introduced in The Polish Circular Economy Roadmap and National Smart Specialization. The food sector is one of the most important and fastest growing branches of the Polish economy. 10.5% (1.7 million) of all employees employed in industry are involved in it. The increasing demand for eco-...

The meat industry generates a significant amount of hazardous waste, containing phosphorus, calcium, and other elements which could be the basis for other products. This work presents the results of research on the thermal utilisation of bone meat waste and the use of the ash thus obtained as a substitute for phosphorus raw materials. Material Flow...

Increasing public awareness about low emission and stricter standards has a significant impact on the industry. The use of catalytic converters provides one of the solutions to the problem of lowering the amount of exhaust fumes. As most catalytic converters contain a combination of the three metals Pt, Pd and Rh, the manufacture of catalysts for a...

A technological quality method was used to compare two methods of sodium tripolyphosphate (STPP) production. The first method was the classic spray method (CM) and the second was a dry single-stage method (DSM). The assessment criteria were environmental, based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) evaluation and economic, based on production costs. The t...

Increasing interest in bioenergy production in the context of the transition towards a circular economy and the promotion of renewable energy has produced demands for optimization of the value chain of energy production to improve the environmental viability of the system. Hotspot analysis based on life cycle assessment (LCA) contributes to the mit...

The paper presents research on a method of obtaining magnesium hydroxide from magnesium sulphate salts and NaOH. In order to acquire the desired and controlled properties, the method of precipitating in aqueous solutions by introducing a NaOH solution into a solution of MgSO4 has been applied. To get as stable a product as possible with graining, t...

The life cycle phase of fossil fuel extraction is mainly considered in the LCA when evaluating the energy production processes. It is then only one of many unit processes, which contribute to the blurring of mining-relevant results. There are few items in the literature focusing exclusively on the lignite mining phase and analysing the specific min...

Coal combustion products can be considered as commercial products or waste depending on the quality of the coal, the combustion process, and the country’s legislation. The circular economy can create incentives for the implementation of new business models in large power plants in cooperation with coal mines and users of coal combustion products. T...

The pharmaceutical industry is a highly water-dependent economic sector and requires different degrees of water purity. The study presents an overview of the current water quality requirements, as well as limitations and safety considerations for water re-use in pharmaceutical manufacturing. Several principles for implementing circular economy elem...

Attempts are made in this review to highlight the challenges of economic growth in developing countries with a view to suggest ways to usurp the trend and proffer solutions that can lead to channeling a new course. Virtually every parts of the planet earth are endowed with what is necessary to develop. Although the riches of the earth are hidden, y...

This paper presents a model combining the LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) of fossil fuel extraction with its quality parameters and related CO2, SO2 and dust emissions at the stage of the combustion process. The model which was developed aims to identify the environmental impact of the processes of electricity production from selected energy carriers o...

Assessment and management of risk constitute the subject of many researches. Nevertheless, many more specific factors are applicable during the implementation of innovative technological projects. On the article identified risk factors, which have been supplemented, systematized and assigned to the individual risk categories. The risk assessment me...

Tantalum is a chemical element with important properties. It is used in industry and its numerous branches for instance in jewelry and watchmaking products. As a result, it is not uncommon for this metal to become an object of interest for a variety of buyers. After it has been bought back from the customers, tantalum can be recycled and, as a resu...

The circular economy action plan of the European Commission and in the following, several Circular Economy Roadmaps in different European countries , as well as the documents of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation describe a vision of and the way to an economy, “where the value of products, materials and resources is maintained in the economy for as lon...

The Life Cycle Assessment method was used to analyse and compare the environmental impacts of three systems of pig farming management: pig farming with pig manure fertilisation; pig farming using a manure treatment and a filtration method involving the production of mineral-organic fertilisers from manure; and pig farming in which 50% of the manure...

The current study presents the importance of collaboration in the knowledge triangle – KT (business, higher education and research) because innovation networks and collaboration are identified in the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) as one of the determinants of innovation development in European countries. Moreover, the importance of KT coopera...

The work discussed the necessity to evaluate the environmental effect – i.e. carbon footprint (CF), of N-containing fertilizers when including their production, transportation and use. For that purpose, life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology was involved. The LCA-based CF concerned model fertilizer technology determined with the consideration of g...

“Taking into account the imperatives of a just transition of the workforce and the creation of decent work and quality jobs in accordance with nationally defined development priorities”. The Paris Agreement Preamble The role of mining in over 180 national economies worldwide has a substantial impact on the global economy. Many of these national ec...

In the transition to the circular economy (CE) model in Europe, increasing public awareness is one of the major driving forces. This paper presents the results of an evaluation of public awareness and attitudes about CE in the Malopolska region of southern Poland. The data used in this study was collected by random distribution of questionnaires in...

Circular economy (CE) is a new trend in balanced development, directed at limiting consumption of resources and minimising waste production. In consideration of the European Commission’s (EC) postulates of the CE implementation, the article aims at verifying whether coal power plants in Małopolska Province are aware of the CE notion, ready to think...

One of the challenges of today's economies in the world is the need to increase the use of waste materials as secondary raw materials that are suitable forfurther use. This constitutes a core of the circular economy. This allows on the one hand to minimize the risk of price volatility and availability of resources, on the other, to meet the increas...

EU countries are poor in most mineral raw materials, which forces resource efficiency and independence from monopolies such as China, Russia, Australia, etc. It is essential for the functioning and further development of EU countries to ensure the continuity of non-energy supplies, including critical raw materials, or technologies for extracting ra...

The concept of a circular economy (CE) has become popular and important issue in environmental management in recent years; however, there are not particular indicators dedicated to it in regional policy. CE approach is an industrial system that is restorative by design, and it emphasises that it is important that, rather than extracting natural res...

Sustainable development and circular economy rules force the global fertilizer industry to develop new phosphorous recovery methods from alternative sources. In this paper a phosphorus recovery technology from Polish industrial Sewage Sludge Ashes was investigated (PolFerAsh – Polish Fertilizers form Ash). A wet method with the use of mineral acid...

One of the aims of the European Commission (EC) activities is to introduce uniform rules for the environmental performance assessment based on the life cycle assessment method (LCA), which can be widely used e.g. in eco-labeling, assessment of goods, services, technology, etc. Therefore, from 1 November 2013 the European Commission implemented a p...

It is currently emphasised at European level that an essential way to deliver the resource efficiency agenda established under the Europe 2020 Strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth is through moving towards a more circular economy (CE). European Union (EU) documents indicate that greater and sustained improvements of resource efficie...

The Waste Electronic and Electrical Equipment Regulations (WEEE) are intended to reduce the amount of e-waste being disposed of within the EU, and require EEE producers to pay for its reuse, recycling and recovery. It is estimated that 25% of the mass of WEEE produced in the EU-27 is collected and processed, and the remaining 75% is not recorded. I...

Coal, for several centuries is the main source of primary energy in the world economy. Poland is a country very rich in carbon. Taking into account a number of technical, economic, social and political Poland should use the opportunity for a more rational and efficient use of coal. The article presents an innovative technology for the energy produc...

The aim of this research is to present the possibility of using the sewage sludge ash (SSA) generated in incineration plants as a secondary source of phosphorus (P). The importance of issues related to P recovery from waste materials results from European Union (UE) legislation, which indicated phosphorus as a critical raw material (CRM). Due to th...

The paper presents a methodology for evaluating the Best Available Techniques Not Entailing Excessive Costs (BATNEEC) options for the management of by-products from biomass combustion - ash. Biomass ash BA was collected from Green Energy Block in Połaniec (Poland). Four variant of BA disposal were analysed: 1st - the storage of BA on conventional m...

In recent years, as a consequence of an increase in environmental awareness of consumers, issues related to the improvement of the quality of chemical products and environmental protection in the strategies of companies and international organizations have risen in importance. The paper presents a comprehensive evaluation of two variants for sodium...

Sewage Sludge Ash (SSA) is a concentrated source of phosphorus and can be successfully recycled via a number of different routes. This paper presents research results on phosphorus recovery from differently combusted sewage sludge with the use of nitric acid extraction. Different SSA forms from Polish thermal utilization stations were compared. It...

Issues related to improvement in the quality of products and to environmental protection in the economic policy of many countries and in the strategies of institutions and international organisations (e.g. European Union) have increased in importance in recent years as a consequence of the increase in environmental awareness of consumers. All these...

Purpose The paper presents, for the first time, a life cycle assessment (LCA) study of energy generation (i.e. electricity and heat production) in Poland. The aim is to determine and compare the potential impact of energy generation upon the environment in 2007, 2010 and 2012 based on country-specific data bought from specialised government agencie...

The article analyzes and discusses the environmental and natural resource impacts, benefits, and greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation potential associated with a long-term transition to more energy-efficient pyrometallurgical smelting technologies for the production of refined copper. Using generic data from the KGHM Polska Miedź S.A, Glogow I and II sm...

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the possibility of using the method of LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) to assess the effectiveness and eco-efficiency of energy system at national, regional and local levels as a tool supporting Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). The article discusses the importance of energy in LCA studies and made...

Eco-efficiency which takes into account the life cycle idea is a relatively new concept described by ISO International Standard 14045:2012. It can be used in environmental management by integration environmental considerations with economic analysis to improve products and technologies. Nowadays, eco-­efficiency is a strategic tool and it is one of...

Incinerated sewage sludge ash (SSA) is an ideal base for inorganic fertilizer production due to its relatively high phosphorus (P)-content. The aim of paper was to determine the method of SSA utilization in the agricultural purposes. In this study, samples of biological swage sludge were obtained from three currently operational minucipal wastewate...

Multi-criteria analysis was used to compare technology solutions for 3 chosen municipal waste incineration systems in Warsaw, Tarnobrzeg and Spittelau in Vienna. LCA results were used to calculate the value of the criteria applied in the multi-criteria analysis. The comprehensive comparative assessment of options for incineration of municipal waste...

LCA is a popular tool widely used to assess the environmental impact of waste management systems, which is illustrated by the substantial number of LCA computer models specifically addressing this subject. Due to the complex nature of waste management modelling and the range of country-specific data, as well as lack of harmonization, it has been ob...

W pracy przedstawiono analizę możliwości zagospodarowania odpadów po termicznym przekształceniu osadów ściekowych w materiałach budowlanych. Taki sposób zagospodarowania popiołów ze spalania osadów ściekowych jest zgodny z założeniami programu „zero odpadów dla Europy” w którym podkreśla się że trwały wzrost gospodarczy jest możliwy poprzez przecho...

Węgiel kamienny, od kilku stuleci stanowi podstawowe źródło energii pierwotnej w światowej gospodarce. Polska jest krajem wyjątkowo zasobnym w węgiel. Biorąc pod uwagę szereg uwarunkowań technicznych, ekonomicznych, społecznych i politycznych – Polska powinna wykorzystać szansę do bardziej racjonalnego i efektywnego wykorzystania węgla kamiennego....

Purpose This article is the third of a series of articles presenting the results of research on the implementation of life cycle management tools in small- and medium-sized companies in Poland. The purpose of the three-part series of articles is to present the results of research on the implementation of life cycle tools in Polish small and medium...

The rebuilding of the phosphorus cycle can be performed with the use of both biotechnology and chemical technology. This paper presents a review of the phosphorus cycle and the different approaches that can be taken to the recovery of phosphorus from phosphate-rich waste. Critical issues in the phosphorus cycle are also discussed. Methods for the r...

Purpose In this two-part paper (Background and Initial Assumptions (Part 1) and Results of Survey Research (Part 2)), we present surveys whose main objective is to determine, whether and to what extent the life cycle assessment (LCA) technique is used for the identification and assessment of environmental aspects in environmental management systems...

The European mining industry has a long tradition providing many regions with growth and employment. However, now in the European Union, consumption of many minerals and especially metals considerably exceeds the EU mining industry’s internal supply capability. In the last years, it was pointed out in many EU documents that securing reliable and un...

Purpose In this two-part paper (Background and Initial Assumptions (part 1) and Results of Survey Research (part 2)), we present surveys whose main objective is to determine whether, and to what extent, the life cycle assessment (LCA) technique is used for the identification and assessment of environmental aspects in environmental management system...

The proposal of application of multi-criteria analysis and technological quality method for optimization of technological processes on the case study of sodium chromate production variants from waste was presented. The research on the use of chromic waste for the production of sodium chromate made it possible to determine the optimal process parame...

The Polish Centre for life cycle assessment (LCA) is a non-profit organization founded in 2009 following the initiative of people involved in Polish scientific and R&D centers dealing with LCA. The role, mission as well structure and organization of PCLCA have been presented. Moreover, the current state of LCA implementation in Poland has been ment...

Four variants for location of an waste incineration plant In Cracow were compared by using of multicriteria anal., compromise programming, and anal, hierarchy process. Tech.-legal, geotech. and transportation criteria were taken into consideration. The best location was selected.

Multicriteria analysis was used to compare landfilling and incineration as municipal waste management methods. Both environmental and economic criteria were taken into account. The waste incineration technol. was selected as more favourable than disposal, especially in terms of its impact on the environment.

Best Available Techniques Not Entailing Excessive Costs (BATNEEC) options, technology quality method and multi-criteria analysis were proposed as means of developing indices for evaluating municipal waste management systems. The proposed indices can be treated as a tool for ranking the system taking into account technical, environmental, economic,...

Planning of waste management system in urban area should take into consideration many legal, technological, finan-cial, economic, technical, ecological, social and spatial aspects. The aim of the paper is to propose the method, which can be helpful in planning procedure of waste management system in European cities or regions, which comprise with f...