Jouni Havukainen

• D. Sc (Tech.)
• Professor (Associate) at Lappeenranta – Lahti University of Technology LUT

Introduction The reliance on fossil inputs of agricultural practices has led to maximizing yields and profitability, even at the expense of environmental sustainability. Implementing circular waste management solutions could help align the economic and environmental goals of farmers while reducing their reliance on fossil inputs. The co-application...

Increasing renewable electricity generation based on the solar and wind power poses requirements for the energy storage options while there is simultaneously an increased demand for replacing fossil fuels in transport, aviation, and maritime sectors. Power-to-X (PtX) technologies provide one solution to store the electricity in form that can be uti...

Owing to the ongoing energy crisis, increasing shares of renewables, and climate mitigation targets, a green hydrogen economy through water electrolysis has gained interest. Hydrogen can be directly utilised or converted via different Power-to-X pathways to produce fossil-free substitutable products; therefore, their life-cycle emissions were studi...

Hydrogen has the potential to revolutionize how we power our lives, from transportation to energy production. This study aims to compare the climate change impacts and the main factors affecting them for different categories of hydrogen production, including grey hydrogen (SMR), blue hydrogen (SMR-CCS), turquoise hydrogen (TDM), and green hydrogen...

Recovering and recycling nitrogen available in waste streams would reduce the demand for conventional fossil-based fertilizers and contribute toward food security. Based on life cycle assessment (LCA), this study aimed to evaluate the environmental performance of nitrogen recovery for fertilizer purposes from sewage sludge treatment in a municipal...

Global objectives to mitigate climate change in the construction industry have led to increasing geopolymer development as an alternative to carbon-intensive cement. Geopolymers can have similar mechanical properties and a lower carbon footprint. However, geopolymer production is not as homogeneous as cement because it is produced by synthesizing a...

Waste management processes have developed significantly in recent decades and will continue to change alongside the associated environmental impacts. This paper examines the climate change impacts of historical development in waste management, which has not received significant attention in the existing literature, while also exploring possible fut...

Liquid packaging board is one of the highly demanded packaging mediums for liquid food and beverages, generating substantial waste each year. Even though the fibre part of the liquid packaging board is recycled through a repulping process, the plastic and aluminium are usually used for energy recovery and as alternative raw materials in cement fact...

Fusion and quality enhancement of the low-resolution Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) maps to Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) panchromatic images has been proven effective by various pansharpening algorithms. The present paper aims to target the preprocessing of these maps to enhance the efficiency of the pansharpening process, with as...

Paper presents results of the MonGOS project – Monitoring of water and wastewater management in the context of implementing the assumptions of the circular economy, that was conducted by consortium of partners from Poland, Belgium, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, in 2020–2022. Project aimed to develop comprehensive CE monitoring framework a...

Dear Reader, It is my great pleasure to share a set of works on the implementation of circular economy (CE) in the water and sewage sector, which were widely discussed during the MonGOS International Conference: Water and Sewage in the Circular Economy Model, that took place in Cracow (Poland) on 30 June and 1 July 2022. This conference was dedicat...

This paper investigates the factors influencing the behavior of individuals in source-separation of municipal solid waste in an immature system for collection of recyclable waste (Saint Petersburg, Russia) and a more mature waste system (selected urban areas, Finland). Online questionnaires were applied to collect data from citizens of Saint Peters...

Book of abstracts contains all papers that have been presented during the MonGOS International Conference - Water and Sewage in the Circular Economy Model (30 June-1 July 2022, Cracow, Poland). In nine sessions of the MonGOS International Conference, Practitioners and Theoreticians presented works related to the implementation of CE in the sector,...

A waste reform was recently introduced in Russia to divert waste from landfills. To help advance the reform, this paper presents a life cycle assessment of the municipal solid waste management system in Russia’s second largest city—Saint Petersburg—and its neighboring Leningrad region. Five scenarios were evaluated: the current state of the system...

The European Union is currently in the process of transformation toward a circular economy model in which different areas of activity should be integrated for more efficient management of raw materials and waste. The wastewater sector has a great potential in this regard and therefore is an important element of the transformation process to the cir...

Due to the global trend of urbanization, the amount of sewage water is increasing in cities. This calls for efficient treatment of the resulting sewage sludge. To date, in the 27 European Union member countries (EU-27), the prevailing treatment method is application on arable land. Anaerobic digestion is one of the treatment methods being increasin...

This chapter explores literature studies regarding the environmental performance of alkali-activated materials (AAM) in comparison to conventional materials for different applications such as in binder or concrete for construction, waste treatment, or insulation material. The environmental performance of AAM in these different applications has not...

Liquid packaging board (LPB) is an integral part of storing and transporting liquid food. In addition to its significant advantages, LPB has been challenging the existing waste management sector since its introduction into the market. In most European countries, LPB waste is either incinerated or recycled in the recycling facilities where fibre is...

Life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology was applied to assess five locally developed mix designs for a 20 m low-height noise barrier (LHNB) categorized as: precast Portland cement concrete (S0-baseline scenario), two precast geopolymer composites (S1; S2), and two additive-manufactured geopolymer composites (S3; S4). The objective of the study is t...

Based on mass and energy balance calculations, this work investigates the possibility of recovering heat and nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) from municipal sewage sludge using pyrolysis or combustion in combination with a gas scrubbing technology. Considering a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) with 65,000 t/a of mechanically dewatered digestat...

Purpose Waste recycling is one of the essential tools for the European Union’s transition towards a circular economy. One of the possibilities for recycling wood and plastic waste is to utilise it to produce composite product. This study analyses the environmental impacts of producing composite pallets made of wood and plastic waste from constructi...

The cement industry is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions on a global scale. Consequently, there has been an increasing interest, in both academia and business, in low-carbon concretes in which Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) is partially or fully replaced with industrial side streams. However, the realization of the environmental benef...

In this study, we explore the drivers of and barriers to environmental innovation for new entrants and incumbents in the cement industry. The cement industry produces large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions every year, and therefore, implementing environmental innovations in the industry is important. The study was conducted as a multiple-c...

Cement production is responsible for a significant share of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A potential option to reduce the cement production emissions is to use alternative fuels which can have also an impact on emissions from the waste management sector. This work investigates the change in global warming potential (GWP) of ordinary Portl...

Cement production is responsible for a significant share of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A potential option to reduce the cement production emissions is to use alternative fuels which can have also an impact on emissions from the waste management sector. This work investigates the change in global warming potential (GWP) of ordinary Portl...

Alkali-activated binders have been considered a low carbon alternative to cement and are produced by reacting aluminosilicate precursor with an alkali-activator. However, alkali-activators have been observed to be a major contributor to the environmental burdens of alkali-activated materials regarding various environmental impact categories. Theref...

The main objective of this paper was to investigate the alkali activation of mine tailings (MT) after mechanochemical activation and the effect of metakaolin (MK) addition. Finnish mica-rich tailings from a phosphate mine were studied as precursors for alkali-activated materials (AAM) with a potential application as a substitute for ordinary Portla...

This study investigates the recovery of ammonia from drying fumes during thermal drying of sewage sludge with packed bed acid scrubbers to recover ammonia and to produce ammonium sulfate. The process is modelled for two concentrations, 75 and 100 ppm, and 1000m3/h inlet flowrate of drying fumes containing air and ammonia gas. It results in finding...

Horse manure is often a cost for horse owners, and in most cases, it is underutilized when its status as biodegradable waste means that it could potentially be used in renewable energy production and serve as a source of nutrient recycling. The selection of treatment methods requires information on possible environmental impacts; however, much read...

Alkali-activated concretes have been receiving increasingly attention as they are identified to be key components towards achieving sustainable construction in future. A detailed comparative environmental assessment study of different mix-designs of fibre reinforced alkali-activated concretes (FRAAC), conventional concrete (CC) and steel fibre rein...

The debate on sustainable development has long focused on the determinants promoting sustainable development. Some scholars have discussed environmental determinants, such as energy savings , pollution prevention, waste recycling, hygienic factors, land occupation, green product design, corporate environmental management, and ease of material handl...

Thermal drying and consequent incineration of sewage sludge result in an absolute loss of an important macronutrient – nitrogen. To fulfill the growing food demand, humanity relies more on industrial fixation of nitrogen, primarily via the Haber-Bosch process. The present paper examines the nitrogen release during continuous thermal drying of munic...

The European Commission's ambitious construction and demolition waste (CDW) material recovery target has placed pressure on Finland to increase its CDW material recovery rate. It has been identified that using CDW fractions, e.g. waste wood, plastic, mineral wool and plasterboard, as raw materials for wood polymer composites (WPCs) may help in reac...

Determining the chemical properties of waste is crucial to ensure the most effective utilization of waste. The standard laboratory measurements can produce accurate results, but analysis is labor- and time-consuming. The variety of elements that field portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (FPXRF) can detect from selected waste materials was stud...

Available online: https://www.witpress.com/elibrary/sdp-volumes/13/8/2355 LUT University repository: http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2018122051400 ------------------------ The prevailing large-scale use of chemical fertilizers has been affecting environmental degradation. a broken nutrient cycle has caused problems worldwide, which are related to the qu...

This study examines the links between sustainability engagement and green technology investments. Using data on 139 Finnish small businesses, the results show a positive relationship between the two. The sustainability engagement of small businesses affects their interest in investing in green technology. However, engagement in environmental sustai...

This study deals with sustainable development from a triple bottom‐line perspective, including the economic, social, and environmental dimensions. Specifically, this study investigates whether various sustainability factors are related to small businesses' intentions to exploit open sustainability, which is described as meeting sustainability chall...

Landfill disposal has thus far been the predominant treatment method for municipal solid waste (MSW) throughout Brazil, including São Paulo city. Environmentally sustainable development of MSW management in São Paulo necessitates a stepwise reduction of landfilling. However, ever increasing MSW generation poses the challenge of managing increasing...

Permanent link to document: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-335-227-8 The purpose of this report is to identify and quantify potential waste materials for rematerialization in the South Karelia region. The Kompotek re-materialization pilot plant utilizes various waste materials, which mainly originates from construction and demolition (C&D) activiti...

Permanent link to document: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-335-228-5 Rakennusjätteen koostumustutkimus toteutettiin osana FISS Etelä-Karjalan teollisten symbioosien palvelu -hanketta, joka on Lappeenrannan kaupungin ja Lappeenrannan teknillisen yliopiston (LUT:n) yhteishanke. Hanke on Euroopan aluekehitysrahaston osittain rahoittama, ja se alkoi 1....

Permanent link to Lappeenranta University of Technology depository: http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2017110850554 Forest biomass is used in many countries as an abundant and easily accessible source of renewable energy. While forest biomass has certain advantages in terms of carbon sink capability, it cannot be considered an emission-free energy source...

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a biological decomposition process that occurs in the absence of oxygen. The decomposition of organic matter is a multi-step process of series and parallel reactions namely hydrolysis, acidogenesis, acetogenesis and methanogene. Most of the control in anaerobic digestion is undertaken directly by the microorganisms thems...

Concerns about inappropriate storage, application rates, and disposal practices of pesticides prompted this case study of Vietnamese farmers’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices. 128 small-scale vegetable growers in Lam Dong Province were included in field surveys, questionnaires, and interviews. Farmers reported inappropriate mixing of pesticides...

The focus of this paper is on the interplay between sustainability and the adoption of various types of innovations. Little empirical research addresses how the valuation of sustainability affects the adoption of different types of innovations. This study contributes to this research gap by presenting the explanatory sustainability factors behind h...

Ammonia release during thermal drying of digestate originating from a thermophilic anaerobic digestion process was continuously measured using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis, and the total amount of ammonia released was calculated. Batch thermal drying was performed at temperatures of 70, 100, 130, and 160 °C without pH adjustment...

A comprehensive process model is designed for the production of syngas from municipal solid waste (MSW) gasification in a bubbling fluidized bed (BFB) gasifier using Aspen Plus simulator. The present study explores the potential of MSW gasification for exergy analysis and has been recently given a premier attention in a region like Pakistan where t...

Bioenergy business operators can significantly contribute to the sustainability of bioenergy systems. While research has addressed the maturity of corporate responsibility for sustainability, the maturity levels of bioenergy business have not been determined. The objectives of this research were to characterise the maturity levels of bioenergy corp...

An ongoing call to implement a circular economy is underway in the European Union, and a specific attention has been placed on the forest industry, which seeks additional recycling routes for its side streams, including biosludge. Biosludge is often dried and incinerated, thus wasting the nitrogen contained therein. This paper describes a study in...

The life cycle assessment (LCA) of municipal solid waste (MSW) management systems is typically rather arduous due to extensive data acquisition needed to calculate the direct and avoided emissions of the systems. A possibility to diminish the workload of the LCA studies is to utilise default or generic data instead of direct and case-specific data....

Insufficient wastewater treatment causes serious problems for the environment and health in the Leningrad Region. Even though wastewater treatment has been improving during the last decade, almost no attention has been paid to the wastewater sludge treatment. Nutrient emissions from the organic wastes, including wastewater sludge, are among the mos...

The aim of the study was to quantify the environmental impact of four alternative recycling methods of thermal residues generated within the case study area chosen. Overall, 90 combinations of 13 scenarios were included in the study and a sensitivity analysis was performed. The recycling methods that were assessed included forest fertilization and...

The increasing demand for food has led to heightened demands for fertilizers containing nitrogen, a vital nutrient for efficient crop yields. In the study, a potential for nitrogen recovery during thermal drying of sewage sludge was examined. The mechanically dewatered sewage sludge from a municipal wastewater treatment plant was batch dried under...

Permanent link to Lappeenranta University of Technology depository: http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2016092724379 Municipal solid waste (MSW) management is becoming increasingly popular around the world as a means of accommodating the increasing amounts of waste that the growing global population generates. China currently produces more MSW than any ot...

Distributed energy systems (DESY) are used in many households as an alternative to conventional centralized energy production. While centralized energy production does offer certain advantages, there is growing interest in smaller distributed renewable energy production options. This study uses combines two different methodologies, namely life cycl...

Fly ash collected from the bag filter could be recycled into the first stage of the cyclone pre-heater of the cement kiln, resulting in the possible enrichment of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs). In this study, soxhlet fly ash (SFA) and raw meal (RM) were selected as the basis for the PCDD/F formation experiments. The...

This study systematically assessed and compared four ash recycling possibilities, namely forest fertilization, landfill construction, road construction, and road stabilization through the use of cost-benefit analysis and life cycle assessment methods. The results indicated that forest fertilization with ash was the most economically attractive meth...

Landfills are considered as places where the life cycle of products ends and materials have been “disposed forever”. The landfill mining (LFM) approach can deal with former dumpsites and this material may become important for circular economy perspectives within the concept “Beyond the zero waste”. Potential material recovery should include perspec...

A full-text version can be found in the depository of Lappeenranta University of Technology: http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-265-958-3

EU’s landfill directive and waste framework directive sets challenges and targets to Finnish waste management system. Biodegradable waste going to landfill must be decreased and simultaneously material recovery increased. Energy recovery in Finland has expanded fast and 42 % of the municipal solid waste (MSW) was incinerated in 2013. Same time disp...

This article focuses on the saving potential of butanol as regards greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It is known that butanol can be used as a biofuel to decrease the greenhouse gas emissions from transport and that butanol may overcome blend wall limitations better than ethanol. However, the GHG emissions of butanol are not well known. The study is...

More efficient recycling of municipal solid waste (MSW) is an essential precondition for turning Europe into a circular economy. Thus, the recycling of MSW must increase significantly in several member states, including Finland. This has increased the interest in the composition of mixed MSW. Due to increased information needs, a method for mixed M...

Permanent link to Lappeenranta University of Technology depository: http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2016102825620 All life forms require phosphorus (P), which has no substitute in food production. The risk of phosphorus loss from soil and limited P rock reserves has led to the development of recycling P from industrial residues. This study investigates...

Local impacts of bioenergy chains in addition to global impacts have been gaining increasing attention during the past few years in sustainability impact assessment. The objective was to develop a systematic approach to the holistic identification of sustainability questions of a biofuel product locally with the focus on business perspective. The a...

Distributed energy generation, Hybrid systems, Renewable energy, Community energy

In this paper, limiting factors for increased use of biomethane as a transportation fuel are studied. The aim of this research is to recognize and estimate the limiting factors for biomethane utilization in the transportation sector. The limiting factors are studied by using calculation models from Life cycle perspective and literature reviews. Acc...

Combining together different technologies can form a strong hybrid solution adapted to local needs. Local energy production also increases local business and energy production from local waste reduces waste management costs, thus enabling other local business and employment. Local energy production also increases energy, electricity and fuel securi...

Deinking sludge, which is generated in large quantities and landfilled, poses a serious threat not only to the environment and society, but to economy as well. The economic damage results from the missed opportunity to utilize sludge as alternative raw material or fuel and especially because of landfill fees and pressure to increase it. Literature...

This paper examines the carbon footprint of renewable diesel (RD) production from palm oil, jatropha oil and rapeseed oil. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from land use change (LUC), feedstock cultivation processes, and RD production and delivery are studied from a life-cycle assessment perspective. The goal of the paper is to calculate the carbon f...

Biogas is a biofuel which can be used as an energy source for gas-operated vehicles or for electricity and heat production. This paper studies the greenhouse gas emissions from biowaste, waste water treatment plant sludge and agricultural biomass based biogas use as a transportation fuel and compares the transportation use with the electricity and...

Permanent link to Lappeenranta University of Technology depository: http://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2016102825619 This study focused on identifying various system boundaries and evaluating methods of estimating energy performance of biogas production. First, the output–input ratio method used for evaluating energy performance from the system boundaries...

Waste oil management systems include processes such as generation, collection, recycling, and disposal and result in various environmental, economic, social, and regulatory impacts which complicate waste management analysis. In this paper, the waste oil management system in Finland is analysed using the systems thinking approach to identify the mai...

Employing a life-cycle assessment approach, this paper studies greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resulting from biomethane used as transportation fuel. It focuses on both GHG allocation methodologies and uncertainties regarding GHG emissions from biomethane. The goal is to calculate GHG emissions of two types of biomethane used in transportation: that...

Employing a life-cycle assessment approach, this paper studies greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions resulting from biomethane used as transportation fuel. It focuses on both GHG allocation methodologies and uncertainties regarding GHG emissions from biomethane. The goal is to calculate GHG emissions of two types of biomethane used in transportation: that...

The landfilling of municipal solid waste (MSW) may cause potential environmental impacts like global warming (GW), soil contaminations, and groundwater pollution. The degradation of MSW in anaerobic circumstances generates methane emissions, and can hence contribute the GW. As the GW is nowadays considered as one of the most serious environmental t...

The aim of the paper is to carry out an analysis on socioeconomic risks and benefits of biofuel production on different stages of biofuel production chain. Biofuels have gained increasing attention as an alternative to fossil fuels and as a potential way to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while contributing rural development in developing...

Energy decisions play an essential role in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the transportation sector. Biogas is a renewable energy source and can be used as an energy source for gas-operated cars or for electric cars. This paper compares different ways to use biogas, which is produced on a medium scale anaerobic digestion plants, as an e...

The publication summarises the results and conclusions of the research project Advanced Solutions for Recycling of Complex and New Materials. The aim of the project has been to create an understanding of the future development needs of waste recycling and management by conducting an in-depth analysis of five selected waste value chains.The chains a...