Spyridoula Gerasimidou- Doctor of Philosophy
- Research consultant at Brunel University London
Spyridoula Gerasimidou
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Research consultant at Brunel University London
About
30
Publications
20,932
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
800
Citations
Introduction
Current institution
Additional affiliations
February 2016 - June 2016
Position
- Research Assistant - Environmental Engineer
Description
- ‘Measurements of biogas production derived from agricultural and livestock waste’
January 2016 - June 2016
Position
- Research Assistant
Description
- Teaching assistant to postgraduate students during the course 'Advanced Solid Waste Management' at the laboratory of Solid and Hazardous Waste Management
July 2011 - December 2011
Position
- Research Assistant
Description
- Analysis of static respiration index in solid waste samples from composting unit in Kefalonia, Greece.
Education
October 2016 - September 2019
September 2012 - July 2014
September 2006 - April 2012
Publications
Publications (30)
Recent global initiatives, such as the Global Plastics Treaty, underscore the urgency for a systems-based approach to address the risks associated with plastic pollution. However, the implementation of such initiatives has often faltered due to a lack of clarity surrounding what constitutes a truly systemic approach. This study presents a comprehen...
Since 2021, there has been a notable increase in the consumption of disposable vapes among British adults. The management of disposable vape waste lags behind, due to significant challenges associated with the complexity of the devices and their components. This study explores the prospects of recycling to foster sustainable practices in handling d...
Residual waste is a key fraction of municipal solid waste generated, yet its management is poorly understood and has gained little attention over the past years. Using London as a case study, the present study analyses the amount of residual waste collected and managed to check on how well ahead the UK is in making progress on achieving the circula...
The biodegradation of bioplastics is a topic of interest worldwide. This work aims to measure the biodegradability of five polylactic acid (PLA)-based bioplastics under aerobic, thermophilic laboratory conditions and correlate their weight loss with their CO2 generation over a 3-month period, as both are considered indexes of biodegradation. The ex...
Residual waste is a key fraction of municipal solid waste generated, yet its management is poorly understood and has gained little attention over the past years. Using London as a case study, the study found that of the 5 Mt of residual waste reported to be managed in London, 3.5 Mt is managed via recovery operations, whereas 1.59 Mt of waste is ma...
Polyethylene (PE) is the most widely used type of plastic food packaging, in which chemicals can potentially migrate into packaged foods. The implications of using and recycling PE from a chemical perspective remain underexplored. This study is a systematic evidence map of 116 studies looking at the migration of food contact chemicals (FCCs) across...
The production of bioplastics from food loss and waste (FLW), termed FLW-derived bioplastics, is considered an attractive alternative to first-generation bioplastics. To our knowledge, a clear understanding of the sustainability performance of FLW-derived bioplastics from environmental, economic, technical, and social aspects is still lacking. This...
The UK government has been calling for action in tackling food waste (FW) generation, to which the Hospitality and Food Services (HaFS) sector contributes substantially. Decision-making tools that inform the selection of appropriate FW management (FWM) processes in the HaFS sector are lacking. This study fills this gap by offering a conceptual deci...
With over 95% of BPA used in the production of polycarbonate (PC) and epoxy resins, termed herein as BPA‐based plastic materials, components and products (MCPs), an investigation of human exposure to BPA over the whole lifecycle of BPA‐based plastic MCPs is necessary. This mini‐review unpacks the implications arising from the long‐term human exposu...
Chemicals can migrate from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) drink bottles to their content and recycling processes may concentrate or introduce new chemicals to the PET value chain. Therefore, even though recycling PET bottles is key in reducing plastic pollution, it may raise concerns about safety and quality. This study provides a systematic evid...
This report presents the results of a rapid evidence assessment of the environmental life cycle impacts of inert/less reactive materials that might typically be expected to have minimal impact on the environment, to generate insights on where environmental improvements might be needed in England. From a material standpoint, according to the Europea...
The pace to achieving a sustainable plastics economy remains noticeably slow due to a lack of understanding on the role and importance of stakeholder dynamics in the plastic packaging system. This study aims to unpack and assess the role of stakeholders in improving plastics recycling rates and circularity in the UK, using polyethylene terephthalat...
The critical functionality provided by the informal e-waste recycling sector to the global circular economy is marred by the hazardous emissions from this practice when it is carried out under informal and unregulated conditions in the Global South. Here, we focus a systematic review (PRISMA) of evidence specifically on rudimentary thermal processi...
Across the Global South, electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) is recovered using rudimentary and often dangerous methods in informal and unregulated facilities. Although these activities provide a valuable contribution to the global circular economy, their uncontrolled nature results in a risk of potentially hazardous substance emission into t...
As plastic pollution globally is gaining increased attention, the use of bio-based plastics, especially in the food packaging sector, is growing in popularity. While this move is regarded as a solution to plastic pollution, it may shift or create detrimental impacts elsewhere in the production, consumption, management system, a possibility that is...
Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) is the most widespread thermal analytical technique applied to waste materials. By way of critical review, we establish a theoretical framework for the use of TGA under non-isothermal conditions for compositional analysis of waste-derived fuels from municipal solid waste (MSW) (solid recovered fuel (SRF), or refuse-...
The uncertainty arising from laboratory sampling (sub-sampling) can compromise the accuracy of analytical results in highly inherent heterogeneous materials, such as solid waste. Here, we aim at advancing our fundamental understanding on the possibility for relatively unbiased, yet affordable and practicable sub-sampling, benefiting from state of t...
Plastic is a commodity that supports our modern lifestyles. Its remarkable range of properties (e.g., durability, lightweight, good barrier properties) combined with the ease of processing make plastic a sustainable alternative over other materials (e.g., glass, metals, and paper), of which production, use, and management can be more resource inten...
Solid recovered fuel (SRF), a partly biogenic form of waste-derived fuel, can be used for replacing fossil fuels in cement kilns. Higher SRF uptake is limited mainly by its chlorine (Cl) content. Here we present a systematic literature review (PRISMA methodology) on the challenges induced by Cl during SRF co-combustion in cement kilns. We show that...
The level of uncertainty during quantification of hazardous elements/properties of waste-derived products is affected by sub-sampling. Understanding sources of variability in sub-sampling can lead to more accurate risk quantification and effective compliance statistics. Here, we investigate a sub-sampling scheme for the characterisation of solid re...
In Europe, food packaging is considered to be an important medium for preserving food and reducing its wastage. Plastic is the most widely used food packaging material in Europe, owing to its versatility and unique properties. Although the majority of plastic food packaging is made from petrochemical-based resources, new sustainability trends have...
This paper examines the dependence of the healthcare waste (HCW) generation rate on several social-economic and environmental parameters. Correlations were calculated between the quantities of healthcare waste generated (expressed in kg/bed/day) versus economic indices (GDP, healthcare expenditure per capita), social indices (HDI, IHDI, MPI, life e...
Objective of the work was to monitor two full-scale commingled municipal solid waste (MSW) mechanical and biological pretreatment (MBT) facilities in Greece, namely a biodrying and a composting facility. Monitoring data from a 1.5-year sampling period is presented, whilst microbial respiration indices were used to monitor the decomposition process...
The purpose of this research was the determination of the leaching potential of eight hazardous metals from expired pharmaceutical wastes and their ashes obtained after simulated incineration. A standardized leaching test (EN 14429) was used to assess leaching over a range of pH and comparison with the limits included in Decision 2003/33/EC was don...
Despite the numerous laboratory or pilot scale experiments on MSW treatment processes, measurements from field scale MSW treatment facilities have major practical merit. Objective of the work was to monitor the performance of two new large scale commingled Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) mechanical and biological pretreatment (MBT) facilities in Greece...
The objective of this work was to study the effect of aerobic biological pretreatment on the emissions of municipal solid waste (MSW) with a high content of putrescibles after landfilling. For this purpose, the organic fraction of MSW was simulated by a mixture of food waste and office paper at a 2.4:1 wet weight ratio. MSW was first pretreated aer...
Questions
Questions (2)
Hello everyone,
I'm a beginner at Multivariate Random Forest (MRF) regression and unfortunately the literature is limited.
I work on RStudio and I found two packages for MRF: ‘MultivariateRandomForest’ and ‘IntegratedMRF’. Both packages have some functions in common, but I can't distinguish the difference between them. I think that the second package is used when you have two or more data subtypes.
I have two datasets from my experiments ( TGA and FTIR), which constitute the input feature matrix. The output response matrix consists of the proportions of 7 components in 48 mixtures (Matrix: 48x7). I aim to develop a model able to predict the composition of such mixtures based on the 7 components using TGA and FTIR data.
I run the function build_forest_predict and the residual plots look good, but how can I get the prediction error, coefficients and R-sqr? Is it better to treat my datasets as two data subtypes? If so, which functions should I use?
Sorry for the number of questions, any advice/help/material/example would be much appreciated! Many thanks in advance!
Good day! I would really appreciate sharing your ideas with me!
I am trying to develop a mixture experiment based on some prevalent components of a waste fuel so that to develop a model for composition identification by using TGA data. However, the research focuses on the use of this type of fuel in combustion applications.
My question is what atmospheric conditions should I use in TGA for this purpose?
I found in the literature that an inert atmosphere is used more extensively for this purpose. As far as I understand, the inert atmosphere is used to isolate the effects of degradation and avoid oxidation reactions.
I was thinking of using air to mimic the applied environment and get exact behaviour, but the selection of an inert atmosphere looks more suitable for assessing the stability and composition of the fuel. Am I right?
Thank you for your attention and your answers!!
