The Swedish Road Administration (SRA) is responsible for maintenance of the state-run roads in Sweden. The SRA also has an overarching responsibility for the state of the environment in the road transport sector. The overall aim of this thesis is to examine the implementation of environmental requirements in SRA road maintenance contracts and to develop an improved model for the implementation of environmental requirements, making it easier for the SRA to establish an optimal contracting strategy for routine road maintenance. Using several qualitative methodologies, the thesis is mainly based on a content analysis of 18 tender documents, two case studies consisting of five cases and a questionnaire. The study shows that the SRA have stipulated environmental requirements in procurements of routine road maintenance since 1997. The formulation of the environmental requirements was initially carried out at the Regional Road Management Directorates. However, in the case of trucks and construction vehicles relevant organisations were given the opportunity to actively participate in the development of environmental requirements. The contractors in the study fulfil about three-quarters of the environmental requirements in the contracts. The main reasons for not complying with the environmental requirements are: i) absence of consultation with municipalities and competent authorities, and ii) inadequate communication of environmental requirements to subcontractors. The benefit to the environment of laying down environmental requirements for road maintenance is difficult to assess, due to unclear environmental requirements and the fact that the SRA does not systematically follow up the environmental requirements. The findings of the research indicate that the SRA have made a serious effort to integrate environmental aspects in their maintenance contracts through the use of environmental requirements. However, the SRA need to adopt a more systematic approach towards road maintenance contracts in order to make green procurement an effective tool for environmental adaptation of road maintenance. The thesis proposes an improved process for development, implementation and follow-up of environmental requirements. The proposed process can be summarised in five criteria that need to be fulfilled in order to achieve an environmentally efficient application of environmental requirements: i) the environmental requirements have to be based on legislation, environmental quality objectives, identified environmental problems and/or research, ii) environmental indicators and baselines have to be established in order to facilitate follow-up of compliance with the requirements, iii) the environmental requirements have to be stated clearly in order to limit misinterpretations and to facilitate follow-up, iv) the contractors have to develop working processes, routines and training based on the environmental requirements, v) routines for following-up compliance with the requirements and the environmental effectiveness need to be developed, and there has to be a feedback of the results. Furthermore, the purchasing function needs to be integrated with the implementation of the contracts. Although, having faced several problems during the introduction of environmental requirements, the SRA have managed to meet the main arguments that are used for justification of green procurement. However, if slightly changed, the process of green procurement has the potential of becoming an important tool in the work for enhancing the environmental performance of the SRA. / QC 20101012

Given a special focus on Design for Environment (DfE) methods and tools, the objectives of this thesis are to, “Identify basic design-related requirements that a method or tool should fulfill in order to become actively used by engineering designers”, and to “Investigate how those basic requirements could be used to make DfE methods and tools more actively used in industry among engineering designers”. The research has shown that designers in general have three main purposes for utilizing methods and tools, of which the last two could be seen as subsets of the first one. The purposes are to: (1) facilitate various kinds of communication within the product development process; (2) integrate knowledge and experience into the methods and tools as a know-how backup; and (3) contribute with structure in the product development process. The low degree of follow-up implies a risk that methods and tools are used that affect the work within the company in a negative way. In order to be able to better follow-up methods and tools regarding both their utilization and usefulness, there is a need for a better definition of requirements for methods and tools. Most of all designers’ related requirements are related to their’ aims to fulfill the product performance and keep down the development time. This can be concluded as four major requirements, that a DfE method or tool, as well as a common method or tool, must exhibit: (1) be easy to adopt and implement, (2) facilitate designers to fulfill specified requirements on the presumptive product, and at the same time (3) reduce the risk that important elements in the product development phase are forgotten. Both these two latter requirements relate to a method or tool’s degree of appropriateness. The second and the third requirements are related to the fourth requirement, which is found to be the most important: that the use of the method or tool (4) must reduce the total calendar time (from start to end) to solve the task. The conclusion is that DfE methods and tools must be designed to comply to a higher degree with the main users - in this case the designers’ requirements for methods and tools / QC 20101021

Use of anaerobically digested sludge (ADS) in heavy metal removal, was researched. The raw and dewatered ADS samples collected from the effluent of anaerobic digesters and mechanical dewatering units of Ankara City Wastewater Treatment Plant were used. Sorption kinetic and equilibrium tests were conducted using raw ADS at initial pH of 2.0, 4.0 and without adjusting the initial pH. The highest Pb(II) removal capacity was observed as, 8.5 mmol (or 1760 mg) Pb(II) per g of biomass, when the initial pH was not controlled. When dewatered ADS was used Pb(II) removal capacity of ADS was found to drastically decrease to 2.5 mmol (or 518 mg) Pb(II) per g of biomass. Both biomass samples resulted in an increase in the solution pH from an initial value of 4 &ndash / 5 to an equilibrium value of 7 &ndash / 8. Large floc particles settling rapidly were formed after the ADS samples contacted with Pb(II) solution. The high Pb(II) removal capacities, and visual observations during the experiments indicated that precipitation is a dominant mechanism especially at low initial Pb(II) concentrations. FTIR studies showed that carboxyl groups present in the biomass surface of raw ADS were major functional groups in biosorption of Pb(II). The low capacity values attained at initial pH 2.0 indicated that there was a competition between Pb(II) species and hydrogen ions for carboxyl groups. Single and 3-stage fed-batch reactor systems were operated using raw ADS at different initial Pb(II) concentrations. The efficiency of reactor systems increased when 3-stage fed-batch configuration was used and an effluent Pb(II) concentration below 2 mg/L was reached from an initial value of about 200 mg/L.

Treatment of waste sludge has become an important issue in recent years around the world. However, the trend of waste sludge treatment has shifted from volume minimization and stabilization to reuse of the sludge and recover the energy potential of it. Therefore, anaerobic treatment of sludge is gaining popularity because of byproduct methane production and high percentage of VSS reduction. Pre-treatment of sludge before anaerobic digestion in order to increase methane production, and ozone pre-treatment in this context, is one such option. Domestic sludge also contains the recently recognized, so called, emerging compounds such as Endocrine Disrupting Compounds (EDCs). Therefore treatment of EDCs in sludge is another challenge in waste sludge treatment since direct discharge of such chemicals may harm the environment by causing gender shifts within the fauna. In this context two hormones (estrone and progesterone), three pharmaceuticals (acetaminophen, carbamazepine and diltiazem) and one plasticizer (benzyl-butyl phthalate) were routinely analyzed in sludge samples which were subjected to treatment during this study. Treatment of EDCs during anaerobic digestion and the effect of ozonation both on the performance of digestion and the treatability of EDCs were investigated in this study. Four 2.5L anaerobic jars were used for anaerobic digestion connected to four 1L plastic graduated cylinders immersed in salt-water to collect the off gas. Anaerobic sludge culture of the reactor and the sludge feed to the reactors were obtained from Ankara Tatlar Wastewater Treatment Plant anaerobic digester and return activated sludge (RAS) line, respectively. One of the anaerobic digesters was used as control (no ozonation) and the others were fed with sludge samples ozonated at three different ozone doses 0.65, 1.33 and 2.65 mg ozone/g biomass. Sludge ages of the reactors were initially set to 25 days and the reactors were fed once every 2 days. The TSS, VSS, total gas volume, COD, pH, CH4 percentage and EDCs were analyzed routinely. In the reactors, operated at 25 days, because of the observation of reduction of TSS, SRT was set to infinity / thus, sludge wastage was terminated. Following the startup it was seen that at 2.65 mg ozone/g biomass dose TSS and VSS did not stay constant in the reactor and dropped sharply in the course of operation, indicating that system was not steady at this SRT. However, upon stoppage of sludge wastage from the reactors, thereby setting SRT to infinity, a steady culture could be maintained in the reactors. Both total gas production and CH4 percentage increased with the increasing doses of ozone with respect to control reactor. For 2.65 mg/g ozonated reactor total gas volume doubled the amount produced in the control reactor. All the EDCs within the scope of this study were analyzed in sludge using ultrasound-aided sequential sludge extraction method twice a week and the results showed that ozonation affected treatment of EDCs for up to 96%. The highest removal rate was obtained with natural hormones. Rates of treatment of pharmaceuticals were the second best.

At present time, climate and energy issues are important subjects in the international market and environmental technology is a rapidly growing concept. Many companies in Sweden have developed much in-house knowledge in environmental technology. Therefore, they have great opportunity to export. In the sustainability perspective, export has not only benefits in the economic aspect, but also advantages for the environment. Development of appropriate business models is necessary for supporting environmental technology export.In this research an attempt was made to explore business model elements and offerings for export of environmental technology. The relevant theories in environmental technology characteristics, customization, product service systems and business models were used.The case studies included a Swedish municipality-owned company, its subsidiaries and a Swedish private company which was active in export. Empirical data were collected by conducting of interviews. The results reflect the business models and offerings of the studied cases. The analysis of cases provided findings for environmental technologies characteristics which have effect on export business models.Furthermore, six categories for making distinction among different elements of business models in literature were defined in this study. By analysis of the cases a new category which entailed new elements was added as the seventh category. The mentioned categories are useful in business model formulating for export of environmental technology.

The emerging cleantech market in China will bring new business opportunities for Swedish cleantech SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises). In such an internationalization process, business network building is an important approach that Swedish entrepreneurs should consider about. Guanxi is a culture pattern in China and plays important role in business of Chinese context. The purpose of the thesis is to find how business network and guanxi affect on Swedish SMEs’ internationalization, especially their business with China in the cleantech industry. Based on market information from pre-study, four propositions connected with business network and guanxi are generated for Swedish SMEs in their business with China. Later, four cases are selected to match raised propositions for deeper analysis. By the theory of guanxi and business network internationalization, each proposition and case gives a specific view to analyze and understand this topic from an explorative way. Several conclusions are drawn by the analysis. First, guanxi plays an important role in network building for China market, and the native Chinese can provide great help in such a guanxi building process. Second, the business network can bring valuable information and business opportunities for Swedish SMEs in their business with China. Third, it is beneficial for Swedish cleantech SMEs to cooperate with Chinese state owned companies in their business network. Fourth, Chinese local SMEs cannot gain competitive advantage by guanxi building because the foreign competitors can copy or imitate with proper strategy to learn the skill to connect with Chinese people in the market.

With the increasing understaning of the need for sustainable development, many are finding that existing systems of governance are not sufficiently complex to solve the environmental crisis (see Glasbergen, 2011; Brown et al., 2009). As a result, the recent years has seen the rise of public-private participation, strengthened by the endorsement of the concept by the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002 (Andonova, 2010). In Europe, the concept of collaboration between state and private sector has been further endorsed by EUCETSA and former SWENTEC. Using a literature review to establish a theoretical basis, the study then embarks on a qualitative case-study of regional environmental technology networks. This study investigates the motivations causing the companies and networks to go into partnership with one another, and whether these motivations conflict. It also aims to find the perceived benefits of cooperation and the perceived end goals. The study finds that motivations for entering into partnership often seem to be business opportunity-oriented, although elements of risk, values, legal compliance and using existing capabilities also play a large role.

Upgradering av biogas med tekniken vattenabsorption är vanligt i Sverige. Elva biogasanläggningar med tillsammans fjorton uppgraderingsanläggningar använder sig av tekniken. Problem med igensättning av fyllkroppar i absorptionskolonnen, samt i ett fall i desorptionskolonnen är vanligt förekommande och har en negativ effekt på uppgraderingen av rågas till fordonsgas. Fem av de nio anläggningarna i denna studie har problem med mikrobiell tillväxt på fyllkropparna. Syftet med denna rapport var att identifiera den mikrobiella tillväxten och avgöra vilka faktorer som reglerar den för att kunna rådge driftsansvariga hur man motverkar tillväxt. En enkät skickades ut och studiebesök gjordes för att samla information om anläggningarna. Fosfolipidfettsyra (PLFA)-analyser utfördes för att bestämma mikrobiell biomassa och de organismer, som kan indikeras av de PLFA som är s.k. biomarkörer. Prover samlades in från fyra uppgraderingsanläggningar: Jönköping, Kristianstad, Linköping och Uppsala. Proverna som samlades in var till utseendet olika, allt från gult slem från Linköping till röd-brun gegga som liknade kaffe-sump från Uppsala. I proverna från Linköping och Uppsala detekterades biomarkörer för metanoxiderande bakterier (metanotrofer) av typ I. Metanotrofer finns i jord, vatten och luft i miljöer med tillgång till metan och syre. I Jönköpingsproverna detekterades biomarkörer actinomyceter som är en vanligt förekommande bakterie i avloppsreningsverkens luftningsbassänger. Den mikrobiella tillväxten som samlades in från Kristianstad räckte enbart till ett prov och därför är det resultatet ej tillförlitligt. I samtliga prover detekterades svamp (fungi) som förmodligen etablerats efter andra organismer. Faktorer som kan anses påverka den mikrobiella tillväxten är processvattnets kvalitet, pH och temperatur. Rent vatten (dricksvatten) innehåller mindre mängd organiskt material, samtliga anläggningar som använder sig av avloppsvatten upplever problem. Lågt pH är gynnsamt för att minska den mikrobiella tillväxten eftersom de flesta organismer trivs bäst vid neutralt pH. Låg temperatur är gynnsam eftersom lösligheten för koldioxid och divätesulfid är större vid lägre temperaturer, vilket gynnar uppgraderingen av biogas. / Upgrading of biogas performed using the technique absorption with water wash is common in Sweden where eleven biogas plants, comprising a total of fourteen upgrading plants use this technique. However problems with microbial growth on the pall-rings in the absorption column, and in one case in the desorption column, have negative impact on upgrading the raw gas to vehicle gas. Five of the nine biogas plants studied here have experienced problems with microbial growth. The objective of this report was to identify the microbial growth and determine possible factors regulating microbial growth in order to give advice to process management. A questionnaire was sent out and visits were made to the upgrading plants to collect information about the plants. A phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analysis was performed to determine microbial biomass and community structure, for which PLFA biomarkers are one type of indicator. Samples were analysed from four upgrading plants: Jönköping, Kristinstad, Linköping and Uppsala. The cultures collected were visually different, varying from yellow and slimy to reddish brown with the consistency of coffee grounds. In the Linköping and Uppsala samples, biomarkers for methane-oxidising bacteria (type I methanotrophs) were detected. Methanotrophs live in environments with access to methane and oxygen and are inhibited by e.g. acetylene. In the Jönköping samples biomarkers indicating the bacteria actinomycetes common in the water of aeration tanks in sewage treatment plants, were detected. In Kristianstad there was only enough culture for one sample, so no reliable result was obtained. Fungi were detected in all samples and probably established after other organisms. Factors affecting development of microbial growth were found to be water quality, pH and temperature of the process water. Clean water (drinking water) contains less organic material than cleaned water from sewage treatment plants. All plants using water from sewage treatment plants have experienced microbial growth. Low pH is beneficial for reducing microbial growth since most organisms prefer a neutral environment. Low temperature is beneficial for minimising microbial growth since the solubility of carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide increases with decreasing temperature.

The design and development of isolation or backfill materials, which seal the disposal facility, are important for disposing the wastes. The use of compacted bentonite-sand for construction of shaft seals and liners for waste containment structures has been proposed by various studies. Therefore / it is aimed in this study to develop an isolation material to be used in underground waste repositories. For such designs to be effective, their performance need to be assessed and a minimum hydraulic conductivity requirement defined by regulatory agencies should be satisfied (i.e. 1x10-8 m/s in Turkey, 1x10-9 m/s in USA). Therefore / this study assesses the performance of compacted bentonite/sand mixtures in terms of hydrological and mechanical properties. To be able to assess the performance of this material, a variety of laboratory tests were carried out. Engineering geological tests such as compaction, falling head permeability, swelling, unconfined compression and shear strength tests were conducted to select an optimum mixture. Finally, an optimum bentonite-sand mixture possessing 30% bentonite was recommended for the isolation of underground waste disposal facilities.

Sludge management is one of the most difficult and expensive problems in wastewater treatment plant operation. Consequently, &amp / #8216 / sludge minimization&amp / #8217 / concept arose to solve the excess sludge production by sludge pretreatment. Sludge pretreatment converts the waste sludge into a more bioavailable substrate for anaerobic digestion and leads to an enhanced degradation. The enhanced degradation results in more organic reduction and more biogas production. Therefore, sludge pretreatment is a means of improving sludge management in a treatment plant. Among pretreatment methods, acidic pretreatment has been subject of limited successful studies reported in the literature. On the contrary / ultrasonic pretreatment was reported as an effective pretreatment method. Main objective of this study was to investigate the effects of these two pretreatment methods and their combination in order to achieve a synergistic effect and improve the success of both pretreatment methods. Experimental investigation of pretreatment methods consists of preliminary studies for deciding the most appropriate pretreatment method. Anaerobic batch tests were conducted for optimization of the parameters of selected method. Finally, operation of semi-continuous anaerobic reactors was to investigate the effect of pretreatment on anaerobic digestion in details. Preliminary studies indicated that, more effective pretreatment method in terms of solubilization of organics is ultrasonic pretreatment. Fifteen minutes of sonication enhanced 50 mg/L initial soluble COD concentration up to a value of 2500 mg/L. Biochemical methane potential tests indicated that the increased soluble substrate improved anaerobic biodegradability concurrently. Finally, semi-continuous anaerobic reactors were used to investigate the efficiency of pretreatment under different operating conditions. Results indicate that at SRT 15 days and OLR 0.5 kg/m3d ultrasonic pretreatment improved the daily biogas production of anaerobic digester by 49% and methane percentage by 16% and 24% more volatile solids were removed after pretreatment. Moreover, even after pushing reactors into worse operating conditions such as shorter solids retention time (7.5 days) and low strength influent, pretreatment worked efficiently and improved the anaerobic digestion. Finally cost calculations were performed. Considering the gatherings from enhancement of biogas amount, higher methane percentage and smaller amounts of volatile solid disposal from a treatment plant / installation and operation costs of ultrasound were calculated. The payback period of the installation was found to be 4.7 years.