Papers by Angélique Leonard
Life Cycle Assessment of wheat production in France: impact of mineral and organic fertilizers
Wheat is an important cereal with many applications, not only in the food sector. In the growing ... more Wheat is an important cereal with many applications, not only in the food sector. In the growing context of biobased products, a good understanding of the contribution of the fertilizers to the environmental impact of agricultural products is essential. In this study, the production of wheat in France has been considered. The first part of the presentation will underline the contribution of organic and mineral fertilizers to the environmental impact with traditional agricultural practices combining mineral and organic fertilizers. Especially, when possible the field emissions will be separated between those due to organic and mineral fertilizers, to have a complete picture of their impact. After that, this first case will be compared with 3 case studies, leading to 4 scenarios to analyze: 1) Scenario 1: "Traditional": mix between livestock manure and mineral fertilizer supplement 2) Scenario 2 100% organic fertilizers and conventional agriculture 3) Scenario 3: 100% mineral fertilizers and conventional agriculture 4) Scenario 4: 100% mineral fertilizers with some inhibitors and conventional agriculture To isolate the contribution of the fertilizers, the idea is to conduct the study with no other change that the nature of the fertilizers and/or the use of the inhibitor. This means that the amount of fertilizer used is calculated so that the wheat always receives the same amount of nutriment; the phytosanitary products applied stays equal in all cases, etc. Therefore, the hypothesis is that the yield will be similar for all the scenarios. The results for these four case studies will be analyzed with the ILCD recommended methods, including all the categories that are relevant for biobased products (climate change, eutrophication, acidification, toxicity, etc.).Peer reviewe
EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts, Apr 1, 2017
Sarah Smet en tant que boursière FRIA remercie le soutien du Fonds National pour la Recherche Sci... more Sarah Smet en tant que boursière FRIA remercie le soutien du Fonds National pour la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS, Bruxelles, Belgique).
The present work reports the experience of an integrated project developed at the University of L... more The present work reports the experience of an integrated project developed at the University of Liege for master students in chemical engineering. The goals are to promote the acquisition of soft skills and to consolidate technical knowledge by integrating and linking chemical engineering disciplines usually taught separately. A case study was selected to address some of the challenges related to energy transition: students had to design the energy system of a remote island and make it as energy independent and CO 2 -neutral as possible by 2030. The course of action during the academic year, the assessment of soft skills, and the tools offered to ease the mentoring and encourage the acquisition of soft skills are described. Not all implemented techniques performed equally well, and this project finally appeared to be a challenge for the teaching team as well.
BRAIN-TRAINS is a project that deals with the possible development of rail freight intermodality ... more BRAIN-TRAINS is a project that deals with the possible development of rail freight intermodality in Belgium from an interdisciplinary perspective: macroeconomic impact and market regulation, effective governance, optimal corridor and hub development and sustainability impact of intermodality. Life Cycle Assessment methodology has been used to analyse the sustainability impact of rail freight intermodality for 3 divergent Belgian scenarios by 2030.
Very often the reason for using of X-Ray tomography in a research project is to measure the evolu... more Very often the reason for using of X-Ray tomography in a research project is to measure the evolution of some geometrical characteristic. The sought characteristic may be explained in simple words like size, shape, or distance, but in practice measures based on these notions can have a complex implementation. We present a simple problem, measuring the evolution of radius in a cylindrical sample (a common shape for sample preparation for tomography) and how this value differs according the direction in which we look, when such evolution is known to be anisotropic. The solution is not unique, but we show that a naïve manual approach are not accurate enough, and how even a simple geometric notion such as radius needs a thorough definition in relation to its applicability to 3D image analysis. We extend the argument to how a good understanding of the notions and algorithms used in the quantification of geometrical characteristics can directly affect the pertinence and representativity of the results.
of the definition defined by Grosso (2011) and includes the assumption of intermediary handling o... more of the definition defined by Grosso (2011) and includes the assumption of intermediary handling of the goods, required for possible data collection. The present paper is part of the BRAIN-TRAINS research, which deals with the possible development of rail freight intermodality in Belgium 1 . The main goal of the project is to develop a blue print, including the detailed criteria and conditions for developing an innovative intermodal network in and through Belgium, as part of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) and the European Single Transport Area. The outcome of the research is an operational framework, linked to various market, society and policy-making challenges, in which effective intermodal transport is successfully established in Belgium. It was found opportune to adopt a transversal approach, starting from the current relatively weak position of intermodal rail freight in Belgium. The research is therefore concentrated around five main subjects, being the optimal corridor and hub development, the macro-economic impact and the sustainability impact of intermodality, the effective market regulation and corresponding governance and organization. This interdisciplinary approach is important for policy-makers, as the responsibilities for intermodal rail transportation in Belgium are split over different governmental levels (local, regional, federal and European), requiring the need for cooperation in taking decisions towards the same results.
Photocatalytic decolorization of Gentian Violet with Na-doped (SnO2 and ZnO)
Chiang Mai Journal of Science, 2016
Photocatalysis is a technique used for the purification and decolorization of water. In this work... more Photocatalysis is a technique used for the purification and decolorization of water. In this work, the photocatalytic decolorization of aqueous solutions of Gentian Violet has been investigated. The photocatalysts used for the study are tin dioxide (SnO2) and zinc oxide (ZnO) doped with sodium and prepared by sol-gel process. Photocatalysts were synthesised by sol-gel process and characterized by several techniques such as X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) method and UV-vis Spectroscopy. The results of photocatalytic activity of gentian violet degradation under ultraviolet irradiation, indicated that the synthesised photocatalyst exhibit good photocatalytic performance.Peer reviewe
Development of SLL equilibrium speciation and data fitting tool and its application to P recovery process from sludge
A solid-liquid-liquid equilibrium (SLLE) speciation tool has been developed in MATLAB in order si... more A solid-liquid-liquid equilibrium (SLLE) speciation tool has been developed in MATLAB in order simulate species that would exist in the different phases as a function of pH. The SLLE modelling tool may be applied to processes such as leaching, precipitation and reactive extraction. This work is a part of research carried out under the Phos4You project to develop a new process for recovery of Phosphorus (P) from dried sewage sludge. The work carried out at the University of Liège is funded by the Interreg North West Europe Program and SPW (Région wallonne). The process being developed is the PULSE (Phosphorus ULiège Sludge Extraction). The concept of PULSE is adopted from the PASCH process that was previous developed by RWTH Aachen for extraction of P from ashes of incinerated sewage sludge. The PULSE process involves drying of sludge followed by acidic leaching to dissolve P. After leaching and separation of the solids, reactive extraction is used to separate the metals from the P-rich aqueous fraction. Finally P is precipitated as calcium phosphate. The knowledge of speciation, complex formation, and phase equilibria are essential for design and optimization of unit operations that are employed in PULSE process to gain deeper understanding and reduce the load of experimental work. The SLLE tool being developed can simulate the speciation and complex formation for both aqueous and organic phases as well the precipitation of solid phases. Due to non-ideality of the system and ionic interactions, activities are used for the computation instead of concentrations. The user can choose the activity model from a list of models. The input parameters required for the SLLE tool are the equilibrium constants, stoichiometric coefficients, and valence of the species along with the total input concentration of the components and the phase ratios of the different phases involved in the system under consideration. As the PULSE process deals with sewage sludge, which contains organics and bio solids, experimental results would significantly vary from modelling results that considers pure substances or phases. Also the thermodynamic data for reactive extraction using organic solvents is highly system specific and not available in many cases. In order to overcome these challenges, a data fitting algorithm is coupled with the SLLE speciation tool. The data fitting algorithm enables determination of the speciation modelling parameters based on experimental data such as equilibrium concentrations and degrees of extraction. Arbitrary complexes can be accounted for in the reactive extraction, which also allows describing synergistic effects, for which stoichiometry and equilibrium constants also will need to be fitted to experimental data. An example of the speciation and solid-liquid phase equilibria computed using the developed tool is shown below in figure 1. With regards to the PULSE process, the speciation information from the figure below helps us to identify the pH that should be reached during leaching in order to completely dissolve P from sludge or the pH at which calcium phosphate may be precipitated. The predominant specifies of various metals that are existing in different pH can identified from the speciation diagram as shown in the figure below, which is very critical in case of reactive extraction as depending on the type of solvent used only certain specific species or complexes are extracted. The SLLE tool is being continually improved and developed to include more features such as temperature dependency of the equilibrium constants. It will also be extended to interlink the unit operations- leaching, reactive extraction, and precipitation for application to PULSE process.Peer reviewe
Effects of Cellular Morphology on Electrical Conductivity of Nanocomposite Foams Containing Carbon Nanotubes
Peer reviewe
In this paper, we present the method used to investigate the drying behavior of the Resorcinol (R... more In this paper, we present the method used to investigate the drying behavior of the Resorcinol (R) formaldehyde (F) hydrogels and the tools needed for its numerical modeling. First, the studied material is introduced. Then the numerical model is detailed and finally convective drying simulations are performed to evaluate the capacity of our model to predict desiccation cracking.
Development of new process for the recovery of phosphorus from partially or fully dried sludge ... more Development of new process for the recovery of phosphorus from partially or fully dried sludge Removal of heavy metals during purification by reactive extraction Solid-liquid equilibrium modelling in MATLAB for process optimization
Poster Environmental impact assessment of rail freight intermodality
In the framework of the BRAIN-TRAINS project, the environmental impact of rail freight transport ... more In the framework of the BRAIN-TRAINS project, the environmental impact of rail freight transport in Belgium has been analysed using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. The rail freight transport system has been divided in three sub-systems: rail transport operation, rail equipment (locomotives and wagons) and rail infrastructure. For the sub-system rail infrastructure, a detailed study of the life cycle phases of construction, maintenance and disposal of infrastructure has been conducted. We have collected specific information related to the Belgian railway infrastructure from both literature sources and directly from Infrabel (the Belgian railway infrastructure manager) through the use of questionnaires. The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of the methodology used to analyse the LCA of the railway infrastructure in Belgium as a part of the rail freight transport system.
Competition and regulation in network industries, Mar 1, 2017
Assessing with image analysis the drying induced cracks in an agricultural soil under conventional or reduced tillage
Soil & Tillage Research, 2020
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Papers by Angélique Leonard