Integração dos aspectos ambientais nas decisões: diferenciação de interesses no conselho municipal de política urbana de Santo André / SP

A integração dos aspectos ambientais pode ser potencializada por meio da inserçãoem políticas de outras áreas é a busca de objetivos ambientais em políticas setorias, tais como de habitação, saúde, desenvolvimento urbano, entro outras. Dessa forma, o objetivo do presente estudo foi verificar se a integração dos aspectos ambientais ocorre nas decisões do Conselho Municipal de Política Urbana de Santo André, São Paulo. Para isso, foram feitas a análise da legislação relativa ao Conselho e entrevistas com conselheiros. Foi usada técnica da análise de conteúdo temática para tratamento dos dados. Os resultados mostraram que na legislação ocorre a integração dos aspectos ambientais. Nas entrevistas foram verificados diferentes entendimentos de integração e encontradas dificuldades similares àquelas encontradas na literatura internacional. Concluiu-se que o processo de integração dos aspectos ambientais ainda é incipiente e que o Conselho pode contribuir para seu avanço.

Environmental management in Brazil: is it a completely competitive priority?

Current studies indicate a need to integrate environmental management with manufacturing strategy, including topics like cross-functional integration, environmental impact, and waste reduction. Nevertheless, such studies are relatively rare, existing still a need for research in specific regional contexts. At the same time, the results found are not unanimous. Due to these gaps, the objective of this article is to analyze if environmental management can be considered a new competitive priority for manufacturing enterprises located in Brazil. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with Brazilian companies certified by ISO 14001. Sixty-five valid questionnaires were analyzed through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The first conclusion is that environmental management presents a preventive approach in the sample analyzed, focused on eco-efficiency, what potentially do not to create a competitive advantage. This preventive approach inhibits environmental management from being regarded as a new competitive manufacturing priority, in the full sense as defined by the literature. Another important result is that environmental management, although following a preventive focus, may influence positively the four manufacturing priorities: cost, quality, flexibility and delivery. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Integration of processes induced air flotation and photo-Fenton for treatment of residual waters contaminated with xylene

Produced water in oil fields is one of the main sources of wastewater generated in the industry. It contains several organic compounds, such as benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylene (BTEX), whose disposal is regulated by law. The aim of this study is to investigate a treatment of produced water integrating two processes, i.e., induced air flotation (IAF) and photo-Fenton. The experiments were conducted in a column flotation and annular lamp reactor for flotation and photodegradation steps, respectively. The first order kinetic constant of IAF for the wastewater studied was determined to be 0.1765 min(-1) for the surfactant EO 7. Degradation efficiencies of organic loading were assessed using factorial planning. Statistical data analysis shows that H2O2 concentration is a determining factor in process efficiency. Degradations above 90% were reached in all cases after 90 min of reaction, attaining 100% mineralization in the optimized concentrations of Fenton reagents. Process integration was adequate with 100% organic load removal in 20 min. The results of the integration of the IAF with the photo-Fenton allowed to meet the effluent limits established by Brazilian legislation for disposal. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Water transfer from São Francisco river to semiarid northeast of Brazil: technical data, environmental impacts, survey of opinion about the amount to be transferred

The transposition of the São Francisco River is considered one of the greatest engineering works in Brazil of all time since it will cross an extensive agricultural region of continental dimensions, involving environmental impacts, water, soil, irrigation, water payment and other multidisciplinary themes. Taking into account its importance, this subject was incorporated into a discipline of UFSCar (Federal University of São Carlos - Brazil) named "Pollution and Environmental Impacts". It was noted strong reaction against the project, even before the presentation. To allow a critical analysis, the first objective was to compile the main technical data and environmental impacts. The second objective was to detect the three most important aspects that cause reaction, concluding for the following reasons: assumption that the volume of water to be transferred was much greater than it actually is proposed in the project; lack of knowledge about similar project already done in Brazil; the idea that the artificial canal to be built was much broader than that proposed by the project. The participants' opinion about "volume to be transferred" was raised quantitatively four times: 2-undergraduate students; 1-graduate; 1-outside community. The average resulted 14 times larger than that proposed in the project, significant according to t-test. It was concluded that the reaction to water transfer project is due in part to the ignorance combined with a preconceived idea that tend to overestimate the magnitude of environmental impacts.