It is now widely demonstrated that anthropogenic activities have an environmental impact on climate change and global warming. In fact, industrial activities emit fossil carbon dioxide (CO₂), produced by the combustion of fuels such as coal and oil. The emission of CO₂ from non-renewable fossil sources alters the carbon balance in the atmosphere, causing an accumulation of CO₂ and the consequent increase in the natural greenhouse effect.
Accurately certifying the emission impacts, in particular by quantifying the non-renewable component, helps to monitor the environmental and energy efficiency of a company. In a context where suppliers of low-carbon products or services are rewarded, the accurate assessment of the carbon footprint can serve to enhance their activities or products, and better offset their residual CO₂ emissions.
The common concern for the effects of climate change has led to a growing interest in the use of renewable resources, strongly increasing the use of bio-derived resources, i.e. not derived from fossil sources, such as bio-fuels and bio-plastics. .
Certifying one’s bio-derived products creates an added value that is now indispensable for its customers.
Secondary solid fuel (SSF) is a type of fuel derived from the processing of urban non-hazardous and special non-hazardous waste. Cement factories, incinerators, district heating plants and industrial plants use SSF to power their furnaces and plants.
The need to distinguish between the bio-based fraction and the fossil fraction of the carbon dioxide emissions of plants powered by SSF is essential to comply with the regulations that impose a cap on annual CO₂ emissions and take advantage of the incentives available.
LBServizi is the first Italian company to be accredited by ACCREDIA for standards.
ISO 21644: 2021 Biomass Content in SSF
UNI EN 16640: 2017 Carbon content of biological origin
Using specially developed and optimized radiochemical sample treatment techniques and liquid scintillation measurements, LBServizi is able to quantify the ¹⁴C content in a solid, liquid or SSF sample. The sensitivity of the proposed method allows to certify the bio-based carbon content, as carbon derived from fossil sources is devoid of the radioactive isotope ¹⁴C due to its complete decay, while other carbon sources are relatively rich in it due to of the production in progress in the upper atmosphere.
