Additive manufacturing (AM) is a manufacturing process that allows for the creation of a physical object from a digital model. Additive manufacturing has a number of advantages over the conventional methods, inter alia the production of very complex machinery components, and a lower consumption of raw materials. Thanks to these advantages, the technology has been booming recently. The paper compares the advantages and disadvantages of additive technologies in the context of environmental impacts using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The paper describes the most important aspects of additive manufacturing, reviews the basic principles and phases of LCA method, including its application in AM, and outlines selected publications dealing with LCA and additive technologies. In conclusion, we recommend the most suitable methodologies to assess environmental impacts of additive technologies. To be specific, LCA is suitable to assess AM as for the material and energy flows, and in general, research in this field is considered highly promising.

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In order to exploit all the energy potential that lies in the processing of waste material or biomass, there is a public pressure to recover as much of the material as possible before the landfill process takes place. One widespread method is the gasification process, which can generate a potentially energy-harvestable gas or liquid based on the set gasification conditions. The only waste material is the solid residue (char), which often contains large amounts of carbon (up to 84%), making it suitable for further use. One way of using char is to burn it in an experimental fluidisation unit, which is suitable for burning up to 3 kg•h of char and generating an equivalent gas (flue gas). The fully controllable fluidised bed combustion unit has a diameter of 140 mm and a height of up to 350 cm, and the fluidised bed consists of ST 54 glass sand with a mean grain size of 0.22 mm. This combustion process reduces the volume of the original material by up to 95%. The gas generated by the combustion process represents a potential for use in heat exchangers for heating feed water, in drying plants or cement plants. The quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the resulting thermal process products is described in this paper, as is the pyrolysis and combustion unit. The average low heating value (LHV) for pyrolysis char is 20.3 MJ kg −1 , which represents a great potential in terms of its energy recovery. The reduction in volume of the original sample is 52.9-91.6%, where the heat output of the flue gas is 5.54-15.27 MJ kg −1 .

The production of synthetic gas and alternative liquid fuels, based on renewable and waste source materials, is an emerging topic. With growing energy demand and increasing CO2 concentration within the atmosphere, caused by excessive fossil fuels combustion, alternative ways of energy utilisation, storage and transformation are intensely being sought and developed. Combining technologies of gasification and Fischer-Tropsch catalytic synthesis of biomass/waste materials can provide not only a possibility to replace fossil fuels extraction, but it can partially solve the issue of growing amounts of unprocessed waste materials. The 200 kW power input technology for gasification of biomass/waste materials with sliding bed, cross/updraft reactor was used to perform experimental measurements of conversion of waste materials into producer gas. This gas, with potential to be used as a source gas for catalytic synthesis was examined from quality and safety points of view. The composition and suitability for its utilisation was evaluated, as well as safety assessment in terms of its explosivity was determined. The latter mentioned was carried out in 1 m 3 spherical explosion vessel to determine pressure rise during the explosion of the producer gas. The results showed interesting differences between measured data and mathematical model, probably caused by the presence of other substances, such as tar compound, solid particles and other pollutants.