Áp lực lớn từ suy thoái môi trường tác động tới đời sống, kinh tế - xã hội đòi hỏi các chính phủ phải có tầm nhìn mới và quyết tâm triển khai các giải pháp toàn diện cho chiến lược bảo vệ môi trường. Bằng chất xám của mình, các nhà khoa học chính là những chiến sỹ tuyến đầu trên mặt trận bảo vệ Hành tinh xanh với việc công bố hàng chục triệu bài báo liên quan đến môi trường trên các tạp chí khoa học thế giới. Trong những vấn đề liên quan tới môi trường, quản lý môi trường là lĩnh vực rộng, bao quát khắp các hoạt động kinh tế - xã hội, từ sản xuất kinh doanh cho đến sinh hoạt, các khu công nghiệp, làng nghề cho đến sản xuất nông nghiệp, từ thành thị đến nông thôn,... mỗi nơi đều có nhiều vấn đề đa dạng khác nhau.

- Xem xét tác động bất cân xứng của tài chính lên chất lượng môi trường ở các nền kinh tế BRICS: Các lựa chọn chính sách cho nền kinh tế xanh.

- Mô hình kết hợp ba giai đoạn điều tra đánh giá khu vực, phân tích mô hình và phân tích yếu tố cản trở để cân bằng không gian tài nguyên nước ở Trung Quốc.

- Chính sách tín dụng xanh, hành vi của chính phủ và chất lượng đổi mới xanh của doanh nghiệp.

- Khí cũng như tương tác giữa các mục tiêu SDG liên quan đến ô nhiễm không khí và các SDG khác.

- Vai trò hai lưỡi của hành vi môi trường doanh nghiệp trong việc tạo ra sự đổi mới sản phẩm ở các nước Trung và Đông Âu.

- Khí thải và không thải từ các loại xe thông thường và xe điện: So sánh các giá trị tác động bằng tiền

- Quản lý chuỗi cung ứng công trình xanh: Tích hợp sự can thiệp của chính phủ và quan hệ đối tác công tư thông qua hiện đại hóa sinh thái.

- Quyền lực thương lượng có làm giảm bớt mối quan hệ giữa quy định về môi trường và hoạt động của doanh nghiệp không? Bằng chứng từ Trung Quốc.

- Ô nhiễm nhựa và bao bì: Các cam kết và hành động của doanh nghiệp từ lĩnh vực thực phẩm và đồ uống.

- Nước rỉ rác từ các bãi chôn lấp chất thải rắn đô thị ở góc độ toàn cầu: Đặc điểm, các yếu tố ảnh hưởng và rủi ro môi trường.

- Khám phá ảnh hưởng của PM2.5 và nhiệt độ đối với sự lây truyền COVID-19 ở Seoul, Hàn Quốc.

- Giảm phơi nhiễm chì trong nước trường học: Bằng chứng từ những nỗ lực khắc phục ô nhiễm ở các trường công lập Thành phố New York.

- Phát hiện SARS-CoV-2 trong nước thải như một chỉ báo cảnh báo sớm đại dịch COVID-19. Nghiên cứu điển hình về vùng Madrid.

- Ô nhiễm kim loại nặng trong đất xung quanh các lò đốt chất thải rắn thành phố và các nguy cơ đối với sức khỏe của nó ở Trung Quốc.

- Khám phá các dấu ấn sinh học tiết niệu để đánh giá tổn thương DNA do oxy hóa do tiếp xúc với BTEX ở trẻ em đường phố.

- Hiệp hội các triệu chứng trầm cảm với PM2.5 xung quanh ở người lớn tuổi trung niên và cao tuổi Trung Quốc: Một nghiên cứu cắt ngang từ Nghiên cứu về sức khỏe và hưu trí ở Trung Quốc làn sóng thứ 4 covid 19.

- Giám sát môi trường SARS-CoV-2 dựa trên nước thải cho Piedmont, Ý.

- Những thay đổi về nồng độ và thành phần của sol khí đô thị trong quá trình khóa COVID-19.

- Làm sáng tỏ hiệu quả loại bỏ cao của nước thải dichlorophen trong hệ thống xử lý kỵ khí với chất trung gian sắt / carbon.

- Phân tích năng lượng và đánh giá vòng đời của một đơn vị lưu trữ năng lượng nhiệt liên quan đến các vật liệu lưu trữ thông thường hoặc tái chế và được sử dụng để định giá nhiệt chất thải công nghiệp.

- Tích hợp trường năng lượng mặt trời với thiết bị bay hơi nhiều tầng để duy trì năng lượng sinh thái trong nhà máy giấy và bột giấy.

- Đánh giá cấu trúc, thành phần và các đặc tính nông hóa của tro bay và chất thải tro xỉ từ các nhà máy nhiệt điện than để sử dụng chúng làm chất cải tạo đất.

- Đánh giá về công nghệ xử lý nước thải khí hóa than ở Trung Quốc.

- Triển khai cơ sở hạ tầng vận chuyển để cho phép thu giữ và lưu trữ carbon từ các ngành công nghiệp của Na Uy.

- Giá đất công nghiệp và các quy định về môi trường ảnh hưởng như thế nào đến sự thay đổi về mặt không gian của các ngành công nghiệp gây ô nhiễm? Phân tích khu vực ở Trung Quốc.

- Đánh giá rủi ro xác suất về ô nhiễm đất liên quan đến các hoạt động nông nghiệp và công nghiệp.

- Các hợp chất được flo hóa (PFCs) trong các con sông công nghiệp trong khu vực: Tương tác giữa dòng ô nhiễm và bệnh phylosymbiosis cộng đồng sinh vật nhân chuẩn.

- Ước tính mức độ bao phủ đầy đủ về nồng độ PM2.5 sử dụng mô hình XGBoost-WD kết hợp và các trường khí tượng mô phỏng WRF ở Tổng hợp đô thị đồng bằng sông Dương Tử, Trung Quốc.

QUẢN LÝ MÔI TRƯỜNG

Abstract

This study aims to estimate the nexus between financial deepening and environmental quality in Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) economies by using the data over 1990–2019. For analysis, we relied on panel linear and nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL). Three different variables i.e. financial deepening index, financial institution deepening, and financial market deepening are used to represent financial deepening in BRICS countries. In the long run, our linear models confirmed the positive role of financial deepening in improving environmental quality. Conversely, the symmetric estimates of financial institution deepening and financial market deepening are positively significant implying that both these measures cause the CO2 emissions to rise, thus hurts the environmental quality in BRICS in long run. In the non-linear models, the positive shock in all the measures of financial deepening increases the CO2 emissions while the negative shock deteriorates the CO2 emissions, in all three models, in the long run. In the short-run, the variables of financial deepening provide mixed results during linear and non-linear analysis. Moreover, CO2 emissions respond asymmetrically to a positive and negative change in financial deepening in the long run only. Although financial deepening in the BRICS economies helps reduce the CO2 emissions, the BRICS are still among the top ten emitters of the world. Therefore, the role of financial deepening should be further enhanced in achieving a sustainable environment.

Abstract

The natural distributions of water resources and the spatial positions of the human activities that demand water for production and society are often different, which has globally restricted socioeconomic development, human survival, and ecosystem sustainability. The research significance of water resource spatial equilibrium (WRSE) is to break the limitation of water resources for economic, social and ecological environment development to the greatest extent. To objectively evaluate WRSE, a three-stage hybrid model based on the water-social-economic-natural compound ecosystem (W-SENCE) framework was established in this research. This model includes regional evaluation, pattern analysis and obstruction factor analysis to investigate WRSE quantitatively. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed three-stage hybrid model, empirical research on 31 provincial administrative regions in China was conducted. The results show that: 1) The overall state of water resource spatial equilibrium of China in 2019 is at a poor level with a value of 0.3432 (the result is within the range of 0–1); 2) To improve WRSE, these 8 provinces including Jilin, Gansu, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Chongqing, Qinghai and Yunnan need to formulate policies that focus on both water resource endowment and water resource matching; 3) Eco-environment water consumption in most surveyed provinces accounts for a very small proportion of total water consumption, and 24 out of the 31 provinces can improve WRSE efficiently by increasing eco-environment water consumption appropriately. The proposed three-stage hybrid model provides a novel perspective as well as an important reference for further research on WRSE. Furthermore, the results of this research are essential for decision makers to develop tailored strategies to improve WRSE of China.

Abstract

This study takes Green Credit Guidelines in China as a quasi-natural experiment to examine its effect on the quality of green innovation in heavily polluting enterprises. Based on the data of Chinese listed companies from 2008 to 2019, DID model, and a series of robustness tests, findings show that Green Credit Guidelines significantly improve the quality of enterprises' green innovation. The positive effect is more significant in state-owned enterprises and those in the eastern region and less financially developed areas. The officials' promotion pressure and fiscal decentralization have negative and positive moderating effects, respectively. Additional analysis demonstrates that the quality improvement of enterprises’ green innovation can further increase their economic returns. Specifically, the competitiveness and market value of enterprise products are enhanced. The results provide enterprises with theoretical guidance on how to deal with environmental regulation. The results also provide countries around the world, especially developing countries, with important reference to implement green credit policy to achieve sustainable development.

Abstract

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development stipulates 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The implementation of this agenda will mobilize countries worldwide to incorporate the SDGs into their national development strategies. The agenda does not specify how these goals are interconnected, thus limiting their implementation. In addition, air quality affects human life and plays a vital role in achieving these SDGs. Clarifying the interconnections between SDGs related to air pollution and other SDGs will accelerate the implementation of air protection and SDGs while simultaneously promoting policy coherence. In this paper, we use the latest calculation of the SDGs in China to construct national and provincial panel data to investigate the trade-offs and synergies among Chinese air pollution-related SDGs. The findings are as follows. First, most air pollution-related SDGs have synergetic relationships, except for SDG12, which has a trade-off relationship with other air pollution-related SDGs. Second, the synergies between air pollution-related SDGs and other SDGs far outweigh the trade-offs. Third, rapidly developing areas are more likely to experience a trade-off between economic development and air pollution problems. Fourth, geographic advantages in reducing air pollution, such as being adjacent to the sea, may weaken the synergies among air pollution-related SDGs and their synergies with other SDGs. These findings indicate that most air-pollution-related SDGs and interactions between air-pollution-related SDGs and other SDGs have substantial synergy; that is, measures aimed at one goal are conducive to the advancement of other goals. However, SDG12 reflects a trade-off relationship between economic development, environmental protection, and resource utilization.

Abstract

Prior research has primarily focused on how firm environmental behaviour affects firm performance and eco-innovation, whereas the mechanisms involved in this relationship were treated as a black box. This study steps back to focus on the reverse relationship between firms' environmental behaviour and ‘general’ product innovations in Central and Eastern European countries, which generally face low levels of consciousness about environmental issues. Specifically, we focus on the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Slovakia. The results show that firms' environmental behaviour acts in two ways and brings significant differences between the considered countries. Surprisingly, the monitoring of energy consumption helps increase firms' chance to create more product innovation in lagging countries, such as Slovakia and Poland, than in leading innovation countries, such as the Czech Republic, Lithuania, and Latvia. Moreover, adopting measures of water management proved to be a significant determinant of product innovation despite the fact that it is not often used. The presented article contributes to the current state of knowledge in the areas of (i) determinants of (eco-) innovation; (ii) ongoing discussion about the Porter hypothesis; and (iii) catching-up literature dealing with (eco-) innovation in Central and Eastern European countries. In the final section, practical contributions in the form of implications are presented.

Abstract

The switch to electric vehicles (EVs) has been incentivised by governments all over the world to reduce the use of fossil fuels and improve air quality. However, whether such a move could effectively lower the levels of pollutants as much as expected is still controversial. This study estimates the impact values of exhaust and non-exhaust emissions emitted from internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) and their equivalent EVs from an economic-environmental perspective, expressed as monetary impact values, so as to ascertain the environmental effect of the switch to equivalent EVs from ICEVs. These monetary impact values were calculated according to the emission factors and damage costs of these pollutants. The results indicate that the particulate matter (PM) monetary impact values of equivalent EVs may exceed those of ICEVs, which depends primarily on the extent of regenerative braking and road type. The monetary impact values of total pollutants decrease for the move from diesel passenger cars to their equivalent EVs with 0% regenerative braking. For the conversion of petrol passenger cars to their equivalent EVs with 0% regenerative braking, however, the total monetary impact values increase on both urban and rural roads. These results can be useful for the economic-environmental assessment of vehicle exhaust and non-exhaust emissions.

Abstract

There has been global recognition of the urgent need to tackle adverse environmental impacts of the construction industry. Construction companies are called upon to switch to ecological modernisation by scaling up the implementation of environmental management practices while maintaining a level of economic development. Under ecological modernisation theory, green supply chain management has emerged as an environmental technological innovation, helping organisations to switch to ecological modernisation. Past research revealed a need to identify mechanisms aimed at resolving conflicts among construction supply chain actors, speeding collaboration among them, and managing the transition to green supply chain management. This research aims to examine whether governmental intervention can act as an effective mechanism with which to foster public–private partnerships among construction companies, thereby promoting ecological modernisation through the adoption of green supply chain management. Data were collected from survey responses from 229 Chinese construction companies and analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling. The results show that coordination between governmental support and public–private partnerships is necessary to aid construction companies in implementing green supply chain innovation and complying with environmental regulations and, thus, achieving multiple performance benefits, including environmental and short-term economic performance improvements. However, it is unlikely that green supply chain management alone could drive the long-term goal of ecological modernisation theory unless more proactive actions are taken by all stakeholders. This study demonstrates how ecological modernisation theory can be applied to advance green supply chain management studies. Enforcing and incentivising aspects of governmental intervention, i.e. environmental regulations and governmental support, have been proven to be effective in developing a regulatory framework for, and partnerships among, stakeholders. This results in the sharing of resources, knowledge and practices to contemplate a new paradigm of supply chain integration and coordination for the construction sector and promote active adaptation to green supply chain management.

Abstract

With the increasing amount of attention given to ecological protection, the trade-off between environmental regulation and economic development is at the center of academic and policy debates. Using a sample of 1157 listed manufacturing firms for the period from 2012 to 2017, we investigate the relationships between different types of environmental regulations and both actual and expected firm performance and further assess the moderating effect of firm bargaining power on these relationships. The results indicate that (1) mandatory environmental regulation has negative effects on firm performance, whereas voluntary environmental regulation contributes to both actual and expected performance. (2) Comparing the expected performance with the actual performance, the results suggest that investors overreact to environmental regulation. Specifically, investors' expectations of the negative effects of mandatory regulation are worse than they actually are, whereas investors also overestimate the benefits of voluntary regulation. (3) The firm bargaining power mitigates the negative effects of mandatory environmental regulation on the firm performance. (4) There are regional heterogeneity and firm-level heterogeneity in the relationship between environmental regulation and firm performance. Finally, these findings confirm the Porter Hypothesis and provide some policy implications for China to optimize environmental regulation and promote firm performance.

Abstract

Plastic pollution is a pervasive and escalating global environmental problem, named among the most serious environmental issues globally, after climate change. A large percentage of the global plastic waste leakage is estimated to come from Asia, and most of this is from food and drink packaging. As a major user of single-use packaging, the food and beverage sector plays an important role in addressing plastic pollution, yet investigation of the uptake and transition to sustainable packaging by this industry sector remains limited. To contribute to filling this gap, a systematic review of 68 corporate sustainability reports was conducted to examine how major multinational companies in the food and beverage sector are addressing plastic pollution. This study focuses on how these companies address plastic pollution and packaging in their corporate sustainability reports, what sustainable packaging strategies they present, and how the companies address producer responsibility. The results show that the transition to sustainable packaging in the food and beverage sector is slow and inconsistent. Most corporate sustainability reports fail to address plastic pollution. There is a tendency for companies to report on collection and recycling, rather than sustainable packaging solutions aimed at systemic change. Producer responsibility concerning packaging is growing, however, most companies are doing very little to reduce plastic waste especially in regions lacking waste management infrastructure, such as those in emerging economies.

Abstract

Due to the importance of the environmental impacts of human activities on sustainable growth, the effect of environmental performance on economic growth was investigated for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries from 2000 to 2015. Therefore, the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis is investigated using a Composite Index of Environmental Performance (CIEP) and Panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag (Panel ARDL) approach. The CIEP model is based on the Driving Force-Pressure-State- Exposure -Effects-Action (DPSEEA) framework and is generated by 19 indicators. The results of this study showed that the driving forces and pressure have negative impacts on environmental performance, thereby reducing the number of available resources. In addition, the results revealed that actions increase life expectancy while reducing the mortality rate and environmental impact. The average CIEP revealed that among MENA countries, Iran (−0.226), Algeria (−0.168), and Yemen (−0.134) had the lowest amounts, while Emirate (0.036), Kuwait (0.036), and Qatar (0.033) had the highest values. The results of the panel data model revealed a cubic polynomial correlation and an N-shaped pattern between economic growth and CIEP. Therefore, MENA countries must pay attention to sustainable development to preserve the environment.

Abstract

Vehicular evaporative emission is a major source of atmospheric volatile organic compounds (VOCs), while quantification and characterization of the evaporative emission in China, particularly for the vehicles meeting the latest emission standards, are rarely reported. In this study, we performed evaporative emission experiments in a sealed housing evaporative determination (SHED) using eleven new and in-use light-duty gasoline vehicles to investigate the evaporative VOCs emission from the China 5 and China 6 vehicles and unravel the deterioration of evaporation control system of in-use ones. The total hydrocarbon (THC) emission factors (EFs) of 24-h diurnal breathing loss from the new China 6, new China 5 and in-use China 5 vehicles are 0.25, 0.81 and 5.27 g/d respectively. Compared with headspace vapor, the emission profiles of both hot soak loss (HSL) and diurnal breathing loss (DBL) from all new tested vehicles contain more C7–C9 aromatics, particularly for the China 6 vehicles. C4–C5 alkanes and C7–C9 aromatics account for most of total VOCs mass for all China 5 vehicles, while emissions from the China 6 vehicles exhibit no strongly prevailing species for both HSL and DBL emission. Typical ratios like normalized ratios of benzene, toluene and ethylbenzene can be used to distinguish evaporative emission from vehicular exhaust. Ozone formation potentials (OFPs) of the in-use China 5 vehicles are 5.35 and 7.16 times higher than that of China 5 new ones in DBL and HSL experiments respectively. Secondary organic aerosol formation potential of all tests ranged from 17.30 to 29.76, with aromatics contributing the largest proportion (over 90.0%). With the implementation of China 6's standard, the evaporative THC emission in China may peak in 2022 and will be cut down by 76% until 2030. Also, the underestimation of evaporative emission was estimated when neglecting the difference of EFs between new and in-use vehicles.

Abstract

Clean energy technologies are emerging as a major contributor to the total energy supply. Some metals play irreplaceable roles in these technologies. The supply risk of metals used in clean energy technologies is gradually increasing. Hence, it is necessary to investigate the supply risks of these metals worldwide. In this study, a comprehensive assessment is conducted to quantify the supply risks of critical metals. The production of the metals is imbalanced worldwide. China, Russia, the United States, Canada, and Australia dominate the supply of these metals. China has the largest supply risk, and the main risk contribution is linked to mining governance and policy, which suggests that strengthening government regulations is necessary. The supply risks in the United States, Russia, and Canada are moderate, and most risks are associated with geologic availability and recycling restrictions. Al, Cu, Fe, Pb and Ag displayed high risks linked to geologic availability and recycling restrictions. Pd, B, Sb, W, Re, Ge and Ga exhibited high risks related to mining governance and policy and environmental sustainability. Difficult exploration processes and highly sensitivity market supplies increased the supply risk. This study provides an important reference for the strategic application of the metals in clean energy technologies in the future.

Abstract

Flying cars are expected to play an important role in future transportation, considering their ability to transform transport ecology and improve transportation efficiency. However, the optimal choice of propulsion systems for flying cars is still unclear due to the lack of studies on the environmental and economic impacts of flying cars considering different propulsion systems. Based on the analysis of flying processes and design requirements, we established functional models for flying cars with different propulsion systems and calculated their lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions and average energy costs to investigate the technology pathways. The results demonstrated that the optimal choice of propulsion systems for flying cars critically depends on the designed range. For short-range trips within 190 km, battery electric flying cars show advantages in both emissions and energy cost. For trips with a range of 200–250 km, fuel cell flying cars are the best choice. Internal combustion engine flying cars are currently the only viable option for long-distance transportation higher than 250 km. In particular, the on-going advancements in battery specific energy will further provide battery electric flying cars with environmental and economic competitiveness within larger flying ranges. Flying cars are also competitive in energy costs compared with on-ground vehicles under a wide range of utilization scenarios, demonstrating the possibility of commercialization.

Abstract

Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12.3 advocates for the reduction of food waste (FW) and food loss (FL) along supply chains to achieve sustainability by 2030, especially at the retail and consumption levels. This study seeks to systematically analyse sustainable food waste management (FWM) strategies within the hospitality and food services (HaFS) sector by adopting the Social Practice Theory (SPT), which no previous study has attempted since the creation of the SDGs. According to the framework of SPT, practices comprised of interconnected components namely, materials, meanings and competencies. This analysis shows that extensive research has been conducted on the materials (technologies) compared with meaning (activities) and competence (knowledge). Therefore, future studies and policy frameworks should consider exploring practices around reducing kitchen waste (meanings) and managerial knowledge (competences); and the interaction of these elements with a practice-oriented approach.

Abstract

The stagnant supply of wild stocks of deep-sea fish and the potential bioaccumulation of toxic pollutants have promoted the research on more sustainable alternatives for the production of valuable polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) for human supplements. The diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum has emerged as a promising alternative to oils from deep-sea fish for PUFA production. However, the level of PUFA production by native microalgal strains is not high enough for commercial applications. Improved phenotypes of native microalgal species are urgently required to fulfil commercial demands and achieve economic and environmental sustainability. In this study, we subjected wild-type P. tricornutum to a two-factor adaptive evolution process to successfully generate an evolved strain, ALE-Pt1, with enhanced biomass and PUFA production capabilities under high-glucose conditions. We used food waste hydrolysate as a primary negligible-value carbon source and a substitute for purified glucose for ALE-Pt1 cultivation under mixotrophic conditions, to improve biomass yield and PUFA production. The semi-continuous fermentation of ALE-Pt1 using food waste resulted in the production of 7.8 g of biomass and 0.87 g of eicosapentaenoic acid from a 2.8-L culture volume in a 2-L bioreactor. This microalgae-based food waste upcycling loop, combined with an adaptive evolution process, is a promising PUFA production strategy. Our results provide novel insights into PUFA production via sustainable microalgal-based waste valorisation.

Abstract

High energy consumption and carbon emission are the major components of environmental pollution. Reducing carbon-footprints and improving energy use efficiency in rice (Oryza sativa L.) - fallow production systems of South Asia is a great challenge. The present experiment was conducted for five consecutive years (2016–2020) with an aim to design the most carbon-cum-energy efficient, cleaner/safer and eco-friendly production systems for rice-fallows in eastern India. This split-plot experiment had crop establishment-cum-residue management (CERM) treatments in main-plots and post-rainy/winter season crops in sub-plots. The production systems selected for analysis included three crop establishment methods [(1) zero-till-direct-seeded rice (ZTDSR), (2) conventional-till direct-seeded rice (CTDSR), and (3) transplanted puddled rice (TPR)], and two residue management practices [(i) with residue, and (ii) without residue] in combination with five potential winter season crops i.e., chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), lentil (Lens culinaris L.), safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.), linseed (Linum usitatissimum L.), and mustard (Brassica juncea L.). Results revealed an increase in overall system productivity from 3.5 to 5.13 Mg ha−1 due to the diversification of rice-fallow systems with oilseed and pulse crops. Irrespective of residue management practices, ZTDSR increased the yield by 15 and 31% in chickpea, 15 and 34% in lentil, 33 and 50% in safflower, 9 and 19% in linseed, and 7 and 15% in mustard as compared to CTDSR and PTR, respectively. Moreover, adoption of ZTDSR reduced energy uses by 23.3%, while increased energy ratio and net returns by 14.3 and 10.9%, respectively, over TPR. Pulse based crop rotations (rice-lentil and rice-chickpea) under ZTDSR with surface crop residue yielded 21.5% higher system net returns as compared to rice-oilseed production systems. ZTDSR treatment also reduced carbon-footprint (C-footprint) by 2.8% compared to TPR-based production systems. Similarly, rice-oilseed systems had a 16.1% lower C-footprint in comparison to rice-pulse sequences. Hence, rice-chickpea, rice-lentil and rice-safflower production systems in combined with ZTDSR along with residue retention can be viable production systems with higher system productivity, better economic returns, higher energy ratio and lower C-footprint. These systems will ensure an efficient utilization of natural resources leading to long-term sustainability of the rice-fallow production systems of South Asia.

Abstract

This paper explores the impact of central environmental protection inspection (CEPI) on transboundary water pollution. The triple difference method (DDD) is adopted to estimate the impact of CEPI on transboundary pollution. The results show that CEPI can significantly reduce transboundary water pollution. The transboundary pollution in the area subject to CEPI is lower than that in other areas, among which COD is weakened by 0.356 and NH3–N by 0.148. And CEPI has a stronger inhibitory effect on transboundary pollution in the eastern areas and tributaries. This study can provide reference to further promote the central environmental supervision policy, and it is significant to solve transboundary pollution.

Abstract

The role of environmental information disclosure (EID) in debt financing for penalized enterprises remains limited in the current literature. This research seeks to investigate this topic by focusing on manufacturing firms that have been penalized by the Chinese government for violating environmental rules and regulations. Further, it analyzes how environmental administrative penalties impact the debt cost in the following year. Based on our results, the environmental administrative penalty significantly increases the debt cost in the following year through the negative increment of the company's disclosure quality, and the incremental disclosure plays a mediating role in this relationship. Besides, it has also been found that environmental administrative penalties cannot affect the debt cost by changing the disclosure level. While the existing literature has established that environmental penalties can lead to changes in corporate information disclosure, this research contributes to this literature by revealing that the decline of environmental disclosure quality of penalized firms leads to the increase of financing costs.

Abstract

This paper introduces the Virtual Special Issue covering some of the latest developments in six research areas: Sustainable Energy System, Sustainable Waste Management, Sustainable Water Management, Sustainable Agriculture and Urban Food Supply, Nexus and Circular Economic and Cleaner Technology. These research topics emerged from the 6th International Conference on Low Carbon asia and beyond 2020 held in 2020. The purpose of this contribution has been to provide a brief introduction to the field and the research results included in this Journal of Cleaner Production Virtual Special Issue.

MÔI TRƯỜNG ĐÔ THỊ

Abstract

Landfilling is one of the most common measures for disposing municipal solid waste, while the environmental leakage of landfill leachate, a kind of wastewater with complex compositions and high-level pollutants, has become a crucial eco-environmental issue all over the world. Understanding the profiles of landfill leachate can be useful for promoting sustainable municipal solid waste management, however, there are very few studies at a global level because of data insufficiency. In this work, we established a global database on the physicochemical characteristics of landfill leachate from academic literature, including 1251 pieces of data from 236 provinces or cities in 51 countries. Concentrations of typical pollutants in landfill leachate were aggregated by different categories of countries, climate zones, and landfill ages. Correlations between typical leachate pollutants (chemical oxygen demand, biochemical oxygen demand after five days, ammonia nitrogen, sulfate, chloridion, potassium, cadmium, chromium, ferrum, nickel, and lead) and their influential factors (mean annual temperature, mean annual precipitation, landfill age, and the fraction of food waste) were analysed; and the environmental risks led by landfill leachate were assessed. Results showed that: (1) landfill leachate in developing countries at the dry temperature zone, as well as the moist and wet tropical zone, contained higher concentrations of chemical oxygen demand and biochemical oxygen demand after five days; (2) the percentage of food waste, as an influential factor, has a positive correlation with typical landfill leachate pollutants, with R2 varying from 0.07 to 0.18, indicating its high potential on transforming organic fraction in solid waste into leachate; (3) In regard to the environmental risk resulted from landfill leachate, the groundwater and surface water had greater risks than soil environment nearby the landfill. Besides, chemical oxygen demand, ammonia nitrogen, ferrum, chloridion and heavy metals, especially arsenic, cadmium, nickel, and manganese were dominating pollutants in groundwater and surface water. This work provides valuable data and parameters of global landfill leachate, which could be helpful to mitigate pollution from landfills and achieve the goals of sustainable municipal solid waste management.

Abstract

With a recent surge of the new severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-Cov-2, COVID-19) in South Korea, this study attempts to investigate the effects of environmental conditions such as air pollutants (PM2.5) and meteorological covariate (Temperature) on COVID-19 transmission in Seoul. To account for unobserved heterogeneity in the daily confirmed cases of COVID-19 across 25 contiguous districts within Seoul, we adopt a full Bayesian hierarchical approach for the generalized linear mixed models. A formal statistical analysis suggests that there exists a positive correlation between a 7-day lagged effect of PM2.5 concentration and the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, which implies an elevated risk of the infectious disease. Conversely, temperature has shown a negative correlation with the number of COVID-19 cases, leading to reduction in relative risks. In addition, we clarify that the random fluctuation in the relative risks of COVID-19 mainly originates from temporal aspects, whereas no significant evidence of variability in relative risks is observed in terms of spatial alignment of the 25 districts. Nevertheless, this study provides empirical evidence using model-based formal assessments regarding COVID-19 infection risks in 25 districts of Seoul from a different perspective.

Abstract

Following the Flint Water Crisis, many states passed legislation requiring schools to measure and remediate lead in school drinking water. In this study, we present new evidence on the level and distribution of lead in school drinking water by examining the case of New York City, which tested water from every public school fixture in the 2016-17 school year, remediated fixtures that showed elevated levels of lead above 15 ppb, and retested a sample of fixtures in 2018–19. Prior to remediation, 8 % of fixtures showed elevated levels of lead; after remediation, 5 % of fixtures did. In both pre- and post-remediation periods, Black children attended schools with a higher proportion of elevated fixtures than White, Asian, and Hispanic children. We observe post-remediation lead exposure reductions that were largest for Black children, though racial disparities in exposure remained. Together, our results show that New York City's remediation efforts significantly reduced lead in its schools' drinking water in a short period of time, providing evidence of the promise of such efforts. However, the continued presence of lead in school drinking water and persistent racial disparities in exposure demonstrate the ongoing challenges to eradicating lead exposure in schools.

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing for more than a year and has changed priorities and boosted some WBE studies. The aim of this work is to contributed to our knowledge sharing the methodology developed for SARS-CoV-2 detection in wastewater of Madrid region of over six million and a half inhabitants, where the sewer system is a combined system.

At first, a pilot test in a small metropolitan area was carried out in order to define the criteria for the selection of the sampling points to be applied to the entire region. Methodologys for laboratory analysis and statistical analysis and interpretation of data are also presented. This work relies highly on fieldwork, so sewer network safe accessibility is paramount. A total of 289 sampling points were weekly characterised. Each sampling point represents a sewershed, some of them in a cascade distribution. Samples are tested for SARS-CoV-2 concentration (gc/L, genome copies per litre) and physicochemical parameters are also analysed to validate or discard what at first could be an unusual virus presence. Field results are correlated with health indicators such as incidence rates and hospitalisation data.

This information is daily shared with regional health authorities, disaggregated by municipalities, or aggregated for the entire Madrid region. Results have proved to anticipate health indicators. The tool is used as an early warning indicator for COVID-19 pandemic. Further work is planned to apply the current scheme for a permanent epidemiological surveillance system of 87 sampling points to pinpoint infection hotspots and activate the linked sewersheds in the event of an outbreak.

Abstract

Objective

In China, municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration (MSWI) has been increasing in recent years. However, little is known about how the operation of incinerators can affect levels of heavy metals (HMs) in nearby soils or about the possible associated health risks. It is necessary to understand the degree of enrichment of HMs and health risks to people living nearby.

Methods

Previous studies (2002–2021) regarding soil HMs near MSW incinerators were collected, and a cluster and factor analysis was used to evaluate the accumulation trends and distribution characteritics of HMs. The soil contamination degrees and the consequent health risks were then assessed.

Results

Cd (0.24 ± 0.16 mg kg-1) is typically accumulated in the topsoil near incinerators, and this is followed by Hg (0.13 ± 0.09 mg kg-1). Most of the health risk due to the total HMs is derived from dermal contact. Dermal contact with Cd and As contributes to more than 67% of the non-carcinogenic risk, while dermal contact with As contributes to more than 99% of the carcinogenic risk (CR). Furthermore, 81.43% of adult males and 76.85% of adult females suffer from CR levels greater than 10-4 due to dermal exposure to As.

Conclusions

Soils near incinerators indicated light pollution and moderate potential ecological risk, especially with regard to Cd and Hg contamination. Undeniably, there was no significant difference between the health risks from soil HMs near incinerators and from arable land at the national level. It is suggested to reduce the input quantity of HMs by taking advantage of the nationwide implementation of MSW classification and upgrading air pollution control devices for further HM emission reductions.

Abstract

Children are highly susceptible to environmental contaminants as their physiology and some metabolic pathways differ from adults. The present cross-sectional study aimed to assess whether exposure to benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, o,p-xylene, and m-xylene (BTEX) affects oxidative DNA damage in street children using a biomonitoring approach. Thirty-five boys (7–13 years of age), exposed by working at a busy intersection, and 25 unexposed boys of similar age and living in the neighborhood near the busy intersection were recruited. Urinary un-metabolized BTEX levels were quantified by a headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Urinary malonaldehyde (MDA) was measured with spectrophotometry. Sociodemographic and lifestyle conditions information was collected by interviews using administered questionnaires. Exposed subjects provided urine before (BE) and after work exposure (AE), while unexposed boys gave a single morning sample. Urinary BTEX concentrations in BE samples were similar to unexposed. Concentrations in AE samples were 2.36-fold higher than observed in BE samples (p < 0.05) and higher than those in the unexposed group (p < 0.05). In addition, urinary MDA levels in AE samples were 3.2 and 3.07-times higher than in BE samples and in the unexposed group (p < 0.05). Environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) increased urinary BTEX and MDA levels in both groups. Our findings confirm that street children working at busy intersections are significantly exposed to BTEX, which is associated with oxidative stress. Implementing protective measures is crucial to reduce exposure and to improve health outcomes in this group.

Abstract

Depressive symptoms have become a serious public health issue worldwide. Several studies showed that air pollution, especially fine particulate matter (PM2.5), may be a risk factor of mental disorders. However, existing studies reported inconsistent results and little evidence is available in developing countries, like China. To fill the gap, in this study, we explored the relationship between ambient PM2.5 exposure and depressive symptoms among middle-aged and elderly Chinese adults in the Chinese Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). The social and demographic variables and depressive symptoms were obtained from the Wave4 of CHARLS in 2018. PM2.5 concentrations were obtained from the national urban air quality real-time release platform of China Environmental Monitoring Station. We applied generalized linear mixed models to determine the association between PM2.5 exposure and depressive symptoms. A total of 15,105 middle-aged and elderly adults from CHARLS Wave4 were included in the analyses. We found positive impact of ambient PM2.5 on depressive symptoms for the exposure windows of 30-day, 60-day, 120-day, 180-day, 1-year and 2-year. The most significant increase was observed for 180-day moving average. For every 10 μg/m3 increment in PM2.5 exposure, the incidence of depressive symptoms increased by 9% (OR = 1.09; 95%CI: 1.05, 1.14) after adjusting for age, sex and residence. In interaction analyses, we found PM2.5 had weaker effect on depressive symptoms among people who used to drink alcohol (OR = 1.05; 95%CI: 1.00, 1.10) and exercise (OR = 1.10; 95%CI: 1.02, 1.18). People living in western China (OR = 1.09; 95%CI: 1.03, 1.16) were more vulnerable than those living in eastern China (OR = 0.99; 95%CI: 0.94, 1.05). In conclusion, exposure to PM2.5 was significantly associated with depressive symptoms in middle-aged and elder Chinese adults, particularly for people who never drink, with lower physical activity levels, or lived in western China.

Abstract

The experience gained over the last hundred years clearly indicates that two groups of viruses represent the main risk for the development of highly transmissible epidemics and pandemics in the human species: influenza viruses and coronaviruses (CoV). Although the search for viruses with pandemic potential in the environment may have an important predictive and monitoring role, it is still based on empirical methodologies, mostly resulting from the clinic and not fully validated for environmental matrices.

As far as the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, currently underway, is concerned, environmental monitoring activities aiming at checking the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater can be extremely useful to predict and check the diffusion of the disease.

For this reason, the present study aims at evaluating the SARS-CoV-2 diffusion by means of a wastewater-based environmental monitoring developed in Piedmont, N–W Italy, during the second and third pandemic waves.

Wastewater sampling strategies, sampling points sample pre-treatments and analytical methods, data processing and standardization, have been developed and discussed to give representative and reliable results. The following outcomes has been highlighted by the present study: i) a strong correlation between SARS-CoV-2 concentration in untreated wastewater and epidemic evolution in the considered areas can be observed as well as a predictive potential that could provide decision-makers with indications to implement effective policies, to mitigate the effects of the ongoing pandemic and to prepare response plans for future pandemics that could certainly arise in the decades to come; ii) moreover, the data at disposal from our monitoring campaign (almost 500 samples analysed in 11 months) confirm that SARS-CoV-2 concentrations in wastewater are strongly variable and site-specific across the region: the highest SARS-CoV-2 concentration values have been found in sewer networks serving the most populated areas of the region; iii) normalization of viral concentrations in wastewater through Pepper Mild Mottle Virus (a specific faecal marker) has been carried out and commented; iv) the study highlights the potential of wastewater treatment plants to degrade the genetic material referable to SARS-CoV-2 as well.

In conclusion, the preliminary data reported in the present paper, although they need to be complemented by further studies considering also other geographical regions, are very promising.

Abstract

This work investigates the impact of COVID-19 restrictive measures on the mass concentrations of PM1 and PM10, and their chemical components (water-soluble ions, organic and elemental carbon, and major and trace metals) at an urban site in the western Mediterranean. The evolution of gaseous pollutants (NOx, O3 and some volatile organic compounds) was also analyzed. The concentrations measured during the lockdown in 2020 were compared to those obtained during the same period over the preceding five years. The average decrease in the levels of NOx and traffic-related volatile organic compounds was higher than 50 %, while O3 concentrations did not exhibit significant variations during the study period. Our results show that temporal variations in PM1 and PM10 concentrations were strongly affected by the frequency of Saharan dust events. When these episodes were excluded from the analysis period, a 35 % decrease in PM1 and PM10 levels was observed. Traffic restrictions during the lockdown led to important reductions in the concentrations of elemental carbon and metals derived from road dust (e.g. Ca and Fe) and break wear (e.g. Cu). Regarding secondary inorganic aerosols, nitrate showed the largest reductions as a consequence of the drop in local emissions of NOx.

Abstract

The present study relies on the air quality evaluation during COVID-19 pandemic in Avellino, described in the last years and for several consecutive years, among the worst Italian cities in this context. The main purpose of this manuscript was to investigate the effects of quarantine and lockdown measures on air pollution. The concentrations of the main atmospheric pollutants (Carbon monoxide (CO), Ozone (O3), Fine Particulate (PM2.5 and PM10), Benzene (C6H6) and Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) were recorded during the period January–December 2020 using two stationary monitoring stations (AV1 and AV2) of the Regional Environmental Protection Agency (ARPAC). During the lockdown period (March 9-May 18, 2020), results indicated significant reductions only in the levels of CO, benzene and NO2, while for PM10 the limit of 50 μg m−3 was passed 8 times for AV1 and 13 times for AV2. The results showed the not predominant role of traffic on air quality in Avellino regards to PM levels and make it necessary a serious reflection about important and not extendable decisions to improve the air quality.

Abstract

This review discusses the techniques available for detecting and inactivating of pathogens in municipal wastewater, landfill leachate, and solid waste. In view of the current COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 is being given special attention, with a thorough examination of all possible transmission pathways linked to the selected waste matrices. Despite the lack of works focused on landfill leachate, a systematic review method, based on cluster analysis, allows to analyze the available papers devoted to sewage sludge and wastewater, allowing to focalize the work on technologies able to detect and treat pathogens. In this work, great attention is also devoted to infectivity and transmission mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, the literature analysis shows that sewage sludge and landfill leachate seem to have a remote chance to act as a virus transmission route (pollution-to-human transmission) due to improper collection and treatment of municipal wastewater and solid waste. However due to the incertitude about virus infectivity, these possibilities cannot be excluded and need further investigation. As a conclusion, this paper shows that additional research is required not only on the coronavirus-specific disinfection, but also the regular surveillance or monitoring of viral loads in sewage sludge, wastewater, and landfill leachate. The disinfection strategies need to be optimized in terms of dosage and potential adverse impacts like antimicrobial resistance, among many other factors. Finally, the presence of SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogenic microorganisms in sewage sludge, wastewater, and landfill leachate can hamper the possibility to ensure safe water and public health in economically marginalized countries and hinder the realization of the United Nations' sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Abstract

In this paper, deep decarbonization in an urban neighborhood in Vienna, Austria is proposed focusing on decommissioning of the gas distribution grid for heat supply rather than trying to feed in "green” gas in the future. The core objective is to demonstrate that alternative network infrastructures and energy technologies ensure not only an adequate but also an even superior provision of local heat energy services. Two different deep decarbonization pathways are studied, namely, electrification of almost all energy services and expansion of the district heating network. In addition, future district cooling service supply is considered. The method applied couples and extends two open-source models offering a complete analysis toolkit covering a high spatial and temporal resolution. The results show that deep decarbonization of local multiple-energy carrier systems is possible, without being dependent on the existing distribution grid of natural gas. Possible stranded assets (also at the gas end-user level) must not play a decisive role, especially since the trade-off analyses in this work show that alternative scenarios of lower/zero-emission energy service provision are even more economical in the longer term since the CO2 price is expected to increase in the next decades. Future work may focus, among others, on the energy generation technology mix feeding into the district heating grid, the local mobility service needs, and a higher granularity to improve the assessment of the on-site (building-integrated) renewable generation potential associated with the emergence of energy community concepts.

Abstract

To find a sustainable municipal solid waste (MSW) management and renewable electricity generation system is need of the hour. In modern hybrid electricity generation systems, the use of MSW on priority is not evaluated yet. To satisfy this need, a small scale MSW based microgrid is proposed and evaluated in economic and reliability terms. First, the waste of the selected city is characterized considering four seasons summer, spring, autumn and winter for a complete year. Then a microgrid system is designed using MSW processing techniques namely, anaerobic digestion (AD) and gasification that are further integrated with solar photovoltaic (PV) system, battery and the main grid. The size of the microgrid is optimized using an artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm targeting the configuration that meets the desired system reliability requirements with minimum cost. The proposed system found as a sustainable approach to process the MSW of a small city (0.1 million population) and a reliable mean to fulfill the electricity demand of a village having 225 houses in India. The annualized system cost (ASC) of the proposed hybrid system found to be INR 5760919 with levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) 5.65 INR/kWh (0.0737 USD/kWh). The total MSW landfilling avoided cost is 451898.9 INR/year that is 17% of its processing cost.

Abstract

In this paper, the design and performance of an energy hub to supply the demands of heating, cooling, electricity and freshwater for a coastal urban is considered. The modeling framework considers exergy and economic factors as well as greenhouse gas emissions. To optimally meet the demands of the energy hub, the consumed energy flows and their exchanges with the outside of the hub are determined. The optimization problem will be solved according to the environmental conditions, demands and design parameters of energy hub equipment. A comprehensive thermodynamic analysis of the energy hub is considered in order to take into account the economic and emissions outlook, along with renewable energy sources. In this study, two levels of integrated system modeling are simulated as "design” and "environmental-design” to optimize the energy hub with high accuracy. The results showed that the microturbine capacity decreased during the hours of sun exposure and power generation by the solar panels. As the heat generated by the Photovoltaic/Thermal (PV/T) system increases, the contribution of the adsorption chiller in cooling demand has increased. After performing optimization, the total annual costs in the urban area decreased by 30%, exergy efficiency increased by 28%, and carbon dioxide emissions decreased by 16%.

Abstract

Pyrolysis of municipal waste plastic was conducted using a two-stage pyrolysis process with auger and fluidized bed reactors. The current study comprises two parts: a kinetic study and pyrolysis experiments using activator-assisted pyrolysis. The kinetic study was performed using the distributed activation energy model, and it revealed that the average activation energy for activated molecules was 7 kJ/mol lower than that for unactivated molecules. The pyrolysis experiment confirmed that the activation of molecules resulted in an enhanced gas production. In particular, the methane and ethene yields increased by 11 and 8 wt%, respectively, when molecules were activated. A higher flow rate of the product gas used as the fluidizing gas resulted in a decrease in the gas yield. CaO and Na2CO3 were used as absorbents for chlorinated compounds produced during pyrolysis to reduce the level of Cl in the oil. The absorbents, at first, changed the product distribution, enhancing the production of mono-aromatics. In particular, the benzene yield with Na2CO3 amounted to 10 wt%. The two absorbents were excellent in reducing the Cl content in oil. Between the two absorbents, Na2CO3 proved to be the better, reducing the Cl content to 65 ppm.

MÔI TRƯỜNG KHU CÔNG NGHIỆP

Abstract

As emerging contaminants, pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) have recently attracted much attention due to their containing pharmaceutically active compounds, endocrine-disrupting compounds, and other persistent organic pollutants. These pollutants are transferred to the environment due to their extensive application (Wang et al., 2018). Dichlorophen (DCP), an important PPCP, is widely used as organochlorine pesticides, fungicides, vermicides, and bactericides in agricultural activities (Vidal-Limon et al., 2018). Additionally, it is also an important intermediate for soap and cosmetics synthesis. Due to the wide application of DCP in agriculture and industry, the wastewater containing DCP is generated and discharged, which posed high burden to environment (Shi et al., 2018). Like other chlorinated organics, DCP has a great influence on the food chain, organisms, and sediments, especially in the cell cycle and endocrine hormone physiology (Vidal-Limon et al., 2018). Previous study also found that DCP was highly toxic to aquatic animals and environment (Shi et al., 2016). Therefore, the proper treatment of wastewater containing DCP is important for human health and environmental safety (Adebayo and Areo, 2021; Awasthi et al., 2021).

Abstract

Any system intending to improve the environmental performances of a process should be assessed by a Life Cycle Assessment. This work draws up the environmental profile of the heat provided by a storage system recovering industrial waste heat at high temperature (500 °C) through 5 selected indicators: Cumulative Energy Demand, Global Warming Potential, abiotic depletion potential, particle matter and freshwater eutrophication. The calculated indicators were compared to those of the fossil fuel substituted by the recovered heat, that is to say natural gas, and proved to be reduced. Then, the environmental payback times were calculated; and an energetic profitability evaluation by the Energy Returned on Investment expanded on the profile. Besides, the influence of operating conditions variations was investigated through a parametric study. An optimal number of cycles to provide the same amount of energy may be defined, as a compromise between the abiotic resource depletion potential reduction with smaller tanks performing more cycles and the energy returned on investment deteriorated with the operational energy consumption increased due to higher pressure drop with smaller tank diameter. The most rewarding environmental performances concerned the Cumulative Energy Demand, Global Warming Potential indicators of the provided heat, about 1.2 kgCO2-eq and 65 MJ-eq per kWh (payback time lower than 3 months), and the Energy Returned on Investment that doubled compared to natural gas, e.g. reached a value of 55. The positive effect of using recycled storage materials on the resource depletion indicator were enlightened, notably when the operating conditions strayed from the reference case.

Abstract

Deploying renewable energy to unit design energy-efficient technologies may fulfill the additional demand of various energy-intensive industries for their sustainability and resiliency. Multiple Stage Evaporator (MSE) is one of the most energy-intensive units used to extract the water content of the weak liquor in various industries, including the paper industry. This energy intensiveness may be reduced by integrating various Energy Reduction Schemes (ERSs). Hence, this work proposes a ERSs integrated MSE model to analyze its energy efficiency. These ERSs includes Thermo-Vapor Compressor, Steam-, Feed- Split, Feed Preheater, and Flash Tanks. Further, the performance of the proposed model is investigated under two important real-time plant complexities: Boiling Point Elevation and Fouling to achieve more realistic results. The performance analysis is initiated with the formulation of a nonlinear constrained optimization problem to increase the steam economy (SE). Also, the simulation is extended to validate at two different product concentrations (52% and 65%) by employing state-of-art optimization algorithms: CONOPT, and SCA in GAMS and MATLAB respectively. The simulated results shows an increment 1.64% and 1.37% of SE for both 52% and 65% concentration of weak liquor respectively in case of CONOPT than SCA. Also, the waste heat of the condensate, feed, and product may be further utilized for the heat recovery by incorporating the flash tanks which leads to a countable energy saving. Eventually, integrating the solar fields: PTC and LFR ensures a notable reduction in conventional heat utilization by 85.96% and 92.85%, respectively and hence, enhance the energy efficiency.

Abstract

Coal combustion byproducts—fly ash (FA), bottom ash (BA), and ash and slag waste (ASW)—are of considerable interest for the development of their application as soil ameliorants since these harmful wastes are produced in large quantities and need to be utilized or processed. Moreover, if FA is studied quite well in this respect, much less data exists on the BA and ASW, with fewer opportunities for their other economically justified use. Thus, this research focused on the possibility of FA and BA (ASW) application as soil ameliorants. Ash samples from power plants in European Russia were selected since they are not studied in detail before. To estimate the impact of ash application, changes in key indicators reflecting the soil quality, its suitability for growing safe products were assessed: particle size distribution, acidity, nutrient, and potentially toxic elements (PTEs; heavy metals and metalloids) concentration, and their potential availability for plants. The application of ash samples to soddy-podzolic soil contributed to pH normalization, confirming the possibility of using these wastes as a stabilizer of soil acidity at the optimum ratio of ash to the soil of 1:2 or 1:5. ASW samples can aggregate with soil particles, contributing to agrophysically valuable aggregates 250–2000 μm. Despite the contents of PTEs, ASW can be considered a safe material as the legislatively established standards are not exceeded.

Abstract

This review studies the prominent wastewater pollution problems and their forming factors in the development of the coal chemical industry in China. Through the comprehensive investigation of this industry and the collection of wastewater treatment technologies of existing and planned projects, this research analyzes the sources and restrictive factors of coal chemical wastewater pollutants. The processes of coal chemical wastewater treatment generally include pretreatment, biochemical treatment, and depth treatment. This review analyzes all the treatment technologies of the typical coal chemical wastewater projects investigated in China based on these three processes. From the evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of each technology, the core treatment technologies suitable for the sustainable development of modern coal chemical enterprises have been selected. This study can provide technical support and environmental management ideas for energy conservation, emission reduction, and sustainable development in the domain of the coal chemical industry and provide references for solving the problems of water environment restriction in the long-term development of this industry.

Abstract

This paper investigates the deployment over time of a shipping infrastructure to enable carbon capture and storage from Norwegian industries. In particular, optimal transport investments, routing, shipping portfolio, and transport conditions required cost-efficiently connect nine Norwegian and Swedish industrial facilities to the Northern Light Initiative are identified based on a multi-period mixed-integer model. Optimization of the shipping portfolio allows us to analyze the potential benefits of economics of scale and how sailing multi-stop routes can utilize the potential benefits.

Analyses show that the transport cost can be reduced by 12% when the optimal shipping portfolio is implemented instead of operating an independent transport chain for each emission source. Shipping at 7-bar is expected to result in lower costs compared 15-bar shipping, but a significant drawback is the technological maturity of the 7-bar transport technology. The model proposes two transport chains run in parallel as cost optimal, the average transport cost of the 15-bar chain is 32.4 €/ton, and the 7-bar has an average cost of 25.4 €/ton. A net present value criterion is used to identify the conditions for when retrofitting of the 15-bar transport chain is economically sound. Break-even is achieved when the ship's re-sale price is 60% of the purchase price, and the cost of retrofitting a 15-bar conditioning plant to a 7-bar is 40% of the investment cost. While retrofitting may be an attractive solution, the decisions lead to a less robust shipping portfolio, and the retrofitting of a fully operating carbon capture and storage value chain is regarded as unlikely.

Abstract

The spatial agglomeration of pollution-intensive industries (PIIs) leads to an increase in environmental risks. Land price and environmental compliance costs are important elements of the production costs of PIIs, which may affect the location selection of PIIs and further affect industrial distribution. However, there is a lack of research into the impacts of the incompletely competitive industrial land market on the distribution of PIIs. Moreover, the impacts of environmental regulations on PIIs are also controversial. This study characterizes spatiotemporal variations of PIIs at a city level in China from 2007 to 2016 with the newly-expanded industrial land use data and establishes a geographically weighted regression model to estimate the impacts of industrial land price and environmental regulations on the distribution of PIIs. The results are as follows: 1) PIIs tend to be relocated to the less developed area of western China. Due to the relatively lower land and labor costs in western China, land use by PIIs in this area as a proportion of the national total gradually increases, and new high-density areas of PIIs are formed in the northwest region of China. 2) PIIs are sensitive to land cost and tend to locate where the industrial land price is low, and with the marketization level of industrial land being higher, the negative impacts of industrial land price on PIIs become stronger. 3) The regression results for environmental regulations do not support the pollution haven hypothesis. Regional differences in the production costs caused by the improvements in environmental regulation intensity are not sufficiently large to form a pollution haven. This study uses newly-expanded industrial land use data to characterize the distribution of PIIs, which can directly reflect the location selection of PIIs. Moreover, the inter-city analysis can contribute to a deeper understanding of the relocation of PIIs in China at finer geographical scales. According to the results obtained, a reasonable industrial guidance mechanism need to be established to promote environmental equity, and land markets need to be further perfected to optimize the industrial layout.

Abstract

Soil contamination related to industrial and agricultural activities were associated with many adverse health effects and climate change could exacerbate this effect. However, the evidence on this topic in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) is still scarce. We, therefore, aimed to investigate the heavy metals (HMs) concentrations in topsoil around Lake Urmia (which dried about 50 % of it in recent years). Accordingly, 96 surface soil samples were collected from an area of about 4000 km2 in 2019. An inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) was used to measure the HMs concentrations, including cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), chromium (Cr), cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn). Health risk assessment of exposure to HMs was performed using Monte Carlo simulations technique. The mean concentrations of Zn, Cu, Ni, Co, Pb, Cr, As and Cd were 68.66, 35, 31.66, 15, 14.4, 11.2, 7.04, and 0.26 mg/kg, respectively, which was in the allowable range of USEPA guideline. The mean enrichment factor (EF) values for Zn, Cd, Cu, Cr, Ni, Pb, Co and As were1.3, 1.9, 1, 1.2, 1.7, 2.8, 1.8 and 2, respectively. Carcinogenic risks of exposure to HMs for inhalation, dermal and ingestion exposure pathways were at safe level. Similarly, the hazard index (HI) was at safe level (HI < 1). The sensitivity analysis indicated that the exposure duration (ED) for As, exposure frequency (EF) for Cd and Ni, concentration (Csoi) for Cr and Pb had the highest impact on ELCR values. Our finding confirmed that HMs concentrations around Lake Urmia had no health risk for inhabitants.

Abstract

Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) pose serious threats to aquatic ecosystems, especially their microbial communities. However, little is known about the phylosymbiosis of aquatic fungal and viridiplantae communities in response to PFC accumulation. We quantified the distribution of 14 PFCs in rivers and found that PFBA was dominant in the transition from water to sediment. High through-put sequencing revealed that phyla Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Anthophyta, and Chlorophyta were the predominant in eukaryotic community. The effects of PFCs on spatial community coalescence at taxonomic and phylogenetic levels (p < 0.05) were revealed. Fungal community coalescence triggered the spatial assembly of fungal and viridiplantae communities in riverine environments (p < 0.05). Null modeling indicated that PFBA, PFTrDA and PFOS, etc, mediated phylogenetic assembly (p < 0.05) and stochastic processes (86.67–100%) maintain phylogenetic turnover in the fungal community. Meanwhile, variable selection (27.78–54.44%) explained the viridiplantae community assemblage. Finally, we identified fungal genera Hannaella, Naganishia, Purpureocillium and Stachybotrys as indicators for PFC pollution (p < 0.001). These results help explain the effects of PFCs on riverine ecological remediation.

Abstract

In spite of the state-of-the-art performances of machine learning in the PM2.5 estimation, the high-value PM2.5 underestimation and non-random aerosol optical depth (AOD) missing are still huge obstacles. By incorporating wavelet decomposition (WD) into the extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), a hybrid XGBoost-WD model was established to obtain the full-coverage PM2.5 estimation at 3-km spatial resolution in the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration (YRDUA). In this study, 3-km-resolution meteorological fields simulated by WRF along with AOD derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) were served as explanatory variables. Model MW and Model NW were developed using XGBoost-WD for the areas with and without AOD respectively to obtain a full-coverage PM2.5 mapping in the YRDUA. The XGBoost-WD model showed good performances in estimating PM2.5 with R2 of 0.80 in the Model MW and 0.87 in the Model NW. Moreover, the K-value of Model MW increased from 0.77 to 0.79 and that of Model NM increased from 0.81 to 0.86 compared with the model without the step of WD, indicating an improvement on the problem of PM2.5 underestimation. Due to a better ability of capturing abrupt changes in the PM2.5 concentrations, the spatial evolution of PM2.5 during a typical pollution event could be mapped more accurately. Finally, the analysis of variable importance showed that the three most important variables in the estimation of the low-frequency coefficients of PM2.5 (PM2.5_A4) were temperature at 2 m (T2), day of year (DOY) and longitude (LON), while that in the high-frequency coefficients of PM2.5 (PM2.5_D) were CO, AOD and NO2. This study not only provided an effective solution to the PM2.5 underestimation and AOD missing problems in the PM2.5 estimation, but also proposed a new method to further refine the sophisticated correlations between PM2.5 and some spatiotemporal variables.

Abstract

Herein, an expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactor with activated carbon (AC)-nano manganese dioxide (MnO2) added was employed for azo dye wastewater treatment to investigate its effectiveness at decolorizing of azo dyes and removing COD. The results showed that the treatment of azo dye wastewater with the AC-MnO2 modified EGSB reactor gave an 83% average decolorization efficiency, which was more efficient than the pure AC modified EGSB reactor. Moreover, the COD removal and changes in the intermediate products were controlled by AC-MnO2. Additionally, there was a sharp increase in the sludge conductivity, while there was a significant decrease in the coenzyme F420 concentration with long-term operation. Moreover, electrochemical analysis showed that the addition of AC-MnO2 can enhance electron transfer in anaerobic system. The AC-MnO2 can act as redox mediator; in the presence of the Mn4+/Mn2+ cycle, accelerating the electron transfer between the microbial cells and dyes, thereby promoting the decolorization of azo dyes. This caused a decrease in the methanogenic activity. Furthermore, high-throughput sequencing showed that the relative abundances of Pseudomonas and Desulfovibrio were significantly high among the acidogenic bacteria community, while Methanobacterium and Methanosaeta had very low abundances from among the methanogenic archaea community.

Abstract

In this study, the LMDI method is used to decompose the production power consumption changes of the Yangtze River Economic Zone into an advanced technology effect, structural effect, income effect, and population effect. The regional and industry differences in the driving effect of electricity consumption change are also investigated. From the perspective of time differences, the progress of power-saving technology is the main factor restraining the growth of electricity consumption; whereas, economic growth, industry structure adjustment, and population size adjustment promote the growth of electricity consumption; and the other three influencing factors, in turn, decrease. From the perspective of regional differences, regional electricity consumption varies significantly, and various regions have great room for improvement in industry structure. Regional population affects electricity consumption from two aspects: absolute population quantity change and population mobility. From the perspective of industry differences, electricity consumption varies significantly among industries and is mainly reflected in the effect of technological progress and structural effects. As a result, control measures on electricity consumption in the Yangtze River Economic Zone should focus on the promotion of power-saving technology and industry structure adjustment.

Abstract

This article is devoted to discussing the feasibility and the optimal scheme to implement an electric-thermal carbon emissions neutral industrial park and perform a 3E analysis on various scenarios. A carbon emissions neutral framework of electric-thermal hydrogen-based containing MILP energy optimisation model is constructed. Photovoltaic power generation, electrolysis hydrogen production are considered in the model. There is an optimal scheme for realising carbon emissions neutrality in industrial parks, which will cost a relatively high price and the compromise scheme which can implement low carbon emissions is also worth studying. The results of the real-world case show that the present value of the cost of achieving carbon emissions neutrality is $ 8.61 billion (109). The scheme presents a compromise between environment and economy will cost $3.95 billion while bringing a 61 % reduction in emission compared with the baseline, which relies upon on-grid and natural gas. And the scheme is most affordable when hydrogen energy accounts for 95 %. Finally, in order to verify the generalisation of the roadmap, the analysis method has been applied to other industrial park cases of typical cities around the world, and the feasibility of achieving the carbon emissions near-neutral goal in these areas is evaluated.

Abstract

Cooling systems have been widely used in the industry. In order to satisfy cooling processes with large temperature ranges, cascade cooling systems included different cooling methods have been developed. However, waste heat in such processes could still be recovered instead of being cooled down in further operations. There are many waste heat recovery technologies, but a systematic method to implement such technologies in a cascade cooling system optimally has not been well studied. This paper presents a new cascade cooling system considering waste heat recovery via Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) and absorption refrigeration (AR). An optimization method for minimizing the total annual cost has been proposed to distribute the cooling duty for different cooling methods. A case study is conducted to validate the economic advantages of the proposed method. From the results, the scheme using AR can reduce the total annual cost by 37.5% and the scheme using ORC can reduce the total annual cost by 42.8%. Results show that in cases where the heat source supply temperature is higher than 123 °C, ORC will achieve higher economic benefits. Otherwise, AR is economically superior to ORC. The method can also indicate how to distribute cooling duty between different cooling method.

Abstract

As the world's largest primary aluminum producer, China's primary aluminum industry (PAI) faces a huge challenge in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, detailed research on presenting the historical trajectory of GHG emissions from China's PAI and identifying the main driving factors affecting its changes has not been completed thus far. This study quantifies the GHG emission trajectory of China's PAI from 1990 to 2018 and identifies the key driving factors affecting its changes. The results show that the total GHG emissions from China's PAI from 1990 to 2018 increased by approximately 18 times, reaching 481 Tg CO2-eq in 2018, of which 69 %, 17 %, and 14 % were electricity-related, fuel-related, and process-related, respectively. Additionally, the production activity effect is the main factor driving the increase in GHG emissions; however, the energy intensity and energy emission factor effects can effectively reduce GHG emissions. Based on this, scenario analysis is used to evaluate the GHG emission mitigation potential of China's PAI by 2030. According to our analysis, policy suggestions for mitigating the GHG emissions in China's PAI are proposed, including reducing the energy intensity, promoting clean energy use, controlling the production capacity, and decarbonizing electricity.

Abstract

Biogas production through anaerobic digestion technology offers numerous benefits as it may not only recover a part of the energy contained in the biomass but also contributes to circular economy targets. Concerns about biogas production from feed and food crops raise the need for the assessment of biogas potential produced out of biomass, which is not in competition with the other purposes, such as potential of industrial residuals and by-products. This research presents the approach for the assessment of biogas potential from industrial residues and by-products, by taking into consideration spatial and seasonal variation of feedstock production. In this work, considered feedstocks are those which occur in sugar, wine, vegetable and olive oil industries. This approach was tested through the case study of two Croatian counties. The results are presenting the spatial distribution and seasonal variation of the biogas potential from residues and by-products of considered industries. The results proved the hypothesis that there is a strong need to include a seasonal aspect when defining the biomass potential viable for biogas production, due to the low annual load factor calculated for potential biogas sites, which range from 0.1 to 0.24 for the case when feedstock storage is not available.

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