QUẢN LÝ MÔI TRƯỜNG

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 875, 1 June 2023, 162489

Abstract

Hydropower globally represents the main source of renewable energy, and provides several benefits, e.g., water storage and flexibility; on the other hand, it may cause significant impacts on the environment. Hence sustainable hydropower needs to achieve a balance between electricity generation, impacts on ecosystems and benefits on society, supporting the achievement of the Green Deal targets. The implementation of digital, information, communication and control (DICC) technologies is emerging as an effective strategy to support such a trade-off, especially in the European Union (EU), fostering both the green and the digital transitions. In this study, we show how DICC can foster the environmental integration of hydropower into the Earth spheres, with focus on the hydrosphere (e.g., on water quality and quantity, hydropeaking mitigation, environmental flow control), biosphere (e.g., improvement of riparian vegetation, fish habitat and migration), atmosphere (reduction of methane emissions and evaporation from reservoirs), lithosphere (better sediment management, reduction of seepages), and on the anthroposphere (e.g., reduction of pollution associated to combined sewer overflows, chemicals, plastics and microplastics). With reference to the abovementioned Earth spheres, the main DICC applications, case studies, challenges, Technology Readiness Level (TRL), benefits and limitations, and transversal benefits for energy generation and predictive Operation and Maintenance (O&M), are discussed. The priorities for the European Union are highlighted. Although the paper focuses primarly on hydropower, analogous considerations are valid for any artificial barrier, water reservoir and civil structure which interferes with freshwater systems.

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 875, 1 June 2023, 162627

Abstract

Plastics are fossil fuel-derived products. The emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) during different processes involved in the lifecycle of plastic-related products are a significant threat to the environment as it contributes to global temperature rise. By 2050, a high volume of plastic production will be responsible for up to 13 % of our planet's total carbon budget. The global emissions of GHG and their persistence in the environment have depleted Earth's residual carbon resources and have generated an alarming feedback loop. Each year at least 8 million tonnes of discarded plastics are entering our oceans, creating concerns regarding plastic toxicity on marine biota as they end up in the food chain and ultimately affect human health. The unsuccessful management of plastic waste and its presence on the riverbanks, coastlines, and landscapes leads to the emission of a higher percentage of GHG in the atmosphere. The persistence of microplastics is also a significant threat to the fragile and extreme ecosystem containing diverse life forms with low genetic variation, making them vulnerable to climatic change. In this review, we have categorically discussed the contribution of plastic and plastic waste to global climate change covering the current plastic production and future trends, the types of plastics and plastic materials used globally, plastic lifecycle and GHG emission, and how microplastics become a major threat to ocean carbon sequestration and marine health. The conjoining impact of plastic pollution and climate change on the environment and human health has also been discussed in detail. In the end, we have also discussed some strategies to reduce the climate impact of plastics.

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 875, 1 June 2023, 162644

Abstract

Knowledge on environmental plastic emission and spatial and temporal accumulation is vital for the development of successful mitigation strategies and risk assessments of plastics. In this study, emissions of both micro and macro plastic from the plastic value chain to the environment were assessed on a global level through a mass flow analysis (MFA). All countries, 10 sectors, 8 polymers and 7 environmental compartments (terrestrial, freshwater or oceanic) are distinguished in the model. The results assess a loss of 0.8 million tonnes (mt) of microplastics and 8.7 mt of macroplastics to the global environment in 2017. This is respectively 0.2 % and 2.1 % of plastics produced in the same year. The packaging sector contributed most for macroplastic emissions, and tyre wear for microplastic emissions. With the MFA results, accumulation, degradation and environmental transportation are considered in the Accumulation and dispersion model (ADM) until 2050. This model predicts macro- and microplastic accumulation in the environment to 2.2 gigatonnes (Gt) and 3.1 Gt in 2050 respectively (scenario: yearly consumption increase of 4 %). This will be 30 % less when a yearly production reduction of 1 % until 2050 is modeled to 1.5 and 2.3 Gt macro and microplastics respectively. Almost 2.15 Gt of micro and macroplastics accumulate in the environment until 2050 with zero plastic production after 2022 due to leakage from landfills and degradation processes. Results are compared to other modeling studies quantifying plastic emissions to the environment. The current study predicts lower emissions to ocean and higher emissions to surface waters like lakes and rivers. Non aquatic, terrestrial compartments are observed to accumulate most plastics emitted to the environment. The approach used results in a flexible and adaptable model that addresses plastic emissions to the environment over time and space, with detail on country level and environmental compartments.

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 875, 1 June 2023, 162708

Abstract

Green technology innovation (GI) is a key factor in reconciling environmental protection with sustainable economic development. Routinely, GI in private companies have been delayed due to suspicious of pitfalls investments, which result in low return rates. Nevertheless, the digital transformation of Nations' Economies (DE) might be sustainably sound in terms of natural resources demands and environmental pollution. Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Enterprises (ECEPEs) database was analyzed from 2011 to 2019 at the municipality level to measure the effect and influence of DE on GI in Chinese ECEPEs. The results suggest that DE has a significant positive influence on GI of ECEPEs. Moreover, the influencing mechanism statistical tests reveal that DE can promote GI of ECEPEs by improving internal controls and financing opportunities. Heterogeneous statistical analysis, however, indicates that the promotion of DE on GI might be constrained over the country. In general, DE can promote both high- and low-quality GI but preferably the latter.

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 876, 10 June 2023, 162377

Abstract

The climatological seasonal maximum and minimum CO2 concentrations in East Asia for 1987–2020 have been recorded at April and August, respectively. We found that the CO2 concentration in East Asia during July, August, and September (JAS) is lower than normal before the late 1990s and after the early 2010s (Low_CO2 period), and higher than normal from the late 1990s to the early 2010s (High_CO2 period). The low-frequency variability of CO2 concentration in East Asia during JAS correlates with both Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO)-related sea surface temperatures (SSTs). We analyzed atmospheric and oceanic conditions during JAS between the two periods, finding that precipitation in East Asia decreased during JAS in High_CO2 period than that in Low_CO2 period, possibly due to PDO and AMO-related SST forcing, which decreases vegetation's photosynthetic activity. This may lead to a higher CO2 concentration than normal in East Asia in High_CO2 period through reduced uptake of CO2 from the atmosphere. This implies that terrestrial vegetation activity influenced by remote SST forcings should be monitored to better understand regional carbon cycles in East Asia.

Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 403, 1 June 2023, 136852

Abstract

A lack of transparency and the relative invisibility of social and environmental issues in supply chains render the implementation of sustainability without the involvement of suppliers difficult. For this, buying companies apply different sustainable supply chain management practices. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether buying companies' assessment and cooperation practices enable suppliers to adopt similar practices and thereby further cascade social sustainability requirements to sub-suppliers. While both practices' effects on suppliers' sustainability performance have been investigated, this question has not yet been adequately addressed. To ensure social sustainability along the entire supply chain, we need a deeper understanding of the relationships between the sustainable supply chain management practices of buyers and suppliers. We respond to calls to further investigate the role of inter-organizational learning in the context of sustainability in supply chains. As the supplier perspective remains under-researched in the literature, we conducted a survey among manufacturing sector suppliers in Germany. Partial least square structural equation modelling was used to test the hypothesized relationships between buying companies' assessment and cooperation practices and suppliers' adoption of sustainable supply chain management practices. Our findings reveal that there is a trickle-down effect of sustainable supply chain practices from buying companies to suppliers, and from suppliers to sub-suppliers. Only cooperation practices prove to be effective for the development of suppliers’ sustainability capabilities, in contrast to assessment practices. Our findings contribute to the literature on sustainable supply chain management by providing a key building block for understanding the effects of assessment and cooperation practices. We are among the first to provide insights on the mechanism of cascading sustainable supply chain management practices in supply chains.

Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 403, 1 June 2023, 136833

Abstract

While many electricity resource mixes can facilitate a zero-carbon electricity system, different pathways can vary significantly in their contribution to environmental impacts. Many current assessments focus on tradeoffs associated with monetary cost, neglecting these wider impacts. Here, electric grid dispatch modeling and electricity mix optimization is combined with data on resource consumption and electricity technology costs to compare five different approaches for developing a 100% zero-carbon electricity system in California: minimum critical metals use, minimum solid construction materials mass, minimum land use, minimum freshwater consumption, and minimum monetary cost under present-day policy goals and constraints. The modeled scenarios show that prioritizing minimum solid construction materials mass in developing such systems also achieve near-minimal monetary cost and land use and did not exhibit the worst performance on either freshwater consumption or critical metals use. In contrast, the strategy that prioritized minimum freshwater consumption exhibited the largest land use and materials use of the five strategies. The minimum monetary cost strategy exhibited near-minimal freshwater consumption, but large land use and the highest demand for critical metals. The modeled monetary unit cost of electricity was lower than the 2030 reference for all zero-carbon electricity system scenarios. The results highlight tradeoffs between contributions to different types of environmental impact in developing a zero-carbon electricity system. Notably, prioritizing certain metrics can result in electricity systems that balance these tradeoffs better than others given the existing suite of zero-carbon options. More broadly, the results show that the planning of zero-carbon electricity systems should more explicitly incorporate non-carbon environmental externalities as co-priorities in their development.

Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 404, 10 June 2023, 136901

Abstract

This study is a first-of-its-kind CO2 source and sink study to enable Canada to reach net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050. Results show that CO2 emissions of 137 Mtpa is amenable to carbon capture and storage (CCS). Additionally, there is a CO2 storage capacity of 91 Gt in 71,907 gas fields, 8 Gt in 16,990 oil fields and 778 Gt in saline aquifers in 51 sedimentary basins and a CO2-enhanced oil recovery (EOR) potential of 10,329 million barrels across Canada. CCS projects of 137 Mtpa can be deployed by 2050 in three steps. First, CCS of 60 Mtpa is proposed between 2020 and 2030 at a carbon tax of $24/t for enhanced oil recovery projects in Western Canada with CO2 capture from natural gas processing and chemical plants. Second, CCS of 63 Mtpa can be deployed at a carbon tax of $75/t between 2030 and 2040. The CO2 can be stored in saline aquifer in Western Canada with CO2 captured from natural gas processing and chemical plants. Third, CCS of 14 Mtpa can be deployed at a carbon tax of $134/t between 2040 and 2050 where CO2 emissions captured from natural gas fired power plants are stored in saline aquifers in Eastern Canada. These CCS projects will generate a net present value of $35 billions with investment of $92 billions between 2020 and 2050. Based on the aforementioned CCS source-sink matching in Canada, policies to incentivize the CCS deployment are proposed.

Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 405, 15 June 2023, 136923

Abstract

Financial integration and ICT are two of many factors that have gained popularity regarding their impact on sustainability. Therefore, this research examines how ICT and financial integration affect green growth and carbon neutrality. We employed the QARDL model for empirical analysis across short- and long-run quantiles. The study's main results show that financial integration and ICT reduce carbon emissions in the long and short-run. In addition, financial integration and ICT help achieve green growth in the short and long run. Furthermore, the Wald test confirms that financial integration and ICT have an asymmetric impact on carbon neutrality and green growth in the long run. The study provides various important policy suggestions that help in green growth and carbon neutrality targets.

Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 405, 15 June 2023, 136847

Abstract

Several studies have postulated unique strategies and models to counter climate change challenges and achieve sustainable development goals. However, rare scholarships have focused on the green aspect of intellectual capital by integrating pro-environmental behavior for firms' environmental performance. The current study postulates that green intellectual capital and top management commitment strengthen organizational capabilities to adhere to environmental performance standards and ensure that their operations are causing the least harm to nature. Such achievements cultivate a favorable reputation for businesses in the market, enabling the firm to dominate others. The findings also suggest that pro-environmental behavior is a catalyst and bolsters the strength of the relationship between green intellectual capital, top-management commitment, and firm environmental performance. Stakeholders in environmental policy and management can benefit from this study's findings by understanding how they can add value to their businesses. It adds to the body of knowledge by explaining why and how companies should coordinate their green resources with the proper infrastructure for maximum efficiency. It is accomplished by embedding resource-based and social cognition theories within management accounting and intellectual capital settings.

Environmental Pollution, Volume 327, 15 June 2023, 121515

Abstract

Most studies investigating the health effects of long-term exposure to air pollution used traditional regression models, although causal inference approaches have been proposed as alternative. However, few studies have applied causal models and comparisons with traditional methods are sparse. We therefore compared the associations between natural-cause mortality and exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) using traditional Cox and causal models in a large multicenter cohort setting. We analysed data from eight well-characterized cohorts (pooled cohort) and seven administrative cohorts from eleven European countries. Annual mean PM2.5 and NO2 from Europe-wide models were assigned to baseline residential addresses and dichotomized at selected cut-off values (PM2.5: 10, 12, 15 μg/m³; NO2: 20, 40 μg/m³). For each pollutant, we estimated the propensity score as the conditional likelihood of exposure given available covariates, and derived corresponding inverse-probability weights (IPW). We applied Cox proportional hazards models i) adjusting for all covariates ("traditional Cox”) and ii) weighting by IPW ("causal model”). Of 325,367 and 28,063,809 participants in the pooled and administrative cohorts, 47,131 and 3,580,264 died from natural causes, respectively. For PM2.5 above vs. below 12 μg/m³, the hazard ratios (HRs) of natural-cause mortality were 1.17 (95% CI 1.13–1.21) and 1.15 (1.11–1.19) for the traditional and causal models in the pooled cohort, and 1.03 (1.01–1.06) and 1.02 (0.97–1.09) in the administrative cohorts. For NO2 above vs below 20 μg/m³, the HRs were 1.12 (1.09–1.14) and 1.07 (1.05–1.09) for the pooled and 1.06 (95% CI 1.03–1.08) and 1.05 (1.02–1.07) for the administrative cohorts. In conclusion, we observed mostly consistent associations between long-term air pollution exposure and natural-cause mortality with both approaches, though estimates partly differed in individual cohorts with no systematic pattern. The application of multiple modelling methods might help to improve causal inference.

Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 405, 15 June 2023, 136920

Abstract

This study offers a new perspective on the drivers of environmental sustainability for sector level (manufacturing, mining, agriculture, business, trade, and transport) analysis. In this case, country-level sectoral dynamic index for technology adoption and emission intensity were constructed to study the environmental efficiency effect of technology adoption and technology diffusion across tradable and non-tradable sectors by using empirical illustration for 49 developing and emerging countries during 1990–2018 period. By correcting for potential bias arising from endogeneity and cross-border spillover effects via cross-section dependence, results reveal long-term effects of technological changes. Importantly, it is shown that the environmental efficiency effect of technology adoption holds in technology-intensive sectors (i.e manufacturing, mining, agriculture) only at lower capitalization levels, thus establishing a U-shaped nexus of technology adoption and carbon emission. Additionally, it is found that trade networks reduce emission intensities by improving technology diffusion across all the tradable sectors and in transport sector. Moreover, trade alone mitigates carbon intensity across all the sectors while income per capita spur carbon intensity in the tradable sectors. From policy insight, the study identifies the need for stricter policy directives to scale up energy and clean technologies adoption in all sector activities.

Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 404, 10 June 2023, 136797

Abstract

For the last decade, more municipal governments have adopted Green Industrial Policies (GIPs) to accelerate the sustainability transition of the regional "socio-technical” system. However, previous research on policy analysis always emphasized place-specificity case analysis while neglecting the transactionalized and generalized effect of spatial factors. A relationalist perspective, including geographic, cognitive, and institutional proximity, was applied to elucidate the extensive influence of spatial factors on regional sustainability transition. By combining the enterprise's geographic proximity analysis, this study found that GIPs improved Total Factor Productivity (TFP) by 1.71% and Green Total Factor Productivity (GTFP) by 1.82% in cities that implemented the policy. Meanwhile, GIPs suppressed the TFP and GTFP of enterprises neighboring the cities that implemented the policy, with a drop of −11.57% and −6.29% respectively. This research also found that the improvement effect of GIPs was weaker when enterprises had higher cognitive proximity. Furthermore, institutional proximity revealed the balance between the environmental and economic effects of GIPs. This study demonstrated that GIPs triggered an adaptive circular interaction between enterprises and governments. In contrast with previous studies, this study first applied a relationalist perspective to quantitively evaluate GIPs and elucidate the mechanism of policies accelerating regional sustainability transition.

Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 404, 10 June 2023, 136904

Abstract

The Yangtze River Delta region is one of the key areas of energy transition for China's carbon neutrality. The pathways to carbon neutrality are diverse in the regional level due to the different conditions on the energy supply and demand side. How to construct comprehensive assessment index system and evaluate regional pathways to carbon neutrality is an urgent problem to be solved. To fill this gap, this paper evaluates the carbon neutrality pathways of supply-side and demand-side coordination in the Yangtze River Delta region using the Low Emissions Analysis Platform with five scenarios (64 sub-scenarios): Business as usual, energy intensity decrease, energy structure reform, power supply technology innovation and policies mix. The simulation results indicate that: (1) 22 of the 64 sub-scenarios can achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. (2) In energy intensity decrease scenario, an annual 6% reduction in energy intensity could achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. (3) The policies mix scenario can lead to 21 sub-scenarios with pathways to achieve carbon neutrality when the average annual energy intensity decreases by 4% or more. Additionally, the end-use sectors electrification level should reach 64.19% at least by 2060. (4) There can be 14 sub-scenarios to achieve zero carbon emissions in the power plant sector, but annual energy intensity should be reduced by at least 4%. Applying Analytic Hierarchy Process analysis, the article evaluated the 22 sub-scenarios with the index of regional pathways to carbon neutrality. The result shows that the mixed policies of energy intensity reduction, energy structure reformation and power technology innovation can promote the coordination of supply-side and demand-side. This study can provide reference for policymakers to formulate effective policies to realize carbon neutrality.

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 878, 20 June 2023, 162936

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant disruptions to the world since 2020, with over 647 million confirmed cases and 6.7 million reported deaths as of January 2023. Despite its far-reaching impact, the effects of COVID-19 on the progress of global climate change negotiations have yet to be thoroughly evaluated. This discussion paper conducts an examination of COVID-19's impact on climate change actions at global, national, and local levels through a comprehensive review of existing literature. This analysis reveals that the pandemic has resulted in delays in implementing climate policies and altered priorities from climate action to the pandemic response. Despite these setbacks, the pandemic has also presented opportunities for accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy. The interplay between these outcomes and the different levels of governance will play a crucial role in determining the success or failure of future climate change negotiations.

Journal of Environmental Management, Volume 336, 15 June 2023, 117663

Abstract

China is working to boost the manufacture, market share, sales, and use of NEVs to replace fuel vehicles in transportation sector to get carbon reduction target by 2060. In this research, using Simapro life cycle assessment software and Eco-invent database, the market share, carbon footprint, and life cycle analysis of fuel vehicles, NEVs, and batteries were calculated from the last five years to next 25 years, with a focus on the sustainable development. Results indicate globally, China had 293.98 m vehicles and 45.22% worldwide highest market share, followed by Germany with 224.97 m and 42.22% shares. Annually China's NEVs production rate is 50%, and sales account for 35%, while the carbon footprint will account for 5.2 E+07 to 4.89 E+07 kgCO2e by 2021–2035. The power battery production 219.7 GWh reaches 150%–163.4%, whereas carbon footprint values in production and use stage of 1 kWh of LFP 44.0 kgCO2eq, NCM-146.8 kgCO2eq, and NCA-370 kgCO2eq. The single carbon footprint of LFP is smallest at about 5.52 E+09, while NCM is highest at 1.84 E+10. Thus, using NEVs, and LFP batteries will reduce carbon emissions by 56.33%–103.14% and 56.33% or 0.64 Gt to 0.006 Gt by 2060. LCA analysis of NEVs and batteries at manufacturing and using stages quantified the environmental impact ranked from highest to lowest as ADP > AP > GWP > EP > POCP > ODP. ADP(e) and ADP(f) at manufacturing stage account for 14.7%, while other components account for 83.3% during the use stage. Conclusive findings are higher sales and use of NEVs, LFP, and reduction in coal-fired power generation from 70.92% to 50%, and increase in renewable energy sources in electricity generation expectedly will reduce carbon footprint by 31% and environmental impact on acid rain, ozone depletion, and photochemical smog. Finally, to achieve carbon neutrality in China, the NEVs industry must be supported by incentive policies, financial aid, technological improvements, and research and development. This would improve NEV's supply, demand, and environmental impact.

MÔI TRƯỜNG ĐÔ THỊ

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 875, 1 June 2023, 162565

Abstract

Dioxin degradation is considered essential for the environmentally sound management of municipal solid waste incineration fly ash (MSWIFA). Among the many degradation techniques, thermal treatment has shown good prospects owing to its high efficiency and wide range of applications. Thermal treatment is divided into high-temperature thermal, microwave thermal, hydrothermal, and low-temperature thermal treatments. High-temperature sintering and melting not only have dioxin degradation rates higher than 95 % but also remove volatile heavy metals, although energy consumption is high. High-temperature industrial co-processing effectively solves the problem of energy consumption, but with a low fly ash (FA) mixture, and the process is limited by location. Microwave thermal treatment and hydrothermal treatment are still in the experimental stage and cannot be used for large-scale processing. The dioxin degradation rate of low-temperature thermal treatment can also be stabilized at higher than 95 %. Compared to other methods, low-temperature thermal treatment is less costly and energy consumption with no restriction on location. This review comprehensively compares the current status of the above-mentioned thermal treatment methods and their ability to dispose of MSWIFA, especially the potential for large-scale processing. Then, the respective characteristics, challenges, and application prospects of different thermal treatment methods were discussed. Finally, based on the goal of low carbon and emission reduction, three possible approaches for improvement were proposed to address the challenges of large-scale processing of low-temperature thermal treatment, namely, adding a catalyst, changing the FA fraction, or supplementing with blockers, providing a reasonable development direction for the degradation of dioxins in MSWIFA.

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 876, 10 June 2023, 162800

Abstract

Wastewater surveillance (WWS) is useful to better understand the spreading of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in communities, which can help design and implement suitable mitigation measures. The main objective of this study was to develop the Wastewater Viral Load Risk Index (WWVLRI) for three Saskatchewan cities to offer a simple metric to interpret WWS. The index was developed by considering relationships between reproduction number, clinical data, daily per capita concentrations of virus particles in wastewater, and weekly viral load change rate. Trends of daily per capita concentrations of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater for Saskatoon, Prince Albert, and North Battleford were similar during the pandemic, suggesting that per capita viral load can be useful to quantitatively compare wastewater signals among cities and develop an effective and comprehensible WWVLRI. The effective reproduction number (Rt) and the daily per capita efficiency adjusted viral load thresholds of 85 × 106 and 200 × 106 N2 gene counts (gc)/population day (pd) were determined. These values with rates of change were used to categorize the potential for COVID-19 outbreaks and subsequent declines. The weekly average was considered ‘low risk’ when the per capita viral load was 85 × 106 N2 gc/pd. A ‘medium risk’ occurs when the per capita copies were between 85 × 106 and 200 × 106 N2 gc/pd. with a rate of change <100 %. The start of an outbreak is indicated by a ‘medium-high’ risk classification when the week-over-week rate of change was >100 %, and the absolute magnitude of concentrations of viral particles was >85 × 106 N2 gc/pd. Lastly, a ‘high risk’ occurs when the viral load exceeds 200 × 106 N2 gc/pd. This methodology provides a valuable resource for decision-makers and health authorities, specifically given the limitation of COVID-19 surveillance based on clinical data.

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 877, 15 June 2023, 162525

Abstract

Tropical estuaries are threatened by rapid urbanization, which leads to the spread of thousands of micropollutants and poses an environmental risk to such sensitive aqueous ecosystems. In the present study, a combination of chemical and bioanalytical water characterization was applied to investigate the impact of Ho Chi Minh megacity (HCMC, 9.2 million inhabitants in 2021) on the Saigon River and its estuary and provide a comprehensive water quality assessment. Water samples were collected along a 140-km stretch integrating the river-estuary continuum from upstream HCMC down to the estuary mouth in the East Sea. Additional water samples were collected at the mouth of the four main canals of the city center. Chemical analysis was performed targeting up to 217 micropollutants (pharmaceuticals, plasticizers, PFASs, flame retardants, hormones, pesticides). Bioanalysis was performed using six in-vitro bioassays for hormone receptor-mediated effects, xenobiotic metabolism pathways and oxidative stress response, respectively, all accompanied by cytotoxicity measurement. A total of 120 micropollutants were detected and displayed high variability along the river continuum with total concentration ranging from 0.25 to 78 μg L−1. Among them, 59 micropollutants were ubiquitous (detection frequency ≥ 80 %). An attenuation was observed in concentration and effect profiles towards the estuary. The urban canals were identified as major sources of micropollutants and bioactivity to the river, and one canal (Bến Nghé) exceeded the effect-based trigger values derived for estrogenicity and xenobiotic metabolism. Iceberg modelling apportioned the contribution of the quantified and the unknown chemicals to the measured effects. Diuron, metolachlor, chlorpyrifos, daidzein, genistein, climbazole, mebendazole and telmisartan were identified as main risk drivers of the oxidative stress response and xenobiotic metabolism pathway activation. Our study reinforced the need for improved wastewater management and deeper evaluations of the occurrence and fate of micropollutants in urbanized tropical estuarine environments.

Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 404, 10 June 2023, 136839

Abstract

Clarifying the impact of human activities on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soil can provide a scientific basis to reduce PAHs pollution and formulate control measures to manage soil PAHs pollution, which are important to reduce global warming and support China's implementation of carbon neutrality goals. Here, we characterize the PAHs in 1055 samples of urban soil collected in China from 2000 to 2020. The total concentration of PAHs ranged from 2.75 to 38,865 ng g−1. PAHs concentrations in the Yangtze River Delta (YangtzeD) and Pearl River Delta exhibited an inverted U-shaped curve over time, and PAHs concentrations in Beijing have decreased. Air pollution prevention policies and vehicle emission standards in these regions reduced PAHs in the soil. We measured PAHs in soils of 18 major cities in YangtzeD, representing a typical area. Total concentration of PAHs was 3.88–2153 ng g−1 in YangtzeD, with 40.5%, 36.3%, and 23.2% of PAHs coming from industry and transportation, coal combustion, and biomass combustion, respectively by Positive matrix factorization (PMF) model. To explore how human activities affect the PAH concentrations, we screened three machine learning models and selected SHapley Additive explanation-extreme gradient boosting (XGB-SHAP) as the best model. The results of XGB-SHAP (R2 = 0.64) show that the main human activities affecting PAHs were carbon emissions, population size, and economic development (MAS = 709.1) and industrial waste gas emissions (MAS = 577.1), and these were positively correlated with PAHs. Therefore, effective ways to reduce PAHs may largely rely on industrial co-control. With the prevention and control of air pollution, clean energy, and green and low-carbon development policies constantly being implemented, PAH concentrations will continue to be reduced in the future.

Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 405, 15 June 2023, 137036

Abstract

Urban environments globally are under threat due to recent climate changes caused by a variety of factors such as growing industrialization, rapid migration, increasing traffic flow, etc. An effective data-driven air pollution modeling system helps in increasing regular awareness regarding the severity of the air quality at the local level, play a preventive role in addressing the root causes and hence can be extremely useful for the urban administration. Graph Neural Networks have recently emerged for various classification and estimation tasks on graph-structured data. A Spatially Attentive Cluster-based Graph Neural Network-enabled PM2.5 concentration forecasting model (SA-GNN) is proposed to predict short-term PM2.5 concentrations by considering monitoring stations as nodes of a graph structure and exploring their spatial relationships. This modeling procedure takes into account relevant meteorological variables like wind speed, wind direction, relative humidity etc. An efficient clustering-based spatiotemporal feature extraction method is proposed within a graph neural network setting. This technique makes use of cluster-wise separated graph-structured spatiotemporal features by utilizing disjoint intermediate spatiotemporal GRU networks in order to handle spatial heterogeneity. Additionally, the use of graph attentional network (GATs) makes the modeling framework efficient. The proposed short-term PM2.5 concentrations forecasting framework is applied to the highly polluted Indian capital city, Delhi. The proposed SA-GNN model achieves value 0.75, RMSE and MAE, 25.13 and 21.28 respectively on test data, achieving significant improvement with respect to the baseline models. In fact, even the high pollution episodes can be predicted by the SA-GNN model with better accuracy. Evidently, the proposed GNN-based air pollution modeling framework can be a potential option for forecasting of pollutants in other similar cities globally with high pollution records.

Chemosphere, Volume 325, June 2023, 138327

Abstract

Flares are commonly used in municipal solid waste landfills, and the pollution from flare exhaust is usually underestimated. This study aimed to reveal the odorants, hazardous pollutants, and greenhouse gas emission characteristics of the flare exhaust. Odorants, hazardous pollutants, and greenhouse gases emitted from air-assisted flares and a diffusion flare were analyzed, the priority monitoring pollutants were identified, and the combustion and odorant removal efficiencies of the flares were estimated. The concentrations of most odorants and the sum of odor activity values decreased significantly after combustion, but the odor concentration could still exceed 2,000. The odorants in the flare exhaust were dominated by oxygenated volatile organic compounds (OVOCs), while the major odor contributors were OVOCs and sulfur compounds. Hazardous pollutants, including carcinogens, acute toxic pollutants, endocrine disrupting chemicals, and ozone precursors with the total ozone formation potential up to 75 ppmv, as well as greenhouse gases (methane and nitrous oxide with maximum concentrations of 4,000 and 1.9 ppmv, respectively) were emitted from the flares. Additionally, secondary pollutants, such as acetaldehyde and benzene, were formed during combustion. The combustion performance of the flares varied with landfill gas composition and flare design. The combustion and pollutant removal efficiencies could be lower than 90%, especially for the diffusion flare. Acetaldehyde, benzene, toluene, p-cymene, limonene, hydrogen sulfide, and methane could be priority monitoring pollutants for flare emissions in landfills. Flares are useful for odor and greenhouse gas control in landfills, but they are also potential sources of odor, hazardous pollutants, and greenhouse gases.

Chemosphere, Volume 326, June 2023, 138450

Abstract

In this study, positive matrix factorization method was used for source apportionment of PM10 in the city of São Carlos from 2015 to 2018. The annual mean concentrations of PM10, 15 PAHs, 4 oxy-PAHs, 6 nitro-PAHs, 21 saccharides, and 17 ions in these samples were in the ranges 18.1 ± 6.99 to 25.0 ± 11.3 μg m−3 for PM10, 9.80 × 10−1 ± 2.06 to 2.03 ± 8.54 × 10−1 ng m−3 for ΣPAHs, 83.9 ± 35.7 to 683 ± 521 pg m−3 for Σoxy-PAHs, 1.79 × 10−2 ± 1.23 × 10−1 to 7.12 ± 4.90 ng m−3 for Σnitro-PAHs, 83.3 ± 44.7 to 142 ± 85.9 ng m−3 for Σsaccharides, and 3.80 ± 1.54 to 5.66 ± 4.52 μg m−3 for Σions. For most species, the concentrations were higher in the dry season than in the rainy. This was related not only to the low rainfall and relative humidity characteristic of the dry season but also to an increase in fire spots recorded in the region between April and September every year from 2015 to 2018. A 4-factor solution provided the best description of the dataset, with the four identified sources of PM10 being soil resuspension (28%), biogenic emissions (27%), biomass burning (27%), and vehicle exhaust together with secondary PM (18%). Although the PM10 concentrations were not above the limit established by local legislation, the epidemiological study showed that by reducing PM2.5 concentrations to the level recommended by the WHO, approximately 35 premature deaths per 100,000 population could be avoided annually. The results revealed that biomass burning continues to be one of the main anthropic sources of emissions to the atmosphere in the region, so it needs to be incorporated into the existing guidelines and policies to reduce the concentration of particulate matter to within the limits recommended by the WHO, in order to avoid premature deaths.

Journal of Environmental Management, Volume 335, 1 June 2023, 117563

Abstract

In order to find the optimal design of first flush diverter, this study shifts the focus of first flush research from the existence of first flush phenomenon to utilization effect of the phenomenon. The proposed method consists of four parts: (1) key design parameters, which describing key structure of first flush diverter rather than first flush phenomenon; (2) continuous simulation, which replicating the uncertainty by using the full scope of runoff events that might occur over the years analyzed; (3) design optimization, through an overlapped contour graph of key design parameters and key performance indicators that are relevant to but different from conventional indicators describing first flush phenomena; (4) event frequency spectra, which presenting the diverter's behavior at daily temporal resolution. As an illustration, the proposed method was used to determine design parameters of first flush diverters for roof runoff pollution control in the northeast of Shanghai. The results show that annual runoff pollution reduction ratio (PLR) was insensitive to buildup model. This greatly reduced the difficulty of buildup modeling. The contour graph was useful in finding the optimal design, i.e., the optimal combination of design parameters that could meet PLR design goal with most concentrated first flush on average (quantified by MFF). For instances, the diverter could achieve PLR = 40% with MFF >1.95, and PLR = 70% with MFF = 1.7 at most. Pollutant load frequency spectra were generated for the first time. They showed that a better design reduced pollutant load more stably while diverting less volume of first flush within almost each runoff day.

Journal of Environmental Management, Volume 336, 15 June 2023, 117610

Abstract

This work presents an innovative and sustainable approach to remove NO emissions from urban ambient air in confined areas (underground parking areas or tunnels) using low-cost activated carbons obtained from Miscanthus biochar (MSP700) by physical activation (with CO2 or steam) at temperatures ranging from 800 to 900 °C. The NO removal capacity of the activated biochars was evaluated under different conditions (temperature, humidity and oxygen concentration) and compared against a commercial activated carbon. This last material showed a clear dependence on oxygen concentration and temperature, exhibiting a maximum capacity of 72.6% in air at 20 °C, whilst, its capacity notably decreased at higher temperatures, revealing that physical NO adsorption is the limiting step for the commercial sample that presents limited oxygen surface functionalities. In contrast, MSP700-activated biochars reached nearly complete NO removal (99.9%) at all tested temperatures in air ambient. Those MSP700-derived carbons only required low oxygen concentration (4 vol%) in the gas stream to achieve the full NO removal at 20 °C. Moreover, they also showed an excellent performance in the presence of H2O, reaching NO removal higher than 96%. This remarkable activity results from the abundance of basic oxygenated surface groups, which act as active sites for NO/O2 adsorption, along with the presence of a homogeneous microporosity of 6 Å, which enables intimate contact between NO and O2. These features promote the oxidation of NO to NO2, which is further retained over the carbon surface. Therefore, the activated biochars studied here could be considered promising materials for the efficient removal of NO at low concentrations from air at moderate temperatures, thus closely approaching real-life conditions in confined spaces.

Applied Geography, Volume 155, June 2023, 102960

Abstract

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has enormously changed the way people perceive and use urban spaces, exacerbating some pre-existing issues including urban vibrancy decline. This study aims to explore built environment effects on urban vibrancy under COVID-19, which will help recalibrate planning models and design principles. Based on multi-source geo-tagged big data of Hong Kong, this study reveals variations in urban vibrancy and employs machine learning modeling and interpretation methods to examine built environment effects on urban vibrancy before, during, and after the outbreak of COVID-19, with review volume of restaurants & food retailers as the indicator for urban vibrancy and built environment depicted from five dimensions (i.e., building form, street accessibility, public transport accessibility, functional density, and functional mixture). We found that (1) urban vibrancy concussively decreased during the outbreak and slowly recovered afterwards; (2) built environment's capability to stimulate urban vibrancy was weakened during the outbreak and restored afterwards; (3) the relationships between built environment and urban vibrancy were non-linear and moderated by the pandemic. This research enriches our understandings of the role of the pandemic in influencing urban vibrancy and its correlation with built environment, enlightening decision makers with nuanced criteria for pandemic-adaptive urban planning and design.

Building and Environment, Volume 238, 15 June 2023, 110358

Abstract

Urban form has been proved to be an important factor that significantly influences the microclimate as well as the outdoor thermal comfort at the pedestrian level in urban spaces. Various kinds of urban forms arise from rapid urbanization, accompanying different thermal environments in urban spaces. However, some severe urban climate issues, such as the urban heat island phenomenon, emerge in dense urban areas frequently, especially in large cities with hot and humid climates. In this study, three different archetypes, including the freestanding, scattered, and enclosed types, were selected as the representatives of typical urban forms in the central area of Nanjing city. The outdoor microclimates of these urban forms under typical summer conditions were simulated for calculating the thermal comfort index. The effects of urban form characteristics on the thermal environment were compared and analysed. The results show that the maximum differences in average air temperature, mean radiant temperature, and PET index between these three typical plots could achieve 5.4 °C, 24.2 °C, and 12.4 °C, respectively. Furthermore, the scattered urban form was evaluated to be holding the best outdoor thermal environment in comparison to the others based on a holistic and comprehensive view. Finally, some basic design suggestions based on the results and relevant discussions were recommended for urban design in the cities with similar climate conditions.

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 879, 25 June 2023, 163006

Abstract

Given the potential risk to the ecosystem, attention has increased in recent decades to the contamination of the aquatic environment by microplastics (MPs). Due to the limitations of conventional analysis methods of MPs, little is known about the size distribution and abundance of a full-size MPs from 1 μm to 5 mm. The present study quantified MPs with size ranges of 50 μm – 5 mm and 1–50 μm in the coastal marine waters from twelve locations in Hong Kong using fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry respectively, during the end of wet (September 2021) and dry (March 2022) seasons. The average abundance of MPs with size ranges of 50 μm – 5 mm and 1–50 μm from twelve sampling locations marine surface waters were found ranging from 27 to 104 particles L−1 and 43,675–387,901 particles L−1 in the wet season respectively, and 13–36 particles L−1 and 23,178–338,604 particles L−1 in the dry season respectively. Significant temporal and spatial variations of small MPs abundance might be observed at the sampling locations, which were contributed by the influences of the estuary of Pearl River, sewage discharge points, land structure, and other anthropogenic activities. Based on the MPs abundance information, ecological risk assessment was conducted and revealed that the small MPs (< 10 μm) in coastal marine surface waters may pose potential health risks to aquatic organisms. Additional risk assessments are needed in order to determine whether or not the MPs exposure would cause health risks to the public.

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 879, 25 June 2023, 162985

Abstract

Phytoplankton and water quality changes in highly urbanized lakes affect the surrounding water safety. However, due to the complexity and variability of natural changes and human disturbances, it is difficult for multi-year research with yearly sampling frequency to cover accurate changes of phytoplankton and water environment or provide constructive suggestions for managers. Based on monthly monitoring data spanning 2011–2020 in a highly urbanized subtropical lake (Hongze Lake, China), Mann-Kendall test, ANOVA analysis and variation partitioning analysis were used to assess the changes of phytoplankton and water environment, and detect dynamic responses of phytoplankton to environmental changes. Rising water temperature during winter and spring, the decrease in nitrate, and the increase in water flow and turbidity were the main environmental characteristics from 2011 to 2020. The average and maximum abundance of Chlorophyta, Bacillariophyta, and Cryptophyta significantly declined, while changes in Cyanobacteria were characterized by an increase of N2-fixing filamentous cyanobacteria and a decrease of non-filamentous cyanobacteria. The rising water temperature during spring may promote the early growth of N2-fixing filamentous cyanobacteria. The decrease in nitrate mainly resulted in the decrease of Chlorophyta and non-filamentous cyanobacteria, and the increase of N2-fixing filamentous cyanobacteria during summer and autumn. The increase of turbidity and water flow inhibited the growth of Chlorophyta, Bacillariophyta, Cryptophyta, and non-filamentous cyanobacteria, but created favourable conditions for the growth of N2-fixing filamentous cyanobacteria. In summer and autumn, managers should focus on the proliferation of N2-fixing filamentous cyanobacteria when precipitation increase, nitrogen nutrients decrease, and non-filamentous cyanobacteria risk under opposite conditions. These findings greatly improved our understanding of the dynamic response of phytoplankton communities to natural changes and anthropogenic disturbances in the urbanized subtropical lakes, and can be used to develop lake management strategies.

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 878, 20 June 2023, 163184

Abstract

Pharmaceuticals in freshwater posed ecological risks to aquatic ecosystem, however, most risk assessments of pharmaceuticals were conducted at screening level, which were limited by the availability of the toxicity data. In this study, risks of 80 pharmaceuticals including 35 antibiotics, 13 antiviral drugs, 13 illicit drugs, and 19 antidepressants in surface water of Beijing were assessed with a proposed multilevel environmental risk optimization strategy. Target pharmaceuticals were detected in surface water samples with the detection frequency from 1.7 % to 100 % and the total concentrations from 31.1 ng/L to 2708 ng/L. Antiviral drugs were the dominant pharmaceuticals. Preliminary screening-level risk assessment indicated that 20 pharmaceuticals posed low to high risks with risk quotient from 0.14 (chloroquine diphosphate) to 27.8 (clarithromycin). Thirteen pharmaceuticals were recognized with low to high risks by an optimized risk assessment method. Of them, the refined probabilistic risk assessment of joint probability curves coupling with a quantitative structure activity relationship-interspecies correlation estimation (QSAR-ICE) model was applied. Clarithromycin, erythromycin and ofloxacin were identified to pose low risks with maximum risk products (RP) of 1.23 %, 0.41 % and 0.35 %, respectively, while 10 pharmaceuticals posed de minimis risks. Structural equation modeling disclosed that human land use and climate conditions influenced the risks of pharmaceuticals by indirectly influencing the concentrations of pharmaceuticals. The results indicated that the multilevel strategy coupling with QSAR–ICE model was appropriate and effective for screening priority pollutants, and the strategy can be used to prioritize pharmaceuticals and other emerging contaminants in the aquatic environment.

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 877, 15 June 2023, 162921

Abstract

Locust outbreaks were one of the primary biological disasters in ancient China. Using historical data from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the temporal and spatial relationships between the changes in the aquatic environment and the locust dynamics in the downstream areas of the Yellow River were investigated via quantitative statistics, and other factors affecting locust outbreaks were also studied. This study demonstrated that locust, drought and flood outbreaks were spatiotemporally correlated. Locusts and droughts were synchronous for long-term series, but locust outbreaks were weakly correlated with floods. In drought years, the probability of a locust outbreak occurring in the same month as a drought was higher than that in other years and months. The probability of a locust outbreak was higher in the one to two years following a flood than in other years, but locusts were not easily triggered by extreme flooding. In the waterlogged and riverine locust breeding areas, locust outbreaks were more closely related to flooding and drought than in other breeding areas. Affected by the diversion of the Yellow River, the areas of frequent locust outbreaks were around riverine areas. In addition, climate change affects the hydrothermal conditions in which locusts occur, and human activities influence the occurrence of locusts by changing their habitats. Analyzing the relationship between historical locust outbreaks and water system changes provides valuable information for formulating and implementing disaster prevention and mitigation policies in this region. 

Sustainable Cities and Society, Available online 4 June 2023, 104711

Abstract

Urban policymakers are often proud to advertise their cities as smart, emphasizing the wide–scale adoption of internet technologies, innovation activities, and the number of universities the city hosts as proof of successful transition towards greater smartness. Question, however, remains whether the accumulation of these attributes results in tangible benefits for local residents. To answer this question, we compare different metrices of city smartness with several indicators of intra–urban income disparity and environmental performance, using data available for 100+ major cities worldwide. As the analysis indicates, the proliferation of internet technologies and the number of universities the city hosts, i.e., popular ways of advancing "smartness”, are not related to either intra–urban income disparity or environmental performance of cities per se. We thus suggest that the transition of cities towards greater smartness should be focused on people's needs and ICT-using skills, not on ICT proliferation per se. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first that links the level of city smartness with intra–urban income inequality and environmental performance of cities and substantiates these links empirically. By accumulating this knowledge, the study helps to understand better the smart city phenomenon and its impact on urban development.

MÔI TRƯỜNG KHU CÔNG NGHIỆP

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 875, 1 June 2023, 162545

Abstract

Although certain emission standards have been implemented to reduce the air pollution from the steel industry, heavy metal pollution associated with steel production in China has not been well addressed yet. Arsenic is a metalloid element, commonly present in various compounds in many minerals. When it presents in steelworks, it not only affects the quality of steel products, but also causes environmental consequences such as soil degradation, water contamination, air pollution and associated biodiversity loss and public health risks. At present, most of the studies on arsenic were limited to its removal in a certain process, while there has not been a thorough analysis of the flow path of arsenic in steelworks that can facilitate a more efficient removal from its lifecycle. To achieve this, we established a model to depict arsenic flows in steelworks for the first time using adapted substance flow analysis. Then, we further analyzed arsenic flows in the steelworks using a case study in China. Finally, input-output analysis was applied to study the arsenic flow network and explore the reduction potential of arsenic-containing wastes in steelworks. The results show that: 1) the arsenic in the steelworks comes from inputs of iron ore concentrate (55.31 %), coal (12.71 %) and steel scrap (18.67 %), while the outputs were hot rolled coil (65.93 %) and slag (33.03 %). 2) The input, circulation, and final product content of arsenic are 96.120, 32.510, and 66.946 g/t-CS, respectively, and the recycling rate of arsenic was 48.28 %, in the steelworks. 3) The total arsenic discharge from the steelworks is 34.826 g/t-CS. 97.33 % of arsenic is discharged in the form of solid waste. 4) The reduction potential of arsenic in wastes is 14.31 % in the steelworks by adopting low-arsenic raw materials and removing arsenic from processes.

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 876, 10 June 2023, 162768

Abstract

Background

Mammographic density (MD), defined as the percentage of dense fibroglandular tissue in the breast, is a modifiable marker of the risk of developing breast cancer. Our objective was to evaluate the effect of residential proximity to an increasing number of industrial sources in MD.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted on 1225 premenopausal women participating in the DDM-Madrid study. We calculated distances between women's houses and industries. The association between MD and proximity to an increasing number of industrial facilities and industrial clusters was explored using multiple linear regression models.

Results

We found a positive linear trend between MD and proximity to an increasing number of industrial sources for all industries, at distances of 1.5 km (p-trend = 0.055) and 2 km (p-trend = 0.083). Moreover, 62 specific industrial clusters were analyzed, highlighting the significant associations found between MD and proximity to the following 6 industrial clusters: cluster 10 and women living at ≤1.5 km (β = 10.78, 95 % confidence interval (95%CI) = 1.59; 19.97) and at ≤2 km (β = 7.96, 95%CI = 0.21; 15.70); cluster 18 and women residing at ≤3 km (β = 8.48, 95%CI = 0.01; 16.96); cluster 19 and women living at ≤3 km (β = 15.72, 95%CI = 1.96; 29.49); cluster 20 and women living at ≤3 km (β = 16.95, 95%CI = 2.90; 31.00); cluster 48 and women residing at ≤3 km (β = 15.86, 95%CI = 3.95; 27.77); and cluster 52 and women living at ≤2.5 km (β = 11.09, 95%CI = 0.12; 22.05). These clusters include the following industrial activities: surface treatment of metals/plastic, surface treatment using organic solvents, production/processing of metals, recycling of animal waste, hazardous waste, urban waste-water treatment plants, inorganic chemical industry, cement and lime, galvanization, and food/beverage sector.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that women living in the proximity to an increasing number of industrial sources and those near certain types of industrial clusters have higher MD.

Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 405, 15 June 2023, 136900

Abstract

To achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12, it is important to investigate the sustainability of both products and manufacturing facilities to identify the areas to improve. The number of published research works on measuring the eco-indices of fashion products are plenty, while ignoring the measurement of the eco-indices of fashion production facilities. Therefore, this study investigated the environmental sustainability of knit-dyeing facilities linked to fast fashion production in Bangladesh. The Facility Environment Module (FEM) of the Higg index tool 2.0 from Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) was applied to detect the sustainability scores. Multiple case study approach was adopted for this study. Seven tools of FEM related to the environmental management system, energy use, GHG emissions, water use, wastewater, air emissions, waste management, and chemical management were applied to collect data. Scores of these categories were calculated using the FEM tool. Qualitative data was collected through short interviews using a questionnaire. A varying range of scores (from low to high) was found for all the categories. The scores reveal the technical, managerial, and resource limitations on practicing sustainable production approaches in knit-textiles facilities. The overall finding urges all stakeholders, including manufacturers, researchers, buyers, and policymakers, to pay serious attention and reformulate strategies and resources to reduce the negative impact of knit manufacturing on the environment.

Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 405, 15 June 2023, 137025

Abstract

The article aims to provide the design and analysis of a new and unique multigeneration system. This multigeneration system primarily produces methane/natural gas by extracting carbon dioxide from the cement production processes through calcium looping. The hydrogen gas generated in the system was synthesized through polymer electrolyte membrane electrolysis, supported by hydroelectric power. After this, a portion of the hydrogen produced from the system is reacted with carbon dioxide to produce methane. The other useful outputs of the system include electricity, space heating, and domestic hot water. The implemented system design also harnesses other renewable resources, such as solar energy, to enhance other aspects of the design. The system achieved hydrogen and methane production rates of 0.01028 kgs-1 and 0.02045 kgs-1, respectively. Additionally, the system's exergy and energy efficiencies are obtained to be 44.5% and 77.5%, respectively. Furthermore, the energy and exergy heating coefficient of performance values are found to be 1 and 0.5624, respectively.

Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 405, 15 June 2023, 136908

Abstract

As China's largest source of carbon emissions, the power sector's transition to lower levels of carbon emission intensity is critical to achieving China's carbon emission (CE) reduction commitments. In this paper, the CE intensity of electricity generation (CEIE) in 30 provinces from 2000 to 2019 is calculated, and the temporal evolution and spatial distribution characteristics of CEIE are discussed. Then, the spatial spillover effect of each driving factor on CEIE is calculated using the spatial Durbin model. The CEIE reveals a first increasing and then decreasing trend, and the regional differences gradually decrease. Simultaneously, the CEIE has a significant positive spatial correlation, and the overall spatial distribution pattern is high in the northeast and low in the southwest of the country. Economic development and foreign trade both inhibit CEIE, while electricity consumption, research and development, unit operation level, and power structure all promote CEIE. Each driving factor's influence on regional CEIE exerts a spatial spillover effect. Among them, the spatial positive spillover effects of industrial structure and environmental protection investment are the most obvious, while the spatial spillover effects of other driving factors are not apparent. Furthermore, these findings provide practical insights into policy adjustments and the coordinated interregional development of low-carbon electricity.

Journal of Environmental Management, Volume 335, 1 June 2023, 117508

Abstract

In the recent times, more attention is on industrial waste management due to the unaffordable space for dump yards and landfills and the increased charges for waste dumping. Even though the vegan revolution and plant-based meat products are booming, the traditional slaughterhouses and the wastes produced by them continue to be a concern. Waste valorisation is an established procedure striving to create a closed chain process in industries where there is no refuse. Although a highly polluting industry, slaughterhouse industry wastes have been recycled to economically viable leather since ancient times. However, the tannery industry is causing pollution in par with or even more than the slaughterhouses. Effective management of the liquid and solid wastes from the tannery is of utmost concern because of its toxicity. The hazardous wastes generated enter the food chain, causing long term impacts in the ecosystem. Several leather waste transformation processes are widely used in the industries, and they are yielding good products of economic value. However careful exploration into the processes and products of waste valorisation are often ignored as long as the transformed waste product is of higher value than the waste. The most efficient and environmentally friendly waste management technique should convert the refuse into a value-added utilization without any toxic leftovers. Zero waste concept is an extension of the zero liquid discharge concept, where the solid waste is also treated and reused to such an extent that there is no residue to be sent to the landfill. This review initially presents the existing methods for the de-toxification of tannery wastes and examines the possibility of solid waste management within the tannery industry to attain zero waste discharge.

Journal of Environmental Management, Volume 335, 1 June 2023, 117577

Abstract

In the era of rapid and conspicuous progress of water treatment technologies, combined adsorption and membrane filtration systems have gained great attention as a novel and efficient method for contaminant removal from aqueous phase. Further development of these techniques for water/wastewater treatment applications will be promising for the recovery of water resources as well as reducing the water tension throughout the world. This review introduces the state-of-the-art on the capabilities of the combined adsorption-membrane filtration systems for water and wastewater treatment applications. Technical information including employed materials, superiorities, operational limitations, process sustainability and upgradeing strategies for two general configurations i.e. hybrid (pre-adsorption and post-adsorption) and integrated (film adsorbents, low pressure membrane-adsorption coupling and membrane-adsorption bioreactors) systems has been surveyed and presented. Having a systematic look at the fundamentals of hybridization/integration of the two well-established and efficient separation methods as well as spotlighting the current status and prospectives of the combination strategies, this work will be valuable to all the interested researchers working on design and development of cutting-edge wastewater/water treatment techniques. This review also draws a clear roadmap for either decision making and choosing the best alternative for a specific target in water treatment or making a plan for further enhancement and scale-up of an available strategy.

Journal of Environmental Management, Volume 336, 15 June 2023, 117671

Abstract

As a policy instrument to address climate change, the Carbon Emissions Trading System (ETS) will directly affect the location choice and development strategies of high-emitting firms' off-site investments, which is crucial to achieve optimal allocation of capital factors and coordinated development among regions. Using data of Chinese listed companies from 2007 to 2020, this study assesses for the first time the impact of Carbon Emissions Trading System on regulated firms' off-site investment strategies at the firm level using the Heterogeneity-Robust Difference-in-differences approach. The estimation results indicate that (1) the Carbon Emissions Trading System leads to about 20% reduction in off-site investment by regulated firms, which is mainly reflected in cross-city investment; (2) the heterogeneous investment effect is more obvious in private enterprise groups, but not in state-owned enterprise groups. Government intervention influenced the investment decisions of enterprise groups to make their development strategies more consistent with local economic growth objectives; (3) regulated enterprise groups significantly expanded their production layout locally and reduced off-site production investment; (4) the Carbon Emissions Trading System will promote long-term performance improvement of regulated firms. The above results are enlightening for the construction of Carbon Emissions Trading System in China and provide a new perspective for theoretically assessing the impact of Carbon Emissions Trading System on the competitiveness of enterprises.

Resources Policy, Volume 83, June 2023, 103607

Abstract

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of business enterprises to reduce and redress the adverse impacts of their operations on the environment and local communities is a controversial topic, especially in developing countries. Drawing lessons from the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), this article aims to know the role of laws and regulations at the local level in promoting the practice of CSR in energy and extractive industries. The research also seeks to know to what extent International Oil Companies (IOCs) have considered social and environmental problems in the communities where they operate. To achieve these aims, an online survey questionnaire was conducted with major IOCs in the Kurdistan region to know their perspectives on CSR and the scope and extent of their legal obligations in this regard. Then, we analysed annual reports, social responsibility reports, and other publicly available documents to support our arguments and investigate the issue deeply. The article found that while there are broad legal provisions relating to CSR with respect to social and environmental protection, enforcement of such legal requirements remains the main challenge in adapting CSR in developing countries, including the KRI. The results revealed that CSR had been used as a mask by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to convince the public, opposition parties, and the federal government regarding the transparency and legitimacy of KRG's oil and gas policy in the region. On the other hand, the IOCs highlighted CSR in their reports to convince their shareholders and enhance their reputation. However, their actual contribution to the Kurdistan region's social and environmental condition is minimal.

Computers & Industrial Engineering, Volume 180, June 2023, 109244

Abstract

Effective risk management has become more crucial than ever, given the strategic economic growth of the industrial sector. Diverse threats from various sources are simultaneously present in many industries. Like other industries, the spinning sector of Bangladesh is bestowed with numerous operational and environmental risks. However, from our knowledge, it is completely ignored by the researchers and management of this sector to identify and control those risks. This study's main motivation is to fill the knowledge gap by using a real-world case study to identify and quantify operational and environmental risks in the spinning industry. To quantify risk variables, the application of the fuzzy synthetic evaluation methodology is a completely new approach in the spinning industry, as well as in other industries. This method determines the probability and magnitude of each risk factor and risk group, as well as the overall risk. This study identifies sixteen operational and environmental risk variables within two risk groups. One of the key findings of this study is that air pollution from flying fibers, excessive noise, inappropriate materials handling, power failure, and frequent machine breakdown are the top five risk concerns. Another important finding is that the overall risk criticality value of this sector is high, with a value of 3.97, indicating a significant level of risk. The study also offered a cause-effect diagram to identify the leading causes of risks to manage those risks effectively in the future. Overall, this study will assist real-life practitioners in identifying, ranking, managing, and controlling operational and environmental hazards in the Bangladeshi spinning sector towards minimizing such hazards and promoting cleaner production.

Resources Policy, Volume 83, June 2023, 103615

Abstract

This study examines the effect of oil price shocks (OPS) on the financial affairs of the oil industry and carbon releases. The study analyzes the relationships among changes in oil prices, financial variables such as stock prices, and carbon emissions. The findings indicate that OPS significantly impacts the financial affairs of the oil industry, particularly in the short term. Furthermore, the study shows that OPS impacts carbon releases in the long run, suggesting that a decrease in oil usage could lead to a decrease in carbon releases. The study contributes to the ongoing debate on the connection between energy prices and carbon releases. It provides insights that could inform policymakers and industry stakeholders in their efforts to achieve sustainability and mitigate climate change. The empirical analysis is based on a panel data set that covers 12 countries over the period 2000–2020. We use a vector error correction model (VECM) to measure the prolonged and brief-term connection amid oil prices, financial indicators of the oil industry (i.e., stock prices, dividends, and profits), and carbon emissions. The results indicate that OPS has a significant and adverse impact on the financial affairs of the oil industry, as they lead to lower stock prices, dividends, and profits. Moreover, OPS positively impacts carbon emissions, suggesting that higher oil prices incentivize oil companies to increase production and exploration activities, resulting in higher carbon emissions. These findings have important policy implications, highlighting the need for policymakers to implement measures that encourage the oil industry to transition towards cleaner and sustainable energy sources.

Energy, Volume 273, 15 June 2023, 127279

Abstract

China is the top emitter of greenhouse gases in the world. Pulp and paper industry is one of eight the strictly regulated industries about carbon emission in China. However, estimates of carbon emissions from China's pulp and paper industry have been suffered from remarkable uncertainty. It is summarized that is aroused by the inaccuracy of factors evaluating energy consumption, and the huge gap between the calculation standards for assessing energy consumption in the production process and the actual level recorded in the factories. This paper re-evaluated the carbon emission of China's pulp and paper industry from the perspective of life cycle assessment, and applied more accurate emission factors, taking account of the actual energy consumption of the production process in factories, to estimate the actual carbon emissions in maximum. It is found that the national standards about the energy consumption quota of China's pulp and paper industry is no longer applicable, and the actual energy consumption regulated in the production process is far better than the advanced level given by the national standards. The greenhouse gas emission have been seriously overestimated approximately 12.00%–56.17% by international organizations.

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 878, 20 June 2023, 163126

Abstract

The phenomenon of global warming occurs when air pollutants such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and other GreenHouse Gases (GHGs) are collected into the atmosphere and absorb solar radiation which, according to the natural process, should normally escape into the space, trapping heat and thus causing the planet temperature to rise. One of the available tools of the international scientific community to measure the impact of human activity on the environment, is to record and quantify the carbon footprint, in other words, the total greenhouse gas emissions of a product (or service) throughout its life cycle. The present paper focuses on the above issues and presents the methodology and the outcome of a real case study, aiming to lead to useful conclusions. In this framework a study has been made in order to calculate and analyze the carbon footprint of a wine making company that is based in northern Greece. One of the most important conclusions of this work is the overwhelming share (54 %) that Scope 3 has to the total Carbon Footprint, compared to Scope 1 (25 %) and Scope 2 (21 %), as it is vividly shown in the above Graphical Abstract. While the operation of a wine making company is divided in two main steams, Vineyard and Winery, it is concluded, that the Emissions of the Vineyard participate by 32 % in the total Emissions, while the Emissions of the Winery by 68 % respectively. Significant point of the case study is the total Absorptions that had been calculated to cover almost the 52 % of the total Emissions.

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 877, 15 June 2023, 162858

Abstract

Finding new and sustainable proteinaceous feed ingredients, especially those produced from locally available resources, is at the top of the agenda of many countries, including Denmark, to become feed protein self-sufficient. Protein concentrate (PC) production via the biorefining of green biomass has attracted considerable interest in recent years since they are more land efficient and productive than soybeans. The biorefining of clover-grass into protein concentrate (GPC) is a promising substitute for soybean and soybean meal, however, the environmental impacts of GPC have not been studied. The Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) method, developed by EU Joint Research Centre for the "Single Market for Green Products Initiative” was employed to assess the environmental footprints of organic GPC. The instructions, methodology, and guidelines detailed in Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEFCR) Feed for Food-Producing Animals were followed to implement this PEF study. The results were intended for in-house management, process improvement, early guidance on the environmental footprint (EF) of compound feeds containing GPC, and the EF of livestock and animal production whose feed ration contains GPC. Our results showed that GPC would have a climate change impact of 1091.47 kg CO2,eq/t GPC. We found that farming/cultivation, more specifically direct emissions from manure slurry, dominated most impact categories, including acidification and eutrophication. The results were found sensitive to the choice of allocation method and very case-specific. For instance, the climate change impact of GPC was higher under economic allocation than direct substation, but the acidification impact was lower in economic allocation than direct substitution. However, the direct substitution method, showed that treating the process residues in biogas plants could result in GPC with lower EFs. The sensitivity analysis confirmed that increasing the clover-grass productivity and decreasing either manure slurry application or nitrogenous emissions from its application are the keys to further decreasing the overall environmental impacts.

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 877, 15 June 2023, 162844

Abstract

Gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are highly resistant in the environment. They pass through wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) unhindered escaping degradation. Although GBCAs are subjects of intensive research, we recognized that a quantitative approach to the mass balance of gadolinium, based on known input and output data, is missing. The administered amount of Gd as GBCAs, the number of out- and inpatients and the concentration of rare earth elements (REEs) in wastewater were monitored for 45 days in a medium sized city (ca. 203,000 inhabitants) with two MRI centres. An advection-dispersion type model was established to describe the transport of Gd in the wastewater system. The model calculates with patient locality, excretion kinetics of Gd and the yield of wastewater. The estimated and measured daily amount of anthropogenic gadolinium released to the WWTP were compared. GBCAs (Omniscan and Dotarem) were administered to 1008 patients representing a total of 700 ± 1 g Gd. The amount of total Gd entering the WWTP was 531 ± 2 g, of which the anthropogenic contribution (i.e. GBCAs) was 261 ± 6 g (49 ± 1 % of the total Gd) during the sampling campaign. Local residents and inpatients should fully release Gd in the city, but outpatients only partially. Overall, 37 ± 1 % of the total administered Gd was recovered in the wastewater, so the remaining 63 ± 1 % of administered Gd is expected to be dispensed outside of the sewer system. Our approach enables to better understand the dispersion of GBCAs originated Gd in an urban environment.

Journal of Hazardous Materials, Volume 451, 5 June 2023, 131159

Abstract

N-nitrosamines (NAs), and N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) in particular, are hazardous disinfection byproducts (DBPs) relevant when wastewater impacts drinking water sources and, in water reuse practices. Our study investigates the concentrations of NDMA and five additional NAs and their precursors in industrial wastewater effluents. Aiming to identify potential differences between industrial typologies, wastewaters from 38 industries belonging to 11 types of the UN International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities system (ISIC) were analysed. Results show that the presence of most NAs and their precursors cannot be linked to a specific industry type as these were in general very different within the classes. Nevertheless, N-nitrosomethylethylamine (NMEA) and N-nitrosopiperidine (NPIP) as well as precursors for N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA), NPIP and N-nitrosodibuthylamine (NDBA) could be rank with different concentrations between ISIC classes (p-value < 0.05). Specific industrial wastewater with notable high concentrations of NAs and their precursors were identified too. The effluents with the highest concentration of NDMA belong to the ISIC C2011 class (Manufacture of basic chemical), while the effluents with the highest concentration of NDMA precursors were from the ISIC C1511 class (Tanning and dressing of leather; dressing and dyeing of fur). Other relevant NAs found were NDEA in ISIC class B0810 (Quarrying of stone, sand, and clay) and ISIC class C2029 (Manufacture of other chemical products).

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