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High raw material prices and rivalry from the food industry have hampered the adoption of renewable resource-based goods. It has necessitated the investigation of cost-cutting strategies such as locating low-cost raw material supplies and adopting cleaner manufacturing processes. Exploiting waste streams as substitute resources for the operations is one low-cost option. The present study evaluates the environmental burden of biopolymer (polyhydroxyalkanoate) production from slaughtering residues. The sustainability of the PHA production process will be assessed utilising the Emergy Accounting methodology. The effect of changing energy resources from business as usual (i.e., electricity mix from the grid and heat provision utilising natural gas) to different renewable energy resources is also evaluated. The emergy intensity for PHA production (seJ/g) shows a minor improvement ranging from 1.5% to 2% by changing only the electricity provision resources. This impact reaches up to 17% when electricity and heat provision resources are replaced with biomass resources. Similarly, the emergy intensity for PHA production using electricity EU27 mix, coal, hydropower, wind power, and biomass is about 5% to 7% lower than the emergy intensity of polyethylene high density (PE-HD). In comparison, its value is up to 21% lower for electricity and heat provision from biomass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proper treatment and disposal of industrial pollutants of all kinds are a global issue that presents significant techno-economical challenges. The presence of pollutants such as heavy metal ions (HMIs) and organic dyes (ODs) in wastewater is considered a significant problem owing to their carcinogenic and toxic nature. Additionally, industrial gaseous pollutants (GPs) are considered to be harmful to human health and may cause various environmental issues such as global warming, acid rain, smog and air pollution, etc. Conductive polymer-based nanomaterials have gained significant interest in recent years, compared with ceramics and metal-based nanomaterials. The objective of this review is to provide detailed insights into different conductive polymers (CPs) and their nanocomposites that are used as adsorbents for environmental remediation applications. The dominant types of CPs that are being used as adsorbent materials include polyaniline (PANI), polypyrrole (Ppy), and polythiophene (PTh). The various adsorption mechanisms proposed for the removal of ODs, HMIs, and other GPs by the different CPs are presented, together with their maximum adsorption capacities, experimental conditions, adsorption, and kinetic models reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]