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Sugar palm fiber stands as a remarkable agro-waste plant, holding the key to unlocking its boundless potential as an abundant biomass source for an array of captivating biomaterial applications. This study aims to develop sugar palm nano-fibrillated cellulose (SPNFC) involved ionic liquid pretreatment, hydrogen peroxide bleaching, and mechanical wet disk milling (WDM). The isolation of SPNFC was evaluated across different WDM cycles (5 to 25 cycles) to assess the impact on SPNFC’s morphology, stability, yield, crystallinity, and thermal stability. Transmission electron microscopy showed that SPNFC diameter decreased from 12.08 to 3.30 nm with increased milling cycles. Zeta potential measurements revealed absolute values above 25 mV, indicating good colloidal stability, while SPNFC25 achieved an impressive yield of 96.89%. X-ray diffraction and thermogravimetric analysis showed slight reductions in crystallinity (from 66.10 to 61.62%) and thermal stability (from 360 to 350°C) with higher milling cycles, indicating minimal structural compromise. These results underscore the efficiency of WDM in producing SPNFC with desirable nano-structural characteristics and stable dispersion. SPNFC shows significant potential for applications in nanocomposites, bio-packaging, filtration, adsorbents, and others. Future research should explore SPNFC’s integration into advanced green technologies and its performance within various composite matrices.

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Urban areas significantly contribute to global carbon emissions, necessitating a shift toward low‐carbon environments. The concept of low‐carbon cities presents a viable pathway for mitigating these anthropogenic emissions, particularly through solid waste management. This article explores the critical role of circular economy‐integrated waste management (CEWM) strategies in reducing carbon emissions and fostering sustainable urban development. We examine city‐level CEWM initiatives worldwide, assess the carbon emission quantification methods, and highlight specific CEWM strategies with significant carbon reduction potential. Our findings reveal that city‐level initiatives predominantly prioritize waste reduction and prevention (51%), followed by education and engagement (23%), material recycling and upcycling (21%), and waste conversion (6%). Key strategies such as composting, waste sorting, recycling, and biogas plants have demonstrated substantial potential in reducing carbon emissions. Integrating CE principles with waste management transforms the traditional linear take‐make‐dispose model into a circular approach that minimizes waste and maximizes resource efficiency. This integration is crucial for reducing carbon emissions and promoting a sustainable urban environment. A holistic perspective is required to plan and strategize for sustainable urbanization whereby CE and waste management are interconnected. CE principles provide an ideal foundation that enhances waste management strategies toward sustainability, ultimately leading to reduced carbon emissions. This article provides essential insights to equip decision‐makers with evidence‐based strategies for effective urban waste management. This article is categorized under:Climate and Environment > Circular EconomySustainable Development > Goals Circular economy‐waste management nexus for low‐carbon environment.

The carbon nanotube (CNT) is becoming more popular due to their low-density, high-strength etc.Among CNTs, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are gaining more importance due to their enhanced thermal and electrical conductivity. The present research is exploring the applicability of MWCNTs reinforced with AA2024-T351 alloys for electromechanical applications. This study is currently undertaken for using MWCNTs as a reinforcing particulate for the purpose to enhance the characteristics including low density, high strength, and hardness together with excellent thermal and electrical conductivity of the aluminum alloy matrices. Therefore, this article provides a state-of-the-art experimental approach to fabricate and furthermore, to evaluate the mechanical characteristics, microstructural analysis, and fatigue behavior of Al–Cu–Mg–T351/MWCNT composites under both the mechanical and thermal loading by utilizing powder technology processing route. The uniform dispersion of CNTs has been exposed using ball milling process. Results revealed that the MWCNTs provide extraordinary synergistic strength, enhances fatigue resistance, creep resistance, ductility, and other mechanical characteristics of the aluminum-based composites. The mechanical loading of the composite exhibited increased properties as compared to thermal-loaded aluminum-MWCNT composites. Findings conclude that the maximum hardness of 35Hv obtained for sintered AA2024-T351 and 45Hv for 0.5% MWCNT heat-treated samples indicate that the addition of MWCNT enhances the hardness which may be because CNT is evenly dispersed at the interfacial space. Maximum UTS of 105.21 MPa was obtained with 0.5% MWCNT for sintered composites. Microstructural analysis of the Al–Cu–Mg–T351/MWCNTs composite exhibits reasonably uniform distribution, void formation, and good interfacial bonding. X-ray Diffraction method patterns of fabricated composite shows that the CNT is present at 2β= 23.6 and 44.6°, whereas high peaks of aluminum are present at uniform dispersed positions. Transmission electron magnifying instrument study further substantiates the above research. Fracture micrographs of the Al–Cu–Mg–T351/MWCNTs composite portray the resistant nature of the nanotubes due to the presence of CNTs, Al–Cu, and aluminum carbide elements in the alloy and the reactions that happened during heat treatment. This significant improvement was attributed to the shear interactions among the constituents and high load carrying capacity of the CNT, uniform dispersion, and interface bond strength among the matrix and constituents. The findings in the study will undoubtedly be beneficial for the development of high-strength, MWCNTs/Al–Cu–Mg–T351, matrix composites in future for multifunctional applications on broader spectrum.

The usage of biodegradable materials is gaining mounting applications owing to the environmental problems created by petroleum-based synthetic materials. Agro-waste materials are finding more scope as reinforcement materials in polymer composites, mainly because of their cost-effectiveness and availability. The main aim of this research work is to utilize agro-waste material in the form of mango seed waste (MSW) as a reinforcing material with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) to form biocomposite. The biocomposites were fabricated using the solution casting technique. The research work focuses on the influence of varying ultrasonication periods (0–20 min at 5-min intervals, i.e., 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 min) on the properties of PVA/MSW biocomposites. The fabricated biocomposites were subjected to tensile test, fracture morphology, moisture absorption (MA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis. The results revealed that the material with the highest tensile strength was 3.95 MPa obtained with the 20-min ultrasonication sample. This value is 49% higher than that obtained in the sample without ultrasonication. The scanning electron microscopy analysis shows that the 20-min ultrasonication sample indicated a good distribution of MSW fillers in the PVA contrasted with the rest of the samples. The thermal stability of the samples treated with ultrasonication was found to be significantly higher than that of the untreated samples, whereas the MA value decreased with increasing ultrasonication time. It can be observed from the results that biocomposites can be a potential alternative to the synthetic materials used in packaging applications.

The construction industry commonly employs concrete as a construction material, which sometimes may be subjected to fire exposure. It is important to adopt fire safety measures while planning and constructing such structures to ensure the safety of the occupants and the structural integrity of the concrete. So, determining its performance at elevated temperatures is of utmost importance. The main objective of this study was to investigate the impact of mineral incorporations, namely, nano bentonite clay (NBC) and nano fly ash (NFA), on the retained properties of concrete at normal (27°C) and at elevated temperatures. The feasibility of partly substituting ordinary Portland cement utilizing a mixture of NBC (0–5%) and NFA (0–50%) in concrete was assessed under the exposure to an elevated temperature ranging from 200 to 600°C. Several parameters were examined, including compressive strength, flexural strength, split tensile capacity, water penetration, loss of mass, ultrasound pulse velocity, and microstructure properties. After the experimental analysis, it was observed that the fire endurance was shown to be improved with the inclusion of nanoparticles (BC and FA). A reduction in the loss of mass by samples subjected to elevated heat was observed with the addition of nano bentonite and NFA. The mechanical strength results were obtained as maximum for the concrete specimens with 2% NBC and 20% NFA and further, the specimens performed better when exposed to elevated temperature as compared with normal concrete specimens. The microstructure of the concrete also upgraded with better impermeability owing to the use of NBC and NFA.

The mode of integration in the value chain has multifarious impacts on the business organisation that lead to a sustainable competitive advantage. Past studies have demonstrated that the integration of members of the value chain results in an improvement in productivity and profitability of organisations. The mode of integration is operational in nature and results in differential performance. Corporations aim to achieve differential performance and competitive advantage, by adopting multiple modes of value chain integration. The mode of relationship between partners varies from a simple buyer-seller relationship to integrative cross-holding. Various studies in the past have focused on comparing the ICM ratios to evaluate relative efficiency. As the effect of value chain integration on the organisation is all-pervasive, it is reflected in profitability and productivity. Therefore, an integrated measure of relative efficiency can reflect the relative efficiency of different modes of value chain relationships. This research article is based on a case study of the relative efficiency of five large corporations which dominate the steel sector in India. The study is based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA).

In this work, sugar palm nanocrystalline cellulose (SPNCCs) nanocomposites were prepared and used as a biodegradable reinforcement material to improve the water vapor barrier properties of the sugar palm starch (SPS)-based films. SPNCCs with different size based on hydrolysis time (30, 45 and 60 minutes denoted as SPS/SPNCCs-30, SPS/SPNCCs-45, and SPS/SPNCCs-60) were incorporated into SPS plasticizes with glycerol and sorbitol using solution casting method. Then the SPS and SPS/SPNCCs bionanocomposites were submitted to biodegradation by means of soil burial experiment and water vapor barrier test. The biodegradation test shows that SPS degrades very quickly than SPS/SPNCCs which lose 61.93% of its weight at the end of 7 days compared to the SPS/SPNCCs-60 bionanocomposite 52.61%. Adding 0.5 wt.% SPNCCs-60 loading significantly improve water vapor permeability (WVP) of the nanocomposite film by 19.94% compared with the neat film. This was ascribed to the high compatibility between SPNCCs and SPS matrices, which was supported by the field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM).