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Conventional Al-air battery has many disadvantages for miniwatt applications, such as the complex water management, bulky electrolyte storage and potential leakage hazard. Moreover, the self-corrosion of Al anode continues even when the electrolyte flow is stopped, leading to great Al waste. To tackle these issues, an innovative cotton-based aluminum-air battery is developed in this study. Instead of flowing alkaline solution, cotton substrate pre-deposited with solid alkaline is used, together with a small water reservoir to continuously wet the cotton and dissolve the alkaline in-situ. In this manner, the battery can be mechanically recharged by replacing the cotton substrate and refilling the water reservoir, while the thick aluminum anode can be reused for tens of times until complete consumption. The cotton substrate shows excellent ability for the storage and transportation of alkaline electrolyte, leading to a high peak power density of 73 mW cm−2 and a high specific energy of 930 mW h g−1. Moreover, the battery discharge capacity is found to be linear to the loading of pre-deposited alkaline, so that it can be precisely controlled according to the mission profile to avoid Al waste. Finally, a two-cell battery pack with common water reservoir is developed, which can provide a voltage of 2.7 V and a power output of 223.8 mW. With further scaling-up and stacking, this cotton-based Al-air battery system with low cost and high energy density is very promising for recharging miniwatt electronics in the outdoor environment.

Waste management policies aim to divert waste from lower positions on the waste hierarchy such as landfill and incineration to higher positions in the hierarchy such as energy recovery and recycling. However, empirical evaluations of such policies are scarce. This study highlighted the effect of waste management policies on the amount of waste treated with landfill, incineration, energy recovery and recycling by analysing a panel dataset consisting of 14 European countries and the period 1996 to 2018. Findings from a seemingly unrelated regression model suggest that the landfill ban is associated with a decrease in landfill waste, but an increase in incineration, energy recovery and recycling waste. The landfill tax is also correlated with an increase in energy recovery waste but, in contrast, it is associated with a reduction in incineration and recycling waste. Meanwhile, the deposit refund scheme is associated with a decrease in the amount of landfill waste. Concerning the effects on total waste generated, regression results from a fixed effects model indicate that the landfill tax and the deposit refund scheme are both correlated with a reduction in the amount of waste generated. These findings contribute to the scarce academic literature evaluating waste management policies and may better inform policy makers on their longer-term implications.

Hydrogen as an energy vector is seen as a key for the energy transition. Recently, more than 30 countries have launched their hydrogen strategies and roadmaps. Hydrogen storage and transportation are challenging steps of the hydrogen economy since all available options have significant drawbacks. This paper evaluates a power-to-liquid hydrogen process; the system is “charged” with electricity from renewable sources to produce hydrogen via water electrolysis; the produced hydrogen gas is liquefied and stored at ambient pressure and cryogenic temperature. The purpose of this paper is to report the first evaluation results of a system including a polymer electrolyte membrane electrolyser and a hydrogen liquefier. The evaluation was conducted using exergy-based methods, i.e. exergetic, exergoeconomic and exergoenvironmental analyses. The process of hydrogen liquefaction was simulated with the aid of the Aspen Plus software. The exergetic efficiencies for the liquefaction process and for the electrolyser are 42% and 47%, respectively. While the total exergetic efficiency of the power-to-liquid hydrogen system amounts to 44%. The total exergy destruction for the liquefier amounts to 9.3 MW and for the polymer electrolyser membrane electrolyser amounts to 19.3 MW. The electrolyser followed by the hydrogen compressors were identified as the components with the highest exergy destruction values and investment costs, while the compressors and the recuperators account for the highest exergoenvironmental impact. The sensitivity analysis shows that the specific liquefaction cost of hydrogen strongly varies with the electricity price and the cost of green hydrogen.

Various treatments of waste water include primary, secondary & tertiary methods. For improved and efficient treatment technologies, advancements are continuously being developed against traditional treatment technologies. The paper provides details of development in the field of nano technology for waste water treatment. Solution of Water crisis is up most priority for technocrats currently. Reasons for crisis are increase in population, climate changes, and deterioration in quality of waste water. This is high time to find new technologies for sustainable water management. Application of Nano technology has great potential in improving treatment efficiency and to supply safe water through unconventional sources. In this paper overview of nanotechnology application for waste water treatmentis presented. By under- standing characteristics and applying its use in advancement for existing treatment methods, sustainability can be increased to supply good quality of water to people.

Hydrogen is an outstanding source of energy and plays very important part in energy system. Hydrogen is one of the best energy carrier alternatives to fossil fuels because of its high energy density. It is very important to produce clean and renewable energy sources due to increasing population and pollution day by day. In 2018, the maximum hydrogen (94%) is manufactured from fossil fuels by steam reforming of natural gas, partial oxidation of the methane gas as well as coal gasification. The hydrogen production plays important role in any industrialized society, since hydrogen is required for many essential chemical processes. Several designed metal-based ideas can be employed as an efficient catalyst for hydrogen production for the alternate source of energy and society benefits. Proposed review is highlighting the different efficient strategies for hydrogen production.

Cement stabilized blocks can be made from waste sludge generated from Activated Alumina and MgO-CaO-MgCl2-HCl based defluoridation filters. The waste sludge is mixed with sand, cement and water are shaped in form of blocks using a mud block making machine. This requires semi-skilled and unskilled labourers and thus can be used for employment generation in places which are affected by fluoride in rural India. The paper discusses the process and manpower requirement for this venture.

In this experimental study was mostly focused on the impact of pilot diesel fuel Injection Timing (IT) on a dual fuel engine. The diesel engine was renewed in to dual fuel mode by injecting the Hythane20 (20% hydrogen and 80Methane) from the inlet manifold and Water in Diesel Emulsion 10 (10% water and 90% diesel WiDE10) as a primary fuel. Initially, the engine was operated at a constant Compression Ratio CR (18.5) and standard IT of 23°bTDC. Further, carried out the experimentation with retarded IT of 20°bTDC and Advanced IT of 26°bTDC. From the obtained results observed the higher Brake Thermal Efficiency (BTE) for 26°bTDC than the other. It is around 3.1 % higher and 6.45% lower Brake Specific Fuel Consumption (BSFC) than the diesel. It was also reported drastic reduction in smoke opacity 27.45% than the diesel fuel operation.

Due to rapid movement of rural population to new regions and countries in order to find work and for better living conditions, population growth and economic development, there is gradual increase in production of waste and demand of electricity worldwide. According to World Bank statistics, the global Municipal Solid Waste generated was 1.3 billion tons in year 2012 and this is expected to increase above 2.2 billion tons per year by 2025. Due to lack of sites for waste disposal, it has become a serious environmental as well as health issue. Now various methods have been adopted for waste disposal. Among this, energy accessed from municipal solid waste is the most common practice adopted by developing countries. In addition, Waste to Energy and Energy from Waste technologies are used which include thermal and biological technologies. Gasification, pyrolysis and incineration are thermal technologies used in conversion of waste to energy. During these processes, syngas is produced which is used in combustion engine or turbines to generate electricity. Apart from this, biomethanation is also used in which biogas is produced. In this review article, we have discussed all the environmental and green methods used for the generation of energy from Municipal Solid Waste their advantages and drawbacks.

Plastics are an increasingly important component of urban solid waste. The disposal of waste materials, such as used plastic bags, has become a major issue. The vast amount of waste plastic bags collected in the twenty-first century has posed significant challenges for their disposal. The amount of waste plastic in the home is substantial and growing. Our results indicate cement blocks are ideal for laying and finishing pathways and streets because they are easy to lay and finish. This study was carried out on experimenting the substitute materials in the mixture of cement blocks a component of building materials which is normally manufactured using the mixture of cement, fine aggregate and water, following a certain ratio. A series of three different percentages of plastics bags were added with the mix and certain quantities were replaced by quarry dust instead of Fine aggregate. Tests were done on the blocks to study its compressive strength, split tensile strength the water absorption percentage and acid test. Both the test compressive and split tensile tests were conducted on the seventh and 28th day. Based on the results acquired, for compressive strength tests on the 28th day, the result a good indication is that the blocks can be produced by replacing the cement and fine aggregate with utilizing the plastic for and effective way of 1:1 and 1:2, with 10& 20% replacing with quarry dust having strength 10.7 and 9.5 N/mm2 respectively Which is 165 more than the conventional type of blocks. Similarly the water percentage is also nil and very marginal in the same proportions. The decrease in weight is existed in all the samples tested the result is equal in all mix compositions. This is uniform rate implies block undergo certain abrasion. Conclusions were drawn for utilising the above composition in a suitable non structured places and minimizing the plastic waste.

The objective of this research is to design, manufacture and test a multi-purpose evaporative type cooler which can be employed for refrigeration as well as space cooling. The focus in this study has been on utilization of cooled water obtained during the air cooling process of desert cooler. The intended application for utilization of this cooled water was for refrigeration of food stuff such as fruits and beverages. The refrigeration area considered here is the storage box kept inside the water tank of desert cooler. This storage box is cooled by heat transfer between the walls of storage box and the surrounding water in the tank of desert cooler. Three cooling loads of 3 W, 6 W and 9 W inside the storage box were tested. Experiments were done in the climate of eastern province of Saudi Arabia. Based on the findings of this study, the performance of the proposed cooler is considered to be reasonably well. The air was found to cool by maximum of 6 °C while the temperature inside storage box was cooled by a maximum of 9.2 °C. The highest coefficient of performance of the multi-purpose evaporative type cooler is reported to be 8.6.

Usage of plastics in the form of personal protective equipment, medical devices, and common packages has increased alarmingly during these pandemic times. Though they have served as an excellent protection source in minimizing the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) spreading, they have still emerged as major environmental pollutants nowadays. These non-degradable COVID-19 plastic wastes (CPW) were treated through incineration and landfilling process, which may lead to either the release of harmful gases or contaminating the surrounding environment. Further, they can cause numerous health hazards to the human and animal populations. These plastic wastes can be efficiently managed through thermochemical processes like pyrolysis or gasification, which assist in degrading the plastic waste and also effectively convert them into useful energy-yielding products. The pyrolysis process promotes the formation of liquid fuels and chemicals, whereas gasification leads to syngas and hydrogen fuel production. These energy-yielding products can help to compensate for the fossil fuels depletion in the near future. There are many insights explained in terms of the types of reactors and influential factors that can be adopted for the pyrolysis and gasification process, to produce high efficient energy products from the wastes. In addition, advanced technologies including co-gasification and two-stage gasification were also reviewed., Graphical abstract Image 1

The Brazilian National Solid Waste Policy (BNSWP) determines that reverse logistics (RL) of waste batteries is mandatory and adopts the principle of shared responsibility among stakeholders. In this work, we sought to diagnose the current state of the RL chain for batteries in Vale do Aço, Brazil, and identify challenges and potentialities related to its improvement. Data were obtained by means of questionnaires sent to the main stakeholders involved in the batteries RL chain and by consultation of official Brazilian databases. The results showed that the main obstacles to the implementation of the RL of portable batteries in the region are: the lack of information by consumers and retailers regarding the BNSWP and management of waste batteries; the existence of few collection and consolidation points in the region; lack of municipal waste management plans; and lack of sustainability of waste picker organizations. The identified potentialities were: the good receptivity of environmental education actions by the population; the possibility of taking advantage of direct logistics of local retail chains to collect waste; the existence of a special waste management and transportation company in the region; and the existence of waste picker organizations interested in integrating the RL system. Finally, by a SWOT analysis, strategies for the implementation of a more effective RL system were drawn up. This work can serve as a basis for the structuring and implementation of the batteries RL system at the Metropolitan Region of Vale do Aço (MRVA) and can be a reference for other settings.

With the rapid growth in the number of passenger cars (PCs) in China over the past decades, more than ten million tons of used tires have already become solid wastes and subsequently caused serious environmental issues. Due to the presence of synthetic rubber in PC tires, waste PC tires cannot be disposed through rubber reclaiming technology. Thus, waste PC tires have become one of fastest growing solid wastes in China. First, the current disposal capacity of the pyrolysis method, regarded as a promising technology for the disposal of waste PC tires, is surveyed and compared with other disposal methods mentioned in previous papers. Second, this work establishes a model to predict the total number of waste PC tires in the next five years depending on the rate of PC growth and current waste tire disposal capacity. Moreover, pyrolysis is evaluated on 15 collected waste PC tires selected from the most representative tire brands in the Chinese market. The corresponding results imply that ∼68.5% of S was into oil and ∼44.3% N and large amount of heavy metals resided in solid carbon which severely limit further applications. Finally, a new pyrolysis technology is introduced that may represent a solution to the limits in the application of tire disposal methods and relief for the coming waste tire crisis.

Primary explosives are utilized as a reliable initiator for secondary explosives in an extensive range of military and civilian operations. Heavy – metal – based primary explosives are moderate performing, more sensitive, and environmentally hazardous, posing a direct and indirect threat to health and safety. Therefore, heavy – metal – based primaries have been replaced by environment-friendly metal-based primary explosives, such as potassium complexes. This review presents not only a summary of the current progress of new-generation potassium-based primary explosives and their methods of preparation, energetic properties, and applications, but also a further comparison with traditional primary explosives. In addition, this work discusses the necessity of heavy metal – free primary explosives and the major challenges faced in replacing traditional primary explosives.

China has the highest level of plastic production and consumption in the world. The plastic waste ban has resulted in a lack of raw materials for plastic reprocessing, while household appliance-related plastic (HAP), as a high-value and high-quality plastic waste source, receives great attention to fill such a gap. As HAP is scattered and has been rapidly increasing, a better understanding of the spatial-temporal patterns of HAP waste is critical. For the first time, this study quantifies the stocks and flows of plastics contained in five categories of household appliances (refrigerator, washing machine, air conditioner, TV, and computer) in China over 1978-2016 and maps their province-specific distribution through a dynamic stock-driven material flow analysis model. We find that (i) the HAP stocks are growing rapidly to reach around 25.4 million tonnes (MT) in 2016 and the HAP waste generated in 2016 is over 2 MT while the dismantling capacity is failing to catch up; (ii) the HAP waste in southeastern provinces is notably more than in northwestern provinces by approximately 11 times; (iii) washing machines (37%) and refrigerators (24%) are the major types of household appliances that contribute most to HAP waste generation; (iv) PP (38%) and PS (34%) are the major plastic types in HAP waste. These findings can provide quantitative references for the government to arrange waste management facilities, improve recycling capacities of dismantling companies, and promote coordinated efforts from multiple stakeholders to achieve efficient waste management of HAP.

The valorisation of keratinous wastes involves biorefining and recovering the bioresource materials from the keratinous wastes to produce value-added keratin-based bioproducts with a broad application, distribution, and marketability potential. Valorisation of keratinous wastes increases the value of the wastes and enables more sustainable waste management towards a circular bioeconomy. The abundance of keratinous wastes as feedstock from agro-industrial processing, wool processing, and grooming industry benefits biorefinery and extraction of keratins, which could be the optimal solution for developing an ecologically and economically sustainable keratin-based economy. The transition from the current traditional linear models that are deleterious to the environment, which end energy and resources recovery through disposal by incineration and landfilling, to a more sustainable and closed-loop recycling and recovery approach that minimises pollution, disposal challenges, loss of valuable bioresources and potential revenues are required. The paper provides an overview of keratinous wastes and the compositional keratin proteins with the descriptions of the various keratin extraction methods in biorefinery and functional material synthesis, including enzymatic and microbial hydrolysis, chemical hydrolysis (acid/alkaline hydrolysis, dissolution in ionic liquids, oxidative and sulphitolysis) and chemical-free hydrolysis (steam explosion and ultrasonic). The study describes various uses and applications of keratinases and keratin-based composites fabricated through various manufacturing processes such as lyophilisation, compression moulding, solvent casting, hydrogel fabrication, sponge formation, electrospinning, and 3D printing for value-added applications.

In recent years, plastic waste has received increasing attention, though most studies on it have investigated only household plastic waste. In Japan, the amount of household plastic waste is approximately equal to that generated by the manufacturing process in Japan. Therefore, we focus on the change in plastic waste emissions from manufacturing from 2004 to 2018. Following the novel method of Levinson (2015), we decompose plastic waste emissions into scale effects, composition effects, and (in)direct technique effects. This first application of this method for waste generation shows that the technique effect contributes the most to reducing pollution emissions, whereas the composition effect has a very limited impact. These results contrast with those of previous studies (Brunel (2017) and Cole and Zhang (2019)) on CO

Typical artifact in bond is every asset & vitality serious material. Handling for bond Moreover emits carbonic corrosive gas done environment. In this way they will be diminishing this natural contamination & esteem from claiming average fabricating materials, Different materials in ash, ground coarse blast-furnace dross, metakaolin, rice husk powder (RHA) Also silicon dioxide seethe may be utilized much appreciated will their pozzolanic conduct. RHA that holds secondary silicon dioxide content constructed through controlled smoldering about rice husk will a chance to be utilized likewise supplementary building material (SCM) done cement creation since it exhibits pozzolanic aspects and contributes should quality Also impermeableness from claiming cement. This paper displays a framework of the worth of effort apportioned on the usage about RHA Likewise fractional reinstatement from claiming bond previously; cement What's more its outcome for workability, compressive quality Furthermore chloride porous for concrete.

There has been a significant disproportion between the accessibility of regular structure materials and their interest in the ongoing past. Then again the late check quarry waste is bounteously accessible and the removal of waste plastics is a greatest test, as continued reusing of Poly Ethylene Terephthalate containers represents a potential threat of being changed to a cancer-causing material and just a little extent of PET bottles are being reused. Right now endeavor has been made to make of fly debris block by utilizing soil filled plastic container and accessible steel work were tied on the external surface of plastic bottles for the security of thermal impacts. The plastic bottle bricks produced have the properties, for example, perfect and in any event, completing, with unimportant water assimilation, expanded compressive quality, cost financial and corrosive protection from fulfill the expanding demand of customary building materials. This experimental study helps to understand the reuse of PET bottles for temporary residential structures.

In the present time, our main sources of energy are fossil fuels like petroleum, coal, natural gases which are burned to access the required energy for various purposes such as home, industries, agriculture, etc. The uses of these sources ultimately producing various types of pollution such as air, water, soil and adding it’s harm effects to the society. In the present state, numbers of works have been carried out to develop the useful materials to harvest the light to full fill the demand of the society. In this review, analysis of facts has been carried out on various light harvesting materials related with main group elements. As we know, the light energy source is unlimited and able to fulfill the demand of each sector of society completely if it would be harvested in large extent and further, it will be very useful for human beings or for our next generations.

In Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs), recyclable municipal solid waste is turned into a precious commodity. However, effective recycling relies on effective waste sorting, which is still a challenge to sustainable development of our society. To help the operations improve and optimise their process, this paper describes PortiK, a solution for automatic waste analysis. Based on image analysis and object recognition, it allows for continuous, real-time, non-intrusive measurements of mass composition of waste streams. The end-to-end solution is detailed with all the steps necessary for the system to operate, from hardware specifications and data collection to supervisory information obtained by deep learning and statistical analysis. The overall system was tested and validated in an operational environment in a material recovery facility. PortiK monitored an aluminium can stream to estimate its purity. Aluminium cans were detected with 91.2% precision and 90.3% recall, respectively, resulting in an underestimation of the number of cans by less than 1%. Regarding contaminants (i.e. other types of waste), precision and recall were 80.2% and 78.4%, respectively, giving an 2.2% underestimation. Based on five sample analyses where pieces of waste were counted and weighed per batch, the detection results were used to estimate purity and its confidence level. The estimation error was calculated to be within ±7% after 5 minutes of monitoring and ±5% after 8 hours. These results have demonstrated the feasibility and the relevance of the proposed solution for online quality control of aluminium can stream.

As environmental crises such as global warming become more and more serious due to the large amount of carbon dioxide emitted by the burning of fossil fuels, much attention has been paid to carbon neutrality. Hydrogen, with zero carbon content, is a clean and renewable energy carrier having a large energy density. It is considered as one of the most desirable alternatives to fossil fuels. Electrochemical water splitting, unlike the steam reforming process accelerating fossil fuels depletion and CO2 emissions, can produce H2 powered by renewable energy such as solar or wind. As a promising way to promote carbon neutralization, hydrogen production by electrolysis of water is meaningful both in terms of scientific research and practical application. In order to drive electrochemical water splitting with low power consumption, efficient, durable and affordable electrocatalysts with low overpotentials are in urgent need. Therefore, this mini-review briefly introduces the current development status and mainstream obstacles of carbon-based materials used in electrochemical water splitting.

There is an increasing awareness that effective waste management is essential for transitioning towards a circular economy and achieving sustainable development goals. Scholars have studied inter-municipal cooperation (IMC) as a governance solution with the potential to generate economies of scale and reduce financial costs in waste management. However, previous research has not yet focused on measuring the effectiveness of different types of cooperation on social and environmental outcomes. We analyse the effect of different types of IMC, ranging from indirect to collaborative, on Integrated Solid Waste Management (ISWM) indicators. Our embedded qualitative case study in the emerging metropolitan region of Cuenca-Azogues (Ecuador) found that municipalities that invested in more complex cooperation types achieved better integrated waste management performance, particularly on final disposal, citizen participation, inclusion of recyclers and environmental sustainability.

Producing energy and higher value bio-products from waste materials has been proposed as an economically viable opportunity in the renewable energy sector. However, several challenges associated with the integrated biomass conversion processes remain to be resolved. The present study introduces a multi-faceted plant production of thermal energy and biochar from construction and demolition (CD) wood chips. The overarching objective of the study is to reduce waste materials while simultaneously producing a self-independent clean thermal energy resource along with value-added co-products such as biochar, biogases and/or activated carbon. The combined thermal energy and slow pyrolysis unit relies on 95% of its energy from waste wood chips to produce thermal energy and high value carbon products. The system not only supplies the energy required for the indirect pyrolysis unit but also provides a major portion of thermal energy demanded for the site. A multi-purpose objective of wood waste management, energy production from waste material, high-quality biochar from waste wood (over 80% carbon), and carbon offsets is demonstrated through the utilization of this plant by addressing some of the major previously problems and challenges faced. The information is useful for techno-economic and life cycle analysis in the next study.

This paper provides an analysis of the performance of European packaging waste systems, focusing on Extended Producer Responsibility schemes and Producer Responsibility Organizations. We adopt two separate but complementary empirical analysis: i) an indicator-based assessment of the cost-efficiency and recycling effectiveness of PROs; ii) a regression analysis of the determinants of recycling rates at the national level. The analysis spans over 25 national schemes and 21 Producer Responsibility Organizations. Our findings show that systems that have higher recycling rates do not entail necessarily higher costs. Non-competitive systems are more successful in increasing recycling rates no matter the cost; moreover, they are better able to use funds collected from EPR fees charged to producers, delivering improved cost-efficiency. Furthermore, higher recycling rates are associated with systems in which local authorities retain the operational responsibility of collection. Systems that do not involve local authorities always underperform. The policy implications are clear: local authorities should have some responsibility for collecting and sorting packaging waste and competitive systems should not be looked at as a first choice when designing a national recycling strategy. A mix of policy schemes, including non-profit EPR, door-to-door collection and Deposit-Refund-Schemes can be effective strategies for increasing the recycling rates of the waste streams that need more intervention, most notably plastic packaging.

Aromatics are traditionally produced by the catalytic reforming of naphtha. However, with the demand of aromatics increasing and the reserves of petroleum resources declining, measures should be made to reduce the dependence of aromatics production on petroleum resources. Methanol-to-aromatics is proved to be an effective way to replace traditional naphtha-to-aromatics path. In order to compare the economic and environmental performance of aromatics production from naphtha and methanol, this paper carries out an emergy evaluation for each system by sorting out the simulation and literature data. Based on the emergy data collected, the emergy indices of each system are calculated. The results show that the sustainabilities of methanol-to-aromatics systems are higher than that of the naphtha-to-aromatics system, indicating the advantages of aromatics production from methanol. Among the methanol-to-aromatics systems, the aromatics from biomass-methanol system has the highest sustainability, indicating that the biomass based methanol-to-aromatics system is worth promoting. The sustainability indexes of methanol-to-aromatics systems based on coal and coke oven gas are less than 1, which means unsustainable. Meanwhile, the sustainability of natural gas based system is slightly higher than 1. The economic and environmental benefits of these systems can be optimized by improving resource utilization and reducing investment costs. Furthermore, the combination of different raw materials for methanol production should be considered.

In the last decades, the adoption of renewable energy, namely wind source, in Europe, have increased significantly. And it will continue to grow, as part of a strategy to reach the Paris Agreement and the Carbon-neutrality by 2050 goals.Simultaneously, the oldest wind farms are getting into their end-of-life (EoL) and uncertainties regarding the main aspects of the possible scenarios still remain, such as standards procedures, legislation and environmental impacts (emissions, pollution, etc.). Regarding the waste management, 85% to 90% of all the components of the wind turbine may be recycled, however the final disposal of the blades represents a unique concern, as this process is not completely well-established. Thus, the environmental impacts and relevant aspects related to the wind project flow may be assessed using the life cycle assessment. Moreover, the environmental study of new projects is a good source to identify possible impacts. Thus, this research aims to identify and analyse the main environmental impacts related to the end-of-life of wind farms scenarios, based on the state of the art and a literature review. Moreover, it gives floor to the discussion regarding the uncertainties about this very important stage, the final disposal of wind farms’ components emphasizing d the application of the principles of the circular economy.

This study aims to examine the mechanical, environmental, and economic properties of recycled aggregate concretes produced using emerged recycled concrete aggregates from the buildings that were demolished in a controlled way after the 24 January 2020, Elazig-Sivrice earthquake. For this purpose, 24 series of recycled aggregate concretes were produced, water-to-cement ratios of 0.30-0.35-0.40-0.45-0.50, and cement dosages were chosen as 320-370-420 kg/m

Due to the frequent occurrence of oil spills and the large-scale production of oily wastewater, the treatment of oily sewage has become an important issue for sustainable development. Recently, materials prepared from lignocellulosic biomass (LCB) for oil-water separation have been found to be effective due to their high separation efficiency, good recyclability, and superior sustainability. However, few reviews have focused on the advantages and limitations of LCB for sewage treatment. This review summarizes the performance of modified LCB in oily wastewater treatment, in terms of the advanced modification methods applied and the structural dimensions of LCB materials according to the principle of superwetting oil-water separation. Research on the preparation technologies, separation mechanisms, and treatment efficiency of different LCB materials are briefly summarized, along with the characteristics of different LCB material types for oily wastewater treatment. Finally, the future prospects and challenges faced in the development of LCB materials are discussed.

Due to rapid economic development and urbanisation, emerging megacities with dense populations have witnessed a significant increase in waste generation. Megacities face challenges in developing sustainable waste management systems. Considerable heterogeneity exists across megacities in management strategies. The two selected emerging megacities, Singapore (a city-state) and Shanghai, have similar developmental characteristics, but their waste management modes differ strikingly. This study assessed the two modes in terms of management strategies, environmental effects, economic costs, and social outcomes. Environmental footprint analysis and cost quantification were employed for the assessment based on public data. The research results would permit a deeper understanding of the long-term sustainability of each mode while considering the feasibility of implementation across different contexts. It was found that the waste management system in Singapore had a relatively lower environmental impact than Shanghai before Shanghai's new waste segregation and recycling policy in 2019. However, when the effect of fossil fuel substitution is taken into account, the environmental burden in Shanghai can be lowered more substantially than the one in Singapore. Although Shanghai had more economic burden for the waste segregation at source, it tended to implement the circular economy principles (e.g., reduce, reuse, and recycling) better and improve its sense of community significantly. Based on the practical experiences from the two representative megacities, suggestions for better waste management practices were provided for Singapore, Shanghai, and other emerging megacities with similar circumstances. In addition, challenges and opportunities related to household waste segregation and recycling were identified to guide future practices in emerging megacities.

The efficient strategy for waste conversion and resource recovery is of great interest in the sustainable bioeconomy context. This work reports on the catalytic upcycling of waste corrugated cardboard (WCC) into lactic acid using lanthanide triflates catalysts. WCC, a primary contributor to municipal solid wastes, has been viewed as a feedstock for producing a wide range of renewable products. Hydrothermal conversion of WCC was carried out in the presence of several lanthanide triflates. The reaction with erbium(III) triflate (Er(OTf)

Material recovery facilities (MFRs) play an important role in today's waste management systems to maximize recycling efficiency for several waste materials. These facilities face multiple challenges, often due to a poor understanding of the mechanisms occurring within the sorting equipment. Improving modeling techniques of these unit operations appear to be a promising opportunity to mitigates these challenges. Mechanical sorting efficiency of municipal solid waste is often predicted from simple transfer coefficients, which are obtained for a specific set of operating conditions of the sorting equipment and sorting sequence configuration. When these transfer coefficients are used in situations that are different to those in which they were obtained, poor predictions can be expected. To overcome these limitations, a new predictive tool, based on the integration of mechanistic models and transfer coefficients, is presented. Mechanistic models are developed only for the most influential unit operations in a MRF, in order to predict their sorting efficiency based on the physical phenomena occurring. Integration of these models with the use of transfer coefficients for the other unit operations allows the entire predictive tool to remain as simple as possible while providing high prediction accuracy and flexibility. The use of the tool is validated with a real case study of a material recovery facility. Results indicate a good prediction of the mass flows of the facility. Moreover, a new modeling technique is proposed for the representation of a ballistic separator based on the shape factor of the waste items.

The utilization of biomass energy is important from both an energetic and environmental point of view. Saudi Arabia has a considerable amount of biomass waste that can be converted to renewable energy using different technologies. This study evaluated and analyzed the quantity and energy potential of biomass waste, Greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, and cost estimation of power generation using different conversion techniques. The results showed that the annual biomass waste in Saudi Arabia could reach approximately 31.50 million tons, which can generate 15 TWh of electricity. Municipal solid waste (MSW) is the largest contribution to the total waste and total power generation potential, which is approximately 70% and 74% of the total, respectively. Although incineration of MSW has the highest cost requirements, it has the highest power generation potential compared with the other studied techniques. However, the anaerobic digestion of other biomass types has the advantages of low costs and GHG emissions and generates considerable energy. The findings of this study can support decision-makers in developing sustainability strategies using eco-friendly and economical technologies for efficient power generation from biomass wastes.

This article presents conceptual conditions of fire-extinguishing in the inhabited pressurized compartments (InPC) of the future long-term research and industrial bases located on the Moon. The type of extinguishing agent for fire-extinguishing in inhabited and visited pressurized compartments of lunar base constructions is defined. It has been established that nitrogen is the most preferable extinguishing agent from the technical, economic and environmental points of view for extinguishing fires in inhabited and visited pressurized compartments of lunar base facilities. The mass of fire-extinguishing agent for successful extinguishing of fires in inhabited and visited pressurized compartments of lunar base facilities is determined by a volume method.

Chlorine is a harmful trace element in coal. During coal combustion, the chlorine undergoes complex changes and transfers to the gas, and forms chlorine-containing substances. This paper summarizes the field test data of chlorine emission from domestic coal-fired units, and analyzes the chlorine emission and control characteristics. The results show that during the combustion process, the chlorine in coal is released into flue gas, mainly HCl, and a small amount of Cl2 and particulate Cl. Conventional pollutant control facilities affect the form and concentration of Cl. The impact of dust removal facilities on Cl is mainly reflected in the coordinated removal of particulate Cl. The impact of wet desulfurization facilities on Cl is mainly reflected in the coordinated removal of HCl. The Cl emission concentration in flue gas of coal-fired units is 0.85 mg/m3, which meets the emission requirements. Chlorine is transferred from coal to fly ash, desulfurization wastewater and desulfurization gypsum, so the secondary pollution of chlorine should be paid much attention. HCl in coal-fired flue gas has an adverse effect on wet desulfurization facilities. Based on the material balance of chloride ions in absorption tower slurry, this paper proposes a technical idea for removing HCl from flue gas with alkaline absorbents.

Modern societies are generating considerable volume of Construction and Demolition Wastes (CDW) annually. Most recycling facilities offers viable sorting and recycling options for the coarser particles of the different materials found in those wastes. However, usual dry mechanical sorting and human sorting are not efficient on CDW fines particles (CDF,10 mm) representing the third of the CDW produced and being composed of similar materials. Recent environmental issues related to the landfilling of CDF have pointed out the need to develop innovative alternative and adapted recycling paths for the CDF. This study presents an efficient sorting process train based on physical separation steps used in the mining and the soil treatment industries. The use and recirculation of process water allowed to segregate and concentrate the gypsum from the 2-12 mm CDF into a specific fraction (55-65% gypsum content) representing 40% of the total mass. Other constituents were sorted based on their relative density, size and shapes; thanks to hydraulic classification and physical sorting forming four more fractions with high recycling potential: coarse aggregates (15%), fine aggregates (9.4%), organic and inorganic fibers (10.8%) and light organic compounds (24.8%). The process has been designed to be integrated in existing sorting facilities and the process costs were evaluated to 38 CAN$/t.

This paper proposes a novel method combining Pinch Methodology and waste hydrogen recovery, aiming to minimise fresh hydrogen consumption and waste hydrogen discharge. The method of multiple-level resource Pinch Analysis is extended to the level of Total Site Hydrogen Integration by considering fresh hydrogen sources with various quality. Waste hydrogen after Total Site Integration is further regenerated. The technical feasibility and economy of the various purification approaches are considered, demonstrated with a case study of a refinery hydrogen network in a petrochemical industrial park. The results showed that fresh hydrogen usage and waste hydrogen discharge could be reduced by 21.3% and 67.6%. The hydrogen recovery ratio is 95.2%. It has significant economic benefits and a short payback period for Total Site Hydrogen Integration with waste hydrogen purification. The proposed method facilitates the reuse of waste hydrogen before the purification process that incurs an additional environmental footprint. In line with the Circular Economy principles, hydrogen resource is retained in the system as long as possible before discharge.

SUMMARY New methods for recycling lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are needed because traditional recycling methods are based on battery pulverization, which requires pre-treatment of tedious and non-eco-friendly discharging and results in low efficiency and high waste generation in post-treatment. Separating the components of recycled LIB cells followed by reuse or conversion of individual components could minimize material cross-contamination while avoiding excessive consumption of energy and chemicals. However, disposing of charged LIB cells is hazardous due to the high reactivity of lithiated graphite towards cathode materials and air, and the toxicity and flammability of the electrolytes. Here we demonstrate that the disassembly of charged jellyroll LIB cells in water with a single main step reveals no emissions from the cells and near perfect recycling efficiencies that exceed the targets of the US Department of Energy and Batteries Europe. The precise non-destructive mechanical method separates the components from jellyroll cell in water, avoiding both uncontrollable reactions from the anode and burning of the electrolyte, while allowing only a limited fraction of the anode lithium to react with water. Recycling in this way allows the recovery of materials with a value of ∼7.14 $ kg−1 cell, which is higher than that of physical separation (∼5.40 $ kg−1 cell) and much greater than the overall revenue achieved using element extraction methods (

Fruit and vegetable waste (FVW) contains rich resources that can be recovered by methods such as incineration, anaerobic digestion to generate heat energy, biogas, and preservation by ensiling. However, a horizontal comparison of the resource potential and environmental impact of different recycling methods employed for FVW has not been conducted. This study quantifies and computes the recycling potential and global warming potential (GWP) of anaerobic digestion, ensiling, and incineration of the FVW generated during primary production in China. First, a gray model was employed to estimate the FVW output in 2030, based on the FVW produced between 2002 and 2017. Next, the resource potential and GWP of anaerobic digestion, incineration, and ensiling were evaluated. Finally, an optimization method was utilized to analyze possible strategies of FVW recycling in 2030. Results indicate that FVW output in China is expected to increase to 170 Mt by 2030, highlighting the need for efficient treatment options. Further, the resource potential and GWP of different waste treatment strategies were notably different. The recycling potential of ensiling was the highest at 1950 MJ/t; while the GWP of anaerobic digestion was the lowest at −31 kg CO2eq. An optimization analysis suggested that the optimal target of 100% would be attained if all FVW is ensiled in 2030. The study provides a basis for informed technical decision-making related to FVW recycling options in the future.

Research and practice on concrete incorporating solid wastes have found many advocates in recent years. Despite significant advancements, the connecting link between the performance of concrete incorporating solid wastes and its environmental impacts is not fully captured. The current review article aims to address the dependency between concrete performance and the potential environmental impacts of concrete made with solid wastes. A systematic review of previous life cycle assessment (LCA) publications was performed with a focus on outlining the importance of including mechanical and durability properties of such type of concrete in obtaining robust LCA results. The data on four types of solid wastes, including construction and demolition waste, municipal solid waste incineration, tire rubber, and polyethylene terephthalate, were reviewed. Research gaps and future opportunities were discussed to advance the knowledge of concrete incorporating these solid wastes. Finally, recommendations were proposed to provide a guideline for construction materials stakeholders to develop a robust comparative LCA of the concrete, particularly that made with solid wastes.

With the fast development of the application of magnesium based alloys, the demand for primary magnesium is increasing dramatically all over the world. The Pidgeon process is the most widely used process for producing magnesium in China, but suffers from problems such as high energy, resource consumption and environmental pollution. While the process of vacuum carbothermal reduction to produce magnesium (VCTRM) has attracted more and more attention as its advantages, but it has not been well-practiced in industrial applications and there also is no comprehensive and quantitative analysis of this process. This study quantified the flows of resource and energy for the Pidgeon process and the VCTRM process, then compared and analyzed these two processes with each other from three aspects. The VCTRM process results in 63.14% and 69.16% lower of non-renewable mineral resources and energy consumptions when compared to the Pidgeon process, respectively. Moreover, the low energy consumption (2.675 tce vs. 8.681 tce) and material to magnesium ratio (2.953:1 vs. 6.429:1) of the VCTRM process, which lead to lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (8.777 t vs. 26.337 t) and solid waste generation(0.522 t vs. 5.465 t) with a decrease of 66.67% and 90.45%, respectively. Results indicate that the VCTRM process is a more environmentally friendly process for magnesium production with high efficiency but low cost and low pollution, and it shows a good potential to be industrialized in the future after solving the bottleneck problem of the reverse reaction.

Wastewater is of general concern for environmental sustainability. At the industrial level, carbon-laden aqueous streams must be treated and should be valorized to reduce environmental and economic concerns. Lignocellulosic biomass processing (such as hydrolysis, pyrolysis, and hydrothermal liquefaction) results in secondary aqueous streams in which a high fraction of the initial carbon content of the biomass is virtually lost; food industry (like breweries and cheese factories) produces streams with a variety of organic load and salinity, which may complicate conventional valorization treatments; biodiesel production leads to glycerol excess in the market, which needs to be valorized. Among other alternatives, aqueous phase reforming (APR) has been proposed as a process driven at relatively mild conditions, able to convert oxygenated molecules into hydrogen. Despite its potential, APR has commonly been investigated with model compounds, and a systematic study on the possible fields of application of this technology is lacking. In the present review, the study of the available literature was focused on the valorization of complex feedstocks, such as real waste streams or synthetic mixtures, showing the outcome derived from laboratory-scale experiments. The results were critically discussed, pointing out the present limitations for the full development of this process and its application to the industrial scale. Despite the challenges of APR, its potential is noteworthy for the development of a circular low-waste economy.

The cost of feed represents an important part of the total cost in swine and poultry production (>60%) with energy accounting for at least 70% of feed cost. The energy value of ingredients or compound feeds can be estimated as digestible (DE), metabolisable (ME) and net energy (NE) in pigs and ME and NE in poultry. The current paper reviews the different methods for evaluating DE, ME and NE of feeds for monogastric animals and their difficulties and limits, with a focus on NE. In pigs and poultry, energy digestibility depends on the chemical characteristics of the feed, but also on technology (pelleting, for instance) and animal factors such as their health and body weight. The ME value includes the energy losses in urine that are directly dependent on the proportion of dietary N excreted in urine resulting in the concept of ME adjusted for a zero N balance (MEn) in poultry. For poultry, the concept of true ME (TME, TMEn), which excludes the endogenous fecal and urinary energy losses from the excreta energy, was also developed. The measurement of dietary NE is more complex, and NE values of a given feed depend on the animal and environmental factors and also measurement and calculation methods. The combination of NE values of diets obtained under standardised conditions allows calculating NE prediction equations that are applicable to both ingredients and compound feeds. The abundance of energy concepts, especially for poultry, and the numerous feed and animal factors of variation related to energy digestibility or ME utilisation for NE suggest that attention must be paid to the experimental conditions for evaluating DE, ME or NE content. This also suggests the necessity of standardisations, one of them being, as implemented in pigs, an adjustment of ME values in poultry for an N retention representative of modern production conditions (MEs). In conclusion, this review illustrates that, in addition to numerous technical difficulties for evaluating energy in pigs and poultry, the absolute energy values depend on feed and animal factors, the environment, and the methods and concepts. Finally, as implemented in pigs, the use of NE values should be the objective of a more reliable energy system for poultry feeds.

A domestic electrical storage water heater (i.e., DESWH) is one of the 14 products listed in China's Waste Electrical and Electronic Products Disposal Catalogue (Batch 2). Due to the lack of systematic quantitative analysis on the waste quantity and recovery value of a DESWH, a multi-data source-based hybrid methodology based on quarterly sales data, survey data and internet data is proposed. In the methodology, the seasonal Mann-Kendall trend test is used to identify the seasonal trait of the quarterly sales data for DESWHs, and an accurate prediction of the sales volume of DESWHs is obtained via a generalised seasonal grey model with dynamic seasonal adjustment factors. Then the lifespan distribution of DESWHs is fitted based on the survey data, and the quantity of wasted DESWHs is estimated from 2012Q1 to 2038Q4. Finally, on the basis of the data crawled from the internet, the weight distribution of DESWHs is constructed, and the recycling value of wasted DESWHs is then calculated. The empirical results show that the waste quantity of DESWHs will increase greatly from 2012Q1 to 2022Q4 and that the recycling value of wasted DESWHs may be worth 18.48 billion yuan in China. The results show that the wasted DESWHs have a great recycling value, and that the proposed multi-data source based hybrid methodology can be used as an effective estimation method for the recycling value of electronic waste.

Purpose To investigate the direct contribution to carbon emissions of fluorinated gases used in all vitreoretinal (VR) procedures utilising gas tamponade and assess the respective carbon footprint of the three different gas delivery systems. Design A multicenter, retrospective, environmental impact study Methods All VR procedures using fluorinated gases between 2017-2020 at the Manchester Royal Eye Hospital (MREH) and Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre (BMEC) (the second and third largest VR centres in the UK), and between 2019-2020 at the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) were included. CO2 equivalent mass (CO2EM) was calculated from mass of each gas used according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Results : A total of 4,877 (1,883 SF6[38.6%], 2,096 C2F6[43.0%], 897 C3F8[18.4%]) procedures were analysed. UHCW and BMEC utilise single use 30ml and 75ml canisters, respectively. MREH used four cylinders of each gas over four years (2kg SF6, 1kg C2F6, 1kg C3F8). Mean CO2EM per patient was MREH:111.8kg, BMEC:7.5kg for BMEC and UHCW:2.7kg. For MREH and BMEC, the CO2EM was 73.4 metric tonnes annually (if all cases performed with i)30ml:3.7tonnes and ii)cylinders:148.0 tonnes, x40 fold difference); equating to 599.4thousand (30.5thousand-1.2 million)km travelled by a passenger car. Current use of SF6 in VR surgery accounts for 0.11% of total SF6 use; if 30ml cylinders were exclusively used in the UK, this could be lowered to 0.01%. Conclusions We highlight the significant waste associated with large gas cylinders and demonstrate that 30 ml canisters can lead to a marked reduction in carbon emissions, even after accounting for the increased carbon footprint involved in their manufacture and disposal.

The Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) will process and stabilize nuclear waste stored in tanks on the Hanford Site. At the WTP, the tank waste will be combined with glass-forming chemicals to make a melter feed slurry that can be vitrified in joule-heated melters. Technetium-99 (99Tc), a long-lived radionuclide present in tank waste, is semi-volatile from a glass melt at elevated temperatures. A small laboratory-scale melter system has been designed by PNNL to operate under radioactive conditions, giving it the ability to vitrify actual tank waste and gain information about melter feed processability and the partitioning of components of interest. This study describes two runs performed in a duplicate system with non-radioactive simulants of Hanford tanks 241-AP-107 and 241-AN-105 to gain insight into the relationship between the retentions of 99Tc and its non-radioactive surrogate Re while also investigating the effects of increasing the reducing agent such as sucrose during vitrification on processing and the retention of semi-volatile components in the glass product. The results from these runs align with the general trends of greater retention in the glass of Re compared to 99Tc and the improved retention in the glass of Re with increased reducing agent.