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Compared to large companies, the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in China are more likely to fail in developing green supply chain management (GSCM). Capturing its failure factors could be useful for managers and policymakers to decide how green supply chains can be successfully designed and developed. Meanwhile, these factors can include complex interrelationships. Properly dealing with them can help identify the critical factors which can assist decision-makers to efficiently manage green supply chains. This study thus proposes a comprehensive framework to explore and understand failure factors of GSCM in China’s SMEs to improve the opportunities of GSCM in China. The fuzzy synthetic evaluation (FSE) and decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) are combined and applied to identify critical failure factors through translating interrelationships in a hierarchical cause–effect model. The results indicate that collaboration and support are the most critical perspectives for GSCM, and these two perspectives also interrelated with each other and affect the perspectives of knowledge, technology and economy to varying degrees. Moreover, the critical failure factors include lack of top management support, poor guidance from authorities, difficulty in supplier selection and inadequate supplier commitment. Sensitivity analysis is conducted to check the robustness. Conceptual and managerial implications are discussed.

The metals used in textile wet processing are of significant concern for the environment and human health. However, our understanding of metals released by the Chinese textile industry and their potential risks to ecology is limited. This work quantified the concentrations of seven metals in 199 wastewater samples from 77 textile enterprises in the southeastern coastal area of China. In the water discharged after end-of-pipe treatment, the mean concentrations of Sb, Hg, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cr, and As were 0.289, 0.009, 0.579, 0.277, 0.035, 0.016, and 0.013 mg/L, respectively. Alkali deweighting effluents, dyeing effluents, and influents into regulation tanks were observed to be “hotspots” for metal distributions. Among the seven target metals, only Sb was found to be significantly correlated with COD, NH3-N, TN, and TP. The results of one-way ANOVA suggested that the Sb mainly came from the processing of polyester fibers. Overall, the majority of discharged wastewater samples were at safe levels, according to six health indicators. Sb posed elevated risks in comparison to other elements, which necessitated further concern. The findings can help decision-makers prevent hazardous metal contamination in the textile and dyeing industry, and provide a basis for the further study of the mechanisms of metal migration in the environment.

Given the recent extensive synthesis and application of ionic liquids (ILs), finding a sensitive and visual indicator to provide a fast-initial risk assessment of IL use has become a pressing issue. In this study, we verified that the phototaxis of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is a valid indicator of the environmental risk associated with chiral ILs L-(+)- and D-(-)-1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium lactate (BMIM L). Briefly, C. reinhardtii was exposed to a 4000-lx side light source for varying lengths of time. Following the allotted exposure time, the algae aggregation was photographed, and then quantitative analysis was conducted using Image-J software to obtain the corresponding relationship between IL stimulation and C. reinhardtii phototaxis. The gray areas from each treatment were measured and the percentage was calculated. After 16 h of side lighting, for control, the percentage of gray areas was - 22%, while for L-(+)- and D-(-)- BMIM L were 17% and 33%, respectively. Then, after 8 h of darkness, where D-(-)-BMIM L and the control showed the positive phototaxis, but the L-(+)-BMIM L-treated group showed virtually no change. This phenomenon is consistent with excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Moreover, atomic force microscope (AFM) results indicated distinct aggregation between D-(-)- and L-(+)-BMIM L, which caused changes in cell permeability that induced a change in ROS transfer. Furthermore, relationship between phototaxis and changes in cell ultrastructure and photosynthetic efficiency was also investigated. This work demonstrates the potential of phototaxis to serve as a sensitive, convenient, and cost effective qualitative assessment of ILs' toxic impact, with the understanding that quantitative evaluation requires further improvement.

Persulfates are recognized as promising oxidants and an alternative to Fenton reaction for water treatment. However, activation methods in hand restrict the practical application. Herein, we explore the possibility of Fe-N complexes being a catalyst for persulfate activation for the first time. The catalyst denoted as Fe-Im-SBA was synthesized from ferric chloride, imidazole, and SBA-15 at high temperature. The internal pore structure of Fe-Im-SBA was maintained well; Fe, N and C elements are evenly distributed on the catalyst. This catalyst presents an extraordinarily catalytic activity for Rh B removal by PMS activation with a removal rate of Rh B that reached up to 97.0% in the first 5 min. It also performed well in a wide pH range with complete removal of Rh B in pH ranged from 0.5 to 10, suggesting the stability of this catalyst in both acidic and alkaline conditions. It also showed high adaptability to degrade different kinds of pollutants, which could give an attractive advantage of Fe-Im-SBA for environmental implications. Through X-ray absorption spectroscopies analysis, it shows that the active sites of Fe-Im-SBA are composed of Fe-N4 sites and Fe2–N2 sites. 1O2 were proved to generate in the Fe-Im-SBA/PMS system and serve as the major ROS. Meanwhile, graphitic carbon can accelerate the transfer of electrons, which may also be the reason for its high catalytic performance.

Textile printing and dyeing wastewater is usually characterized by high pH, high turbidity, poor bio-degradability, complex composition, and high chrominance, and is discharged in large amounts. It has been regarded as one of the hardest to treat forms of industrial wastewater. Conventional physicochemical technologies can remove these contaminants from water bodies, but at the expense of high energy consumption and high cost. Alternatively, biological processes with limited energy consumption, low cost and high efficiency are considered as promising technologies. Among them, the anaerobic biological processes have been proven to be effective for the treatment of high-concentration textile printing and dyeing wastewater. In this mini-review, recent advances on high-rate anaerobic technologies for such purposes are reviewed. Current limitations of these technologies are summarized, and future research directions are indicated.