Interest in water wave power generation, a promising source of renewable energy, is increasing. Numerous types of wave energy converters (WECs) have been designed to transform wave energy into electricity. In this study, we focus on heaving point absorbers (HPAs) of the Wavestar type, which consist of multiple floats connected to a bottom-fixed ocean structure by structural arms and hinges. Each float moves up and down due to wave forces and produces electricity using the hydraulic power take-off (PTO) system connected directly to the float. A numerical procedure using the three-dimensional augmented formulation was developed to calculate the rotational motion of the float. The frequency-dependent coefficients were calculated using the hydrodynamic solver WAMIT. The nonlinear Froude−Krylov and hydrostatic forces were considered. For the environmental conditions, the wave data of four nearshore areas in Korea, obtained from the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), were used. Under... [more]

The emission of greenhouse gasses is a major environmental problem, and efforts are being made worldwide in various ways to encourage producers to reduce their emissions. There is a need to incorporate environmental measures into process design and synthesis, as pollution prevention is a higher priority than waste management, and in this way, more sustainable solutions can also be achieved. One possibility is to introduce a CO2 tax, the value of which is very uncertain in the future. This paper demonstrates how the CO2 tax affects the optimal results of synthesizing chemical processes using mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP). It was found that the tax increase promotes the use of better-quality raw materials and more efficient process units. Energy consumption and emissions are reduced and economic performance deteriorates. A multi-period, two-stage stochastic approach with recourse is suitable to incorporate the uncertainty of the CO2 tax in the MINLP process synthesis and gi... [more]

The environmental pollution of phenol-containing wastewater is an urgent problem with industrial development. Natural deep eutectic solvents provide an environmentally friendly alternation for the solvent extraction of phenol. This study synthesized a series of natural deep eutectic solvents with L-proline and decanoic acid as precursors, characterized by in situ infrared spectrometry, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, hydrogen nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry, and differential thermogravimetric analysis. Natural deep eutectic solvents have good thermal stability. The high-efficiency extraction of phenol from wastewater by natural deep eutectic solvents was investigated under mild conditions. The effects of natural deep eutectic solvents, phenol concentration, reaction temperature, and reaction time on phenol extraction were studied. The optimized extraction conditions of phenol with L-prolin/decanoic acid were as follows: molar ratio, 4.2:1; reaction time, 60 min; and te... [more]

Greenhouse gases from industrial activities have become a global problem. Emissions management is being developed to raise awareness of the importance of controlling pollution in general and atmospheric emissions in particular. In 2017, the deficit of the rights of issuance in the industrial sectors increased up to 8.3% (verified emissions in 2017 versus allocation in 2017). This trend will increase more at the end of Phase III due to a progressive reduction in allocation. Phase IV will be much more restrictive in allocating emission rights than Phase III. The extra cost of this deficit reinforces the need for industry in general to reduce CO2 and for the paper industry to reduce GHG emissions and generate credits. Old factories are typically identified as sources of pollution in addition to being inefficient compared to new factories. This article discusses the possibilities offered by maintenance actions, whose integration into a process can successfully reduce the environmental impa... [more]

1. Background: Urea is the main product of the nitrogenous breakdown of protein metabolism in mammals. In this study, process intensification for enzymatic hydrolysis of urea by urease enzyme (jack bean urease) was examined in a membrane reactor. 2. Methods: Batch and continuous enzymatic hydrolysis reactions were performed at different substrate concentrations to determine the digestibility and affinity of the substrate with that of the enzyme. The hydrolysate samples were obtained by an optimized continuous enzyme membrane reactor (EMR) coupled with an ultra-filtration membrane (250 kDa). Feed concentration varied from 100 to 500 mg/L. Laboratory experiments were conducted at room temperature (20 ± 1 °C), with a flow rate of 20 mL/min, urease concentration of 0.067 g/L, ionic strength (I = 0, 0.01, 0.05), and ammonium nitrogen addition of (0, 100 mg/L, 200 mg/L, 500 mg/L). Moreover, the effect of ionic strength, ammonium nitrogen concentration, feed concentration, and enzyme concentr... [more]

Due to manganese mining and slag accumulation, the geological structure of the wetland polluted by heavy metals in Xiangtan Manganese Mine area was seriously damaged, hence biodiversity loss, severe soil, and water pollution, as well as serious heavy metal pollution to food, vegetables, and other natural sources. In order to restore the ecological environment of the mining area, in 2015, the ecological restoration test of heavy metal polluted wetlands in the mining area was carried out. The results showed that the Mn content of different parts of Koelreuteria paniculata root from high to low order: fine root > small root > medium root > large root. The Mn content of different parts of Elaeocarpus decipiens root from high to low order: large root > medium root > small root > fine root. The order of Mn content in plants of the wetland restoration from high to low is as follows: Canna warscewiezii > Thalia dealbata > Boehmeria > Pontederia cordata > Typha orientalis > Nerium oleander > So... [more]

From February 2020, the progressive adoption of measures to contain coronavirus’s contagion has resulted in a sudden change in anthropogenic activities in Italy, especially in Lombardy. From a scientific point of view, this situation represents a unique laboratory for understanding and predicting the consequences of specific measures aimed at improving air quality. In this work, the lockdown effect on Milan’s (Italy) air quality was analyzed. The PM10 and PM2.5 values were measured by the ARPA Lombardia, and the real-time on-road (ROM) air quality monitoring network indicates the seasonality of these pollutants, which typically record the highest values in the coldest months of the year. The 10-year particulate matter concentrations analysis shows a PM10 reduction of 35% from 2010 to 2020. March 2020 data analysis shows an alternation of days with higher and lower particulate matter concentrations; values decrease in pollutants concentrations of 16%, respective to 2018. The complexity... [more]

Coffee waste-derived biochar was found to immobilize heavy metals in contaminated soil, although there are few studies involving these materials. Given the large amount of waste generated in the coffee industry, this presents a relevant opportunity to contribute to the circular economy and environmental sustainability. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of the application of biochars derived from coffee grounds and coffee parchment in the remediation of a Cd, Zn and Pb contaminated soil and at the development of jack beans (Canavalia ensiformis) in this area’s revegetation. The biochars were pyrolyzed at 700 °C, and the treatments were: contaminated soil (CT); contaminated soil + calcium carbonate (CaCO3); contaminated soil + 5% (weight (w)/weitght (w)) coffee ground biochar and contaminated soil + 5% (w/w) coffee parchment biochar. These treatments were incubated for 90 days, followed by the cultivation of jack beans for 60 days. Soil samples, soil solu... [more]

Road construction takes a heavy toll on the environment. Therefore, innovative strategies to improve the environmental performances of this sector are needed, and the use of recycled materials (e.g., plastic) has been recently pursued to achieve this goal. The present work aims to (i) assess the environmental benefits deriving from the use of recycled hard plastics in combination with graphene to generate a new bitumen modifier and related asphalt mixture (AM) formulations (ii) to compare the performance of the bitumen modified using this new modifier with the bitumen modified using a traditional polymer (Styrene-Butadiene-Styrene, SBS) and the non-modified bitumen. A detailed Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study was performed according to a cradle-to-cradle approach. Different scenarios were compared, including the variability of the pavement’s layers thickness and the amount of reclaimed asphalt pavement during the road maintenance cycles. The results demonstrated that the addition of t... [more]

Methylene blue (MB), an organic thiazine dye, has numerous industrial and medical applications. However, MB is a wastewater contaminant that is harmful to humans and aquatic life. Hence, its removal from water bodies is essential. In this work, five novel deep eutectic solvents (DESs) were synthesized using different precursors, screened, and studied for the extraction of methylene blue (MB) from aqueous solution using liquid−liquid extraction. The first, TOP-SA, was synthesized using trioctylphosphine (TOP) as a hydrogen bond acceptor (HBA) and 2-hydroxy benzoic acid as a hydrogen bond donor (HBD). Among these, TOP-SA had the highest MB removal efficiency. The effects of pH, contact time, initial MB concentration, volumetric ratio, temperature, and ionic strength were studied and optimized. A 99.3% removal was achieved in 5 min for a 200 mg dm−3 MB solution mixed in a 1:10 ratio with TOP-SA at 25.0 °C. The structural properties of TOP-SA and its interactions with MB were investigated... [more]

The manufacturing sector is a fast-growing sector demanded by the increasing population. The adoption of information technology is a boon in the manufacturing industry. The industrial transformation from the third generation to the fourth generation has significantly impacted sustainable development. On account of this, different sectors are adopting industry 4.0 technologies to smooth their process flows. The industry 4.0 technologies implementation in the manufacturing sector will not only enhance its productivity, but also lead to sustainable growth. In this regard, this study intended to examine the challenges associated with adopting industry 4.0 technologies in the manufacturing sector. A thorough literature review was carried out from the Scopus database, and a list of ten important challenges was shortlisted for analysis. The article uses interpretive structural modeling to analyse the challenges of industry 4.0 and make a structural model between identified challenges. “Lack o... [more]

An L-glutathione-functionalized silica adsorbent was applied in this study to remove malathion from aqueous media. This adsorbent has demonstrated an improved adsorption efficiency of malathion. The maximum uptake achieved was 130 mg g−1 at pH 8. Equilibrium was reached after about 90 min. A pseudo-second-order model best described the adsorption kinetics. The adsorption isotherms were best simulated by the Freundlich model. The functional groups are thermally stable up to about 150 °C. The elemental analysis results indicated high glutathione ligand densities. The results of this study show that the environmentally friendly L-glutathione functionalized silica is a promising candidate for the removal of malathion from water at the industrial level.

Currently, there is growing concern about minimizing the environmental impacts caused by the generation of waste on water, soil, air pollution, and contamination of the environment in general. Magnesium oxide (MgO) nanoballs (NBs) were synthesized by the hydrothermal method followed by a calcination process. The average size of particles dispersed in deionized water was 159.2 ± 70 nm. The energy band gap was calculated to be 5.14 eV. The magnetic behavior, cyclic voltammetry, and electrochemical impedance of MgO NBs were studied. Under visible-light irradiation, the photocatalytic activity of MgO nanoballs was investigated by methylene blue (MB) dye. Results showed that photodegradation for MB under visible light irradiation for 120 min and degradation results are fitted well with pseudo-first-order reaction kinetics with a rate constant of 0.00252 min−1 and a correlation coefficient of 0.96.

Soil pollution from waste crude oil in emergency pits is a major problem at petroleum industry sites. In this work, extra-heavy waste crude oil was recovered from emergency pits and underwent many pre-purification processes to remove water and impurities. This type of oil was subjected to thermal cracking reactions in a semi-batch reactor constructed from stainless steel, with a volume of 500 mL. The cracking reactions were tested at operating temperatures of 400, 425, and 450 °C, with operating pressures of 1, 3, 5, and 7 bar. The results indicated that during thermal cracking, the reaction mechanism was highly dependent on the heat and mass transfer processes that occurred in the reactor. It was noted that the interaction between the optimal reaction temperature and operating pressure enhanced the product distribution and formation of high-quality liquid fuel with low gaseous and coke formations. The highest API of 30.5 was achieved for the liquid product at an operating temperature... [more]

Micro-organisms play important roles in promoting soil ecosystem restoration, but much of the current research has been limited to changes in microbial community structure in general, and little is known regarding the more sensitive and indicative microbial structures or the responses of microbial diversity to environmental change. In this study, based on high-throughput sequencing and molecular ecological network analyses, the structural characteristics of bacterial communities were investigated in response to four different ecological restoration modes in a coal mining subsidence area located in northwest China. The results showed that among soil nutrients, nitrate-nitrogen and fast-acting potassium were the most strongly associated with microbial community structure under different ecological restoration types. Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Acidobacteria were identified as important phyla regarding network connectivity and structural composition. The central natural recovery z... [more]

The volume of ethanol production waste—molasses waste in Ukraine—reaches up to 4 million m3 per year. It is not easy to dispose of and is polluting the environment. Currently, the development of an effective technology for using molasses in biogas plants to obtain energy gas—biogas—is an urgent problem. The purpose of our work is to determine the rational volume of loading molasses bard into the methane tank in a quasi-continuous mode to obtain the maximum volume of biogas. To achieve this goal, the following experimental studies were carried out: mono-fermentation of molasses and combined fermentation of cattle manure and molasses on a laboratory biogas plant in a periodic mode; on the basis of the obtained laboratory studies, a special simulation model of biogas output during the quasi-continuous fermentation of substrates was established and the amount of molasses added to obtain the maximum biogas output was determined. The maximum output of biogas under the periodic system of load... [more]

The contaminated site is considered a high-risk pollution source due to the accumulation of industrial waste and wastewater, which affects the soil and groundwater environment. In this study, through soil and groundwater investigation, we outlined the characteristics of heavy metal contamination in the soil and groundwater of the contaminated site, assessed the health risk of the contaminated site to humans, and established a numerical model to predict the ecological and environmental risks of the site. The results of the study showed that the maximum contamination concentration of pollutants (lead, arsenic, cadmium) in the soil all exceeded the Chinese environmental standard (GB36600-2018, Grade II), that the maximum contamination concentration (cadmium, Cd) of the groundwater exceeded the Chinese environmental standard (GB14848−2017, Grade IV), and that the heavy metal pollution was mainly concentrated in the production area of the site and the waste-residue stockpiles. The total car... [more]

Use of dyes as well as colorants in industrial processes has extensively increased. Effluents from various industries such as textile, paint, food, etc. are reported to have a diverse range of colorants. The effluents from these industries are often released into natural water bodies, causing serious water and environmental pollution, to which humans and other species are constantly exposed. Continued changes in climate have also affected water availability for people around the world. Thus, advanced treatments and removal of harmful contaminants from municipal and industrial wastewater are becoming increasingly important. Removal of dyes and colorants from wastewater can be done in a variety of ways, including physical, chemical, and biological treatments. These technologies, however, differ in terms of efficiency, cost, and environmental effect. There are many technological and economic challenges for the wastewater treatment methods currently available. The search for the most suita... [more]

Compared to traditional water dyeing, supercritical CO2 fluid waterless dyeing is more advanced concerning zero pollution, energy saving and emission reduction. The measurement of the solubility of disperse dyes in supercritical CO2 provides convenience and technological basis for the popularization and development of this technology. In the current work, the solubility of 2-[4-(2-Cyanoethylethylamino)phenyl]diazenyl-5-nitrobenzonitrile (C.I. Dispersed Red 73), 2,2′-[[4-[(4-Nitrophenyl)azo]phenyl]imino] bis-ethano (C.I. Dispersed Red 19) and 3,3′-[[4-[(4-nitrophenyl)azo]phenyl]imino] bispropiononitrile (C.I. Dispersed Orange S-RL) in supercritical CO2 was determined by flow-type supercritical fluid equipment at pressures ranging from 14 to 26 MPa and temperatures ranging from 343.15 to 403.15 K, and the solubility ranges were 1.96−19.78 × 10−6, 1.51−2.63 × 10−6 and 1.49−2.49 × 10−6 mol/mol, respectively. The increase in pressure P and temperature T has obvious effect on the increase in... [more]

The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected educational settings (ES) in Slovenia. To effectively limit the emergence and spread of SARS-CoV-2 infections in ES, it is important to identify the pathways of introduction and transmission of infection. This study aims to analyse the spread of infections in ES according to the level of education, taking into account the predominant variant of the virus in Slovenia in order to advise on public health action. We calculated the incidence rate of infection by age group, according to the level of the ES. Additionally, we analysed data on the reported outbreak criteria in ES. In Slovenia, SARS-CoV-2 infections in children and adolescents (1−18 years) accounted for 16.8% of all confirmed infections. The incidence and leading outbreak criteria differed according to the level of the ES and predominant SARS-CoV-2 variant. The occurrence of cases in ≥3 different “bubbles” was the most common outbreak criteria (59%). A high number of employee-importe... [more]

In the context of the “carbon peaking and carbon neutrality” goal and energy marketization, the City Regional Integrated Energy System (CRIES), as an important participant in the energy market, pursues low-carbon development as its most important goal. Without a reasonable market participation structure and a comprehensive low-carbon evaluation system, it will be difficult to meet the needs of CRIES for low-carbon development in the energy market. Therefore, this paper first proposes a framework suitable for CRIES to participate in the energy market, and under the influence of the operating characteristics of the energy market, proposes an evaluation index system suitable for CRIES’ low-carbon capabilities in the energy market. The analytic network process−criteria importance through intercriteria correlation (ANP-CRITIC) method is used to determine the subjective and objective weights of each indicator, and the comprehensive weight of each indicator is calculated by the principle of m... [more]

Industrial wastewater discharges often contain high levels of organic matter and nutrients, which can lead to eutrophication and constitute a serious hazard to receiving waters and aquatic life. The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of using a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) to treat high-strength organic wastewater for the removal of both chemical oxygen demand (COD) and nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus). At a constant COD concentration of approximately 1000 mg/L, the effects of cycle time (3 and 9 h) and various C:N:P ratios (100:5:2, 100:5:1, 100:10:1, and 100:10:2) were investigated using four identical SBRs (R1, R2, R3, and R4). According to experimental data, a significant high removal, i.e., 90%, 98.5%, and 84.8%, was observed for COD, NH3-N, and PO43−-P, respectively, when C:N:P was 100:5:1, at a cycle time of 3 h. Additionally, when cycle time was increased to 9 h, the highest levels of COD removal (95.7%), NH3-N removal (99.6%), and PO43−-P removal (90.31%) w... [more]

In the open innovation environment, enterprise sustainable innovation is no longer the result of individual decision-making. Extensive contact with suppliers, customers, scientific research institutions, and other subjects for boundary-spanning knowledge search, absorption, and reconfiguration is considered a critical path to enterprise sustainable innovation. Studying the process of “how boundary-spanning search affects enterprise sustainable innovation” has become an urgent and valuable task. Therefore, based on an innovation search perspective, this study explored the path and mechanism of boundary-spanning search affecting enterprise sustainable innovation, revealed the intermediary effect of capability reconfiguration, and clarified the regulatory role of information technology (IT) governance. We also proposed an integrated model promoting enterprise sustainable innovation process. Using questionnaire data from manufacturing companies in China, this study empirically tested the p... [more]

The Industrial Internet of things (IIoT), the implementation of IoT in the industrial sector, requires a deterministic, real-time, and low-latency communication response for its time-critical applications. A delayed response in such applications could be life-threatening or result in significant losses for manufacturing plants. Although several measures in the likes of predictive maintenance are being put in place to prevent errors and guarantee high network availability, unforeseen failures of physical components are almost inevitable. Our research contribution is to design an efficient communication prototype, entirely based on internet protocol (IP) that combines state-of-the-art communication computing technologies principles to deliver a more stable industrial communication network. We use time-sensitive networking (TSN) and edge computing to increase the determinism of IIoT networks, and we reduce latency with zero-loss redundancy protocols that ensure the sustainability of IIoT... [more]

Photocatalysis, especially heterogeneous photocatalysis, is one of the most investigated processes for environmental remediation [...]