ACS Sustainable Resource Management最新文献

The increasing demand for high-energy storage systems, particularly in electric vehicles and aerospace, has spotlighted lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries due to their superior energy density and use of abundant sulfur, offering a sustainable alternative to traditional lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries. However, critical challenges such as the ‘shuttle effect’ and mechanical instability resulting from volume expansions of sulfur-based electrodes impede their practical application. Recent developments primarily focus on carbon–sulfur composite cathodes, employing materials like graphene, albeit at high energy and cost. Innovative research explores sustainable carbonaceous materials from waste, such as recycled paper and cotton fabric, enhancing electrochemical performance but requiring costly activation and carbonization processes. In addressing these limitations, this study investigates using recycled graphite from spent Li-ion batteries as a sulfur host. We successfully modify graphite’s structure and functional groups by employing acid treatments with H₂SO₄:HNO₃ or methanesulfonic acid (MSA) to enhance polysulfide adsorption, reduce volume expansion, and mitigate the shuttle effect. Our approach bypasses traditional energy-intensive processes, highlighting the potential of upcycled materials for eco–friendly and cost-effective Li–S battery technologies, thus contributing to their sustainable advancement.

This research advances eco-friendly battery technology by recycling graphite from old batteries, reducing waste and environmental impact while enhancing the performance of lithium−sulfur batteries for sustainable energy storage.

With the expansion of the lithium-ion battery market, establishing new nickel supply routes is essential. One of the promising nickel sources is laterite ore, but the Mg-rich saprolite phase is rarely used as a battery material owing to its processing challenges. This study is the first to employ a hydrophobic diluted deep eutectic solvent (HDDES) for high-purity nickel recovery from saprolite. Diluting the DES reduces the inherently high viscosity, supporting faster leaching and improved ease of operation. The HDDES comprises a deep eutectic solvent (DES) composed of trialkylmethylammonium chloride and decanoic acid, which is diluted with Swasol 1800, an industrial diluting solvent. HCl loaded HDDES effectively suppressed Mg leaching while promoting efficient Ni leaching, and the HDDES exhibited high performance over five cycles. The metals in the HDDES were recovered by contacting with a water phase, and the Ni was further purified using alkaline solution, achieving 96.5% purity. HDDES is expected to serve as a novel leaching solvent in the field of metal refining, overcoming the drawbacks of conventional DESs.

Unchecked and uncontrolled release of industrial effluents causes water pollution and poses a major threat to human health and the environment. For industries and environmental authorities, it is not viable to monitor each pollutant individually due to the complexity, cost, and time constraints involved in employing separate sensors or methods for each contaminant. To address this issue, we present the development of the first-of-its-kind, group-selective electrochemical sensors for the industrial-scale monitoring of anionic or acid dyes, a class of colored organic compounds that dissociate into anions in water, primarily sulfonated azo dyes. The electrochemical sensors employ vanadium-doped graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets (V-gCN) and modified pencil graphite electrodes to provide a cost-effective and sustainable solution with high sensitivity and group selectivity. The 5%V-gCN sensor boasts superior electrochemical properties compared to both undoped gCN and 10% V-gCN sensors. The 5%V-gCN sensors show outstanding performance in detecting anionic dyes like erichrome black T (EBT), methyl orange (MO), and congo red (CR) in aqueous solutions, mixtures, and groundwater. These sensors deliver excellent reliability, high sensitivity (0.44–1.16 μA cm^–2 nM^–1), and sub-nanomolar (< 1 nM) limit of detection. Group selectivity is demonstrated by testing cationic dyes such as methylene blue (MB) and rhodamine B (RhB). Moreover, the 5%V-gCN sensor exhibits excellent operational stability, reproducibility, and recyclability. This work demonstrates the potential of a 5%V-gCN sensor for environmental monitoring of anionic dyes and controlled release of industrial effluents to ensure water quality for future generations.

Sugarcane bagasse (SCB), a fibrous residue generated during the sugar and ethanol production process, has attracted growing global interest due to its promising applications in renewable energy systems. This study presents a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of international research trends related to SCB from 2005 to 2024 using data from 26,663 documents retrieved from the Web of Science database ultimately refined to 657 relevant publications. The analysis identifies Brazil, India, the United States, and China as the leading contributors in this field, reflecting their strategic investments in biomass research, energy policy, and technological development. By synthesizing key findings from the literature, the study offers insights into SCB’s multifaceted role in renewable energy, including its use in bioenergy conversion processes and biofuel generation, as well as a precursor for developing catalysts and advanced materials. Furthermore, the results highlight the importance of SCB valorization in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, promoting circular economy practices, and accelerating the global transition toward sustainable and low-carbon energy systems. By integrating bibliometric tools and quantitative analysis, this study provides a detailed overview of the evolution, current landscape, and future directions of SCB-related research.

Sugarcane bagasse offers environmental relevance by reducing emissions and advancing renewable energy technologies for cleaner air and ecosystems.

Vanadium is regarded as an important strategic metal because of its unique properties. The properties of vanadium and molybdenum in the ore are similar, and the deep separation of the two is extremely difficult. In recent years, ion imprinting technology has garnered significant attention in adsorption research due to its exceptional selectivity toward target ions and homogeneous distribution of recognition sites. In this study, Mo(VI) was used as a template, combined with PEG-600, epoxy resin, and hyperbranched polyamide-amine, and the adsorbent was prepared by precipitation polymerization. The polymer exhibits excellent recyclability, stability, and selectivity, aiming to efficiently remove trace molybdenum. Through scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), thermogravimetric (TG), Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses and batch adsorption experiments, the structural characteristics of Mo(VI)-IIPs and their adsorption mechanism for Mo(VI) were deeply explored. The endothermic and spontaneous nature of adsorption was consistent with monolayer adsorption and a pseudo-second-order model, resulting in a maximum capacity of 104.35 mg/g. This study provides a scientific basis for Mo/V separation and opens up a new path for the subsequent effective removal of trace molybdenum from vanadate.

Plastic packaging is unavoidable in the fruit supply chain; yet, its footprint remains a concern. We assessed the plastic footprint of fruit packaging by evaluating the packaging type, size, and polymer composition. CO₂ content was used as a proxy for plastic footprint, reflecting the plastics embodied in packaging and enabling consistent impact assessment. Eighteen fruit varieties were surveyed across U.S. supermarkets, primarily found in five packaging forms: open stock, bagged, boxed, bottled, and wrapped. Smaller packages had a higher CO₂ content per unit weight of fruits, emphasizing the importance of the packaging-to-product ratio. An exponential decline (p < 0.05) was observed between fruit weight and normalized CO₂ content in boxed and bagged packaging. Reducing the package size from 1–2 kg to 0.1–0.25 kg increased the normalized plastic footprint by 98%. Open stock bags had the lowest CO₂ content (2.28 ± 0.02 g/kg of fruit), though often requiring checkout bags that can triple the footprint. Boxed packaging showed the highest footprint (168.53 ± 41.51 g of CO₂/kg), with a polymer content of 49.39 ± 17.72 g of PET/kg, 1.34 ± 0.72 g of PE/kg, 0.26 ± 0.11 g of PS/kg, and 1.58 ± 0.53 g of PVC/kg. These findings highlight the need for mono-material packaging and improved design standards that prioritize the packaging-to-product ratio to reduce plastic footprint in the fruit supply chain.

The utilization of waste resources stands as a sustainable approach for circular strategy. Herein, we report an alkalinized tubular carbon nitride (A-C₃N₄-T) catalyst derived from melamine waste, addressing waste utilization while exhibiting remarkable 2e^– ORR activity. Density functional theory calculations reveal its tailored electronic structure optimizes *OOH intermediate adsorption, promoting the 2e^– ORR pathway. The catalyst delivers a high H₂O₂ productivity of 26.2 mol g^–1 h^–1 under 300 mA cm^–2 and maintains operational stability for over 220 h. The tandem of H₂O₂ electrosynthesis and Fenton reactor was used for water treatment. This study elucidates the 2e^– ORR mechanism of melamine-waste-derived C₃N₄ and offers a sustainable strategy for H₂O₂ electrosynthesis and its integration into advanced oxidation processes, providing a future vision of oxidant self-supporting decentralized electrosynthesis/waste water treatment integration system.

Recycling end-of-use solar panels faces significant challenges due to the high volume of discarded panels. The recycling of Si wafers recovered from these panels has drawn attention. In this study, we combined the recycling of waste silicon wafers with the conversion of CO₂ in exhaust gas from a thermal power plant. The reduction of CO₂ using silicon wafers as a reducing agent produced formic acid and formamides in high yields. The exhaust gas was directly introduced from the power plant to the reactor. The reactions were effective in the presence of a tetrabutylammonium fluoride catalyst. Among the four silicon samples recovered from solar panels, those with higher surface aluminum content showed lower reactivity; however, pretreatment with aqueous HCl significantly enhanced their reactivity. Detailed characterization of the Si samples before and after the reaction was conducted by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and N₂ adsorption–desorption isotherms.

This study presents the conversion of CO₂ in exhaust gas from a thermal power plant using silicon wafers recovered from end-of-life solar panels, producing formic acid and formamides.

Serpentine is a group of hydrous magnesium–iron phyllosilicate minerals that contain both nickel (Ni) and cobalt (Co). To date, the extraction of both Ni and Co from nickel-bearing serpentine minerals has been technologically challenging and economically unviable. In this work, a carbon-negative leaching technology was developed to extract Ni and Co from serpentine-rich rocks while simultaneously sequestering CO₂ in the form of carbonate minerals. The conversion of serpentine to olivine using thermal activation was investigated under air and hydrogen environments. Lab-scale carbonation-assisted leaching trials showed that the hydrogen dehydroxylation process effectively transformed serpentine to olivine, increased the porosity of the feed minerals, and thereby enhanced the mineral carbonation efficiency. The carbonation efficiency reached 86%, with Ni and Co extraction rates of 80% and 75%, respectively, after 2 h. The carbonation efficiency was found to correlate strongly with the metal extraction efficiency, indicating that the limiting factor was the dissolution and release of divalent ions from the silicate mineral. Under optimal conditions, the activated serpentine mineral exhibited a CO₂ uptake capacity of 357 kg per ton of feed, with approximately 2.63 kg of nickel and 0.43 kg of cobalt recoverable per ton of the feed. These findings illustrate the viability of hydrogen dehydroxylation coupled with carbonation-assisted leaching technology to unlock critical minerals from unconventional low-grade nickel ore resources.