Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy最新文献

In general, two types of sitting and squatting toilets are used by people in the world, each of which has its own advantages and disadvantages from an environmental and health point of view. So far, no study has been done to compare these two types of toilets, precisely. Therefore, the precise comparison of these two types of toilets based on a simple literature review was the main purpose of this study. For this purpose, the amount of water consumption, toilet paper consumption, related diseases, ease of cleaning, odor problem, and the flexibility to equip with treatment and reuse systems in both types of toilets was compared. Squatting toilets is a better option in terms of water consumption, toilet paper consumption, ease of cleaning, and diseases related to body posture. In the case of infectious diseases, the sitting toilet has better conditions and in terms of flexibility to install the treatment and reuse systems, the conditions of both were almost similar. The odor problem in the sitting toilet is less than the squatting toilet. Since the advantages and disadvantages of both types of toilets are also complementary, the best option is to install both toilets together.

Data from radioactive Hanford tank waste samples was analyzed to assess whether trace metals present were incorporated into the bulk boehmite matrix or were simply intermingled with the bulk material and subsequent impacts to the boehmite dissolution rate. Results suggest that chromium is primarily blended into the bulk boehmite, with a small fraction present on the surface of the solids. However, increasing the level of chromium incorporation 30-fold decreased the dissolution rate of boehmite by only 8%, suggesting incorporation of chromium into these samples had a minimal impact on the dissolution rate. Iron was also found to be incorporated in the boehmite solids. Silicon appears to be simply intermingled and not blended into the boehmite crystals.

This article investigated the cradle-to-gate environmental impact of granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS) produced in the steel industry and replacement of blast furnace (BF) slag (50%) in place of clinker in Portland slag cement using GaBi software (Indian extension database). In case of GBFS production, maximum burden on the environment is due to BF slag production and the amount of electricity consumed (161 MJ/ton) during the granulation process. The influence of electricity sources on GBFS production was studied via scenario analysis. For investigation, solar and thermal electricity mixes were considered in 50:50 and 75:25 ratios. For the 75:25 ratios, the abiotic depletion potential (fossil), acidification, eutrophication, global warming, and human toxicity potential show a decreasing trend of approximately 45%, 49%, 48%, 46%, and 41%, respectively. The scenario analysis of BF slag transportation (from 100 to 750 km) demonstrates a negative impact due to fuel. The results quantitatively confirm that the addition of GBFS can lower the overall impact for construction and steel industries.

To meet the pressing demand for alternative biofuel in the contemporary world, the production cost of biodiesel has to be decreased. Hence, this work addresses the usage of CaCO₃-rich industrial waste produced in a local paper industry in Assam, India for the synthesis of a heterogeneous catalyst for biodiesel synthesis. The collected lime sludge waste was subjected to calcination at 800°C for 3 h producing a CaO-rich catalyst which was then employed in the transesterification of cottonseed oil. The optimized reaction conditions obtained were 5 wt% catalyst concentration, oil to methanol molar ratio of 1:12 at 65°C temperature, and 3 h of reaction time. The catalyst's reusability was evaluated up to four cycles. Besides, the prepared catalyst has been characterized using Fourier transfer infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), powder X-ray Diffraction (p-XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) techniques and its basicity was measured using Hammett indicators. Moreover, the biodiesel obtained was characterized with ¹H-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), ¹³C-NMR, Gas Chromatography- Mass Spectrometry (GC–MS), and FTIR techniques. A biodiesel yield of 98.03% was achieved and the quality of biodiesel formed during the transesterification of CSO also conforms to EN 14214 and ASTM D 6751 standards. Thus, our study highlights the sustainability and the potential for future industrial application of paper industrial waste in the production of biodiesel.

This article explores the potential of regeneration of power from unnatural wind sources with the help of vertical axis wind turbines (VAWT). Researchers are searching for urban as well as industrial wind sources, which can be useful as the natural wind source to obtain electrical energy and utilize it. The wind sources considered here are the exhaust of the cooling or ventilation fans used in buildings, industries, and other places. The Darrieus VAWT extracts wind power from the exhaust air and reduces the power consumption of the concerned electrical drives. These uncommon energy sources have an inherent capability to recover a significant amount of energy without polluting the environment with less payback period. Recovered energy can be suitably converted into electrical energy and may be fed back to the power grid without any pollution, thus minimizing the total energy consumption of the building and reducing the cost operations. A detailed study of experimental models with different types of assembly and turbine models is conducted here with power outputs and operational behaviors on the existing systems. Various parameters and factors for existing and new applications are in detail that show the system has no negative impact on regular operation.

Owing to the increasing demands for eco-friendly epoxides derived from vegetable oils, much effort has been made regarding the epoxidation of oleic acid in recent years. However, to date, there is a paucity of studies on the autocatalytic epoxidation specifically epoxidized oleic acid as it is not fully utilized. The autocatalytic epoxidation of oleic acid was carried out by using in situ generated performic acid to produce epoxidized oleic acid. Performic acid was formed by mixing formic acid (as oxygen carrier) and hydrogen peroxide (as oxygen donor). A maximum relative conversion to oxirane (RCO) achieved was 87% at optimal formic acid molar ratio to oleic acid under following conditions: (1) reaction temperature: 75°C, (2) stirring speed: 300 rpm, (3) formic acid/oleic acid molar ratio: 2.5, and (4) hydrogen peroxide/oleic acid molar ratio: 1.0. The degradation of epoxidized oleic acid after oxirane ring opening invites hydroxylation reaction take place called alcoholysis and hydrolysis. The hydroxyl value from alcoholysis was 346.9 mg KOH/g while the hydroxyl value of hydrolysis was 296.4 mg KOH/g using autocatalyzed reaction. In conclusion, high and low hydroxyl value has their own benefits as intermediate product for polymer application such as flexible polyurethane and rigid polyurethane.

The recycling of urban mining is one of the means to alleviate resource bottlenecks and build an ecological industrial system in China. To study the characteristics of high-quality development of the urban mining industry, the high-quality development capacity of this industry from 2006 to 2020 is evaluated based on the entropy weighting – catastrophe progression method, and its development pattern and influencing factors are discussed. The analysis results show that: ①The high-quality development capacity of the urban mining industry declines slowly, with an average annual decline of about 0.399% from 2006 to 2020, and the overall development quality level is on average. The provinces with high-quality development are scattered from the east region of the Hu Line to the north and south regions, and non-high-quality development provinces are contiguous. ②The positive spatial correlation of the urban mining industry is significant, but the agglomeration degree in high-quality development provinces is low-high-low. According to the spatial agglomeration characteristics, the high-quality development pattern is divided into five zones. ③Among the factors driving the high-quality development of the urban mining industry, regional GDP per capita, R&D investment, the number of patent applications granted and Internet penetration rate are the core influencing factors. High-quality sustainable zone and high-quality restoration zone need to rely on the number of granted patent applications to achieve high-quality maintenance and restoration, high-quality compensation zone and high-quality stability maintenance zone need GDP per capita and R&D investment, high-quality development zone relies on Internet penetration rate to explore high-quality development potential.

The objective of this investigation is to look into the potential use of trash potato peels and processed potato peels as a solution for effectively removing Mn(II) ions extracted from aqueous solutions. The optimal working circumstances for removing Mn(II) ions from aqueous solution in PP are an initial concentration of 300 mg/L, an adsorbent dose of 0.3 g, a contact time (CT) of 100 min, and a solution pH of 6.08. The optimal working conditions for MPP were established to be an initial concentration of 300 mg/L, an adsorbent dosage of 0.15 g, a CT of 100 min, and a solution pH of 6.08. Studies were conducted at various temperatures to better understand the removal capabilities of adsorbent compounds. The removal abilities of Mn(II) ions for PP were determined to be 10.787, 13.698, and 16.556 mg/g at varied temperatures (25, 35, and 45°C), respectively. Under the same conditions, the removal capacity of MPP was determined to be 34.246, 45.045, and 51.813 mg/g. Further investigation of the adsorption kinetics revealed that the experimental results suited the pseudo-second-order model for both PP and MPP adsorbents. Thermodynamic analyses demonstrated that the endothermic process of Mn(II) metal ion adsorption onto the adsorbents occurred spontaneously. The study found that both PP and MPP were very efficient and ecologically friendly adsorbents for removing Mn(II) ions from aqueous solutions. Their demonstrated performance highlights their potential value in sustainable wastewater treatment applications, which accord with environmentally conscious behaviors.