Waste Management & Research最新文献

This study introduces an innovative approach for enhancing oil-water emulsion separation using a polyethersulfone (PES) membrane embedded with a nanocomposite of graphene oxide (GO) and silver oxide (AgO). The composite membrane, incorporating PES and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), demonstrates improved hydrophilicity, structural integrity and resistance to fouling. Physicochemical characterization confirms successful integration of GO and AgO, leading to increased tensile strength, porosity and hydrophilicity. Filtration tests reveal substantial improvements in separating various oils from contaminated wastewater, with the composite membrane exhibiting superior efficiency and reusability compared to pristine PES membranes. This research contributes to the development of environmentally friendly oil-water separation methods with broad industrial applications.

This study addresses the urgent issue of water pollution caused by iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn) ions. It introduces an innovative approach using graphene oxide (GO) and GO-decorated polyethersulphone (PES) membranes to efficiently remove these ions from contaminated water. The process involves integrating GO into PES membranes to enhance their adsorption capacity. Characterization techniques, including scanning electron microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared, and contact angle measurements, were used to assess structural and surface properties. The modified membranes demonstrated significantly improved adsorption compared to pristine PES. Notably, they achieved over 94% removal of Mn²⁺ and 93.6% of Fe²⁺ in the first filtration cycle for water with an initial concentration of 100 ppm. Continuous filtration for up to five cycles maintained removal rates above 60%. This research advances water purification materials, offering a promising solution for heavy metal ion removal. GO-decorated PES membranes may find application in large-scale water treatment, addressing environmental and public health concerns.

Cities, crucial cultural hubs, mould individual and group identities. The global urban expansion, with over half the population in urban areas, presents interconnected challenges such as pollution, poverty, inequality, ageing infrastructure, resource overconsumption, land use changes, biodiversity impact and climate change. Addressing these demands ambitious actions targeting political, social and economic systems for transformative change. The theoretical framework guiding city transformation centres on an interdisciplinary approach influenced by the Smart and Green Transition. The '15-minute city' concept, emphasizing human scale and urban experience, proposes that cities enable residents to meet daily needs within a short walk or bike ride. The aim of this study was the exploration of its implementation in Greek cities, particularly Thessaloniki, which reveals inherent characteristics supporting the 15-minute concept. Through an interdisciplinary approach rooted in the Smart and Green Transition framework, the research provides concrete guidance for policymakers in tailoring urban planning strategies, allocating resources effectively and crafting policies conducive to successful and sustainable urban transformations. Moreover, prioritizing public engagement highlights the significance of community involvement in shaping urban development plans, ensuring that proposed initiatives align with residents' needs and desires. In essence, this research contributes tangible insights and actionable recommendations for Greek cities, paving the way for more liveable, resilient and sustainable urban environments.

Food waste (FW) has become a global concern, with an estimated 1.3 billion tonnes lost annually, costing about $1 trillion. Environmental and social consequences of FW are significant, contributing to 6% of European Unions' greenhouse gasemissions and affecting global food security. FW occurs is a complex issue occurring at various stages of the food supply chain (FSC) and is influenced by multiple factors such as infrastructure, available knowledge and socio-economic conditions. Developed countries FW is more prevalent at the consumption stage, whereas in the developing countries losses occur in agricultural production, post-harvest and distribution stage. Accurate quantification of FW across the supply chain is crucial and monitoring key performance indicators helps identify areas for improvement. The European Union mandates FW measurement, aligning with sustainable development goals, emphasizing the need for effective waste prevention measures. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses approach was utilized to conduct a systematic literature review on FW key performance indicators (KPIs) and monitoring tools. The research identified 22 KPIs, categorized into three levels of the FSC: primary, secondary and tertiary. The most common KPIs included FW per capita, FW per portion and FW percentage. The study further discusses FW prevention measures and essential monitoring tools for addressing FW throughout the supply chain.

The sustainable agri-food system is an important sector recognized for promoting the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals on food security, resource conservation and climate change mitigation. However, the increasing food loss and waste (FLW) along the supply chains has continued to hinder these goals. This study evaluates the trend of FLW research from 1975 to 2022 and how it promotes the achievement of resource and environmental sustainability in agri-food systems. The salient research themes and hotspots that are of interest to researchers were identified. Bibliometric and network analyses were carried out on scholarly research articles from the Scopus database using bibliometrix and VOSviewer. Furthermore, the content analysis was conducted on the selected highly influential articles containing relevant data to understand the role of FLW in promoting sustainable agri-food systems. The results showed disaggregate and unbalanced research distribution on the impacts of FLW among the countries, with China and the United States having the highest contributions. The identified major research themes relating to sustainable agri-food systems are food waste and sustainable systems, food waste management and food waste impact assessment. Moreover, the circular economy was found to be a relatively new approach being explored in agri-food systems to promote FLW reduction and ensure sustainability of resource use. This study highlights the critical role of the impact of FLW in addressing the grand challenge of food security, resource use efficiency and environmental sustainability.

Continuous emission monitoring system is commonly employed to monitor NOx emissions in municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) processes. However, it still encounters the challenges of regular maintenance and measurement lag. These issues significantly impact the accurate and stable control of NOx emissions. Therefore, developing a soft NOx emission sensor to complement hardware monitoring becomes imperative. Considering data noise, dynamic nonlinearity, time series characteristics and volatility in the MSWI process, this article introduces a soft sensor model for NOx emission prediction utilizing the complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition adaptive noise (CEEMDAN)-wavelet threshold (WT) method and bidirectional long short-term memory (Bi-LSTM). Firstly, the original data signal is decomposed into a group of intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) using the CEEMDAN. Subsequently, the WT processes the high-frequency IMFs that are noise-dominant. Then, all IMFs are reconstructed to obtain the denoized signal. Finally, the Bi-LSTM model is employed to predict NOx emissions. Compared to conventional modelling approaches, the model proposed in this article demonstrates the best predictive performance. The mean absolute percentage error, root-mean-squared error and average absolute error on the test set of the proposed model are 3.75%, 5.34 mg m^-3 and 4.34 mg m^-3, respectively. The proposed model provides a new method to soft sensing NOx emissions. It holds significant practical value for precise and stable monitoring of NOx emissions in MSWI processes and provides a reference for research on modelling key process parameters.

Elucidating the properties of landfill leachate and the relationships among leachate parameters is crucial for efforts to determine appropriate landfill leachate monitoring activity and management strategies. This study investigated the physical, chemical and optical parameters of leachate in an old Japanese landfill over a 13-month period. The parameters were explored based on their relationships with the maximum fluorescence (F_max) of three components (microbial humic-like C1, terrestrial humic-like C2 and protein-like C3) deconvoluted from excitation-emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy coupled with parallel factor analysis. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC), chemical oxygen demand (COD), Cl^- and SO₄^2- concentrations and pH ranged from 2.6 to 38.2 mg C L^-1, 9 to 324 mg L^-1, 14 to 972 mg L^-1, 26 to 1554 mg L^-1 and 6.9 to 11.6, respectively. Linear regression analysis suggested that the F_max values of C2 and C3 represented DOC, whereas the F_max value of C2 alone could serve as a COD indicator. Hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis were employed to successfully categorise leachate samples based on their locations. Higher dissolved organic matter levels were observed in leachate within the old disposal area, whereas elevated levels of inorganic components such as SO₄^2- and Cl^- were found in leachate collected from the extended disposal area and at a treatment facility. Statistical analysis provides crucial tools for assessing and managing various areas of a landfill, supporting targeted and effective waste management strategies.

This study aimed at assessing the efficacy of manure amendments in abating ammonia (NH₃) and methane (CH₄) emissions during storage. Two experiments were carried out. Experiment 1 was conducted using 20 L of slurry for 98 days. Treatments were: aluminium sulphate (alum), lactogypsum, zeolite, actiglene, ammonium thiosulphate, biochar, dairy processing waste, Digest-IT and control (without amendment). Experiment 2 was conducted using 660 L of slurry in underground storage tanks for 77 days. Treatments were: sulphuric acid, gypsum, biochar and control (without amendment). NH₃ measurements for experiment 1 and experiment 2 were conducted using the photoacoustic gas monitor and dynamic chamber techniques, respectively. CH₄ was measured using the static chamber technique in both experiments. The effect of amendments on slurry composition was determined at the end of the experiments. Experiment 1 showed a significant reduction in NH₃ emissions in the alum (82%), lactogypsum (46%) and zeolite (32%) treatments relative to the control (100.3% total ammoniacal nitrogen (TAN)). CH₄ was reduced significantly in the alum (87%), ammonium thiosulphate (64%) and lactogypsum (67%) relative to the control (291.9 g m^-2). Experiment 2 showed a significant reduction (32%) in NH₃ emissions in the sulphuric acid relative to the control (4.4% TAN). CH₄ was reduced significantly in the sulphuric acid (46%), gypsum (39%) and biochar (15%) treatments relative to the control (291.9 g m^-2). In general, amendments altered slurry composition such as dry matter, volatile solids, carbon and nitrogen contents at the end of storage. Lactogypsum, alum and sulphuric acid were effective in abating both NH₃ and CH₄ emissions and can contribute to improving air quality.

Effective waste management remains a challenge in global environmental sustainability, underlining the urgent necessity for innovative solutions. This review explored waste management strategies, focusing on the role of P-graph frameworks in achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs). P-graphs offer a systematic approach across domains including, chemical reaction routes, carbon management networks, economic systems and resource planning to waste management synthesis and planning. Through a systematic search and analysis of relevant P-graph approaches, 28 articles meeting the inclusion criteria were selected for review. The study reveals that P-graph approach is a systematic methodology that can streamline decision-making processes, which ultimately lead to more efficient and effective waste management strategies and solutions. This research also highlighted the absence of previous studies on the application of the P-graph approach to various types of waste, underscoring its significance and originality in the field. This study seeks to advance the achievement of SDGs and promote sustainable waste management practices through the integration of the P-graph framework with waste management solutions.

Due to increasing consumption and urbanisation, urban waste management and recycling are a primary concern in Italy. Italian waste collection underwent significant reform with the introduction of a sorted collection target of 65% of total collected waste in Legislative Decree No. 152/2006. In this article, we analyse the effect of this regulatory target on the efficiency of waste collection in 275 Italian municipalities in the years 2016-2019. We estimate the coefficients of the cost efficiencies of the sorted and unsorted waste without assuming functional forms for the efficient frontier or the distribution of efficiency. Our findings suggest that municipalities that met the 65% sorted waste target demonstrated higher efficiency as costs increased, whereas those that failed to meet the target demonstrated higher inefficiency as costs increased. Strong effects emerged for population and urban economic development on the success of waste collection, whereas only marginal effects were observed for population density and city size. To improve the situation of municipalities that are not meeting the 65% target, we propose several policy measures, including 'neighbourhood solidarity'.