Pub Date : 2024-10-22DOI: 10.1016/j.ese.2024.100501
Yatai Men , Ke Jiang , Yaoji Li , Ran Xing , Zhihan Luo , Tianyao Huang , Shuyu Ou'yang , Wei Du , Yuanchen Chen , Guofeng Shen
Globally, over three billion people rely on traditional solid fuels for cooking and heating, leading to significant household air pollution and critical public health concerns. While transitioning to clean energy carriers faces challenges of accessibility and affordability—especially among low-income, rural populations—alternative strategies like kitchen layout modifications and the use of ventilation fans may effectively reduce exposure to pollutants. Here, we analyze factors influencing the adoption of separated kitchens and mechanical ventilation and evaluate changes in human exposure to PM2.5 under different kitchen renovation scenarios by conducting a nationwide survey of household kitchen characteristics in rural China. We found that although 82% of rural households have kitchens separated from other rooms, only 34% use mechanical ventilation. The adoption of ventilation fans is significantly influenced by income and education levels. We estimate that widespread implementation of ventilation fans and separated kitchen designs could prevent approximately 67400 premature deaths annually, resulting in a health benefit of about USD 19 billion per year—substantially exceeding the costs involved. These findings suggest that cost-effective kitchen renovations offer enormous potential for substantial health benefits and present a practical solution compared to the challenges of clean energy transitions in rural areas.
{"title":"Mitigating household air pollution exposure through kitchen renovation","authors":"Yatai Men , Ke Jiang , Yaoji Li , Ran Xing , Zhihan Luo , Tianyao Huang , Shuyu Ou'yang , Wei Du , Yuanchen Chen , Guofeng Shen","doi":"10.1016/j.ese.2024.100501","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ese.2024.100501","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Globally, over three billion people rely on traditional solid fuels for cooking and heating, leading to significant household air pollution and critical public health concerns. While transitioning to clean energy carriers faces challenges of accessibility and affordability—especially among low-income, rural populations—alternative strategies like kitchen layout modifications and the use of ventilation fans may effectively reduce exposure to pollutants. Here, we analyze factors influencing the adoption of separated kitchens and mechanical ventilation and evaluate changes in human exposure to PM<sub>2.5</sub> under different kitchen renovation scenarios by conducting a nationwide survey of household kitchen characteristics in rural China. We found that although 82% of rural households have kitchens separated from other rooms, only 34% use mechanical ventilation. The adoption of ventilation fans is significantly influenced by income and education levels. We estimate that widespread implementation of ventilation fans and separated kitchen designs could prevent approximately 67400 premature deaths annually, resulting in a health benefit of about USD 19 billion per year—substantially exceeding the costs involved. These findings suggest that cost-effective kitchen renovations offer enormous potential for substantial health benefits and present a practical solution compared to the challenges of clean energy transitions in rural areas.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34434,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science and Ecotechnology","volume":"23 ","pages":"Article 100501"},"PeriodicalIF":14.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142573022","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-10-22DOI: 10.1016/j.ese.2024.100500
Álvaro Pun , Jesús Valimaña-Traverso , María Ángeles García , María Luisa Marina , Abraham Esteve-Núñez , Karina Boltes
50% of pharmaceuticals and 25% of herbicides used worldwide are chiral. Each enantiomer has a unique toxicity and biodegradation profile, affecting differently to organisms. Chirality plays a key role in the behavior of these emerging contaminants (ECs) in terms of their pharmacological or herbicidal activity, but this peculiarity is often overlooked in environmental research. The complexity of chiral ECs is underestimated, as the varying sensitivity of biological systems to enantiomers is rarely considered. Biofilters can promote the activity of specific microbial communities, facilitating the degradation of ECs, due to the greater interaction between water and microorganisms and their compact design. Here, we show that an electroactive biofilter can alter the chirality of drugs and herbicides in wastewater treatment, impacting their removal and toxicity. The electrochemical biofilter (BioeF) removed 80% of pharmaceuticals and 50–75% of herbicides, outperforming the conventional filter (ConF). BioeF also showed greater chiral alterations and lower ecotoxicity. This work provides the first evidence of a relationship between changes in contaminant chirality and detoxification capacity, enhanced by electroactive systems. The increased microbial activity observed in the BioeF suggests that bioelectrochemical systems offer a valuable advance for ECs removal and ecotoxicity reduction, addressing the environmental challenge posed by ECs.
{"title":"Enhanced removal of chiral emerging contaminants by an electroactive biofilter","authors":"Álvaro Pun , Jesús Valimaña-Traverso , María Ángeles García , María Luisa Marina , Abraham Esteve-Núñez , Karina Boltes","doi":"10.1016/j.ese.2024.100500","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ese.2024.100500","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>50% of pharmaceuticals and 25% of herbicides used worldwide are chiral. Each enantiomer has a unique toxicity and biodegradation profile, affecting differently to organisms. Chirality plays a key role in the behavior of these emerging contaminants (ECs) in terms of their pharmacological or herbicidal activity, but this peculiarity is often overlooked in environmental research. The complexity of chiral ECs is underestimated, as the varying sensitivity of biological systems to enantiomers is rarely considered. Biofilters can promote the activity of specific microbial communities, facilitating the degradation of ECs, due to the greater interaction between water and microorganisms and their compact design. Here, we show that an electroactive biofilter can alter the chirality of drugs and herbicides in wastewater treatment, impacting their removal and toxicity. The electrochemical biofilter (BioeF) removed 80% of pharmaceuticals and 50–75% of herbicides, outperforming the conventional filter (ConF). BioeF also showed greater chiral alterations and lower ecotoxicity. This work provides the first evidence of a relationship between changes in contaminant chirality and detoxification capacity, enhanced by electroactive systems. The increased microbial activity observed in the BioeF suggests that bioelectrochemical systems offer a valuable advance for ECs removal and ecotoxicity reduction, addressing the environmental challenge posed by ECs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34434,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science and Ecotechnology","volume":"23 ","pages":"Article 100500"},"PeriodicalIF":14.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142553692","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-10-15DOI: 10.1016/j.ese.2024.100497
Steven J. Davis
{"title":"Synergetic strategies for carbon neutrality and clean air","authors":"Steven J. Davis","doi":"10.1016/j.ese.2024.100497","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ese.2024.100497","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":34434,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science and Ecotechnology","volume":"22 ","pages":"Article 100497"},"PeriodicalIF":14.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142532694","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-10-10DOI: 10.1016/j.ese.2024.100496
Siqi Sun , Yihe Lü , Xiaoming Feng , Fernando T. Maestre , Bojie Fu
Land degradation from water erosion poses a significant threat to water security and ecosystem stability, driving global efforts in soil conservation. Quantitative assessment of soil conservation benefits—both on-site and off-site—is crucial for guiding effective conservation strategies. However, existing methodologies often fall short in quantifying the value of these combined benefits. Here, we present a comprehensive framework for quantifying soil conservation service flows in monetary terms, evaluating the effectiveness of both on-site and off-site measures. Applying this framework to the Yellow River Basin (YRB), we employ cost-avoidance algorithms related to soil fertility maintenance, dredging cost reduction, and mitigation of nonpoint source pollution. Our results reveal that while many areas contribute to both on-site and off-site benefits, over half of the YRB relies predominantly on off-site services. By strategically enhancing key regions—which constitute 30% of the basin—we demonstrate that the overall soil conservation service supply can increase by 64.2% over the multi-year average from 2001 to 2020 compared to a consideration of on-site only. These findings underscore the essential role of off-site services in fully understanding soil conservation needs, particularly in large river basins, and the identified priority areas can offer valuable insights for optimizing soil conservation efforts.
{"title":"Optimizing soil conservation through comprehensive benefit assessment in river basins","authors":"Siqi Sun , Yihe Lü , Xiaoming Feng , Fernando T. Maestre , Bojie Fu","doi":"10.1016/j.ese.2024.100496","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ese.2024.100496","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Land degradation from water erosion poses a significant threat to water security and ecosystem stability, driving global efforts in soil conservation. Quantitative assessment of soil conservation benefits—both on-site and off-site—is crucial for guiding effective conservation strategies. However, existing methodologies often fall short in quantifying the value of these combined benefits. Here, we present a comprehensive framework for quantifying soil conservation service flows in monetary terms, evaluating the effectiveness of both on-site and off-site measures. Applying this framework to the Yellow River Basin (YRB), we employ cost-avoidance algorithms related to soil fertility maintenance, dredging cost reduction, and mitigation of nonpoint source pollution. Our results reveal that while many areas contribute to both on-site and off-site benefits, over half of the YRB relies predominantly on off-site services. By strategically enhancing key regions—which constitute 30% of the basin—we demonstrate that the overall soil conservation service supply can increase by 64.2% over the multi-year average from 2001 to 2020 compared to a consideration of on-site only. These findings underscore the essential role of off-site services in fully understanding soil conservation needs, particularly in large river basins, and the identified priority areas can offer valuable insights for optimizing soil conservation efforts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34434,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science and Ecotechnology","volume":"23 ","pages":"Article 100496"},"PeriodicalIF":14.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11513632/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142523260","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-10-08DOI: 10.1016/j.ese.2024.100495
Tian Jiang , Yuehan Wang , Chang Cai , Chunyang Nie , Honggen Peng , Zhimin Ao
Piezocatalysis, which converts mechanical energy into chemical energy via the piezoelectric properties of materials, has emerged as a promising, eco-friendly technology for advanced oxidation processes in water treatment. It can be synergistically combined with other advanced oxidation techniques, such as photocatalysis and Fenton reactions, to enhance contaminant removal efficiency. In this Review article, we outline the fundamental principles of piezocatalysis, the mechanical energy sources employed, and recent advancements in piezocatalysis-coupled techniques for water decontamination. We systematically examine three potential mechanisms of piezocatalysis, assess the benefits and drawbacks of various mechanical energy inputs, and highlight the synergistic effects observed in combined systems. Furthermore, the review provides a roadmap for future research, emphasizing key areas such as piezocatalysis mechanisms, catalyst design, reactor architecture, and practical applications for water treatment. By offering a comprehensive analysis of current progress and challenges, this review is expected to stimulate further research into the theoretical and practical aspects of piezocatalysis-coupled technologies.
{"title":"Piezocatalysis for water treatment: Mechanisms, recent advances, and future prospects","authors":"Tian Jiang , Yuehan Wang , Chang Cai , Chunyang Nie , Honggen Peng , Zhimin Ao","doi":"10.1016/j.ese.2024.100495","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ese.2024.100495","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Piezocatalysis, which converts mechanical energy into chemical energy via the piezoelectric properties of materials, has emerged as a promising, eco-friendly technology for advanced oxidation processes in water treatment. It can be synergistically combined with other advanced oxidation techniques, such as photocatalysis and Fenton reactions, to enhance contaminant removal efficiency. In this Review article, we outline the fundamental principles of piezocatalysis, the mechanical energy sources employed, and recent advancements in piezocatalysis-coupled techniques for water decontamination. We systematically examine three potential mechanisms of piezocatalysis, assess the benefits and drawbacks of various mechanical energy inputs, and highlight the synergistic effects observed in combined systems. Furthermore, the review provides a roadmap for future research, emphasizing key areas such as piezocatalysis mechanisms, catalyst design, reactor architecture, and practical applications for water treatment. By offering a comprehensive analysis of current progress and challenges, this review is expected to stimulate further research into the theoretical and practical aspects of piezocatalysis-coupled technologies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34434,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science and Ecotechnology","volume":"23 ","pages":"Article 100495"},"PeriodicalIF":14.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142432279","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-13DOI: 10.1016/j.ese.2024.100492
Yingkai Chen , Jiayu Luo , Li Ling , Zhengshuo Zhan , Jiutan Liu , Zongjun Gao , Jason Chun-Ho Lam , Chunhua Feng , Yang Lei
Electrochemical nitrate reduction to ammonia (ENRA) is gaining attention for its potential in water remediation and sustainable ammonia production, offering a greener alternative to the energy-intensive Haber-Bosch process. Current research on ENRA is dedicated to enhancing ammonia selectively and productivity with sophisticated catalysts. However, the performance of ENRA and the change of catalytic activity in more complicated solutions (i.e., nitrate-polluted groundwater) are poorly understood. Here we first explored the influence of Ca2+ and bicarbonate on ENRA using commercial cathodes. We found that the catalytic activity of used Ni or Cu foam cathodes significantly outperforms their pristine ones due to the in situ evolution of new catalytic species on used cathodes during ENRA. In contrast, the nitrate conversion performance with nonactive Ti or Sn cathode is less affected by Ca2+ or bicarbonate because of their original poor activity. In addition, the coexistence of Ca2+ and bicarbonate inhibits nitrate conversion by forming scales (CaCO3) on the in situ-formed active sites. Likewise, ENRA is prone to fast performance deterioration in treating actual groundwater over continuous flow operation due to the presence of hardness ions and possible organic substances that quickly block the active sites toward nitrate reduction. Our work suggests that more work is required to ensure the long-term stability of ENRA in treating natural nitrate-polluted water bodies and to leverage the environmental relevance of ENRA in more realistic conditions.
{"title":"In situ evolution of electrocatalysts for enhanced electrochemical nitrate reduction under realistic conditions","authors":"Yingkai Chen , Jiayu Luo , Li Ling , Zhengshuo Zhan , Jiutan Liu , Zongjun Gao , Jason Chun-Ho Lam , Chunhua Feng , Yang Lei","doi":"10.1016/j.ese.2024.100492","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ese.2024.100492","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Electrochemical nitrate reduction to ammonia (ENRA) is gaining attention for its potential in water remediation and sustainable ammonia production, offering a greener alternative to the energy-intensive Haber-Bosch process. Current research on ENRA is dedicated to enhancing ammonia selectively and productivity with sophisticated catalysts. However, the performance of ENRA and the change of catalytic activity in more complicated solutions (i.e., nitrate-polluted groundwater) are poorly understood. Here we first explored the influence of Ca<sup>2+</sup> and bicarbonate on ENRA using commercial cathodes. We found that the catalytic activity of used Ni or Cu foam cathodes significantly outperforms their pristine ones due to the <em>in situ</em> evolution of new catalytic species on used cathodes during ENRA. In contrast, the nitrate conversion performance with nonactive Ti or Sn cathode is less affected by Ca<sup>2+</sup> or bicarbonate because of their original poor activity. In addition, the coexistence of Ca<sup>2+</sup> and bicarbonate inhibits nitrate conversion by forming scales (CaCO<sub>3</sub>) on the <em>in situ</em>-formed active sites. Likewise, ENRA is prone to fast performance deterioration in treating actual groundwater over continuous flow operation due to the presence of hardness ions and possible organic substances that quickly block the active sites toward nitrate reduction. Our work suggests that more work is required to ensure the long-term stability of ENRA in treating natural nitrate-polluted water bodies and to leverage the environmental relevance of ENRA in more realistic conditions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34434,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science and Ecotechnology","volume":"23 ","pages":"Article 100492"},"PeriodicalIF":14.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142327997","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-13DOI: 10.1016/j.ese.2024.100491
Charlotte van der Nagel , Deena Hannoun , Todd Tietjen
Lake Mead, a large reservoir on the Colorado River and a critical drinking water source for the southwestern United States, typically exhibits high water quality, characterized by low nutrient and chlorophyll-a concentrations. This stability persists despite the inflow of highly treated wastewater since the 1960s and significant water level declines since 2000, driven by the ongoing Megadrought and basin-wide consumptive use. Such environmental changes may alter phytoplankton communities, potentially leading to increased cyanobacteria abundance, which could negatively impact water quality and the aquatic ecosystem through harmful algal blooms and toxin production. Here we analyzed 17 years of phytoplankton community structure and chlorophyll-a concentrations in Lake Mead, alongside quantitative water quality data, including nutrients, temperature, and water clarity, to assess the effects of environmental changes on phytoplankton communities. Contrary to the hypothesis that cyanobacteria abundance would have increased throughout the reservoir, our results indicate that phytoplankton community structures have remained largely stable, except for shallow areas where increases in temperature or phosphorus levels were observed. Additionally, we evaluated machine learning models for predicting changes in phytoplankton community structures. While the models confidently predicted changes in total phytoplankton biovolume and chlorophyll-a concentrations within the input parameter boundaries, predictions of peak biovolume showed considerable uncertainty, emphasizing the importance of incorporating uncertainty analysis in forecasting and communicating results. This study underscores the current buffering capacity of large, oligotrophic reservoirs like Lake Mead to maintain stable phytoplankton communities despite environmental changes. However, it also highlights the potential for significant community shifts if this buffering capacity is exceeded.
{"title":"Stable phytoplankton community compositions in Lake Mead (Nevada-Arizona, USA) during two decades of severe drought","authors":"Charlotte van der Nagel , Deena Hannoun , Todd Tietjen","doi":"10.1016/j.ese.2024.100491","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ese.2024.100491","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Lake Mead, a large reservoir on the Colorado River and a critical drinking water source for the southwestern United States, typically exhibits high water quality, characterized by low nutrient and chlorophyll-<em>a</em> concentrations. This stability persists despite the inflow of highly treated wastewater since the 1960s and significant water level declines since 2000, driven by the ongoing Megadrought and basin-wide consumptive use. Such environmental changes may alter phytoplankton communities, potentially leading to increased cyanobacteria abundance, which could negatively impact water quality and the aquatic ecosystem through harmful algal blooms and toxin production. Here we analyzed 17 years of phytoplankton community structure and chlorophyll-<em>a</em> concentrations in Lake Mead, alongside quantitative water quality data, including nutrients, temperature, and water clarity, to assess the effects of environmental changes on phytoplankton communities. Contrary to the hypothesis that cyanobacteria abundance would have increased throughout the reservoir, our results indicate that phytoplankton community structures have remained largely stable, except for shallow areas where increases in temperature or phosphorus levels were observed. Additionally, we evaluated machine learning models for predicting changes in phytoplankton community structures. While the models confidently predicted changes in total phytoplankton biovolume and chlorophyll-<em>a</em> concentrations within the input parameter boundaries, predictions of peak biovolume showed considerable uncertainty, emphasizing the importance of incorporating uncertainty analysis in forecasting and communicating results. This study underscores the current buffering capacity of large, oligotrophic reservoirs like Lake Mead to maintain stable phytoplankton communities despite environmental changes. However, it also highlights the potential for significant community shifts if this buffering capacity is exceeded.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34434,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science and Ecotechnology","volume":"23 ","pages":"Article 100491"},"PeriodicalIF":14.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142417655","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-12DOI: 10.1016/j.ese.2024.100490
Jiefeng Xiao , Jiaqi Lu , Bo Niu , Xiaohua Liu , Junming Hong , Zhenming Xu
The recycling of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is essential for promoting the closed-loop sustainable development of the LIB industry. However, progress in LIB recycling technologies is slow. There are significant gaps between academic research and industrial application, which hinder the industrialization of new technologies and the improvement of existing ones. Here we show a universal model for spent LIB-lithium recycling (SliRec) to evaluate the applicability and upgrading potential across various recycling technologies. Instead of modeling the entire recycling process, we focus on partial processes to enable a comparative analysis of environmental and economic impacts. We find a strong correlation between lithium concentration (LC) and the advancement of recycling technologies, where higher LC is associated with a reduced carbon footprint and increased economic benefits. The implementation of high-level recycling technology can result in an 85.91% reduction in carbon footprint and a 5.97-fold increase in economic returns. Additionally, we explore the effects of technological interventions through scenario analysis, demonstrating that while low-level recycling technology faces more substantial challenges in upgrading, it holds greater potential for reducing carbon emissions (−2.38 kg CO2-eq mol−1) and enhancing economic benefits (CNY 11.04 mol−1). Our findings emphasize the significance of process modeling in evaluating the quality of spent LIB recycling technologies, and can provide comparative information for the application of emerging technologies or the upgrade of existing ones.
{"title":"Ex-ante life cycle evaluation of spent lithium-ion battery recovery: Modeling of complex environmental and economic impacts","authors":"Jiefeng Xiao , Jiaqi Lu , Bo Niu , Xiaohua Liu , Junming Hong , Zhenming Xu","doi":"10.1016/j.ese.2024.100490","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ese.2024.100490","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The recycling of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is essential for promoting the closed-loop sustainable development of the LIB industry. However, progress in LIB recycling technologies is slow. There are significant gaps between academic research and industrial application, which hinder the industrialization of new technologies and the improvement of existing ones. Here we show a universal model for spent LIB-lithium recycling (<em>SliRec</em>) to evaluate the applicability and upgrading potential across various recycling technologies. Instead of modeling the entire recycling process, we focus on partial processes to enable a comparative analysis of environmental and economic impacts. We find a strong correlation between lithium concentration (LC) and the advancement of recycling technologies, where higher LC is associated with a reduced carbon footprint and increased economic benefits. The implementation of high-level recycling technology can result in an 85.91% reduction in carbon footprint and a 5.97-fold increase in economic returns. Additionally, we explore the effects of technological interventions through scenario analysis, demonstrating that while low-level recycling technology faces more substantial challenges in upgrading, it holds greater potential for reducing carbon emissions (−2.38 kg CO<sub>2</sub>-eq mol<sup>−1</sup>) and enhancing economic benefits (CNY 11.04 mol<sup>−1</sup>). Our findings emphasize the significance of process modeling in evaluating the quality of spent LIB recycling technologies, and can provide comparative information for the application of emerging technologies or the upgrade of existing ones.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":34434,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science and Ecotechnology","volume":"23 ","pages":"Article 100490"},"PeriodicalIF":14.0,"publicationDate":"2024-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666498424001042/pdfft?md5=1971080c42e7dcd6ad524635469c9a0c&pid=1-s2.0-S2666498424001042-main.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142274252","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-09-12DOI: 10.1016/j.ese.2024.100493
Yulin Zhang , Bingjie Xue , Yanping Mao , Xi Chen , Weifu Yan , Yanren Wang , Yulin Wang , Lei Liu , Jiale Yu , Xiaojin Zhang , Shan Chao , Edward Topp , Wenshan Zheng , Tong Zhang
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) represent one of biotechnology's largest and most critical applications, playing a pivotal role in environmental protection and public health. In WWTPs, activated sludge (AS) plays a major role in removing contaminants and pathogens from wastewater. While metagenomics has advanced our understanding of microbial communities, it still faces challenges in revealing the genomic heterogeneity of cells, uncovering the microbial dark matter, and establishing precise links between genetic elements and their host cells as a bulk method. These issues could be largely resolved by single-cell sequencing, which can offer unprecedented resolution to show the unique genetic information. Here we show the high-throughput single-cell sequencing to the AS microbiome. The single-amplified genomes (SAGs) of 15,110 individual cells were clustered into 2,454 SAG bins. We find that 27.5% of the genomes in the AS microbial community represent potential novel species, highlighting the presence of microbial dark matter. Furthermore, we identified 1,137 antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), 10,450 plasmid fragments, and 1,343 phage contigs, with shared plasmid and phage groups broadly distributed among hosts, indicating a high frequency of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) within the AS microbiome. Complementary analysis using 1,529 metagenome-assembled genomes from the AS samples allowed for the taxonomic classification of 98 SAG bins, which were previously unclassified. Our study establishes the feasibility of single-cell sequencing in characterizing the AS microbiome, providing novel insights into its ecological dynamics, and deepening our understanding of HGT processes, particularly those involving ARGs. Additionally, this valuable tool could monitor the distribution, spread, and pathogenic hosts of ARGs both within AS environments and between AS and other environments, which will ultimately contribute to developing a health risk evaluation system for diverse environments within a One Health framework.
污水处理厂（WWTP）是生物技术最大、最关键的应用领域之一，在环境保护和公共卫生方面发挥着举足轻重的作用。在污水处理厂中，活性污泥（AS）在去除废水中的污染物和病原体方面发挥着重要作用。虽然元基因组学促进了我们对微生物群落的了解，但作为一种批量方法，它在揭示细胞基因组异质性、发掘微生物暗物质以及建立遗传元素与其宿主细胞之间的精确联系方面仍面临挑战。单细胞测序可以在很大程度上解决这些问题，因为单细胞测序可以提供前所未有的分辨率来显示独特的遗传信息。在这里，我们展示了对强直性脊柱炎微生物组的高通量单细胞测序。我们将 15110 个单细胞的单扩增基因组（SAG）聚类到 2454 个 SAG bins 中。我们发现，在 AS 微生物群落中，27.5% 的基因组代表了潜在的新物种，凸显了微生物暗物质的存在。此外，我们还发现了1,137个抗生素耐药基因（ARGs）、10,450个质粒片段和1,343个噬菌体等位组，其中共享质粒和噬菌体组广泛分布于宿主之间，这表明强直性脊柱炎微生物群落中水平基因转移（HGT）的频率很高。利用来自强直性脊柱炎样本的1,529个元基因组组装的基因组进行补充分析，可以对98个SAG分区进行分类，而这些分区以前是未分类的。我们的研究证实了单细胞测序在描述强直性脊柱炎微生物组特征方面的可行性，为了解其生态动态提供了新的视角，并加深了我们对HGT过程的理解，特别是那些涉及ARGs的过程。此外，这一宝贵的工具还能监测ARGs在强直性脊柱炎环境中以及强直性脊柱炎与其他环境之间的分布、传播和致病宿主，这最终将有助于在 "一个健康 "框架内为不同环境开发一个健康风险评估系统。
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