Resources, Conservation and Recycling: X最新文献

Anaerobic digestate originating from food waste has been studied herein for two different purposes. Firstly, for combustion, co-granulation of the digestate and medium density fibreboard (MDF) dust with the addition of sodium silicate as the binder was used to produce the granular solid biofuel. It was found that increasing the content of the medium density fibreboard dust could increase the calorific value but had no significant effect on the strength of the final granules. Additionally, a significant reduction of the ash content was also observed. For heavy metal removal, granules made using the digestate and sodium silicate binder were carbonised to produce biochar which was characterised and applied as adsorbent materials. The biochar has a good removal capacity for both lead and cadmium, and the binder concentration had a positive correlation with the removal capacity of the resultant biochar. The maximum lead removal capacity (355.3 mg g⁻¹) of biochar made using 3 wt.% sodium silicate binder, was six times more than the analogous commercial activated carbon. Langmuir model showed better fitting for adsorption data of Pb²⁺, while the Freundlich model showed better fitting of Cd²⁺. For both Pb²⁺ and Cd²⁺ kinetic data, the pseudo-second-order had a better correlation. Our approach helps aid and facilitate the concept of the circular economy by effectively up-cycling and valorising waste lignocellulosic biomass such as food waste digestate into value-added products.

Freshwater ecosystems worldwide are at risk of becoming degraded as a result of excessive inputs of phosphorus (P) associated with terrestrial activities. This study describes a novel methodology to rapidly assess the potential of low-cost adsorbents which might be used to combat this issue. The ability of aluminum drinking water treatment residual (Al-WTR) and crushed concrete (CC) to remove P from dairy wastewater (DW) and forestry runoff (wastewaters representative of point and nonpoint P pollution sources, respectively) was assessed. In addition to predicting the longevity of these media in large-scale filters, potential risks associated with their use were also examined. The results indicate that both CC and Al-WTR show promise for use in removing P from forestry runoff, however the raised pH of effluent from CC filters may pose an environmental concern. Al-WTR showed greater promise than CC for the treatment of DW due to its higher adsorption capacity at high concentrations. Small releases of aluminum (13.63-96.17 μg g⁻¹) and copper (5.25-31.9 μg g⁻¹) were observed from both media when treating forestry runoff, and Al-WTR also released a small amount of nickel (0.16 μg g⁻¹). Approximately 50% of total metal loss occurred during the first 25% of total filter loading, indicating that pre-washing of the media would help prevent metal release. These results indicate that field-scale tests are warranted for the treatment of both wastewaters with Al-WTR; CC is likely to be unsuitable for either forestry runoff or DW due to its effects on pH and its short lifespan.

The Publisher regrets that this article is an accidental duplication of a published article, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.104964. The duplicate article has therefore been withdrawn.

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This paper reports on research undertaken to identify generic and specific barriers to reuse of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE). Thirty semi-structured interviews were conducted with experts from across the value chain including product designers, manufacturers, users and waste managers as well policy makers and academics. The interviews sought to examine perceived and real barriers to reuse in the UK. Three inter-connected factors that limit opportunities and instances of reuse of electrical and electronic equipment were identified, highlighting that both systemic and consumer barriers to increasing levels of reuse exist. These are: producer reluctance, unsuitable collection infrastructure and cultural issues. Overall, the paper shows that low levels of reuse in the electrical and electronic sector are a result of complex and interlinked barriers. Understanding these connections offers the potential to improve the opportunities for reuse, by providing direction for policy makers to address barriers from a multi stakeholder perspective. Increasing instances of reuse is essential if the UK is to successfully move towards a resource efficient, circular economy.

To improve air quality and protect public health, the State Council of China issued the National Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan (‘the Action Plan’) in 2013. Specific measures were designed in the Action Plan to reduce emissions of atmospheric pollutants, with core contents in energy related measures. Implementing these measures would potentially have significant co-benefits on carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. This study quantitatively analyzes the impacts of the different measures in the Action Plan on the emissions of major air pollutants of sulfur dioxide (SO₂), nitrogen oxides (NO_X), particulate matter (PM) and CO₂ in the Jing-Jin-Ji (JJJ, i.e., Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei) region using the Greenhouse Gas and Air Pollution Interactions and Synergies model (GAINS)-China model. The results show that the Action Plan in JJJ would reduce 47.3 ± 0.8% of SO₂, 32.5 ± 2.6% of NOx, 15.2 ± 0.2% of PM_2.5, and 39.9 ± 5.3% CO₂ emissions, compared to the emissions in 2012. PM_2.5 emission reduction has the highest co-benefit for CO₂ reduction in JJJ, and also in Tianjin and Hebei. In Beijing, NOx emission reduction has high co-benefit for CO₂ reduction, when considering the relative degree of co-benefit. Among the different source sectors, industrial and residential sectors are identified to be the source sectors that contribute the most to the co-benefit of CO₂ emission reduction in JJJ. The results suggest that implementing energy replacement in the industrial and residential sectors in JJJ can not only generate large amounts of air pollutants emission reduction, but also can lead to significant CO₂ emission reduction.