Superadsorbent hydrogels have become a viable solution to the urgent problem of industrial wastewater contamination. This paper offers a thorough analysis of the most recent advancements in ...superadsorbent hydrogels, highlighting their potential to reduce pollution from industrial waste and support environmental preservation. The review begins with an explanation of the basic properties and principles of superadsorbent hydrogels, with a focus on their exceptional ability to swell with water. The story then flows into a thorough analysis of wastewater treatment, explaining how superadsorbent hydrogels interact with pollutants. Synthesis processes using natural, synthetic, and hybrid materials are examined to reveal the many strategies used to produce these hydrogels. In addition, the study explores the environmental effects of using superadsorbent hydrogels in wastewater treatment, assessing possible effects on soil and aquatic environments. This research highlights the revolutionary potential of superadsorbent hydrogels in improving industrial wastewater treatment methods while also protecting the environment.
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•Heavy metal adsorption from industrial wastewater using superadsorbent hydrogels (SAH).•SAHs with good thermal and mechanical capabilities for heavy metal ion removal.•In water, hydrogels have an excellent swelling ratio and slow-release characteristics.•A versatile SAH with broad applications, contributing to eco-friendly practices and environmental conservation.•SAHs are a promising new material for a wide range of applications, including water purification, drug delivery, and tissue engineering.
Article analyses issues connected with lack of specific regulations regarding performance of examinations by accredited laboratories in the process of remediation and possibilities for authorities to ...verify results of such examinations. In order to provide contest for the analysis, the article familiarizes the reader with short description of the remediation as a legal institution as well as the corresponding procedure. Article also includes de lege ferenda postulates in this respect.
The development of the recycling technologies for waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) has entered a new stage. The WEEE disposing technologies have evolved from simple disassembly, ...classification and sorting to high value-added utilization technologies. In the past decade, some modified and novel technologies have been developed to recover metals from WEEE. This paper focuses on the recycling of metals from WEEE. The recycling principle, separating process, and optimized operating parameters of existing technologies are summarized and discussed in detail. Based on traditional recycling technologies of WEEE, pyrometallurgical technology and some mild extracting reagent, such as chloride medium, ammonia–ammonium and non-cyanide lixiviants can effectively recycle metals. Compared with the conventional acid and cyanide leaching, they have vast improvements in aspect of environmental protection. More than 98% of Cu and 70% of Au can be extracted. In addition, electrochemical technology, supercritical technology, vacuum metallurgical technology, etc. are also applied to recycle WEEE. The recovery rate of Cu and Pb under optimum conditions is around 84.2% and 89.4% respectively in supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) combined with electrokinetic (EK) technology. Vacuum technology has good environmental performance due to its avoiding discharge of waste water. Other new technologies such as ultrasound technology, mechanochemical technology, and molten salt oxidation technology have also been tried to recycle metals from WEEE. Regrettably, although many endeavors to develop recycling technologies have been attempted, these technologies are still relatively single and limited because WEEE is a complex system. Hence, the shortages and defects of each technology are discussed from the perspective of technological promotion and environmental protection. Furthermore, the outlook about the further development of recycling technologies for metals from WEEE is presented.
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•Current recovery technologies for metals in WEEE are summarized and reviewed.•Defects and shortages of existing technologies are analyzed in detail.•Suggestions for technology promotion and environmental protection are presented.
COVID-19 has disrupted all aspects of human life. To mitigate the impact of the pandemic, several efforts have been taken, including by Indonesian scholars abroad. This book entitled Indonesia ...Post-Pandemic Outlook: Environment and Technology Role for Indonesia Development explores environment and technology issues and topics related to the COVID-19 pandemic and discusses post-pandemic recovery efforts in Indonesia. Comprising of 19 chapters, this book is divided into four sections. The first section, disaster and greening management development, discusses insights for a better solution in disaster prevention and development of greening management. Second, waste and pollution management development, explores options in development of waste and pollution management such as potentials uses of membrane technology, remediation of textile dyes, biochar industry, and also discussion on persistent organic pollution and microplastics. Third, food defense and security development, explores the potentials of food security and management in utilizing the potential of coastal sand marginal land resources, IoT and smart packaging, and smart food supply chain. The last part, human resource and public service development, discuses developments on management of education system, public transportation, e-government, and health information system. We hope that this book can be a valuable reference for stakeholders, policymakers, as well as society to recover from the pandemic crisis and find better solutions to benefit future generations.
Immobilization of various nanoparticles onto complex 2D or 3D macroscopic surface is an important issue for nanotechnology, but the challenge remains to explore a facile, general and environmentally ...friendly method for achieving this goal. Taking inspiration from the adhesion of marine mussels, we reported here that oxide nanoparticles of different compositions and sizes were directly and robustly anchored on the surface of monolithic foams ranging from polymer to metals in an aqueous solution of dopamine. The effective immobilization of the nanoparticles was strongly dependent on the oxidation of dopamine, which could be tuned by either pH or by adding n-dodecanethiol. Interestingly, the thiol addition not only allowed the immobilization to take place in a wide pH range, but also led to superhydrophobicity of the resulting foams. Application of the superhydrophobic foams was illustrated by fast and selective collecting oils from water surface. Because catecholic derivatives exhibit high affinity to a variety of substances, the present strategy might be extendable to fabricate hybrid nanomaterials desirable for self-cleaning, environmental protection, sensors and catalysts, and so forth.
The issue of climate change has garnered significant attention in recent years, with a growing recognition of the need to mitigate its negative impacts on the environment. However, despite the ...potential benefits of green finance in addressing climate change, there has been relatively little empirical work on its impact due to the lack of available data. This study aims to fill this gap by empirically analyzing the impact of green finance on the environment using panel data from thirteen complex economies from 2006 to 2020. This study employed a range of econometric techniques, including Driscoll-Kraay standard error and other robustness test models, to explore the relationships between ecological footprint, economic complexity index, green finance, technological innovations, and political risk. The study found that green finance and technological innovations effectively reduce the ecological footprint by 0.28% and 0.75%, respectively, and could help achieve a sustainable environment. However, economic complexity and political risk upsurge the ecological footprint by 0.75% and 0.78%, respectively, in the selected countries. Finally, depending on the empirical outputs, this paper suggested that governments should take action to reduce carbon footprints and protect the environment by investing in green finance projects, promoting economic diversity and technological sophistication, and creating a stable political environment.
Climate change is one of the most serious threats facing the world today. Environmental pollution and depletion of natural resources have been highlighted by the United Nations Sustainable ...Development Goals (SDGs), paving the way for modern concepts such as sustainable growth to be introduced. Therefore, this research explores the relationship between green finance, energy efficiency, and CO
emissions in the G7 countries. The study uses panel data model technique to examine the dependence structure of green finance, energy efficiency, and CO
emissions. Moreover, we use DEA to construct an energy efficiency index of G7 countries. A specific interval exists between the values of the energy efficiency indexes. Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States were named the most energy-efficient countries in the world, based on results obtained for five consecutive years in this category. However, according to the comparative rankings, France and Italy are the most successful of all the G7 members, followed by the United Kingdom and Germany. Our overall findings of the econometric model confirm the negative impact of green finance and energy efficiency on CO
emissions; however, this relationship varies across the different quantiles of the two variables. The findings in the study confirm that green finance is the best financial strategy for reducing CO
emissions.
The combination of one‐dimensional and two‐dimensional building blocks leads to the formation of hierarchical composites that can take full advantages of each kind of material, which is an effective ...way for the preparation of multifunctional materials with extraordinary properties. Among various building blocks, nanocarbons (e.g., carbon nanotubes and graphene) and layered double hydroxides (LDHs) are two of the most powerful materials that have been widely used in human life. This Feature Article presents a state‐of‐the‐art review of hierarchical nanocomposites derived from nanocarbons and LDHs. The properties of nanocarbons, LDHs, as well as the combined nanocomposites, are described first. Then, efficient and effective fabrication methods for the hierarchical nanocomposites, including the reassembly of nanocarbons and LDHs, formation of LDHs on nanocarbons, and formation of nanocarbons on LDHs, are presented. The as‐obtained nanocomposites derived form nanocarbons and LDHs exhibited excellent performance as multifunctional materials for their promising applications in energy storage, nanocomposites, catalysis, environmental protection, and drug delivery. The fabrication of LDH/carbon nanocomposites provides a novel method for the development of novel multifunctional nanocomposites based on the existing nanomaterials. However, knowledge of their assembly mechanism, robust and precise route for LDH/nanocarbon hybrid with well designed structure, and the relationship between structure, properties, and applications are still inadequate. A multidisciplinary approach from the scope of materials, physics, chemistry, engineering, and other application areas, is highly required for the development of this advanced functional composite materials.
Hierarchical nanocomposites derived from nanocarbons and layered double hydroxides, representing the latest frontier for arrangement and construction of different low‐dimensional nanomaterials as building blocks, are reviewed. The article highlights the fabrication of novel hierarchical nanoarchitectures via bottom‐up self‐organization and their promising applications in energy storage, materials science, catalysis, environmental protection, and drug delivery, with a focus on hot topics and future challenges in this field.
Chlorinated volatile organic compounds (Cl-VOCs), including polychloromethanes, polychloroethanes and polychloroethylenes, are widely used as solvents, degreasing agents and a variety of commercial ...products. These compounds belong to a group of ubiquitous contaminants that can be found in contaminated soil, air and any kind of fluvial mediums such as groundwater, rivers and lakes. This review presents a summary of the research concerning the production levels and sources of Cl-VOCs, their potential impacts on human health as well as state-of-the-art remediation technologies. Important sources of Cl-VOCs principally include the emissions from industrial processes, the consumption of Cl-VOC-containing products, the disinfection process, as well as improper storage and disposal methods. Human exposure to Cl-VOCs can occur through different routes, including ingestion, inhalation and dermal contact. The toxicological impacts of these compounds have been carefully assessed, and the results demonstrate the potential associations of cancer incidence with exposure to Cl-VOCs. Most Cl-VOCs thus have been listed as priority pollutants by the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) of China, Environmental Protection Agency of the U.S. (U.S. EPA) and European Commission (EC), and are under close monitor and strict control. Yet, more efforts will be put into the epidemiological studies for the risk of human exposure to Cl-VOCs and the exposure level measurements in contaminated sites in the future. State-of-the-art remediation technologies for Cl-VOCs employ non-destructive methods and destructive methods (e.g. thermal incineration, phytoremediation, biodegradation, advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) and reductive dechlorination), whose advantages, drawbacks and future developments are thoroughly discussed in the later sections.
•Chlorinated volatile organic compounds (Cl-VOCs) are ubiquitous contaminants.•The sources, human health impacts and remediation methods of Cl-VOCs are reviewed.•Future directions on risk and exposure level evaluations of Cl-VOCs are pointed.•State-of-the-art remediation technologies of Cl-VOCs are thoroughly discussed.
The article analyses the renewable energy implementation and prediction prospects examining the case of Lithuania. This paper presents the achieved results obtained by implementing the targets of ...National Energy Independence Strategy and requirements of the EU directives for EU Member States. It was disclosed that over the last 5 years, the share of renewable energy sources (RES) in gross inland fuel and energy consumption in Lithuania increased about 1.3 times. Gross domestic product (GDP) grew annually on average 3.2%. Country’s GDP increased about 1.3 times and gross inland and final fuel and energy consumption – about 10–12%. The largest share of RES in Lithuania came from solid biofuels – 80.6% in 2017. For the last 5 years, wind energy production increased about 2.5 times and biogas energy consumption – about 2.8 times. Total emissions of greenhouse gasses decreased by 3% and air pollutants by 23%. Lithuania has set targets to increase RES share in the final energy consumption up to 30% by 2020, 45% by 2030 and 80% by 2050 years.
The analysis identified the most promising directions for sustainable energy development and their environmental impact. That is also suitable for use in other countries, in order to provide local energy resources.
•Main components of RES and tendencies of their usage in Lithuania were assessed.•Lithuanian energy policy has led to GDP growth of 1.3 times and annually on 3.2%.•Increase of gross inland consumption of RES from 15.8 to 20.4% is disclosed.•Decrease of total GHG emissions of 3% and air pollutants of 23% is estimated.•A target to increase RES share up to 30% by 2020 and 80% by 2050 was revealed.
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