Article
Environmental Sciences
Khalisah Khairina Razman, Marlia M. Hanafiah, Abdul Wahab Mohammad, Sergey Agashichev, Sgouris Sgouridis, Faisal AlMarzooqi
Summary: This study evaluates the environmental performance of the PVRO membrane treatment system through life cycle assessment. It found that the PVRO treatment has the highest impacts on terrestrial ecotoxicity, human non-carcinogenic toxicity potential, and greenhouse gas emissions.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Pirooz Pazouki, Hangyong Ray Lu, Ali El Hanandeh, Wahidul Biswas, Edoardo Bertone, Fernanda Helfer, Rodney A. Stewart
Summary: The study compared the conventional SWRO desalination process with two contemporary low-pressure membrane desalination processes, finding that environmental impacts are highly dependent on the clean in place process in dilution desalination systems, while energy flow plays a significant role in standalone RO systems. Overall, the ODD process with FO-RO hybrid membrane technology had the highest environmental impact.
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Jorge Senan-Salinas, Junkal Landaburu-Aguirre, Jorge Contreras-Martinez, Eloy Garcia-Calvo
Summary: Recycling end-of-life RO membrane modules into FO membranes is an innovative approach to integrate membrane science into Circular Economy. This study assessed the environmental potential of this strategy and compared it with commercial TFC and CTA membranes. The results showed the interest in most impact categories and identified solvent losses as a source of error.
RESOURCES CONSERVATION AND RECYCLING
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Chemical
E. R. Cornelissen, D. J. H. Harmsen, B. Blankert, L. P. Wessels, W. G. J. van der Meer
Summary: Reverse osmosis is commonly used in drinking water supply for treatment of fresh water sources to produce high quality water. Strategies to control membrane fouling include low flux operation and improved hydraulic cleaning. Research found that a minimal pre-treated reverse osmosis system has lower total cost compared to ultrafiltration pre-treated reverse osmosis system and both systems have their own limitations.
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Natasha E. Batista, Paulo C. M. Carvalho, Luis M. Fernandez-Ramirez, Arthur P. S. Braga
Summary: Based on a systematic and bibliometric review, the combined use of Portfolio Theory (PT) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is proposed for the energy management of a Hybrid Renewable Energy System (HRES) powered reverse osmosis (RO) plant. The aim is to achieve Multi-Objective Optimization (MOO), decreasing the Drinking Water Cost (DWC) and increasing the system reliability and components lifetime. The review reveals that HOMER is the most commonly used software for hybrid plants sizing and optimization, but it has limitations in terms of component power range and computational cost associated with hydrogen production and storage. In contrast, optimization methods based on PSO show lower computational cost and robust results. Additionally, the use of PT for HRES energy management is innovative, as PT has traditionally been applied in the economy sector.
RENEWABLE & SUSTAINABLE ENERGY REVIEWS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Patrycja Baldowska-Witos, Izabela Piasecka, Jozef Flizikowski, Andrzej Tomporowski, Adam Idzikowski, Marcin Zawada
Summary: The article discusses the environmental impact of blow molding machine used in bottle production, focusing on marine aquatic ecotoxicity. Life cycle assessment analysis was conducted using SimaPro 8.4.0 software. Among all impact categories, marine aquatic ecotoxicity showed the highest potential harmful effects.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Saad M. Alramthi, Gamila H. Ali, Ahmed M. Shaban, Tarek A. Abdou, Atiah M. Elthagafi, Saad H. Eldosari, Bao-Ku Zhu, Hosam M. Safaa
Summary: This research assessed the drinking water quality from the Al Wajeed Water Treatment System in Saudi Arabia. The majority of water samples met national and international standards, but a few sites showed water quality issues that didn't comply with the standards, highlighting the importance of monitoring and follow-up programs.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Axel Herrera, Giuliana D'Imporzano, Elisa Clagnan, Ambrogio Pigoli, Elena Bonadei, Erik Meers, Fabrizio Adani
Summary: Using membrane technology to treat manure can reduce its volume and produce a nutrient-rich concentrate, allowing the recovery of 46% of total nitrogen and 43% of total phosphorus. Compared to synthetic mineral fertilizers, this process has lower environmental impacts in 12 categories studied. The study also suggests precautions to further reduce environmental impacts and reduce energy consumption.
ACS SUSTAINABLE CHEMISTRY & ENGINEERING
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Qibo Jia, Yan Li, Yan Liu, Dongping Duan
Summary: The study synthesized a forward osmosis (FO) membrane using silanol and graphene oxide nanosheets through a surface layer-by-layer self-assembly method, achieving high water flux and salt retention capacity by controlling the number and spacing of composite layers.
Review
Environmental Sciences
Suresh Indika, Yuansong Wei, Titus Cooray, Tharindu Ritigala, K. B. S. N. Jinadasa, Sujithra K. Weragoda, Rohan Weerasooriya
Summary: This paper reviews and discusses the current status, challenges, and opportunities of groundwater quality management and improvement in Sri Lanka. Groundwater is the main source of drinking water in Sri Lanka, with different types in different regions. Higher levels of hardness, fluoride, DOC, alkalinity, and salinity are reported in the dry zone due to geology and arid climate. While some regions have significant levels of harmful substances in groundwater, the majority remain within acceptable levels. To achieve safe drinking water supply, Sri Lanka needs to invest in infrastructure and human resources for regular monitoring and assessment of groundwater quality.
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Peng Cui, Bo Qin
Summary: This study investigated the effect of different variables on fluoride removal from wastewater from a nonferrous metallurgy plant. The results indicate that under the optimum conditions, the residual fluoride concentration was below 8 mg/l, meeting the industrial discharge standard of China. It is feasible to obtain high purity calcium fluoride through chemical analysis and XRF.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Alejandro Labella, Rosana Molero, Rocio Leiva-Rebollo, Rocio Perez-Recuerda, Juan J. Borrego
Summary: This study analyzed the bacterial composition and antibiotic resistance of a drinking-water RO system, identifying Gammaproteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Betaproteobacteria as the major bacterial groups. Among the strains, 37.2% showed resistance to three or more classes of antibiotics.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Jorge Senan-Salinas, Alberto Blanco, Raquel Garcia-Pacheco, Junkal Landaburu-Aguirre, Eloy Garcia-Calvo
Summary: The study evaluates the potential of direct recycling of EoL RO modules in terms of environmental and economic aspects. Results show significant environmental benefits of recycling, but long-distance transport may limit the distribution of recycled products.
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
(2021)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Elena Najjar, Mahmoud Al-Hindi, May Massoud, Walid Saad
Summary: The study assessed the feasibility of integrating seawater reverse osmosis and a hybrid energy system to meet water needs in a remote community in Lebanon using life cycle assessment. Results showed that using biogas power for desalination is environmentally viable and has lower environmental impact compared to conventional fossil fuels.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Boukary Sawadogo, Yacouba Konate, Seyram Kossi Sossou, Nana Fassouma Ado Saidou, Abdoul Wahab Nouhou Moussa, Harouna Karambiri
Summary: This study evaluated the performance of nanofiltration and reverse osmosis for the removal of sulphate ions from borehole water. The results showed that the operating conditions significantly affected the retention of sulphate ions by reverse osmosis and nanofiltration membranes.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Laura Flores, Marianna Garfi, Rocio Pena, Joan Garcia
Summary: This study aimed to quantify and compare greenhouse gas emissions from two full-scale winery wastewater and sludge treatment systems in Galicia, Spain. The results showed that surface emission rates were lower in the constructed wetlands system compared to the activated sludge system.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Lucas Vassalle, Fabiana Passos, Alcino Trindade Rosa-Machado, Camila Moreira, Mariana Reis, Matheus Pascoal de Freitas, Ivet Ferrer, Cesar Rossas Mota
Summary: The study evaluated the performance of solar thermal pre-treatment of microalgal biomass to enhance methane yield during anaerobic co-digestion. Results showed a significant increase in organic matter solubilisation and methane yield with solar pre-treatment, as well as ensuring a positive energy balance in the system.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Jun Li, Lila Otero-Gonzalez, Amelia Parao, Pieter Tack, Karel Folens, Ivet Ferrer, Piet N. L. Lens, Gijs Du Laing
Summary: Selenium plays a vital role in plant growth, with selenium-enriched sludge identified as a potential slow-release selenium biofertilizer to increase selenium content in bean plants. The study showed that selenium released from selenium-enriched sludge could be efficiently transformed into health-beneficial selenoamino acids when taken up by bean plants.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Cristina M. Villanueva, Marianna Garfi, Carles Mila, Sergio Olmos, Ivet Ferrer, Cathryn Tonne
Summary: This study evaluated the health and environmental impacts of different drinking water choices in Barcelona, Spain, using HIA and LCA methodologies. The results showed that consuming tap water had the lowest environmental impact on ecosystems and resources, while drinking bottled water had the highest impact on both health and environment. Meeting drinking water needs using bottled or filtered tap water led to the lowest bladder cancer DALYs but had high environmental impacts.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Mirko Cucina, Liliana Castro, Humberto Escalante, Ivet Ferrer, Marianna Garfi
Summary: The study characterizes digestates from plastic tubular digesters in Colombia fed with cattle manure, cattle manure mixed with cheese whey, and pig manure. The digestates have suitable physico-chemical characteristics and nutrient concentrations for reuse as biofertilizers, but may require post-treatment for heavy metals and pathogens. Pig manure digestate has higher nutrient percentage and residual phytotoxicity compared to others. Further research is needed to improve the fertilizing potential of digestates and reduce environmental and health risks.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Iryna Lanko, Jakub Hejnic, Jana Rihova-Ambrozova, Ivet Ferrer, Pavel Jenicek
Summary: The study compared the digestate quality of single-stage mesophilic and thermophilic AD and TPAD systems, showing that the TPAD system is the most beneficial in terms of organic matter degradation efficiency, dewaterability, and pathogenic safety.
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
M. Juanpera, L. Ferrer-Marti, R. Diez-Montero, I. Ferrer, L. Castro, H. Escalante, M. Garfi
Summary: This study applied a multicriteria analysis to select the most suitable solution for the post-treatment and reuse of digestate from low-tech digesters. The results showed that vermifiltration is the best alternative for the post-treatment of digestates from low-tech digesters implemented in small-scale farms.
RENEWABLE & SUSTAINABLE ENERGY REVIEWS
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Larissa T. Arashiro, Irene Josa, Ivet Ferrer, Stijn W. H. Van Hulle, Diederik P. L. Rousseau, Marianna Garfi
Summary: This study assessed the potential environmental impacts of microalgae systems for waste-water treatment and bioproducts recovery. It found that recovering bioproducts from industrial wastewater had lower environmental impacts compared to conventional systems, reducing up to 5 times.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Ana Alvarez-Gonzalez, Enrica Uggetti, Lydia Serrano, Gil Gorchs, Ivet Ferrer, Ruben Diez-Montero
Summary: This study evaluated the use of microalgal biomass produced during domestic wastewater treatment as a biofertilizer in basil crops. The results showed that combining microalgae with inorganic fertilizer can provide comparable plant growth to conventional fertilizers, with higher leaf dry weight.
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Jun Li, Lila Otero-Gonzalez, Piet N. L. Lens, Ivet Ferrer, Gijs Du Laing
Summary: Selenium and zinc are essential micronutrients often lacking in human and animal diets. SeZn-enriched duckweed and sludge can be used as slow-release biofertilizers, significantly increasing selenium concentrations in plants, particularly organic selenium-methionine in seeds, without negative effects on plant growth.
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Vincenzo Senatore, Estel Rueda, Marta Bellver, Ruben Diez-Montero, Ivet Ferrer, Tiziano Zarra, Vincenzo Naddeo, Joan Garcia
Summary: This study evaluates the cultivation of cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. in a pilot scale photobioreactior to produce phycobiliproteins, PHB, and lipids. The results show that under nutrient starvation, the content of PHB and lipids reached 4.8% and 44.7%, respectively.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Etiele G. De Morais, Ana M. Murillo, Piet N. L. Lens, Ivet Ferrer, Enrica Uggetti
Summary: Selenium is an important element for many living organisms, but high concentrations can harm the environment. This study found that Chlorella vulgaris and Scenedesmus sp. grown in urban wastewater with different selenium concentrations can effectively remove selenium.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Irene Josa, Marianna Garfi
Summary: The aim of this study was to evaluate the social impacts of microalgae-based systems for wastewater treatment and bioproducts recovery. Through Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA), two systems were analyzed: one treating urban wastewater and another treating wastewater from the food industry. Comparisons were made to a system producing bioproducts from microalgae grown in a standard growth medium. Results showed that the system using standard growth medium had the best performance in all impact categories and stakeholder considerations, mainly due to its simplicity, absence of contaminants, and established legislation and frameworks.
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
(2023)
Article
Agricultural Engineering
Marta Bellver, Ruben Diez-Montero, Monica Escola Casas, Victor Matamoros, Ivet Ferrer
Summary: This study evaluated the use of cyanobacteria in tertiary wastewater treatment and the recovery of value-added phycobiliproteins. It also analyzed the presence of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in wastewater, cyanobacterial biomass, and pigment extracts. The results showed stable phycobiliprotein production and a high phycocyanin purity ratio. Only a few CECs were detected in the phycobiliprotein extracts, suggesting potential applications in pigment purification.
BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Lars odegaard Bentsen, Narada Dilp Warakagoda, Roy Stenbro, Paal Engelstad
Summary: This study investigates uncertainty modeling in wind power forecasting using different parametric and non-parametric methods. Johnson's SU distribution is found to outperform Gaussian distributions in predicting wind power. This research contributes to the literature by introducing Johnson's SU distribution as a candidate for probabilistic wind forecasting.
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
(2024)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Xing Liu, Qiuchen Wang, Yunhao Wen, Long Li, Xinfang Zhang, Yi Wang
Summary: This study analyzes the characteristics of process parameters in three lean gas ethane recovery processes and establishes a prediction and multiobjective optimization model for ethane recovery and system energy consumption. A new method for comparing ethane recovery processes for lean gas is proposed, and the addition of extra coolers improves the ethane recovery. The support vector regression model based on grey wolf optimization demonstrates the highest prediction accuracy, and the multiobjective multiverse optimization algorithm shows the best optimization performance and diversity in the solutions.
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
(2024)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Cairong Song, Haidong Yang, Xian-Bing Meng, Pan Yang, Jianyang Cai, Hao Bao, Kangkang Xu
Summary: The paper proposes a novel deep learning-based prediction framework, aTCN-LSTM, for accurate cooling load predictions. The framework utilizes a gate-controlled multi-head temporal convolutional network and a sparse probabilistic self-attention mechanism with a bidirectional long short-term memory network to capture both temporal and long-term dependencies in the cooling load sequences. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed method, which can serve as an effective guide for HVAC chiller scheduling and demand management initiatives.
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
(2024)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Zhe Chen, Xiaojing Li, Xianli Xia, Jizhou Zhang
Summary: This study uses survey data from the Loess Plateau in China to evaluate the impact of social interaction on the adoption of soil and water conservation (SWC) technology by farmers. The study finds that social interaction increases the likelihood of farmers adopting SWC, and internet use moderates this effect. The positive impact of social interaction on SWC adoption is more pronounced for farmers in larger villages and those who join cooperative societies.
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
(2024)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Chenghua Zhang, Yunfei Yan, Kaiming Shen, Zongguo Xue, Jingxiang You, Yonghong Wu, Ziqiang He
Summary: This paper reports a novel method that significantly improves combustion performance, including heat transfer enhancement under steady-state conditions and adaptive stable flame regulation under velocity sudden increase.
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
(2024)