{"title":"Cyclic variations in diesel engines fueled with biofuel–diesel blends: A review of statistical and wavelet spectrum analysis methods","authors":"Prem Kumar, Ram Sevak Kushwaha, Pradeep Kumar Singh","doi":"10.1002/ep.70482","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ep.70482","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Cyclic variations in compression ignition engines are undesirable because they reduce efficiency, increase emissions, and limit power output. In this context, the adoption of alternative fuels has gained significant attention as a potential strategy to improve combustion characteristics. Biofuels, including biodiesel and alcohol-diesel blends derived from both edible and non-edible feedstocks, serve as viable alternatives to fossil fuels due to their inherent oxygen content and enhanced combustion characteristics. This review systematically analyzes peer-reviewed experimental studies from the past two decades to assess cyclic combustion variability in diesel engines powered by biofuel-diesel blends, focusing on in-cylinder pressure dynamics, indicated mean effective pressure (IMEP), pressure rise rate, and heat release characteristics, and comparing statistical and wavelet-spectrum-based diagnostic methodologies. Conventional statistical metrics, including the coefficient of variation (COV) and correlation-based measures, primarily assess the overall magnitude of fluctuations but offer limited insight into the temporal evolution and predominant modes of cyclic combustion variability, which can be more effectively analyzed using advanced time-frequency methods. Data indicate that optimal blends can decrease COV<sub>IMEP</sub> by 20–35% with particular injection procedures; however, statistical convergence (about 150 cycles) fails to disclose underlying oscillatory patterns. Conversely, Continuous Wavelet Transform (CWT)-based methodologies, specifically Wavelet Power Spectrum (WPS) and Global Wavelet Spectrum (GWS), provide adaptive time-frequency decomposition, discerning intermittent short-period (3–10 cycles) and long-period (>150 cycles) instability bands. Wavelet analysis reveals substantial reductions in spectral power (e.g., an almost 80% decrease under optimal injection pressure settings), validating enhanced combustion stability beyond the insights provided by COV alone.</p>","PeriodicalId":11701,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy","volume":"45 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149206059","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Wentao Ma, Jingwei Yang, Hanjun Liu, Xuebin Jiang, Baiyun Jin, Yu Ding, Fan Ye, Weixing Tang, Yuanzhu Mi, Xuemin Yan
{"title":"Facile Surface Hydrophobic Modification of Rice Husk for Efficient Crude Oil Emulsion Separation.","authors":"Wentao Ma, Jingwei Yang, Hanjun Liu, Xuebin Jiang, Baiyun Jin, Yu Ding, Fan Ye, Weixing Tang, Yuanzhu Mi, Xuemin Yan","doi":"10.1016/j.envres.2026.125971","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2026.125971","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Commercial demulsifiers are mainly polyethers derived from ethylene oxide and propylene oxide, with hazardous and complex production routes. Rice husk (RH), a renewable agricultural by-product with abundant cellulose, lignin and surface oxygen-containing groups, is a promising hydrophilic substrate for biomass demulsifiers. However, the reported RH-based demulsifiers generally need harsh synthesis conditions, and investigations into their interfacial mechanisms are still superficial. In this work, an RH-based demulsifier (RHPB) was prepared via a relatively mild one-step surface hydrophobic modification of RH with 1-bromooctadecane (C18Br). Its structure and surface morphology were characterized by FT-IR, XRD, <sup>13</sup>C NMR, SEM, and N<sub>2</sub> adsorption-desorption analysis. Bottle test results revealed that RHPB attained a demulsification efficiency (DE) of 89.7% within 40 min and 95.2 % after 180 min at a dosage of 600 mg/L. In addition, RHPB exhibited good salt and pH tolerance, achieving 99.7% of DE, particularly under strongly alkaline conditions. Combined with density functional theory (DFT) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, the critical role of RHPB in regulating intermolecular non-covalent forces (dominated by hydrogen bonding) at the interface was revealed. RHPB forms HBs with water molecules through its oxygen-containing functional groups, competitively displacing water molecules originally bound to asphaltenes. Meanwhile, the hydrophobic long chains create steric hindrance effects that assist interfacial reconstruction, thereby effectively weakening the strength of the asphaltene-constructed oil-water interface (OWI) film. Owing to the low cost, naturally abundant feedstock, RHPB represents a sustainable alternative to traditional polyether demulsifiers for W/O emulsion remediation. This study provides a valuable strategy for designing demulsifiers by tuning the amphiphilicity of modified rice husk.</p>","PeriodicalId":312,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Research","volume":" ","pages":"125971"},"PeriodicalIF":8.2,"publicationDate":"2026-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149214942","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Yuxuan Li, Dezhou Yang, Kun Zhang, Lingjing Xu, Xuan Cui, Baoshu Yin
{"title":"Local and non-local energy transfers in eddy-mean flow interactions along the Indonesian throughflow.","authors":"Yuxuan Li, Dezhou Yang, Kun Zhang, Lingjing Xu, Xuan Cui, Baoshu Yin","doi":"10.1016/j.marenvres.2026.108478","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marenvres.2026.108478","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>How local energy conversion and non-local redistribution jointly shape eddy activity along the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) remains unclear. Using long-term, eddy-resolving ocean model output, we diagnose exchanges among mean and eddy kinetic and available potential energy along the ITF and its adjacent basins. The results reveal a marked change in the dominant energy pathway. At the Pacific entrance and along the western ITF, eddies gain energy primarily through barotropic conversion associated with the sheared mean current. Farther downstream, baroclinic conversion becomes more prominent near the Indian Ocean exit, where horizontal density contrasts favor the transfer of mean available potential energy into eddy energy. Local conversion alone does not explain these regional patterns. Non-local kinetic energy transfer diverges in the Pacific source region and converges along the western pathway, consistent with energy redistribution toward the Sulawesi Sea. Near the Indian Ocean exit, non-local potential energy transfer accompanies enhanced baroclinic conversion. Together, these findings show how local eddy generation and non-local energy redistribution vary along the ITF, from a predominantly shear-associated kinetic energy pathway upstream to a more prominent potential energy pathway downstream. This study provides the quantification of inhomogeneous local versus non-local eddy-mean flow interactions along the entire ITF pathway, providing a fundamental insight for understanding mixing in this climatically and biologically critical oceanic region.</p>","PeriodicalId":18204,"journal":{"name":"Marine environmental research","volume":"222 ","pages":"108478"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2026-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149220273","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Camille Vernier, David Grémillet, Martha Mac Call, Christophe Barbraud, Emmanuelle Cam, Aurélien Besnard, Thierry Chambert
{"title":"Assessing the cumulative demographic impact of collision risk from offshore wind energy on seabirds","authors":"Camille Vernier, David Grémillet, Martha Mac Call, Christophe Barbraud, Emmanuelle Cam, Aurélien Besnard, Thierry Chambert","doi":"10.1111/1365-2664.70601","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.70601","url":null,"abstract":"<p>\u0000 \u0000 </p>","PeriodicalId":15016,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Applied Ecology","volume":"63 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.3,"publicationDate":"2026-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1365-2664.70601","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149205413","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}
Jinhui Zhao, Tong Wu, Lei Liu, Jiabi Han, Qingquan Liu, Yanxia Wang
{"title":"Bioelectricity-driven wastewater treatment: Coupling CW-MFC and CW-MEC systems with pyrite substrate for advanced treatment of low C/N ratio wastewater","authors":"Jinhui Zhao, Tong Wu, Lei Liu, Jiabi Han, Qingquan Liu, Yanxia Wang","doi":"10.1002/ep.70472","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ep.70472","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The use of power generated by constructed wetland–microbial fuel cells (CW-MFCs) has recently attracted considerable attention. This study is the first to investigate the use of electricity generated by CW-MFCs to power constructed wetland microbial electrolysis cells (CW-MECs) for enhanced pollutant removal from tailwater with a low C/N ratio. Substrate optimization strategies to improve the electricity-generation performance of CW-MFCs were systematically investigated, and the performance of the CW-MFC and CW-MEC coupled system for advanced tailwater treatment was evaluated. The results demonstrated that CW-MFCs with a pyrite (PY) anode substrate exhibited higher voltage and current density than those with activated carbon (AC) or mixed pyrite–activated carbon (PA) substrates. The PY system achieved a 4.4-fold higher power density (93.98 mW/m<sup>3</sup>) than the AC system (21.29 mW/m<sup>3</sup>). Substrate optimization also influenced the microbial community structure and abundance in the CW-MFC anode zone. Specifically, the PA and PY systems showed a significantly (<i>p</i> < 0.05) higher relative abundance of electroactive bacteria (EAB) than the AC group, while the AC and PA systems harbored a higher relative abundance of denitrification-associated bacteria. Substrate type is a key environmental determinant driving microbial community differentiation. The CW-MFC and CW-MEC coupled system achieved removal efficiencies of 89.20 ± 1.80% for COD, 61.03 ± 0.60% for NH₄<sup>+</sup>-N, 94.82 ± 1.87% for NO₃<sup>−</sup>-N, and 83.60 ± 3.35% for total phosphorus (TP) from low C/N ratio tailwater. The self-powered CW-MFC and CW-MEC coupled system presents a transformative pathway toward energy-neutral advanced wastewater treatment, effectively addressing key challenges in sustainable water management.</p>","PeriodicalId":11701,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy","volume":"45 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149206166","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Improving the biodegradation and durability of rice straw composites via coatings and pretreatments","authors":"Aiman Javaid, Deepak Jain, Naveen Kwatra","doi":"10.1002/ep.70530","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ep.70530","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The utilization of agrarian waste such as rice straw in construction materials is limited by its high moisture sensitivity and susceptibility to biodegradation. At the same time, building energy consumption accounts for approximately 40% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worldwide, highlighting the urgent need for construction materials with minimal or near-zero carbon footprints. This present work investigates rice straw waste composites that can serve as a sustainable alternative in building sandwich constructions. The effect of three different coatings, viz., adhesive binder, epoxy resin, and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), on the biodegradability of rice straw composites is evaluated. The effect of water and alkali pre-treatment on rice straw is also evaluated through biochemical testing, water absorption, soil burial experiments, and microstructural characterization. The investigations suggest that the coatings can improve the structural integrity of rice straw and hence their durability. In comparison to the uncoated stubble waste composites, the weight loss of epoxy and PET-coated stubble waste composites reduced by ~65%–70%. Both coated and uncoated rice straw composites showed much lower thermal conductivity in comparison to the conventional building materials, highlighting their suitability for the development of building thermal envelopes.</p>","PeriodicalId":11701,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy","volume":"45 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149206186","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
George Allen, Rob Cooke, Lucy Ridding, Ben Woodcock, Deepa Senapathi, Joann Sy, Michael Garratt
{"title":"National Park Core Zones Do Not Buffer Insect Pollinators Against Occupancy Declines","authors":"George Allen, Rob Cooke, Lucy Ridding, Ben Woodcock, Deepa Senapathi, Joann Sy, Michael Garratt","doi":"10.1111/ddi.70283","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ddi.70283","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Aim</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>To assess the extent to which French national parks mitigate pollinator declines and support biodiversity outcomes across protection gradients.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Location</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Eight French national parks, including core zones, buffer zones, and surrounding non-park landscapes.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>We analysed 290,540 occurrence records representing 610 pollinator species (Lepidoptera, Hymenoptera and Diptera) from 2000 to 2023. Species-level occupancy trends were estimated across core, buffer and non-park zones using standardised occupancy modelling frameworks applied consistently across taxa and protection levels. We quantified temporal changes in occupancy, species richness and community turnover, and compared patterns between rare and common species as well as among major taxonomic groups.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Pollinator occupancy decreased by −41.1% in core zones, −34.0% in buffer zones and −26.6% outside of national parks over the period. Declines were disproportionately driven by losses of common species, which became ‘rarer’ while rare species became more ‘common’. Core zones harboured 27%–50% more rare species than non-park areas and reduced declines in common species richness by approximately 31%. Butterfly (205 sp.) occupancy declined more slowly in core zones (−0.62% year<sup>−1</sup>) than outside of parks (−2.23% year<sup>−1</sup>), whereas the occupancy of moths (324 sp.) declined more rapidly in core zones (−5.18% year<sup>−1</sup>) than elsewhere.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Main Conclusions</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>French national parks partially mitigated pollinator declines by supporting rare species and slowing losses of some taxa, but they did not halt overall declines, even within strictly protected core zones. These findings suggest that protected areas alone are insufficient to reverse insect declines and that stronger or more targeted management interventions may be required if parks are to contribute meaningfully to pollinator conservation.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":51018,"journal":{"name":"Diversity and Distributions","volume":"32 10","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2026-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ddi.70283","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149206204","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"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}
Ülkü Nihan Tavşanoğlu, Juan Pablo Pacheco, Gökben Başaran Kankılıç, Tamer Çırak, Tuğba Ongun Sevindik, Eti E Levi, Thomas Alexander Davidson, Erik Jeppesen
{"title":"Impacts of plastic type and surface properties on periphyton biovolume and composition under contrasting nutrient and temperature scenarios in shallow lake mesocosms.","authors":"Ülkü Nihan Tavşanoğlu, Juan Pablo Pacheco, Gökben Başaran Kankılıç, Tamer Çırak, Tuğba Ongun Sevindik, Eti E Levi, Thomas Alexander Davidson, Erik Jeppesen","doi":"10.1016/j.envpol.2026.129366","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2026.129366","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Plastics have become pervasive pollutants in aquatic ecosystems, acting not only as contaminants but also as novel substrates for organism colonization. Periphyton communities are highly sensitive to environmental disturbance such as eutrophication and climate warming, which may interact with plastic surfaces to alter ecosystem structure and function. In this study, we examined the combined effects of temperature (ambient, +3 °C, +4.5 °C), nutrient levels (low, high), polymer type, and surface roughness on periphyton development using outdoor mesocosms, running since 2003. Warming and nutrient enrichment exerted strong and interactive effects on periphyton biovolume and community composition. Biovolume increased under both stressors, plateauing at the higher temperature level. Substrate roughness promoted biovolume accrual, particularly on highly roughened surfaces (R<sub>2</sub>), whereas polymer type had no significant effect. Community composition was primarily driven by temperature and nutrient levels, with Oedogonium, Closterium, and Fragilaria accounting for up to 70% of the compositional dissimilarity between treatments. Warming favored thermotolerant taxa such as Achnanthidium, Fragilaria, and Gongrosira, whereas Closterium and Gomphonema dominated under ambient temperature conditions. Under high nutrient conditions, generalist taxa such as Gongrosira and Cocconeis were predominant. Overall, our results demonstrate that warming and eutrophication jointly enhance periphyton biovolume on plastics, suggesting that the persistence of plastics in natural waters may reinforce periphyton colonization and alter aquatic ecosystem dynamics under global change.</p>","PeriodicalId":311,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Pollution","volume":" ","pages":"129366"},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2026-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149214919","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Luísa Maria de Souza Viana, Eloá Corrêa Lessa Tostes, Wendel Dias Constantino, Felipe Henrique Rossi Luze, Marcos Sarmet Moreira de Barros Salomão, Taíse Bonfim de Jesus, Carlos Eduardo Veiga de Carvalho
{"title":"Modeling freshwater inflow to a tropical estuary using stochastic and neural-network approaches under contrasting hydroclimatic conditions in Brazil","authors":"Luísa Maria de Souza Viana, Eloá Corrêa Lessa Tostes, Wendel Dias Constantino, Felipe Henrique Rossi Luze, Marcos Sarmet Moreira de Barros Salomão, Taíse Bonfim de Jesus, Carlos Eduardo Veiga de Carvalho","doi":"10.1007/s10661-026-16034-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10661-026-16034-1","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Freshwater inflow regulates estuarine circulation, salinity gradients, sediment transport, and biogeochemical fluxes, yet long-term discharge records remain scarce in many tropical coastal basins. We compared linear regression, stochastic time-series models (ARMA, ARIMA, and SARIMA), and multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural networks for reconstructing monthly discharge at the Ituberá gauging station, upstream of the Serinhaém estuary (southern Bahia, Brazil), using records from 1966 to 2019. No model family was uniformly superior across rolling-origin selection and independent validation. Predictor-matched comparisons showed no general advantage of MLPs over linear formulations, and extending calibration through 2011 did not consistently improve post-2012 performance. Mean monthly discharge was approximately 15% lower after 2012, while changes in variance and the general seasonal pattern were not detected and evidence for altered temporal dependence remained inconclusive. One-step reconstructions transferred more consistently to held-out data than recursive and longer-horizon predictions, which showed error accumulation. The reconstructed series provides an upstream freshwater boundary indicator for future estuarine modeling, while ecological consequences require explicit hydrodynamic and biogeochemical simulation.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":544,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Monitoring and Assessment","volume":"198 11","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2026-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10661-026-16034-1.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149189540","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"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}
Fabo Zhang, Yang Chen, Xiaoli Bai, Die Zhou, Qizhe Gui, Ying Fang, Daomei Chen, Jiaqiang Wang
{"title":"Photocatalytic degradation of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid by zero-valent Ag-modified zinc oxide composite","authors":"Fabo Zhang, Yang Chen, Xiaoli Bai, Die Zhou, Qizhe Gui, Ying Fang, Daomei Chen, Jiaqiang Wang","doi":"10.1002/ep.70427","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1002/ep.70427","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Photocatalytic degradation has emerged as a highly promising and effective approach for the removal of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), a widely used herbicide. In this study, a one-step calcination method was developed to synthesize zinc oxide (ZnO) supported on Baizilian biochar (ABC) with simultaneous doping of silver (Ag). The ZnO/ABC catalyst incorporating 3% Ag nanoparticles exhibits the highest photocatalytic activity, achieving a 2,4-D degradation rate of 95.4% within 50 min, exhibiting a photocatalytic rate constant of 0.06462 ± 0.0004 min<sup>−1</sup>, which is 3.21 and 1.80 times higher than that of pure ZnO and ZnO/ABC, respectively. Mechanistic investigations revealed that the incorporation of silver nanoparticles reduced the band gap energy of the 3% Ag-ZnO/ABC system, thereby enhancing the separation efficiency and utilization of photogenerated electrons and holes, leading to increased generation of •O₂<sup>−</sup> responsible for organic pollutant degradation. Furthermore, based on the identification of intermediate products, two plausible degradation pathways were proposed.</p>","PeriodicalId":11701,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy","volume":"45 5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2026-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149205467","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}