{"title":"Challenges and the Way Forward for Management and Handling of Hazardous Waste","authors":"M. C. Jena, Sarat Mishra, H. S. Moharana","doi":"10.15377/2410-3624.2023.10.2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15377/2410-3624.2023.10.2","url":null,"abstract":"Hazardous waste poses significant threats to human health and the environment, necessitating stringent regulatory management. This study explores the challenges and prospects associated with hazardous waste management, emphasizing the critical need for sustainable practices. Drawing on field observations, stakeholder interviews in India, and extensive literature reviews, the research addresses challenges such as inadequate stakeholder consultation during law enactment, resource constraints, insufficient authorized disposal facilities, and transportation issues. The study underscores the importance of sustainable waste reduction practices through proactive industry engagement and government facilitation of necessary infrastructure. It advocates for streamlined regulatory processes, inter-state cooperation, and responsive authorities to ensure effective hazardous waste management. The research emphasizes the adoption of innovative and sustainable waste reduction methods supported by comprehensive root cause analysis and well-crafted policies to achieve environmental sustainability goals. In conclusion, the study highlights the global applicability of findings, emphasizing collaborative efforts for effective hazardous waste handling and disposal to ensure a clean and pollution-free environment.","PeriodicalId":184880,"journal":{"name":"The Global Environmental Engineers","volume":"23 12","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138966151","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Sustainability Assessment of Integrated Waste-to-Use Systems: A Case of Uganda","authors":"M. F. Agunyo","doi":"10.15377/2410-3624.2022.09.7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15377/2410-3624.2022.09.7","url":null,"abstract":"For countries like Uganda where organic waste composition accounts for at least 70% of the solid waste generated, collected, and disposed of at landfills and dumpsites, recovery of resources from the waste stream is crucial. This is because disposal of the waste in the landfills/dump sites exerts more pressure on land as a resource in addition to the environmental negative impacts associated with the degradation of the waste in the landfills, pollution of groundwater from leachate, generation of greenhouses gases, bad odor, and poor aesthetics. Moreover, given that the country also grapples with sewage and faecal sludge treatment and management due to the limited plants in place, alternative Waste-to-Use systems that promote resource recovery and management of various organic waste streams such as biowaste, animal manure, sewage/faecal sludge and wastewater could be a viable solution. The systems which consist of a combination of various technologies such as anaerobic digestion, incineration, landfilling, composting, and pyrolysis to produce briquettes boast of managing various organic waste streams and potential for application in various entities such as housing estates, towns/cities, at institutions. To assess the sustainability of such systems, multicriteria decision analysis was used. The results indicated that if trade-off of any aspect was considered i.e., technical, environmental, social, and financial, the Waste-to-Use systems were preferred i.e., a system consisting of composting and anaerobic digestion technologies. Also, a sustainability framework for the assessment of similar systems was proposed and it highlights the importance of involving stakeholders through the various stages such as, situation analysis, problem identification and definition, criteria and indictor selection, elicitation of scores and weight so that transparency in decision making can be boosted.","PeriodicalId":184880,"journal":{"name":"The Global Environmental Engineers","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130844561","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Visual Analysis of Activity Construction Based on Bibliometrics","authors":"Fei Zheng, Zhang Xin","doi":"10.15377/2410-3624.2022.09.6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15377/2410-3624.2022.09.6","url":null,"abstract":"China has a well-developed active structure, with the continuous expansion of the scale of engineering construction and the continuous extension to the complex geological areas, especially the tectonic areas that are still active or will still be active in the future. Related projects are faced with many new challenges. The summative achievements on the problems related to active tectonics in China still need to be made available. This paper uses CNKI and WOS as data sources, and the documents related to active tectonics and geology from 2003 to 2022 are taken as objects. The scientific knowledge graph is visualized and analyzed by the bibliometrics software CiteSpace. The results show that: (1) the number of research literature on active tectonics at home and abroad is on the rise as a whole, (2) the number of articles published in the field of active tectonics in China is highly proportional to the number of earthquake disasters in China each year, and (3) the United States is in an absolute leading position in this field. It can help researchers in related fields to obtain the classical achievements of nearly 20 years quickly, and it is easy to find the bottleneck of current research. It can also expand the field of vision to find new research directions.","PeriodicalId":184880,"journal":{"name":"The Global Environmental Engineers","volume":"37 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131606504","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Technologies for Halide Removal in Water Treatment – A State-of-the-Art Review","authors":"Elham Nariyan, Q. Yu, D. Hamilton, Qingyuan Li","doi":"10.15377/2410-3624.2022.09.5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15377/2410-3624.2022.09.5","url":null,"abstract":"Halides (X=Cl, Br, I) are naturally present in water, and halide concentrations can be high in water sources that are impacted by high salinity. Halides are also present in wastewater streams from various industrial operations such as pulp and paper, oil and gas, and mining. Drinking water guideline limits have been established for halides, and halide removal from water is important in several ways. Chloride concentration in water is more related to salinity, and its removal from water matters because of adverse health effects, water scarcity, corrosion, and industrial needs. In drinking water treatment, disinfection is essential to improve water quality and prevent the spread of water born pathogens. However, disinfectants also produce harmful disinfection by-products (DBPs) from precursors such as halides and natural organic matter (NOM) in the source water. Removing halides in the source water before disinfection is a preferred option to increase the disinfection efficiency and avoid forming more toxic DBPs. Some industrial-made isotopes are radioactive and carcinogenic, and iodide produces iodinated DBPs. Bromide removal is important because it produces brominated DBPs. Halides also affect AOPs and can cause more active radicals such as OH. and SO4-. to transform into less active radicals. This paper aims to comprehensively review the sources of halides, the chemistry, and interaction in forming DBPs, current regulatory limits and state-of-art removal technologies available, and their challenges.","PeriodicalId":184880,"journal":{"name":"The Global Environmental Engineers","volume":"22 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129430172","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ruiquan Zhang, Zhou Zhang, Qing Chen, Maocong Hu, Z. Yao
{"title":"Revolutionizing Fuel Cell Efficiency with Non-Metallic Catalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reactions","authors":"Ruiquan Zhang, Zhou Zhang, Qing Chen, Maocong Hu, Z. Yao","doi":"10.15377/2410-3624.2022.09.4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15377/2410-3624.2022.09.4","url":null,"abstract":"Platinum-based catalysts are widely used in oxygen reduction reactions, but platinum’s high cost and low reserves have restricted their sustainable development. With continuous in-depth research, it has been found that metal-free catalysts also have better catalytic activity in oxygen reduction reactions and have great potential for development due to the low cost and abundant reserves of metal-free catalysts, which has become a hot research direction. This paper reviews the application of metal-free catalysts in oxygen reduction reactions, including heteroatom-doped carbon-based catalysts, polymeric nitrogen catalysts, and emerging carbon catalysts. This work provides insights into developing non-platinum catalysts for oxygen reduction reactions by comparing the catalytic activity, selectivity, and prolonged stability.","PeriodicalId":184880,"journal":{"name":"The Global Environmental Engineers","volume":"40 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126415254","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"State of the Environment and Its Impacts on the Urban Agriculture of Edible Plants in the City of Lubumbashi","authors":"Michel Shengo Lutandula, Fabien Ilunga Mpanga","doi":"10.15377/2410-3624.2022.09.3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15377/2410-3624.2022.09.3","url":null,"abstract":"This research looked at the state of the environment in the areas where amaranth urban agriculture is practised in the municipality of Katuba, City of Lubumbashi, the Democratic Republic of Congo. Samples of water used for watering, the soil where urban agriculture is practised, and amaranths have been subjected to characterization analyses to look for chemical and microbiological pollutants. These analyses revealed that water and amaranths are polluted from the mineral and microbial standpoint, unlike soil samples. Indeed, water samples contained Paramecia, Entamoeba histolytica's eggs and colonies of faecal contamination germs, mesophilic flora, and other pathogen germs such as Aeromonas hydrophila and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. As for amaranth samples, their concentrations of cobalt were greater than the value set by the quality standards. The Paramecia, Entamoeba histolytica’s eggs, Escherichia coli, and Klesiella planticola contaminate them. For the above, consuming these amaranths poses health risks to the population. Public authorities must take the necessary measures to organize the practice of urban agriculture of edible plants to bring it up to standard and protect the consumers’ health.","PeriodicalId":184880,"journal":{"name":"The Global Environmental Engineers","volume":"66 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129061187","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Assessment of the Pollution of Soils Utilized for Growing Edible Plants in the DR Congo","authors":"Fabien Ilunga Mpanga, Michel Shengo Lutandula","doi":"10.15377/2410-3624.2022.09.2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15377/2410-3624.2022.09.2","url":null,"abstract":"This research was carried out with the aim to assess the pollution that threatens agricultural soils in urban areas in the Haut-Katanga region (DR Congo) by searching for heavy metals in the arable soil bordering the Kimpulande drain, in the nearby of the Shituru commune, the City of Likasi. This drain has been utilized since the 1930s by the Gécamines, the largest state-owned mining company in the country, to dispose of wastewaters from the copper and cobalt industry. The population living in Shituru utilizes the arable soil bordering the Kimpulande drain to grow edible plants. Based on the results from physicochemical analysis of soil samples from the first 40 centimeters and the determination of the spatial distributions of pH, electrical conductivity, and concentrations of selected heavy metals (Cu, Co, Cd, and Fe), it was concluded that the study area is composed of an alkaline soil (pH = 7.54) of which the average electrical conductivity is about 700 µS/cm. Unlike average concentrations of cobalt and iron, those of copper and cadmium have similar behavior, given that their average values decrease with soil depth. Besides, the soil utilized for urban agriculture of edible plants is polluted on the surface by cadmium (> 3 mg/kg) and copper (> 40 mg/kg). It is contaminated in depth by cadmium (> 1 mg/kg) and cobalt (from 20 up to more 100 mg/kg). This is not the case for copper and iron, given that their concentrations remained smaller compared to the limits set by the quality standards (QS) applicable to soils for agricultural use. Given the toxicity related to the presence in the arable soil of heavy metals to high concentrations, it was deduced that the Shituru in-force agricultural practices might result in the population's exposure to serious health problems. Consequently, the urban agriculture of edible plants on arable soils threatened by mineral pollution must be prohibited to protect the population's health.","PeriodicalId":184880,"journal":{"name":"The Global Environmental Engineers","volume":"105 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116275850","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
M. Iribagiza, Ting Li, Wenjing Liang, Yuanyuan Wu, Fang Zhu
{"title":"Enhanced Mechanism of Nano Zero-Valent Iron Activated Persulfate for Persistent Organic Pollutants in the Environment","authors":"M. Iribagiza, Ting Li, Wenjing Liang, Yuanyuan Wu, Fang Zhu","doi":"10.15377/2410-3624.2022.09.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15377/2410-3624.2022.09.1","url":null,"abstract":"The advanced oxidation process based on persulfate has a broad application prospect in the remediation of organic pollutants. As an effective, low-cost and environmentally friendly material, nano-zero-valent iron (nZVI) can effectively activate persulfate (nZVI/PS) to generate strongly oxidizing sulfate radical for removing organic pollutants in the environment. In this review, we first clarify the activation pathway of nZVI activated persulfate including direct activation and indirect activation. Direct activation means that the electrons released by nZVI directly participate in the activation of PS; indirect activation means that Fe0 corrodes to generate Fe2+, and Fe2+ further activate the persulfate. Then, the mechanism of nZVI/PS system to degrade organic pollutants including electron transfer, hydrogen extraction and addition reactions are also discussed. Finally, combined with the activation pathway and the mechanism of degrading organic pollutants, we propose several prospects for the future research direction of nZVI activated persulfate. As a result, this review provides a theoretical basis for the nZVI/PS advanced oxidation system to remediate actual sites contaminated with organic pollutants.","PeriodicalId":184880,"journal":{"name":"The Global Environmental Engineers","volume":"31 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-03-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121411782","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Approach for Smart Use of Wastes and Biofuels","authors":"Luigi De Simio, S. Iannaccone","doi":"10.15377/2410-3624.2021.08.6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15377/2410-3624.2021.08.6","url":null,"abstract":"The urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by gradually abandoning fossil fuel sources is required due to climate-changing emergencies. Employing as much as possible renewable energy, in any form and any field, together with a reduction of per capita energy need, can reduce this tendency and contrast the catastrophic consequence of our planet temperature increasing. In this scenario, biofuels production, together with reuse and recycling represent a correct strategy to contrast environmental degradation. Biofuel has been the subject of great interest over the past decade. Their development from the first to the fourth generation has led to significant improvements in the production cycles and extended the interest in new resources. The availability of different choices could permit to use always the best solution to maximize the result.\u0000In this paper, the different biofuel generations are presented with the aim of highlighting strengths and weaknesses to identify a smart approach to energy conversion and land utilization. Even today the first-generation biofuels are the most widespread, while second-generation gives a small contribution, with a low replacement share of fossil fuels. Land use and competition with other human necessities are the most relevant constraints in this evaluation. In general, the production of gaseous fuels requires less energy than liquid for both the first as well as second-generation technologies. When considering gaseous options, biomethane should be preferred for convenient energy balance in the productive process and when biogas cannot be directly employed. Moreover, biomethane gives the possibility to be added to the existing gas network. The new third and fourth-generation technologies could allow a considerable efficiency increase while reducing the problem of the biofuel productive chain.","PeriodicalId":184880,"journal":{"name":"The Global Environmental Engineers","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126196870","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Towards Computational CO2 Capture and Storage Models","authors":"N. Makul","doi":"10.15377/2410-3624.2021.08.5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15377/2410-3624.2021.08.5","url":null,"abstract":"This review is aimed to increase knowledge on computational CO2 capture and storage models that are gradually evolving in the design and development to act as more effective carbon capture agents with acceptable toxicity and costs and complementary adjuncts to experiments for comprehending amino-CO2 reaction mechanisms. Also, the review discussed experimental research of degradation reactions of aqueous organic amines, measurements, kinetics and forecasts of amine pKₐ values and amine-CO2 equilibria. Also, the researcher comprehensively discussed the computational simulation of mechanisms of carbon capture reactions. In the contexts of experimental and computational studies, the comparative advantages of bicarbonate, carbamic acid, termolecular and zwitterion are described. Computational approaches shall gradually evolve in the design and development to act as more effective carbon capture agents with acceptable toxicity and costs and complementary adjuncts to experiments for comprehending amino-CO2 reaction mechanisms. Some of the main research findings indicate that advancements in quantum computing might help in simulating larger complex molecules such as CO2. Moreover, the simulations might discover new catalysts for CO2 capture that are more efficient and cheaper than present models. CO2 capture and storage (CCS) could minimize the CO2 emission volume by 14%. The first stride in CCS is capturing CO2. It accounts for 70% -80% of this technology total costs. Virtually, 50% of the costs to operate the post-combustion capture (PCC) plants are related to steam costs. It is thus important to acquire the best possible data to avoid unnecessary costs and overdesigns.","PeriodicalId":184880,"journal":{"name":"The Global Environmental Engineers","volume":"851 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-12-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127032686","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}