Environmental Science and Ecotechnology最新文献

Global data–water symbiosis reduces AI infrastructure's carbon and water footprint 全球数据-水共生减少了人工智能基础设施的碳和水足迹

IF 14.3 1区环境科学与生态学

Environmental Science and Ecotechnology Pub Date : 2026-05-01 Epub Date: 2026-04-26 DOI: 10.1016/j.ese.2026.100702

Aijie Wang , Congchao Zhang , Tiefu Xu , Dragan Savic , Jingjing Jiang , Peng Xiao , Chuan He , Yu Tao , Glen Daigger , Nanqi Ren

{"title":"Global data–water symbiosis reduces AI infrastructure's carbon and water footprint","authors":"Aijie Wang , Congchao Zhang , Tiefu Xu , Dragan Savic , Jingjing Jiang , Peng Xiao , Chuan He , Yu Tao , Glen Daigger , Nanqi Ren","doi":"10.1016/j.ese.2026.100702","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ese.2026.100702","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Data centres support artificial intelligence (AI) development but place rapidly increasing demands on electricity and freshwater resources, with cooling representing a significant portion of their total energy consumption. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) discharge large volumes of treated effluent with substantial cooling potential; however, their integration with data centre infrastructure has not been evaluated. Here we construct a global geodatabase of over 4775 data centres and 57,547 municipal WWTPs across 98 countries, integrating spatial analysis, engineering systems modelling, optimisation, and life-cycle assessment to quantify the benefits of combining treated water reuse with bidirectional thermal recovery. The analysis reveals a strong global spatial co-occurrence between data centres and WWTPs, enabling optimized national-scale pairings in which treated effluent is used for data centre cooling and the return heat is recovered to support sludge drying and anaerobic digestion. This symbiotic approach reduces greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 84 million tonnes of CO<sub>2</sub> equivalent annually, conserves approximately 1300 million m<sup>3</sup> of freshwater, and provides net annual cost savings of approximately US$95.4 billion. The greatest mitigation and water-saving potential lies in the United States, Japan, China, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. These findings establish data–water symbiosis as a readily scalable infrastructure solution that decouples AI from its carbon and water footprints. WWTPs are poised to evolve from disposal facilities into critical energy-coupling hubs, enabling efficient thermal and water exchange across urban systems and accelerating progress towards multiple Sustainable Development Goals.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34434,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science and Ecotechnology","volume":"31 ","pages":"Article 100702"},"PeriodicalIF":14.3,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147802982","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"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}

引用次数: 0

Phase-change photothermal foam enables continuous hypersaline brine desalination 相变光热泡沫使高盐盐水连续脱盐

IF 14.3 1区环境科学与生态学

Environmental Science and Ecotechnology Pub Date : 2026-05-01 Epub Date: 2026-04-02 DOI: 10.1016/j.ese.2026.100696

Peilei Zhou , Feng Sun , Lishan Xu , Qingshan Liu , Jia Xu

{"title":"Phase-change photothermal foam enables continuous hypersaline brine desalination","authors":"Peilei Zhou , Feng Sun , Lishan Xu , Qingshan Liu , Jia Xu","doi":"10.1016/j.ese.2026.100696","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ese.2026.100696","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Seawater desalination is critical for mitigating global freshwater scarcity, yet the discharge of high-salinity brine causes severe ecological and economic issues. Solar-driven interfacial evaporation provides an energy-efficient method for achieving zero liquid discharge and effective brine concentration. To manage the inherent intermittency of natural sunlight, phase change materials are increasingly integrated to store excess thermal energy for continuous evaporation. Nevertheless, current systems are limited by elevated phase-transition temperatures, liquid leakage, and substantial performance degradation in hypersaline conditions. Here we show a multifunctional composite foam that unifies broadband photothermal conversion with low-temperature phase-change thermal regulation for sustained hypersaline desalination. By confining dodecylamine within a polypyrrole-coated chitosan-phenolic network, our material achieves a 95% solar absorption efficiency and a phase-change energy storage capacity of 208.4 J g<sup>−1</sup>. The evaporator achieves a stable evaporation rate of 1.862 kg m<sup>−2</sup> h<sup>−1</sup> under one sun and maintains 0.684 kg m<sup>−2</sup> h<sup>−1</sup> in the absence of light. It also sustains a high evaporation rate of 1.763 kg m<sup>−2</sup> h<sup>−1</sup> in 20 wt% NaCl without salt accumulation and produces 9.229 kg m<sup>−2</sup> of purified freshwater over 10 h of outdoor solar operation. These findings provide a scalable and continuous approach to solar-driven brine reduction, advancing sustainable resource recovery and all-weather water purification.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34434,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science and Ecotechnology","volume":"31 ","pages":"Article 100696"},"PeriodicalIF":14.3,"publicationDate":"2026-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147802983","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"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}

引用次数: 0

Phenolic contaminants generate persistent phenoxyl radicals to accelerate antibiotic degradation 酚类污染物产生持久的苯氧基，加速抗生素的降解

IF 14.3 1区环境科学与生态学

Environmental Science and Ecotechnology Pub Date : 2026-03-01 Epub Date: 2026-02-27 DOI: 10.1016/j.ese.2026.100680

Liping Luo , Shiqing Zhou , Jianfei Zhou , Jingquan Wang , Han Wu , Hongguang Guo

{"title":"Phenolic contaminants generate persistent phenoxyl radicals to accelerate antibiotic degradation","authors":"Liping Luo , Shiqing Zhou , Jianfei Zhou , Jingquan Wang , Han Wu , Hongguang Guo","doi":"10.1016/j.ese.2026.100680","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ese.2026.100680","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Water pollution by coexisting multiple contaminants presents escalating challenges to environmental remediation and public health protection. In advanced oxidation processes, contaminant interactions are invariably regarded as detrimental, introducing competitive reactions and matrix interferences that diminish treatment efficiency. However, phenolic compounds—a prevalent class of recalcitrant water pollutants—possess latent oxidative capabilities that remain strategically unexploited. Whether their reactivity can be harnessed to accelerate, rather than impede, the removal of priority contaminants remains fundamentally unclear. Here we show that in the permanganate/chlorite (Mn(VII)/ClO<sub>2</sub><sup>−</sup>) system, phenolic compounds undergo a counterintuitive transformation into persistent phenoxyl radicals that enhance sulfamethoxazole degradation by 3.5- to 20-fold. Mechanistic investigations reveal that these radicals exhibit exceptional stability and selectivity, preferentially attacking target pollutants while demonstrating robust resistance to common matrix interferences—properties unattainable with conventional oxidants alone. Quantitative structure-activity relationships provide predictive frameworks for optimizing this contaminant-assisted oxidation strategy across diverse chemical scenarios. This contaminant-mediated oxidation strategy inverts the traditional paradigm of mutual interference, transforming recalcitrant phenolics from obstacles into powerful mediators. The findings open new avenues for self-adaptive remediation of multi-pollutant systems and suggest broader applications in environmental cleanup where contaminant interactions can be strategically exploited.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34434,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science and Ecotechnology","volume":"30 ","pages":"Article 100680"},"PeriodicalIF":14.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147423945","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"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}

引用次数: 0

Hi-C sequencing deciphers phage and plasmid host networks in wastewater biofilms Hi-C测序破译废水生物膜中的噬菌体和质粒宿主网络。

IF 14.3 1区环境科学与生态学

Environmental Science and Ecotechnology Pub Date : 2026-03-01 Epub Date: 2026-03-06 DOI: 10.1016/j.ese.2026.100683

Dou Wang , Xiaoqing Xu , Lei Liu , Chunxiao Wang , Yu Deng , Martin F. Polz , Tong Zhang

{"title":"Hi-C sequencing deciphers phage and plasmid host networks in wastewater biofilms","authors":"Dou Wang , Xiaoqing Xu , Lei Liu , Chunxiao Wang , Yu Deng , Martin F. Polz , Tong Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.ese.2026.100683","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ese.2026.100683","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Mobile genetic elements (MGEs) such as bacteriophages and plasmids profoundly shape microbial community structure and drive horizontal gene transfer across ecosystems. Wastewater treatment systems, with their high cell densities, steep physicochemical gradients and close cell-to-cell contact, act as hotspots for MGE proliferation and exchange, yet the <em>in situ</em> assembly dynamics and host interaction networks of these elements have remained largely unresolved because conventional methods fail to establish direct MGE–host linkages in complex matrices. Here we show that an integrated framework combining metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, metaviromics, and Hi-C proximity ligation sequencing enables the efficient elucidation of DNA phage and plasmid assembly dynamics alongside their host interaction networks in biofilms. We reconstructed 17,672 viral operational taxonomic units and 11,454 high-confidence non-redundant plasmids, and established 529 phage–host and 5739 plasmid–host associations that link up to 52 % of phages to 56 % of prokaryotes and 70 % of plasmids to 91 % of prokaryotes, respectively. Hi-C substantially expanded and refined these networks, revealing taxon-specific and multi-host patterns. Host community composition and biofilm architecture emerge as primary drivers of MGE occurrence and abundance along the reactor flow path. Expression of auxiliary metabolic genes, antibiotic resistance genes and virulence factors carried by these MGEs demonstrates their active roles in modulating biogeochemical cycles and maintaining ecosystem stability. These findings establish a scalable, cultivation-independent framework for deciphering MGE–host networks in complex microbial ecosystems, and underscore the power of Hi-C sequencing to transform our mechanistic understanding of gene flow, resistome dissemination, and ecological resilience in engineered and natural microbiomes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34434,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science and Ecotechnology","volume":"30 ","pages":"Article 100683"},"PeriodicalIF":14.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147499975","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"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}

引用次数: 0

Failure windows and commit points of engineered nanomaterials in the environment 工程纳米材料在环境中的失效窗口和提交点

IF 14.3 1区环境科学与生态学

Environmental Science and Ecotechnology Pub Date : 2026-03-01 Epub Date: 2026-03-20 DOI: 10.1016/j.ese.2026.100685

Swaroop Chakraborty

引用次数: 0

Green prompt engineering for sustainable generative AI 可持续生成人工智能的绿色提示工程

IF 14.3 1区环境科学与生态学

Environmental Science and Ecotechnology Pub Date : 2026-03-01 Epub Date: 2026-03-13 DOI: 10.1016/j.ese.2026.100684

Sanjay Podder, Hema Date, Shankar Murthy

{"title":"Green prompt engineering for sustainable generative AI","authors":"Sanjay Podder, Hema Date, Shankar Murthy","doi":"10.1016/j.ese.2026.100684","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ese.2026.100684","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Prompt engineering involves manual design and optimization of text-based instructions or queries, enabling precise control over outputs generated by pre-trained large language models (LLMs) and ensuring alignment with desired responses. However, substantial computational costs and energy footprint of prompt inferencing process remain critical challenges while building generative AI applications. The energy efficiency of LLM inferences is particularly impacted by suboptimal prompts, which may require multiple iterations, thereby escalating energy consumption and the associated carbon footprint. To address these challenges, we propose a series of practices and guidelines designed to enhance the likelihood of obtaining desired responses from LLMs with minimal reiterations. Empirical evaluation demonstrates that, across a range of LLMs and test scenarios, energy consumption and corresponding operational greenhouse gas emissions were reduced by 32–48% when best practices were applied. Drawing upon these insights, our proposed best practices can be seamlessly integrated into the design frameworks of generative AI applications, thereby enhancing the energy efficiency of prompt inferencing. By addressing the challenge of establishing a cohesive framework for energy-efficient prompt design and inferencing, this paper advocates for the sustainable and effective deployment of generative AI technologies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34434,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science and Ecotechnology","volume":"30 ","pages":"Article 100684"},"PeriodicalIF":14.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147540236","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"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}

引用次数: 0

Host metabolic integration enables superior polystyrene degradation in cockroaches 寄主代谢整合使蟑螂具有优越的聚苯乙烯降解能力

IF 14.3 1区环境科学与生态学

Environmental Science and Ecotechnology Pub Date : 2026-03-01 Epub Date: 2026-02-25 DOI: 10.1016/j.ese.2026.100679

Mei-Xi Li , Yu-Qian Wang , Jia-Yi Wang , Meng-Qi Ding , Shan-Shan Yang , Jie Ding , Wei-Min Wu

{"title":"Host metabolic integration enables superior polystyrene degradation in cockroaches","authors":"Mei-Xi Li , Yu-Qian Wang , Jia-Yi Wang , Meng-Qi Ding , Shan-Shan Yang , Jie Ding , Wei-Min Wu","doi":"10.1016/j.ese.2026.100679","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ese.2026.100679","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Plastic pollution is a global crisis, with polystyrene (PS) among the most recalcitrant polymers owing to its stable aromatic structure and resistance to natural degradation. Although insect larvae such as mealworms and wax moth caterpillars can partially biodegrade PS through gut microbiota, reported rates remain low (0.08–0.24 mg per individual per day). The potential of cockroaches—with more stable gut microbiomes, longer lifespans, and greater biomass—for efficient, scalable plastic bioremediation has remained unexplored. Here we show that <em>Blaptica dubia</em> cockroaches rapidly biodegrade PS microplastics via a tightly integrated host–microbiota enzymatic network. Individuals ingested 6.0 ± 0.2 mg PS daily, achieving 54.9 ± 2.3% mass loss over 42 days and a specific biodegradation rate of 3.3 ± 0.1 mg per cockroach per day. Biodegradation was confirmed by substantial molecular-weight reductions (Mn 46.4%, Mw 25.9%) and isotopic mineralization signatures. PS exposure selectively enriched plastic-degrading taxa and enzymes while strongly upregulating host fatty-acid β-oxidation and tricarboxylic acid cycle pathways, enabling the host to directly metabolize microbial cleavage products and reconstruct a complete PS catabolic pathway. These findings reveal that <em>B. dubia</em> can far outperform other insects in plastic biodegradation through evolved metabolic cooperation, expanding the biological repertoire for tackling persistent anthropogenic polymers and offering new insight into insect adaptation to synthetic substrates in the Anthropocene.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34434,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science and Ecotechnology","volume":"30 ","pages":"Article 100679"},"PeriodicalIF":14.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147424856","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"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}

引用次数: 0

Rhizosphere accelerates breakdown of large biodegradable microplastics in soil 根际加速土壤中大型可生物降解微塑料的分解

IF 14.3 1区环境科学与生态学

Environmental Science and Ecotechnology Pub Date : 2026-03-01 Epub Date: 2026-02-23 DOI: 10.1016/j.ese.2026.100678

Kailin Gong , Cheng Peng , Xiaoyi Chen , Li Cai , Wei Zhang

{"title":"Rhizosphere accelerates breakdown of large biodegradable microplastics in soil","authors":"Kailin Gong , Cheng Peng , Xiaoyi Chen , Li Cai , Wei Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.ese.2026.100678","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ese.2026.100678","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The expanding deployment of biodegradable mulch films in global agriculture aims to mitigate persistent plastic pollution, yet the fate of resulting biodegradable microplastics (BMPs) in soil ecosystems remains poorly characterized. Although these materials are engineered for mineralization, their breakdown rates under realistic field conditions vary substantially, and plant roots fundamentally alter soil biogeochemistry through rhizodeposition and microbial recruitment. Whether the biochemically complex rhizosphere environment accelerates or retards BMP degradation, and how degradation byproducts accumulate, represents a critical knowledge gap for assessing the environmental safety of biodegradable agricultural plastics. Here we show that the soybean rhizosphere exhibits size-selective effects on poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) microplastic (PBAT–MP) degradation. Large particles (998.7 ± 74.6 μm) degrade significantly faster than in bulk soil, whereas small particles (145.6 ± 3.1 μm) remain largely protected within soil aggregates over a 70-day growth cycle. Advanced quantitative proton nuclear magnetic resonance analysis reveals preferential hydrolysis of aliphatic adipate units, resulting in greater accumulation of degradation monomers in the rhizosphere than in bulk soil. Microbial community profiling identifies enrichment of Proteobacteria—particularly <em>Bradyrhizobium</em> and <em>Ramlibacter</em> genera—linked to PBAT hydrolysis and metabolite utilization, alongside increased microbial biomass and altered soil carbon pools. These findings challenge the prevailing assumption that biodegradable mulches degrade uniformly and benignly under agricultural conditions. Rhizosphere-relevant assessment criteria are essential for evaluating the true environmental safety of biodegradable plastics in agricultural systems, with broader implications for sustainable soil management and plastic pollution mitigation strategies worldwide.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34434,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science and Ecotechnology","volume":"30 ","pages":"Article 100678"},"PeriodicalIF":14.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147423944","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"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}

引用次数: 0

Morphological adaptations of cavefish support enhanced hydrodynamic perception for underwater environmental monitoring 洞穴鱼的形态适应支持增强水下环境监测的水动力感知。

IF 14.3 1区环境科学与生态学

Environmental Science and Ecotechnology Pub Date : 2026-03-01 Epub Date: 2026-02-13 DOI: 10.1016/j.ese.2026.100677

Qi Yang , Qirui Liu , Yuling Wei , Chubin Weng , Li Ma , He Tian , Fang Zhang , Kenneth A. Rose , William R. Jeffery , Mengzhen Xu

{"title":"Morphological adaptations of cavefish support enhanced hydrodynamic perception for underwater environmental monitoring","authors":"Qi Yang , Qirui Liu , Yuling Wei , Chubin Weng , Li Ma , He Tian , Fang Zhang , Kenneth A. Rose , William R. Jeffery , Mengzhen Xu","doi":"10.1016/j.ese.2026.100677","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ese.2026.100677","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Many of Earth's most biodiverse and biogeochemically active aquatic ecosystems—including groundwater karst systems, turbid estuaries and the deep ocean—are perpetually dark and hydraulically complex, making long-term, high-resolution monitoring technologically challenging. Conventional optical and acoustic sensors suffer rapid signal attenuation and high energy demand in these conditions. Cavefishes of the genus <em>Sinocyclocheilus</em>, which inhabit lightless subterranean waters, have evolved distinctive cranial morphologies—a duckbilled head, dorsal horn and hump—hypothesized to enhance hydrodynamic perception. Here we show, by combining vital staining of neuromasts with validated computational fluid dynamics simulations across a morphological series of <em>Sinocyclocheilus</em> species, that these structures dramatically amplify differential pressure signals (by up to 429.8%) and near-wall velocity gradients (by up to 69.2%) while extending perceptual range. Regions of maximal hydrodynamic variation predicted by the models closely match the observed distribution of canal and superficial neuromasts, revealing a clear biomimetic design principle: sensors should be positioned where flow-field gradients are strongest. These findings establish a quantitative, evolution-guided framework for optimizing artificial lateral line (ALL) sensor arrays, enabling autonomous underwater vehicles to perform energy-efficient, high-fidelity monitoring in some of the planet's most sensitive and data-scarce aquatic environments.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34434,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science and Ecotechnology","volume":"30 ","pages":"Article 100677"},"PeriodicalIF":14.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147310870","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"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}

引用次数: 0

Plant-level carbon accounting of China's pulp and paper industry via multimodal fusion 通过多模态融合对中国纸浆和造纸工业的工厂级碳核算

IF 14.3 1区环境科学与生态学

Environmental Science and Ecotechnology Pub Date : 2026-03-01 Epub Date: 2026-03-06 DOI: 10.1016/j.ese.2026.100682

Song Hu , Huaqing Qi , Zifei Wang , Xiaoyu Wu , Yulin Han , Yi Man

{"title":"Plant-level carbon accounting of China's pulp and paper industry via multimodal fusion","authors":"Song Hu , Huaqing Qi , Zifei Wang , Xiaoyu Wu , Yulin Han , Yi Man","doi":"10.1016/j.ese.2026.100682","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.ese.2026.100682","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Plant-scale industrial carbon accounting is critical for developing targeted emission-reduction policies. However, most assessments of carbon-intensive sectors rely on aggregate statistics, which obscure significant heterogeneity among individual plants. China's pulp and paper industry (PPI), the largest globally, encompasses diverse production processes, raw material inputs, and emission sources. Existing accounting frameworks rely on statistical data and average emission factors within poorly defined system boundaries, which prevents differentiation at the individual plant level. Here, we propose a multimodal data fusion framework that integrates high-resolution remote-sensing imagery with plant textual data to capture structural and operational characteristics undetectable by any single data modality. Applied to 720 pulping and papermaking plants across China, the framework achieves R<sup>2</sup> values of up to 0.96 across five plant types and estimates total sectoral carbon emissions at 163.6 million tonnes of CO<sub>2</sub> in 2022, with pronounced regional disparities concentrated in eastern coastal provinces. Analysis of functional-zone contributions further reveals that wastewater treatment areas are a consistent cross-category emission driver, and that just 5% of high-emission plants account for approximately 43% of sectoral emissions—a skewed structure that demands differentiated regulatory intervention. Incorporating regional solar radiation data, rooftop photovoltaic deployment is projected to reduce annual PPI emissions by up to 10.3%, with primary-fiber pulp plants offering the greatest mitigation leverage. Beyond China's PPI, this scalable, data-driven approach provides a transferable blueprint for granular, plant-level carbon accounting in other heterogeneous heavy industries.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":34434,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science and Ecotechnology","volume":"30 ","pages":"Article 100682"},"PeriodicalIF":14.3,"publicationDate":"2026-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147423946","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"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}

引用次数: 0