Journal of Cleaner Production最新文献

{"title":"Soybean-urease-induced CaCO3 precipitation for improving the engineering properties of red clay: A novel eco-friendly method","authors":"Shisong Yuan,&nbsp;Manlin Liu,&nbsp;Jim Shiau,&nbsp;Mingdong Li,&nbsp;Shiqi Li,&nbsp;Yi Tian,&nbsp;Yue Gui","doi":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2026.149099","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2026.149099","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Red clay contains abundant hydrophilic clay minerals such as montmorillonite and illite, resulting in unfavorable engineering properties, including high liquid limit, high plasticity, and strong susceptibility to water-induced disintegration, which severely restricts its application as an engineering fill material. To address the limitations of conventional solid-powder inorganic cementitious stabilizers (e.g., cement and lime), such as non-uniform mixing and considerable ecological impacts, this study investigates soybean-urease-induced calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) precipitation (SICP) as a novel and eco-friendly technique for red clay solidification. The effectiveness of SICP treatment was evaluated through Atterberg limits, unconfined compressive strength (UCS), direct shear, and disintegration tests, with untreated red clay (URC) used as the reference material. The influence of cementing solution content (<em>w</em>_<em>s</em>) on the engineering performance of SICP-solidified red clay (SCRC) was systematically examined. Furthermore, the underlying improvement mechanisms were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses. The results indicate that SICP treatment substantially reduced the liquid limit (<em>w</em>_L), plastic limit (<em>w</em>_p), plasticity index (<em>I</em>_p), and disintegration rate of red clay, while significantly enhancing UCS, cohesion, internal friction angle, and disintegration time. An optimum cementing solution content of <em>w</em>_<em>s</em> = 25.0% was identified, at which the UCS and disintegration time increased by 106.15% and 442.86%, respectively, whereas <em>w</em>_L, <em>w</em>_p, and <em>I</em>_p decreased by 17.95%, 15.27%, and 20.33%, respectively. These findings demonstrate that SICP is an effective and sustainable alternative to conventional stabilization methods and offers considerable potential for improving the engineering performance and durability of red clay in geotechnical applications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":349,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cleaner Production","volume":"574 ","pages":"Article 149099"},"PeriodicalIF":10.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148734505","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}

{"title":"Selective suppression of key hazardous asphalt VOCs by MIL-101: From risk screening to mechanistic insights","authors":"Jinyi Wu,&nbsp;Na Li,&nbsp;Habib Ullah,&nbsp;Zakir Zaman Khan,&nbsp;Jianlin Feng,&nbsp;Yu Song,&nbsp;Quantao Liu,&nbsp;Shaopeng Wu,&nbsp;Jianying Yu","doi":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2026.149067","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2026.149067","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As a fundamental component of the global transportation network, asphalt pavements inevitably release complex volatile organic compounds (VOCs) throughout their entire life cycle, posing persistent threat to ecosystems and human health while hindering cleaner production in sector. Owing to the extreme compositional complexity of asphalt VOC emissions, existing studies have largely focused on total emission control, often overlooking the dominant contribution of a small number of highly toxic components to overall risk. To address this limitation, this study proposes a risk-oriented selective suppression strategy. A multidimensional evaluation framework was established to identify key hazardous components, prioritizing isoprene, p-xylene, dimethyl disulfide, and methyl vinyl ketone as primary control targets. Subsequently, a low-emission asphalt material was developed using the high-surface-area metal–organic framework MIL-101 as a modifier to enable targeted adsorption of these characteristic pollutants. Multiscale molecular simulations reveal that the abundant unsaturated metal sites and unique pore environment of MIL-101 generate deep free-energy wells and pronounced diffusion barriers, endowing the material with higher adsorption affinity and stronger intracrystalline retention for selective capture of the target pollutants. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) experiments further validate the simulation predictions, demonstrating that MIL-101 significantly reduces emissions of the risk-dominant pollutants, Overall, this work integrates risk-oriented screening with mechanism-guided material design, providing an effective pathway for cleaner production of low-emission asphalt materials and the development of more sustainable transportation infrastructure.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":349,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cleaner Production","volume":"574 ","pages":"Article 149067"},"PeriodicalIF":10.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148692963","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}

{"title":"Entrepreneurial leadership and resource management efficiency as necessary conditions for SME sustainability: A moderated mediation analysis of digital readiness and financial inclusion","authors":"Pureheart Ogheneogaga Irikefe,&nbsp;Mohammad Falahat,&nbsp;Ahmad Danial Zainudin,&nbsp;Hamed Motaghi","doi":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2026.149116","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2026.149116","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are central to employment and value creation, yet pressures from sustainability transition expose endemic financing frictions and uneven digital readiness (DR), particularly in emerging markets. This study examines how SME capabilities viz.: entrepreneurial leadership (EL) and resource management efficiency (RME) associate with triple-bottom-line (TBL) sustainability across economic (ECOS), environmental (ENVS), and social (SOCS) pillars, whether firm-level financial inclusion (FI) statistically mediates capability-to-TBL associations, and whether DR conditions these associations. Using survey data from 429 Malaysian SMEs, we apply a sequential analytics design: Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modelling to test direct, mediated, and interaction effects; followed by Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA) and Importance-Performance Map Analysis in the bid to identify bottlenecks and practical priorities. Results show that EL is positively associated with ECOS, ENVS, and SOCS; whereas RME is strongly positively associated with ECOS and ENVS but is not significant for SOCS. FI is TBL pillar-asymmetric: it bolsters ENVS and SOCS but exhibits a negative effect on ECOS, and the mediated effects through FI mirror the pattern. DR significantly strengthens the FI to TBL pathways, yet conditional indirect effects indicate that high DR can neutralise FI's economic drag without reliably improving ECOS. NCA sharpens the conclusion: high ECOS is unattainable without RME, while high ENVS and SOCS require EL-RME-FI jointly; DR is not a robust necessity condition. Practically, SMEs should tighten efficiency routines first, mobilise leadership for adoption, channel finance through verified upgrading milestones and invest in DR only where it improves monitoring, traceability and compliance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":349,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cleaner Production","volume":"574 ","pages":"Article 149116"},"PeriodicalIF":10.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148693013","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}

{"title":"Coal to carbon quantum dots via Fenton’s reagent","authors":"Alexander G. Prlina,&nbsp;Zhe Chen,&nbsp;Terry Ring,&nbsp;Tongtong Wang,&nbsp;Hertanto Adidharma,&nbsp;Maohong Fan,&nbsp;Eric G. Eddings","doi":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2026.149012","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2026.149012","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Industrial scale-up of top-down synthesized carbon quantum dots (CQDs) is currently bottlenecked by the environmental hazards of harsh acidic oxidizers and a total lack of predictive process and techno-economic frameworks. This work addressis this gap by presenting a novel and environmentally friendly process for converting Wyoming Powder River Basin coal into carbon quantum dots (CQDs) by leveraging naturally occurring iron to drive an in situ Fenton reaction. XPS and FTIR characterization confirmed the formation of highly functionalized CQDs, validating the molecular models used in our kinetic analysis. A two-step sequential mechanism was developed and validated using a global basin-hopping optimization algorithm. Operating at an optimized 8-hour/90 °C regime, the process maximizes CQD yield (43%) while ensuring high photoluminescent quality. Process modeling and techno-economic analysis were performed on a potential coal-to-CQD process at pilot, intermediate, and industrial-scale production rates to establish the first commercial viability benchmarks for this green technology. It was found that pilot and intermediate-scale facilities could be built with limited capital investment. CQDs produced in these plants could be sold at prices lower than CQDs currently available commercially. Capital and operating costs at the industrial scale are significantly higher than those at the intermediate scale, but the staged deployment scheme presented here minimizes investment risk while allowing CQDs to move from niche uses as laboratory reagents into bulk commodity applications. Ultimately, these findings establish a scalable blueprint for repurposing fossil fuel resources into sustainable, high-value carbon materials.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":349,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cleaner Production","volume":"574 ","pages":"Article 149012"},"PeriodicalIF":10.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148693089","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}

{"title":"Carbon continuum across Eastern Himalayan forests: Elevational shifts in productivity, storage and turnover","authors":"Basanta Moirangthem,&nbsp;Rajdeep Chanda,&nbsp;Salam Suresh Singh,&nbsp;Lianhmingthanga Mizo,&nbsp;Santosh Chauhan,&nbsp;Ngangbam Somen Singh,&nbsp;Keshav Kumar Upadhyay,&nbsp;Shri Kant Tripathi","doi":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2026.149147","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2026.149147","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Nature-based solutions (NbS) that enhance carbon (C) sequestration while maintaining ecosystem resilience are central to climate-change mitigation and sustainable land management. Forests of the Eastern Himalaya, spanning steep elevational gradients, offer a unique opportunity to examine how productivity, carbon storage, and turnover together sustain these outcomes. This study quantified biomass, net primary productivity (NPP), vegetation and soil organic carbon (SOC) pools across tropical (TRF), subtropical (STRF), and temperate (TMF) forests in Mizoram, Northeast India, using intensive field-based measurements of trees, shrubs, herbs, litter, fine roots, and soils. Carbon dynamics varied significantly with elevation. The STRF exhibited the highest total biomass (286.70 Mg ha⁻¹), vegetation C (134.75 Mg C ha⁻¹), SOC pools (104.3 Mg C ha⁻¹), and C sequestration rate (10.81 Mg C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹), reflecting an optimal balance between productivity and carbon residence time. In contrast, TRF showed rapid C turnover with lower standing stocks (107.00 Mg C ha⁻¹) but high fluxes, while TMF functioned as a long-term C reservoir with moderate biomass (254.10 Mg ha⁻¹) and slow decomposition kinetics. Distinct litter and fine-root dynamics revealed complementary C cycling strategies along the elevational gradient. Collectively, these forests constitute a functional C continuum in which tropical systems act as high-exchange zones, subtropical forests as efficient C sinks, and temperate forests as stable long-term C stores. Conserving this elevational mosaic represents a robust nature-based sustainability solution that simultaneously supports climate mitigation, ecosystem resilience, and regional C balance in the Eastern Himalayan forests.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":349,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cleaner Production","volume":"574 ","pages":"Article 149147"},"PeriodicalIF":10.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148693095","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}

{"title":"Soil organic carbon and pH govern the divergent trajectories of organic and inorganic sulfur under long-term fertilization","authors":"Haotian Shi,&nbsp;Miao Lei,&nbsp;Shaomin Huang,&nbsp;Hongjun Gao,&nbsp;Lu Zhang,&nbsp;Dongchu Li,&nbsp;Shulan Zhang,&nbsp;Xianlu Yue,&nbsp;Qingxu Ma,&nbsp;Wenju Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2026.149083","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2026.149083","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Globally, declining atmospheric sulfur (S) deposition has increased the risk of S deficiency in intensive agricultural systems, yet the long-term changes in soil S fractions and their regulatory mechanisms remain poorly understood. Here, we used three 30-year (1990–2019) field experiments spanning China's temperate-to-subtropical climate gradient to examine changes in soil organic S (SOS) and inorganic S (SIS) fractions under contrasting fertilization regimes. Despite consistently positive apparent S budgets, topsoil SIS declined by 30–112 mg kg⁻¹ under most site-treatment combinations, whereas SOS remained stable or increased, indicating a decoupling between apparent S inputs and SIS retention. This divergence reflected the different controls on organic S stabilization and inorganic S retention. Linear mixed-effects models and partial least squares path analysis showed that soil organic carbon (SOC) and pH were the major regulatory factors: SOC was significantly positively correlated with SOS and its fractions, whereas pH governed SIS retention through pH-dependent sulfate adsorption and calcium-associated sulfate stabilization mechanisms. Integrated organic-mineral fertilization, namely NPKM (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium fertilizers plus manure), emerged as a promising strategy, as it simultaneously maintained crop yields, sustained SOS accumulation, kept soil available S above the reference deficiency threshold across sites, and reduced acidification pressure compared with mineral fertilization alone. These findings demonstrate that sustainable soil S management should move beyond input replacement and instead regulate soil-internal cycling processes, particularly SOC accumulation and pH buffering, to sustain soil S fertility under declining atmospheric S deposition.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":349,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cleaner Production","volume":"574 ","pages":"Article 149083"},"PeriodicalIF":10.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148734074","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}

{"title":"A policy-driven and climate-adjusted Weibull framework for forecasting end-of-life photovoltaic module waste in Korea","authors":"Jieun Baek","doi":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2026.149096","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2026.149096","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study quantitatively predicts the future generation of end-of-life (EoL) photovoltaic (PV) module waste in South Korea and assesses uncertainty associated with key lifetime and modeling assumptions. Separate lifetime models were developed for commercial and self-consumption PV systems using a Weibull-based framework that incorporates the contractual structures of national PV support policies and empirical evidence from module disposal cases. For commercial systems, distinct Weibull distributions were applied to installation cohorts according to policy-specific contract termination periods under the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) and Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) schemes. For self-consumption systems, an Acceleration Failure Time (AFT)-Weibull model was employed, integrating region-specific climatic risk factors—temperature, precipitation, humidity, particulate matter (PM), and ozone concentration—as determinants of lifetime degradation. Annual waste generation is projected to increase sharply, peaking around 2040, with cumulative EoL PV waste estimated to reach approximately 1.7-1.9 million tons by 2050. Regional analysis reveals higher waste generation in Jeonnam, Jeonbuk, Gyeongbuk, and Chungnam provinces, primarily driven by installed capacity rather than accelerated degradation. Sensitivity analyses, including variations in climate acceleration factors and reuse rates, indicate that uncertainty mainly affects the magnitude of waste generation whereas the overall temporal pattern remains robust. These findings provide a quantitative foundation for developing PV recycling policies and planning resource recovery infrastructure in Korea.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":349,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cleaner Production","volume":"574 ","pages":"Article 149096"},"PeriodicalIF":10.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148693011","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}

{"title":"Dusty plasma actuators: “Powder-phobic” walls to mitigate clogging in granular flows","authors":"F.J. Durán-Olivencia,&nbsp;F. Pontiga,&nbsp;H. Moreno,&nbsp;M.A. Martín-Alfonso,&nbsp;C. Soria-Hoyo,&nbsp;J.M. Valverde","doi":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2026.149021","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2026.149021","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Clogging is a thornier problem for many production environments run by granular flows. The cure? Purging and cleaning the pipelines continuously. Although simple and certainly effective, such mechanical operations indicate that there is no pat answer to this challenge. Yet, stopping the line jeopardizes the reliability and predictability of production environments<!--> <!-->—<!--> <!-->two pivotal concerns for many industrial sectors, such as new energy systems based on granular media.</div><div>Here, we propose the use of electric forces to clear the granular material adhered to the pipeline walls. The charge injected from the electrodes is transferred to the grains that eventually repel each other and the electrodes. To that end, we used a dielectric barrier discharge setup, with fine powders settling on the surface. Experiments monitored the powder mass ejected from the surface, exploring the role of the particle size (from 15 to 80 microns) and the frequency of the electric signal (from 2 to 500<!--> <!-->Hz).</div><div>The results left no doubt about the potential of these settings. All the tests, irrespective of the frequency and particle sizes, led to clean surfaces with no trace of particles<!--> <!-->—<!--> <!-->as general trend, higher frequencies result in faster cleaning. Particle size also plays a role; it modulates the powder removal rate. Importantly, we found an operational regime for frequencies of the electric stimulus around 100<!--> <!-->Hz in which all the powder samples were thrust efficiently (in a minimal time window) and homogeneously (within similar time windows, regardless of the particle size).</div><div>Undoubtedly, the practicality of using electrical forces to prevent particles from adhering to the pipeline walls opens new avenues for designing robust and reliable pumping systems<!--> <!-->—<!--> <!-->a long-standing demand for an ample palette of engineering processes that require transporting and storing cohesive granular media.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":349,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cleaner Production","volume":"574 ","pages":"Article 149021"},"PeriodicalIF":10.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148693044","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}

{"title":"RSM–ANN-driven process engineering for greener polyphenol extraction from kodo millet husk and their translational efficacy against acute lung inflammation in both in vitro and in vivo models","authors":"Swachchhatoya Ghosh,&nbsp;Nithya Sree PR,&nbsp;Abhisheik Eedara,&nbsp;Subhankar Roy,&nbsp;Sai Balaji Andugulapati,&nbsp;Siddhartha Moulik","doi":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2026.149081","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2026.149081","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study establishes the first systematic translation of kodo millet husk into a biologically validated functional resource via extraction of polyphenol-rich fractions with demonstrated anti-inflammatory efficacy. A data-driven framework integrating simplex-lattice solvent optimization, response surface methodology–artificial neural network (RSM–ANN) hybrid modeling, and kinetic–thermodynamic analysis was employed to enhance extraction efficiency and functional performance, followed by validation in cellular systems and a preclinical acute respiratory distress syndrome model. Under optimized conditions, the extract yielded 35.41 μmol FAE g⁻¹ total phenolics, 3.05 μmol QE g⁻¹ flavonoids, and 98.34% ABTS inhibition, corresponding to ∼66% and ∼9% improvements, respectively. ANN exhibited superior capability in resolving nonlinear process interactions. Kinetic and thermodynamic assessments indicated a diffusion-controlled, endothermic, and entropy-driven process with low activation energy (11.57 kJ mol⁻¹) and negative ΔG°, confirming spontaneity. HPLC-DAD-ESI-MS/MS profiling identified fifteen phenolics, dominated by hydroxycinnamic acids. Preclinical evaluation demonstrated significant attenuation of LPS-induced inflammation, including reduced cytokine levels, modulation of macrophage response, and preservation of lung architecture, with efficacy comparable to dexamethasone. Overall, this study provides a mechanistically grounded and scalable framework for the translational valorization of kodo millet husk.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":349,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cleaner Production","volume":"574 ","pages":"Article 149081"},"PeriodicalIF":10.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148692920","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}

{"title":"Bayesian material flow analysis and life cycle assessment reveal decarbonisation and land use trade-off in England's cement and concrete sector","authors":"Adam R. Mason,&nbsp;Tom Bide,&nbsp;Rupert J. Myers,&nbsp;Julia A. Stegemann","doi":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2026.149045","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2026.149045","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Concrete is essential for modern infrastructure, but its production has significant environmental costs, including carbon emissions and land use. Comprehensive material life cycle data for cement and concrete are currently lacking, hindering assessment of its life cycle environmental impacts and strategies for mitigative action including policy decisions. This study applies Bayesian Material Flow Analysis (BaMFA) for the quantitative material flow analysis of the 2019 cement and concrete life cycle in England. Integrating the BaMFA results – estimates of material flows and stocks – into Life Cycle Assessment enables more complete assessment of the material system's potential life cycle impacts. This study has two aims. First, to establish the first quantitative material life cycle for cement and concrete in England; second, to demonstrate the potential of BaMFA in strategic material assessment. The modelled system has a global warming potential of 17.0MtCO₂-eq, 2.6% of the reported 2019 UK total. Including land use (239km²a crop-eq, 0.1% of England's land area) highlights difficulties of achieving improvements concurrently across them. Priority actions for decarbonisation alongside land use reduction is clinker substitution in cement manufacturing and reduced coal use in steelmaking. Greater attention should also be paid to reducing impacts related to transport, which contributes 1.34 Mt CO₂-eq and 54.5% of land use in the system, especially where interventions affect logistics and infrastructure needs. Data availability is a persistent barrier to informed policy and decision-making, including decarbonisation for net-zero, and system optimisation through modelling. BaMFA can help to estimate incomplete or absent data in any complex material systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":349,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cleaner Production","volume":"574 ","pages":"Article 149045"},"PeriodicalIF":10.7,"publicationDate":"2026-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148692959","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}