Journal of Cleaner Production最新文献

{"title":"Unlocking industrial-scale lithium extraction from salt lake brines: A comprehensive sustainability, life cycle, and techno-economic comparative analysis","authors":"Yong Niu ,&nbsp;Yibo Yuan ,&nbsp;Yani Wang ,&nbsp;Changyuan Wang ,&nbsp;Xinhao Zhang ,&nbsp;Yanyan Fang ,&nbsp;Yuze Zhang ,&nbsp;Shaolei Xie ,&nbsp;Xiaowu Peng ,&nbsp;Hailong Lu ,&nbsp;Xin Zhou ,&nbsp;Lianying Wu ,&nbsp;Dong Shi ,&nbsp;Lijuan Li","doi":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2025.146535","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2025.146535","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Lithium extraction plays a critical role in the development of sustainable energy systems, particularly in electric vehicles and renewable energy storage. This study represents a pioneering effort in providing industrial-scale, data-driven insights into lithium extraction technologies, offering a comprehensive and quantifiable sustainability and techno-economic assessment. We conducted an in-depth evaluation of four salt-lake lithium extraction processes—solvent extraction, adsorption, membrane separation, and the adsorption-membrane hybrid process—providing detailed life cycle and economic data. Our investigation reveals that, with respect to global warming potential, these processes emit 52.7 kg CO₂-eq/kg of lithium carbonate (LCE) for solvent extraction, 47.9 kg CO₂-eq/kg for adsorption, 17.7 kg CO₂-eq/kg for membrane separation, and 36.1 kg CO₂-eq/kg for the hybrid process. Economically, the solvent extraction process proves to be the most cost-effective, with a production cost of 9135 yuan/ton of LCE. All cost values are reported in 2023 Chinese yuan and are normalized to per ton LCE production for cross-comparison. Our work lays the foundation for further optimization and provides valuable guidance for selecting the most sustainable and economically feasible extraction technologies in the future.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":349,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cleaner Production","volume":"525 ","pages":"Article 146535"},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145043066","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":"Back to rags: Producing packaging paper from post-consumer textile waste","authors":"Thomas Harter,&nbsp;Alexander Wagner,&nbsp;Alexander Weissensteiner,&nbsp;Ulrich Hirn","doi":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2025.146524","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2025.146524","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Textile recycling remains a critical challenge in efforts to establish circular material flows, particularly for low-grade post-consumer textile waste that falls outside the scope of high-quality fibre-to-fibre recycling. In this study, we revisit the historical practice of processing textiles into papermaking fibres and adapt it to present-day waste streams. Using mechanical disintegration, we investigate the impact of scrap size and defibration time on fibre and suspension properties. Our results show that a broad processing window exists, with effective fibre separation achievable through relatively coarse cutting and moderate defibration times. The resulting suspensions were blended with industrial recycled paper stock and used to produce handsheets, which were evaluated for key packaging-relevant mechanical properties: tensile strength, bending stiffness, and short-span compression strength (SCT). A blend with 30 % textile-derived fibres yielded papers with equal or improved mechanical performance compared to reference sheets made from industrial paper stock alone. These findings support the feasibility of incorporating post-consumer cotton textiles into packaging paper production. Due to the large demand of fibres for packaging paper the proposed processing pathway has the potential for diverting significant volumes of textile waste from disposal. Rather than competing with fibre-to-fibre recycling, this approach targets lower-grade waste and proposes a complementary route toward more comprehensive circularity in the textile and packaging sectors.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":349,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cleaner Production","volume":"525 ","pages":"Article 146524"},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145046552","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":"Intellectual property protection and energy efficiency: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China","authors":"Shanyong Wang,&nbsp;Jun Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2025.146625","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2025.146625","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Boosting regional energy efficiency is key to mitigating the adverse impacts of climate change, but the effect of intellectual property protection remains unclear. Using Chinese National Intellectual Property Rights Demonstration City (NIPRDC) policy as a quasi-natural experiment, this study employs a DID approach to assess its impact on energy efficiency. The results show that NIPRDC policy significantly enhances regional energy efficiency, which is delayed over time. Heterogeneity analysis further reveals that the positive effects are more pronounced in large cities, and regions with stronger resource endowments, richer human capital and stricter environmental regulation. Mechanism analysis indicates that NIPRDC policy improves energy efficiency by optimizing market resource allocation, promoting regional innovation and facilitating industrial upgrading. Additionally, further analysis uncovers a synergistic effect between NIPRDC policy and data openness pilot policy, with the optimal outcome achieved when “Data openness pilot policy first, NIPRDC policy later”. We offer valuable insights for the effective implementation of NIPRDC policy and provide important references for improving energy efficiency.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":349,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cleaner Production","volume":"525 ","pages":"Article 146625"},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145043017","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":"Italian farmers’ preferences for adopting agriculture 4.0 technologies: A choice experiment analysis","authors":"Roberto Fragomeli ,&nbsp;Wojciech Zawadzki ,&nbsp;Mikołaj Czajkowski ,&nbsp;Azzurra Annunziata ,&nbsp;Gennaro Punzo","doi":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2025.146601","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2025.146601","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Digital (“Agriculture 4.0”) technologies can improve both sustainability and productivity; however, their uptake in Italy remains uneven, partly due to fragmented farm structures and limited digital readiness. Grounded in the Theory of Reasoned Goal Pursuit (TRGP) and underpinned by Random Utility Theory, the study employs a nationwide discrete choice experiment (n = 452, May–June 2024) and a mixed logit model in willingness to pay (WTP) space to quantify Italian farmers’ preferences and WTP for five key attributes: work hours saved, energy saved, water saved, sales increase, and adoption cost. The results show that farmers place the highest WTP on labour and water savings, followed by the prospect of higher sales, whereas energy-saving attributes exert the weakest influence. High adoption costs are a major deterrent, especially for small and medium-sized farms. Interaction effects reveal that farm size, working hours, income, resource use and attitudes towards innovation significantly moderate preferences. The findings highlight the need for differentiated policy packages – combining financial incentives, tailored training, and effective communication – to foster wider and more equitable adoption of Agriculture 4.0 technologies in Italy.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":349,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cleaner Production","volume":"525 ","pages":"Article 146601"},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145043074","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":"Consumers’ affinity to the circular economy: Empirical evidence utilizing the circular economy cube","authors":"Alexandra Anderluh ,&nbsp;Roland Hackl ,&nbsp;Zahra Mesbahi ,&nbsp;Tassilo Pellegrini ,&nbsp;Clemens Raffler","doi":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2025.146539","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2025.146539","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The European Circular Economy Action Plan s establishes sustainability requirements and standards aimed at making products more durable, reusable, and recyclable. It specifically targets sectors that consume substantial resources and offer significant recycling potential, while also emphasizing waste prevention and consumer empowerment. However, understanding how consumers from all socioeconomic backgrounds engage in circular practices - such as reducing, reusing, and repairing - is essential for two key reasons. First, without a shift in consumer behaviour aligned with circular economy principles, effective implementation is not possible. Second, insights into consumer engagement across diverse socioeconomic groups are crucial for guiding businesses and policymakers in designing effective strategies and interventions to foster circular behaviours. To address this knowledge gap, the paper examines high-impact R-strategies and product group combinations, taking into account varying socioeconomic backgrounds. The Circular Economy Cube - a three-dimensional framework mapping R-strategies to relevant product groups and milieus - is introduced. Drawing on data from a representative online survey integrated into the Cube, the authors quantitatively assess the Austrian population's affinity for the circular economy. Additionally, the study tests incentives and nudging strategies in specific contexts, statistically identifying the determinants of circular economy affinity and their significance.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":349,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cleaner Production","volume":"525 ","pages":"Article 146539"},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145046554","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":"Production of natural fertilizers with sludge digestate by mineral-based struvite crystallization and organic binding","authors":"Aysha Iftikhar ,&nbsp;Wendong Tao","doi":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2025.146599","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2025.146599","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>With phosphate rock reserves getting quickly depleted, there is a pressing need to reclaim phosphorus from wastewater. The existing technologies for recovering phosphate from wastewater as struvite granules bear the high costs of chemicals and slow growth of struvite crystals. Moreover, the recovered struvite cannot be used as fertilizers for organic production in the US because chemicals are added to increase wastewater pH and supplement magnesium. This study advances a novel chemical-free approach for recovering struvite from sludge digestate as granular natural fertilizers that have great potential to be allowed for use in certified organic production. First, simple air stripping and gravity settling were applied to raise pH and precipitate Mg²⁺-competing cations in filtrate of sludge digestate. Mineral products (calcined magnesite and Epsomite) were then added to the pretreated filtrate in a 21.5-L air-lift crystallizer for only 45 min of struvite crystallization and settling. 90.2–95.6 % of phosphate was removed from the pretreated filtrate. With pretreatment, the purity of struvite crystals reached 93.5 %. The crystals were pressed into granules with organic binders (xanthan gum and guar gum) allowed for organic production. The granules made at struvite crystals: guar gum: water weight ratio of 10 : 0.8: 5.4 had physical properties close to those of commercial triple superphosphate. Guaranteed analysis showed that the granular natural struvite fertilizers had an N-P-K grade of 5–26-0. This mini-pilot study demonstrated a novel approach to reduce the cost of struvite recovery while opening a new marketplace for the recovered fertilizers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":349,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cleaner Production","volume":"525 ","pages":"Article 146599"},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145046557","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":"Optimized O2/CO2–fuel atmosphere for the synergistic–Removal of aromatic hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides from lignite combustion","authors":"Yongfeng Zhang ,&nbsp;Tao Dong ,&nbsp;Haiyan Wang ,&nbsp;Xiaowei Zhang ,&nbsp;Yinmin Zhang ,&nbsp;Yanbing Gong ,&nbsp;Zhifei Hao","doi":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2025.146618","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2025.146618","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The generation of carcinogenic aromatic hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides (NO_x) during lignite combustion poses considerable risks to both environmental quality and human health. Oxy–fuel combustion has emerged as a promising technology for the synergistic control of pollutants. However, the underlying mechanisms remain insufficiently understood. This study integrates experimental and theoretical methodologies to elucidate the dual–inhibition pathways of representative aromatic hydrocarbons and NO_x occurring in O₂–CO₂ atmospheres. Based on the results of Fourier transform infrared and thermogravimetric analysis, it is observed that the optimized 35 %O₂–65 %CO₂ atmospheres most effectively suppress the formation of naphthalene, styrene, and thermal NO_x by approximately 73 %, 65 %, and 86 %, respectively, compared with the traditional O₂–N₂ atmospheres. Furthermore, the degradation pathways of aromatic hydrocarbons and NO_x under O₂–N₂ and O₂–CO₂ atmospheres are thoroughly investigated. It is found that under O₂–N₂ atmospheres, H•–mediated fuel nitrogen chemistry pathways promote the formation of NO_x precursors. Conversely, under the O₂–CO₂ atmospheres, both the polymerization of aromatic hydrocarbons and the formation of NO_x are effectively suppressed through a triple mechanism involving H• extraction, delayed oxidation and HO₂• generation. Subsequently, quantitative chemical calculations further confirm this finding. The introduction of CO₂ can significantly reduce the activation energy of the H• generation reaction (68.2 kJ/mol for O₂–N₂ atmospheres vs. 37.5 kJ/mol for O₂–CO₂ atmospheres) and alter the reaction pathway, thereby enhancing the inhibition of aromatic hydrocarbons and NO_x. This technique has crucial implications for air quality management and contributes to enabling clean lignite use in addition to mitigating greenhouse gas effects.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":349,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cleaner Production","volume":"525 ","pages":"Article 146618"},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145046559","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":"Expediting circular systems for sustainable circular society: Challenges and opportunities for design at the production consumption intersection","authors":"Susan Evans","doi":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2025.146567","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2025.146567","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":349,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cleaner Production","volume":"525 ","pages":"Article 146567"},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145046558","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 sustainable random paradigm of centralized multi-customized facility with fourth-party logistics (4PL) and cleaner production with remanufacturing","authors":"Biswajit Sarkar ,&nbsp;Rekha Guchhait","doi":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2025.146530","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2025.146530","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Reassembled, remanufactured, and, in many cases, electronic gadgets are mostly utilized by customers to save the purchasing costs. As the purchasing cost is less, the industry must reduce the whole supply chain management and logistics costs. Even though smart production is utilized, instead of third-party logistics, fourth-party logistics has been utilized to reduce logistics costs. The benefit of fourth-party logistics is that the complex logistics system can be represented systematically. This logistics system considers newly produced products, remanufactured products, and some spare parts sent by third-party logistics. Customers’ demand pattern is found as a random variable; however, no specific distribution has been matched with this pattern of the customized electronic gadget’s demand pattern. A bound is used during the solution procedure to obtain the expected shortage amount, such that the lost sale can be removed. Finally, the global optimum solution is obtained for smart production under a closed-loop supply chain management using fourth-party logistics. From the comparative study, either theoretically or numerically, it is found that this fourth-party logistics is the biggest effort to obtain the global maximum profit with respect to the decision variable. The sensitivity analysis provides the best effectiveness key parameters are not only a single parameter, but also it will have more than one parameter, like the purchasing cost of the fourth-party logistics, the selling price of retailers, and others.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":349,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cleaner Production","volume":"525 ","pages":"Article 146530"},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145046560","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":"Cleaner processing techniques for rubidium extraction and recovery: A critical review","authors":"Anil K. Pabby ,&nbsp;Ana María Sastre ,&nbsp;José Luis Cortina","doi":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2025.146523","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jclepro.2025.146523","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Rubidium (Rb), an important strategic rare alkali metal, has received significant attention in the last few years due to its applications in biomedical research, solar cells, atomic clocks, electronics, aerospace, quantum computing, laser materials and chemical industry. However, the extraction and processing of this metal are complex, since mineral resources containing rubidium are very scarce and are characterised by low rubidium content. For this reason, several technologies have recently been put forward for cleaner recovery processes of rubidium from various resources. Rb compounds are typically co-produced from silicate minerals, such as pollucite or lepidolite, when they are processed for the production of Li and Cs by-products. Seawater and salt lakes have been identified as promising and more sustainable alternative sources This approach could avoid the highly chemical- and energy-intensive routes associated with the processing of minerals containing Rb. As can be observed from the published literature, researchers have employed various techniques such as solvent extraction, membrane sorption processes (hybrid mode), precipitation and adsorption to recover Rb. Very few reviews of Rb extraction have been published in peer-reviewed journals, meaning that Rb has received less attention than other alkali metals. In the last few years, hybrid processes involving membrane sorption have attracted attention, but this aspect has not been covered in previously published reviews. A more in-depth examination of membrane separation technology and other separation/recovery techniques is needed for selective Rb recovery from different resources, with a particular focus on the potential for recovery of Rb via membrane sorption, ion exchange and adsorption processes. Hence, this state-of the-art review covering the period 2010–2024 (up to December 2024) highlights the progress of Rb recovery technologies, addresses the challenges involved, and suggests future avenues for the extraction of rubidium. We also discuss the fact that these cleaner routes, based on the valorisation of waste streams (e.g. the mineral processing stages of lithium production from lake and seawater brines), face thermodynamic barriers due to low Rb concentrations, thus requiring the development of advanced materials (e.g. with high selectivity separation factors over other dominant monovalent ions such as Na or K). Such thermodynamic barriers currently limit both the technical and economical feasibility of these new, cleaner alternatives for Rb recovery.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":349,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Cleaner Production","volume":"525 ","pages":"Article 146523"},"PeriodicalIF":10.0,"publicationDate":"2025-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145046624","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}