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Rural coastal regions in developing countries are generally neglected with respect to environmental issues. The present study examined the feasibility of green technologies such as rainwater harvesting (RWH), sand filtration (SF), and composting (in-vessel and pit) to recover from the environmental issues in the coastal rural regions using survey a...
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... phenomena of rapid seawater intrusion could result from overexploitation of groundwater and high dense seawater from the Arabian Sea, replacing the natural groundwater in the aquifers [33]. Table 1 shows the composition of the seawater and groundwater samples from the study area. The seawater was highly alkaline (8.74 pH) with a TDS concentration of 1,650 mg L -1 . ...Citations
... Hence, using anaerobic digestate as a biofertilizer is a common practice in sustainable agriculture. The digestate quality was equivalent to other biofertilizers such as compost manure from aerobic composting and vermicomposting (Isha et al., 2020;Vijay et al., 2021a;D' Silva et al., 2022b). But the quality of anaerobic digestate is ultimately varies according to the feedstock used and operating conditions of the digester. ...
Carbon emissions and associated global warming have become a threat to the world, the major contributor being the extensive use of fossil fuels and uncontrolled generation of solid wastes. Energy generation from renewable energy sources is considered an alternative to achieving carbon neutrality. Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a sustainable technology that has been endorsed as a low-carbon technology complimenting both waste management and renewable energy sectors. The AD technology recovers the volatile matter from waste biomass as much as possible to produce biogas, thus reducing carbon emission as compared to open dumping or burning. However, there is a need of compilation of information on how each subsystem in AD contributes to the overall carbon neutrality of the entire system and chances of achieving a circular economy along with it. Therefore, this article aims to clarify the associated internal and external factors that determine the low carbon characteristic of anaerobic digestion technology. From this review, the potential of AD system for energy-atmosphere-agriculture nexus has been explored. Carbon emission mapping of the potential entities involved in AD were identified and perspective to life cycle assessment and future research direction has been pointed out. Climate change impact and acidification potential are the two entities that can influence the overall environmental sustainability of an AD system. It was recognized that each stage of AD system starting from substrate supply chain, biogas production, upgradation, utilization, and digestate application had a remarkable effect on the overall carbon emission potential based on its design, operation, and maintenance. Selection of suitable substrates and co-digesting them together for improved biogas production rate with high methane content and proper digestate post-processing and storage can vastly reduce the carbon emission potential of the AD technology. Further, a case scenario of India was assessed considering the utilization of major surplus biomass available through AD. Re-routing the three major substrates such as agricultural crop residues, animal wastes and organic fraction of municipal solid wastes through AD can reduce at least 3.5-3.8 kg CO2-eq per capita of annual carbon emission load in India. Furthermore, the pathways in which the policy and legislations over establishment of AD technology and how to explore linkages between achieving circular economy and low carbon economy for Indian scenario has been highlighted.
... Therefore, for such a prosperous field of research, more steps are needed towards completing and promoting this relationship. For instance, the implementation of technological solutions [65], such as BCT [43,66]. ...
... Secondly, the significant positive relationship between BCT adoption and environmental SCP mediated by SCR (H2) addresses the importance of SCR enabled by BCT to enhance the environmental SCP [65]. Although the findings of the current study depicts that BCT alone cannot enhance the performance of environmental SCs, it is evidently critical to the profitability and survival of any company to have a resilient SC [63]. ...
Due to the complexity of building supply chain resilience (SCR) towards long-term environmental sustainability amendments, the use of emerging technologies such as Blockchain Technology (BCT) can be adopted as an innovative tool to enhance the sustainability and resilience of supply chains, especially in uncertain environments. Drawing on the Knowledge-Based View (KBV) and Dynamic Capability View (DCV), this research aims to demonstrate how the adoption of BCT can enhance the environmental supply chain performance (SCP). A total of 603 valid surveys were collected from respondents from manufacturing and service organizations in Egypt. The collected data were analyzed using structural equation modelling, and results revealed that BCT adoption alone had a negative direct impact on environmental SCP. However, when this relationship was mediated by SCR and sequentially mediated by customer integration and green customer information sharing, the results were positive. This research presents insights on how organizations can adapt to dynamic business environments, and, in addition, it extends the theories of KBV and DCV in an empirical contribution by filling the gap in understanding regarding how environmental SCP can be enhanced through the adoption of BCT.
The human existence with the recent spread of COVID-19 disease infected by the coronavirus novel variant SARS-CoV-2 was uncertain. The nations together abided to overcome the challenges posed by the pandemic. However, during those testing times, the major activities were disrupted abruptly; one among them was solid waste management. This has put up a question mark on the safe and hygienic surroundings, an essential social responsibility towards a sustainable, hygienic, and safe environment. The socio-economic scenario during the pandemic wave has triggered concern for proper waste management, which has varied from nation to nation and regionally. A convenience online survey conducted in India during the pandemic suggested that about 72 billion face masks were used, further contributing to solid waste. Further, the possible solutions to achieve a sustainable solid waste management framework are discussed specifically for rural and urban setups in India. These solutions seem to align with the United Nations 17 sustainable development goals, depicting that they can be continued to combat climate change suitable for developing countries. Finally, the importance of circular economy and social inclusiveness with responsibilities are highlighted to promote and achieve sustainability within the solid waste management sector.
This study assessed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) for urban water management challenges. This study conducted a sensitivity analysis to identify the most influential factors in the SWMM. Moreover, the performance of SWMM was evaluated with the HYDRUS-1D module in simulating infiltration rates. The sensitivity results showed field capacity as the most significant factor, highlighting the need for advanced modeling techniques to consider factors like field capacity. The SWMM was evaluated by the HYDRUS-1D that SWMM consistently underestimated peak infiltration rates and commenced infiltration calculations only when soil moisture exceeded field capacity. It reveals its limitations in handling unsaturated soil conditions and highlights the consideration of the matric head of the soil during the infiltration calculation in soil media. Moreover, the evaluation of bioretention areas showed larger areas resulting in more substantial flow reductions but with significant variability under different rainfall conditions. Accordingly, this result emphasizes the importance of careful consideration for environmental factors in bioretention design. This study contributes by enhancing understanding of SWMM's limitations in simulating urban water management challenges. Thus, this research will offer technical assistance to stakeholders focused on challenges such as runoff, hydrologic cycle, and urban flooding in urban areas.
This study investigated the influence of seasonal variation of fruits, vegetables and agrowastes (FVA) generated in wholesale markets in New Delhi, India, for biogas production. The mechanically pretreated FVA wastes were individually co-digested with waste activated sludge (WAS) under mesophilic conditions for 30 d. The combination of radish leaves with WAS exhibited the highest biogas yield of 407.22 mL/g VSfed. Later, four different mixed combinations were formulated based on four different seasons (pre-monsoon, monsoon, post-monsoon and winter) to digest using three different inocula: waste activated sludge (WAS), cow dung and anaerobic sludge. The mixed combination of substrates for the winter season co-digested with WAS provided the highest biogas yield of 699.49 mL/g VSfed. The modified Gompertz model predicted the biogas potential from all the experimental results and simulated that the lignocellulosic substrates exhibited high lag time (> 1). The biodegradability index (BD) was lower (< 50%) for all the individual substrates, other than the case of reactor with radish leaves and WAS. Most of the mixed substrate’s combination exhibited BD above 50% and also showed positive synergistic effects of 1.25 to 1.94, most probably due to the positive attributes of co-digestion strategy. With the future prospects available to improve the digestibility of certain substrates, a thermogravimetric analysis was conducted on them. It suggests that the thermal degradation of each substrate varies according to its individual characteristics. Hence, possibilities of strategizing thermal pretreatment for selected substrates could be further evaluated, delivering improved sustainable energy utilization and enhanced biogas production.
Anaerobic digestion of fruit and vegetable wastes (FVW) is a sustainable energy production technology with a low carbon footprint but lacks consistent, productive process performance. Hence, the anaerobic co-digestion (AcoD) of FVW with various lignocellulosic biomass has become necessary. This study investigated AcoD of dry fallen leaves (DFL) and cow dung (CD) with FVW. Twelve combinations were designed, varying the proportion of DFL and FVW, keeping the amount of CD constant at 6 % total solids and 37 °C. The maximum biogas yield of 809 ± 96 mL/g VSinput was achieved in the reactor with a DFL to FVW ratio of 100:0. In contrast, a maximum methane yield of 388 ± 131 mL/g VSinput was observed in a reactor with a DFL to FVW ratio of 40:60, also saving 2 % (%v/v) of extra water than the former. The proposed co-digestion strategy has the potential for full-scale applications with its positive attributes.
In this study, the slow pyrolysis of Prosopis Juliflora was performed to determine the product yield distribution and its physiochemical properties, thermodynamic and sustainability performance of a process. Findings indicate that the increase in process temperature (300–600 °C) negatively impacted biochar yield while positively affected bio-oil and pyrolysis gas yield. The HHV, fixed carbon and fuel ratio of biochar was improved at higher pyrolysis temperature while energy yield decreased. The maximum bio-oil yield was obtained at 500 °C, and it contains a high fraction of phenolic compounds (35.54%) followed by aromatics (23.01%). The concentration of H2 (7.21–19.88%) and CH4 (1.89–2.59%) and Py-gas heating value (4.98–7.89 MJ Nm⁻³) improved with an increase in process temperature.
The pyrolysis system's energy (76.97–84.54%) and exergy efficiency (67.41–83.38%) were enhanced with process temperature, and the GRA optimization was attained at 600 °C. The sustainability index, environmental factor, and improvement potential positive impact the environment at a higher temperature. It is recommended to produce superior quality of biochar, bio-oil and Py-gas in the temperature range of 500–600 °C with minimal environmental impact.
