Mechanical performance and Taguchi optimization of kenaf fiber/cement-paperboard composite for interior application

Demand for particleboards keeps increasing and as such more trees are fell for its production, engendering deforestation. For the purpose of reducing falling of trees, this study, focused on recycling of waste paper in the development of paperboard as alternative to particleboards used for furniture and interior household applications. Kenaf fiber (KF) was blended at varying proportions of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 wt.% with 20 wt.% constant cement and 20 wt.% constant coconut shell powder while the remaining was paper pulp. Board specimen developed were cured for 14, 28, and 90 days and mechanical properties were examined. Results obtained showed that fiber dosage improved bond strength and screw holding strengths as compared with the control mix. Similarly, modulus of rupture was enhanced with KF loading as compared with control mix while 1 to 3 wt.% KF spawned enhancement of modulus of elasticity. However, 4 and 5 wt.% KF led to a reduction in the modulus. Infusion of the fiber enhanced tensile strength from 1 to 3 wt.% content. 14-day and 28-day curing periods were observed to improve properties while the 90-day curing period is detrimental to all properties. Optimization via signal-to-noise ratio revealed an optimum mix of 2 wt.% obtained for fiber and an optimum curing duration of 28 days.

     

Roadmap for climate alliance economies to vision 2030: retrospect and lessons

The United Nations Climate Conference 25, held in December 2019, reached a significant agreement against implementing the Paris agreement come 2020. Bound by the contract, 189 countries who are party to the deal agreed to constrain worldwide temperature to ascend to 1.5° Celsius. To this end, the present study attempts to investigate the readiness of selected countries in the European Union to implement the agreement, which will better the quality of the global environment. In line with this, this study appraises the connection between economic growth, renewable and non-renewable energy consumption, on emissions in 11 countries in the European Union from 1990 to 2016. The study utilises the Pooled Mean Group-Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (PMG-ARDL) model estimator and Dumitrescu and Hurlin Panel Causality analysis to analyse the long-run and short-run impact and direction of causality among these factors, respectively. The long-run study's empirical results show a U-shaped Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) and a negative connection between renewable energy use and emissions in the EU-11 countries. In the short-run, non-renewable energy use worsens CO₂ emissions while renewable energy use leads to a fall in emissions. Similarly, causality tests show a feedback mechanism between emissions and renewable energy use and between non-renewable energy and renewable use. Also, there is unidirectional causality from income to CO₂ emissions, non-renewable energy use to CO₂ emissions. The investigation recommends an expanded proportion of renewable energy sources in the EU countries’ energy mix to cut down on emissions.

     

The genes road: impact of migration on newborn screening and health amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the Eastern Mediterranean region

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Nearly two-thirds of migrants residing in camps in Europe are women and children. Many of these children, being born on the way without essential...     

Carbon emission effect of renewable energy utilization,fiscal development,and foreign direct investment in South Africa

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - In recent times, the persistent global environmental challenges have paved the way for the underpinning of climate change within the perspective of...     

The relevance of EKC hypothesis in energy intensity real-output trade-off for sustainable environment in EU-27

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Considering the prevailing wave of global warming and other environmental challenges, which can be attributed to increasing environmental pollution as...     

Differential degradation of crude oil （Bonny Light） by four Pseudomonas strains

Four hydrocarbon degraders isolated from enriched oil- and asphalt-contaminated soils in Lagos, Nigeria, were tested for their petroleum degradation potentials. All the isolates were identified as species of Pseudomonas. Pseudomonas putida P11 demonstrated a strong ability to degrade kerosene, gasoline, diesel, engine oil and crude oil while P. aeruginosa BB3 exhibited fair degradative ability on crude oil, gasoline, engine oil, anthracene and pyrene but weak on kerosene, diesel and dibenzothiophene. Pseudomonas putida WL2 and P. aeruginosa MVL1 grew on crude oil and all its cuts tested with the latter possessing similar polycyclic aromatic potentials as P11. All the strains grew logarithmically with 1–2 orders of magnitude and with generation time ranging significantly between 3.07 and 8.55 d at 0.05 level of confidence. Strains WL2 and MVL1 utilized the oil substrate best with more than 70% in 6 d experimental period, whereas the same feat was achieved by P11 in 12 d period. BB3 on the other hand degraded only 46% within 6 d. Interestingly, data obtained from gas chromatographic analysis of oil recovered from the culture fluids of MVL1 confirmed near-disappearance of major peaks (including aliphatics and aromatics) in the hydrocarbon mixture.     

Synthesis of porous hydroxysodalite from aluminosilicate rich clay soils: application towards fluoride and pathogen removal

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This article discussed the potential application of hydrothermally synthesized porous hydroxysodalite material synthesized from aluminosilicate clay...     

The role of partisan conflict in environmental sustainability targets of the United States

The prevailing political atmosphere and partisanship in the United States depict the degree of polarization between the two major political parties of the country. Evidently, the polarization between the Democratic Party (DP) and the Republican Party will expectedly drive the partisan conflict to the higher levels. Considering this motivation, this paper examined the role of partisan conflict in the pollutant emissions in the case of the United States. For sound empirical analysis, the impacts of other environmental quality determinants are being examined over the period 1960–2015. In order to present a decent argument that is viable for policy implementation, the study adopts the combined methodologies of Johansen cointegration; the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) of Pesaran et al. J Am Stat Assoc 94(446):621–634 (1999); and the Toda and Yamamoto J Econ 66(1–2):225–250 (1995) Granger causality. Empirical outcomes show (i) the kg oil equivalent per capita energy consumed exercise positive and significant impacts on metric tons of per capita CO2 emissions, and it is the principal determinant of environmental degradation in both the short-run and the long-run (ii) renewable energy consumption and economic growth also exercise negative and significant impacts on metric tons of per capita CO2 emissions. Based on our empirical findings, we conclude that partisan conflict indirectly plays a significant role in environmental sustainability targets of the United States. Thus, we are of the opinion that the government should avoid heightened partisan conflict among the political parties in order to promote sustainable environmental policies that would enhance sound and clean environment for both the immediate and the future generation.     

Testing the asymmetric causal nexus of housing-oil prices and pandemic uncertainty in four major economies

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The spread of COVID-19 worldwide has shown how quick global economy can become affected when ones’ health and future are at risk. This paper...