Review: recent advances in biogas purifying technologies

Biomethane production through biogas upgrading is a promising renewable energy for some industries which could be part of the equilibrium needed with fossil fuels consumption to achieve a sustainable society. This paper presents a comprehensive list of biogas upgrading technologies focused on carbon dioxide removal as well as recent advances reported by researcher with wide expertise in this topic. Additionally, an extensive costs–performance comparison among the technologies studied is discussed. Among the different alternatives, chemical scrubbing stood out to achieve high biomethane purities while cryogenic technologies proved to be effective against methane losses. Regarding the different costs, water scrubbing and membrane separation seem to be the most affordable techniques.     

Significance of iron compounds in chemical and electro‐oxidation treatment of sugar industry wastewater: Batch reaction

Industrialization plays a major role in a nation's growth. However, with an increase in industrial activities, pollution levels are also increasing. Among all industries, the sugar‐processing industry is one that requires large amounts of water to process the sugar, and, consequently, it discharges large amounts of water as effluent. Highly polluted wastewater brings changes to the physicochemical characteristics of the surrounding environment. Iron compounds have had a significant impact when they are used in wastewater treatment in various applications, including when they are used to minimize the pollution levels in sugar industry wastewater (SIWW). To minimize the pollutant levels from SIWW, iron compounds have been key for uses in treatments involving chemical and electro‐oxidation. Two different methodologies of electrocoagulation and chemical coagulation have been used to treat SIWW. In electrocoagulation, an iron plate is used as an electrode material under specific operating conditions. Ferrous sulfate and ferric chloride have been used as chemical coagulants at various pH and mass loading levels. The use of iron metals shows an 82% reduction in chemical oxygen demand (COD) and an 84% reduction in color at the optimum condition of pH 6, an electrode distance of 20 millimeters, and a current density of 156 square centimeters. As a chemical coagulant, iron salt (ferrous sulfate) provides a reduction of 77% COD and a 91% reduction of color at pH 6 and a 40‐millimole mass loading. Electrochemical treatment using iron was found to be suitable to treat SIWW. The sludge generated after treatment can be burned or composted with the possible recovery of some of the treatment costs.     

碳排放交易制度下城市减排的机会成本研究——基于中国碳排放试点城市的实证检验

作为全球气候治理的重要手段,碳排放交易制度受到了广泛的关注与讨论。基于此,本文采用我国2010-2016年城市面板数据,运用非参数方法构建方向性环境距离函数测算了2009-2015年城市减排的机会成本,计算结果显示,试点地区与非试点地区的碳排放的机会成本整体表现为上升的趋势,且试点地区的碳排放的机会成本总体低于非试点地区。在测算城市减排机会成本的基础上,运用双重差分法来检验碳排放交易制度的有效性。经检验发现：碳排放交易制度有利于降低城市减排的机会成本,然而由于碳排放交易制度还存在碳排放权初始分配制度缺失、碳排放交易制度的定价机制扭曲等问题,因此其对降低城市减排的机会成本作用较小,并且进一步通过对政策时间趋势的分析得出政策效应随时间推移而逐渐减弱。     

阴极材料对三相三维电极反应器电解处理酸性橙7的影响研究

采用具有不同阴极材料的三相三维电极反应器,对300 mg/L酸性橙7(AO7)模拟废水进行处理研究,重点考察阴极材料对脱色率和反应体系矿化能力的影响,同时利用HPLC、UV-Vis、GC-MS等分析方法对·OH、H2O2以及降解产物进行测定,探讨了3种电极对AO7的降解行为.结果表明,在电压20 V条件下电解60 min后,活性炭纤维(ACF)、石墨和不锈钢等3种阴极体系对于AO7的脱色率均高于96%,三者之间没有明显差别.但是ACF体系对TOC的去除率可达到57.4%,高于其它两者.3种阴极体系中均有高活性的·OH和H2O2生成,但是ACF阴极体系中产生的浓度较高,从而决定了其具有较高的矿化能力.几种不同电极体系电解AO7过程中都遵循了相同的产生酮类和萘酚类物质的过程.     

沼泽湿地植物光合特性及固“碳”潜势对外源氮输入的响应

以沼泽湿地典型草甸植被小叶章(Calamagrostis angustifolia)为研究对象,在三江平原进行了野外培养实验,探讨了4个不同氮素输入水平(0(NO)、6(N6),12(N12)、24(N24)g·m-2· a-1)下沼泽湿地植物生长与光合特性的响应特征,并从光合固"碳"的角度分析了小叶章沼泽湿地的固"碳"潜势.结果表明,外源氮输入明显促进了小叶章的株高、叶面积及植株数,显著增加了碳的生物量积累,到植物生长季结束,N6、N12和N24三个施氮水平下,小叶章地上部分生物量分别比对照增加了58.79%、133.11%和190.55%.同时,小叶章叶片全氮含量、叶绿素、可溶性蛋白和游离氨基酸含量也显著增加,净光合速率明显提高,分别比对照增加了20.70%、26.69%和53.54%.从光合固"碳"的角度来看,外源氮输入能够促使沼泽湿地植物通过光合作用固定更多CO2.     

Characterization of the Songhua River sediments and evaluation of their adsorption behavior for nitrobenzene

The explosion at a plant of the Jilin Petrochemical Corporation on 13 November,2005,and the spill of an estimated 100 t of toxic substances (nitrobenzene as the main component) into the Songhua River received worldwide attention.This study has focused on the adsorption behavior of nitrobenzene that spilled onto sediments along the Songhua River,which was one of the efforts to evaluate the fate of nitrobenzene after the spillage event.The organic carbon contents of these sediments along the Songhua River ...     

Factors affecting the direct mineralization of CO2 with olivine

Olivine, one of the most abundant minerals existing in nature, is explored as a CO2 carbonation agent for direct carbonation of CO2 in flue gas. Olivine based CO2 capture is thermodynamically favorable and can form a stable carbonate for long-term storage. Experimental results have shown that water vapor plays an important role in improving CO2 carbonation rate and capacities. Other operation conditions including reaction temperature, initial CO2 concentration, residence time corresponding to the flow rate of CO2 gas stream, and water vapor concentration also considerably affect the performance of the technology.     

A discussion to promote global sustainability techniques for motivating plastic waste to minimize carbon footprints

This paper emphasizes the significant challenges facing the sustainable environment, including managing and handling plastic waste and reducing carbon footprints. To tackle these challenges, it is essential to identify people's awareness levels of waste handling techniques and their pro-environmental behaviors. The study focuses on Guwahati, one of the most important cities in Northeast India, which generates increasing plastic waste daily. The paper aims to identify the factors contributing to the reduction of carbon footprints resulting from plastic waste management activities. The data collected from 1326 respondents was analyzed using factor analysis, and the reliability of the dataset was confirmed using Cronbach's alpha (0.84 for the awareness level of waste management techniques and 0.780 for the prevalent mode of plastic waste management techniques). KMO (0.796), Bartlett's test of sphericity (p < 0.001), and determinant score (0.019) were used to assess the data adequacy and factorability of the dataset, and the results were found to be satisfactory. Principal component analysis, exploratory factor analysis, and varimax orthogonal rotation method were used to identify high-loaded factors by reducing the number of variables. The results showed that two highly loaded components, namely awareness level of waste management techniques (AWMT) and prevalent mode of plastic waste management techniques (PWMT), explained 27.53% and 24.34% of the total variance, respectively, with eigenvalues of 3.35 and 2.88. The regression model confirmed the statistical significance of these factors (p < 0.001) and their relationship with the dependent variable, greenhouse reduction (GHGR). The study proposes that minimizing carbon footprints in the environment can be achieved by focusing on a limited number of controllable factors such as AWMT and PWMT. This study provides valuable insights to the authorities in controlling waste generation and achieving a pollution-free environment.     

Toward sustainable use of natural resources: Nexus between resource rents,affluence, energy intensity and carbon emissions in developing and transition economies

Sustainable use of natural resources would entail ensuring that derived economic benefits today do not undermine the welfare of generations to come. On this basis, this study examines the nexus between natural resource rents and carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions disaggregated into production and consumption-based (i.e., trade-adjusted) CO₂ emissions for a selected panel of 45 developing and transition economies over the period 1995–2017. The empirical model also incorporates the impacts of population, affluence, and energy intensity. The results show that affluence increases production-based CO₂ emissions by 1.407%, with the EKC's predicted inverted U-shaped curve only explaining consumption-based CO₂ emissions. Economic reliance on natural resource rents and energy intensification contribute 0.022% and 0.766%, respectively, to CO₂ emissions embedded in territorial production inventories and 0.035% and 0.583%, respectively, to CO₂ emissions embedded in consumption inventories. The bootstrap non-causality test shows that historical data on each variable has significant predictive power for future CO₂ emissions from both sources. The historical information about natural resource rents has significant predictive power over the future levels of affluence and energy intensity. Clearly, the results show that the environmental impact of natural resource rents is stronger when CO₂ emissions are adjusted for trade and varies among the countries, with Bangladesh, Guinea, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe among the most affected countries. Overall, this study provides motivation for policies to keep the use of natural resources within sustainable limits.     

交通领域减污降碳协同控制研究回顾及展望

交通运输行业是二氧化碳和空气污染物排放的主要贡献者之一,开展交通领域的减污降碳协同控制政策是实现“双碳”目标和空气污染防治的迫切需要。本研究追溯了交通领域减污降碳协同控制的起源及发展,回顾了交通领域协同减污降碳的主要路径,具体包括交通基础信息协同、交通排放清单编制协同、交通减排目标设定与减排情景分析协同、交通减排技术及措施工具箱协同,以及交通减排保障措施协同。然后,从研究范围、研究方法、协同度评价体系构建、污染相关健康协同效应、研究区域等方面对交通领域减污降碳协同控制的研究实践及特点进行了分析,并相应提出了对未来研究的展望。