Featured Reviews in Recycling

A special issue of Recycling (ISSN 2313-4321).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 25816

Special Issue Editors


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Department of Chemical Engineering, Materials & Environment, Sapienza University of Rome, 00184 Rome, Italy
Interests: waste recycling; urban mining; sustainable use of resources; applications of hyperspectral imaging and other sensing techniques
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is designed to gather sophisticated review papers in the journal Recycling that have broad appeal and are positioned within the scope of this journal. We kindly invite and encourage all research groups covering in the area of waste re-utilization, waste management technologies, resource recycling policy, and resource recycling practices to make contributions to this Special Issue.

This issue is open to review papers in all fields of recycling, potential topics include but are not limited to:

  • Innovative processes, tools, and methodologies for resource recycling across the industry include (but are not limited to):
    • Paper recycling;
    • Metal recycling;
    • Glass recycling;
    • Textiles recycling;
    • Plastics recycling;
    • Plant debris recycling;
    • Putrescible recycling;
    • Wood recycling;
    • Ceramics recycling;
    • Soil recycling;
    • Chemicals recycling;
    • E-waste recycling;
    • Construction&Demolition waste recycling;
    • End-of-life vehicles recycling;
    • Mining waste recycling;
  • Waste processing technologies;
  • Circular economy;
  • Zero waste programs;
  • Recycling policies;
  • The economics of recycling;
  • Environmental and social impact of recycling;
  • Product (eco)design and recycling;
  • Sustainable development goals;
  • Critical raw materials;
  • Automation;
  • Computer vision;
  • Machine learning;
  • Material characterization.
  • Sensor-based sorting

Dr. Akira Otsuki
Prof. Dr. Silvia Serranti
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Recycling is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainability
  • circular economy
  • environment
  • Industry 4.0
  • computer vision
  • machine learning
  • innovative technologies

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Review

25 pages, 725 KiB  
Review
A Systematic Literature Review of Waste Identification in Automatic Separation Systems
by Juan Carlos Arbeláez-Estrada, Paola Vallejo, Jose Aguilar, Marta Silvia Tabares-Betancur, David Ríos-Zapata, Santiago Ruiz-Arenas and Elizabeth Rendón-Vélez
Recycling 2023, 8(6), 86; https://doi.org/10.3390/recycling8060086 - 2 Nov 2023
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 11500
Abstract
Proper waste separation is essential for recycling. However, it can be challenging to identify waste materials accurately, especially in real-world settings. In this study, a systematic literature review (SLR) was carried out to identify the physical enablers (sensors and computing devices), datasets, and [...] Read more.
Proper waste separation is essential for recycling. However, it can be challenging to identify waste materials accurately, especially in real-world settings. In this study, a systematic literature review (SLR) was carried out to identify the physical enablers (sensors and computing devices), datasets, and machine learning (ML) algorithms used for waste identification in indirect separation systems. This review analyzed 55 studies, following the Kitchenham guidelines. The SLR identified three levels of autonomy in waste segregation systems: full, moderate, and low. Edge computing devices are the most widely used for data processing (9 of 17 studies). Five types of sensors are used for waste identification: inductive, capacitive, image-based, sound-based, and weight-based sensors. Visible-image-based sensors are the most common in the literature. Single classification is the most popular dataset type (65%), followed by bounding box detection (22.5%). Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are the most commonly used ML technique for waste identification (24 out of 26 articles). One of the main conclusions is that waste identification faces challenges with real-world complexity, limited data in datasets, and a lack of detailed waste categorization. Future work in waste identification should focus on deployment and testing in non-controlled environments, expanding system functionalities, and exploring sensor fusion. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Featured Reviews in Recycling)
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18 pages, 1973 KiB  
Review
Carbon-Based Synthesized Materials for CO2 Adsorption and Conversion: Its Potential for Carbon Recycling
by Tuan-Dung Hoang, Suhaib A. Bandh, Fayaz A. Malla, Irteza Qayoom, Shahnaz Bashir, Suhail Bashir Peer and Anthony Halog
Recycling 2023, 8(4), 53; https://doi.org/10.3390/recycling8040053 - 21 Jun 2023
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 6174
Abstract
During the last half-century, the CO2 concentration in the world’s atmosphere has increased from 310 p.p.m. to over 380 p.p.m. This is due to the widespread usage of fossil fuels as a main source of energy. Modeling forecasts have shown that this trend will [...] Read more.
During the last half-century, the CO2 concentration in the world’s atmosphere has increased from 310 p.p.m. to over 380 p.p.m. This is due to the widespread usage of fossil fuels as a main source of energy. Modeling forecasts have shown that this trend will continue to rise and reducing CO2 emissions is a challenging task for multi-stakeholders, including research institutions. The UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26) has stressed that stakeholders need to work together to achieve a NetZero target. Technologies involving absorbents for the capture of CO2 from a gas mixture are energy-intensive. Carbon adsorption and conversion (CAC) approaches have been gaining attention recently since these technologies can mitigate CO2 emissions. In this review, materials ranging from advanced carbon-based materials to natural resources-based materials will be reviewed. Adsorption and conversion capacities as well as the scalability possibility of these technologies for solving the CO2 emission problem will be investigated. The review, therefore, is timely and meaningful concerning the net zero emission targets set by countries and developmental organizations worldwide. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Featured Reviews in Recycling)
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18 pages, 489 KiB  
Review
Trends in Extraction of Rare Earth Elements from Coal Ashes: A Review
by Gjergj Dodbiba and Toyohisa Fujita
Recycling 2023, 8(1), 17; https://doi.org/10.3390/recycling8010017 - 30 Jan 2023
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 7177
Abstract
The demand for novel, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly rare earth element and yttrium (REY) sources is essential. The recovery of REY and other valuable components from coal fly ash (CFA) may result in securing alternative resources, decreased disposal costs, and environmental protection, all [...] Read more.
The demand for novel, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly rare earth element and yttrium (REY) sources is essential. The recovery of REY and other valuable components from coal fly ash (CFA) may result in securing alternative resources, decreased disposal costs, and environmental protection, all of which may have positive effects. However, research on the recovery of REY from CFA is underway, and it is still necessary to assess its viability from an economic and environmental standpoint. The authors have reviewed some of the most recent advances in extracting rare earth elements from CFA. However, most techniques reported for the treatment of CFA are still at the laboratory scale. Nevertheless, there are several pathways for industrial-scale applications. Therefore, CFA treatment and the extraction of valuable products from it have considerable potential for reducing both its carbon footprint and environmental burden. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Featured Reviews in Recycling)
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