Search Results (713)

Direct Air Capture (DAC) is gaining worldwide attention as a negative emissions strategy critical to meeting climate targets. Among emerging DAC materials, pyrolysis chars (PCs) and gasification chars (GCs) derived from biomass present a promising pathway due to their tunable porosity, surface chemistry, and low-cost feedstocks. This review critically examines the current state of research on the physicochemical properties of PCs and GCs relevant to CO₂ adsorption, including surface area, pore structure, surface functionality and aromaticity. Comparative analyses show that chemical activation, especially with KOH, can significantly improve CO₂ adsorption capacity, with some PCs achieving more than 308 mg/g (100 kPa CO₂, 25 °C). Additionally, nitrogen and sulfur doping further improves the affinity for CO₂ through increased surface basicity. GCs, although inherently more porous, often require additional modification to achieve a similar adsorption capacity. Importantly, the long-term stability and regeneration potential of these chars remain underexplored, but are essential for practical DAC applications and economic viability. The paper identifies critical research gaps related to material design and techno-economic feasibility. Future directions emphasize the need for integrated multiscale research that bridges material science, process optimization, and real-world DAC deployment. A synthesis of findings and a research outlook are provided to support the advancement of carbon-negative technologies using thermochemically derived biomass chars. Full article

Understanding the carbon emission efficiency of apple production (APCEE) is critical for promoting green and low-carbon agricultural development. However, the spatiotemporal dynamics and driving factors of APCEE in China remain inadequately explored. This study employs life cycle assessment, super-efficiency slacks-based measures, and a panel Tobit model to evaluate the carbon footprint, APCEE, and its determinants in China’s two major production regions from 2003 to 2022. The results reveal that: (1) Producing one ton of apples in China results in 0.842 t CO₂e emissions. Land carbon intensity and total carbon emissions peaked in 2010 (28.69 t CO₂e/ha) and 2014 (6.52 × 10⁷ t CO₂e), respectively, exhibiting inverted U-shaped trends. Carbon emissions from various production areas show significant differences, with higher pressure on carbon emission reduction in the Loess Plateau region, especially in Gansu Province. (2) The APCEE in China exhibits a W-shaped trend (mean: 0.645), with overall low efficiency loss. The Bohai Bay region outperforms the Loess Plateau and national averages. (3) The structure of the apple industry, degree of agricultural mechanization, and green innovation positively influence APCEE, while the structure of apple cultivation, education level, and agricultural subsidies negatively impact it. Notably, green innovation and agricultural subsidies display lagged effects. Moreover, the drivers of APCEE differ significantly between the two major production regions. These findings provide actionable pathways for the green and low-carbon transformation of China’s apple industry, emphasizing the importance of spatially tailored green policies and technology-driven decarbonization strategies. Full article

Efficient plastic waste end-of-life management is a serious worldwide environmental issue motivated by growing waste production and negative effects of wrongful disposal. This study presents a comparative overview of plastic waste management regimes within the European Union (EU), the United States of America (USA), and Romania, ranked with circular economy goals. By using the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) Waste Reduction Model (WARM), version 16, the study provides a quantified score to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions within three large options of management: recycling, energy recovery through combustion, and landfilling. The model setup utilizes region-specific information on legislation, base technology, and recycling efficiency. The outcomes show that recycling always entails net GHG emissions reductions, i.e., −4.49 kg CO_2e/capita/year for EU plastic waste and −20 kg CO_2e/capita/year for USA plastic waste. Combustion and landfilling have positive net emissions from 1.76 to 14.24 kg CO_2e/capita/year. Economic indicators derived from the model also show significant variation: salaries for PET management amounted to USD 2.87 billion in the EU and USD 377 million in the USA, and tax collection was USD 506 million and USD 2.01 billion, respectively. The conclusions highlight the wider environmental and socioeconomic benefits of recycling and reinforce its status as a cornerstone of circular-economy sustainable plastic waste management and a strategic element of national development agendas, with special reference to Romania’s national agenda. Full article

As the climate problem is getting more and more serious and the “low-carbon revolution” of globalization is emerging, the logistics industry, as a high-end service industry, must also take the road of low-carbon development. Improving logistics carbon emission efficiency (LCEE) is gradually becoming an inevitable choice to maintain sustainable social development. The study uses the Super-SBM (Super-Slack-Based Measure) model to evaluate the urban LCEE from 2013 to 2022, explores the contribution of efficiency changes and technological progress to LCEE through the decomposition of the GML (Global Malmquist–Luenberger) index, and reveals the influence of digital transformation and energy consumption structure on LCEE by using the Spatial Durbin Model, concluding as follows: (1) LCEE declines from east to west, with large regional differences. (2) LCEE has steadily increased over the past decade, with slower growth from east to west. It fell in 2020 due to COVID-19 but has since recovered. (3) LCEE shows a catching-up effect among the three major regions, with technological progress being a key driver of improvement. (4) LCEE has significant spatial dependence. Energy consumption structure has a short-term negative spillover effect, while digital transformation has a positive spillover effect. Full article

In the context of growing global climate change awareness and intensifying environmental degradation, technological innovation in renewable energy has become a key realization method for sustainable development. This paper uses data samples from 30 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions in China (excluding Tibet, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan due to data availability) from 2007–2022, constructs an SFA model to measure carbon emission efficiency, and innovatively investigates the U-shaped impact of technological innovation in renewable energy on carbon emission efficiency along with the moderating effects of informatization level and fiscal decentralization. The empirical findings reveal the following: (1) Technological innovation in renewable energy demonstrates a U-shaped impact on carbon emission efficiency, with a negative impact before inflection point 2.596605 and a positive impact after the inflection point. (2) The informatization level plays a positive regulating role in the impact of technological innovation in renewable energy toward carbon emission efficiency, while fiscal decentralization exerts a negative regulating effect. (3) The impact of technological innovation in renewable energy concerning carbon emission efficiency varies depending on regional differences, industrial structure levels, and technological innovation levels in renewable energy. The conclusions of this paper are helpful for promoting the development of technological innovation in renewable energy, improving carbon emission efficiency, and advancing sustainable socio-economic development. Full article

Enhanced weathering of silicate rocks in agriculture is an option for atmospheric CO₂ removal and fertility improvement. The objective of our work is to characterise some of the agricultural consequences of a basaltic powder amendment on soil-crop systems. Two doses of basalt (80 and 160 t ha⁻¹) were applied to two types of slightly acid soils (sandy or silty clayey), derived from long-term trials at Bordeaux (INRAE, France) and Rothamsted Research (England), respectively. For each soil, half of the pots were planted with ryegrass; the other half were left bare. Thus, the experiment had twelve treatments with four replications per treatment. Soil pH increased with the addition of basalt (+0.8 unit), with a 5% equivalence of that of reactive chalk. The basalt contained macro- and micronutrients. Some cations extractable in the basalt before being mixed to the soil became more extractable with increased weathering, independent of plant cover. Plant uptake generally increased for macronutrients and decreased for micronutrients, due to increased stock (macro) and reduced availability (micronutrients and P), related to pH increases. K supplied in the basalt was responsible for a significant increase in plant yield on the sandy soil, linked to an average basalt K utilisation efficiency of 33%. Our general conclusion is that rock dust applications have to be re-evaluated at each site with differing soil characteristics. Full article

The priming effect (PE), a microbially mediated process, critically regulates the balance between carbon sequestration and mineralization. This study used soils from different soil depths (0–20 cm, 20–40 cm, and 40–60 cm) under Picea schrenkiana forest in the Tianshan Mountains as the research object. An indoor incubation experiment was conducted by adding three concentrations (1% SOC, 2% SOC, and 3% SOC) of ¹³C-labelled glucose. We applied ¹³C isotope probe-phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA-SIP) technology to investigate the influence of readily labile organic carbon inputs on soil priming effect (PE), microbial community shifts at various depths, and the mechanisms underlying soil PE. The results indicated that the addition of ¹³C-labeled glucose accelerated the mineralization of soil organic carbon (SOC); CO₂ emissions were highest in the 0–20 cm soil layer and decreased trend with increasing soil depth, with significant differences observed across different soil layers (p < 0.05). Soil depth had a positive direct effect on the cumulative priming effect (CPE); however, it showed negative indirect effects through physico-chemical properties and microbial biomass. The CPE of the 0–20 cm soil layer was significantly positively correlated with ¹³C-Gram-positive bacteria, ¹³C-Gram-negative bacteria, and ¹³C-actinomycetes. The CPE of the 20–40 cm and 40–60 cm soil layers exhibited a significant positive correlation with cumulative mineralization (CM) and microbial biomass carbon (MBC). Glucose addition had the largest and most significant positive effect on the CPE. Glucose addition positively affected PLFAs and particularly microbial biomass. This study provides valuable insights into the dynamics of soil carbon pools at varying depths following glucose application, advancing the understanding of forest soil carbon sequestration. Full article

Carbon capture technologies are largely considered to play a crucial role in meeting the climate change and global warming target set by Net Zero Emission (NZE) 2050. These technologies can contribute to clean energy transitions and emissions reduction by decarbonizing the power sector and other CO₂ intensive industries such as iron and steel production, natural gas processing oil refining and cement production where there is no obvious alternative to carbon capture technologies. While the progress of carbon capture technologies has fallen behind expectations in the past, in recent years there has been substantial growth in this area, with over 700 projects at various stages of development. Moreover, there are around 45 commercial carbon capture facilities already in operation around the world in different industrial processes, fuel transformation and power generation. Carbon capture technologies including pre/post-combustion, oxyfuel and chemical looping combustion have been widely exploited in the recent years at different Technology Readiness level (TRL). Although, a large number of review studies are available addressing different carbon capture strategies, however, studies related to the commercial status of the carbon capture technologies are yet to be conducted. In this review article, we summarize the state-of-the-art of different carbon capture technologies applied to different emission sources, focusing on emission reduction, net-zero emission, and negative emission. We also highlight the commercial status of the different carbon capture technologies including economics, opportunities, and challenges. Full article

Investigating the coupled hydrodynamic and thermal wakes induced by underwater vehicles is vital for non-acoustic detection and environmental monitoring. Here, the standard SUBOFF model is simulated under eight operating conditions—speeds of 10, 15, and 20 kn; depths of 10, 20, and 30 m; and both with and without thermal discharge—using Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation (DDES) coupled with the Volume of Fluid (VOF) method. Results indicate that, under heat emission conditions, higher speeds accelerate wake temperature decay, making the thermal wake difficult to detect downstream; without heat emission, turbulent mixing dominates the temperature field, and speed effects are minor. With increased speed, wake vorticity at a fixed location grows by about 30%, free-surface wave height rises from 0.05 to 0.15 m, and wavelength remains around 1.8 m, all positively correlated with speed. Dive depth is negatively correlated with wave height, decreasing from 0.15 to 0.04 m as depth increases from 5 to 20 m, while wavelength remains largely unchanged. At a 10 m submergence depth, the thermal wake is clearly detectable on the surface but becomes hard to detect beyond 20 m, indicating a pronounced depth effect on its visibility. These results not only confirm the positive correlation between vessel speed and wake vorticity reported in earlier studies but also extend those findings by providing the first quantitative evaluation of how submergence depth critically limits thermal wake visibility beyond 20 m. This research provides quantitative evaluations of wake characteristics under varying speeds, depths, and heat emissions, offering valuable insights for stealth navigation and detection technologies. Full article

The acute rise in temperature due to marine heatwaves has a strong impact on marine phytoplankton. To determine whether these effects depend on ambient temperature and cell size, we acclimated two diatom species, smaller Thalassiosira pseudonana (Hasle and Heimdal, 1970) and larger Thalassiosira rotula (Meunier, 1910), at low (LAT), medium (MAT) and high ambient temperatures (HAT) and examined their physiochemical and transcriptional responses to temperature rise (AT + 6 °C). The specific growth rate (µ) of smaller cells was increased by 32% due to temperature rise at LAT, but decreased by 13% at HAT, with the stimulatory and inhibitory extent being ~50% less than that of larger cells. At LAT, chlorophyll a (Chl a), carotenoid (Car) and carbon (POC) contents were increased in smaller cells due to temperature rise, but were decreased in larger cells; at HAT, Chl a and Car were increased in both smaller and larger cells and POC was increased in only smaller cells. At LAT, temperature rise led to a disproportionate increase in photosynthesis and dark respiration, resulting in an increase in carbon utilization efficiency (CUE) in smaller cells and a decrease in CUE in larger cells; at HAT, there was a decrease in CUE in both the smaller and larger cells, but to a lesser extent in the former than in the latter. Our results also show that smaller cells cope with the acute temperature rise mainly by strengthening their enzyme activity (e.g., the antioxidant system) and conservatively regulating their metabolism, while larger cells mainly regulate their photosynthetic and central carbon metabolism. Moreover, larger cells can outperform their smaller counterparts when the temperature rise occurs at lower ambient temperature. Full article

Energy is at the center of economic growth and environmental sustainability. Increasing energy efficiency and turning to environmentally friendly technologies are indispensable elements not only in reducing carbon emissions but also in supporting the transition to a green future. This study aims to deeply examine the simultaneous dynamic interactions between energy, environmental technologies, and economic growth by focusing on the environment and analyzing the transformative effects of these factors on environmental sustainability from a broad perspective. The models were estimated via simultaneous equation systems with two-stage and three-stage least squares methods with monthly data for Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries between 1990 and 2021. As a result of the analyses, the estimation results of the two methods generally support each other. Notably, economic growth causes carbon emissions, and when tax revenues on energy are added to the model, the negative effect of economic growth on carbon emissions turns positive. Another significant result shows that energy efficiency does not reduce carbon emissions. Even an increase in energy efficiency causes an increase in carbon emissions, and the rebound effect is valid. Population and energy density do not have a negative impact on carbon emissions. Full article

The rapid expansion of plastic waste trade has intensified environmental pressures, accelerating ecosystem degradation and climate change. We examine the long-term impacts of plastic waste imports and domestic waste production on ecological footprints and greenhouse gas emissions across 20 countries representing 70% of global plastic waste trade and 45% of world GDP. Under the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) framework, we explore nonlinear interactions among economic growth, urbanization, and sustainability goals. Using a panel simultaneous equations approach, we apply Pedroni, Kao, and Westerlund cointegration tests and Fully Modified and Dynamic OLS estimators to address endogeneity and heterogeneity. Robustness checks include alternative environmental indicators and the Dumitrescu–Hurlin panel causality test. Results demonstrate a stable long-run equilibrium: plastic waste imports substantially increase ecological footprints and emissions, while progress on sustainable development goals mitigates some damage. The negative GDP squared coefficient supports the EKC hypothesis, indicating that environmental impacts rise initially with growth but decline once income exceeds a threshold. These findings highlight the need for stronger international regulations, enhanced waste management infrastructures, and circular economy strategies. Focused investment in sustainable technologies and global cooperation is essential to lower environmental costs of plastic waste trade. Full article

In the context of climate change, it becomes of utmost importance to limit the negative impact of industrial activities on carbon emissions, water stress, biodiversity loss, and natural resources depletion. Whether we consider the situation from a product-centered perspective (life cycle, R&D&I process, tools, methods, design, production, etc.) or from a human-centered perspective (habits, practices, fixation, strategic orientations, emotional sensitivity, etc.), coming years will represent a formidable upheaval for companies. To support this transition, various tools assessing products’ impact have been developed over the past decade. They aim at guiding decision makers, integrating new criteria to assess project success, and promoting the development and industrialization of solutions answering pressing environmental issues. If assessment is a key factor of success, it has become clear that processes and practices also need to evolve for practitioners to properly integrate sustainable requirements from the initial stages of their project. In that context, biomimicry, the approach aimed at taking nature as a model to support the design of more sustainable solutions, has been the center of growing interest. However, no integrated methods exist in the cosmetics sector to assess if a product is properly developed through biomimicry. This missing framework led to difficulties for cosmetic companies to support eco-design through biomimicry. In this article, we present a method called Biomim’Index developed by L’Oréal research and innovation sustainable development team to address three objectives: (i) to characterize cosmetic technologies according to whether they are based on bioinspiration, biomimetics or biomimicry; (ii) to guide the project’s leaders to identify key steps to improve existing cosmetic technologies through biomimicry; and (iii) to support the integration of biomimicry as an operational approach towards the development of new sustainable cosmetic technologies. This method, focusing on the problem-driven biomimetic approach is based on a combination of procedural requirements from the biomimetics TC288 18458:2015 ISO norm and environmental design requirements from L’Oréal for the Future (L4TF) commitments. Results present a proof of concept to outline the method’s efficiency and limits to support innovative eco-designed projects and value cosmetic technologies designed through biomimicry. Full article

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions evaluations from agroecosystems are critical, particularly as technology improves. Consistent GHG measurement methods are essential to the evaluation of GHG emissions. The objective of the study was to evaluate potential differences in gas-flux-determination (GFD) options and carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), and nitrous oxide (N₂O) fluxes and growing-season-long emissions estimates from furrow-irrigated cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) in southeast Arkansas. Four GFD methods were evaluated [i.e., linear (L) or exponential (E) regression models, with negative fluxes (WNF) included in the dataset or replacing negative fluxes (RNF)] over the 2024 growing season using a LI-COR field-portable chamber and gas analyzers. Exponential regression models were influenced by abnormal CO₂ and N₂O gas concentration data points, indicating the use of caution with E models. Season-long CH₄ emissions differed (p < 0.05) between the WNF (−0.51 kg ha⁻¹ season⁻¹ for L and−0.54 kg ha⁻¹ season⁻¹ for E) and RNF (0.01 kg ha⁻¹ season⁻¹ for L and E) GFD methods, concluding that RNF options over-estimate CH₄ emissions. Gas concentration measurements following chamber closure should remain under 300 s, with one concentration measurement obtained per second. The choice of GFD method needs careful consideration to result in accurate GHG fluxes and season-long emission estimates. Full article

Achieving climate neutrality goals is inseparable from the sustainable development of modern cities. Municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) are among the starting points when moving cities to Net-zero Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and climate neutrality. This study focuses on the analysis of the integration of green hydrogen (H₂) and biomethane technologies in WWTPs, and on the impact of this integration on WWTPs’ energy neutrality. This study treats WWTP as an integrated energy system with certain inputs and outputs. Currently, such systems in most cases have a significantly negative energy balance, and, in addition, fossil fuel energy sources are used. Key findings highlight that the integration of green hydrogen production in WWTPs and the efficient utilization of electrolysis by-products can make such energy systems neutral or even positive. This study provides an analysis of the main technical presumptions for the successful integration of green hydrogen and biomethane production processes in WWTP. Furthermore, a case study of a real wastewater treatment plant is presented. Full article