Industrial Ecology Research Articles

New Polymer Composites Made of Recycled Polystyrene with Red Mud and Wind Blade Waste: An Industrial Ecology Case

The development of composites with the waste of industries close to each other would mean an interesting case of industrial symbiosis in search for using less financial and natural resources. This paper presents the development of polymer composites made of three types of waste, produced by industries located in the same region and distant at most 25 km from each other: electronic waste, red mud (obtained during aluminium production), and the waste of wind turbine blades' manufacturing (epoxy resin/glass fibre). Composites were obtained incorporating 5%, 10%, and 15% of industrial waste (red mud and epoxy/fibre) in a matrix of recycled high-impact polystyrene (HIPS) from discarded electronic equipment. Tests were performed to obtain the melt flow index and the composites' water content and study the mechanical properties (tensile and impact) of test specimens produced with the composites by injection moulding (temperature from 200 to 250°C, the injection pressure of 45 MPa, and the injection time of 2.5 s). Results showed that the composites have water content and melt flow index within the specifications for recycled HIPS and are usually more rigid than it, reaching values for Elasticity Modulus up to 34% higher. Therefore, these composites can be applied when materials with more stiffness than HIPS are required.

Spatial-Temporal Characteristics and Obstacle Factors of Industry Ecology in the Lower Yellow River

Spatial-Temporal Characteristics and Obstacle Factors of Industry Ecology in the Lower Yellow River

Industrial ecology and skin diseases

Technogenic effects on the production of oil, coal tar, other hydrocarbons and products of their processing can lead to diseases of the sebaceous glands. Gum-related factors trigger common links in the pathogenesis of vulgar and oily acne, which are inflammation, increased sebum production, excessive follicular hyperkeratosis. There is a description of the clinical manifestations of severe oily acne in a railway worker on previously unchanged skin. We also have a description of the severe stage of the course of vulgar acne in the assistant engineer of the railway, who has a genetic predisposition, also has a history of juvenile acne of mild severity. Chemical factors such as a mixture of hydrocarbons, phenol, creosote, asbestos-containing dust can provoke oily acne in a railway worker. Oxides of nitrogen, carbon, sulfur, nitrogen dioxide, technical mixtures of hydrocarbons, violation of physiological rhythms of nutrition, sleep, rest, severity and intensity of the labor process, constant stress can lead to a relapse of vulgar acne with a more severe course in workers of locomotive crews. The given clinical examples reveal the need for interdisciplinary interaction of dermatologists-venereologists and occupational pathologists in the treatment of skin pathology in workers of harmful industries.

Marketing strategy of One village One Product new Media Matrix Marketing in Thailand

In order to protect and inherit Thai national culture and help farmers to overcome difficulties, the Thai government launched the "One Village, One Product" project, aiming at the deep processing products of local natural resources used by villages and towns to make traditional products with cultural connotations and related ecological industries. Through opening exhibition windows in the tourist areas, overseas trade fairs and e-commerce websites to provide online ordering service and other ways. However, in recent years, due to the epidemic and other adverse factors, the progress of marketing and implementation is in trouble. This article is based on the situation that the offline consumption power of traditional media is not optimistic due to the lack of publicity, and it propagates that the featured products of one village and one product in Thailand should be more in line with the trend of "Internet +". The new media matrix platform taking TikTok as an example has created a lower cost and higher quality industrial promotion channel for enterprises. By introducing the marketing matrix technology of new media, to promote the products through diversified media channels, to cover the vision of Chinese people as much as possible, to promote the excellent Thai "one village one product" products to the Chinese market, to bring new vitality to one village one product.

Socio-economic metabolism research: Connotation, discovery, and prospect

Socio-economic metabolism refers to the human-driven migration and transformation of material and energy within and at the boundary of the socio-economic system. The research of socio-economic metabolism has become the core in industrial ecology. We introduced the connotation and basic steps of socio-economic metabolism research with typical cases, and summarized the main findings of socio-economic metabolism research. The research provide a method and model to track the sources, sinks, and flow path of materials in the socio-economic system, reveal how materials and their socio-economic metabolic processes supported modern production and lifestyle. Related studies have clarified the mechanism by which human activities driving the ecological and environmental problems related to material metabolism. It provides the model and database for evaluating the resource efficiency, the trend of resource supply and demand, and the potential of urban mining. We put forward the future directions of socio-economic metabolism research: to increase research objects and enhance the research precision of each object; to expand and deepen the temporal and spatial boundaries of the research system; to introduce and integrate new data sources and research methods; to connect the material flows of socio-economic metabolism with its related ecological and environmental impacts; and to establish a data platform that could be shared, expanded and accumulated.

Biomass as adsorbent – A depollution cost effective material in a promising market

The manuscript demonstrates aspects of agro-waste biomass as an effective eco-friendly depollution material. Low cost agro-waste biomass derived by forestry activities gains an ever-growing importance in terms of a first-class material to stuff, industrial sized adsorption column for depollution purposes. Given that biomass is abundant, low cost and easy to get, becomes a very promising material, suitable for many industrial procedures to obtain eco-friendliness. Agricultural biomass e.g. sawdust, immobilizes, heavy metal ions, which it is, by all means, beneficial for water and soil restoration, playing, therefore, crucial role in industrial ecology. Greek forestry and cultivations provide a great variety of organic materials servings in laboratory and industrial scale as stuffed biomass in columns for chemical agents’ removal. Agro-waste byproducts demonstrate considerable advantages in column operational aspects. In this study, specific evaluation criteria were introduced for packed bed selection in columns, when heavy metal ion binding is the case. Furthermore, certain agro-byproducts were tested in the lab regarding their kinetic dye adsorption performance. Results confirmed the hypothesis that the proposed agro-byproducts are effective and innovative approaches in usage in Industrial ecology framework and by all means compensate the initial capital expenditures.

An Analysis of the Characteristics and Trends of China’s Mainstream Media Integration

China’s new media has been continuously bringing about innovation and reform, including media integration development, as a result of growing policy guidance, industrial demand, and industrial development. These factors have propelled China’s new media into a phase of intense effort, ongoing reforms, and system building. Promoting the complete integration of media is a crucial opportunity in this new era. Mainstream media must accelerate the promotion of deep integration on a scientific basis because new media is evolving quickly, and the industrial structure and ecology are constantly improving. To do this, mainstream media must grasp the situation and tasks, analyze, and judge the characteristics of the stages, set the direction scientifically, and concentrate on improving the integration effect.

Review on the assessment model of nutrient recycling with agricultural residues treatment technologies

The technology for nutrient resource utilization of agricultural residues is crucial to realizing a circular agricultural economy. The assessment model provides essential support to optimize nutrient recovery and treatment technologies. We specifically summarized research progress in the assessment framework of agricultural residues nutrient recycling technology, assessment models and evaluation indicators, data sources of models and their uncertainty analysis, and the application scale of models. We found that process mathematical models and industrial eco-logy models are the common nutrient flow assessment models. Process mathematical and industrial ecology models differed greatly in terms of the reliability of assessment results and the simulation scale. The former mainly focused at laboratory or pilot scale, with higher accuracy. The latter could achieve multi-scale simulation from microscopic to macroscopic and had higher uncertainty, due to the way its data were obtained. Finally, we provided an outlook on the research on the assessment model of agricultural residues nutrient resource utilisation technology. In order to achieve accurate assessment of waste resource utilisation technology in agricultural production systems at the regional scale, a reliable model framework and database should be established by combining process mathematical models with industrial ecology models. Meanwhile, we should carry out research on model expansion at the geographical scales of factory scale, farm scale, village scale, township scale, and regional scale.

Industrial ecology for the oceans

Industrial ecology for the oceans

Flexible networks to promote the development of industrial symbioses: A new optimization procedure

The development of eco-industrial parks is now proven a local efficient solution to reduce environmental impacts of industrial areas as well as increasing economic benefits. Furthermore, they are a good way to produce goods while reducing environmental footprints by exchanging energies, water and raw materials instead of consuming too much resources; that way it improves circularity of resources with no disruption of production. However, in an uncertain context caused by different factors such as environmental problems, sanitary crises or geopolitical conflicts, the design of an interconnected network must take into account possible deviations of nominal conditions. In this study, an integrated procedure is developed so that an optimal flexible network is designed with a given flexibility threshold. The flexibility is defined as the minimum of the maximal deviations for the nominal inlet parameters that can be handle by the network. Impact of such a flexibility is visible on the total investment cost of the network. Indeed, when adding some flexibility to the network, the investment cost is increased. The integrated procedure developed is able to find a global optimum in a very large computational time (up to 500 h); in this article, two other procedures are then tested over a large-scale case study (15 companies) to validate the approach. One of them consists in oversizing the network so that it can handle large deviations but the increase of the cost is important. The other procedure consists in a decomposition of the integrated approach in two steps: the first one aims at defining the structure of the nominal solution (minimum of the cost) and the second one evaluates several deviation scenarios to take into account disruption of inlet parameters. The results show that the two-steps procedure obtains results close to the integrated procedure with reasonable computational time (up to 40 min). This study helps to provide solutions to design optimal flexible networks, also adapted to solve large-scale eco-industrial parks; it can also be used as an optimization-decision aid tool for the territorial development of industrial ecology.

Analysis on the sustainable realization path of natural resource asset value

Based on Marx’s labor theory of value, this paper explains the connotation of the new era of the theory of “two mountains” and its value to the assets of natural resources. The present path carries on the theoretical analysis, uses the case analysis method, the qualitative research method, analyzes the path to realize the value of natural resource assets and the problems faced in the operation process of the “forest ecological bank” operation mode, probes into the natural resources asset value sustainable realization path. The results show that the operation mode of “forest ecological bank” is based on ecological resources, through accurate investigation, on the premise of defining the property rights of ecological resources, using economic methods to calculate its value, directly or indirectly using ownership transactions, ecological service transactions, industrialization and other ways to monetize ecological products. Therefore, we should establish the property right system of market-oriented ecological factors, introduce the main body of market management to develop ecological industry, and establish a “public-private partnership” ecological product trading system, so as to promote the sustainable realization of the value of natural resources assets.

Chemical engineering for the Anthropocene

AbstractThe environmental and resource crises that confront human life on earth demand changes to the whole socio‐economic metabolic system. The changes will affect all aspects of life, including the practice of chemical engineering. The historical association of the profession with the fossil carbon economy means that the expertise that makes up chemical engineering must be re‐examined and repurposed urgently if the discipline is to play a full role in the socio‐economic transition. In this article, we review the historical development of chemical engineering to identify its unique features and find ways in which it can change to meet the challenge. A pattern of 30‐year cycles in the development of the discipline is revealed, showing the way it has built up by incorporating approaches from other disciplines and also developing a unique set of skills and knowledge. Chemical engineering as taught needs to prepare graduates to operate under the kind of social contract embodied in declarations by professional bodies. We propose ways in which the expertise comprising chemical engineering can be applied in the ‘just transition’ to a less unsustainable society, including new approaches to plant and process design and also applications ‘outside the pipe’ to environmental modelling and industrial ecology. The unsustainability crisis results from a history of poor public and private decisions, so examination of the different types of decisions is timely. Specific roles for chemical engineers in deliberative decision processes are identified, including enhanced emphasis on risk and precaution.

How Do Industrial Ecology, Energy Efficiency, and Waste Recycling Technology (Circular Economy) Fit into China’s Plan to Protect the Environment? Up to Speed

The challenges of environmental protection are especially prevalent in South and Southeast Asian nations, which adversely affects their sustainable developmental goals. During the last two decades, increased industrialization and urbanization have caused massive air pollution, particularly in the most industrialized and densely populated countries. Due to China’s fast economic expansion and development, the demand for natural resources has increased, resulting in climate change, biodiversity loss, soil degradation, and environmental risks. China’s ecological footprint has been the subject of little investigation on the premises of a circular economy. This study used a literature review methodology on the critical key factors that hinder or facilitate the transition of a linear economy towards a circular economy. Further, based on the literature review, this study used industrial ecology, energy efficiency, and waste recycling technology factors to analyze the role of the circular economy on the country’s environmental sustainability agenda for the period of 1975–2020. The results show that in the short run, the link between ecological footprints and per capita income is monotonically decreasing; however, in the long run, the relationship is U-shaped. In both the short and long run, waste recycling technology and cleaner manufacturing significantly decrease ecological footprints. Renewable energy consumption increases ecological footprints in the short run but decreases them in the long run. The management of natural resources reduces ecological footprints to support the ‘resource blessing’ hypothesis. The Granger causality corroborated the unidirectional relationship between ecological footprints, oil rents, and urbanization and ecological footprints. In addition, economic growth Granger causes industrialization and waste recycling technology while green energy Granger causes economic growth, industrialization, and recycling technology. The two-way link between economic development and urbanization exists within a nation. The variance decomposition analysis (VDA) predicts that in the future, China’s natural resources, green energy demand, and technological spillover will limit its ecological footprint through material and technology efficiency.

Barriers to the adoption of integrated sustainable-green-lean-six sigma-agile manufacturing system (ISGLSAMS): a literature review

PurposeScarcity of resources, ecological imbalance, global warming, rising energy prices and the ever-changing need for variety have attracted the government and manufacturers for sustainable development of the industries. The integrated sustainable-green-lean-six sigma-agile manufacturing system (ISGLSAMS) provides a solid platform for meeting both the customers’ variety needs and business sustainability requirements. Many organizations opted for ISGLSAMS, but still due to various barriers organizations are not able to fully implement ISGLSAMS. The purpose of this paper is to identify the barriers to the ISGLSAMS, so that a more sustainable industrial manufacturing system and industrial symbiosis can be developed.Design/methodology/approachA literature review, from the Web of Science and Google Scholar database, has been carried out to identify the various barriers to the implementation of ISGLSAMS in the entire value chain. A total of 168 research papers have been reviewed for identifying the ISGLSAMS barriers.FindingsThis paper elaborates the concept of the ISGLSAMS, its attributes and various barriers and contributes to a better understanding and successful implementation of ISGLSAMS to meet business’ sustainability and market performance goals in the entire value chain. The paper also projects the future research framework and directions for the ISGLSAMS, integrated sustainable-green-lean-six sigma-agile (ISGLSA) product and ISGLSA supply and value chain.Practical implicationsThe study contributes to a better understanding of ISGLSAMS’ barriers. The government, stakeholders and policymakers may plan the policy, road map and strategies to overcome the ISGLSAMS’ barriers. In-depth knowledge of subclauses of ISGLSAMS’ barriers will help the practitioners to overcome the ISGLSAMS’ barriers strategically. By overcoming the ISGLSAMS barriers, a more sustainable 7 Rs based market focused manufacturing system can be designed. This will also increase the opportunities to enhance the industrial ecology, industrial symbiosis and better recovery of the product, process and supply chain residual value. This will reduce the waste to the ecosystem.Originality/valueThis work has been carried out in search of a more sustainable manufacturing system, i.e. ISGLSAMS (which is 7 Rs based, i.e. 6 Rs of sustainability with 7th R, reconfiguration) to meet the customer variety needs along with sustainability in the ever-changing customer market. This study adds value to the practitioners to identify and prioritize the ISGLSAMS’ industry-specific barriers and design the solution for the more sustainable development of (1) industries, (2) the industrial symbiosis system and (3) the ISGLSA product, process, system and supply value chain with minimum resource consumption and environmental impact. The research also contributes to the (a) ISGLSAMS (b) ISGLSA supply chain (c) reconfigurable, sustainable and modular products and (d) redesign, recovery and refurbishing of the product to increase the product life cycle.

The Application of Industrial Ecology Methods to Understand the Environmental and Economic Implications of the Forest Product Industries

The Application of Industrial Ecology Methods to Understand the Environmental and Economic Implications of the Forest Product Industries

Managing water-land-food nexus towards resource efficiency improvement: A superedge-based analysis of China

Challenges at the intersection of water conservation, land protection, food security, and economic growth cross industrial boundaries, and also involve synergies with multiple policy domains. Despite this, little is known about how system heterogeneity affects water, land, and food (WLF) consumption performance at a sectoral level. This study integrates superedge analysis with a flow interaction network, elasticity theory, and utility analysis to detect the WLF nexus with regard to resource efficiency gains. Three indicators (intra-sector recycling efficiency, trans-sector allocation efficiency, and symbiosis of system structure) are proposed as mechanisms by which to quantitatively explore intra-sector and trans-sector nexus, and formulate improvement strategies for sectoral WLF savings. The results show synergies between recycling efficiency and water/food productivity. Manufacturing servitization and agricultural industrialization can drive more efficient WLF allocation by minimizing resource misallocation, whilst positive industrial ecology enhances WLF circulation and facilitates reducing resource undue competition. In addition, the ability of industries to save resources under the nexus is examined. Approximately 93% of sectors suffer from resource waste, misallocation, and undue competition. Therefore, strategic paths enhance resource synergy and, through so doing, enable WLF efficiency gains.

Study on Building Tea Culture Ecological Industry Under the Background of Rural Revitalization—Taking Shandong Province as an Example

The strategy of rural revitalization is one of the key strategies in China, which mainly studies how to achieve poverty alleviation and expand the prospects of rural development and promote the rural economic development in China. At the same time, under the promotion of China’s ecological environment protection strategy and energy conservation and emission reduction, the rural revitalization work focuses on the use of rural advantages to develop ecological and cultural industries, so as to promote rural development goals. Tea culture has a long history in China. Building tea culture ecological industry under the background of rural revitalization is one of the key directions for rural revitalization and development. Therefore, this paper mainly takes Shandong Province as an example to focus on the measures to build the tea culture ecological industry under the background of rural revitalization, and then provides some experience and practical basis for the good implementation of the rural revitalization strategy.

Paradigm shifts for a planetary emergency: Towards an anthropocenography for urban coastal research at False Bay, Cape Town, South Africa

Reflecting on a recent three-decade review of the social-ecological sciences of False Bay in Cape Town that was co-authored by 32 South African based scientists, this essay draws on current Anthropocene scholarship in the environmental humanities and social sciences to suggest four approaches to strengthening transdisciplinarity engagement between social and natural sciences. First, the material flows between the fields categorised as ‘nature’ and ‘society’ is suggested as an alternative empirical base for integrative transdisciplinary research, building on emergent transdisciplinary fields including industrial ecology, biogeochemical sciences, circular economics and critical zone scholarship. Second, a humanities-informed conversation in South African scholarship invites discussion as to whether and how the conceptual categories of nature and society remain empirically useful, given the evidence in Anthropocene stratigraphy that human living is terra-forming. Third, humanities scholarship is vital for the scholarly assessment of historical and contemporary data sets and scientific publications. Fourth, the theorisation of ‘social systems’, ‘the human’, ‘society’, and ‘ecosystem services’ in the social-ecological approaches represented in the review, create a barrier for social scientists to take up invitations to transdisciplinary research partnerships. The above concerns, taken together, frame an alternative approach to transdisciplinary research that is tentatively suggested as an ‘anthropocenography’: a research paradigm based on material flows in the Anthropocene. Significance: Innovations in transdisciplinary research that attend to material flows are evident in multiple emerging fields that address the Anthropocene, including biogeosciences, industrial ecology, urban metabolism, circular economies, and critical zone sciences. Responding to a 30-year review of the sciences of False Bay, I argue that these new research fields, which encompass earth sciences, biosciences and applied sciences, offer generative linkages to emerging scholarship in environmental social sciences and humanities that also attend to material flows. Linking social and natural sciences via material flows is therefore suggested as a generative approach to transdisciplinarity.

Application of the method of atomic emission spectroscopy with microwave (magnetic) plasma in the processes of identifying the chemical composition of steelmaking waste

As part of the work done, an assessment was made of the possibility of using the method of atomic emission spectral analysis with microwave (magnetic) plasma in the processes of identifying the chemical composition of waste from the metallurgical industry. The features of the design of the domestic device for atomic emission analysis are described, the main advantages are noted, which include the ability to work with concentrated samples with a complex salt background, as well as the possibility of using gases (argon/nitrogen) of technical purity. The main analytical lines for a number of metals have been selected, an internal standard based on water-soluble yttrium compounds has been selected, which makes it possible to level fluctuations in the salt background of the analyzed samples. The adequacy of the data obtained for acidic metal-containing solutions with a minimum (10 times) dilution was assessed. It has been established that a decrease in the dilution factor can significantly reduce the probability of error and improve the quality and speed of analytical control of various materials (including mineral raw materials). As part of the tests, the composition of metalchips selected at various production sites of a machine-building enterprise in the Moscow Region, as well as the composition of the metallurgical scale of the forging and heat treatment of metal, were determined and identified. It has been proven that the initial concentration of salts in the analyzed samples does not significantly affect the reliability of the results obtained, and the error of the analysis results does not exceed 2–3%. The data obtained on the possibility of using atomic emission spectrometers with microwave (magnetic) plasma of domestic production will make it possible to take a step towards import substitution, which in a difficult geopolitical situation will make it possible to take a step towards the implementation of the concept of import substitution. The authors express their gratitude to N. E. Kruchinina, Doctor of Engineering Sciences, professor, head of the chair for Industrial Ecology, MUCTR, and V. A. Kuchumov, Candidate of Chemical Sciences, head of the laboratory of JSC Spetsmagnit, for help in the development of individual components of the device (plasmatron design) and assistance in research.

Video-based Student Classroom Classroom Behavior State Analysis

Looking back on the development of education, education has evolved along with the development of human society, and the development of science and technology has been the fundamental force driving the change of education. And with the increasing demand for personalized education for students, the focus of education and teaching has gradually shifted to the direction of personalization and specialization of students. In the teaching process, students' classroom behavior is an important reference indicator for evaluating students' classroom learning, but teachers cannot pay attention to each student's classroom behavior in time, and can only derive students' classroom learning status from their homework or exams. Many subjective factors can easily affect teachers' judgment of students' learning status, and the evaluation obtained is not always comprehensive and objective enough. In traditional teaching activities, teachers mainly identify and control students' classroom videos manually, but this method is not only time-consuming and labor-intensive, but also affects teachers' classroom quality. Therefore, it is urgent to study an intelligent and effective system for analyzing students' classroom behavior status. It is of great significance to improve the quality of students' classroom learning and to assist teachers in obtaining teaching feedback information. At present, the rapid development of artificial intelligence is reshaping the world's industrial ecology and pushing human society into the era of intelligence. Artificial intelligence is deeply integrating with education and promoting innovation in educational philosophy, teaching methods and management modes, and is expected to lead systematic changes in education. In fact, the development of artificial intelligence technology cannot be separated from the continuous research of computer vision technology. How to make the computer obtain external information through video acquisition device to simulate human for analysis and recognition is the main research content of computer vision technology, and its research direction includes target tracking, object recognition, human behavior recognition, etc. In this paper, through the combination of artificial intelligence technology and computer vision technology, we analyze the video images of students' classes in classroom scenes, identify students' classroom behavior status, build a judgment system on students' classroom learning status, and assist teachers to obtain teaching feedback information.