Residues In China Research Articles

Effect and mechanism of calcination on improving the hydration activity of titanium extraction slag

Titanium extraction slag (TES) is a special waste residue in China’s Panxi region. It exhibits low hydration activity because of its high titanium content and carbon- and chlorine-based impurities introduced during production. Thus, TES wastes can only be stored in large quantities. Oil and gas wells’ high-temperature and high-pressure environments contribute to TES hydration. However, its hydration activity should be improved to transform it into a well cementing material. The optimal calcination temperature was 550 ℃. Using NaOH (6 %) as an activator, the compressive strength values of the calcined TES cured for 1 and 14 days reach 19.23 and 34.40 MPa, respectively, 65.49 % and 39.78 % higher than those of untreated TES. These values meet oil and gas well cementing construction requirements. X-ray diffraction, 29Si nuclear magnetic resonance, scanning electron microscopy, and other characterization methods indicate that calcination can reduce the content of the glassy phase in TES. However, it induces impurity removal and reduces the degree of glassy phase polymerization. Thus, TES’s ion leaching and deposition rates, hydration, and compressive strength after calcination improved. Therefore, the method proposed in this study can be successfully used to convert TES into new cementing materials for large-scale applications.

Annual atrazine residue estimation in Chinese agricultural soils by integrated modeling of machine learning and mechanism-based models

This study presents a comprehensive approach to estimating annual atrazine residues in China's agricultural soils, integrating machine learning algorithms and mechanism-based models. First, machine learning was used to predict essential parameters influencing atrazine's adsorption, degradation, and dispersivity of solute transport. The results demonstrated that soil organic matter was the most important input variable for predicting adsorption and degradation; clay content was the primary variable for predicting dispersivity. The SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) contribution of various soil properties on target variables were also analyzed to reveal whether each input variable has a positive, negative, or complex effect. Subsequently, these parameters inform the construction of a detailed model across 23,692 subregions of China, with a 20 km × 20 km resolution. The model considered regional variations and soil layer heterogeneity, including rainfall, soil depth-specific properties, and parameters for adsorption, degradation, and dispersivity. Utilizing the convection-dispersion equations and the Phydrus, the model simulated atrazine's transport and degradation patterns across diverse soil environments after applying 250 mL of atrazine (40%) per Chinese mu. The outcomes provided a spatially explicit distribution of atrazine residues, specifying that the arid areas have the highest residual risk, followed by the Northeast, Southwest, and Southeast. Atrazine levels may exceed national drinking water standards at 50 cm depth in Inner Mongolia, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and the Jungar Basin. This study's integrative approach may also offer valuable insights and tools for evaluating residues of various pesticides and herbicides in agricultural soils.

The Biogas Production Potential and Community Structure Characteristics of the Co-Digestion of Dairy Manure and Tomato Residues

Anaerobic digestion is an important means to turn agricultural waste into resources and an important way to address the challenges in treating vegetable residues in China. In this study, the co-digestion of dairy manure with tomato residue was investigated to clarify the effect of the total solids (TS) of the digestion substrate on methane’s production and mechanism using the self-made anaerobic digestion device. The results showed that all treatments could rapidly ferment methane and that the daily methane production showed a trend of increasing first and then decreasing. The optimal concentrations of the digestion substrate for liquid anaerobic digestion (L-AD), hemi-solid-state anaerobic digestion (HSS-AD), and solid-state anaerobic digestion (SS-AD) were 10%, 18%, and 25%, respectively. Compared with SS-AD and HSS-AD, L-AD gas production peaked 3–6 days earlier. Treatment TS25 had the best cumulative methane production, reaching 117.4 mL/g VS. However, treatment TS6 had acid accumulation and a very unstable system. The cumulative methane production of SS-AD was higher than that of HSS-AD and L-AD. Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes were the dominant flora, and Methanoculleus, Methanosarcina, and Methanobrevibacter were the main archaeal groups. The TS significantly changed the microbial community composition of the digestion system, especially the low TS treatment. The results presented herein indicated that TS significantly changed the bacterial and archaeal community composition of the digestion system, and thus with the increase in TS from 6% to 25%, the methane yield increased.

Application of Oxygen-enriched Side-blowing Technology in Treating Zinc Leaching Residue in China

Zinc hydrometallurgy is the main process of zinc smelting in the world. The leaching residue produced by different hydrometallurgical processes have different components, but they contain valuable metals such as zinc, silver, gold, indium and germanium, and heavy metals such as lead, cadmium and arsenic. In China, leaching residue is defined as hazardous waste, which requires harmless treatment and recovery of valuable metals. At present, China’s main zinc leaching residue treatment technologies include Welz kiln, fuming furnace and Top-submerged lance Smelting furnace. These technologies have been applied for many years and are mature and reliable, but they need further improvement in energy conservation and environmental protection. In recent years, with the continuous progress of China’s smelting technology, the oxygen-enriched side-blowing technology has been successfully applied to the treatment of zinc leaching residue, mainly including the Side-submerged combustion smelting technology of China ENFI and the Vanukov side-blowing technology. At present, the above two side blowing technologies have been put into industrial practice in many zinc smelters in China, which are characterized by low energy consumption, high recovery rate of valuable metals and high sulfur recovery rate. This paper introduces the application of the above two side blowing technologies in China’s zinc smelters, and compares them from furnace structure, production operation, and technical indicators. Oxygen-enriched side-blowing technology will become the mainstream treatment process of zinc residue in China and even in the world in the future.

Response Surface Methodology—Central Composite Design Optimization Sugarcane Bagasse Activated Carbon under Varying Microwave-Assisted Pyrolysis Conditions

Sugarcane bagasse (SB) is a widely available agro-industrial waste residue in China that has the potential to be converted into a cost-effective and renewable adsorbent. In this study, activated carbon (AC) was prepared from SB by microwave vacuum pyrolysis using H3PO4 as the activator. To enhance the sorption selectivity and yield, the pyrolysis process of SB-activated carbon (SBAC) should be well-designed. Central composite design was employed as an optimized experiment design, and response surface methodology was used to optimize the process parameters for maximized SBAC yield and its iodine number. The results showed that the optimized parameters obtained for the SBAC are 2.47 for the impregnation ratio (IR), 479.07 W for microwave power (MP), 23.86 mm for biomass bed depth, and 12.96 min for irradiation time, with responses of 868.7 mg/g iodine number and 43.88% yield. The anticipated outcomes were substantiated, revealing a marginal 5.4% variance in yield and a mere 1.9% discrepancy in iodine number from the forecasted values. The synthesized adsorbents underwent comprehensive characterization through instrumental methodologies, including FT-IR, BET, and SEM. The SBAC produced by the pyrolysis method contained a regular and homogeneous porous structure with a specific surface area of up to 1697.37 m2/g and a total 1.20 cm 3/g volume, which has favorable adsorption of toxic and harmful substances in the environment.

Recovery and Utilization of Lead in Lead–Containing Waste Residue from Electrolytic Manganese Production

As a metallurgical and chemical raw material, electrolytic manganese is an important strategic resource. However, with the rapid development of the electrolytic manganese industry, the correct disposal of anode slime has become a serious problem. The purpose of this experiment was to reduce the occupation of land resources by the lead–containing waste residue of electrolytic manganese, reduce the pollution caused by the lead–containing waste residue to the environment and provide a reference for the research on the treatment technology and resource utilization of lead–containing waste residue in China. In this experiment, a special process was studied for the composition characteristics of lead–containing waste residues produced by electrolytic manganese. The acid leaching–enrichment–membrane electrolysis process was used to recover the lead in the lead–containing waste residues of electrolytic manganese and to recover the acid, so as to maximize the utilization of resources. In this experiment, the pretreated lead–containing waste residue was leached, enriched and concentrated, and then the enriched Pb2+ solution was used as cathode solution and dilute nitric acid as anode solution to recover lead by membrane electrolysis. The membrane electrolysis experiment uses lead plate as cathode, selects the best anion exchange membrane and anodic electrolysis material, and then takes lead recovery, acid recovery, current efficiency, voltage and power consumption as investigation indexes to explore and analyze the influence of many factors such as Pb2+ concentration and current density on the experiment, so as to determine the best membrane electrolysis process parameters. The optimum process parameters of lead recovery by membrane electrolysis were determined as follows: Pb2+ concentration was 40 g/L, current density was 30 mA/cm2, reaction temperature was 60 °C, cathodic pH value was 4.0, anodic HNO3 concentration was 0.5 mol/L, and cathodic ammonium nitrate concentration was 50 g/L. Under the optimal conditions, the current efficiency was 85.6%, the acid recovery was 73.03%, the lead recovery was 99.2%, the voltage was 3.8 V, and the power consumption was 1148.4 kW·h·t−1. Through the three steps of acid leaching–enrichment–membrane electrolysis, 78.53% of the Pb2+ in the original lead–containing waste residue can be recovered in the form of metal lead element, and the HNO3 recovered in the anode chamber can also be used again in the acid leaching process, which can not only solve the problem of environmental pollution caused by lead–containing waste residue but also achieve the recovery and utilization of resources, with good social and economic benefits.

Forest residues contribute significantly to climate change in China

Under the energy shortage and emerging climate change caused by fossil energy, forest residues were encouraged to be used as an energy resource. However, it is a challenge to quantify the forest residue at the fine spatial scale due to the available data and suitable research methods. We aimed to quantify the available forest residues in China at the county scale and clarify their potential contribution to climate change (CCC). The availability of forest residues reached 152.13 million t in 2018 in China. The CCC accumulated by natural decomposition of forest residues over one-hundred-year had reached 49.27 million tCO2eq. The peak values of provincial annual CCC were reached in the first 3 years in the southern region. The top four counties of CCC were all from Yunnan Province. The energy utilization of forest residues is of great significance to the management of forest resources.

Life cycle analysis of a novel treatment method for recycling wood processing residues into the core material of wooden doors

As an industrial waste material, the utilization rate of wood processing residues in China is only 30%, and the high-efficiency utilization of wood processing residues can greatly alleviate the shortage of wood resources in China. This study suggested a novel treatment method for conserving wood resources by recycling wood processing residues as core materials for wooden doors, the feasibility of which was validated through an actual production operation in a wooden door manufacturing factory. Since the recycling process requires a series of processes, two comparison scenarios were proposed in this study in order to assess whether the recycling method can reduce the environmental impact and thus generate environmental benefits. Scenario 1 conducted a comparative LCA analysis among wood processing residues and two commonly used core materials for wooden doors, namely, tubular particleboard and laminated veneer lumber (LVL). Scenario 2 conducted a comparative LCA analysis between two treatment methods for wood processing residues, namely, recycling as core material and incineration as boiler fuel for heat production. The results revealed that using wood processing residues as a core material for wooden doors reduced the emission of approximately 7.46 kg CO2 eq of GWP and 143.77 MJ of PED when compared to tubular particleboard, but when compared to LVL, recycling of wood processing residues produced no environmental benefits but exerted a negative impact. In addition, recycling wood processing residues to replace tubular particleboard as core material for wooden doors is a superior method of disposal compared to incineration as boiler fuel for heat production.

Environmental and economic benefits of substituting chemical potassium fertilizer with crop straw residues in China.

Chemical potassium (K) fertilizer plays a crucial role in improving crop productivity, yet its production and application also result in environmental issues including greenhouse gas emission and atmospheric pollution emissions. In addition, the abandon or open burning of crop straw not only causes the wasting of resource, but also creates environmental problems. On-present studies recognize the importance of the substitution of straw resource utilization for chemical K fertilizer, yet whether such action can effectively mitigate the emissions of greenhouse gas and pollutants remains unclear. In this study, we examine the effects of substituting straw for chemical K fertilizer on the emissions of greenhouse gas and pollutants and the associated direct and damage cost implications in China at the provincial level. Results showed that the useable straw contributed 2750 Gg of K from 2000 to 2009 and 3567 Gg from 2010 to 2017, equaling 121% and 57.3% of chemical K fertilizer, respectively. Chemical K fertilizer substitution with straw can also reduce annual emissions of greenhouse gases, ammonia, nitrogen oxide, and fine particulate matter by 664 Gg, 18.5 Gg, 10.7 Gg, and 1.48 Gg, respectively. The average abatement cost reached 4790 million USD during 2000-2009 and 3898 million USD during 2010-2017, respectively. And the mitigation potential of the emissions of greenhouse gas and pollutants and average abatement cost showed a large spatial heterogeneity at the provincial level. Overall, replacing chemical K fertilizer with straw is an efficient strategy to reduce environmental risk and utilize agricultural waste.

ARSCP: An antimicrobial residue surveillance cloud platform for animal-derived foods

Antibiotics have been widely used for improving human and animal health and well-being for many decades. However, the enormous antibiotic usage in agriculture especially for livestock leads to considerable quantities of antibiotic residues in associated food products and can reach potentially hazardous levels for consumers. Therefore, timely detection and systematical surveillance on residual antibiotics in food materials are of significance to minimize the negative impact caused by such unwanted antibiotic leftovers. To this end, we constructed a cloud-platform-based system (ARSCP) for comprehensive surveillance of antibiotic residues in food materials. With the system, we collected 126,560 samples from 68 chicken farms across China and detected the antibiotic residues using a rapid detection colorimetric commercial (Explorer 2.0) kit and UPLC-MS/MS. Only 108 (0.085 %) of the samples contained residual antibiotics exceeding the MRLs and all data were subjected to ARSCP system to provide a landscape of antibiotic residues in China. As a proof-of-concept, we provided an overview of residual antibiotics based on data from China, but the system is generally applicable to track and monitor the antibiotic residues globally when the data from other countries are incorporated. We used the combined Explorer 2.0 and MS data to construct ARSCP, an antimicrobial residue surveillance cloud platform for raw chicken samples. ARSCP can be used for rapid detection and real-time monitoring of antibiotic residues in animal food and provides both data management and risk warning functions. This system provides a solution to improve the management of facilities that must monitor antibiotic MRLs in food animal products that can reduce the pollution of antibiotics to the environment.

Characteristic comparison of lignocellulose nanofibrils from wheat straw having different mechanical pretreatments

AbstractWheat straw (WS) was considered the most abundant agricultural residue in China. Therefore, it was meaningful to explore the effective utilization of WS. Thus far, WS has been considered a potential raw material to produce lignocellulose nanofibrils (LCNFs) with the rapid development of nanotechnology. Unfortunately, the existing methods of LCNFs preparation directly from WS still faced some hurdles. Herein, screw extrusion and ball milling considered the common mechanical pretreatments were employed to directly prepare LCNFs from WS. The different impacts of screw extrusion and ball milling pretreatments on the properties of LCNFs were revealed by systematically comparing physicochemical analyses. The results showed that the crystalline and chemical structure of samples was little affected by the mechanical pretreatment. However, the mechanical pretreatment caused a change in the morphology, yield, and chemical composition of LCNFs. LCNFs prepared by screw extrusion with a high yield of 73% had the narrowest diameter distribution (0 ~ 80 nm), the most cellulose content (51.1%), and the maximum crystallinity degree (44.7%). LCNF samples all exhibited good thermal stability. This work could not only offer theoretical guidance on the preparation of LCNFs by mechanical pretreatments but also expand the high‐value application of WS in polymer composites.

Signatures of Indian endosulfan usage in China's environment

Endosulfan, as an organochlorine pesticide (OCPs), was widely used in agriculture. As the largest endosulfan user country in the world and adjacent to China, it is interesting to know to what extent the endosulfan usage of India could affect the environment in China. In this study, we established gridded endosulfan usage, atmospheric emission, and soil residue inventories in 2010 based on its application in different crops in China and India. We employed an atmospheric transport model CanMETOP to simulate atmospheric and soil concentrations, as well as dry and wet deposition flux of α- and β-endosulfan. Results were used to assess the signatures of Indian endosulfan usage in the China's environment. In 2010, endosulfan usage, atmospheric emissions, and highest soil residue in China were 3083.9, 1312.7, and 587.5 tonnes, and 3204.8, 1441.4, and 463.7 tonnes in India, respectively. The spatial distribution of modeled atmospheric and soil concentrations, and dry deposition fluxes of endosulfan were in line with its usage but wet deposition fluxes were mainly identified in Southern China and Sichuan basin with heavy rainfall, especially for α-endosulfan. Endosulfan tended to transport from India to Tibetan plateau, Yunnan-Kweichow Plateau, and some provinces in southern China under the Indian Summer Monsoon regime. Due to its stronger volatility, α-endosulfan posed a more significant impact on China's environment via the atmospheric transport from India compared to β-endosulfan. Although rainfall during Indian Summer Monsoon reduced endosulfan levels in the air during its journey from India to China, it was observed that Indian endosulfan usage in 2010 contributed more than 50% of atmospheric concentrations and 30% of soil concentrations of α-endosulfan in some regions in Tibetan plateau.

Risk Analysis and Countermeasures of Excessive Pesticide Residues in China's Export of Grapes to ASEAN

Risk Analysis and Countermeasures of Excessive Pesticide Residues in China's Export of Grapes to ASEAN

Synthetic organic antibiotics residues as emerging contaminants waste-to-resources processing for a circular economy in China: Challenges and perspective

Synthetic antibiotics have been known for years to combat bacterial antibiotics. But their overuse and resistance have become a concern recently. The antibiotics reach the environment, including soil from the manufacturing process and undigested excretion by cattle and humans. It leads to overburden and contamination of the environment. These organic antibiotics remain in the environment for a very long period. During this period, antibiotics come in contact with various flora and fauna. The ill manufacturing practices and inadequate wastewater treatment cause a severe problem to the water bodies. After pretreatment from pharmaceutical industries, the effluents are released to the water bodies such as rivers. Even after pretreatment, effluents contain a significant number of antibiotic residues, which affect the living organisms living in the water bodies. Ultimately, river contaminated water reaches the ocean, spreading the contamination to a vast environment. This review paper discusses the impact of synthetic organic contamination on the environment and its hazardous effect on health. In addition, it analyzes and suggests the biotechnological strategies to tackle organic antibiotic residue proliferation. Moreover, the degradation of organic antibiotic residues by biocatalyst and biochar is analyzed. The circular economy approach for waste-to-resource technology for organic antibiotic residue in China is analyzed for a sustainable solution. Overall, the significant challenges related to synthetic antibiotic residues and future aspects are analyzed in this review paper.

Phosphorus emission from open burning of major crop residues in China

Biomass burning has been recognized as an important primary source of atmospheric phosphorus (P), but the measurements of P from biomass burning particles are lacking. In this work, emission factors of different P forms, including total P (TP), total dissolved P (TDP), dissolved inorganic P (DIP) and dissolved organic P (DOP), in emission particles from four types of crop residues burning were measured in a number of chamber experiments. Based on the measured emission factors and the amount of crop residue burned, a high-resolution (0.25° × 0.25°) emission inventory of P for China during 2011–2015 was firstly developed. The emission factors of TP, DIP and DOP were 0.23, 0.06 and 0.13 g/kg, 0.57, 0.17 and 0.27 g/kg, 0.52, 0.15 and 0.27 g/kg, 0.43, 0.13 and 0.25 g/kg for wheat, corn, soybean and rice straw burning, respectively. The total emissions of TP, TDP, DIP, and DOP from the four types of crop straw open burning were 72.0 × 103 ± 6.7 × 103 Tons, 56.3 × 103 ± 5.5 × 103, 20.9 × 103 ± 2.0 × 103 and 35.4 × 104 ± 3.4 × 103 Tons, respectively. TDP dominated the TP fraction, indicating that biomass burning was the important source of bioavailable P. The high P emission areas were mainly distributed in the Northeast and North China Plain, where were the main grain production areas in China, while P emission in economically developed areas such as Beijing and Shanghai and western areas such as Tibet and Qinghai was lower. Affected by the harvesting periods of crops, high P emissions peaked in March, April, June and October. The results herein can provide a dataset for modeling research in calculating the contribution of biomass burning sources to atmospheric P; therefore reduce uncertainties in estimating atmospheric P deposition.

Potential biomethane production from crop residues in China: Contributions to carbon neutrality

The Chinese government has set an ambitious goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060. Realizing negative greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions will require technologies like anaerobic digestion to recover biomethane from organic biomass. As the world's main grain-producing country, China has abundant crop residues, >85% of which were utilized as fertilizer, fodder, industrial material, biofuel, and base material in 2019. However, the potential contribution of crop residues to energy and reduced GHG emissions following anaerobic digestion have been scarcely evaluated. Based on crop yield and the field residue index, the annual quantity of crop residues in China from 2000 to 2019 was estimated. The annual crop residue yield increased between 2003 and 2014, and then remained constant at ~970 × 106 t/a, with an estimated 495 × 106 t/a being available for biomethane production. This corresponded to a potential biomethane yield of 82.25 × 109 m3/a, which could have met 29.2% of the annual natural gas consumption and 2.25% of the annual energy consumption in China in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Furthermore, the estimated potential GHG emission reduction was 197 × 106 t/a (CO2 equivalent), representing ~2% of China's GHG emissions in 2019. Nevertheless, to reach the expected goal, some crucial technical and equipment-oriented research and development should be promoted to adapt to the characteristics of China's crop residues and regional environment. Moreover, governmental support policies on subsidies would be required for the development of the biomethane industry, which should prioritize northern regions with relatively high quantities of crop residues.

Biogas feedstock potentials and related water footprints from residues in China and the European Union

China encounters heavy air pollution caused by coal consumption. China and the EU aim to decrease greenhouse gas emissions. Shifting to biogas from residues contributes to solving both problems. This study assesses China's biogas potentials and related water footprints (WFs) and compares results with potentials and WFs for the EU. Starting from a literature review on EU biogas potentials, it analyzes information resulting in a calculation methodology, its validation and application to China. Finally, it estimates WFs and makes a comparative assessment of biogas potentials of the EU and China. In the EU, biogas from agricultural, forestry and other residues might contribute 8% (5300 PJ) to primary energy consumption, in China 10% (13,275 PJ.) In the EU, agriculture contributes 41%, forestry 26%, other residues 23%, and manure 10%. The corresponding results for China are agriculture (67%), forestry (23%), manure (7%) and other residues (3%). In the EU, biogas might contribute 45% to total gas demand; in China more biogas can be produced than consumed in 2018 (185% of demand). The EU results fall in the range of residue potentials from earlier studies. Maize, wheat, barley and rapeseed contribute 78% to the EU agricultural biogas potential. In China, dominant crops are maize (49%), rice (18%), wheat (12%) and seed cotton (6%). For water, there are large differences among WFs of specific crop residues, but also between WFs for EU and Chinese crop residues. Most Chinese crop residues have larger WFs than the EU residues. Biogas from sugar beet residues has the smallest WFs, biogas from tobacco residues the largest. Although using residues for energy does not change total national WFs, it reallocates WFs over main products and residues. The comparative assessment supports better use of biogas potentials from residues with lower WFs and is also applicable for other regions and countries.

Comprehensive assessment of sustainable potential of agricultural residues for bioenergy based on geographical information system: A case study of China

This study proposes an approach for estimating the sustainable potential of agricultural residue biomass, with the novel characteristic of combining regional annual crop yields, topographic and legislative restrictions, as well as local soil organic matter and soil erosion considerations in the sustainable potential assessment. The proposed approach is applied in the case of China. To ensure accuracy and reliability of the evaluation, the theoretical potential was first calculated based on the residue-to-product ratio (RPR) in China at a regional level. Based on the theoretical potential, a geographic information system (GIS) was then employed to determine the technical potential and sustainable potential of agricultural residues in China. The theoretical, technical and sustainable potential of agricultural residues were found to be equal to 1001.47, 565.82 and 143.20 Mt per year, respectively. Up to 20% of agricultural residues are technically collectable but not currently utilized as resources; if appropriately utilized as an energy source, these residues could generate up to 108 TWh of bio-based power per year. However, for sustainability purposes, the maximum energy potential is limited to 27.8 TWh/year. It was also found that among China’s 31 provincial regions, Heilongjiang holds the greatest potential for the establishment of an agricultural residue-based economy by virtue of its resource availability.

Current Advances of Resource Utilization of Herbal Extraction Residues in China

China is the largest consumer and producer of herbal medicine known as traditional Chinese medicine in the world. After the extraction of medicinal plants’ functional ingredients, large amounts of herbal extracted residues would be manufactured. It is estimated that there are more than 1500 medicinal herb companies in China; the annual yield of Chinese herb extracted residues (CHERs) is up to 35 million tons. However, herbal residues are managed through landfills rather than being considered as renewable lignocellulosic biomass. A review concerning the utilization ways and technologies of CHERs is presented, focusing on energy utilization strategies, including direct combustion, thermochemical and biochemical conversion. Other technologies, such as adsorbents products, composting and fertilizers, biorefinery for bioethanol, bio-based chemicals, and re-extraction of other ingredients are also presented. Based on the technology status and potential, the future research and development of herb residues in biomass energy to develop a low-carbon economy for the traditional Chinese medicine industry are proposed.

Impact of information acquisition on farmers’ willingness to recycle plastic mulch film residues in China

Recently there has been an increasing concern about plastic mulch film pollution from agricultural production in China. Given the knowledge of plastic mulch film is information-intensive, the lack of information might be the primary constraint for farmers to adopt recycling practices. Additionally, the potential self-selection bias in the information acquisition process raises an empirical challenge in accurately estimating the impact of information acquisition and information intensity on farmers’ adoption behaviors. To this end, this study first creates a propensity-weighted sample and subsequently employs the multi-valued treatment effects model to analyze how information acquisition influences farmers’ recycling choices, using the sample data from Yunnan province China. The results indicate that information acquisition exerts a positive and significant impact on farmers’ recycling choices, where higher information intensity increases the likelihood of recycling plastic film residues. Understanding the role of information acquisition could assist policymakers in focusing on knowledge diffusion when designing programs to facilitate better management of plastic residues and other sustainable agricultural production practices.