Water Ecotoxicity Research Articles

Intensification of valorization of cooked rice water through energy-efficient synthesis of drop-in biofuel (butyl levulinate): engine performance, emission profile, and environmental impact assessments.

For the first time, an energy-efficient and eco-friendly technology for the conversion of abundantly available kitchen waste, specifically waste cooked rice water (WCRW) to drop-in- biofuels, namely, butyl levulinate (BL), has been explored. The synthesis of BL was accomplished employing butyl alcohol (BA) and WCRW in an energy-efficient UV (5W each UVA and UVB)-near-infrared (100W) irradiation assisted spinning (120rpm) batch reactor (UVNIRSR) in the presence of TiO2-Amberlyst 15 (TA15) photo-acidic catalyst system (PACS). The optimal 95.81% yield of BL (YBL) could be achieved at 10 wt% catalyst concentration, 60°C reaction temperature, 80min time, and 1:10 WCRW: BA concentration as per Taguchi statistical design. Moreover, additional combination of different PACS such as TiO2-Amberlyst 16, TiO2-Amberlyst 36, and TiO2-Amberlite IRC120 H rendered 86.72% YBL, 90.04% YBL, and 93.47% YBL, respectively, proving superior efficacy compared to individual activity of the acidic catalysts and photocatalysts. The heterogeneous reaction kinetics study for TA15 PACS suggested Langmuir-Hinshelwood model to be the best fitted model. A significant 63.33% energy could be saved by UVNIRSR as compared to conventional heated reactor at the optimized experimental condition using PACS TA15. An overall alleviation in environmental pollution with 59.259% reduction in GWP, 15.254% decline in terrestrial ecotoxicity, 18.238% diminution in marine ecotoxicity, 17.25% decrease in ozone formation affecting human health, 5.865% reduction in human non-carcinogenic toxicity, 18.65% diminution in ozone formation affecting terrestrial ecosystem, 55.17% significant decrease in terrestrial acidification, and 25.619% mitigation in fresh water ecotoxicity could be observed. Furthermore, BL-biodiesel-diesel blends (3% BL, 7% biodiesel, and 90% diesel) exhibited significant reduction (25.45% and 36%, respectively, for CO and HC) in harmful engine exhaust emissions demonstrating environmental sustainability of the overall process.

Environmental sustainability assessment of softwood and hardwood seedlings production in forest nurseries: A case study from Pakistan.

This article describes the environmental impacts of producing a single seedling in forest nurseries of selected districts (i.e., Haripur, Abbottabad, and Mansehra) of Hazara Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan using the life cycle assessment (LCA) approach. This study was based on the cradle-to-gate approach which begins with the pre-nursery stage and progresses toward the main nursery before transplanting seedlings into the plantation site. Data or life cycle inventory (LCI) of seedling production were collected through questionnaire surveys and personal meetings with forest nurseries managers and workers regarding consumption of different inputs such as electricity, diesel, fertilizers, herbicides, and polyethylene bags, organic manure, and water consumption. The SimaPro software version 8.5 and the CML2000 v2.05 environmental model was applied to perform life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) for a single seedling production in forest nurseries in the study area. In line with the objectives of the study, primary data regarding inputs and outputs of the nurseries were collected from 35 nurseries in the study area by using a random questionnaire method. In addition, secondary data were taken from online databases such as Eco-invent v.3.2 CORRIM and peer-reviewed published literature. For this study, a functional unit of a single seedling was considered. Production weighted average data were modeled in the latest environmental modeling software i.e., SimaPro v.8.5 for ten US-EPA most wanted environmental impacts, such as global warming potential (GWP), abiotic depletion (AD), eutrophication potential (EP), acidification potential (AP), freshwater aquatic eco-toxicity (FAE), marine water eco-toxicity (MWE), terrestrial eco-toxicity (TE), ozone layer depletion (OLD), photochemical oxidation (PO), and human toxicity (HT). The results showed that the highest environmental impact posed by a single seedling was marine aquatic eco-toxicity (11.31360 kg 1,4-DB eq), followed by global warming potential (0.02945 kg CO2 eq) and (0.01227 kg 1,4-DB eq) human toxicity. The primary reason for these environmental burdens was the use of synthetic fertilizers in forest nurseries and the consumption of fossil fuels in nursery mechanization and transportation activities. The total cumulative energy demand for a single seedling was (0.800 MJ) with more than 90% contribution from fossil fuel energy resources such as petrol and diesel. It is therefore highly recommended to use renewable energy resources and organic fertilizers instead of chemical fertilizers in forest nurseries to avoid and minimize greenhouse gas emissions (GHS) and other toxic emissions in the study area.

Environmental impact assessment of the manufacturing of glass packaging solutions: Comparative scenarios in a developing country

The manufacturing of glass packaging is an energy and resource intensive process and the demand for glass packaging is increasing because of rising world population, especially in the developing countries. However, although a significant amount of glass packaging is produced in developing countries, there is limited research focused on the environmental impact assessment and analysis of the glass manufacturing activities. Thus, in order to fill this research gap, this paper reports a comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) for the manufacturing of glass packaging in Pakistan. The LCA was conducted for three different types of glass (amber, flint and green) packaging solutions. The study was based on cradle-to-gate perspective, while considering 1-ton of glass produced as the functional unit. The primary data were collected from a well-known glass industry located in one of the dedicated industrial zones in Pakistan. SimaPro V 9.2. was used as the software tool and environmental impacts were quantified at midpoint and endpoint levels using ReCiPe 2016 method. The results indicated that extraction and processing of raw materials, and the plant-based glass production process cause worst impacts on the environment. More specifically, the consumption of natural gas for glass melting and the electricity from the national grid are the most contributing elements at the plant level. At midpoint level, comparatively green glass has the highest impact in various impact categories, such as global warming, fresh water ecotoxicity, marine ecotoxicity, etc. At endpoint level, human health is mainly impacted among various areas of protection. Overall, green glass remains the dreadful option for human health in comparison with other glass types. Alternative scenarios were also generated for all three packaging solutions by changing the energy-mix, especially to see the difference in greenhouse gas emissions. The study also outlines various important implications. As this is the first such study, it may be used as a benchmark for further environmental impact assessment studies for glass packaging industry, especially in developing countries.

Compression of input to total output index and environmental impacts of dryland and irrigated wheat production systems

Today, reducing costs, energy, and environmental impacts, in addition to increasing technical performance, are important goals of agriculture and industry sectors. The present study was conducted with the aim of evaluating the status of environmental indicators of the dryland and irrigated wheat production systems. The required information was obtained from 100 wheat production farms through questionnaire method. After calculating the input and outputs, environmental indicators were calculated by life cycle assessment method. A novel index as “input to total output” was formulated to evaluate the efficiency of using/consuming each input in production systems. In average, the values of input to total output index for all inputs in dryland wheat production system were 1.45 times higher than those of the irrigated system. In average, the environmental indicators of the dryland wheat production systems had 1.85 times higher values than those of the irrigated systems. Marine water ecotoxicity was the indicator with highest value for both production systems as 12.33 × 104 and 8.22 × 104 kg 1.4 DB eq and the indicator with lowest value was ozone layer depletion as 3.54 × 10−5 and 1.90 × 10−5 kg CFC −11 eq for dryland and irrigated wheat production systems, respectively. In both production systems, nitrogen had the greeted share in all environmental indicators from 15 to 80 %, except for eutrophication and acidification potential which were mostly affected by emissions of wheat farms.

Assessing baseline water footprints of natural fiber textile products in China

Water resources play an indispensable role in the textile and apparel industry. The setting of baseline water footprint for textile products is crucial in water management activities. In this study, we propose a novel method to calculate and evaluate the baseline water footprints for natural fiber textiles based on the ISO 14046 methodology. The baseline water footprints here refer to the maximum values of the water footprints that satisfy the required regulations managed by the government or the industry. It means that, the lower the baseline water footprint of the product, the lower the environmental impact of the product on water resources. The indicators including the water scarcity footprint, the water eutrophication footprint, and the water ecotoxicity footprint are considered in the water management assessment. The original data of 25 typical textile products from different enterprises were obtained from the series water withdrawal and pollutant discharge standards issued by the Chinese government. The baseline water footprints for three enterprises in different management levels (namely existing enterprises, new and expanding enterprises, and advanced enterprises) were calculated and assessed. To verify the validity of the obtained baseline values of the different categories of textile products, six typical textile enterprises were investigated. The results show that the established baselines allow for a clear classification of enterprises into reasonable levels according to the water footprint results of their representative products. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that water footprint baselines for textiles have been developed. The development of these baselines can help textile manufacturers, textile industry and government to recognize the similarities and differences in water quantity and quality among different products, and to effectively enabling the transformation and upgrading of products within the industry. It also informs the further development of regulatory and management-related measures and policies, as well as provides a reference for water management and research in the future.

Relevance of sludge management practices and substance modeling in LCA for decision-making: A case study in Chile

Reducing the costs and environmental impacts of sludge management is currently one of the main challenges faced by the wastewater treatment sector. Anaerobic digestion followed by land application has been widely endorsed as a low-impact approach to sludge management, mainly due to the recovery of biogas and the valorization of digestate. However, the influence that the operational conditions of digestion and the management practices of land application can have over the environmental performance of this strategy has been scarcely studied. Furthermore, most of the previous studies dealing with the environmental assessment of this strategy use simplified methods for estimating emissions after land application of sludge, and the lack of systematic accounting of these environmental flows might significantly affect the validity and comparability of the results. Therefore, this work performed an assessment of the influence that 4 relevant practices can have over the environmental impacts of this approach in the context of south-central Chile, providing a mass-balanced inventory for nitrogen, phosphorus and heavy metals in soil based on the ad hoc implementation of models developed for agricultural Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). A total of 16 scenarios were defined and 10 impact categories were evaluated, with the results showing that the environmental impacts were greatly influenced by the variables under study. Overall, solids retention time and the inclusion of pre-treatment mainly influenced climate change, fossil resource depletion and terrestrial ecotoxicity potential, while sludge application rate influenced the eutrophication, water ecotoxicity and human toxicity categories. The type of crop in the receiving soil was a significant driver behind the differences observed in the human toxicity category, which showed the highest variation and relevance in the final weighted result. The results clearly highlight the relevance of using context specific data as well as of quantifying the fate of nutrients, metals and heavy metals during LCA of sludge management. Based on the results, some policy and decision-making recommendations are formulated to optimize the environmental performance of sludge digestion and land application.

Compost Heat Recovery Systems: Global Warming Potential impact estimation and comparison through a Life Cycle Assessment approach

Compost Heat Recovery Systems (CHRS) represent an innovative technology to provide domestic decentralized thermal energy, recovering the heat naturally produced during the aerobic biodegradation of waste biomass, coming from gardening/farming/forestry activities. CHRSs represent an alternative to centralized grid-connected power systems and are usually installed (combined with most traditional systems) to power underfloor heating systems (UHS) or domestic hot water systems (DHWS), lowering impacts and costs of thermal energy production. In this study, the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of CHRSs (measured as kgCO2-eq/kWh) was investigated using life cycle assessment (LCA) approach, considering the whole life cycle of an average plant. CHRSs showed a negative Net value of GWP impact, equal to -0.268 kgCO2-eq/kWh, as full balance of positive (0.062 kgCO2-eq/kWh) and negative (-0.329 kgCO2-eq/kWh) emissions. Negative emissions are related to avoided primary materials, replacement of natural gas used as traditional thermal energy production and replacement of mineral fertilizers. Considering only the positive emissions (0.062 kgCO2-eq/kWh), CHRSs emerged to be in line with Solar Hot-Water Systems (0.061 kgCO2-eq/kWh mean value) and slightly higher than Geothermal Systems (0.019 kgCO2-eq/kWh mean value). Along with GWP impact, other midpoint and endpoint impact indicators were assessed and all showed a negative Net value: Particulate Matter PM (-2.36E-5 kgPM2.5-eq/kWh), Fresh Water eutrophication FWE (-6.78E-06 kgP-eq/kWh), Fresh Water ecotoxicity FWec (-2.10E-01 CTUe/kWh), Human Toxicity cancer effect HTc (-5.68E-09 CTUh/kWh), Human Toxicity non-cancer effect HTnc (-3.51E-09 CTUh/kWh) and Human Health HH (-5.22E-08 DALY/kWh). These results demonstrate that CHRS is extremely convenient considering both environmental and human health consequences.

Sustainable Production of Rare Earth Elements from Mine Waste and Geoethics

The vulnerability of the rare earth element (REE) supply in a global context of increasing demands entails important economic and political issues, and has encouraged several countries to develop their own REE production projects. This study comparatively evaluated the production of REEs from primary and secondary resources in terms of their sustainability and contribution to the achievement of the Geoethics concept as responsibility towards oneself, colleagues, society, and the Earth system. Twelve categories of potential environmental and social impacts were selected: human health toxicity, global warming or climate change, terrestrial and aquatic eutrophication, acidification potential, particulate matter, resource depletion, water consumption, fresh water ecotoxicity, ionizing radiation, fossil fuel consumption, and ozone depletion. The results showed that the environmental impact of REE production from secondary sources is much lower relative to primary sources. A comparison of conventional and non-conventional REE resources showed that significant impact categories were related to particulate matter formation, abiotic resource depletion, and fossil fuel depletion, which could result from avoiding the tailings disposal before reuse. Based on these findings, governments and stakeholders should be encouraged to increase the recycling of secondary REE sources with Geoethics in mind, in order to balance the high demand of REEs while minimizing the overexploitation of non-renewable resources.

Environmental evaluation and economic analysis of fly ash-rice husk ash blended alkali-activated bricks

This paper presents a life cycle assessment (LCA) based on environmental and economic factors of alkali-activated bricks prepared with low calcium fly ash and rice husk ash (RHA) (20% replacement of low calcium fly ash by RHA (20RHA)). The results were compared with an equivalent Portland cement (PC) concrete brick. The scope of this comparative and sensitive analysis ranges from cradle to grave. However, slightly higher impacts (5.40 kg CO2 eq/m2) were obtained for 20RHA due to the electricity generation. Manufacturing sodium silicate and sodium hydroxide are responsible for 62%–90% of the total impact for all environmental impact categories for 20RHA. An energy mix with a higher contribution of renewable energy sources in the sensitivity analysis entails favourable results, giving an approximately up to 30% reduction in blended RHA brick, while for PC bricks, less than 20% reduction was observed in most impact categories. In addition, a benefit analysis and leaching studies were conducted in order to quantify the benefits by utilizing fly ash and RHA from dumps and landfills by observing environmental credits in terms of human toxicity and fresh and marine water ecotoxicity. The 20RHA showed significant resultant benefits of 1.77 kg 1,4-DBC eq/m2 in terms of the human toxicity impact category compared with PC brick.

Improved Gray Water Footprint Calculation and Assessment Method for Polyester Fabric Production

Gray water footprint has been widely used as an indicator to quantify the water environmental impact of textile products. Traditionally, gray water footprint values are determined by the largest gray water footprint value of the typical water pollutant. The performances of other critical compounds that coexist in wastewater are disregarded. To mitigate these shortcomings associated with gray water footprint accounting and assessment, an improved gray water footprint calculation and assessment framework is proposed in this study. The diffusion and attenuation process of pollutants in rivers was considered for the comprehensive accounting and evaluation of the impacts caused by various pollutants in discharged wastewater. Polyester fabric production was used to illustrate the application of the improved gray water footprint calculation and assessment method. The results revealed that chemical oxygen demand caused the most severe water eutrophication impact and antimony caused the most severe water ecotoxicity impact. The comprehensive evaluation of improved gray water footprint indicated that alkali peeling process caused the largest water environmental impact during polyester fabric production.

A Desk Study Based on SWOT Analysis: An Adaptation of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in the Pulp and Paper Industry

Today, the industrial world is experiencing intense competition with challenges related to environmental issues, and the domestic paper industry is no exception. This study is a follow-up of the research conducted by Palupi et al. (2015) at Company X which, through an LCA study, found an acute water ecotoxicity value of 7.16 kPt, a chronic water ecotoxicity value of 6.5 kPt, and a soil human toxicity value of 2.69 kPt. However, that study did not come with a SWOT matrix. Therefore, using a desk study,the present study aimed to map a SWOT matrix. A desk study based on SWOT analysis from 12 international journals and two national journals sourced from Elsevier, IWA Publishing, MDPI Publisher, Taylor & Francis, and Garuda was used to determine the SWOT matrix. Desk studies have the objective of comprehensively evaluating published journal articles, books, and other sources on given problem domains.Based on the results of the study, some recommendations for actions on the internal and external factors of the company are offered, consiting of steps for the company to mitigate identified weaknesses and threats.This study found that most of the pulp and paper industry engaged in internal strengths and external opportunities and faced numerous internal weaknesses and external threats. Currently, Company X occupied the first quadrant (Growth), indicating that the company was in a highly profitable condition. The company was enjoying many strengths and opportunities. Therefore, it is critical for the company to use its strengths to capture opportunities to minimize its emissions to the environment and to implement LCA in the company.

Life cycle assessment of the environmental impacts of beer production process

In this study, significant environmental impacts of beer production process were established throughout its life cycle it is necessary to characterize all beer production operations; to carry out an inventory of inputs and outputs in every process; to evaluate possible human and ecological effects resulting from environmental emissions; and to define possible improvement potential. There are four major significant environmental impact categories; first ecotoxicity due to pollutants emitted with environmental score of 9.1762E-6 which was equivalent to 28.16%. It included impacts from marine aquatic which was the greater contributor to total ecotoxicity accounting for 74.12%, followed by terrestrial ecotoxicity with 23.5% and fresh water ecotoxicity which was least contributor with 2.3%, the major cause was burning fossil fuels for steam production and release of inadequately treated wastewater. Second was depletion of fossil fuels with environmental score of 6.8923E-6 equivalent to 21.15%. It was mainly due high consumption of natural gas, lubricating oils and diesels for machines and distribution trucks. Third major impact category was global warming with environmental score of 4.9001E-6 equivalent to 15.02% where the major flow contributor was carbon dioxide accounting 91% of total impact and the major causes were gaseous pollutants and heat released during energy production and transportation activities. The fourth significant impact category was human toxicity with environmental impact score of 4.6208E-6 which accounts for 14.18% of total environmental impacts. Its major flow contributor was dioxins making up 51%. The main causes were pollutant from burning fossil fuels in trucks and energy production and use of harmful chemicals.

Carbon and water footprints assessment of cotton jeans using the method based on modularity: A full life cycle perspective

Cotton jeans with huge market demand have a great potential negative impact on the ecological environment, especially in terms of climate change and water depletion. Given the complexity and difficulty of carbon and water footprints assessment in the textile sector due to the plethora of material varieties and life cycle processes involved, previous researchers have embraced process modularity (i.e., decompose life cycle processes into components) as an auxiliary technique. Although modularity enhances overall flexibility and assessment efficiency, a holistic view is missing for the comprehensive consideration of both product production and consumption processes. Moreover, extant studies only take a limited or even a single manufacturing process as a case demonstration, rather than examining the applicability of the modular method throughout the product life cycle. It is therefore unclear how the interaction and assembly of different process modules will unfold when multiple stages are involved. Accordingly, this study extended the research boundary to the whole life cycle of textile products, and verified the feasibility and practicality of the method with a computational case study of a pair of cotton jeans. The results showed that the total impacts of carbon footprint, water scarcity footprint, water eutrophication footprint and water ecotoxicity footprint were 90.37 kg CO2 eq, 13.74 m3 H2O eq, 1.67 × 10−2 kg PO43− eq and 112.41 m3 H2O eq respectively; and finishing, cotton cultivation and laundering processes were major contributors to these environmental impacts. The study also demonstrated how different cotton jeans parameter values from the life cycle affect the carbon and water footprints through sensitivity analysis. Furthermore, based on the decomposed modules, 12 common use patterns in China were discussed, which confirmed the superiority of the modular method without recalculation from scratch. The scenario analysis revealed that a combination of top loader machine washing and line drying once a month without ironing for cotton jeans within a two-year lifespan was the most promising alternative. The results obtained in this study can provide methodological and technical guidance for follow-up research and application. In the future, other product categories and impact indicators can be integrated into the modular method.

The complete mitochondrial genome of Choroterpes (Euthralus) yixingensis (Ephemeroptera: Leptophlebiidae) and its mitochondrial protein-coding gene expression under imidacloprid stress.

As one of the most common benthic invertebrates in freshwater, mayflies are very sensitive to changes in water quality and have high requirements for the water environment to allow their nymphs to successfully live and grow. Neonicotinoids, such as imidacloprid, can enter fresh water and pollute the aquatic environment. The present study had two goals: (1) investigate imidacloprid effects on mayfly larvae Choroterpes (Euthralus) yixingensis, and (2) contribute to the phylogenetic status of Ephemeroptera that has always been controversial. Nymphs were collected from Jinhua, China and exposed to different concentrations imidacloprid (5, 10, 20, and 40μg/L) in the laboratory. Survival of C. yixingensis nymphs decreased as a function of time and imidacloprid concentration with only~55% survival after 72h exposure to 40μg/L imidacloprid. After culture under 40μg/L imidacloprid for 24h, the steady state transcript levels of mitochondrial COX3, ND4 and ND4L genes were reduced to just 0.07±0.11, 0.30±0.16, and 0.28±0.13 as compared with respective control values (P<0.01). Steady state transcript levels of ND4 and ND4L were also significantly reduced in a dose-dependent manner (P<0.05), suggesting that the steady state transcript pattern of these genes in mayfly nymphs can change in response to different levels of environmental contamination. Hence, the mitochondrial protein-coding genes of mayflies could potentially be developed as biomarkers for water ecotoxicity monitoring in the future. In addition, we used the mitochondrial genome sequence of C. yixingensis for an assessment of the phylogenetic tree of Ephemeroptera. The monophyly of Leptophlebiidae was supported and showed that Leptophlebiidae was a sister group to the clade (Baetidae+Caenidae).

Carbon Footprint and Water Footprint of Cashmere Fabrics

Given the serious problems of climate change, water shortage and water pollution, researchers have paid increasing attention to the concepts of the carbon footprint and water footprint as useful indices to quantify and evaluate the environmental impacts of the textile industry. In this study, assessment of the carbon footprints and water footprints of ten kinds of cashmere fabrics was conducted based on the PAS 2050 specification, the Water Footprint Network approach and the ISO 14046 standard. The results showed that knitted cashmere fabrics had a greater carbon footprint than woven cashmere fabrics. Contrarily, woven cashmere fabrics had a greater water footprint than knitted cashmere fabrics. The blue water footprint, grey water footprint and water scarcity footprint of combed sliver dyed woven cashmere fabric were the largest among the ten kinds of cashmere fabrics. The main pollutants that caused the grey water footprints of cashmere fabrics were total phosphorus (TP), chlorine dioxide, hexavalent chromium (Cr (VI)) and sulfide. The leading contributors to the water eutrophication footprint were total nitrogen, ammonia nitrogen, chemical oxygen demand and TP. These typical pollutants contributed 39% ~ 48%, 23% ~ 28%, 12% ~ 24% and 12% ~ 14% to each cashmere product’s water eutrophication footprint, respectively. The leading contributors to the water ecotoxicity footprint were aniline, Cr (VI) and absorbable organic halogens discharged in the dyeing and finishing process.

Life cycle assessment and cost analysis of fly ash–rice husk ash blended alkali-activated concrete

The utilization of industrial and agricultural by-products for the production of alkali activated concrete (AAC) has the potential to yield significant benefits towards sustainability goals. To be a viable material, the construction industry requires a construction material that achieves the requisite strength and the other property requirements as specified in codes and standards while demonstrating improved sustainability criteria. Fly ash and Rice Husk Ash (RHA) are abundantly available waste products, principally located in Asian countries. Currently, a significant proportion of these materials are disposed of in landfills, lagoons and rivers but offer potential to utilize in AAC. Hence, the identification of variables associated with fly ash and fly ah-RHA blended AAC by utilizing fly ash and RHA is vital. This study quantifies the environmental and economic factors by assessing the Greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, environmental impacts and benefits, and cost analysis of utilizing fly ash and RHA in AAC compared to Portland Cement (PC) concrete. Alkaline activator is a key component responsible for the highest GHG emission, cost and environmental impact amounts obtained for fly ash geopolymer and blended alkali-activated concrete compared with PC concrete. Alkali activators contribute to 74% of the total GHG emission, while heat curing contributed only 9% to the total GHG emission. The addition of 10% RHA to alkali-activated concrete showed a slight benefit for the analysis. Utilization of waste fly ash and RHA is responsible for providing significant benefits in terms of fresh and marine water ecotoxicity by avoiding waste disposal at the dumpsites, rivers, and storage lagoons.

Water footprint assessment of viscose staple fiber garments

Abstract The viscose fiber industry forms a large part of the textile industry and is a typical water consumption and wastewater discharge industry. As a tool to quantify environmental impacts in terms of water resources, the water footprint assessment (WFA) is a control method for the textile and apparel industry to measure water consumption and wastewater discharge. In this study, the water footprints of viscose staple fiber blouses and blended men's suits were comprehensively evaluated based on the ISO 14046 standard and the life cycle assessment (LCA) polygon method. The WFA results from our study indicate that the production stage of viscose staple fiber garments has the most significant water resource environmental load. Specifically, the water footprint related to the production of viscose staple fiber for three types of clothing accounted for more than 50% of the total water footprint, with men's 100% viscose staple fiber suits having the largest impact on water resources and the environment. Furthermore, our results indicate that the water alkaline footprint is primarily influenced by the viscose staple fiber production as well as the dyeing and finishing processes. NaOH and Na2CO3 are the main pollutants that caused the water alkaline footprint. In addition, the water ecotoxicity footprint was the major driving factor of water resource environmental load. Zn2+ is the main pollutant that caused the water ecotoxicity footprint.

Life Cycle Assessment of Artificial Wetland Systems for Rural Wastewater Treatment

Decentralized wastewater treatment technology, especially natural ecological treatment technology has widely been used in rural regions. In this paper, a comprehensive life cycle assessment (LCA) of a typical wastewater ecological treatment technology - artificial wetland technology was conducted. SimaPro software was applied to simulate the wastewater treatment facility, and the CML2 baseline2000 impact evaluation method was selected to analyze the environmental loads and benefits during the life cycle. The environmental impact of the facility adopting grey-black separation mode is compared with that of the unified collection and treatment model to provide scientific basis and suggestions for the selection of wastewater collection and treatment model. The results indicated that the main environmental impact of the Southeast University artificial wetland system comes from the construction and operation of the artificial wetland and aeration tank. Marine water ecotoxicity is the main impact factor, followed by freshwater water ecotoxicity.

Implementation of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in environmental impact evaluation on production of ground coffee

This study aims to evaluate and identify potential environmental contaminants from the production process of ground coffee. The research was conducted at CV. XYZ in Bali province, Indonesia which processes dry coffee beans into ground coffee with the trademark “Kopi PQR”. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was used to identify and evaluate environmental impacts by applying the Environmental Design of Industrial Product (EDIP) method in the SimaPro 8.20 software. The Analytical Network Process (ANP) was then used to determine the priority of improvement recommendations. The results showed that the “Kopi PQR” production process had several environmental impacts, i.e. water acute eco toxicity, chronic water eco toxicity, and human toxicity soil. This impact resulted from the use of the use of plastic packaging which was difficult to decompose, and the accumulation of coffee powder waste. The recommendation for recycling coffee powder waste was chosen as an alternative for improvement in CV. XYZ.

WATER FOOTPRINT OF TEXTILE INDUSTRY: A CASE STUDY OF CHINA

The textile industry is one of the most water intensive and polluting industries. China is the world s largest producer of textile products. For the sustainable development of China s textile industry, the environmental impacts caused by its water consumption and wastewater discharge must be identified. In this paper, we analysed the water footprint of China s textile industry based on the water footprint framework proposed in the ISO 14046. The results showed that both water scarcity footprint and water eutrophication footprint increased from 1996 to 2015, despite the fluctuation periods. Water ecotoxicity footprint decreased during the selected researched years. Among the three sub-sectors of China s textile industry, the water footprints of the manufacture of textiles sector were larger than those of manufacture of textile wearing apparel, foot-ware, and caps sector and manufacture of chemical fibres sector. The water footprint intensity of China s textile industry has decreased through the efforts of government administrative control measures and producers actions on freshwater saving and wastewater treatment.