Water Pollution Emissions Research Articles

Morphology-Controlled Synthesis of H-type MFI Zeolites with Unique Stacked Structures through a One-Pot Solvent-Free Strategy.

H-type aluminosilicate zeolites are extensively used as solid-acid catalysts and support materials in industrial catalysis. However, the conventional synthesis methods involving hydrothermal syntheses and ion-exchange processes suffer from severe water pollution and toxic gas emissions. Herein, H-type MFI zeolite catalysts with a unique stacked structure were directly synthesized in the presence of NH4 F and with the help of zeolite confinement through a solvent-free route without further ion-exchange procedures. A range of ex situ and in situ characterization procedures were used to provide evidence of the simultaneous use of pre-made ZSM-5 and NH4 F as a confined Al source and mineralizer, respectively. The confined zeolite framework of ZSM-5 prevented the formation of AlFx species between NH4 F and Al atoms, ensuring that the prepared samples had desirable acidic properties. Moreover, the resulting morphology could be controlled by using different silica substrates. The obtained H-type MFI zeolites showed excellent catalytic performance in methanol-to-gasoline reactions owing to their unique structure and directly exposed acidic sites. The developed one-pot strategy provides an alternative method for the facile synthesis of H-type zeolites with defined morphology.

Evaluation of nitrate controlled release systems based on (acrylamide-co-itaconic acid) hydrogels

In order to mitigate the nitrate water pollution and nitrogenous gases emissions to the atmosphere, different types of highly swelling hydrogels based on acrylamide and itaconic acid have been prepared by using two different crosslinking agents: NMBA and EGDMA. Controlled release systems were evaluated by loading potassium nitrate into the hydrogels. The swelling and nitrate release kinetics were evaluated in Milli-Q water and saline medium, and various diffusion parameters were also calculated by applying the Ritger-Peppas equations, one of which modified by the authors for the diffusion process due to the innovative and non-described conical shape of the hydrogels used in this study. The hydrogels showed swelling and release characteristics highly dependent on their chemical composition and ionic strength of the medium, having the type of crosslinker the major impact on their behaviour, which can be related to the hydrophilic/hydrophobic characteristics of the crosslinkers. So, these hydrogels showed good potential applications for being used as soil conditioners and controlled release systems in agriculture.

In search of key: Protecting human health and the ecosystem from water pollution in China

Systematic and scientific assessment of the key factors that lead to health and ecosystem burdens caused by combined water pollutants at a macro level remains lacking. This study aims thereby to determine the relationships among wastewater effluents, emissions, health and ecosystem impacts, national disease incidence, and economic burdens. A bottom–up inventory analysis hybrid life cycle impact assessment approach was used in this work together with SimaPro 8.4 software to quantify the health and ecological impacts of water pollution in China at a macro level from environmental and economic perspectives. Direct water pollutant emissions and their potential impacts on China in the last decade were quantified, and the spatial wastewater effluents, key inventories, health and ecological impacts, and economic burden of wastewater effluents in 2015 were evaluated. Arsenic (174 t/y), cadmium (31.9 t/y), and chromium (240.8 t/y) were the key pollutants emitted from wastewater effluents in China in 2015. wThe industrial sector was the major contributor of harmful pollutants, which considerably exceeded national statistical data. An overall health damage of 1.01 × 105 disability adjusted life years, an ecological impact of 1.70 × 103 annual species loss, and an economic loss of $1.46 × 1012/y in China in 2015 were observed. The most serious environmental and economic impacts were observed in Hunan Province because of its resource endowment characteristics. The number of estimated cancer cases was strongly correlated with the reported epidemiological cancer incidence of pancreas, brain, leukemia, and thyroid cancers in both men and women as well as colon, uterine corpus, and bladder cancers in women. Effective measures of reducing the overall environmental and economic impacts of wastewater effluents included improving the control system of heavy metals, such as chromium, cadmium, and arsenic, in ferrous metal, chemical, metal, non-ferrous metal, and leather sectors; optimizing the export structure; scientifically screening the key monitoring indicators; and building a corresponding database.

Decentralization of the non-capital functions of Beijing: Industrial relocation and its environmental effects

Relocating Beijing's manufacturing industry, a key measure in the strategy for decentralizing Beijing's non-capital functions, may inadvertently increase environmental pressures in the receiving cities. This study develops a quantitative method to comprehensively identify the environmental effects caused by regional industrial relocations. First, a set of relocated industries is selected by considering the relevant policy motivations and sector-specific economic and environmental performance. Second, a discrete choice model is developed to simulate the relocating process, taking economic geographic factors as well as local environmental quality and regulation into account. Third, the Monte Carlo method is used to quantify the potential effects by considering the sectoral efficiencies of resource use and pollutant emissions. Three scenarios are developed for different priorities of economic growth and environmental regulation. The results show that the decentralization strategy is likely to reduce Beijing's industrial output value by between 68 and 176 billion RMB yuan, or 3.9%–10.1% of its annual total. Meanwhile, the decrease in Beijing's industrial water and energy consumption could range from 2.7% to 7.8% and from 6.4% to 8.1%, respectively, while the decrease in industrial emissions from various pollutants could range from 6.7% to 36%. The industrial output from the receiving cities in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) region could increase in the range of 0.3%–17% in the scenarios, larger than their change rate of water and energy consumption (0.1%–3.5%) and pollutant emissions (0.1%–7.3%). Environmental pressures may intensify in Tianjin, Langfang, and Shijiazhuang as they are estimated to be the targets for 65% of all relocated industries. Overall, the results imply that the decentralization strategy is a promising approach for promoting regional sustainable development. The study recommends implementing stricter environmental regulations in the receiving cities.

Water resources and water pollution emissions in China's industrial sector: A green-biased technological progress analysis

Prior to the 21st century, China's industrialisation was mainly driven by investment; by contrast, it now relies on innovation-driven and environmentally friendly technology to achieve sustained and healthy growth. Spanning China's 11th-13th Five-Year Plans (2006–2020), chemical oxygen demand and ammonia nitrogen emissions have been the key pollutants that require monitoring for waste water pollution management. To fit well into one of the focus areas under China's government policy direction, the main objectives of this study are to measure input- and output-based technological progress and their determinants for 30 provinces and regions in China from 1999 to 2015. A green-biased technological progress model based on the directional distance function is adopted in this study. The results reveal that sustainable growth in total factor productivity was primarily due to green-biased technological progress. Most provinces and regions in China overused water resources for industrial production, as demonstrated by the high water consumption over the study period, while output-biased technological progress exacerbated the discharge of water pollutants before the implementation of China's 11th Five-Year Plan (2006–2010). Technological progress in the eastern region was more likely to promote industrial growth, while progress in the central and western regions was likely to promote increased pollutant emissions. Furthermore, industrial research and development investment, governance of waste water treatment investment, the educational level of the labour force, and water prices contributed significantly to biased technological progress in China over the study period. Overall, this study has important policy implications and can provide guidance for emissions reductions to promote cleaner production and optimise resource allocation in China's industrial sector.

Economic Growth Quality, Environmental Sustainability, and Social Welfare in China - Provincial Assessment Based on Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI)

In order to devise scientific and sustainable development strategy, it is vital to assess the quality of economic growth. As a useful complement to traditional economic indicators, GPI's most reputed virtue is its great improvement in evaluating environmental and social costs. In this paper we estimate the GPI for all 31 provinces in mainland China from 1997 to 2016. GPI estimation is highly sensitive to income inequality, climate change damage, and depletion of non-renewables. We address contestable methodological assumptions associated with the three items which have been usually ignored in empirical studies. We use the Atkinson index in place of the Gini index as a measure of income inequality. We avoid the problematic duplicated counting of climate change damage and the unjustified cost escalation factor in depletion of non-renewables. Our results show that: first, GPI per capita has recently declined in some provinces, unveiling a threat to social welfare and sustainability; second, the “relative threshold effect”—the progress of social welfare promotion is slower than the expansion of economic scale—has been found in many provinces; third, resource consumption and environmental pollution, especially water pollution and carbon emissions, would generate substantial welfare losses.

The research on present situation and formulation of water pollutant discharge standards of river basins in China

In this paper, the water pollutant discharge standards of river basins in China are comprehensively combed, and the development and present situation of watershed water pollutant discharge standards are introduced. Based on the above, the composition and the controlled pollutants of watershed water pollutant emission standard system and the methods of setting discharge limits of pollutants are summarized. Finally, focused on the problem of the definition of watershed discharge standard, controlled pollutants and the means of determining the discharge limits, the paper puts forward some suggestions for formulating and revising the watershed water pollutant discharge standard system.

Are Firms with Female CEOs More Environmentally Friendly?

In this paper, we document a previously unknown benefit of women’s role in firm management: the enhancement of environmental protection. Through a panel data analysis, we find that firms with female CEOs produce less air and water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, and receive fewer environmental penalties, compared to firms with male CEOs. Our difference-in-differences analysis shows that firms also reduce air and water toxic releases, greenhouse gas emissions, and receive fewer environmental penalties after experiencing a male-to-female CEO transition. Moreover, firms demonstrate higher awareness of environmental protection, reflected in their 10-K filings, when being led by female CEOs.

Driving Forces of Industrial Water Pollutant Emission from Spatial-Dynamic Perspective in China: Analysis Based on Kaya Equation and LMDI Decomposition

The identification of the driving forces of industrial water pollutant emissions in China is conducive to its effective abatement. It also promotes the coordinated development of China’s economic growth and the environment protection. Utilizing the Kaya equation and China’s provincial panel data from 1999 to 2015, this paper investigates the spatial-dynamic driving forces governing industrial water pollutant emission. We decompose and quantify the heterogeneous effects of different drivers, that is, technology, energy consumption, and economic size distribution. Applying the LMDI decomposition method, this paper also calculates the contribution of the three drivers to the abatement of industrial water pollutant emissions. The analysis indicates that the most important contribution to pollutant abatement is the development of technology, followed by energy consumption, and the least affected is the distribution of economic scale. In the future, the Chinese government should pay more attention to the impact of energy consumption on pollution abatement. This paper suggests that the Chinese government should improve the clean use of fossil fuel, optimize the energy consumption structure, and develop the use of more clean energy.

Impact of economic agglomeration on regional water pollutant emissions and its spillover effects

Impact of economic agglomeration on regional water pollutant emissions and its spillover effects

Evolution of Chinese urban household's water footprint

In addition to quantity-induced water scarcity, China at present faces quality-induced water scarcity under the background of rapid urbanization and industrialization. Urban household consumption has significantly contributed to water consumption and pollutant emission. In this study, we use water footprint (WF), which includes water quantity and water quality (represented by blue WF and grey WF, respectively) to calculate the impact of urban household consumption on water resources. Multiple data sources, including the Water Resources Bulletin, China Environmental Statistical Yearbook, China Statistics Yearbook, and First Pollution Sources Census, among others, are considered. The results indicate that the per capita WF of urban household consumption has decreased from 1992 to 2012 in China mainly because of technological innovations. Food consumption contributes the most to the total WF of Chinese urban households. In terms of different income groups, a higher income likely leads to a larger WF. However, reducing the WF intensity may be insufficient for curbing the future increase in WFs. Food-related WF has already shown an increase since 2007 mainly because of the diet transition to animal-based food with larger WF. Thus, apart from technological innovations, measures need to be adopted to curb the consumption of goods with relatively larger WF and subsequently decrease the WF of Chinese urban households.

Ovarian Cancer Incidence in the U.S. and Toxic Emissions from Pulp and Paper Plants: A Geospatial Analysis.

Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of female cancer mortality in the U.S. and accounts for five percent of all cancer deaths among women. No environmental risk factors for ovarian cancer have been confirmed. We previously reported that ovarian cancer incidence rates at the state level were significantly correlated with the extent of pulp and paper manufacturing. We evaluated that association using county-level data and advanced geospatial methods. Specifically, we investigated the relationship of spatial patterns of ovarian cancer incidence rates with toxic emissions from pulp and paper facilities using data from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). Geospatial analysis identified clusters of counties with high ovarian cancer incidence rates in south-central Iowa, Wisconsin, New York, Pennsylvania, Alabama, and Georgia. A bivariate local indicator of spatial autocorrelation (LISA) analysis confirmed that counties with high ovarian cancer rates were associated with counties with large numbers of pulp and paper mills. Regression analysis of state level data indicated a positive correlation between ovarian cancer and water pollutant emissions. A similar relationship was identified from the analysis of county-level data. These data support a possible role of water-borne pollutants from pulp and paper mills in the etiology of ovarian cancer.

Modeling the carbon-energy-water nexus in a rapidly urbanizing catchment: A general equilibrium assessment

Energy and water systems are interdependent and have complex dynamic interactions with the socio-economic system and climate change. Few tools exist to aid decision-making regarding the management of water and energy resources at a watershed level. In this study, a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model and System Dynamics and Water Environmental Model (SyDWEM) were integrated (CGE-SyDWEM) to predict future energy use, CO2 emissions, economic growth, water resource stress, and water quality change in a rapidly urbanizing catchment in China. The effects of both the CO2 mitigation strategies and water engineering measures were evaluated. CO2 mitigation strategies have the potential to reduce 46% CO2 emissions and 41% energy use in 2025 compared with reference scenario. CO2 mitigation strategies are also found to be effective in promoting industrial structure adjustment by decreasing the output of energy- and water-intensive industries. Accordingly, it can alleviate local water stress and improve water environment, including a 4.1% reduction in both domestic water use and pollutant emissions, a 16.8% water demand reduction in the labor-intensive industry sector, and 4.2% and 4.4% decrease in BOD5 and NH3-N loads in all industrial sectors, respectively. It is necessary to implement water engineering measures to further alleviate water resource stress and improve water quality. This study improves the understanding of the feedbacks of CO2 abatement on water demand, pollutant discharges, and water quality improvement. The integrated model developed in this study can be used to aid energy, carbon, and water policy makers to understand the complicated synergistic effects of proposed CO2 mitigation strategies on water demand and pollution emissions, and to design more effective policies and measures to ensure energy and water security in the future.

Optimal water resource management for sustainable development of the chemical industrial park under multi-uncertainty and multi-pollutant control.

Two major concerns over the chemical industrial park (CIP) operations are high consumption of water resources and large amount of pollutant emissions. This study develops an interval chance-constrained programming model for industrial water resources management (ICCP-IWM) with consideration of multi-uncertainty and multi-environmental constraints. Uncertainties expressed as intervals and probability distributions are merged in the ICCP-IWM framework. The developed model is used to solve a real-world water resource management problem in the Shenyang Chemical Industrial Park to demonstrate its capacity and effectiveness, where the objective is to minimize the system cost of water pathways and pollutant-emission control under a series of constraints. Interval solutions with respect to water resources allocation, wastewater management, and pollutant emissions could be generated. Results indicate that a lower violation risk leads to an increased strictness of the constraints, then to a higher system cost; conversely, a higher violation risk results in a lower system cost, at the expense of an increase in the risk. These findings would be recommended by the decision-makers because of their applicability for practical decision process providing the optimal strategy for sustainable water resource management under multiple uncertainties.

Manipulation schemes and applications of liquid marbles for micro total analysis systems

Micro total analysis systems (microTAS) provide the opportunity to create complete analytical microsystems by integrating various functional modules, such as sample preparation, separation and detection, into a single chip-sized microfabricated device. Microfluidics is the enabling technology for implementing the concept of microTAS. Liquid marble (LM), as a promising separate digital microfluidic platform, has the great potential to enhance the broad applications of microTAS. LMs are small liquid droplets encapsulated by multilayered hydrophobic particles and have attracted a great interest from the microfluidics research community due to their non-wetting property. A LM maintains its integrity and exhibits low friction on various carrier surfaces, enabling the LM to be actuated by external electric, magnetic, gravitational and acoustic fields or other manipulation schemes. LMs can thus serve effectively for the storage and transportation of small liquid volumes. In addition, they have been widely used for the quick detection of water pollution or gas emission and, most importantly, micromixing and microreactions for chemical and biomedical purposes. This paper reviews the recent developments in the manipulation techniques and emerging applications of LMs. The review aims to facilitate better understanding of their use as a unique digital microfluidic platform to promote further advancement of microTAS. The paper begins with different manipulation schemes of LMs according to the nature of actuation energy. Next, it summarizes the diverse applications of LMs for various chemical and biological assays. Finally, this paper concludes with future perspectives regarding the research on LMs in microTAS technologies.

Controlling GHG emission from industrial waste perusal of production inventory model with fuzzy pollution parameters

ABSTRACTThis paper investigates an imperfect production–reproduction inventory model for two types of quality items (item-I and item-II) produced in two different plants (plant-I and plant-II) in the same premises under a single management system over a known-finite time horizon with consideration of environment pollution control through industrial waste management. Both the production plant-I and plant-II produce a mixture of perfect and defective units. Some of the defective units are reworkable, and non-reworkable defective units are continuously transferred to the raw material processing unit. Used units are collected from the customers and deposited in the raw material processing unit as raw materials for plant-II. Treatment of industrial waste from both the plants and raw material processing unit is considered to protect the environment from water pollution and Green House Gas (GHG) emission as industrial waste has become a serious environmental issue. Two conflicting objectives are integrally considered of which one is the maximisation of the total profit out of two plants and other is the minimisation of GHG emission from industrial waste over the finite time horizon.

Recent progress in selected bio-nanomaterials and their engineering applications: An overview

Nowadays, the rapid climate change, water pollution and harmful gas emissions are largely caused by the extensive use of petrochemicals and the burning of plastic materials. The government authorities across the globe and experts mentioned that the dumping of plastic waste and non-biodegradable materials is a principal problem of the environmental pollution. In their numerous chemical forms, cellulose and various other biodegradable materials can be possible alternatives to resolve these challenging issues. This review article is an effort to combine the recent developments, concerns and prospective applications of environmentally friendly nano- with micro-structured polymeric materials such as chitin, starch, polycaprolactone and nanocellulose. Nanocellulose has been considered as one of the most important biopolymers having significant advancements in research and their application in the various fields. Herein, cellulose-based materials for engineering and interdisciplinary applications, comprising approaches for the transformation of cellulose to nanocellulose, and the fabrication method for their blends and composites have been reviewed. Moreover, the structural-functional relationship, the thermo-mechanical properties of starch, poly (Lactic) acid, polycaprolactone, lignin and some of their composite and potential applications of these materials in various fields of engineering have been elaborated.

Producing Compliant Polluters: Seed Companies and Nitrogen Fertilizer Application in U.S. Corn Agriculture

AbstractThe majority of research to date has attributed the pollution problems associated with agriculture to the independent decisions of individual farmers; in this article, we illustrate how seed companies' subtle forms of coercion encourage farmers to become compliant polluters. We focus on corn farmers in the midwestern United States, whose management decisions have become increasingly controlled by seed companies. Beyond obvious forms of control, seed companies influence farmers in ways that are less apparent. Drawing from Foucault's concept of disciplinary power, we explore how seed companies have encouraged farmers to increase their application of nitrogen fertilizer through disciplinary mechanisms that naturalize the imposition of constraints. We argue that seed companies employ disciplinary techniques related to the biology of the seed, the product life cycle, and knowledge. While most farmers believe their fertilizer decisions are made independently, these disciplinary techniques compel farmers to increase nitrogen fertilizer application, resulting in increased water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

Processing Technology Selection for Municipal Sewage Treatment Based on a Multi-Objective Decision Model under Uncertainty.

This study considers the two factors of environmental protection and economic benefits to address municipal sewage treatment. Based on considerations regarding the sewage treatment plant construction site, processing technology, capital investment, operation costs, water pollutant emissions, water quality and other indicators, we establish a general multi-objective decision model for optimizing municipal sewage treatment plant construction. Using the construction of a sewage treatment plant in a suburb of Chengdu as an example, this paper tests the general model of multi-objective decision-making for the sewage treatment plant construction by implementing a genetic algorithm. The results show the applicability and effectiveness of the multi-objective decision model for the sewage treatment plant. This paper provides decision and technical support for the optimization of municipal sewage treatment.

Environmental Tax, Polluting Plants’ Strategies and Effectiveness: Evidence from China

AbstractAlthough environmental taxes have become a popular policy tool, their effectiveness for pollution control and impact on the compliance strategies of agents remains questionable. This research uses a quasi‐experimental design to examine the effectiveness of the Pay for Permit policy, an environmental tax that has been imposed on water pollution emissions in Lake Tai Basin, Jiangsu, China, since 2009. A plant‐level panel dataset from 2007 to 2010 is used for both difference‐in‐differences and difference‐in‐difference‐in‐differences analyses to compare the pollution discharge, pollution abatement, and pollution generation of policy participants and control groups. The results indicate that treated plants reduce their emissions by about 40 percent after two years of the policy implementation. Thus, the policy generated approximately a 7 percent decrease in the industrial chemical oxygen demand emission in the entire Lake Tai Basin based on the emission level of 2007. Pollution is primarily reduced via end‐of‐pipe abatement instead of cleaner production. Our results show the effectiveness of environmental taxes in controlling industrial pollution, and indicate that the tax may not motivate the adoption of innovative techniques in the short term.