Water Technology Development Research Articles

Chitosan-based modalities with multifunctional attributes for adsorptive mitigation of hazardous metal contaminants from wastewater

The increase in population and industrialization has intensified water scarcity and stress, and contaminated water bodies. Therefore, the development of advanced water and wastewater treatment technologies has gained global attention from researchers. Adsorption, using natural materials (nano, polymer, and bio) is one of the most cost-effective, less challenging, and well-known technologies for wastewater treatment and improving water quality. Among them, chitosan (CS) has demonstrated a set of unique features, such as biodegradability, eco-friendliness, availability, low cost, and biocompatibility. Hence, this review provides an overview of some recent advancements in the removal of heavy metals, including As (III) and (V), Cd (II), Cu (II), Cr (VI), and Pb (II) by CS-based adsorbents, and their potential effects on human health. It also covers the synthesis of CS-based adsorbents for the elimination of mentioned contaminants in recently reported studies. In addition, this study recommends encountering potential drawbacks by enhancing the adsorption capacity by incorporating functional groups, nanoparticles, and other materials. These modifications may help increase selectivity for specific metal contaminants and synthesize adsorbents that can perform better over a wide range of pH. Insights gained from this study will guide researchers in the future toward optimal water treatment and pollutant elimination strategies.

Chorematic modeling to represent dynamics in the quinoa agroecosystems in Peru.

Our research occurred in the Andean region, one of the eight global centers of domestication of plant species grown for agriculture. The shores of Lake Titicaca (located between Peru and Bolivia), at 3800 meters above sea level, are recognized as the center of origin of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.). In this region, complex societies have emerged, thanks to the development of water and soil management technologies. They have managed to overcome high mountain territories' extreme and variable climatic conditions. These societies have traditionally protected and preserved quinoa as food for present and future generations through their long-standing knowledge and cultivation practices. The fieldwork occurred in the context of Andean family farming, and our study analyzes nature-society dynamics with a chorematic approach and interviews with local communities. The interest of this work is the transformation of the landscape at the scale of the mountain agroecosystem to understand better the impacts of rural development policies. Chorematic modeling was applied to two periods, before and after 1970, a pivotal year in Peru for agriculture, to show how socio-spatial dynamics in the Andean environment are changing, particularly concerning the evolution of quinoa cultivation. The results show that wild quinoa relatives' distribution is strongly linked to the socio-spatial organization of the agroecosystem. Different species of wild quinoa relatives are maintained by villagers for their multiple foods, medicinal and cultural uses in natural areas, grazed areas, on edge, and also within cultivated fields. However, this management is changing under the pressure of global issues related to the international quinoa market, whose requirements imply reducing the presence of wild relatives in cultivated fields.

Regulation of electrocatalytic properties of high entropy alloy electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reactions

With the rapid increase of demand for green hydrogen, the development of electrolytic water technology has been widely concerned. The efficient oxygen evolution catalyst provides the feasibility of hydrogen production...

Geographical trends for automatic milking systems research in non-pasture-based dairy farms: A scoping review

Automatic milking system (AMS) adoption in the United States is trending upward, with issues such as lower availability and increased cost of labor being factors frequently listed as motives for AMS implementation. In addition, more interest in precision dairy farming by the new generation of farmers may also help increase AMS adoption. The objective of this scoping review was to characterize the nature of the literature investigating non-pasture-based AMS and the opportunities and challenges for future research. The eligibility criteria included studies published in or after the year 2000, with full text in English, of at least 500 words, examining various outcomes related to AMS in non-pasture-based dairy farms. Six electronic databases were searched: Biosis (Web of Science), CAB Abstracts (CAB Direct), Medline (PubMed), PubAg, AGRIS (FAO), and Scopus (Elsevier). The review focused on studies with objectives, characteristics, farms, and AMS information. A total of 4,292 titles and abstracts were screened, and 536 studies were finally included. Most of the studies were conducted in Europe (73.5%), among commercial herds (67.9%), comprising Holstein cows (57.7%), using Lely and DeLaval brands (45.4% vs. 39.7%), with free-flow traffic (52.7%). The main research topics investigated were milk production, milk composition, and AMS efficiency, followed by behavior and welfare, health disorders (especially mastitis), and nutrition in Europe and other regions. At the same time, in the United States, trends were similar, except for nutrition. Since 2016 there has been an increased interest in studies on energy and water consumption, technological development, environment (enteric emissions), reproduction, genetics, and longevity or culling. However, the small number of studies and unclear characterization of what is optimum for reproductive management, other health disorders, economics, and water and energy consumption suggest a need for future research.

Exploring the spatial structure and impact factors of water use efficiency in China

Improving water use efficiency is an essential strategy in the response to the global water crisis. The assessment of water use efficiency serves as the foundation for improving water use efficiency and water governance. Based on the mixed methods including Super-SBM model, GML index, spatial analysis, and Tobit model, this study assesses the water use efficiency from the scales of regional and provinces in China from 2011 to 2020, explores the evolution characteristics and spatial pattern of water use efficiency, and identifies the impact factors of water use efficiency. The results indicate that regional water use efficiency in China varies significantly by space, the highest in the eastern region with an average value of 0.8052, and the lowest in the central region with an average value of 0.5709. From 2011 to 2020, the average water use efficiency in China is 0.7042, which is in a low efficiency state, and roughly two thirds of the country's provinces use water inefficiently or ineffectively. In addition, regional differences of water use efficiency in China have a tendency of divergence and polarization. The technological progress change is the major factor for promoting water use efficiency. Economic development, water endowment, water use structure, scientific and technological development, and urban development have significant effects on water use efficiency in different regions respectively, while industrial structure and water governance have insignificant effects. This study supports researchers and practitioners in comprehending the characteristics and spatial patterns of water use in China, and also enriches the research system of water governance and integrated water resources management.

Graphene Nanopores Enhance Water Evaporation from Salt Solutions: Exploring the Effects of Ions and Concentration.

With increased water stress, the development of clean water technologies is an active area of research. Evaporation-based solutions offer the advantage of low energy consumption, and recently a 10-30 fold enhancement in water evaporation flux has been observed through Å-scale graphene nanopores (Lee, W.-C., et al., ACS Nano 2022, 16(9), 15382). Herein, using molecular dynamics simulations, we examine the suitability of Å-scale graphene nanopores in enhancing water evaporation from salt solutions (LiCl, NaCl, and KCl). Cation-π interactions between ions and the surface of nanoporous graphene are found to significantly influence ion populations in the nanopore vicinity, leading to varied water evaporation fluxes from different salt solutions. The highest water evaporation flux was observed for KCl solutions, followed by NaCl and LiCl solutions, with the differences reducing at lower concentrations. Relative to the bare liquid-vapor interface, 4.54 Å nanopores exhibit the highest evaporation flux enhancements ranging from 7 to 11, with an enhancement of 10.8 obtained for 0.6 M NaCl solution, which closely resembles seawater compositions. Functionalized nanopores induce short-lived water-water hydrogen bonds and reduce surface tension at the liquid-vapor interface, thereby lowering the free energy barrier for water evaporation with a negligible effect on the ion hydration dynamics. These findings can aid in developing green technologies for desalination and separation processes with low thermal energy input.

Effect of Plasma Activated Water on the Degradation of Bifenazate and Spirodiclofen Residues on Cuimi kumquat and Impact on Its Quality

With the development of plasma-activated water (PAW) technology, its applications in the fields of food, agriculture, and biomedicine are becoming increasingly widespread. PAW has sterilization, pesticide residue reduction, anti-cancer, and blood clotting functions. Traditional methods for pesticide degradation include home processing, baking and freeze-drying, and UV treatment; however, they generally suffer from poor degradation efficiency and adverse effects on fruit quality. This study found that PAW treatment is a green and efficient environmental technology with the advantages of simple operation, good treatment effect, and no secondary pollution. This paper investigated the efficiency of PAW on the reduction of two acaricides, namely, bifenazate and spirodiclofen, and the effect of PAW treatment on the quality of Cuimi kumquat. The results showed that after PAW treatment, the residual amounts of bifenazate and spirodiclofen were reduced to a minimum of 1.19 mg·kg−1 and 0.23 mg·kg−1, with a reduction of 74.35% and 59.37% respectively compared to the control. Moreover, PAW treatment did not have any negative effects on the storage quality of Cuimi kumquat.

Understanding power, social capital and trust alongside near real-time water quality monitoring and technological development collaboration

We report on qualitative social research conducted with stakeholders in a local agricultural knowledge and advice network associated with a collaborative water quality monitoring project. These farmers, advisors and researchers allude to existing social dynamics, technological developments, and (more general) social evolution which is analysed against a novel analytical framework. This framework considers notions of power, social capital, and trust as related and dynamic, forming the basis of our contribution to knowledge. We then probe the data to understand perceived impacts of the collaborative project and social interaction associated with this research project, which involved cutting edge automated and frequent water quality monitoring that allowed for near real-time access to data visualisation displayed via a bespoke mobile or web ‘app’ (1622WQ). Our findings indicate that a multi-faceted approach to assessing and intervening based on consideration of multiple social dimensions holds promise in terms of creating conditions that allow for individual and group learning to encourage changes in thinking required to result in improved land management practice.

Research on reverse order impoundment mode of cascade reservoir flood control system: Case study on upper reaches of Yangtze River

Flood control in the Yangtze River Basin has always been a thorny issue in Chinese history. Along with the development of water science and technology, a large number of reservoirs have been constructed in the Yangtze River Basin, especially the progress of the reservoir operation theory, the joint flood control simulation and decision-making of reservoir groups has been applied extensively, which proved an effective way to reduce the flood risks and losses in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River Basin. However, an increase in the constraints of the reservoir operation (or a single reservoir becoming a multiple-reservoir system) results in an exponential increase in the computational dimensions of the joint flood control simulation, often referred to as the 'curse of dimensionality'. Therefore, based on the aggregation-decomposition (AGDP) method, this paper proposes a cascaded reservoir group integrated operation mode, namely, the 'reverse order impoundment method of cascade reservoir' (ROIMCR) mode, and adopts the improved artificial bee colony (IABC) algorithm to solve the optimization problem of the ROIMCR mode (IABC-ROIMCR) and establish an optimal operation model for cascade reservoir joint flood control. The results show that: 1. With the 'conventional operation' (CO) mode, the ROIMCR mode has more advantages, the average peak flow reduction rate with 32.89% is higher than that of the CO mode 2.91%. 2. In solving the flood optimization operation problem of the cascade reservoir system, the application of the IABC algorithm can effectively reduce the dimensions in the mathematical mode, and has evident effects. The average peak flow reduction rate in the IABC-ROIMCR mode is 44.87%, and 14.89% higher than those of the CO mode. 3. With the IABC-ROIMCR mode, the flood crest standard of cascade reservoirs can be reduced from a 100-year return period to less than a 5-year period, and the flood crest standard of the Lizhuang Hydrological Station from more than a 50-year return period to less than 5-year period. The flood crest standard of the Zhutuo Hydrological Station can be reduced from a 100-year return period to approximately a 5-year period, thereby greatly improving the flood control standard in the upper and middle reaches of the Yangtze River Basin. In addition, the peak inflow to the Three Gorges Reservoir is reduced, and as a result, the flood control pressure in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River Basin is alleviated to a certain extent.

YMoO42- modified amorphous Co(PO3)2 cubes as an efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst for alkaline overall water splitting

The exploration of efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) under alkaline conditions is an importantway to promote the development of electrolytic water technology. Herein, the reduced graphene oxide-supported MoO42- modified amorphous cobalt metaphosphate cubes (a-Co(PO3)2/MoO4/rGO) as bifunctional OER/HER catalyst is prepared by anion exchange and phosphating, using the Prussian blue analogue (PBA) as a precursor. The resulting composite exhibits the low overpotentials (η) that of 290 and 50 mV for OER and HER in 1.0 M KOH solution at 10 mA cm−2, respectively. The electrochemical test and density functional theory (DFT) results reveal that the MoO42--modified optimizes the adsorption/desorption energy of H* of Co(PO3)2, thus enhance the HER activity. Benefiting from efficient HER and OER performances, an efficient and stable alkaline water electrolysis operation using a-Co(PO3)2/MoO4/rGO used as bifunctional catalyst can be carried out, which can deliver a current density (j) of 20 mA cm−2 at 1.65 V cell voltage and work continuously for 24 h.

Determinants Influencing the Adoption of Rice Intensification System among Smallholders in Mwea Irrigation Scheme, Kenya

Rice farming has received considerable attention in developing countries and particularly in Kenya due to its impact on smallholders’ income and food security. Irrigated rice is the largest consumer of water, and its sustainability is threatened by water shortage. This has necessitated the development of alternative irrigation water technologies, such as the system of rice intensification (SRI), which are efficient in water use with improved yields. This study analyzed the determinants of adoption of SRI in the Mwea Irrigation Scheme where stratified sampling was used to obtain 364 smallholder rice farmers. A semistructured questionnaire was used to collect primary data, which was then analyzed using a binary logistic regression model. The results showed that age (−0.3%) was significant but with a negative effect on adoption of SRI. Farm size (2.499%), household size (1.895%), distance from the canal (1.354%), off-farm work (3.953%), access to credit services (8.714%), access to extension services (7.809%), and years in rice farming (0.409%) were found positively and significantly influencing factors to the adoption of SRI. Therefore, this study concludes that smallholders attempt to improve rice productivity through adoption of SRI should give a special priority to all significant factors.

Future scenarios for the development of the desalination industry in contexts of water scarcity: A Brazilian case study

Despite its abundant water resources, Brazil faces water distribution problems, since the population is concentrated mainly in areas with less water availability. This fact combined with the impacts of climate change has intensified problems related to the country's water crisis in recent years. Desalination has emerged as a promising technology to meet freshwater demands. However, the desalination in Brazil is still incipient, with its expansion being linked to technical, economic, and political issues. The desalted water price, technological development, tax incentives, and other variables affect the growth of this sector. In this study, the scenario planning method is used to model these uncertainties and to formulate alternative scenarios for the development of desalination in Brazil by 2050. The study shows four possible futures for the Brazilian desalination industry: the weakening of the sector due mainly to the high costs of desalted water production (Scenario 3), the full development of the industry with desalination plants in the main cities, meeting the water demand of the population (Scenario 4), the moderate growth of this industry that will serve the population in drought periods (Scenario 2), and, Scenario 1 which describes a continuation of current trends, with desalination units only in remote regions.

Using a process-based model to understand dynamics of Chinese agricultural andwater technology development from 8000 BC to 1911 AD.

Advancements in technology are inextricably bound to our society and the natural environment. However, how the development process of a technology system interacts with both remains unclear. We propose a process model to understand the complex dynamics among technology, society, and the environment via seven interactive elements: technologies, actors, receiving bodies, natural contexts, social contexts, temporal-spatial contexts, and outcomes. The model was applied to agricultural and water technology development in China from 8000 BC to 1911 AD. Our findings show that these elements did not play equally important roles in different periods of the development in ancient China, with social contexts most dominating during the earlier periods and both social and environmental concerns arising towards the later periods. The proposed model, by identifying the elements in the technology development that should be strengthened, can act as an analysis device to assist in reconfiguring a more sustainable socio-technological system.

Integrated design and construction approach to hydrotechnical structures in Eritrea

During the process of design and construction of water management facilities and structures, such as reservoirs, dams, spillways, water intakes, etc., it is important to pay attention to the specific conditions of a particular country. Since the rapprochement among Eritrea, Ethiopia and Djibouti in 2018, the geopolitical dynamics of the region has changed to a different level. These regional changes will significantly contribute to the development of extractive and processing industries, agriculture, trade, construction and tourism in Eritrea. However, all these developments unquestionably require sustainable and efficient water use, intensive development of water management and water technologies, among others. Based on the specific conditions of Eritrea, identification of existing main trends in the design and construction of water management facilities and structures followed by formulation of practical recommendations and future directions has been the focus of this study. Reliable and relevant information has been processed and analysed using general scientific research methods, including generalization and analysis, synthesis and analogy, historical and hypothetical methods of cognition. This paper comprehended that the design, construction and operation of water management structures should consider the predominantly hot climatic condition of the country, while observing the main development trends in the field. These activities help in ensuring reliable and trouble-free operation of hydraulic structures, using modern and progressive achievements of hydraulic engineering science and global practice in the field of dam engineering and construction of culverts taking into account environmental requirements and norms, and using modern high-performance mechanisms and methods of production of hydraulic works. Moreover, the hydrological and water management conditions of Eritrea are characterized by limited water resources, poor knowledge of water bodies, and lack of reliable hydrological, meteorological and geological information. Under these circumstances, it would be necessary to use mathematical modelling for understanding and forecasting hydrological processes in river basins.

The development of ancient Chinese agricultural and water technology from 8000 BC to 1911 AD

Technology developments have made significant impacts on both humans and the environment in which they live. However, there is limited whole-of-system understanding of ancient technology development. This paper aims to uncover the evolutionary pattern of the ancient Chinese agricultural technology system that focused on land and water mobilisations from 8000 BC to 1911 AD. Our findings show that agricultural technology in China transitioned through an extremely slow, S-shaped pathway, increasing only ten fold in over 8000 years. The technology system was initially driven by tangible tools (40% of growth), then by technological theories and practices that contributed more than 50% of growth. Its development was spatially inclined to the Yellow River then to the Yangtze River region, where over 45% of technologies were developed. This study provides an empirical baseline for comparative studies between pre-industrial and industrial technologies. Greater understanding of the mechanisms of technology development will be required to reorientate technology development for present and future generations.

National innovative capacity in the water sector: A comparison between China and Europe

The water sector needs to increase its resource efficiency; failure to do so may have negative effects on economic development and growth. Achieving a higher level of innovative capacity within the water sector may govern a country's capacity to meet specific water challenges while becoming still more important for ensuring sustainable economic development. Traditional water technologies are reaching their stagnation point; in a transition to more sustainable technologies, eco-innovation is the core driver. Based on the national innovative capacity (NIC) as an analytical framework, - indicators that govern the innovative capacity of the water sector were tested in a comparative analysis of Europe versus China, representing respectively, an early mover and a late mover in the green economy agenda. Additionally, an analysis of the evolution of the water technological development is provided. The innovative capacity in the water sector was found to be strongly related to the national innovative strategy. Environmental regulations, research and development and international collaboration were all found to be determinants for both Europe's and China's NIC in the water sector. The level of direct investments and private research and development, on the other hand, were found to be a determinant for China only. However, the evolution of the NIC determinants could not provide any insight as to whether China may reach the same level of NIC in the water sector as Europe. This analysis contributes nonetheless to increasing the level of understanding in the field of water innovation dynamics - providing insights - as to why Europe and China present different innovative capacities in the water sector.

Development and Application of a Model to Study Water Technology Adoption.

This paper develops a set of criteria that can be used to study industry adoption and dissemination of water technologies through various stages of a market adoption model. It tests the applicability of these criteria on a diverse array of over 488 water technologies. Based on case studies, it seeks to define the typical and reasonable time frames in which a water technology moves through these defined stages of industry adoption and dissemination. The development of these criteria, and the definition of reasonable industry average timelines to move through these stages, is an important contribution to the understanding of the process of water technology development. The criteria and defined timelines described in this paper are foundational, and will be used as the basis for subsequent research and analysis to examine the success rates for different water technologies, and common factors linked to why some technologies succeed and others fail.

Hydrothermal assisted magnetic nano-hydroxyapatite encapsulated alginate beads for efficient Cr(VI) uptake from water

The biopolymer, alginate can be made into various usable forms like beads, membrane and candle for the development of water technology. In the present study, an attempt has been made to prepare the alginate in an usable bead form. Here, magnetic nano-hydroxyapatite encapsulated alginate beads (Fe3O4@n-HApAlg) were synthesized by hydrothermal method for selective chromium removal. The synthesized Fe3O4@n-HApAlg beads have enhanced chromium sorptive capacity (SC) of 29.14 mg/g than the individual components. The synthesized materials were characterized by various instrumental techniques such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDAX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) isotherm studies. The Cr(VI) sorptive mechanism of Fe3O4@n-HApAlg beads were interpreted by electrostatic attraction. Sorption behavior of the magnetic beads was explained using Freundlich, Langmuir and Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R) isotherms. The thermodynamic studies indicate the spontaneous and endothermic nature of Cr(VI) sorption. In the kinetic data demonstration, pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, intra particle diffusion and particle diffusion models were employed. The reusability of Fe3O4@n-HApAlg beads was carried out using NaOH eluent and they can be used upto five cycles. The magnetic alginate hybrid beads showed the promising results against the chromium contaminated groundwater by removing Cr(VI) ions below the tolerance limit.

4th Industry Revolution and 4G Water

The 4th Industry Revolution was advocated by Klaud Schwab who is founder of World Economic Forum at the Davos Forum in 2016, and there are big differences on ICT based 4th Industry revolution in the aspects of speed, scope and impact compared with the 3rd Industry revolution. Creating new industries and values through technology such as internet of things, cloud, big data, and artificial intelligence are included in the meaning of The 4th industry revolution. In this article, the direction of change to water technology in response to the 4th Industry revolution is surveyed. 4G Water Infra should minimize environmental impact under the consideration of sustainable development and advanced technologies. To solve the existing water infra problems, it is common and fundamental that the intake water from nature can be regarded as borrowed from nature and it should be returned to natural state with improved water quality. Government, academic organizations and industries should prepare and collaborate together in order to help our country with outstanding capabilities in infrastructure construction and ICT to lead the 4G water technology development.

Relationship between Industrial Water Use and Economic Growth in China: Insights from an Environmental Kuznets Curve

Global inequity and the unbalance of water resources has been a critical issue for many years; and the Chinese per capita water resources are only 1/4 of the global average. Meanwhile, as the Chinese economy is growing rapidly, the demand of Chinese industrial water use is also increasing. In this case, it is important to balance the relationship between economic growth and industrial water use. In this study, a reduction model is established for the northeastern, northern coastal, eastern coastal, southern coastal, middle Yellow River, middle Yangtze River, southwestern, and northwestern regions to verify the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) for their respective industrial water use and provide theoretical support for decision making from an economic perspective. It adopts the per capita industrial water use and GDP of the eight economic zones from 2002 to 2014. The unit root test and co-integration test were adopted to analyze the stationarity of the data, and the triple reduction model was used for the fitting of variables. The relationship between per capita industrial water use and GDP showed an inverted U-shaped curve from 2002 to 2014 for China, as well as for the eastern coastal and middle Yangtze River regions, with the coordinates of the turning points being (9.8749, 4.6735), (10.3098, 5.4783), and (9.8184, 5.0622), respectively. The per capita GDP at the turning point of the inverted U-shaped curve is 18,000–30,000 Yuan (at constant prices from 2000). This study provides important thoughts and lessons for collaborative research into the relationship between industrial water consumption and economic development. The central government should focus on the central and western regions when creating policies for water resource management and technological development to improve their industrial water use efficiency.