This volume of the series Methods in Environmental Geology, describes the feasibility of aircraft- and satellite-based methods of revealing environmental-geological problems. A balanced ratio between explanations of the methodological/technical side and presentations of case studies is maintained. The comparison of case studies from North America and Germany show how the respective territorial conditions lead to distinct methodological approaches. The dissimilarities in population density alone and often considerable differences in distances between waste disposal areas, settlements, and areas of protected groundwater necessitate a "diversified methods" approach.

The socio-economic activities due to world development are promoting increasing pressures on land, creating competition and conflicts, resulting in suboptimal use of resources. Integrated planning and management of land resources is a top subject of Agenda 21 (managed by FAO), which deals with the cross-sectoral aspects of decision-making for the sustainable use and development of natural resources. This is essential for life-support systems and its productive capacity. In this context, there is a need to find new strategies for sustainable development that links social and economic progress with environmental protection and enhancement. Electrokinetic transport processes (EK) uses a low-level direct current as the "cleaning agent". EK has been applied to the remediation of polluted soils and other contaminated matrices. It also shows a great potential to be used in different fields, as in saline soil restoration, nutrients recovery from wastes or repair and maintenance of building structures. EK may be an integrated approach for new strategies aiming at sustainable development and to support waste strategies, with worldwide interest. EK can also be coupled with phytoremediation and integrated with nanotechnology, enlarging the scope of its application. The conciliation of the EK in the recovery of secondary resources, remediation and conservation is a multidisciplinary novel approach that opens new technical possibilities for waste minimization, through upgrading of particulate waste products and the recovery of secondary resources for industrial, agricultural or social use.

This book focuses on an important technology for mineralizing and utilizing CO2 instead of releasing it into the atmosphere. CO2 mineralization and utilization demonstrated in the waste-to-resource supply chain can "reduce carbon dependency, promote resource and energy efficiency, and lessen environmental quality degradation," thereby reducing environmental risks and increasing economic benefits towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). In this book, comprehensive information on CO2 mineralization and utilization via accelerated carbonation technology from theoretical and practical considerations was presented in 20 Chapters. It first introduces the concept of the carbon cycle from the thermodynamic point of view and then discusses principles and applications regarding environmental impact assessment of carbon capture, storage and utilization technologies. After that, it describes the theoretical and practical considerations for "Accelerated Carbonation (Mineralization)" including analytical methods, and systematically presents the carbonation mechanism and modeling (process chemistry, reaction kinetics and mass transfer) and system analysis (design and analysis of experiments, life cycle assessment and cost benefit analysis). It then provides physico-chemical properties of different types of feedstock for CO2 mineralization and then explores the valorization of carbonated products as green materials. Lastly, an integral approach for waste treatment and resource recovery is introduced, and the carbonation system is critically assessed and optimized based on engineering, environmental, and economic (3E) analysis. The book is a valuable resource for readers who take scientific and practical interests in the current and future Accelerated Carbonation Technology for CO2 Mineralization and Utilization.

This book investigates innovative solutions to increase the share of renewable engery in the global power mix, with a particular focus on improved and sustainable biomass conversion technologies. To this end, the book deals with an analysis of the generation mix of renewable energies (including biofuels, renewable waste and biogas) in the overall power balance of several countries. In addition, the possibilities of using bioenergy resources in the context of power generation are thoroughly analyzed. As one of the most important ways of converting biomass into energy, the combustion process is analyzed in detail, highlighting the vast potential for the use of innovative biofuels. In this context, a detailed classification of existing biofuels is established, reflecting the relationship between their energy properties and their potential use in industrial facilities. Additionally, the most efficient combustion technologies for the respective applications are discussed. Furthermore, the authors emphasize that the management of renewable waste, both from industry (tannery waste and oils from transport) and agriculture, requires an economic and environmental friendly approach. The challenges of burning various renewable waste fuels and upgrading industrial facilities are discussed, and the ideas and technologies presented in this book contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) for "Affordable and Clean Energy". The book is a useful resource for professionals dealing with current and upcoming activities related to renewable energy combustion, and a good starting point for young researchers.

The book focuses on the challenges faced by urban areas in the context of handling waste in an environmentally and socially acceptable manner. It also discusses effective waste management approaches, which differ according to culture, climate, and socio-economic variables, as well as institutional volume. Presenting selected, high-quality papers from IconSWM 2018, the book explores a number of waste management methods with the help of case studies.

This book focuses on the prospects of fresh market waste management in developing countries. It characterizes fresh market wastewater and solid wastes, and highlights the human health impact of corresponding waste management practices. With regard to treatment technologies, the book discusses the anaerobic digestion of fresh solid wastes; the application of natural coagulants for wastewater treatment; the remediation of xenobiotics in wastewater using nanotechnology; and biofilter aquaponic systems for nutrient removal. All of these technologies are recent innovations, offer several concrete advantages, and can be applied in developing countries as non-central treatment systems. In addition, the book covers electricity production from fresh solid wastes using microbial fuel cells, demonstrating the potential held by recycling fresh market wastewater and solid wastes.

This book presents a comprehensive approach to address the need to improve the design of tailings dams, their management and the regulation of tailings management facilities to reduce, and eventually eliminate, the risk of such facilities failing. The scope of the challenge is well documented in the report by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and GRID Arendal entitled "Mine Tailings Storage: Safety Is No Accident," which was released in October 2017. The report recommends that "Regulators, industry and communities should adopt a shared, zero-failure objective to tailings storage facilities..." and identifies several areas where further improvements are required. In this context, the application of cutting-edge risk-assessment methodologies and risk-management practices can contribute to a significant reduction and eventual elimination of dam failures through Risk Informed Decision Making. As such, the book focuses on identifying and describing the risk-assessment approaches and risk-management practices that need to be implemented in order to develop a way forward to achieve socially acceptable levels of tailings dam risk.

Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology attempts to provide concise, critical reviews of timely advances, philosophy and significant areas of accomplished or needed endeavor in the total field of xenobiotics, in any segment of the environment, as well as toxicological implications.

This book focuses on agricultural waste treatment and renewable energy production from the perspective of anaerobic digestion. It covers topics on anaerobic digestion processes and practices in various types of biogas plant construction and management and systematically addresses the principle and main features of three kinds of anaerobic digestion systems: household digesters, biogas septic tanks, and biogas plants. Instructive, informative and easy to understand, the book offers a valuable asset for researchers, technicians, graduate students and managerial personnel working in the areas of renewable energy, agricultural ecological engineering and the treatment and utilization of agricultural wastes.

Technology has long been an essential consideration in public discussions of the environment, with the focus overwhelmingly on creating new tools and techniques. In more recent years, however, activists, researchers, and policymakers have increasingly turned to mobilizing older technologies in their pursuit of sustainability. In fascinating case studies ranging from the Early Modern secondhand trade to utopian visions of human-powered vehicles, the contributions gathered here explore the historical fortunes of two such technologies-bicycling and waste recycling-tracing their development over time and providing valuable context for the policy successes and failures of today.

This book describes various aspects of modern microbiology including microbial enzymes, secondary metabolites, next-generation sequencing, microbial-based biopesticides, microbial-based cancer therapies, biodiesel, and microbial products from fermentation, biodegradation, bioremediation and wastewater treatment. Further, it explains how and why microbes play an important role in preserving the welfare of living beings and the environment. Many bacteria play a significant part in cleaning our environment by detoxifying various xenobiotic compounds, while several microbes produce secondary metabolites that are useful to human beings. The book is divided into 15 chapters that cover various aspects of microorganism-based biotechnology, including recent methodologies such as advanced molecular techniques, as well developments in classical microbiological techniques. The authors also explain how the latest and classical techniques are being used in modern-day microbial biotechnology. All chapters were written by experts from prominent universities, research laboratories, and institutes around the globe. Above all, they focus on recent advances in microbial technology that promote the welfare of living beings and the environment.

This book presents select peer-reviewed proceedings of the International Conference on Sustainable Development in Energy and Environment (ICSDEE) 2019. The focus is on novel research in renewable energy resources and environmental issues and their implementation in augmenting sustainable development. This book includes chapters on solutions to problems faced by countries across the globe in the energy sector, pollution treatment processes, and other socially relevant topics like the possibility of extracting energy from the inexhaustible waste stream, waste disposal, waste management etc. This book will be useful for students, researchers as well as professionals interested in sustainable technologies, green energy, and biotechnology.

The population of cities around the world is growing at an alarming rate, and as a result the landscapes of most cities are going through enormous changes. In particular, fertile agricultural lands at the periphery of cities are being developed without consideration of holistic planning. As such, peri-urban areas, zones of transition from rural to urban land uses located between the outer limits of the urban and the rural environment are experiencing significant losses of agricultural land, increased runoff, and water quality degradation. Concurrently, the demands for water, food and energy are increasing within cities, and unless a balance is struck the liveability of these cities will soon be compromised. The current water and land use changes have serious consequences on lifestyle, environment, health and overall well-being of urban communities. This book therefore helps readers to understand the current issues and challenges and examines suitable strategies and practices to cope with current and future pressures of urbanisation and peri-urban land-use changes.

The book examines a number of critical aspects in relation to the future of cities and peri-urban regions, including the suitability of policies and institutions to sustain cities into the future; impact of current trends in land use change, population increase and water demand; long term planning needs and approaches to ensure the secured future for generations ahead; and strategies to adapt the cities and land uses so that they remain viable and liveable.

The readership of the book will include policy makers, urban planners, researchers, post-graduate students in urban planning and environmental and water resources management and managers in municipal councils.

This book provides a comprehensive description of alkaline hydrometallurgy of amphoteric metal hazardous wastes. Topics focus on leaching of zinc and lead hazardous wastes, purification of leach solution of zinc and lead, electrowinning of zinc and lead from purified alkaline solutions, chemical reactions taking place in the production flowsheets, thermodynamic and spent electrolyte regeneration, alkaline hydrometallurgy of low-grade smithsonite ores, recovery of molybdenum and tungsten using ion flotation and solvent extraction processes and their application in chemical synthesis of Nb and Ta inorganic compounds, and industrial scale production of 1500-2000 t/a zinc powder using alkaline leaching-electrowinning processes. Processes described are cost-effective, generate lesser secondary pollutants, and have been applied widely in China. Readers that will find the book appealing include solid waste engineers, environmental managers, technicians, recycling coordinators, government officials, undergraduates and graduate students, and researchers.

This book discusses the recent advances in the wastes recycling technologies to provide low-cost and alternative ways for nanomaterials production. It shows how carbon nanomaterials can be synthesized from different waste sources such as banana fibers, argan (Argania spinosa) seed shells, corn grains, camellia oleifera shell, sugar cane bagasse, oil palm (empty fruit bunches and leaves) and palm kernel shells. Several nanostructured metal oxides (MnO2, Co3O4,....) can be synthesized via recycling of spent batteries. The recovered nanomaterials can be applied in many applications including: Energy (supercapacitors, solar cells, etc.) water treatments (heavy metal ions and dyes removal) and other applications. Spent battery and agriculture waste are rich precursors for metals and carbon, respectively. The book also explores the various recycling techniques, agriculture waste recycling, batteries recycling, and different applications of the recycled materials.

Unlike existing books of nuclear reactor physics, nuclear engineering and nuclear chemical engineering this book covers a complete description and evaluation of nuclear fission power generation. It covers the whole nuclear fuel cycle, from the extraction of natural uranium from ore mines, uranium conversion and enrichment up to the fabrication of fuel elements for the cores of various types of fission reactors. This is followed by the description of the different fuel cycle options and the final storage in nuclear waste repositories. In addition the release of radioactivity under normal and possible accidental conditions is given for all parts of the nuclear fuel cycle and especially for the different fission reactor types.

Dross is waste: solid impurities that form on the surface of the smelting pot. While most is thrown away, some is reusable or recyclable. Hence 'DrossScape', a term conceived by land economist Alan Berger. Working off Berger's theories, this book explores the concept of waste-culture, where entire cities are built atop of mountains of their own refuse. Photographs depict wastelands as places removed from the urban sprawl, as well as islands within it - hidden away or in plain sight. But in all cases, these dilapidated landscapes have latent potential. Dross City works towards a new urban metabolism. It includes projects and research that interrogate the current and future city, its geographical structure, infrastructures, and forms of settlements. It looks at recycling strategies and multi-scalar design approaches, with the intention of encouraging interest in the DrossScape.

This book features carefully selected articles on emerging technologies for waste valorization and environmental protection. The term "waste valorization" is used particularly in engineering, economics, technology, business, environmental and policy literature to refer to any unit operation or collection of operations targeted at reusing, recycling, composting or converting wastes into useful products or energy sources without harming the environment. The book discusses the rudimentary concept, and describes a range of emerging technologies in the field, including nano, fuel-cell and membrane technologies, as well as membrane bioreactors. It also examines in detail essential and common processes in waste valorization, such as rigorous chemical engineering applications, mathematical modeling and other trans-disciplinary approaches. The chapters present high-quality research papers from the IconSWM 2018 conference.

This book provides a systematic and comprehensive account of the recent developments in the recycling of plastic waste material. It presents state-of-the-art procedures for recycling of plastics from different sources and various characterization methods adopted in analyzing their properties. In addition, it looks into properties, processing, and applications of recycled plastic products as one of the drivers for sustainable recycling plastics especially in developing countries. This book proves a useful reference source for both engineers and researchers working in composite materials science as well as the students attending materials science, physics, chemistry, and engineering courses.

The construction industry is the largest single waste producing industry in the UK. Ensuring a supply chain of recycled materials affords many potential gains, achieved through: reducing the material volume transported to already over-burdened landfill sites, possible cost reductions to the contractor/client when considering the landfill tax saved and the potential for lower cost material replacements, a reduction in the environmental impact of quarrying and the saving of depleting natural material resources. Reuse of Materials and Byproducts in Construction: Waste Minimization and Recycling addresses use of waste and by products in the construction industry. An over view of new "green" design guides to encourage best practice will be examined and current legislation that channels on site practices, such as site waste management plans. Fundamental individual construction materials are discussed and the process of reforming by products and waste products into new construction materials is investigated, examining the material performance, energy required to convert waste into new products and viability of recycling. The main range of constructional materials will be examined. Aimed at postgraduate students, lecturers and researchers in construction and civil engineering, the book will also be of interest to professional design practices.

This book contains the results of a three-year research programme by a joint team of experts from four different EU countries. The main focus of this research was on investigating the possibility of using abandoned underground mines for the disposal of hazardous chemical waste with negligible pollution of the environment. The research work was focused on: the possibility of using abandoned underground mines for disposal of hazardous chemical waste with negligible pollution of the environment; the properties and behaviour of waste-isolating clay materials and practical ways of preparing and applying them; development of software tools to assess the stability, performance and risks associated with different repository concepts, considering the long-term safety of the biosphere; the isolating capacity of reference repositories; the different approaches for handling hazardous chemical waste. The project has demonstrated that hazardous waste can be safely disposed in underground mines provided that adequate assessment, planning and design procedures are employed.Information is also included on the selection of site location, design and construction of repositories, predicting degrees of contamination of groundwater in the surroundings, estimation of isolating capacity of reference repositories, cost estimation of this approach in comparison with some other approaches, and many other relevant issues. Invaluable to researchers and engineers working in the field of hazardous (chemical) waste disposal, this title will also significantly aid experts dealing with nuclear waste.

The present customers' consumption models result in an increasing number of used products that need to be collected and reused or disposed. Remanufacturing is a favourable scenario in order to recover the end-of-use products. It allows to capture substantial part of the resources which were used in the primary production at lower cost, providing economic, environmental and social benefits. The book presents the methods, models, case studies for improvement of sustainability in remanufacturing facilities. The focus is on small- and medium-sized enterprises and their challenges to meet resource-efficiency goal.

Agriculture and industry are the two most important economic sectors for various countries around the globe, providing millions of jobs as well as being the main source of income for these countries. Nevertheless, with the increasing demand for agricultural and industrial produce, huge amounts of waste are also being produced. Without proper management, this waste (both liquid and solid) poses a serious threat to overall environmental quality, mainly due to its toxicity and slow degradation processes. Current approaches are effective but would normally require huge capital investments, are labour intensive and generate potential hazardous by-products. As such, there is a need for alternative approaches that are cheaper, easier-to-handle and have a minimum potential impact on environmental quality. This book presents up-to-date approaches using biological techniques to manage the abundance of waste generated from agricultural and industrial activities. It discusses techniques such as bioconversion, biodegradation, biotransformation, and biomonitoring as well as the utilization of these wastes. A number of chapters also include individual case studies to enhance readers' understanding of the topics. This comprehensive book is a useful resource for anyone involved in agricultural and industrial waste management, green chemistry or biotechnology. It is also recommended as a reference work for graduate students and all agriculture and biotechnology libraries.