Dhapa-Have you ever heard of it? It is a dump site that lies on the fringes of eastern Kolkata. It has been in existence for many years. The people of Dhapa, much ahead of conservation thinkers, have been doing the 'dirty' work. They work barefoot, but have a positive ecological footprint. Nowhere else is a low-carbon option for urban waste management so clearly demonstrated as in Dhapa. And yet not many have heard of the place or the small community of waste pickers that inhabits it. This small yet powerful book documents the lives of the trash diggers who serve society, sincerely and silently, unsung, unremarked, and un-respected. It brings to light the utility of waste pickers in the context of proliferation of city waste, the urgent need for cost-effective waste management in third-world countries, and why we must understand existing best practices in waste management and adopt environment-friendly options of managing solid waste.

This book is devoted to sewage sludge, its sustainable management, and its use and implications on soil fertility and crop production. The book traces the main chemical and biological properties of sewage sludge, and covers topics such as sewage sludge biostabilization and detoxification, biological and thermochemical treatment technologies, emerging nutrient recovery technologies, the role of microorganisms in sewage sludge management, and the sustainable use of sewage sludge as fertilizer in agriculture. The book offers a valuable asset for researchers, scholars and policymakers alike.

This book discusses the scientific process of biomass compaction, focusing on pressing chamber parameters and their influence on the quality of extrusions from biomass. It yields new knowledge in the field of wood biomass pressing technology and contains a thorough and detailed theoretical analysis of the pressing chamber of pressing machines and the influence they have on the resulting quality of extrusions. Coverage includes the proposal and evaluation of experimental research dealing with the definition of different pressing chamber parameters in pressing machines and their effects on the quality of extrusions; definition and specification of the dependencies of chamber parameters based on the resulting quality of extrusion, given by the mechanical indicators of quality, are also explored. Furthermore, the work describes the design and manufacture of an experimental pressing stand, which allows for experiments to be performed determining the effects that some technological, material, and construction parameters have on the resulting quality of extrusions. The desired pressing method, length, and conicity of the pressing chamber are experimentally determined through the uniaxial compaction of wood biomass where results and dependencies are expressed graphically. Biomass Compaction: The Effects of Pressing Chamber Design Parameters on Extrusion Quality will be a welcomed resource for researchers and engineers working for producers of solid biofuels from biomass, densification (briquetting, pelleting), or compacting machines producers, as well as technology plant operators and those working in the biomass treatment area.

This book is based on recent trends for the research in emerging environmental contaminants in different compartment of the environment. It provides a recent understanding for the fate, transport, and degradation of emerging contaminants in different environmental sectors, including water, air, and soil. The contents discuss the fate and transport of microplastics, PPCPs, along with the method of detection and degradation. It includes removal of variety of pollutants including microplastics, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products from the water using adsorption technique, electrooxidation, membrane technology and other advance oxidation methods. This volume will be of great value to those in academia and industry involved in environmental science and engineering research.

As oil reserves decline and the environment takes centre stage in public policy discussions, the merits and dangers of nuclear power and nuclear waste management are once again being debated. Nuclear Waste Management in Canada provides a critical counterpoint to the position of government and industry by examining not only the technical but also the social and ethical aspects of the issue. What do frequently used terms such as safety, risk, and acceptability really mean? And how and why did the public consultation process in Canada fail to address ethical and social issues? This timely collection defuses the uncertainty, ambiguity, and ignorance that surrounds discussions of nuclear energy.

This book aims to provide comprehensive and systematic introduction and summary of corrosion characteristics, mechanisms, and control methods of candidate alloys in sub- and supercritical water environment. First of all, corrosion types of candidate alloys and the effects of major alloying elements on corrosion resistance of potential alloys in sub- and supercritical water are compared and analyzed. At the same time, research status of candidate materials, and development and application trends of several corrosion-resistant alloys are summarized. Then, corrosion characteristics of Ni-Cr, Ni-Cr-Mo, Ni-Fe-Cr and Ni-Fe-Cr-Mo-Cu corrosion-resistant alloys, FeCrAl alloy, and Zircaloy are discussed in detail, including the corrosion rate, the structure and composition of oxide film, and the effects of various surface treatment processes, etc. More specifically, it also investigates corrosion behavior of Ni-based alloy, Fe-Ni-based, and stainless steels in supercritical water. The effects of aggressive species on the corrosion behavior of Ni-base alloys are also explored in supercritical water. Readers will further discover the total corrosion processes and mechanisms of typical candidate alloys in sub- and supercritical water environment. Finally, the work explores the corrosion control methods such as ceramic coatings and passivation processes in supercritical water oxidation and in subcritical water, respectively. Future challenges and development trends of corrosion research of candidate materials in sub- and supercritical water environments are covered at the end of this book. It offers valuable reference for theoretically guiding material selection and design and operating parameter optimization of key equipment in the sub- and supercritical water technologies. The book is written for senior undergraduates, graduate students, scholars, and researchers who are interested in corrosion behavior of candidate materials of supercritical water oxidation system, supercritical water gasification system, and nuclear reactor.

This book highlights current efforts and research on waste management, processing and valorization, particularly in Asia-Africa countries. Chapters 1-2 highlight the overview of plastic waste management and the production of waste plastic oil (WPO). Chapters 3-5 discuss the landfill characterization and application of incineration and composting for waste processing. A new achievement in adsorbent production is highlighted in Chapters 6 and 7 while Chapters 10 and 11 focus on sewage characteristic and its utilization using microalgae. Enzyme production using waste is covered by Chapters 10-12. Chapter 13-14 dedicated to the advances in production of bioenergy. The book concludes with a discussion on life cycle analysis for solid waste management (Chapter 15).

The book is the collection of the latest research results from Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning in environmental policy and reform during the past years, mainly related to ecological compensation, the emission trading, the environment audit, carbon tax, environment friendly city, environmental health, economic policy in medical waste, scattered coal treatment subsidies, environmental policy efficiency analysis, environmental industry statistics, environmental performance evaluation, green fiscal and taxation policy, etc., presenting the latest achievements, developments and research trends in this field.

Industrial ecology (IE) is a rapidly growing scienti?c discipline that is concerned with the sustainability of industrial systems under explicit consideration of its int- dependence with natural systems. In recent years, there has been an ever-increasing awareness about the applicability of Input-Output Analysis (IOA) to IE, in particular to LCA (life cycle assessment) and MFA (material ?ow analysis). This is witnessed in the growing number of papers at ISIE (International Society for Industrial Ec- ogy) conferences, which use IOA, and also by the installment of subject editors on IOA in the International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. It can be said that IE has become a major ?eld of application for IOA. The broadening of users of IOA from various backgrounds implies a need for a self-contained textbook on IOA that can meet the needs of students and practitioners without compromising on basic c- cepts and the latest developments. This book was written with the aim of ?lling this need, and is primarily addressed to students and practitioners of IE. As the title suggests, the core contents of the book have grown out of our research in IOA of waste management issues over the last decade. We have been fascinated by the versatile nature of IOA with regard to various technical issues of waste m- agement in particular, and to IE in general. For us (both economists by training), IOA has turned out to be extremely useful in establishing productive communi- tion with scientists and engineers interested in IE.

This book presents the advantages of the circular economy as a powerful - and inevitable - model for tackling the current challenges against shrinking resources and establishing the resource efficient economy. The experienced contributors present the status and strategies of circular economy implementation in several countries with hands on experience to protect the environment while promoting the circular economy through legislative requirements, best practices adopted and popularizing the idea of circulation of resources amongst the researchers & academia, policy makers, industry, and the general public at large. The book advocates model that consists of designing products and processes with a view to endlessly recycling them evolving a greater scope of sustainable development.

This book explores sustainable mining knowledge, assessing researchers on the impacts of waste and new approaches to negotiating these impacts. Mining has always been a profitable venture; however, it comes with several boons and banes. The significant advantages of mining include employment generation, the establishment of townships and trade centers, and socio-economic growth. However, the mining activity is a significant cause of environmental degradation, including soils, atmosphere, water, solid wastes, changed topography, and health hazards. This book emphasizes value-added products from mining wastes and innovations for balancing environment, ecology, and economy. This book is designed for miners, policymakers, professionals, researchers, scientists, industrialists, and environmental agencies.

This book is the first comprehensive book in the world on co-processing of wastes as Alternative Fuels and Raw materials (AFRs) in cement kilns. It discusses how AFR from wastes can play an important role in contributing toward reducing the use of fossil fuel and costs while conserving natural resources, lowering global CO2 emissions, and reducing the need for landfills. The use of AFR in resource and energy-intensive industries is called co-processing, which is discussed in detail highlighting both advantages and disadvantages. Co-processing in cement kilns is a technology that is practiced globally on a large scale for environmentally sound and ecologically sustaining management of wastes from agricultural, industrial, and municipal sources. Considerable amount of scientific and technological advancements has been put in place while developing and implementing this technology at the cement plant operational scales. This technology is in practice for about 40 years or so and has been recommended by Basel Convention for the sustainable management of hazardous wastes and by the Stockholm Convention for the sustainable management of POPs. This technology has now been included in the waste management rules notified by the Ministry of the Government of India and has been provided as a preferred option for the management of wastes over the conventional options of incineration and landfill. The book addresses how co-processing promotes mitigation of the climate change impacts and also conservation of the natural capital in addition to building a circular economy on a large scale. Even though this technology has received required attention and inclusion in the policy framework of many governments, its understanding and awareness with the stakeholders belonging to the academic and other relevant sections are vastly missing. The book will enhance the knowledge of co-processing technology among stakeholders involved in the implementation of the policy framework, design and engineering of the waste processing facilities to suit the co-processing operation, their operation and management, environmental consideration in implementing co-processing, operation and management of the cement plant, quality control, etc. In addition, the book will be useful for students and researchers working in this domain.

This book covers the research fields in biodiversity conservation, the Belt and Road eco-environmental cooperation, China's five-year plan for eco-environmental protection, sustainable development goals assessment, and human health loss assessment. In the past, these achievements have played an important scientific role in supporting China's ecological and environmental protection, and produced extensive social impacts and significant environmental benefits. At the same time, the relevant research ideas and methods also show the latest progress and trend in the field of environmental strategy and planning in China in recent years, which can be used for reference by experts and scholars of other countries in the field of ecological environment.

Japan was ahead of the rest of the world when it introduced intermediate processing of municipal waste by such means as incineration in the 1960s. Owing to the small land area of the country and the difficulty in securing landfill sites, the incineration ratio of municipal combustible waste had reached 100% by the 1990s. Along with the landfill of incineration residues, proprietary technologies such as high salt leachate treatment, desalination treatment, by-product recycling, a focus on the resource of incineration residues, sea surface landfill sites, and covered type landfill sites have spread and developed since then. This book describes the introduction of incineration facilities starting in the 1960s, landfill technology, and issues arising after 1990 following the introduction of the facilities. The necessity of a total system from incineration to landfill is explained as well. The volume is a valuable resource for countries that plan to introduce intermediate processing such as incineration and for countries that are developing a waste management policy.

An enormous amount of synthetic dyes is used annually in the textile, leather, plastics, paper, and dye industries due to their coloring properties. Although dyes give color to materials, they are prone to increase the level of pollution in the environment. The colored wastewater produced in industrial sectors is released into water bodies, posing threats to the ecosystem. To reduce the adverse effects of dyes in the environment, it is necessary to implement feasible and cost-effective strategies. '"Dye Biodegradation Mechanisms and Techniques - Recent Advances'' provides fundamental principles and pathways of bio-based mechanisms in dye removal. This edition firstly discusses dye classification and pollution, then concentrates on the application of fungi, mesophilic bacteria, microflora, and enzymes in dye degradation. This book also highlights the performance of sequential batch reactor systems, moving bed biofilm reactors, and hybrid bioreactors for dye biodegradation

Water is regarded as an important element for sustainable development and many countries are attempting to provide clean water for municipal and industrial sectors. Owning to population explosion, industrial activities, agricultural practices and urbanisation, water bodies are polluted with various pollutants such as dyes, heavy metals, etc.. This first volume focuses on utilization of different promising nanocomposites for water and wastewater remediation. It provides an overview of wastewater treatment technologies, and explores the performace of materials such as organic-inorganic polymer hybrids, hydroxyapatite, magnetic composites (with polymers and biomaterials), zeolites, and so on in water and wastewater decontamination. The present edition takes into account various types of pristine and modified materials in different water treatment methods such as adsorption, catalysis and photocatalysis. Recent advances and developments are discussed in this book, and it provides a valuable resource for researchers and professionals in different fields such as environmental and chemical engineering.

In the past, food waste has been used to produce biogas and biofuels, fertilizers, and animal feed. Using it as a feedstock for innovative biorefineries is not only an ethical issue but also a smart application of the circular economy. This book explores the zero-waste concept in the thriving biobased sector, proposing technologies and procedures to meet the sustainable development goals. The volume categorizes food waste sources and proposes an impressive number of high value-added compounds (e.g., platform chemicals, enzymes, nutraceuticals, antioxidants, organic acids, phosphate, bioadsorbents, pectin, solvents, and pigments) that can be obtained in a sequential biocascade, via chemical, biochemical, thermal, and physical technologies. The synthesis of bioplastics from food waste, their copolymerization and blending, as well as the production of biocomposites and bionanocomposite with biofillers from food scraps, are presented: eluding the cost of waste disposal, reducing biobased materials price, and avoiding using edible resources as a starting material for biobased items are the main beneficial peculiarities of the process. The Authors illustrate challenging characteristics of new biobased materials, such as their mechanical and physico-chemical features, their biodegradability, compostability, recyclability, chemical compatibility, and barrier properties. The volume also delves into socioeconomic considerations and environmental concerns related to the upcycling of food waste, as well as the safety and life cycle assessment of biobased products. Finally, the authors address how advances in digital technology can make food waste upcycling a negative-cost process and discuss best practices to practically implement the biorefinery concept. Research gaps and needs are suggested, and recommendations for food waste handling and management during this COVID-19 pandemic are provided.

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.

This book highlights recent findings of membrane - based dye removal methods along with the application of photocatalytic, nanofiltration and ultrafiltration membrane including membrane - based fibers, metal-organic frameworks, polyethersulfone, ceramic, etc. Among water and wastewater pollutants, dyes have been normally observed and detected in various aquatic solutions, including rivers and lakes. Aesthetic pollution, toxicity, persistent, and carcinogenicity are some of the adverse effects of dyes entering the ecosystem. Although dyes have brought a colourful world, their presence in the environment are responsible for adverse effects on the planet. Diverse physical, chemical and biological methods are available to treat dye contaminated water. This book presents membrane separation technology that has been developed in the past decade to treat different wastewaters, and owning to its effective performance, has garnered the attention of academia and industry alike.

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.

Global population by 2050 is predicted to be over 9 billion and accordingly, the production systems will demolish about 140 billion tons per year of minerals, ores, fossil fuels and biomass, i.e., thrice of the current need, and the food production itself has to be doubled. Optimized resource usage, lifecycle management, and reduced carbon emission have become a priority for agri-food businesses today, and circular economy (CE) helps for a sustainable and flexible way to grow without exhausting primary materials, and it thinks beyond recycling and resource usage. The word CE best relates to the resource and efficiency management, 6Rs, closed-loop production systems, zero waste and lifecycle engineering, reduced overconsumption of resources and waste generation, enriched system redesign and business model innovation, thereby leading to sustainable development goals. In this light, the book calls for theoretical and empirically sound contributions that are focused on the different aspects of the circular economy, 6R's, sustainable production and consumption, closed-loop systems, etc. in the agri-food sector.

Plastics & Sustainability clearly lays out the thorny and contentious issues that we encounter at the nexus of plastics and sustainability. The book serves as a practical guide for making sustainability decisions about how plastics are made and used, including current developments in the newest bio-based plastics. Designers, marketers, academics, and engineers will all find something of value in this balanced and thoughtful second edition. Increased public scrutiny of plastics materials and the plastics industry has led, paradoxically, to both a deeper understanding and growing confusion about polymers, their origins, their uses, their risks, and ultimately their disposal. The author makes objective comparisons among major polymer grades and bioplastics including their life cycle assessments and practical performance in commercial applications.

This book highlights the impact of COVID-19 on sustainable waste management and air emission, using various case studies. The year 2020 was a historical year mainly due to the pandemic caused by COVID-19 and it influenced or affected the global economy, business models and the industrial sectors, thus impacting sustainability in various ways. Given that sustainability has many faces and facets, it is worthwhile to deal with the relation (or impact) of COVID-19 on various elements of sustainability. This book presents how COVID-19 has influenced waste management and air quality.

This edited book discusses various processes of feedstocks bioconversion such as bioconversion of food waste, human manure, industrial waste, beverage waste, kitchen waste, organic waste, fruit and vegetable, poultry waste, solid waste, agro-industrial waste, cow dung, steroid, lignocellulosic residue, biomass, natural gas etc. Nowadays, the industrial revolution and urbanization have made human life comfortable. However, this requires excess usage of natural resources starting from food and food products, to energy resources, materials as well as chemicals. The excess use of natural resources for human comfort is expected to high fuel prices, decline natural resources as well as cause a huge hike in the cost of raw materials. These factors are pushing researchers to grow environmentally friendly processes and techniques based on inexpensive and sustainable feedstock to accomplish such worldwide targets. Bioconversion, otherwise called biotransformation, is the change of natural materials, for example, plant or animal waste, into usable items or energy sources by microorganisms. Bioconversion is an environmentally friendly benevolent choice to supplant the well-established chemical procedures utilized these days for the production of chemicals and fuels. A variety of alternatives advancements are being considered and are directly accessible to acquire diverse valuable end-products through bioprocesses. This book discusses in detail the process and techniques of bioconversion by focusing on the organic feedstock of animal and plant origin. It brings solutions to the bioconversion of various feedstock into value-added products.

This book aims to provide academic and industrial applications advancing the critical role of circular economy principles in the sustainability of various resources. The latest research and practice in resource sustainability are shared, discussed, and promoted. The core competency of this book revolves around providing recent advances in sustainable consumption and production implementations, developed tools for environmental and sustainability assessment, technological advancements in resource and waste management/treatment, and advances in waste reduction, reuse, recycling, and recovery. Resources are defined broadly to include (1) physical resources: metals, non-metallic minerals, energy, and water (2) biological resources: food, forestry, land, ecological systems, etc., and (3) "misplaced" resources: air emissions, water pollutants, and solid waste. Finally, legislation, and policy implications and recommendations for resources sustainability are concluded.