| 1. |
- Rabiee, Navid, et al.
(författare)
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Green Biomaterials : fundamental principles
- 2023
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Ingår i: Green Biomaterials. - : Taylor & Francis. - 2993-4168. ; 1:1, s. 1-4
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)
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| 2. |
- Mohammadi, Ali, 1983-, et al.
(författare)
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Energy use efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions of farming systems in north Iran
- 2014
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Ingår i: Renewable & sustainable energy reviews. - : Pergamon Press. - 1364-0321 .- 1879-0690. ; 30, s. 724-733
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Efficient use of energy resources in crop production is an important goal in sustainable agriculture. This study compares the energy flow in farming systems across farm size with their corresponding greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions - presented in terms of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2 eq.) - in the north of Iran. To reach this aim, primary data were collected by survey with farmers whose main activity was major crops production in the region that included wheat, barley, canola, soybean, paddy and corn silage. The results showed that total energy input for corn silage (52.1 GJ ha(-1)) is greater than other systems. The results also revealed that yield and output energy of crops were not significantly affected by field size, whereas energy use efficiency of systems increased significantly as field size increased. Study shows that the cultivation of paddy emits the highest CO2 eq. emission (6094 kg CO2 eq. ha(-1)) among crops, in which around 60% is contributed by methane (CH4). The efficient use of fertilizers, optimized pumping facilities for irrigation, stopping of crop residue burning in the field and use them for energy supply could be among the options to improve energy use efficiency and mitigate GHG emissions. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| 3. |
- Mohammadi, Ali, 1983-, et al.
(författare)
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Joint Life Cycle Assessment and Data Envelopment Analysis for the benchmarking of environmental impacts in rice paddy production
- 2015
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Ingår i: Journal of Cleaner Production. - : Elsevier. - 0959-6526 .- 1879-1786. ; 106, s. 521-532
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The combined implementation of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) has been identified as a suitable tool for the evaluation of the environmental and economic performance of multiple similar entities. In this study, a total of 82 rice paddy fields for spring and summer growing seasons in north of Iran were assessed using a combined LCA and DEA methodology to estimate the technical efficiency of each farmer. Furthermore, the environmental consequences of operational inefficiencies were quantified and target performance values benchmarked for inefficient units so that ecoefficiency criteria were verified. Results showed average reduction levels of up to 20% and 25% per material input for spring and summer systems, leading to impact reductions which ranged from 8% to 11% for spring farms and 19% to 25% for summer farms depending on the chosen impact category. Additionally, the potential economic savings from efficient farming operations were also determined. The economic results indicate that an added annual gross margin of 0.045 $ per 1 kg rice paddy could be achieved if inefficient units converted to an efficient operation. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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| 4. |
- Al-Hazmi, Hussein E., et al.
(författare)
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Polysaccharide nanocomposites in wastewater treatment : A review
- 2024
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Ingår i: Chemosphere. - : Elsevier. - 0045-6535 .- 1879-1298. ; 347
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- In modern times, wastewater treatment is vital due to increased water contamination arising from pollutants such as nutrients, pathogens, heavy metals, and pharmaceutical residues. Polysaccharides (PSAs) are natural, renewable, and non-toxic biopolymers used in wastewater treatment in the field of gas separation, liquid filtration, adsorption processes, pervaporation, and proton exchange membranes. Since addition of nanoparticles to PSAs improves their sustainability and strength, nanocomposite PSAs has gained significant attention for wastewater treatment in the past decade. This review presents a comprehensive analysis of PSA-based nanocomposites used for efficient wastewater treatment, focusing on adsorption, photocatalysis, and membrane-based methods. It also discusses potential future applications, challenges, and opportunities in adsorption, filtration, and photocatalysis. Recently, PSAs have shown promise as adsorbents in biological-based systems, effectively removing heavy metals that could hinder microbial activity. Cellulose-mediated adsorbents have successfully removed various pollutants from wastewater, including heavy metals, dyes, oil, organic solvents, pesticides, and pharmaceutical residues. Thus, PSA nanocomposites would support biological processes in wastewater treatment plants. A major concern is the discharge of antibiotic wastes from pharmaceutical industries, posing significant environmental and health risks. PSA-mediated bio-adsorbents, like clay polymeric nanocomposite hydrogel beads, efficiently remove antibiotics from wastewater, ensuring water quality and ecosystem balance. The successful use of PSA-mediated bio-adsorbents in wastewater treatment depends on ongoing research to optimize their application and evaluate their potential environmental impacts. Implementing these eco-friendly adsorbents on a large scale holds great promise in significantly reducing water pollution, safeguarding ecosystems, and protecting human health.
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| 5. |
- Al-Hazmi, Hussein E., et al.
(författare)
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Wastewater reuse in agriculture : Prospects and challenges
- 2023
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Ingår i: Environmental Research. - : Elsevier. - 0013-9351 .- 1096-0953. ; 236
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sustainable water recycling and wastewater reuse are urgent nowadays considering water scarcity and increased water consumption through human activities. In 2015, United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6 (UN SDG6) highlighted the necessity of recycling wastewater to guarantee water availability for individuals. Currently, wastewater irrigation (WWI) of crops and agricultural land appears essential. The present work overviews the quality of treated wastewater in terms of soil microbial activities, and discusses challenges and benefits of WWI in line with wastewater reuse in agriculture and aquaculture irrigation. Combined conventional-advanced wastewater treatment processes are specifically deliberated, considering the harmful impacts on human health arising from WWI originating from reuse of contaminated water (salts, organic pollutants, toxic metals, and microbial pathogens i.e., viruses and bacteria). The comprehensive literature survey revealed that, in addition to the increased levels of pathogen and microbial threats to human wellbeing, poorly-treated wastewater results in plant and soil contamination with toxic organic/inorganic chemicals, and microbial pathogens. The impact of long-term emerging pollutants like plastic nanoparticles should also be established in further studies, with the development of standardized analytical techniques for such hazardous chemicals. Likewise, the reliable, long-term and extensive judgment on heavy metals threat to human beings's health should be explored in future investigations.
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| 6. |
- Anukam, Anthony, et al.
(författare)
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A Review of the Chemistry of Anaerobic Digestion : Methods of Accelerating and Optimizing Process Efficiency
- 2019
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Ingår i: Processes. - Basel : MDPI. - 2227-9717. ; 7:8, s. 1-19
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- The anaerobic digestion technology has been in existence for centuries and its underlying theory established for decades. It is considered a useful technology for the generation of renewable energy, and provides means to alleviate problems associated with low access to energy. However, a great deal of current research is targeted towards the optimization of this technology under diverse digestion process conditions. This review presents an in-depth analysis of the chemistry of anaerobic digestion and discusses how process chemistry can be used to optimize system performance through identification of methods that can accelerate syntrophic interactions of different microorganisms for improved methanogenic reactions. Recent advances in addition to old research are discussed in order to offer a general but comprehensive synopsis of accumulated knowledge in the theory of anaerobic digestion, as well as an overview of previous research and future directions and opportunities of the AD technology. Achieving a sustainable energy system requires comprehensive reforms in not just economic, social and policy aspects, but also in all technical aspects, which represents one of the most crucial future investments for anaerobic digestion systems.
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| 7. |
- Ebrahimian, Farinaz, et al.
(författare)
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A biorefinery platform to valorize organic fraction of municipal solid waste to biofuels : An early environmental sustainability guidance based on life cycle assessment
- 2023
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Ingår i: Energy Conversion and Management. - : Elsevier. - 0196-8904 .- 1879-2227. ; 283
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The biorefining of biowastes, specifically the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW), into biofuels and high-value products is an energy-demanding process, still immature, and largely dependent on the process configuration and efficiency of employed microorganisms. Such issues might undermine the environmental sustainability of the biorefinery by inducing adverse impacts on human health, ecosystem quality, climate change, and resources, which need to be explored before the process scale-up. Hence, this study was performed as early sustainability guidance to investigate the environmental impacts of different biorefinery platforms for biofuels production from OFMSW. More specifically, three pretreatment methods (i.e., acetone organosolv, acid, and hot water), two hydrolysis treatments (i.e., acidic and enzymatic), and two fermentation alternatives (i.e., ethanolic fermentation and acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation) were investigated. Based on European Commission's Joint Research Center instruction, the environmental impacts were studied using consequential life cycle assessment for the macro-level decision context. The results demonstrated that ABE fermentation scenarios were not environmentally favorable because the avoided impacts from final products were not sig-nificant enough to compensate for the induced environmental burdens from acetone pretreatment. On the contrary, the ethanolic fermentation scenarios with either acid or hot water pretreatment outperformed both ABE fermentation and ethanolic fermentation with acetone pretreatment. Based on the results, the scenario including simultaneous dilute acid pretreatment and hydrolysis of OFMSW followed by ethanolic fermentation manifested the best performance in all damage categories, as compared to those including acetone pretreatment or higher consumption of enzymes. Such improvements in this scenario led to the highest net saving of-842 potentially disappeared fraction (PDF)/m2/yr,-249.95 kg CO2 eq, and-3275.22 MJ primary per ton of OFMSW on ecosystem quality, climate change, and resources, respectively, and the lowest net burden of 1.54 x 10-5 disability-adjusted life years (DALY) per ton of OFMSW on human health. The results of sensitivity analysis on this scenario demonstrated that the substitution of excess heat for marginal heat with fossil origin can consid-erably decrease impacts on human health.
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| 8. |
- Ebrahimian, Farinaz, et al.
(författare)
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A critical review on pretreatment and detoxification techniques required for biofuel production from the organic fraction of municipal solid waste
- 2023
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Ingår i: Bioresource Technology. - : Elsevier. - 0960-8524 .- 1873-2976. ; 368
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) is a widely-available promising feedstock for biofuel production. However, the presence of different inhibitors originating from fruit and food/beverage wastes as well as recalcitrant lignocellulosic fractions hampers its bioconversion. This necessitates a pretreatment to augment the biodigestibility and fermentability of OFMSW. Hence, this review aims to provide the in-vogue inhibitory compound removal and pretreatment techniques that have been employed for efficient OFMSW conversion into biofuels, i.e., hydrogen, biogas, ethanol, and butanol. The techniques are compared concerning their mode of action, chemical and energy consumption, inhibitor formation and removal, economic feasibility, and environmental sustainability. This critique also reviews the existing knowledge gap and future perspectives for efficient OFMSW valorization. The insights provided pave the way toward developing energy-resilient cities while addressing environmental crises related to generating OFMSW.
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| 9. |
- Ebrahimian, Farinaz, et al.
(författare)
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Assessing the environmental footprints and material flow of 2,3-butanediol production in a wood-based biorefinery
- 2023
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Ingår i: Bioresource Technology. - : Elsevier. - 0960-8524 .- 1873-2976. ; 387
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This study aims to scrutinize and compare the environmental impacts of biobased 2,3-butanediol (BDO) and its fossil-based counterpart. BDO is a fundamental chemical in various industries, traditionally derived from petroleum sources. Wood residues, largely available in Nordic countries, are sustainable alternative feedstocks, offering potential environmental benefits. Material flow analysis followed by consequential life cycle assessment (LCA) were employed to quantify the potential environmental burdens associated with various biorefinery stages of wood-based BDO production. The findings indicated that refraining from wood combustion and, instead, utilizing wood in a biorefinery to produce BDO as the main product, with methane and fertilizer as coproducts from the waste residue, resulted in 125%, 52%, and 90% better environmental performance regarding human health, climate change, and resource scarcity, respectively, compared to fossil-based BDO production. The results offer valuable insights for technology developers and policymakers, empowering them to make informed decisions and support sustainable practices.
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| 10. |
- Ebrahimian, Farinaz, et al.
(författare)
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Bioprocess Design and Technoeconomic Analysis of 2,3-Butanediol Production in Wood-Based Biorefineries
- 2024
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Ingår i: Waste and Biomass Valorization. - : Springer Science+Business Media B.V.. - 1877-2641 .- 1877-265X.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- 2,3-Butanediol (BDO) is a crucial precursor in various industries, traditionally derived from fossil resources, raising environmental concerns. This study evaluates the techno-economic feasibility of producing BDO from wood residues, a sustainable resource abundantly available in Nordic countries. By modeling a biorefinery plant with a daily capacity of 100 metric tons of wood chips, three scenarios (Sc.) were explored: Sc. 1, where BDO is the sole product; Sc. 2, where BDO is produced alongside methane and biofertilizer; and Sc. 3, which incorporates a combined heat and power system using biogas from the waste stream. The analysis emphasizes the minimum selling price (MSP) of BDO, revealing it to be lowest in Sc. 1 at USD2.97/kg, compared to USD3.20/kg and USD3.48/kg for Sc. 2 and Sc. 3, respectively. Notably, sensitivity analysis highlighted the impact of processing capacity on economic performance, suggesting a potential for higher scalability and profitability in Sc. 2. This study contributes novel insights into the role of processing capacity and fermentation yield in optimizing BDO production, providing a valuable framework for technology developers aiming to establish wood-based biorefineries. These findings not only enhance understanding of economic thresholds but also underscore the importance of resource efficiency and strategic planning in bio-based production setups. Graphical abstract: (Figure presented.).
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