Displaying publications 1 - 20 of 89 in total

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  1. Peng W, Sonne C, Lam SS, Ok YS, Alstrup AKO
    Environ Res, 2020 02;181:108887.
    PMID: 31732170 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2019.108887
    The Amazon rainforest has sustained human existence for more than 10,000 years. Part of this has been the way that the forest controls regional climate including precipitation important for the ecosystem as well as agroforestry and farming. In addition, the Amazon also affects the global weather systems, so cutting down the rainforest significantly increases the effects of climate change, threatening the world's biodiversity and causing local desertification and soil erosion. The current fire activities and deforestation in the Amazon rainforest therefore have consequences for global sustainability. In the light of this, the current decisions made in Brazil regarding an increase in Amazon deforestation require policy changes if the global ecosystems and biodiversity are not to be set to collapse. There is only one way to move forward and that is to increase efforts in sustainable development of the region including limitation in deforestation and to continuously measure and monitor the development. The G7 countries have offered Brazil financial support for at least 20 million euros for fighting the forest fires but the president denies receiving such financial support and says that it is more relevant to raise new forests in Europe. In fact, this is exactly what is happening in Denmark and China in order to reduce climate change. Such activities should be global and include South America, Europe, Africa and Asia where deforestation is important issue. Forest restoration reduces climate change, desertification, and preserves both the regional tropical and global environment if the wood is not burned at a later stage but instead used in e.g. roads as filling material. Changes are therefore needed through improved international understanding and agreements to better avoid the global climate changes, from cutting down the precious rainforest before it is too late as rainforest cannot be re-planted.
  2. Sonne C, Jenssen BM, Rinklebe J, Lam SS, Hansen M, Bossi R, et al.
    Sci Total Environ, 2023 Mar 10;876:162770.
    PMID: 36906028 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162770
    The Environmental Protection Agencies (EPAs) of Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Germany and the Netherlands submitted a proposal to the European Chemical Agency (ECHA) in February 2023 calling for a ban in the use of toxic industrial chemicals per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). These chemicals are highly toxic causing elevated cholesterol, immune suppression, reproductive failure, cancer and neuro-endocrine disruption in humans and wildlife being a significant threat to biodiversity and human health. The main reason for the submitted proposal is recent findings of significant flaws in the transition to PFAS replacements that is leading to a widespread pollution. Denmark was the first country banning PFAS, and now other EU countries support the restrictions of these carcinogenic, endocrine disruptive and immunotoxic chemicals. The proposed plan is among the most extensive received by the ECHA for 50 years. Denmark is now the first EU country to initiate the establishment of groundwater parks to try and protect its drinking water. These parks are areas free of agricultural activities and nutritious sewage sludge to secure drinking water free of xenobiotic including PFAS. The PFAS pollution also reflects the lack of comprehensive spatial and temporal environmental monitoring programs in the EU. Such monitoring programs should include key indicator species across ecosystems of livestock, fish and wildlife, to facilitate detection of early ecological warning signals and sustain public health. Simultaneously with inferring a total PFAS ban, the EU should also push for more persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) PFAS substances to be listed on the Stockholm Convention (SC) Annex A such as PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonic acid) that is currently listed on the SCs Annex B. The combination of these regulative restrictions combined with groundwater parks and pan-European biomonitoring programs, would pave the way forward for a cleaner environment to sustain health across the EU.
  3. Sonne C, Bank MS, Jenssen BM, Cieseielski TM, Rinklebe J, Lam SS, et al.
    Science, 2023 Mar 03;379(6635):887-888.
    PMID: 36862788 DOI: 10.1126/science.adh0934
  4. Sonne C, Ciesielski TM, Jenssen BM, Lam SS, Zhong H, Dietz R
    Science, 2023 Aug 25;381(6660):843-844.
    PMID: 37616344 DOI: 10.1126/science.adj4244
  5. Sonne C, Siebert U, Gonnsen K, Desforges JP, Eulaers I, Persson S, et al.
    Environ Int, 2020 06;139:105725.
    PMID: 32311628 DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2020.105725
    Here we review contaminant exposure and related health effects in six selected Baltic key species. Sentinel species included are common eider, white-tailed eagle, harbour porpoise, harbour seal, ringed seal and grey seal. The review represents the first attempt of summarizing available information and baseline data for these biomonitoring key species exposed to industrial hazardous substances focusing on anthropogenic persistent organic pollutants (POPs). There was only limited information available for white-tailed eagles and common eider while extensive information exist on POP exposure and health effects in the four marine mammal species. Here we report organ-tissue endpoints (pathologies) and multiple biomarkers used to evaluate health and exposure of key species to POPs, respectively, over the past several decades during which episodes of significant population declines have been reported. Our review shows that POP exposure affects the reproductive system and survival through immune suppression and endocrine disruption, which have led to population-level effects on seals and white-tailed eagles in the Baltic. It is notable that many legacy contaminants, which have been banned for decades, still appear to affect Baltic wildlife. With respect to common eiders, changes in food composition, quality and contaminant exposure seem to have population effects which need to be investigated further, especially during the incubation period where the birds fast. Since new industrial contaminants continuously leak into the environment, we recommend continued monitoring of them in sentinel species in the Baltic, identifying possible effects linked to climate change, and modelling of population level effects of contaminants and climate change.
  6. Shi Y, Jiang J, Ye H, Sheng Y, Zhou Y, Foong SY, et al.
    Environ Res, 2023 Feb 01;218:114967.
    PMID: 36455630 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.114967
    We analyzed the problematic textile fiber waste as potential precursor material to produce multilayer cotton fiber biocomposite. The properties of the products were better than the current dry bearing type particleboards and ordinary dry medium-density fiberboard in terms of the static bending strength (67.86 MPa), internal bonding strength (1.52 MPa) and water expansion rate (9.57%). The three-layer, four-layer and five-layer waste cotton fiber composite (WCFC) were tried in the experiment, the mechanical properties of the three-layer WCFC are insufficient, the five-layer WCFC is too thick and the four-layer WCFC had the best comprehensive performance. The cross-section morphology of the four-layer WCFC shows a dense structure with a high number of adhesives attached to the fiber. The hardness and stiffness of the four-layer cotton fiber composite enhanced by the high crystallinity of cellulose content, and several chemical bondings were presence in the composites. Minimum mass loss (30%) and thermal weight loss rate (0.70%/°C) was found for the four-layer WCFC. Overall, our findings suggested that the use of waste cotton fiber (WCF) to prepare biocomposite with desirable physical and chemical properties is feasible, and which can potentially be used as building material, furniture and automotive applications.
  7. Yang Y, Zhang Z, Zhang L, Song F, Ren Y, Zhang X, et al.
    Sci Total Environ, 2023 Aug 01;884:163741.
    PMID: 37120025 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163741
    Wood-based panels provide efficient alternatives to materials such as plastics derived from traditional petroleum sources and thereby help to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Unfortunately, using indoor manufactured panel products also results in significant emissions of volatile organic compounds including olefins, aromatic and ester compounds, which negatively affect human health. This paper highlights recent developments and notable achievements in the field of indoor hazardous air treatment technologies to guide future research toward environmentally friendly and economically feasible directions that may have a significant impact on the improvement of human settlements. Summarizing and synthesizing the principles, advantages, and limitations of different technologies can assist policymakers and engineers in identifying the most appropriate technology for a particular air pollution control program based on criteria such as cost-effectiveness, efficiency, and environmental impact. In addition, insights into the development of indoor air pollution control technologies are provided and potential areas for innovation, improvement of existing technologies, and development of new technologies are identified. Finally, the authors also hope that this sub-paper will raise public awareness of indoor air pollution issues and promote a better understanding of the importance of indoor air pollution control technologies for public health, environmental protection, and sustainable development.
  8. Xu T, Tang X, Qiu M, Lv X, Shi Y, Zhou Y, et al.
    J Environ Manage, 2023 Oct 15;344:118718.
    PMID: 37541001 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.118718
    Antibiotic-containing wastewater is a typical biochemical refractory organic wastewater and general treatment methods cannot effectively and quickly degrade the antibiotic molecules. In this study, a novel boron-doped diamond (BDD) pulse electrochemical oxidation (PEO) technology was proposed for the efficient removal of levofloxacin (LFXN) from wastewater. The effects of current density (j), initial pH (pH0), frequency (f), electrolyte types and initial concentration (c0(LFXN)) on the degradation of LFXN were systematically investigated. The degradation kinetics under four different processes have also been studied. The possible degradation mechanism of LFXN was proposed by Density functional theory calculation and analysis of degradation intermediates. The results showed that under the optimal parameters, the COD removal efficiency (η(COD)) was 94.4% and the energy consumption (EEC) was 81.43 kWh·m-3 at t = 120 min. The degradation of LFXN at pH = 2.8/c(H2O2) followed pseudo-first-order kinetics. The apparent rate constant was 1.33 × 10-2 min-1, which was much higher than other processes. The degradation rate of LFXN was as follows: pH = 2.8/c(H2O2) > pH = 2.8 > pH = 7/c(H2O2) > pH = 7. Ten aromatic intermediates were formed during the degradation of LFXN, which were further degraded to F-, NH4+, NO3-, CO2 and H2O. This study provides a promising approach for efficiently treating LFXN antibiotic wastewater by pulsed electrochemical oxidation with a BDD electrode without adding H2O2.
  9. Sinding MS, Gopalakrishnan S, Ramos-Madrigal J, de Manuel M, Pitulko VV, Kuderna L, et al.
    Science, 2020 06 26;368(6498):1495-1499.
    PMID: 32587022 DOI: 10.1126/science.aaz8599
    Although sled dogs are one of the most specialized groups of dogs, their origin and evolution has received much less attention than many other dog groups. We applied a genomic approach to investigate their spatiotemporal emergence by sequencing the genomes of 10 modern Greenland sled dogs, an ~9500-year-old Siberian dog associated with archaeological evidence for sled technology, and an ~33,000-year-old Siberian wolf. We found noteworthy genetic similarity between the ancient dog and modern sled dogs. We detected gene flow from Pleistocene Siberian wolves, but not modern American wolves, to present-day sled dogs. The results indicate that the major ancestry of modern sled dogs traces back to Siberia, where sled dog-specific haplotypes of genes that potentially relate to Arctic adaptation were established by 9500 years ago.
  10. Sinding MS, Gopalakrishan S, Vieira FG, Samaniego Castruita JA, Raundrup K, Heide Jørgensen MP, et al.
    PLoS Genet, 2018 11;14(11):e1007745.
    PMID: 30419012 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1007745
    North America is currently home to a number of grey wolf (Canis lupus) and wolf-like canid populations, including the coyote (Canis latrans) and the taxonomically controversial red, Eastern timber and Great Lakes wolves. We explored their population structure and regional gene flow using a dataset of 40 full genome sequences that represent the extant diversity of North American wolves and wolf-like canid populations. This included 15 new genomes (13 North American grey wolves, 1 red wolf and 1 Eastern timber/Great Lakes wolf), ranging from 0.4 to 15x coverage. In addition to providing full genome support for the previously proposed coyote-wolf admixture origin for the taxonomically controversial red, Eastern timber and Great Lakes wolves, the discriminatory power offered by our dataset suggests all North American grey wolves, including the Mexican form, are monophyletic, and thus share a common ancestor to the exclusion of all other wolves. Furthermore, we identify three distinct populations in the high arctic, one being a previously unidentified "Polar wolf" population endemic to Ellesmere Island and Greenland. Genetic diversity analyses reveal particularly high inbreeding and low heterozygosity in these Polar wolves, consistent with long-term isolation from the other North American wolves.
  11. Dong CD, Huang CP, Chen CW, Lam SS, Sonne C, Kang CK, et al.
    Environ Pollut, 2024 Feb 15;343:123173.
    PMID: 38110049 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.123173
    Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are critical environmental concerns due to their intrinsic toxic aromatic nature and concomitant circumstances that potentially harm the ecological and human health. In this study, converting mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla King) pericarps to value-added biochar by pyrolysis for evaluating the potential formation/destruction of biochar-bound PAHs was studied for the first time. This study designed and optimized the thermal processing conditions at 300-900 °C in the CO2 or N2 atmosphere, and heteroatoms (N, O, B, NB, and NS) were modified for mahogany pericarps biochar (MPBC) production. The MPBC500 exhibited significantly higher pyrolysis products of PAHs (2780 ± 38 ng g-1) than that of MPBC900 (78 ± 6 ng g-1) under N2 without introducing modified elements. Specifically, the inhibition capacity of MPBC500 for PAHs under CO2 was improved most efficiently by the active nitrogen species of the pyridinic N and pyrrolic N groups. The pyrolysis conditions and heteroatom modification of MPBC altered its physicochemical properties, that is, aromaticity and hydrophobicity, affecting the PAH concentration and composition in the pyrolysis products. This study reveals sustainable approaches to reduce the environmental footprint of biochar by focusing on increases in PAHs pollution in sustainable biochar produced from a low-carbon bioeconomy perspective.
  12. Sonne C, Lam SS, Kanstrup N
    Eco Environ Health, 2023 Mar;2(1):16-17.
    PMID: 38074451 DOI: 10.1016/j.eehl.2023.02.001
    Image 1.
  13. Sonne C, Ok YS, Lam SS, Rinklebe J, Alstrup AKO, Kim KH
    Sci Total Environ, 2020 May 01;715:136990.
    PMID: 32014787 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.136990
    Science of the Total Environment recently discussed how open access and predatory journals affect the flow of scientific knowledge in an unfortunate way. Now, South Korea's Ministry of Education is intervening to establish a system that will help its researchers avoid the growing global number of fake conferences of low academic and scientific merit. Here, we discuss solutions to this problem with respect to what is needed. Particularly, a list similar to that of Beall's for predatory conferences, without restricting researchers' academic freedom.
  14. Foong SY, Chan YH, Cheah WY, Kamaludin NH, Tengku Ibrahim TNB, Sonne C, et al.
    Bioresour Technol, 2021 Jan;320(Pt A):124299.
    PMID: 33129091 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.124299
    Hydrogen and gaseous fuel derived from wastes have opened up promising alternative pathways for the production of renewable and sustainable fuels to substitute classical fossil energy resources that cause global warming and pollution. Existing review articles focus mostly on gasification, reforming and pyrolysis processes, with limited information on particularly gaseous fuel production via pyrolysis of various waste products. This review provides an overview on the recent advanced pyrolysis technology used in hydrogen and gaseous fuel production. The key parameters to maximize the production of specific compounds were discussed. More studies are needed to optimize the process parameters and improve the understanding of reaction mechanisms and co-relationship between these advanced techniques. These advanced techniques provide novel environmentally sustainable and commercially procedures for waste-based production of hydrogen and gaseous fuels.
  15. Yek PNY, Peng W, Wong CC, Liew RK, Ho YL, Wan Mahari WA, et al.
    J Hazard Mater, 2020 08 05;395:122636.
    PMID: 32298946 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.122636
    We developed an innovative single-step pyrolysis approach that combines microwave heating and activation by CO2 or steam to transform orange peel waste (OPW) into microwave activated biochar (MAB). This involves carbonization and activation simultaneously under an inert environment. Using CO2 demonstrates dual functions in this approach, acting as purging gas to provide an inert environment for pyrolysis while activating highly porous MAB. This approach demonstrates rapid heating rate (15-120 °C/min), higher temperature (> 800 °C) and shorter process time (15 min) compared to conventional method using furnace (> 1 h). The MAB shows higher mass yield (31-44 wt %), high content of fixed carbon (58.6-61.2 wt %), Brunauer Emmett Teller (BET) surface area (158.5-305.1 m2/g), low ratio of H/C (0.3) and O/C (0.2). Activation with CO2 produces more micropores than using steam that generates more mesopores. Steam-activated MAB records a higher adsorption efficiency (136 mg/g) compared to CO2 activation (91 mg/g), achieving 89-93 % removal of Congo Red dye. The microwave pyrolysis coupled with steam or CO2 activation thereby represents a promising approach to transform fruit-peel waste to microwave-activated biochar that remove hazardous dye.
  16. Su W, Liu P, Cai C, Ma H, Jiang B, Xing Y, et al.
    J Hazard Mater, 2021 01 15;402:123541.
    PMID: 32745873 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.123541
    The dispersion of hyperaccumulators used in the phytoremediation process has caused environmental concerns because of their heavy metal (HM) richness. It is important to reduce the environmental risks and prevent the HM to reenter the ecological cycle and thereby the human food web. In this work, supercritical water gasification (SCWG) technology was used to convert Sedum plumbizincicola into hydrogen (H2) gas and to immobilize HMs into biochar. The H2 production correlated with temperature ranging from 380 to 440 ℃ with the highest H2 yield of 2.74 mol/kg at 440 ℃. The free-radical reaction and steam reforming reaction at high temperatures were likely to be the mechanism behind the H2 production. The analyses of bio-oil by the Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS) and Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) illustrated that the aromatic compounds, oxygenated compounds, and phenols were degraded into H2-rich gases. The increase of temperature enhanced the HM immobilization efficiency (>99.2 % immobilization), which was probably due to the quickly formed biochar that helped adsorb HMs. Then those HMs were chemically converted into stable forms through complexation with inorganic components on biochar, e.g., silicates, SiO2, and Al2O3. Consequently, the SCWG process was demonstrated as a promising approach for dispersing hyperaccumulators by immobilizing the hazardous HMs into biochar and simultaneously producing value-added H2-rich gases.
  17. Wan Mahari WA, Peng W, Nam WL, Yang H, Lee XY, Lee YK, et al.
    J Hazard Mater, 2020 12 05;400:123156.
    PMID: 32574879 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.123156
    A review of valorization of oyster mushroom species and waste generated in the mushroom cultivation is presented, with a focus on the cultivation and valorization techniques, conditions, current research status and particularly the hazard mitigation and value-added recovery of the waste mushroom substrate (WMS) - an abundant waste in mushroom cultivation industry. Based on the studies reviewed, the production rate of the present mushroom industry is inadequate to meet market demands. There is a need for the development of new mushroom cultivation methods that can guarantee an increase in mushroom productivity and quality (nutritional and medicinal properties). This review shows that the cylindrical baglog cultivation method is more advantageous compared with the wood tray cultivation method to improve the mushroom yield and cost efficiency. Approximately 5 kg of potentially hazardous WMS (spreading diseases in mushroom farm) is generated for production of 1 kg of mushroom. This encourages various valorization of WMS for use in agricultural and energy conversion applications, mainly as biocompost, plant growing media, and bioenergy. The use of WMS as biofertilizer has shown desirable performance compared to conventional chemical fertilizer, whilst the use of WMS as energy feedstock could produce cleaner bioenergy sources compared to conventional fuels.
  18. Sonne C, Peng WX, Alstrup AKO, Lam SS
    Science, 2021 Jun 18;372(6548):1271.
    PMID: 34140374 DOI: 10.1126/science.abj3359
  19. Wan Mahari WA, Nam WL, Sonne C, Peng W, Phang XY, Liew RK, et al.
    Bioresour Technol, 2020 Sep;312:123572.
    PMID: 32470829 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.123572
    Microwave vacuum pyrolysis of palm kernel shell was examined to produce engineered biochar for application as additive in agriculture application. The pyrolysis approach, performed at 750 W of microwave power, produced higher yield of porous biochar (28 wt%) with high surface area (270 cm2/g) compared to the yield obtained by conventional approach (<23 wt%). Addition of the porous biochar in mushroom substrate showed increased moisture content (99%) compared to the substrate without biochar (96%). The mushroom substrate added with biochar (150 g) was optimal in shortening formation, growth, and full colonization of the mycelium within one month. Using 2.5% of the biochar in mushroom substrate desirably maintained the optimum pH level (6.8-7) during the mycelium colonization period, leading to high mycelium growth (up to 91%) and mushroom yield (up to 280 g). The engineered biochar shows great potential as moisture retention and neutralizing agent in mushroom cultivation.
  20. Wu Y, Ge S, Xia C, Cai L, Mei C, Sonne C, et al.
    Bioresour Technol, 2020 Oct;313:123675.
    PMID: 32563796 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.123675
    An innovative approach was developed by incorporating high-pressure CO2 into the separate hydrolysis-fermentation of aspen leftover branches, aiming to enhance the bioethanol production efficiency. The high-pressure CO2 significantly increased the 72-h enzymatic hydrolysis yield of converting aspen into glucose from 53.8% to 82.9%. The hydrolysis process was performed with low enzyme loading (10 FPU g-1 glucan) with the aim of reducing the cost of fuel bioethanol production. The ethanol yield from fermentation of the hydrolyzed glucose using yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) was 8.7 g L-1, showing increment of 10% compared with the glucose control. Techno-economic analysis indicated that the energy consumption of fuel bioethanol production from aspen branch chips was reduced by 35% and the production cost was cut 44% to 0.615 USD L-1, when 68 atm CO2 was introduced into the process. These results furtherly emphasized the low carbon footprint of this sustainable energy production approach.
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