Displaying publications 1 - 20 of 63 in total

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  1. Aghbashlo M, Tabatabaei M, Soltanian S, Ghanavati H, Dadak A
    Waste Manag, 2019 Mar 15;87:485-498.
    PMID: 31109549 DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2019.02.029
    A comprehensive exergoeconomic performance analysis of a municipal solid waste digestion plant integrated with a biogas genset was conducted throughout this study in order to highlight its bottlenecks for further improvements. Exergoeconomic performance parameters of each component of the plant were determined by solving exergy and cost balance equations based on Specific Exergy Costing (SPECO) approach. The analysis was conducted to reveal the cost structure of the plant based on actual operating information and economic data. The exergy unitary cost of two main products of the plant, i.e., bioelectricity and biofertilizer were determined at 26.27 and 2.27 USD/GJ, respectively. The genset showed the highest overall cost rate (101.27 USD/h) followed by digester (68.41 USD/h). Furthermore, the net bioelectricity amounted to 67.81% of the overall cost rate of the products, while this value was 32.19% for both liquid and dewatered digestates. According to the results obtained, efforts should mainly focus on enhancing the efficiency of the genset in order to boost the overall performance of the system exergoeconomically. In addition, minimizing the investment-related cost of the digester could also substantially enhance the exergoeconomic performance of the plant.
  2. Aghbashlo M, Amiri H, Moosavi Basri SM, Rastegari H, Lam SS, Pan J, et al.
    Trends Biotechnol, 2023 Jun;41(6):785-797.
    PMID: 36535818 DOI: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2022.11.009
    Chitosan, an amino polysaccharide mostly derived from crustaceans, has been recently highlighted for its biological activities that depend on its molecular weight (MW), degree of deacetylation (DD), and acetylation pattern (AP). More importantly, for some advanced biomaterials, the homogeneity of the chitosan structure is an important factor in determining its biological activity. Here we review emerging enzymes and cell factories, respectively, for in vitro and in vivo preparation of chitosan oligosaccharides (COSs), focusing on advances in the analysis of the AP and structural modification of chitosan to tune its functions. By 'mapping' current knowledge on chitosan's in vitro and in vivo activity with its MW and AP, this work could pave the way for future studies in the field.
  3. Al-Mamun A, Jafary T, Baawain MS, Rahman S, Choudhury MR, Tabatabaei M, et al.
    Environ Res, 2020 04;183:109273.
    PMID: 32105886 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2020.109273
    Developing cost-effective technology for treatment of sewage and nitrogen-containing groundwater is one of the crucial challenges of global water industries. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) oxidize organics from sewage by exoelectrogens on anode to produce electricity while denitrifiers on cathode utilize the generated electricity to reduce nitrogen from contaminated groundwater. As the exoelectrogens are incapable of oxidizing insoluble, polymeric, and complex organics, a novel integration of an anaerobic sequencing batch reactor (ASBR) prior to the MFC simultaneously achieve hydrolytic-acidogenic conversion of complex organics, boost power recovery, and remove Carbon/Nitrogen (C/N) from the sewage and groundwater. The results obtained revealed increases in the fractions of soluble organics and volatile fatty acids in pretreated sewage by 52 ± 19% and 120 ± 40%, respectively. The optimum power and current generation with the pretreated sewage were 7.1 W m-3 and 45.88 A m-3, respectively, corresponding to 8% and 10% improvements compared to untreated sewage. Moreover, the integration of the ASBR with the biocathode MFC led to 217% higher carbon and 136% higher nitrogen removal efficiencies compared to the similar system without ASBR. The outcomes of the present study represent the promising prospects of using ASBR pretreatment and successive utilization of solubilized organics in denitrifying biocathode MFCs for simultaneous energy recovery and C/N removal from both sewage and nitrate nitrogen-contaminated groundwater.
  4. Amid S, Aghbashlo M, Peng W, Hajiahmad A, Najafi B, Ghaziaskar HS, et al.
    Sci Total Environ, 2021 Oct 20;792:148435.
    PMID: 34147796 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148435
    A diesel engine running on diesel/biodiesel mixtures containing ethylene glycol diacetate (EGDA) was investigated from the exergoeconomic and exergoenvironmental viewpoints. Biodiesel was mixed with petrodiesel at 5% and 20% volume ratios, and the resultant mixtures were then doped with EGDA at 1-3% volume ratios. The exergetic sustainability indicators of the engine operating on the prepared fuel formulations were determined at varying engine loads. The indicators were selected to support decision-making on fuel composition and engine load following thermodynamic, economic, and environmental considerations. The engine load markedly affected all the studied exergetic parameters. The highest engine exergetic efficiency (39.5%) was obtained for petrodiesel doped with 1 v/v% EGDA at the engine load of 50%. The minimum value of the unit cost of brake power exergy (49.6 US$/GJ) was found for straight petrodiesel at full-load conditions, while the minimum value of the unit environmental impact of brake power exergy (29.9 mPts/GJ) was observed for petrodiesel mixed with 5 v/v% biodiesel at the engine load of 75%. Overall, adding EGDA to fuel mixtures did not favorably influence the outcomes of both exergetic methods due to its energy-intensive and cost-prohibitive production process. In conclusion, although petrodiesel fuel improvers such EGDA used in the present study could properly mitigate pollutant emissions, the adverse effects of such additives on thermodynamic parameters of diesel engines, particularly on exergoeconomic and exergoenvironmental indices, need to be taken into account, and necessary optimizations should be made before their real-world application.
  5. Amiri H, Aghbashlo M, Sharma M, Gaffey J, Manning L, Moosavi Basri SM, et al.
    Nat Food, 2022 Oct;3(10):822-828.
    PMID: 37117878 DOI: 10.1038/s43016-022-00591-y
    Crustacean waste, consisting of shells and other inedible fractions, represents an underutilized source of chitin. Here, we explore developments in the field of crustacean-waste-derived chitin and chitosan extraction and utilization, evaluating emerging food systems and biotechnological applications associated with this globally abundant waste stream. We consider how improving the efficiency and selectivity of chitin separation from wastes, redesigning its chemical structure to improve biotechnology-derived chitosan, converting it into value-added chemicals, and developing new applications for chitin (such as the fabrication of advanced nanomaterials used in fully biobased electric devices) can contribute towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Finally, we consider how gaps in the research could be filled and future opportunities could be developed to make optimal use of this important waste stream for food systems and beyond.
  6. Anwar MN, Shabbir M, Tahir E, Iftikhar M, Saif H, Tahir A, et al.
    J Hazard Mater, 2021 08 15;416:125851.
    PMID: 34492802 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.125851
    This study examines point and non-point sources of air pollution and particulate matter and their associated socioeconomic and health impacts in South Asian countries, primarily India, China, and Pakistan. The legislative frameworks, policy gaps, and targeted solutions are also scrutinized. The major cities in these countries have surpassed the permissible limits defined by WHO for sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, particulate matter, and nitrogen dioxide. As a result, they are facing widespread health problems, disabilities, and causalities at extreme events. Populations in these countries are comparatively more prone to air pollution effects because they spend more time in the open air, increasing their likelihood of exposure to air pollutants. The elevated level of air pollutants and their long-term exposure increases the susceptibility to several chronic/acute diseases, i.e., obstructive pulmonary diseases, acute respiratory distress, chronic bronchitis, and emphysema. More in-depth spatial-temporal air pollution monitoring studies in China, India, and Pakistan are recommended. The study findings suggest that policymakers at the local, national, and regional levels should devise targeted policies by considering all the relevant parameters, including the country's economic status, local meteorological conditions, industrial interests, public lifestyle, and national literacy rate. This approach will also help design and implement more efficient policies which are less likely to fail when brought into practice.
  7. Anwar MN, Fayyaz A, Sohail NF, Khokhar MF, Baqar M, Yasar A, et al.
    J Environ Manage, 2020 Apr 15;260:110059.
    PMID: 32090808 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.110059
    This study critically reviews the recent developments and future opportunities pertinent to the conversion of CO2 as a potent greenhouse gas (GHG) to fuels and valuable products. CO2 emissions have reached an alarming level of around 410 ppm and have become the primary driver of global warming and climate change leading to devastating events such as droughts, hurricanes, torrential rains, floods, tornados and wildfires across the world. These events are responsible for thousands of deaths and have adversely affected the economic development of many countries, loss of billions of dollars, across the globe. One of the promising choices to tackle this issue is carbon sequestration by pre- and post-combustion processes and oxyfuel combustion. The captured CO2 can be converted into fuels and valuable products, including methanol, dimethyl ether (DME), and methane (CH4). The efficient use of the sequestered CO2 for the desalinization might be critical in overcoming water scarcity and energy issues in developing countries. Using the sequestered CO2 to produce algae in combination with wastewater, and producing biofuels is among the promising strategies. Many methods, like direct combustion, fermentation, transesterification, pyrolysis, anaerobic digestion (AD), and gasification, can be used for the conversion of algae into biofuel. Direct air capturing (DAC) is another productive technique for absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere and converting it into various useful energy resources like CH4. These methods can effectively tackle the issues of climate change, water security, and energy crises. However, future research is required to make these conversion methods cost-effective and commercially applicable.
  8. Atarod P, Khlaife E, Aghbashlo M, Tabatabaei M, Hoang AT, Mobli H, et al.
    J Hazard Mater, 2021 04 05;407:124369.
    PMID: 33160782 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124369
    This study was set up to model and optimize the performance and emission characteristics of a diesel engine fueled with carbon nanoparticle-dosed water/‎diesel emulsion fuel using a combination of soft computing techniques. Adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system tuned by particle ‎swarm algorithm was used for modeling the performance and emission parameters of the engine, while optimization of the engine operating parameters and the fuel composition was conducted via multiple-objective particle ‎swarm algorithm. The model input variables were: injection timing (35-41° CA BTDC), engine load (0-100%), nanoparticle dosage (0-150 μM), and water content (0-3 wt%). The model output variables included: brake specific fuel consumption, brake thermal efficiency, as well as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and unburned hydrocarbons emission concentrations. The training and testing of the modeling system were performed on the basis of 60 data patterns obtained from the experimental trials. The effects of input variables on the performance and emission characteristics of the engine were thoroughly analyzed and comprehensively discussed as well. According to the experimental results, injection timing and engine load could significantly affect all the investigated performance and emission parameters. Water and nanoparticle addition to diesel could markedly affect some performance and emission parameters. The modeling system could predict the output parameters with an R2 > 0.93, MSE 
  9. Azwar E, Wan Mahari WA, Rastegari H, Tabatabaei M, Peng W, Tsang YF, et al.
    Bioresour Technol, 2022 Jan;344(Pt A):126202.
    PMID: 34710598 DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2021.126202
    Rapid growth of aquatic weeds in treatment pond poses undesirable challenge to shellfish aquaculture, requiring the farmers to dispose these weeds on a regular basis. This article reviews the potential and application of various aquatic weeds for generation of biofuels using recent thermochemical technologies (torrefaction, hydrothermal carbonization/liquefaction, pyrolysis, gasification). The influence of key operational parameters for optimising the aquatic weed conversion efficiency was discussed, including the advantages, drawbacks and techno-economic aspects of the thermochemical technologies, and their viability for large-scale application. Via extensive study in small and large scale operation, and the economic benefits derived, pyrolysis is identified as a promising thermochemical technology for aquatic weed conversion. The perspectives, challenges and future directions in thermochemical conversion of aquatic weeds to biofuels were also reviewed. This review provides useful information to promote circular economy by integrating shellfish aquaculture with thermochemical biorefinery of aquatic weeds rather than disposing them in landfills.
  10. Azwar E, Chan DJC, Kasan NA, Rastegari H, Yang Y, Sonne C, et al.
    J Hazard Mater, 2022 02 15;424(Pt A):127329.
    PMID: 34601414 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.127329
    Aquatic weeds pose hazards to aquatic ecosystems and particularly the aquatic environment in shellfish aquaculture due to its excessive growth covering entire freshwater bodies, leading to environmental pollution particularly eutrophication intensification, water quality depletion and aquatic organism fatality. In this study, pyrolysis of six aquatic weed types (wild and cultured species of Salvinia sp., Lemna sp. and Spirodella sp.) were investigated to evaluate its potential to reduce and convert the weeds into value-added chemicals. The aquatic weeds demonstrated high fixed carbon (8.7-47.3 wt%), volatile matter content (39.0-76.9 wt%), H/C ratio (1.5-2.0) and higher heating value (6.6-18.8 MJ/kg), representing desirable physicochemical properties for conversion into biofuels. Kinetic analysis via Coats-Redfern integral method obtained different orders for chemical reaction mechanisms (n = 1, 1.5, 2, 3), activation energy (55.94-209.41 kJ/mol) and pre-exponential factor (4.08 × 104-4.20 × 1017 s-1) at different reaction zones (zone 1: 150-268 °C, zone 2: 268-409 °C, zone 3: 409-600 °C). The results provide useful information for design and optimization of the pyrolysis reactor and establishment of the process condition to dispose this environmentally harmful species.
  11. Dehhaghi M, Tabatabaei M, Aghbashlo M, Kazemi Shariat Panahi H, Nizami AS
    J Environ Manage, 2019 Dec 01;251:109597.
    PMID: 31563049 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.109597
    Anaerobic digestion (AD) of organic wastes is among the most promising approaches used for the simultaneous treatment of various waste streams, environment conservation, and renewable bioenergy generation (biomethane). Among the latest innovations investigated to enhance the overall performance of this process both qualitatively and quantitatively, the application of some nanoparticles (NPs) has attracted a great deal of attention. Typically, the NPs of potential benefit to the AD process could be divided into three groups: (i) zero-valent iron (ZVI) NPs, (ii) metallic and metal oxides NPs, and (iii) carbon-based NPs. The present review focuses on the latest findings reported on the application of these NPs in AD process and presents their various mechanisms of action leading to higher or lower biogas production rates. Among the NPs studies, ZVI NPs could be regarded as the most promising nanomaterials for enhancing biogas production through stabilizing the AD process as well as by stimulating the growth of beneficial microorganisms to the AD process and the enzymes involved. Future research should focus on various attributes of NPs when used as additives in biogas production, including facilitating mixing and pumping operations, enriching the population and diversity of beneficial microorganisms for AD, improving biogas release, and inducing the production and activity of AD-related enzymes. The higher volume of methane-enriched biogas would be translated into higher returns on investment and could therefore, result in further growth of the biogas production industry. Nevertheless, efforts should be devoted to decreasing the price of NPs so that the enhanced biogas and methane production (by over 90%, compared to control) would be more economically justified, facilitating the large-scale application of these compounds. In addition to economic considerations, environmental issues are also regarded as major constraints which should be addressed prior to widespread implementation of NP-augmented AD processes. More specifically, the fate of NPs augmented in AD process should be scrutinized to ensure maximal beneficial impacts while adverse environmental/health consequences are minimized.
  12. Diwan D, Sharma M, Tabatabaei M, Gupta VK
    Nat Food, 2021 Dec;2(12):924-925.
    PMID: 37118249 DOI: 10.1038/s43016-021-00438-y
  13. Fardi Z, Shahbeik H, Nosrati M, Motamedian E, Tabatabaei M, Aghbashlo M
    Environ Res, 2024 Feb 01;242:117614.
    PMID: 37996005 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.117614
    Waste-to-energy conversion presents a pivotal strategy for mitigating the energy crisis and curbing environmental pollution. Pyrolysis is a widely embraced thermochemical approach for transforming waste into valuable energy resources. This study delves into the co-pyrolysis of terrestrial biomass (potato peel) and marine biomass (Sargassum angastifolium) to optimize the quantity and quality of the resultant bio-oil and biochar. Initially, thermogravimetric analysis was conducted at varying heating rates (5, 20, and 50 °C/min) to elucidate the thermal degradation behavior of individual samples. Subsequently, comprehensive analyses employing FTIR, XRD, XRF, BET, FE-SEM, and GC-MS were employed to assess the composition and morphology of pyrolysis products. Results demonstrated an augmented bio-oil yield in mixed samples, with the highest yield of 27.1 wt% attained in a composition comprising 75% potato peel and 25% Sargassum angastifolium. As confirmed by GC-MS analysis, mixed samples exhibited reduced acidity, particularly evident in the bio-oil produced from a 75% Sargassum angastifolium blend, which exhibited approximately half the original acidity. FTIR analysis revealed key functional groups on the biochar surface, including O-H, CO, and C-O moieties. XRD and XRF analyses indicated the presence of alkali and alkaline earth metals in the biochar, while BET analysis showed a surface area ranging from 0.64 to 1.60 m2/g. The favorable characteristics of the products highlight the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of co-pyrolyzing terrestrial and marine biomass for the generation of biofuels and value-added commodities.
  14. Ghorbani M, Kianmehr MH, Sarlaki E, Angelidaki I, Yang Y, Tabatabaei M, et al.
    Sci Total Environ, 2023 Sep 20;892:164526.
    PMID: 37257609 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164526
    The livestock industry needs to use crop straws that are highly digestible to improve feed productivity and reduce ruminal methane emissions. Hence, this study aimed to use the ozonation and pelleting processes to enhance the digestibility and reduce the ruminal methane emissions of wheat straw enriched with two nitrogen sources (i.e., urea and heat-processed broiler litter). Various analyses were conducted on the pellets, including digestibility indicators, mechanical properties, surface chemistry functionalization, chemical-spectral-structural features, and energy requirements. For comparison, loose forms of the samples were also analyzed. The nitrogen-enriched ozonated wheat straw pellets had 43.06 % lower lignin, 28.30 % higher gas production for 24 h, 12.28 % higher metabolizable energy, 13.78 % higher in vitro organic matter digestibility for 24 h, and 28.81 % higher short-chain fatty acid content than the nitrogen-enriched loose sample. The reduction of methane emissions by rumen microorganisms of nitrogen-enriched wheat straw by ozonation, pelleting, and ozonation-pelleting totaled 89.15 %, 23.35 %, and 66.98 %, respectively. The ozonation process resulted in a 64 % increase in the particle density, a 5.5-time increase in the tensile strength, and a 75 % increase in the crushing energy of nitrogen-enriched wheat straw. In addition, ozone treatment could also reduce the specific and thermal energy consumption required in the pelleting process by 15.10 % and 7.61 %, respectively.
  15. He Y, Kiehbadroudinezhad M, Hosseinzadeh-Bandbafha H, Gupta VK, Peng W, Lam SS, et al.
    Environ Pollut, 2024 Feb 01;342:123081.
    PMID: 38072018 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.123081
    E-waste, encompassing discarded materials from outdated electronic equipment, often ends up intermixed with municipal solid waste, leading to improper disposal through burial and incineration. This improper handling releases hazardous substances into water, soil, and air, posing significant risks to ecosystems and human health, ultimately entering the food chain and water supply. Formal e-waste recycling, guided by circular economy models and zero-discharge principles, offers potential solutions to this critical challenge. However, implementing a circular economy for e-waste management due to chemical and energy consumption may cause environmental impacts. Consequently, advanced sustainability assessment tools, such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), have been applied to investigate e-waste management strategies. While LCA is a standardized methodology, researchers have employed various routes for environmental assessment of different e-waste management methods. However, to the authors' knowledge, there lacks a comprehensive study focusing on LCA studies to discern the opportunities and limitations of this method in formal e-waste management strategies. Hence, this review aims to survey the existing literature on the LCA of e-waste management under a circular economy, shedding light on the current state of research, identifying research gaps, and proposing future research directions. It first explains various methods of managing e-waste in the circular economy. This review then evaluates and scrutinizes the LCA approach in implementing the circular bioeconomy for e-waste management. Finally, it proposes frameworks and procedures to enhance the applicability of the LCA method to future e-waste management research. The literature on the LCA of e-waste management reveals a wide variation in implementing LCA in formal e-waste management, resulting in diverse results and findings in this field. This paper underscores that LCA can pinpoint the environmental hotspots for various pathways of formal e-waste recycling, particularly focusing on metals. It can help address these concerns and achieve greater sustainability in e-waste recycling, especially in pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical pathways. The recovery of high-value metals is more environmentally justified compared to other metals. However, biometallurgical pathways remain limited in terms of environmental studies. Despite the potential for recycling e-waste into plastic or glass, there is a dearth of robust background in LCA studies within this sector. This review concludes that LCA can offer valuable insights for decision-making and policy processes on e-waste management, promoting environmentally sound e-waste recycling practices. However, the accuracy of LCA results in e-waste recycling, owing to data requirements, subjectivity, impact category weighting, and other factors, remains debatable, emphasizing the need for more uncertainty analysis in this field.
  16. Hosseinzadeh-Bandbafha H, Nazemi F, Khounani Z, Ghanavati H, Shafiei M, Karimi K, et al.
    Sci Total Environ, 2021 Aug 21;802:149842.
    PMID: 34455274 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149842
    Global environmental awareness has encouraged further research towards biofuel production and consumption. Despite the favorable properties of biofuels, the sustainability of their conventional production pathways from agricultural feedstocks has been questioned. Therefore, the use of non-food feedstocks as a promising approach to ensure sustainable biofuel production is encouraged. However, the use of synthetic solvents/chemicals and energy carriers during biofuel production and the consequent adverse environmental effects are still challenging. On the other hand, biofuel production is also associated with generating large volumes of waste and wastewater. Accordingly, the circular bioeconomy as an innovative approach to ensure complete valorization of feedstocks and generated waste streams under the biorefinery scheme is proposed. In line with that, the current study aims to assess the environmental sustainability of bioethanol production in a safflower-based biorefinery using the life cycle assessment framework. Based on the obtained results, safflower production and its processing into 1 MJ bioethanol under the safflower-based biorefinery led to damage of 2.23E-07 disability-adjusted life years (DALY), 2.35E-02 potentially disappeared fraction (PDF)*m2*yr, 4.76E-01 kg CO2 eq., and 3.82 MJ primary on the human health, ecosystem quality, climate change, and resources, respectively. Moreover, it was revealed that despite adverse environmental effects associated with safflower production and processing, the substitution of conventional products, i.e., products that are the typical products in the market without having environmental criteria, with their bio-counterparts, i.e., products produced in the biorefinery based on environmental criteria could overshadow the unfavorable effects and substantially enhance the overall sustainability of the biorefinery system. The developed safflower-based biorefinery led to seven- and two-time reduction in damage to the ecosystem quality and resources damage categories, respectively. The reductions in damage to human health and climate change were also found to be 52% and 24%, respectively. The weighted environmental impacts of the safflower-based biorefinery decreased by 64% due to the production of bioproducts, mainly biodiesel and biogas, replacing their fossil-based counterparts, i.e., diesel and natural gas, respectively. Finally, although the main focus of the developed safflower-based biorefinery was biofuel production, waste valorization and mainly animal feed played a significant role in improving the associated environmental impacts.
  17. Hosseinzadeh-Bandbafha H, Tabatabaei M, Aghbashlo M, Sulaiman A, Ghassemi A
    Methods Mol Biol, 2020;1980:121-151.
    PMID: 30838603 DOI: 10.1007/7651_2018_204
    Life-cycle assessment (LCA) is one of the most attractive tools employed nowadays by environmental policy-makers as well as business decision-makers to ensure environmentally sustainable production/consumption of various goods/services. LCA is a systematic, rigorous, and standardized approach aimed at quantifying resources consumed/depleted, pollutants released, and the related environmental and health impacts through the course of consumption and production of goods/service. Algal fuels are no exception and their environmental sustainability could be well scrutinized using the LCA methodology. In line with that, this chapter is devoted to present guidelines on the technical aspects of LCA application in algal fuels while elaborating on major standards used, i.e., ISO 14040 and 14044 standards. Overall, LCA practitioners as well as technical experts dealing with algal fuels in both the public and private sectors could be the main target audience for these guidelines.
  18. Hosseinzadeh-Bandbafha H, Tabatabaei M, Aghbashlo M, Khanali M, Khalife E, Roodbar Shojaei T, et al.
    Data Brief, 2020 Jun;30:105428.
    PMID: 32322611 DOI: 10.1016/j.dib.2020.105428
    Integrated environmental analysis using life cycle assessment for different fuel blends used in a single-cylinder diesel engine was performed to select the most eco-friendly fuel blend. More specifically, the inventory data in support of the integrated environmental analysis of water-emulsified 5% biodiesel/diesel blends (B5) containing different levels of carbon nanoparticles (i.e., 38, 75, and 150 µM) as a novel fuel nanoadditives at a fixed engine speed of 1000 rpm and four different engine loads (i.e., 25, 50, 75, and 100%) are presented. Neat diesel, B5, and B5 containing water (3 wt.%) were used as controls. Raw data related to the production and combustion of fuel blends were experimentally collected. Industrial (i.e., experiments at large scale) and laboratory (i.e., experiments at small scale) data were used for fuel blends production while experimental data obtained by engine tests were used for the combustion stage. Then raw data were processed with the IMPACT 2002+ methods by using the SimaPro software and EcoInvent database and were then converted into environmental impacts. Accordingly, six supplementary files including the inventory data on integrated environmental analysis of the different fuel blends are presented (Supplementary Files 1-6). The data could be applied for integrated environmental analysis in order to avoid subjective weighting of combustion parameters for selecting the most eco-friendly fuel blend for use in diesel engines. More specifically, by developing a single score indicator obtained through conducting integrated combustion analysis, comparison of various fuel blends is largely facilitated.
  19. Hosseinzadeh-Bandbafha H, Li C, Chen X, Peng W, Aghbashlo M, Lam SS, et al.
    J Hazard Mater, 2022 02 15;424(Pt C):127636.
    PMID: 34740507 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.127636
    Waste cooking oil (WCO) is a hazardous waste generated at staggering values globally. WCO disposal into various ecosystems, including soil and water, could result in severe environmental consequences. On the other hand, mismanagement of this hazardous waste could also be translated into the loss of resources given its energy content. Hence, finding cost-effective and eco-friendly alternative pathways for simultaneous management and valorization of WCO, such as conversion into biodiesel, has been widely sought. Due to its low toxicity, high biodegradability, renewability, and the possibility of direct use in diesel engines, biodiesel is a promising alternative to mineral diesel. However, the conventional homogeneous or heterogeneous catalysts used in the biodiesel production process, i.e., transesterification, are generally toxic and derived from non-renewable resources. Therefore, to boost the sustainability features of the process, the development of catalysts derived from renewable waste-oriented resources is of significant importance. In light of the above, the present work aims to review and critically discuss the hazardous WCO application for bioenergy production. Moreover, various waste-oriented catalysts used to valorize this waste are presented and discussed.
  20. Kabirnataj S, Nematzadeh GA, Talebi AF, Saraf A, Suradkar A, Tabatabaei M, et al.
    Int J Syst Evol Microbiol, 2020 May;70(5):3413-3426.
    PMID: 32375955 DOI: 10.1099/ijsem.0.004188
    Five cyanobacterial strains with Nostoc-like morphology from different localities of the Mazandaran province of Iran were characterized using a polyphasic approach. Three strains clustered within the Aliinostoc clade whereas one each of the remaining two strains clustered within the genera Desmonostoc and Desikacharya. The phylogenetic positioning of all the strains by the bayesian inference, neighbour joining and maximum parsimony methods inferred using 16S rRNA gene indicated them to represent novel species of the genera Aliinostoc, Desmonostoc and Desikacharya. The 16S-23S ITS secondary structure analysis revealed that all five strains under study represented novel species unknown to science. In accordance with the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants we describe three novel species of the genus Aliinostoc and one species each of the genera Desmonostoc and Desikacharya.
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