The study aimed to determine eight hazardous heavy metals in surface water and sediment samples collected from the Naf River, Shah Porir Dwip (estuary), and mostly around Saint Martin's Island in the Bay of Bengal. The results of heavy metals in water samples were ranged as Pb 14.7-313.0, Cd 33.0-70.0, Cr
The energy profile of India is dominated by fossil fuels, which create concerns over resource and environmental sustainability as fossil fuels are non-renewable and high carbon emitting. This scenario has necessitated the call for more renewables to replace fossil fuels to address resource and environmental sustainability concerns. This study, therefore, investigates the possibility of switching the fossil fuels of oil, coal, and natural gas for renewable energy in India. Using annual Indian data spanning more than four decades, a transcendental logarithmic production function based on a second-order Taylor Series approximation is estimated with the ridge regression technique. To achieve robustness, two equations with gross domestic product and adjusted net savings as regressands are estimated to proxy economic growth and sustainable development, respectively. The empirical results show substantial substitution possibilities between the fuels for both gross domestic product and adjusted net savings equations. The empirical findings show that India has the capacity to satisfy its energy needs through renewables to pursue not only economic growth but sustainable development. To actualize this potential, the Indian government should promote investment in renewables as this also promotes economic growth and development.
The current work aimed to study the physical, chemical and biological properties of food wastes generated from small and medium industries by using Takakura composting methods. Composting method was referred as indigenous compost (IC) and commercial compost (CC) reactors. The reactors were operated at 44 °C, pH (6 to 8.5) and 40 to 55 % of moisture for 22 weeks in closed environment using a carpet around the basket to avoid external disturbance. The results revealed that the total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), total phosphorus (TP) and potassium (K) in the IC reactors were 6300, 10.57 and 726.07 ppm, respectively, while 8400, 15.45 and 727.81 ppm, respectively, in the CC reactors. Moreover, both IC and CC has Cd2+, Cr2+, Cu2+, Pb2+, Ni2+ and Zn2+ concentrations within the compost legislation standard (CLS). The findings of this study indicated that the composting method could be used as an alternative food waste management in small and medium industry and the Takakura composting method is suitable for food waste composting.
Clinacanthus nutans dichloromethane fraction (CN-Dcm) extract has previously been proven to suppress breast cancer (MCF7) cell proliferation. Despite this, the extrinsic and intrinsic apoptosis mechanisms involved in C. nutans extract-treated MCF7 cells are still unknown. This study was intended to subfractionate CN-Dcm extract using column chromatography and analyse the treated MCF7 cells using the CellTiter 96® AQueous One Solution Cell Proliferation (MTS) assay, Annexin V/propidium iodide (PI) assay, western blot, and reverse transcription-qualitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Out of nine subfraction extracts (SF1 to SF9), SF2 extract strongly inhibited MCF7 cells with the lowest IC50 value (23.51 ± 1.00 µg/mL) and substantially induced apoptosis in the MCF7 cells. In treated MCF7 cells, SF2 extract significantly upregulated the expression of P53, BAX, BID, caspase-8, caspase-9, and caspase-3, while downregulating the expression of BCL2. The presence of potential bioactive chemical compounds in the SF2 extract was identified using liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF-MS). Thus, the SF2 extract has the potential to induce apoptosis in MCF7 cells through intrinsic and extrinsic pathways.
To enhance dye removal and energy recovery efficiencies in single-pair electrode photocatalytic fuel cell (PFC-AC), dual cathodes PFC (PFC-ACC) and dual photoanodes PFC (PFC-AAC) were established. Results revealed that PFC-AAC yielded the highest decolorization rate (1.44 h-1) due to the promotion of active species such as superoxide radical (•O2-) and hydroxyl radical (•OH) when the number of photoanode was doubled. The results from scavenging test and UV-Vis spectrophotometry disclosed that •OH was the primary active species in dye degradation of PFC. Additionally, PFC-AAC also exhibited the highest power output (17.99 μW) but the experimental power output was much lower than the theoretical power output (28.24 μW) due to the strong competition of electron donors of doubled photoanodes to electron acceptors at the single cathode and its high internal resistance. Besides, it was found that the increments of dye volume and initial dye concentration decreased the decolorization rate but increased the power output due to the higher amount of sacrificial agents presented in PFC. Based on the abovementioned findings and the respective dye intermediate products identified from gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), the possible degradation pathway of RR120 was scrutinized and proposed.
Globally, around 1.3 billion tonnes of waste are generated annually, and solid waste management has thus become a major concern worldwide. There are projections of a 70% increase in waste generation from 2016 to 2050 owing to urbanization and the rapid growth of the global population. Estimates indicate that around 38,200 tonnes of waste are generated per day in Malaysia, and this volume of waste is significantly shortening the planned life spans of operating sanitary landfills in the country. Batu Pahat is a district in the state of Johor, Malaysia, with a relatively large population of 495,000 and with no record of an operational sanitary landfill. This study was conducted to identify and classify the most suitable sites for sanitary landfill developments in southern Peninsular Malaysia by means of the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), which is recognized as a competent technique for multicriteria decision-making. The resulting landfill site suitability index map established 33.88 km2 of area coverage as very highly suitable for landfill development, while 353.86 km2 of area coverage was classified as unsuitable. Sites 1-6 were identified as the most suitable for landfill activities. Sites 1-5 are situated in agricultural land areas, while site 6 is in a forested land area; this implies public participation and the adoption of compensatory measures in the event of landfill development in these areas, given their socioeconomic importance. The six suitable sites are all at least 2000 m from rivers: 2000-3000 m for sites 1, 3, and 5 and > 3000 m for sites 2, 4, and 6. The six sites are all > 3000 m from fault zones and > 1000 m from flood-prone areas, meaning that occurrences such as fault movements and flooding will have minimal impact on the operational activities of landfills at these sites. The selection of sites 1-6 as very suitable for landfill development was associated with an overall accuracy rating of 93.33% and kappa coefficient score of 0.92 based on accuracy assessment analysis of all sites. This study will guide the actions of policymakers, city planners, and local authorities toward sustainable and environment-friendly landfill development and operation in Batu Pahat and other districts in the state of Johor.
Extensive theoretical and empirical evidence supports the crucial role of savings in driving a nation's economic growth and development. However, previous studies have not considered their potential environmental implications. This study aims to explore the influence of savings and remittances on the Developing-8 countries (D-8) from 1989 to 2019, using the panel autoregressive distributed (ARDL) model. The findings reveal that national savings and remittances, in the long run, help mitigate environmental degradation in the D-8 countries but energy use and population growth stimulate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. In contrast, economic growth does not significantly affect these countries' environmental quality in the long run. However, none of the explanatory variables have any significant relationship with CO2 emissions in the short run. Therefore, policymakers in the D-8 countries are strongly encouraged to prioritize the enhancement of national savings across the three economic agents to maximize the positive effects of savings on environmental quality. Government savings can be increased by reducing deficits and borrowings, while corporate savings can be encouraged by implementing investment tax credits and promoting research and development. Additionally, governments can embark on public enlightenment campaigns on financial education and provide incentives to encourage household savings.
China Overseas Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone (COCZs) which as a platform for China's foreign investment and trade has a potential impact on CO2 emissions, while strengthening bilateral investment and trade between China and the host countries. Since most of the COCZs are located in countries along the "Belt and Road," the purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of COCZs on CO2 emissions of the countries along the "Belt and Road" and the mechanism of this impact. We constructed a panel data of 63 countries along the "Belt and Road" from 2000 to 2020, and conducted an empirical study using the difference-in-difference (DID) model. Our research result show that COCZs can significantly increase the CO2 emissions of the countries along the "Belt and Road." Then, we conduct a series of robustness tests and endogeneity test on the estimation results of the baseline model, and the results of the tests all support the conclusion reached by the baseline model. Our heterogeneity analysis reveals that the effect of COCZs on CO2 emissions is more significant in Asian countries with lower national income or industrialization and higher country risk. Finally, we analyzed industrial value added and energy depletion as possible impact mechanisms, the results of mechanism model shows that COCZs can increase the industrial value added and then significantly increase CO2 emissions, but energy depletion was not an efficient mechanism. Our paper provides a new insight into the impact of bilateral economic and trade cooperation zones on CO2 emissions in host countries.
In the wake of various catastrophic consequences of climate change, Malaysia, a rapidly developing economy, is also inevitably experiencing environmental degradation that merits prompt and serious attention from policymakers and its government. Hence, this study simultaneously highlights the short and long-run dynamic connections between carbon emission in Malaysia and the trio of corruption levels, foreign investment inflow, and trade liberalization. The study also controls for a combination of other factors including energy use, GDP, and urbanization. A robust empirical analysis was conducted on time series observations for the country based on the recent Dynamic ARDL simulation. It was observed that Malaysia's per capita pollution levels significantly reduces based on the corruption perception levels during the sampling period while the economic expansion's effect on emission levels is positive. Additionally, urbanization, trade levels and energy use all aggravate the emission levels. On the other hand, although FDI poses an insignificant environmental damage in the short run, its environmental sustainability enhancement roles were supported by its long-run negative impacts on carbon emission. Lastly, the EKC was established and as such, essential policy directions were provided for stakeholders in the rapidly emerging Malaysian economy.
The bio- and thermal degradation as well as the water absorption properties of a novel biocomposite comprising cellulose nanoparticles, natural rubber and polylactic acid have been investigated. The biodegradation process was studied through an assembled condition based on the soil collected from the central Malaysian palm oil forests located in the University of Nottingham Malaysia. The effects of the presence of the cellulose nanoparticles and natural rubber on the biodegradation of polylactic acid were investigated. The biodegradation process was studied via thermal gravimetric analysis and scanning electron microscopy. It was understood that the reinforcement of polylactic acid with cellulose nanoparticles and natural rubber increases the thermal stability by ~ 20 °C. Limited amorphous regions on the surface of the cellulose nanoparticles accelerated the biodegradation and water absorption processes. Based on the obtained results, it is predicted that complete biodegradation of the synthesised biocomposites can take place in 3062 h, highlighting promising agricultural applications for this biocomposite.
Attributable to the prosperous production growth of palm oil in Malaysia, the generated palm oil mill effluent (POME) poses a high threat owing to its highly polluted characteristic. Urged by the escalating concern of environmental conservation, POME pollution abatement and potential energy recovery from the effluent are flagged up as a research topic of interest. In this study, a cutting-edge photocatalytic fuel cell (PFC) system with employment of ZnO/Zn nanorod array (NRA) photoanode, CuO/Cu cathode, and persulfate (PS) oxidant was successfully designed to improve the treatment of POME and simultaneous energy production. The photoelectrodes were fabricated and characterized by field emission scanning electron microscopy with energy (FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX), and Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller analysis (BET). Owing to the properties of strong oxidant of PS, the proposed PFC/PS system has exhibited exceptional performance, attaining chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency of 96.2%, open circuit voltage (Voc) of 740.0 mV, short circuit current density (Jsc) of 146.7 μA cm-2, and power density (Pmax) of 35.6 μW cm-2. The pre-eminent PFC/PS system performance was yielded under optimal conditions of 2.5 mM of persulfate oxidant, POME dilution factor of 1:20, and natural solution pH of 8.51. Subsequently, the postulated photoelectrocatalytic POME treatment mechanism was elucidated by the radical scavenging study and Mott-Schottky (M-S) analysis. The following recycling test affirmed the stability and durability of the photoanode after four continuous repetition usages while the assessed electrical energy efficiency revealed the economic viability of PFC system serving as a post-treatment for abatement of POME. These findings contributed toward enhancing the sustainability criteria and economic viability of palm oil by adopting sustainable and efficient POME post-treatment technology.
This study examined (1) the effect of environmental concern, environmental knowledge, and health consciousness on attitude towards eBikes; (2) the effect of eBikes attributes of interest and infrastructure on perceived behavioural control; and finally, (3) the effect of attitude towards eBikes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control on eBikes commuting intention and its usage among Malaysian youth. This study adopted a cross-sectional design and convenience sampling, and collected quantitative data from 699 Malaysian youth through an online survey. Findings revealed that (1) environmental concern, environmental knowledge, and health consciousness had a positive and significant impact on attitude towards eBikes; (2) eBikes attributes of interest and infrastructure were positively and significantly related to perceived behavioural control; (3) attitude towards eBikes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control had a positive and significant effect on eBikes commuting intention; (4) eBikes commuting intention was positively and significantly related to the usage of eBikes; (5) eBikes commuting intention significantly mediated the relationship between attitude towards eBikes and perceived behavioural control on the usage of eBikes among Malaysian youth; and (6) eBikes commuting intention did not mediate the relationship between social norm and usage of eBikes. Although environmental knowledge and social norm are proven to have a positive and significant relationship, this analysis demonstrated a relatively low effect size. To promote environmental and sustainable development in cities through the mass adoption of eBikes among Malaysian youth, policymakers should highlight the benefits of using eBikes, introduce proper policies, and involve the development of improved and connected cycling paths in the city sustainable infrastructure plans.
The current study examines sustainable electricity consumption for economic growth in a small open and tourist economy. The energy-tourism nexus is evaluated for the relationship between sustainable electricity consumption and the international tourist arrival for the South African economy. The present study leverages on annual frequency data for South Africa from 1995 to 2019 for empirical analysis using the ARDL technique. Accordingly, empirical findings indicate a significant direct connection between the sustainable electricity consumption and the international tourism arrival; the study affirms that tourism-induced energy hypothesis is valid in South Africa. However, from a policy standpoint, alternative energy efficiency mechanisms such as renewable energy systems and emancipation of current energy management capabilities are recommended in South Africa. This is necessary for sustainable eco-friendly tourism that engenders clean energy consumption for the study area. More insights into policy caveats are presented in the concluding section.
Solar energy provides desired thermal energy for diverse applications, including industrial heating, domestic cooking, power generation, desalination, and agri-food preservation. Despite extensive research on solar drying from the scientific community, there are limited practical applications for small-scale use. This review attempts to analyze the design features of three specific types of dryers for food drying applications: solar evacuated tube dryers, biomass dryers, and hybrid solar dryers. The thermal performance of the three dryers is evaluated in terms of drying time, moisture removal, and temperature attained during drying. The review also assesses the prospects of solar dryers, highlighting the need for further research into innovative designs and advanced drying capabilities. The study provides valuable information for enhancing dryer performance with various integrated solutions.
The connection between ecological footprint and economic complexity has significant implications for environmental sustainability regarding the policy. Additionally, institutional quality is crucial in ensuring environmental sustainability and moderating the link between economic complexity and ecological footprint. The task of achieving sustainable environmental development and preventing further degradation of the environment poses a formidable challenge to policymakers. This study delves into the significance of technology innovation and renewable energy in creating a more sustainable environment. Recognizing the need for a more critical review, this research establishes the dynamic linkage between ecological footprint, renewable energy consumption, and technological innovation, especially in conjunction with a moderating component, particularly institutional quality, in G20 countries from 1990 to 2021. We employ advanced panel approaches to address panel data analysis concerns, such as cross-sectional dependence, slope heterogeneity, unit root, cointegration test and CS-ARDL. The long-term estimator indicates that renewable energy and technological innovation negatively but significantly impact the ecological footprint. Whilst economic growth, FDI, and urbanization have shown a positive and significant impact on ecological footprint; institutional quality negatively moderates the relationship between ecological footprint, renewable energy, and technological innovation in the G20 countries. Further evidence from the Dumitrescu-Hurlin Granger causality test shows that efforts to expand access to renewable energy, technological advancements, and economic growth will significantly affect environmental impacts. Based on our results, it is imperative to introduce more favorable legislation and encourage technological advancements in the field of renewable energy if we want to achieve our sustainable development objectives.
Bioretention systems have been implemented as stormwater best management practices (BMPs) worldwide to treat non-point sources pollution. Due to insufficient research, the design guidelines for bioretention systems in tropical countries are modeled after those of temperate countries. However, climatic factors and stormwater runoff characteristics are the two key factors affecting the capacity of bioretention system. This paper reviews and compares the stormwater runoff characteristics, bioretention components, pollutant removal requirements, and applications of bioretention systems in temperate and tropical countries. Suggestions are given for bioretention components in the tropics, including elimination of mulch layer and submerged zone. More research is required to identify suitable additives for filter media, study tropical shrubs application while avoiding using grass and sedges, explore function of soil faunas, and adopt final discharged pollutants concentration (mg/L) on top of percentage removal (%) in bioretention design guidelines.
This study aims to investigate the relationship between renewable energy and ecological footprint during the period of 1994-2018 from selected developing countries in Europe (Czechia, Croatia, Poland, Romania, Romania, and Turkey). In this context, the ecological footprint (EF), which has recently been the most widely used environmental indicator in the literature and is known as the most comprehensive because it includes many environmental factors, has been determined as the dependent variable. As independent variables, renewable energy consumption (REC), energy-related tax revenue (ETR), and energy productivity (EP) are included in the model. GDP and development of environment-related technologies (DET), which affect the ecological footprint in the model, are determined as control variables. As a result of the panel data analysis, according to the Durbin-Hausman cointegration test result, a long-term relationship between the variables was determined. According to the CCE estimator analysis, it can be said that there is a positive relationship between ETR and GDP variables and EF. For the AMG estimator analysis, it can be said that there is a positive relationship between GDP and EP variables and EF. Finally, according to the results of the Konya Causality test, a unidirectional causality relationship is detected from environmental technologies to the ecological footprint in Turkey, and a unidirectional causality relationship from the ecological footprint to GDP in Czechia, Romania, and Turkey. Furthermore, no causality relationship is detected between other variables. Based on the results, several policy implications are suggested.
The management of waste through dual way of recycling (i-e offline and online) is assumed to have a key role in attaining ecological sustainability and enabling circular practices. The research on online recycling is gaining evolution in recent age. Prior literature on the current research theme has failed to provide a comprehensive outlook and future trend. Therefore, the current research intends to elaborate the current research scenario linked with online recycling by critically scrutinizing the prior research over the last 41 years. A comprehensive analysis was conducted using the Scopus database, retrieving a total of 866 articles. These articles were selected to provide a conceptual overview and understanding of the fundamental research conducted in the field. By employing bibliometric analysis this research provides comprehensive detail about evolution, mapping of publications and prominent trends from the year 1981 to 2022 to understand the practices and future trends of online recycling research. The outcomes elucidated that there is exponential increase in research publications relating to online recycling over the last five years. The most influential producer of online recycling research are China, United Kingdom and United States. Chinese Universities has the highest number of publications among all the countries across globe. Moreover, the current research trend is focused on technology based circular economy, industrial ecology, bio-based waste management, dual channel recycling, municipal waste, waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), environmental impact and lifecycle assessment. Hence, the prominent research perspective and highlighted features could offer recommendation for upcoming studies to contribute in literature and help practitioners, policymakers and professionals move towards circular practices.
With the growing nature of the ecological footprint, research studies focus on exploring new determinants of environmental degradation. Moreover, the role of natural resources and energy consumption in environmental quality has gained much attention in the literature. However, tourism raises the demand for energy consumption and extraction of natural resources. This research study investigates the influence of natural resources, tourism, and renewable energy in MINT countries, using novel Cross-Sectional Auto Regressive Distributive Lag (CS-ARDL) methodological techniques and employing yearly data from 1995 to 2018. The study also applied recently developed Kónya (Econ Model 23:978-992, 2006) causality to identify the causal relationship between the variables of the heterogenous panel. The result shows that tourism, natural resources, and economic growth are positively associated with the ecological footprint in the long-run. However, renewable energy consumption negatively impacts ecological footprint in both in short-run and the long-run. Further, the study explored a bidirectional causality between economic growth and ecological footprint in MINT countries. Finally, based on the empirical results, the study recommends that the authorities in MINT countries revisit their tourism, natural resources, and economic activities policies to enhance the environmental quality and reduce the ecological footprint.