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Using the Stackelberg game theory, this paper evaluates the effectiveness of four subsidy schemes on the product eco-design and recycling rate in a manufacturing–recycling system that comprises a government, a manufacturer and a recycler. The principal results are: 1) For the cost-based subsidies, a fixed-cost subsidy to recyclers always yields higher recycling rate and social welfare. For the performance-based subsidies, the effects are closely related to market demand and the fixed cost coefficients of eco-design and recycling. Governments should select subsidy schemes according to the specific goals and market conditions. 2) Four subsidy schemes are the effective forces to promote product eco-design and recycling. Higher subsidy intensity brings better supply chain profits and better environment performance, but it does not always bring better social welfare. 3) Eco-design can increase waste recycling rates effectively, and recycling rates are more sensitive to eco-design when the government subsidizes the fixed costs of recyclers. [Display omitted] • Two cost-based subsidies and two performance-based subsidies are considered. • Government subsidy is useful to promote product eco-design and recycling. • For cost-based subsidy, government can prioritize recycler fixed cost subsidy. • For performance-based subsidy, government can adjust scheme with varied conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The textile industry is facing increasing criticism because of its intensive use of resources –both natural and fossil derived– and the negative environmental and societal impacts associated with the manufacturing, use and disposal of clothes. This has led to a desire to move towards a circular economy for textiles that will implement recycling concepts and technologies to protect resources, the environment and people. So far, recycling processes have been focused on the chemical and mechanical reuse of textile fibres. In contrast, bio-based processes for textile production and recycling have received little attention, beyond end-of-life composting. However, the selectivity and benign processing conditions associated with bio-based technologies hold great promise for circularising the textile life cycle and reducing the environmental impacts of textile production and processing. Developing circular and sustainable systems for textile production requires a revolutionary system approach that encompasses the choice of material and finishes being designed for recycling at the end of life, and in this context bio-based processes can help provide the means to maintain materials in a closed loop. This paper reviews established methods in mechanical and chemical recycling processes in closed-loop textile recycling of all fibre types, as well as bio-based processes that demonstrate open-loop textile recycling. Fermentation and enzymatic processes have been demonstrated for the production of all types of textiles, which in combination with enzymatic deconstruction of end of life cellulosic textiles could allow them to be recycled indefinitely. Within the context of the circular economy, bio-based processes could extend mechanical and chemical textile recycling mechanisms in the technical cycle, enabling greater circularity of textiles in the biological cycle before composting takes place. [Display omitted] • Closed-loop mechanical and technical recycling of textiles has been established. • Enzymatic processes can deconstruct all fibre types in open-loop textile recycling. • Biochemical processes can establish textiles circularity in the biological cycle. • Biotechnology can modify the concept of separate biological and technical cycles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generation of fines and ultra-fines is a concept that mining and metallurgical sectors can never shy away since the beginning of coal exploration. These coal fines and ultra-fines are what coal mines regarded as waste material without economic value until the present moment. Poor technologies in the past led to stockpiling of large quantities of fines and ultra-fines. Increase in mechanization in the coal mining industry has also led to the generation of large quantities of coal fines and ultra-fines. Several techniques in the mineral processing sector have been explored to beneficiate the coal fines and ultra-fines. The explored beneficiating technologies include enhanced gravity separation, oil agglomeration, flotation, flocculation, spirals, water only cyclone and dense medium cyclone. These beneficiating technologies have their own limitations when treating fine and ultrafine coal. Major limitations were operation cost and separation efficiency. However, many researchers have improved these beneficiation technologies in terms of cost and separation efficiencies producing clean coal product that meet the end user product specifications. This paper reviews recent developments in beneficiation technologies of coal fines and coal ultra-fines. • Developments in processing of fine and ultra-fine coal have been reviewed. • Recovery efficiency of different beneficiation processes of coal fines was analysed. • Enhanced gravity separators are the new alternative in the beneficiation of coal fines and ultra-fines. • Bio waste and waste oil to replace diesel collector or binder for surface based beneficiation. • Future developments in the processing of coal fines and ultra-fines have been proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental issues, legal requirements, and economic benefits of recycling activities lead to the development of reverse logistics operations and waste management. The current research considers a closed-loop supply chain for a cardboard recycling network including multiple suppliers and production stages. A mixed integer linear programming model is proposed to optimize the paper and cardboard recycling network, and a robust optimization approach is utilized to deal with demand uncertainty in this network. The model maximizes the total profit. It considers the operation, transportation, purchasing and holding inventory costs as well. Moreover, to illustrate the application of the proposed model, a real-world cardboard closed-loop supply chain design is investigated. The proposed model considers the option to open a new recycling center in the current network. The proposed model determines the optimal quantities of the waste paper, paper, sheet and cardboard that flow in this network. Finally, the computational analysis indicated that the proposed model provides efficient solutions for the studied cardboard closed-loop network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we developed and demonstrated an integrated closed eco-system for pollution reduction and prevention in rice-paper producing and livestock farms in a small-scale craft village which is located in a dry region of Vietnam with a lack of available surface water sources. The system is developed on the basis of material and energy exchange potentials between the wastewater and exhaust gas flows, and the use of available firewood ash as material for absorption. Two operation modes were presented aiming at a complete treatment of wastewater and exhaust gases as required by the Vietnamese national standards, and the recovery of valuable components in the system (N, P) for obtaining value-added products (such as fertilizer, irrigation water, etc.). In addition, the maximization of potentials on existing natural conditions at the local family, the avoidance of chemicals used in the system etc. have also helped to lower the investment and operation costs of the treatment facilities. The application of this system also contributes to the "greening" of the rice production chain in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam and is an example for a local closed cycle economy. Several public activities have also been conducted at the demonstration site (at the local family) with the purpose of maintaining and multiplying the system's effectiveness among the local public community. • An integrated closed eco-system for pollution reduction and prevention in rice-paper producing and livestock farms in a small-scale craft village. • The reasonable material and energy exchange potentials between the wastewater and exhaust gas flows were most effective Cleaner Production sollution in the system. • The recovery of valuable components (N, P) for obtaining value-added products (fertilizer, irrigation water, etc.), the maximization of potentials on existing natural conditions at the local family, the avoidance of chemicals used in the system etc give major economic and environmental benefits to the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pollution of water resource and shortage of clean water have become increasingly severe, developing an urgent demand of reliable, efficient yet low-cost material for everyday water purification. In the present work, a superhydrophobic paper tissue-based SiO 2 /PDMS composite has been prepared for both oil absorption and water-in-oil emulsion separation. The fabrication process is quite simple since it takes the full advantage of tissue that has naturally strong capillary force of which allows the material to absorb oil from water much more rapidly and completely (>99.9%) even under harsh conditions. The study has shown the novel material is exceptionally efficient in separating water-in-oil emulsion under gravity but no need of extraneous pressure. A variety of emulsions has been proven with high flux (>2,000 L m−2 h−1) and high separation efficiency (>99.4%). It is believed that this study has proposed a highly reliable and efficient, low cost strategy in both oil absorption and water purification, which shed light on water treatment of both civil use and industry. Image 1 • The composite prepared by paper tissue makes the cost quite low. • The composite takes advantage of strong capillary of paper tissue. • The composite can be practicably used for oil absorption and emulsion separation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under carbon cap-and-trade regulation, to control carbon emissions and improve the recycling efficiency of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) from the traditional offline recycling channel, more enterprises attempt to simultaneously combine the online recycling platform with the digital transformation of the supply chain. Based on a closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) with dual recycling channels and considering recycling advertising invested both in offline and online recycling channels, this paper attempts to explore the optimal recycling advertising mode which can both achieve economic and environmental performance under cap-and-trade regulation. Therefore, game models including a manufacturer and above either recycler are established, which are respectively correspond to four recycling advertising modes: manufacturer cooperates with neither recycler (MO mode), manufacturer only cooperates with the offline retailer (MR mode), manufacturer only cooperates with the online recycling platform (MT mode), and manufacturer cooperates with either recycler (MRT mode). Consequently, this paper solves the optimal decisions of the tripartite and focuses on the analysis of the impact of cooperative (competitive) recycling advertising under cap-and-trade regulation. By comparing the profits and total carbon emissions of the whole CLSC under four recycling advertising modes, the results indicate that: cooperative advertising between the manufacturer and two recyclers can achieve economic and environmental performance for the whole CLSC if the free-riding phenomenon occurs in recycling advertising. Otherwise, influenced by competitive recycling advertising, the above mode turns to the suboptimal one for the profits of two recyclers and the total carbon emissions of the CLSC. Moreover, driven by economic benefits, cooperative advertising will eventually become a consensus, but the total carbon emissions may not always be the least. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon footprints (CFs) are the measure of extent of green house gases (GHGs) emitted from any organization or activity. Reporting of extent of CFs in terms of CO 2 e from educational campus may be considered as a first step towards sustainable educational practices. The present study employs a bottom up approach where CFs due to consumption of resources from each academic department is evaluated separately and net is obtained by adding contributions from individual departments. This method has the advantage of avoiding the potential overlaps in the calculation. Hence this approach to calculate carbon footprints can lead to their precise CF evaluation. In order to justify above hypothesis, CF evaluation was carried out at Shikshana Prasarak Mandali's Sir Parashurambhau College, Pune for three consecutive years starting from 2015 to 2016. The average carbon footprints over the study period were 3630.57 ± 296.79 tones CO 2 e per year with per capita emission of 0.81 ± 0.06 tones CO 2 e. The emission density determined from the average value was found to be 0.0361 ± 0.0029 tCO 2 e m−2 of the campus. It was observed that emission sources classified as scope-1, scope-2 and scope-3 contribute 28%, 48% and 25% respectively to total emission. Out of all the emission sources identified, apart from human contribution through respiration, electricity (35%), biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste, stationary paper, 7%, use of chemicals in the laboratories (5%), paper for official purpose (12%), LPG (3%) and transport (27%) were main contributors. As this is a multi faculty college, science faculty contributes almost 62%, commerce 9% and arts 11% of the total emission. • Present paper highlights carbon footprints from an Indian HEI using bottom up approach. • A questionnaire based survey was used to arrive at departmental and net footprints. • Carbon footprints of HEI in India are much less as compared to developed countries. • The carbon footprints of Indian HEIs are expected to grow at 5–6%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formal scavenging grants material circularity, but its potential contribution to the sustainability of a Supply Chain (SC) is far from being a trivial issue. Thus, this paper aims to understand what is the impact of formal scavenging on the sustainability of an SC and quantify it. Accordingly, a case study in an Italian Pulp and Paper circular SC was developed through the lenses of the Triple Bottom Line. This SC consists of five groups of stakeholders and a formal scavenger that collects and redistributes wastepaper. The findings show that, in a one-year time window, the formal scavenger generated an economic value of over €3 million and led to saving 718 tCO 2 e and an energy equivalent to that consumed by 1000 average Italian families every year. In addition, it created new stable jobs and directly contributed to decreasing the waste tax in the geographical area in which it operates. Furthermore, formal scavenging proved to be effective in building up SC resilience in the face of unexpected changes in the prices and volumes of wastepaper. The results contribute to framing formal scavenging as a collaboration-based solution to enable the achievement of sustainability benefits in closed-loop SCs and provide actionable suggestions for SC managers and policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solid waste recycling in developing countries has been largely relying on the informal recycling sector which intelligently uses the tacit knowledge within the hierarchical network of labor division to capture the value from the geographically uneven distribution of waste generation and demands on secondary materials. Previous studies on solid waste recycling mainly have a material-centric view on economic value. In this paper, an entropy-weighted recyclability index (EWRI) is developed to quantify the recyclability of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) in China at the prefectural city level by integrating the road transportation density and regional recycling capability into the categories of waste physical components regarding the cost to deliver the waste from generating sources to the conversion sites for recycling. The result confirms the existence of an east-west gradient regional disparity in recyclability of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) among cities for the recyclable components. The 339 prefectural cities were classified into 4 grades, namely "best, good, normal, and difficult" for the recyclability of local MSW with guidelines for planning of regional recycling infrastructure, respectively. In conclusion, general guidelines for the building of wise-waste city infrastructure to fit the local context in developing countries is advised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union has set strict recycling targets for municipal solid wastes, but the implementation of circularity is still hindered by a variety of present set-ups. This paper addresses the recycling transitions and their complex nature in Austria, Sweden and Finland and points out the differences that are connected to the level of success in recycling. Furthermore, this study identifies present lock-ins in the waste management regime to provide an understanding on the factors preventing further development towards a recycling society. This is done by analysing different waste policy documents and interviews of national waste experts. The study employs the multilevel perspective (MLP) framework that is a commonly used approach in sustainability transitions research. The results highlight the variety of social, political, technical and economic elements, but also the connections between them that result in a stable regime. The pathways to achieve the recycling society differ between Austria, Sweden and Finland. National waste policy, the division of responsibilities, the variety of infrastructure and collection systems in waste management, the level of general awareness, public-private co-operation and the quality of waste data act as key characteristics that reflect the success in the recycling transition. Identified lock-ins for recycling seem to be slightly stronger in Finland compared to Austria and Sweden, while some of the lock-ins are the same in all countries, such as incineration capacity, malfunction of markets of recyclables or lack of product design for recyclability. • The pathways to a recycling society differ between Austria, Sweden and Finland. • Pressure for recycling has been explicit in Austria at the landscape level. • There are more identified lock-ins in Finland compared to other countries. • Clear responsibilities, a variety of practices, public awareness and quality of data reflect success. • Bottom-up approaches could be utilised in solving the frictions between public and private actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water pollution and freshwater scarcity are growing problems not only in Europe but all over the world. Water reuse contributes significantly to water sustainability and brings many environmental, economic, and social benefits. The European Union (EU) has recently been addressing water-related problems with great commitment. Unfortunately, the total production of wastewater in the European Union is unknown. The situation in the EU is not satisfactory, as only 2.5% of treated wastewater is reused. The first contribution of this study is the estimation of the total amount of wastewater produced annually in the EU. It is estimated that half of this amount comes from industry, namely over 25,500 million m3. Therefore, this study aims to review and analyze the current state of the industrial wastewater (IWW) issue in the EU and to put it in the context of current EU legislation, targets, and water reuse policy. Moreover, since water reuse technologies are energy intensive, the focus is given to the techno-economic impact of IWW reuse. The energy consumption and investment costs in relation to the amount of water treated have been determined for filtration only, minimum liquid discharge (MLD), and zero liquid discharge (ZLD) systems. Reclaiming 80% of IWW would increase industrial energy consumption by only 4.1%, and investment costs would amount to only 1.5% of the EU GDP. Further, the assessment was focused on the paper & pulp industry, which is among the largest wastewater producers. Implementing efficient water reuse technology in this industry could mean up to 3,449 Mm3/year of reclaimed water. [Display omitted] • Overview of EU legislation with recommendations for future EU policy is presented. • Total amount of wastewater from industry was determined as over 25,500 million m3. • Significant water savings in the industry are possible (80%) using MLD. • Water savings in the paper and pulp industry can be up to 3449 Mm3/year. • 80% of IWW reuse would cost only 1.5% of EU GDP and increase ECI only by 4.1%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ecological Footprint (EF) model is an effective tool for determining the resource consumption demand of human activities and whether natural assets are overutilized. The EF calculation method has certain theoretical and methodological importance for low-carbon campus construction. With the development of science and technology, some parameters in traditional EF calculation methods need to be modified. Based on the definition of fossil energy land and the latest average grain yield, this paper revised the calculation parameters of the EF method in six aspects: absorbed gas, electricity, agricultural products, aquatic products, livestock products, and paper. This paper applied the calculation method before and after improvement to Henan Polytechnic University. The EF of the campus according to calculations was 28,358.41 gha, and the per capita EF was 0.657 gha/person using the improved calculation method. Compared with the unimproved method, the improved method resulted in a substantial decrease in EFs, which can be explained by three reasons. First, the fossil energy land was divided into forestland and pasture land. Second, the average yield was recalculated using the latest statistical database of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Finally, the utilization of waste pulp in the paper industry was considered. The calculated results were also analyzed and compared with those of other universities, Worldwide Fund for Nature and Enhancing Universities'Sustainability Teaching and Practices through Ecological Footprint. The improved calculation results can better reflect the actual situation of the campus, improve the rationality of EF calculation, and provide a reference for EF at the campus level. Accordingly, the current situation of campus resource consumption can be explained, further providing a basis for proposing an EF reduction scheme for green campus construction. [Display omitted] • Some parameters have been modified in the improved ecological footprint calculation method. • The fossil energy land was divided into forestland and pasture land in the improved calculation method. • The latest average grain yield used in the improved calculation method. • The calculated results were analyzed and compared with those of WWF and EUSTEPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photocatalysts are usually confined in a substrate to prevent their dispersion and facilitate their subsequent removal from the environmental compartment after remediation, thus, resulting in portable and “green” photocatalytic platforms. If the substrate is well designed, it can retain target pollutants close to the photocatalyst particles increasing photocatalytic efficiency. This study discloses a simple modification of conventional paper, a green and sustainable support, with a polyamide-titanium dioxide nanoparticles composite and its evaluation in photocatalysis. The material offers a high sorption capacity (2.1 μg/cm 2 ) towards the selected model pollutant, methyl orange, allowing its isolation from a contaminated media. Additionally, a remarkable photocatalytic degradation both under UV and visible light (sunlight) was observed at short times of irradiation (typically 20–40 min). According to the results, the cellulosic substrate seems to play a crucial role in the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developed to deal with water allocation problems (WAP), the Water Source Diagram (WSD) method is here extended to be used in problems involving fixed flowrate operations in multiple contaminant processes, as well as processes formulated by the source and sink point of view. Therefore the WSD becomes a complete methodology to solve WAPs without regenerating operations focusing maximum water reuse. To illustrate the performance of the proposed extension, two case studies handling hybrid systems from the pulp and paper industry are presented, including industrial data from a Brazilian pulp and paper plant. The WSD results are also compared with other author's proposals, showing good performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the transition towards a circular economy (CE) being a significant element in achieving the decarbonisation of the built environment, a clear and common pathway to applying CE principles to building design is still lacking in both industry practice and academia. The integration of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has the potential to enable the identification of feasible pathways to increase circularity. This study aims to investigate its practical use to facilitate the application of circular economy principles at the early stage of building design via using LCA-based BIM plugins. Within this aim, the paper centres on a co-production approach and presents a gap analysis by identifying gaps in knowledge and implementation as well as addressing the pressing needs of the current practice in the UK. A series of semi-structured interviews with expert practitioners in the field were conducted for data collection, contributing to the following phases of the co-production by allowing for an in-depth investigation and reflection of the practice. The findings have revealed that: (a) there is still an insufficient level of contextual awareness and readiness in the implementation of CE principles in the built environment and LCA understanding and (b) the adoption of BIM at the early stages of building design is still limited in the current practice; BIM models with sufficient level of data details and quality to enable circularity assessment are rarely produced. Thus, the paper highlights the need for enabling mechanisms, including the introduction of legislative instruments, the involvement and commitment of the industry and key stakeholders, the support for training and skills improvement, and the establishment of effective communication and implementation process management frameworks. Future research agenda points to the need of formulation of a BIM protocol to enable integration of BIM and LCA to promote CE principles in the building design process. [Display omitted] • Co-production is a promising approach to capture and respond to the industry needs. • Lack of seamless integration between BIM and LCA tools. • Insufficient understanding of how to apply CE principles in the building design. • Lack of systematic guidance and standardised process to implement BIM and LCA integration. • A tailored BIM protocol needed for applying LCA from a CE perspective in the building design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address the urgent need for sustainability, this paper provides a critical discussion and serves as a pivotal resource for stakeholders in the mining and construction sectors. It advocates repurposing mining waste into concrete aggregate, promoting eco-friendly practices. The paper conducts a thorough review of recent developments, technological innovations, and methodologies to showcase mining waste's potential as a sustainable construction material. Highlighting more than a decade of research, our analysis reveals significant environmental, economic, and practical benefits, such as reduced ecological footprints through waste minimization and resource conservation, alongside cost-effective material alternatives. This investigation offers an in-depth look at these advantages and sparks essential discussions about incorporating advanced recycling technologies into conventional construction workflows. Promoting circular economy principles, the study underscores the dual gains: lessening environmental impact and progressing towards resource efficiency. Aiming to alter industry perceptions and practices, the work encourages a shift towards environmental stewardship and innovation. Ultimately, this paper aims not only to disseminate knowledge but also to motivate action. It provides readers with the necessary insights to lead a transition towards more sustainable industry norms, thus establishing a new benchmark for addressing sustainability challenges with creativity and collective effort. • This paper enhances construction sustainability by repurposing mining waste effectively. • This paper advocates for integrating recycling and circular economy principles in construction. • This paper promotes an industry-wide sustainability shift by leveraging mining waste's potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large-scale concentrated Variable Renewable Energy (VRE) sources pose a challenge to the balance and security of electricity systems. Studies have shown that the demand side may offer a greater responsiveness based on the shiftability of loads. However, there is currently no known literature on the demand response (DR) of large-scale shiftable loads in the residential sector. Firstly, there is no sufficiently large database of residential appliance-level load. Secondly, scheduling a large number of small residential shiftable loads simultaneously is a major challenge. Ultimately, the DR of large-scale residential buildings encounters the challenge of ensuring sufficient backup shiftable load to effectively cope with real-time VRE fluctuations during the response period. To address these issues, this paper proposes an appliance-level load data generation method based on diffusion neural networks. Meanwhile, a clustering method based on Generalized End to End (GE2E) loss neural networks is proposed to solve the complexity obstacles in simultaneous load swarm scheduling. Thirdly, a two-stage scheduling approach is proposed to address the challenges in the large-scale DR period through constructing day-ahead and real-time response models. The simulation results show that large-scale residential shiftable loads have a strong response capability to VRE fluctuations, and their response cost is lower than the conventional fuel-fired-power-plant-based-response within a certain user preference cost range. In practice, the clustering and scheduling methods proposed in this paper can be applied after the non-intrusive load monitoring (NILM) method is deployed to decompose the load data. • This paper addresses the research gap regarding large-scale residential load response to fluctuations in concentrated variable renewable energy sources. • A novel data generation model is proposed to address the issue of insufficient data scale in existing databases. • A novel load clustering algorithm is proposed to address the curse of dimensionality in simultaneous load swarm scheduling. • A novel two-stage response model is proposed is proposed to minimize the response cost and user preference loss. • When the unit user preference cost is lower than a certain boundary, the proposed response method is more cost-effective than conventional methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an integrated mathematical decision-making model to reduce environmental footprints using process integration. By doing so, we address the research question: How can supplier selection, ergonomic factors, and green practices be integrated into mathematical decision-making models based on the vendor-managed inventory policy ? We use the Branch and Bound method to provide optimal solutions and a metaheuristic optimization approach in computational intelligence for large-scale problems. This paper employs a multi-criteria decision-making method to compare proposed algorithms results based on six criteria. Our findings reveal that integrating the sourcing process with inventory decisions significantly improves cost performance. Furthermore, our results demonstrate that the proposed model effectively balances environmental and economic objectives using a carbon tax. Moreover, sensitivity analysis results indicate that optimizing water and energy consumption can significantly improve carbon footprints. In addition, the study shows that ergonomic factors, including lighting and temperature, have a substantial impact on performance. The primary contributions of this paper include the incorporation of a multi-sourcing strategy, green practices, ergonomic factors, and supplier selection into vendor-managed inventory decision models. [Display omitted] • This paper presents a process integration for sustainable supply chains. • An analytical model is proposed to reduce environmental footprints using a carbon tax. • Water and energy consumption are included in the decision-making processes. • The impacts of ergonomic factors, such as light and temperature, are investigated. • Exact solvers and computational intelligence techniques optimize the proposed model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable product design (SPD) is instrumental in improving the sustainability of a product throughout its entire life cycle. To attain this goal, decisions related to SPD should consider a spectrum of influential factors. Despite numerous SPD studies, a unified perspective among their findings is lacking, and comprehensive research on SPD factors is still needed. This gap in research affects the ability to comprehensively address the potential economic, environmental, and social impacts associated with each life cycle stage of a product during its design phase. The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the SPD factors available in the literature. To achieve this objective, the methodology involved: (1) conducting a systematic review of literature to explore SPD factors, (2) categorizing the key factors into themes related to product sustainability using an inductive approach, and (3) mapping these factors across the entire product life cycle. In the literature reviewed, a total of 297 factors pertaining to the economic, environmental, and social aspects of SPD were identified. Among these, 219 factors were mentioned only once in the in the articles analyzed, while 43 factors were frequently addressed by at least three papers. These frequently considered factors were categorized into nine primary themes: quality and reliability, manufacturability, costs, and financial gain under the economic aspect; resources, waste and emissions, and end-of-life (EOL) management under the environmental aspect; and functionality and usability, and social well-being under the social aspect. In light of their influence on life cycle-oriented product design, this study mapped the factors across the total product life cycle (TPLC) stages. The results of this paper provide valuable insights into SPD by addressing its impacts on sustainability throughout the life cycle of a product. Future research can capitalize on these results to comprehensively address issues concerning product sustainability. • Identification, categorization, and mapping of sustainable product design (SPD) factors were carried out. • A wide range of factors have been considered for SPD in the literature reviewed. • The SPD factors affect the economic, environmental, and social aspects of sustainability. • The mapping of the SPD factors highlights the need for life cycle-oriented product design. • A framework integrating the SPD factors, triple bottom line, and total product life cycle is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The widespread use of digital technology has driven a huge change in the way payments are made. Based on the micro-data of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), this paper explores the relationship between mobile payment and carbon emissions from the consumption side. With the exogenous impact of Alipay's "Collecting Five Blessings" campaign, this paper finds that mobile payment significantly increases household consumption carbon emissions, but the marginal effect is gradually decreasing. Mechanism analysis shows that mobile payment mainly realizes the above impact through promoting the increase of consumption expenditure and upgrading of consumption structure. Further analysis indicates that carbon reduction policies introduced by the Chinese government in the personal consumption sector can mitigate the carbon emissions growth associated with mobile payments. Still, there is a need to strengthen policy measures further to effectively address the issue of rising carbon emissions from household consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explains the evolving role of the local supply chain across different disruption scenarios. A systematic literature review of 91 papers from 33 journals supports definition of the local supply chain and explication of benefits before, during and after COVID-19 disruption. Resilience emerges as the prevalent benefit at each stage, but to varying scales. In the pre-COVID-19 era, where the local supply chain serves as a back-up approach to the more dominant global supply chain, localisation's capacity to absorb change promotes resilience to mitigate low-magnitude disruption. At initial outbreak of COVID-19 disruption the local supply chain was necessitated as an emergency response to the untenability of global operations, demonstrating transformational resilience to survive. As disruption continued, the local supply chain upscaled and adapted to recover. In the post-COVID-19 era, resilience is expected to remain a strategic priority, promoting continued investment in local operations to thrive with embedded resilience. As a result, the COVID-19 pandemic welcomed a point of transition for the local supply chain as capacities and benefits are revaluated and localisation recognised as critical in developing resilient supply networks for the future. This study consolidates this evolution to offer a propositional framework showcasing the local supply chain across different disruption scenarios. This offers long overdue definition and explanation of the local supply chain and its relationship with resilience, addressing an existing lack of academic attention and encouraging alignment of local-versus-global decisions with changing strategic priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the battery recycling market in China is still in an embroynic stage, the mechanisms, channels, pricing, and efficiency of battery recycling are shrouded in opacity. Battery recycling in China is currently dominated by electric vehicle manufacturer, supplemented by other market players such as battery producers and electric vehicle retailers. Due to the lack of information, battery recycling lacks cooperation and communication, and the whole market is dealing with "Information Island." Therefore, based on information sharing and channel competition, this paper designs a Stackelberg game model with an electric vehicle manufacturer, an electric vehicle retailer, and a third-party recycler as the primary participants. This study found that effective information sharing can reduce intensified market competition and promote the transformation of market players into "collaboration state". To promote partnership in the battery recycling market, this paper proposes a revenue-sharing contract incentive for the electric vehicle retailer to share demand information about battery recycling. It finds a revenue-sharing contract based on information sharing can help companies and competitors make appropriate behavioral choices in the battery recycling market. This study demonstrates that information sharing benefits the electric vehicle manufacturer and the third-party recycler while offering no advantages to the electric vehicle retailer. The decreasing accuracy of demand signals results in the diminishing value of information sharing for the electric vehicle manufacturer and the third-party recycler. The revenue-sharing contract can incentivize the electric vehicle retailer to share information. [Display omitted] • A battery recycling mode of electric vehicles is constructed. • Effective information sharing would encourage market players to be more collaborative. • A revenue-sharing contract is designed to incentivize the electric vehicle retailer to share information. • Inaccurate information and channel competition reduce the attractiveness of information sharing. • Inter-firm information sharing is beneficial for building an efficient battery recycling system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the challenges for suppliers is to increase their market share due to the limited target market. In other words, in the supply chain, the demand for suppliers' products is limited. Therefore, suppliers produce a determined share of the required amount by producers. However, when it comes to the share in the amount of output among suppliers, the output of suppliers in this indicator is interdependent. In the classical data envelopment analysis (DEA) models, there are no models that assess the suppliers according to the dependence of at least one output on each other. In this paper, a model is presented that can assess sustainable suppliers in the presence of interdependent output among suppliers by using DEA models and their extension. It can also determine the total benchmarks of decision making units (DMUs) in such a way that satisfies the interdependent output constraint. In other words, benchmarks are not determined independently. Ultimately, an approach is presented to determine efficient projections for inefficient DMUs by considering the concept of interdependent output. To represent the applicability of our proposed model, a dataset for two consecutive years including 32 sustainable suppliers with consideration of interdependent output has been implemented using the model presented in this paper. The resulting sustainability has been compared with a classical model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This conceptual study explores the alignment between servitization—a shift from selling products to offering services—and circularity principles. The study introduces institutional confluence—a configuration of institutional pressures that enhance business model legitimacy to stakeholders and facilitate operational success— which can serve as a driver aligning servitization with circular principles. Institutional confluence has the capacity to trigger novel business models, shape resources and processes, enhance value capture, and inhibit unsustainable business models. The study develops the concept and underscores the role of institutional confluence in promoting this alignment and subsequent environmental sustainability. The article utilizes illustrative case examples from servitization and circular business models to develop the concept of institutional confluence serving sustainable servitization. The study offers strategic insights for managers and policymakers, emphasizing the need for a holistic approach that integrates servitization and circularity from the outset of business model design. It advocates for policies that leverage regulatory, normative, and mimetic pressures to foster sustainable business practices. The article contributes to the servitization literature by delineating the mechanisms through which institutional forces facilitate or hinder the integration of servitization and circularity, offering directions for future research to explore these dynamics across different contexts and industries. • Management scholars have tended to view the uptake of servitized circular business model frameworks through an internal business model lens, with firm-level innovation capabilities. We look beyond the focal company and consider how business model development interacts with wider societal development. • This paper utilizes institutional influences as explanatory drivers for this process. • The paper introduces the concept of institutional 'confluence', a mutually reinforcing process of interactivity between institutional pressures, for servitized circularity. • Policymakers are encouraged to enhance normative socio-cultural pressures for servitized circularity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes an integration of waste heat recovery system and exhaust gas recirculation system to break the inherent trade-offs between NOx and carbon emissions of marine low-speed diesel engine. It is significant important to break these trade-offs, because Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index may not be met, though Energy Efficiency Design Index and Tier III can be already achieved for old ships. The waste heat recovery system consists of supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton cycle and Kalina cycle, where the integration of supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton cycle and Kalina cycle is achieved in the parallel style. This paper uses the classical thermodynamics in terms of engineering approach to carry out the parameter analysis of combined system first. The optimization is conducted in terms of efficiency, energy density and techno-economy with the introduction of global optimal policy. The results showed that the highest efficiency of 52.32% at Tier III mode can be achieved, at which the net power, exergy efficiency, area per unit power output and levelized energy cost can be achieved by 1568.57 kW, 45.75%, 0.589 m2/kW and 0.114$/kWh at main engine load of 85%. Further, the net power output of waste heat recovery system can reach 1085.76 kW and 2043 kW at Tier II mode and Tier III mode, while the recovering rate of waste heat recovery system can reach over 5% at Tier III mode. Finally, the Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index of a container ship equipping with such combined system can be reduced from 9.50 to 9.05. • Supercritical carbon dioxide Brayton-Kalina combined cycle is parallelly proposed. • Integration of exhaust gas recirculation and waste heat recovery is proposed. • Above 5% of recovery rate of combined cycle system is obtained. • The 52.32% of overall efficiency is achieved. • Energy Efficiency Existing Ship Index decrease from 9.50 to 9.05 is obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies examines how a firm's position in the global value chain affects its pollutant emissions. This paper integrates China's firm-level trade data into China's multi-regional input-output tables to provide an index to measure a firm's position in global value chains. Based on a firm-level pollution dataset (2000–2014) in China, this paper conducts an empirical analysis and find that the most-downstream firms on the global value chain have lower pollutant emission intensity. Our results also suggest that the production factor structure effect, the knowledge absorption effect and the abatement investment effect together contribute to the emission intensity gap between the most-upstream firms and the most-downstream firms. These novel results are significant in guiding firms towards reducing their emissions and promoting a green global value chain, with the ultimate goal of achieving multinational environmental protection. [Display omitted] • The most-downstream firms have lower pollutant emission intensity. • A supply chain disruption shock is used as an instrumental variable. • Factor structure, knowledge absorption and abatement investment are channels. • Effects on firms with diverse ownership and trade patterns are heterogeneous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mindful consumption (MC) has ancient roots, but the scholarship has recently received industry and academic attention. This research examines MC through a hybrid systematic review, including a bibliometric analysis of 41 years with 368 papers from 196 journals and a TCCM analysis to add further depth. Results indicate that the field is still evolving and has been approached by multiple disciplines and methodologies. Further, bibliographic coupling analysis presents six emerging themes in MC research, such as MC conceptualization, responsible consumption, and responsible practices by firms. Finally, the paper proposes future avenues for research for the resultant clusters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main challenge for future sustainable societies is dealing with the high portion of released CO2 throughout smart power transmission systems; consequently, a comprehensive carbon-based framework is required that directly calculates stakeholders' contribution to the network's CO2 emissions. In this case, this paper proposes a mechanism driven by the carbon-tracing (CTR) process to tackle carbon emissions in smart transmission networks. Using the CTR mechanism enables the digitalized independent system operator (ISO) to allocate the total emissions among participants using the real-time data received from smart grid infrastructures. Furthermore, a carbon-based nodal pricing mechanism for gas and power systems is proposed, which reflects the received data from CTR analysis. To reduce carbon emissions in the smart power transmission network, a carbon-based demand response (DR) procedure is suggested, under which consumers will receive higher incentives for reducing their consumption, especially in high-carbon-intensity buses. In addition, in this paper, for effective management of carbon pollution, the uncertainties of wind and loads and leading risks to carbon and operation costs have been modeled. Hence, the conditional value-at-risk (CVaR) method is utilized for modeling the risks related to uncertainties. It can be seen that applying the proposed CVaR-based risk assessment framework and carbon-incentive-based DR programs led to a decrease in daily total carbon and operation costs by 0.66% and 1.02%, respectively. • Distribution of carbon in power systems, aiding stockholders in carbon management. • Introducing environmental impacts to pricing promoting eco-conscious consumption. • Utilizing CVaR to manage risk, leading to significant carbon and cost variation. • Managing client consumption based on distributed carbon flow intensity in network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared to cast-in-situ construction, prefabricated construction reduces the generation of construction waste; however, construction waste cannot be entirely eliminated through prefabrication and can be generated at each stage of its life cycle. This paper generates a system dynamics model, comprising two causal-loop diagrams and one stock-flow diagram, to simulate the effectiveness of policies on decarbonizing prefabricated concrete building waste. The model can predict the annual and total construction waste, along with the associated carbon emissions, under different policy scenarios in China by 2030. This paper focuses on prefabricated concrete buildings in China, with specific attention to the wastage of concrete, bricks, mortar, and metal. In single-factor scenario simulations, increasing landfilling fee is the most effective policy for waste decarbonization, potentially reducing carbon emissions by 31%. Increasing prefabrication rate and enhancing regulation degree at the design phase of prefabrication can directly reduce prefabricated building waste generation, subsequently resulting in an 18% and 7% carbon emissions reduction. Multi-factor scenario simulations demonstrate that the simultaneous application of all four policies is most effective, achieving a 44% reduction in carbon emissions. This research establishes a theoretical framework for prefabricated concrete building waste management and provides the Chinese government with practical insights on optimizing policies for waste decarbonization in the dynamic landscape of prefabrication. • This paper develops the prefabricated building waste generation and disposal systems. • The model predicts the construction waste and associated carbon emissions by 2030. • Raising landfill fee is an effective policy for decarbonizing construction waste by 31.06%. • Prefabrication rate reaching 100% can reduce 18.04% of carbon emissions from waste. • Applying all policies is most effective, achieving a 44.34% carbon emissions reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although product-service systems (PSS) have been in focus in literature and industry for some years, no generically agreed or applied PSS design process exists thus far, in contrast to the neighbouring fields of product development or service design, respectively. This paper presents the evaluation and instantiation of a recently proposed generic process model (GPM) for early-stage sustainable PSS design in capital goods manufacturing companies. The model was applied in three case studies with an aim to quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate the GPM concerning eight criteria, and study its instantiation process actions to a company-specific model while simultaneously identifying and proposing solutions for challenges to instantiation. Based on observation and feedback received from the companies, the GPM shows promise for widespread applicability, aided by proposed guidelines for instantiating the GPM to company-specific contexts, as also described in this paper. These guidelines aim to facilitate the translation of the GPM into pragmatic models for practitioners in the field of PSS design, thus increasing its chances of successful implementation as well as impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the growing global energy demand and limited production of conventional crude oil, the extraction of unconventional heavy and extra-heavy oil is receiving unprecedented attention. China is the fourth largest producer of heavy oil. High viscosity and complex formation environments increase the difficulty of exploiting heavy oil. To alleviate the economic cost and environmental pollution pressure brought by heavy oil production, China has achieved significant advancement in the innovation of heavy oil recovery, including accelerating the transformation of thermal technology to non-thermal technology and the use of new energy technology to achieve the goal of low-carbon economy and green environmental protection. Based on the background of heavy oil in China, this paper recharacterizes the high-viscosity mechanism of heavy oil. From different aspects, including basic principles, main characteristics, applicability, limitations, and challenges, this paper comprehensively reviews existing heavy oil recovery technologies, including thermal recovery, in-situ upgrading, cold recovery, and new energy technologies. Currently, in China, the main target of heavy oil recovery is achieving the "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality" goals, which can be described as low energy consumption, low emission, and low pollution. To facilitate the low-carbon transition in the extraction of heavy/extra-heavy oil and attain environmental sustainability goals, it is essential to increase the proportion of non-thermal factors in thermal recovery technologies, develop efficient in-situ catalysts, adopt clean cold extraction techniques, and advance the development of new energy technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the domain of global socio-economic dynamics, the pivotal role of food production (FP) cannot be overstated. It constitutes the bedrock of fundamental human necessities while being inexorably linked with critical aspects such as economic expansion, societal equilibrium, and geopolitical interplays. The multifaceted nature of FP appears through its direct impact on macroeconomic indicators and its latent influence on international relations and policy-making. This critical nexus underscores the imperative for a comprehensive understanding and strategic management of food production processes to sustain and enhance global socio-economic stability and growth. Investigating the nexus between green finance (GF) and FP is pivotal for ensuring national security and promoting sustainable economic development. This research thus paper examines GF's impact on FP in China as outlined in the 2017 green finance policies. It employs the difference-in-differences (DID) method and analyzes a balanced panel dataset comprising 282 cities in China from 2009 to 2020. The results show that GF has an inhibitory effect on FP, and this remains valid after a range of reliability checks, including parallel trend assessments and placebo tests. Further findings of transmission mechanism analysis indicate that non-agricultural factors and financial exclusion are critical for GF's inhibitory effect on FP. Heterogeneity analyses show that GF's inhibitory effect on FP is more pronounced in the main food-producing areas, the main food-marketing areas, and cities with better infrastructure. The empirical results of this paper comprehensively illustrate GF's impact on FP and how it contributes to the achievement of food security objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainable and integrated management of resources is a crucial approach to achieving sustainable regional development in the face of limited land and increasingly scarce water resources. This paper proposes a multidimensional optimization model to jointly optimize land use patterns and water resource allocation under the conditions of maximizing economic benefits and minimizing social differences, ecological loads, environmental pollution, and carbon emissions. The optimization model is solved using the affiliation function method and then combined with random forest (RF) and cellular automata (CA) models to further obtain the optimal spatial layout of land use. This paper takes the Mid-Yangtze River City Cluster as an example and optimizes the land use pattern and water allocation in the region in 2020 and 2030. The results of the study show that the optimized water and land resource allocation scheme performs better than the status quo in all dimensions. The optimized economic benefits, social effects, ecological effects, environmental effects, and overall sustainability in 2020 are increased by 45.97%, 22.89%, 10.07%, 24.65%, and 42.73%, respectively. By 2030, overall sustainability reaches 0.69. The developed modeling framework helps to elucidate the internal linkages between land use and water allocation, and it provides decision-makers with diversified approaches to land and water resource management and adjustment for different cities in different periods, which promotes the sustainable development of urban agglomerations. [Display omitted] • The intrinsic relationship between different land use types and water demand is addressed. • A sustainable approach to integrated management of land and water resources is proposed. • The synergistic optimization of the economy, society, ecology and the environment is developed. • The spatial patterns of land use for the balanced development of urban agglomerations are promoted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores consumer green consumption practices and considers a set of factors, including cognitive and behavioural level constructs, that influence green consumption. The paper primarily aims to predict the green purchase intention and classify a consumer as a green or non-green consumer. A total of 310 responses were collected and analyzed using machine Learning techniques like Decision Tree, Random Forest, Gradient Boosting, XGBoost, K-Nearest Neighbour, and Support Vector Machine, and the models were validated using different performance metrics. The paper reveals that the main driving factors for a consumer to consider greener options are green self-identification, followed by environmental knowledge, environmental consciousness, and the impact of social media. The current work will allow better product development and the targeting and positioning of green products/services offerings to customers already classified by the system. • Machine learning techniques were employed to predict green purchase intention (GPI). • Green Self-identification & Environmental Consciousness were the crucial factors in influencing GPI. • Social and health consciousness had less of an impact on influencing GPI. • Perceived personal inconvenience was reported to have no significant impact on GPI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to introduce a new sustainable business excellence model, called Knowledge Management Excellence Model 21 (KMEM21), a theoretical framework that combines Knowledge Management and Business Excellence Models (BEMs), proposing an approach applicable to organizations to directly contribute towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The paper through a qualitative-exploratory methodology makes an analysis and benchmarking, emphasizes the integration of Knowledge Management and three specific Business Excellence Models (Management Excellence Model (MEG) from Brazil, Baldrige Excellence Framework, and EFQM). This integration uncovers relationships between organizational concepts associated with Knowledge Management and BEMs, which contributes to new insights in the literature regarding these concepts' interplay. BEMs are presented as tools that can catalyze the power of Knowledge Management towards achieving SDGs. However, it's noted that the existing BEMs might not be adequate, as the goal extends beyond organizational improvement and excellence to encompass sustainable development aligned with SDGs. The article suggests that specific organizational concepts, identified through a literature review and aligned with Knowledge Management and BEMs, can be selected as indicators associated with the constructed KMEM21 and the SDGs. These indicators are intended to form a bridge between the new model and the SDGs. However, given the comprehensive nature of the theory, model development, application, result acquisition, and analysis, the article's primary contribution will be in its focus on elaborating the instrument and technique, demonstrating the creation of a theoretical framework for the SDGs. Future works will showcase the application of the proposed KMEM21 method in five Brazilian organizations, members of Global Compact, to compare the achieved objectives and the results obtained with the organizations' performance and their sustainability reports. [Display omitted] • There is a visible relationship between knowledge management and business excellence models, aided by shared organizational concepts. • Achieving the SDGs in organizations can be done by using the traits incorporated into knowledge management and business excellence models. • The Knowledge Management Excellence Model 21 represents an original approach, acting as a new sustainable business excellence model. • A comprehensive model can be constructed using a methodology that incorporates an instrument, a technique, and a method. • KMEM21 presents a strategic path that aligns with business excellence principles and the sustainable development objectives, offering a framework for organizational success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the role of Design Thinking (DT) in the context of sustainable development (SD), based on a perceived research need to identify the features which may characterise its deployment, and identify ways via which it may be optimised, especially in the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). The main goal of this study is to examine the connection between DT and SD and showcase examples of what has been done to deploy it, using real-case situations. From a methodological perspective, the paper deploys a set of two methods: bibliometric analysis and case studies. Among other findings, the paper shows that DT can be used to help implement the UN SDGs by providing an approach that emphasizes human-centered design. This includes identifying problems, creating user-friendly solutions, and testing them in order to ensure that they are effective. Also, by using DT, companies, organisations, and governments can create low-cost, high-impact, and sustainable solutions to help achieve SDGs such as SDG8, SDG9, SDG12, and SDG13, among others. Overall, DT provides a framework for combining creative and analytical reasoning, specific mindsets, and diverse hands-on tools and techniques to improve critical thinking abilities towards sustainability challenges. The novelty of the paper relies on the fact that the combined use of the two methods allowed the identification of some useful features of DT, which may facilitate its deployment in sustainability contexts. This may assist future studies since it provides a theoretical basis for the field. • Research gaps in DT prevent its widespread use in SD. • The paper deploys bibliometric analysis and case studies. • DT within a circular economy is an emerging approach. • DT may foster sustainability practices. • A novelty is the identification of pathways to optimise DT in SD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-carbon calcium sulfoaluminate (CSA) cement can be prepared with industrial by-product phosphogypsum (PG). This paper uses PG to replace natural gypsum in preparing PG-based CSA (PGCSA) cement as a raw material and mineral admixture, and the mechanical properties and hydration mechanism of PGCSA cement are explored. The results showed that the clinker with ye'elimite mineral content of 67.23% was fired at 1250 °C by mixing 19.52% PG into the raw materials. The participation of PG in hydration can accelerate the hardening of paste and improve the compressive strength of cement. The optimum dosage of PG as a mineral admixture was 20%, and the compressive strength reached 88.4 MPa at 28 days. Added PG promoted the early hydration of ye'elimite, and reaching 60% hydration within 1 day. The hydration mechanism was believed that a large amount of Ca2+ released by PG dissolution increased the ion concentration and promoted the hydration of ye'elimite. The PGCSA cement prepared in this study at 1250 °C had low carbon emission and PG utilization was higher than 40%. In addition, the pH and exothermic hydration of PGCSA cement were reduced about 2 and 100 J/g compared to that of CSA cement. This paper provides a feasible solution for PG resource utilization and carbon reduction. [Display omitted] • A novel method for preparing calcium sulfoaluminate cement was proposed using phosphogypsum. • PGCSA cement has stable strength, low alkalinity, and low hydration heat. • A minimum of 0.4 tons of phosphogypsum was consumed for 1 ton of PGCSA cement production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Titanium oxide nanoparticles (TiO 2 NPs) are a semiconductor material widely employed as photocatalysts for environmental remediation owing to its excellent properties. Nevertheless, collecting the nanomaterial once dispersed in the aqueous media is challenging, while the photocatalytic activity is limited mainly to the ultraviolet range of radiation. In this work, we have modified cellulose paper, a sustainable and green support, with a polymer nanocomposite comprising nylon-6 and different nanomaterials, i.e., anatase TiO 2 nanoparticles (NPs) as well as TiO 2 decorated with Ag and Au in form of NPs by means of a simple procedure. The immobilization of the nanocomposite on paper mediated the subsequent recovery of the substrate upon incubation. The presence of nylon-6 enables both the attachment of the NPs on the support as well as the isolation of the pollutant from the contaminated water due to the interactions with the target analyte, i.e., methyl orange (MO). Additionally, the presence of the mentioned polyamide within the substrate triggers the photocatalytic reaction under visible light radiation. The broadening in the range of the light towards the use of sunlight has been also evaluated via modification of the photocatalyst nanoparticles with noble metals such as silver and gold. The kinetic of degradation of MO upon sunlight exposure with the different polymeric nanocomposites followed a pseudo-first-order model, with k constant values of 0.070, 0.083 and 0.120 min−1 for TiO 2 , Ag@TiO 2 and Au@TiO 2 nanocomposites, respectively. The effect of the presence of the polymer on the substrate has been evaluated, observing an increase in the k constant upon addition of the polyamide from 0.036 to 0.069 min−1 for TiO 2. The synergistic effect of sorption/degradation enables the regeneration of the substrates modified with the nanomaterials that can be reused several times, the relative standard deviation of k upon three subsequent photocatalytic cycles being in the range 15.7–37.7%. [Display omitted] • Cellulose paper has been modified with nylon-6 and TiO 2 nanocomposites. • Nanocomposites of TiO 2 modified with Ag and Au nanoparticles have been synthesized. • Photocatalytic properties have been evaluated for the degradation of methyl orange. • Nylon-6 triggers photocatalysis under sunlight and improves degradation rate. • Self-cleaning of the paper nanocomposites enables several cycles of photocatalysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the social implications of servitization and unveils the connections between servitization and social innovation. To substantiate these claims, the research elucidates three core concepts of social innovation, namely processes, instruments, and outcomes. The processual view of social innovation examines how societal changes unfold; the instrumental view focuses on tools and mechanisms driving these changes; and last the outcomes view analyses the resultant benefits. The paper reviews systematically the literature on the social impacts of servitization and, based on the mentioned views uses the literature findings to inductively develop three propositions and demonstrate that servitization can represent a form of social innovation, thus capable of profoundly reshaping industrial societies and contributing to progress and people's well-being. In sum, the paper shows the social implications and benefits related to servitization of manufacturing firms and suggests the research priorities in this domain for servitization scholars. • The paper systematically reviews the literature to identify the social implications of servitization. • The paper uses three views to unveil the connections between servitization and social innovation. • The paper theorizes that servitization is a form of social innovation that contributes to progress and people's well-being. • The paper suggests research priorities in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given that the global fleet of electric vehicles is expanding rapidly, leading to a surge in demand for power batteries, the significance of battery recycling has come sharply into focus. In this paper, we develop a tripartite evolutionary game model coupled with a system dynamics simulation approach to analyze the behavioral mechanisms of stakeholders in electric vehicle battery recycling and to identify the key factors influencing their strategic transformations. The model involves three key stakeholders: local governments, battery cathode manufacturers, and battery pack manufacturers. Through profit analysis and the formulation of a replicator dynamics system, coupled with the application of Vensim for system dynamics modeling, we analyze the effects of ten crucial exogenous variables on stakeholder strategies. Our research highlights the crucial role of government actions, such as subsidies and penalties, in directing corporate strategies. Notably, excessively high subsidies (over 2.1 million Chinese Yuan) lead to dependency among cathode manufacturers. Market factors, including increased battery sales and the preference for low-carbon procurement by electric vehicle manufacturers, are shown to significantly motivate cathode manufacturers to adopt recycling strategies and encourage pack manufacturers to develop recyclable designs. Additionally, the introduction of EU battery regulations and the integration of cathode manufacturers into carbon trading schemes have been identified as positive catalysts for strategic shifts, especially for cathode manufacturers, while exerting minimal influence on pack manufacturers. This paper elucidates the intricate interaction of the behavioral patterns and key motivators affecting stakeholder strategies in electric vehicle battery recycling. [Display omitted] • An evolutionary game model involving local governments, cathode manufacturers, and pack manufacturers is established. • EU battery regulations' impact on the system's evolutionary path is quantified by the sales influence coefficient. • Subsidies over 2.1 million Chinese Yuan lead to path dependency among cathode manufacturers. • When battery sales fall to 4.5 GWh, manufacturers shift from recycling-consistent strategies to opposing strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The biomass porous carbon has recently garnered significant attention in the electrochemical energy storage, which is attributed to the excellent electrochemical performance, cost-effectiveness, abundant and sustainable sources et al. Unfortunately, the inherent physicochemical property deficiencies of biomass-based porous carbons, such as pore structure, electrical conductivity, and surface wettability, significantly limit their electrochemical performance. Therefore, this paper discusses the regulation of pore structure, catalytic graphitization, and modification of carbon surfaces from three different perspectives: activation, the catalytic action of metal compounds, and heteroatom doping. It reviews the controllable regulation of the porous structure and chemical properties of porous carbon by various activators, especially the specific pore-forming mechanisms. Subsequently, it explores the catalytic mechanism by which metal compounds promote the conversion of amorphous carbon to graphite carbon, as well as the impact of the degree of graphitization on the electrochemical performance of carbon-based materials. Lastly, it discusses the unique electrochemical properties induced by doping with different heteroatoms (N, S, P, and B atoms) and the doping mechanisms, summarizing the specific effects of different heteroatom dopings on the pore structure (pore size distribution, specific surface area, etc.). Additionally, the synergistic effects of multi-atom doping on the porous characteristics, electronic structure, and chemical properties of carbon materials are discussed. Furthermore, this paper reviews the enhancing effects of corresponding modification techniques on the electrochemical energy storage performance. This article presents a comprehensive and in-depth theoretical framework for the improvement strategies of biomass-based porous carbon materials. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Product service systems (PSS) are an example of a novel business model billed as having the potential to significantly reduce the environmental burdens of production and consumption processes. However, despite widespread interest in PSS, consensus regarding their actual environmental impacts, particularly with regard to salient issues such as global warming, is lacking. Hence this paper explores existing research to investigate the state of the art regarding the climatic impacts of PSS, alongside the set of factors that influence climatic impacts. The paper comprises a systematic review of peer-reviewed academic literature, quantifying the extent to which different types of PSS have the capacity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across multiple product categories. Our study shows that significant reductions in climatic emissions are possible, but PSS are in many cases associated with more modest reductions and, in some cases, increased emissions. Further, we observe no clear differences in climatic impacts according to the type of PSS model that is deployed. Rather, differences in climatic impact are influenced by factors such as production and design alongside use-phase impacts and contextual factors such as transportation and the energy mix. The study argues that further research is needed to establish a more robust baseline upon which to draw conclusions regarding the sources of climatic impacts, and outlines fruitful ways for companies to tackle the complexities of climatic emissions that are beyond their control. • In some cases, product service systems can reduce climatic impacts by up to 80%. • In other cases, climatic impacts increase compared to traditional product sales. • Climatic impacts are influenced by use intensity, transportation and production. • Other contextual factors such as the energy mix play a role. • More quantitative assessments are needed with less reliance on estimations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overlying rock pressure and stored water seepage notably affect coal pillar dam creep and long-term strength in underground water reservoirs. However, the current understanding of the seepage-creep coupling effects on coal pillar dam behavior is unclear, necessitating targeted research. Therefore, This Paper conducted experiments on coal pillar dam samples under various osmotic pressures to study their creep behavior and long-term strength. The results indicate that seepage fluids, with their softening, dissolving, lubricating, and flow carrier effects, significantly notably promote the creep behavior of coal samples. Viscoelastic creep in coal decreases with increasing osmotic pressure, whereas the viscoplastic creep strain increases with increasing time and stress. This Paper proposes employing the critical stress at the steady state viscoplastic creep rate threshold as the long-term strength of coal. These findings indicate an inverse link between long-term strength and osmotic pressure, with osmotic pressure going from 0 to 6 MPa, strength drops from 23.2 to 8.5 MPa. Therefore, when designing and ensuring the long-term stability of coal pillar dams, it is crucial to consider the impact of stored water seepage. • The creep behavior and long-term strength of coal pillar dam samples are studied. • These studies were conducted under various osmotic pressures. • There is an inverse link between Viscoelastic creep in coal and osmotic pressure. • The viscoplastic creep strain increases with increasing time and stress. • It is crucial to consider the impact of stored water seepage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A good risk warning model is an effective way to guarantee the stable operation of the carbon market and exert its emission reduction function. This paper takes the China's pilot carbon market as the research object and measures the carbon market risk by ARMA-GARCH-VaR. Then, influential factors are selected as non-market characteristics from the perspective of causality and incorporated into the risk warning model, and SMOTE and SMOTEENN are introduced to deal with the unbalanced samples. Results show that (1) The risk fluctuations of Beijing and Shenzhen carbon market are large, and the risk fluctuations of Guangdong carbon market are relatively smooth in the early period and larger in the recent period. (2) Air quality, average daily temperature, CSI 300, power coal, natural gas, European carbon market, exchange rate, and Baidu index are all important factors in the risk volatility of carbon market. (3) The Classification Decision Tree (CDT) has the best performance. CDT has the best performance in Guangdong carbon market, SMOTE-CDT has the best performance in Hubei carbon market, and SMOTEENN-CDT has the best performance in Shanghai carbon market, in which SMOTEENN-CDT has a 76% Recall. The non-equilibrium treatment improves the overall Recall, and the risk warning model after non-equilibrium treatment can avoid missing important risk points. This paper can provide a certain degree of reference for the improvement of carbon trading market and risk management. [Display omitted] • A carbon market warning model is constructed. • The average VaR of the carbon trading markets in Shenzhen and Beijing is larger. • CDT performs better in market risk warning. • The model improves 34.8% in the avoidance of risk compared with other models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study demonstrates how the environmentally weighted material consumption (EMC) indicator can be used to assess the resource efficiency of bioeconomy policies by calculating thirteen categories of environmental impacts associated with the production and the use of 146 biomass resources in Japan. The total environmental impact, expressed in the Japanese life cycle database in Japanese yen (JPY), decreased from 2,444 × 109 JPY in 1990 to 1,870 × 109 JPY in 2010. Supply chain related emissions (upstream) represented more than 98% of the impacts for all years. Land use, resource consumption, global warming, and urban air pollution were the main impact categories accounting respectively for 45%, 32%, 14% and 8% of the impacts. Ten products were found responsible for more than half of the impacts: rice, raw milk, beef cattle, painted printing paper, broiler, rolls of newsprint, hen egg, squares, common plywood and lumbers. Improvement of the production processes, reduction of consumed amounts and dietary change were identified as potential strategies for reducing the environmental impacts of these materials. Still, finding the best policy option may require the development of a life cycle assessment database able to differentiate organic and conventional agriculture and to better represent the production and environmental specificities of importing countries. • Environmentally weighted material consumption as an indicator of bioeconomy. • Detailed analysis of 146 biomass materials' environmental impacts. • Land use and resource consumption are the main impact categories. • Ten products are responsible for 50% of the total impacts. • Yield increase, diet shift, and paper recycling can reduce biomass related impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To adopt cleaner production technology of photo-catalysis in papermaking industry and improve environmental sustainability, it is essential to understand the impact of ambient humidity on photo-catalytic degradations of gaseous pollutants. This study used TiO 2 colloid as catalyst to study the effects of ambient humidity (30–60%) on the photo-catalytic degradations of formaldehyde (HCHO), benzene (C 6 H 6), and hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) generated by papermaking industry. Via adsorption behavior simulations, using density functional theory (DFT) and catalytic reaction mechanisms, the effects of humidity were further investigated. The following results were found: (1) With increasing humidity, the degradation of HCHO was inhibited, because the ambient H 2 O content exceeded the demand for hydroxyl radicals produced by H 2 O, which led to competitive adsorption. (2) For C 6 H 6 , an optimum humidity of 40% was identified during the degradation process, which could be attributed to the improved catalytic reaction and the subsequent excessive H 2 O content. (3) For H 2 S, unlike the negative action for HCHO and the first positive and then negative actions for C 6 H 6 , with increasing humidity, the H 2 S degradation was promoted. This indicated that the large demand for hydroxyl radicals produced by H 2 O promoted the H 2 S catalytic reaction. Combining experimental, simulation, and theoretical results for these different gaseous pollutants provides sufficient information to understand the impact of humidity on the photo-catalytic oxidation degradation process. • From adsorption and catalysis, humidity effects on photo-catalysis were studied. • Excessive H 2 O content and competitive adsorption inhibited HCHO degradation. • Improved catalysis and then the excessive H 2 O caused 40% optimum humidity for C 6 H 6. • Large demand for hydroxyl radicals produced by H 2 O promoted H 2 S degradation. • Adsorption simulation and catalytic reaction study were verified with experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Due to rapid deforestation, the paper industry is facing problems like shortage of forest based raw materials, cost increment and negative effects on the environment including increasing air, water and soil pollution. In India, agro residues utilized in stubble burning could be used as a sustainable fiber resource for papermaking, but the paper made from these possesses poor strength properties. Considering the multiple advantages of using agro residues and weak strength properties of the paper made from these, this study was conducted. The effect of blending hardwood pulp and agro pulp with cationic starch or chitosan at wet-end of papermaking with and without subsequent surface sizing using oxidized starch was explored. As a wet-end additive, chitosan dose of 0.5 kg/t was more promising than cationic starch dose of 5 kg/t with all pulps. Paper was produced from 85% agro and 15% hardwood pulp and 0.5 kg/t of chitosan at wet-end after surface sizing with oxidized starch. It improved the tear index, Taber stiffness, double fold and air permeance by 2.7%, 6.5%, 170%, and 300%, respectively with 18.4% decrease in Cobb 60 as compared to paper made with 100% hardwood pulp. FTIR analysis was further done to evaluate the effect on crystallinity ratio and energy changes in hydrogen bonds in the papers of differently blended pulps after surface sizing. The study signifies the enhancement in strength and surface properties of paper made using agro pulp after addition of biopolymers at wet-end with and without surface sizing. Highlights • Mixing hardwood (HW) pulp with agro (AG) pulp to improve its paper properties. • Use of wet-end additives improved the strength and surface properties of paper. • Chitosan is a more efficient wet-end additive than starch. • Paper from 15% HW and 85% AG pulp after surface sizing was comparable to hardwood. • With surface sizing using chitosan agro pulp can be used to produce good quality paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental crises and increasing pressure from governments are responsible for the appearance of various green approaches to be considered in supply chain management. One of these approaches is sustainable supply chains, which have been implemented in different aspects of supply chains. Most third-party logistics (3 PLs) companies now provide their services utilizing the sustainable supply chain approach. In this study, we consider a 3PL in a supply chain with two goals: decreasing carbon emission and delivery time using a game theoretic approach, which is considered for the first time. We suppose that consumers are aware about the green transportation. Also, it is assumed that two manufacturers deliver their products to the same retailer using a 3 PL. The manufacturers use the 3 PL mainly because it is a way to provide green transportation and increase customer satisfaction by ensuring that products are delivered in a timely fashion to the retailer. This paper examines product pricing, the greenness determination for the first manufacturer's product, and the variables for the 3 PL, including the amount of carbon dioxide emissions and delivery time. Three scenarios are considered in this research: a centralized game and two decentralized games. The results show that it is essential to establish competition between the supply chain members to obtain greater profitability and an acceptable level of sustainability indicators. In the decentralized Stackelberg game between the manufacturers, they earn the highest profit. In the centralized game, the product greenness is the lowest, and in the decentralized game when the 3 PL is the leader, the product greenness is the highest. • The production of one green and one non-green product by two competitor producers. • The producers send products to retailer by using a 3 PL. • Using game theory to investigate the effects of 3 PL in the sustainable SC. • Analyzing the problem with three scenarios: two decentralized and one centralized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While combating air pollution may seem to be a corporate responsibility, what individuals contribute can be substantial. This study explores the individual's behavioral intention to reduce the air pollution associated with vehicles, household appliances, and religious practices. An extended theory of planned behavior (TPB), past behavior included, serves as the analytical model, while the approach of partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is employed in the model's estimation. The results show that subjective norms represent the primary driver of individual intentions to reduce air pollution, followed by perceived behavioral control, past behavior, and attitude, in that order. Surprisingly, advocacy on the part of the government to reduce the burning of incense and joss paper, disregarding years of social conflicts and protests, plays the most important role among all indicators within the construct subjective norms. This result holds even within the subsample of believers in religions that involve the practice of burning incense and joss paper. • Subjective norms represent the primary driver of individual intentions to reduce air pollution. • Governmental advocacy to reduce the burning of incense and joss paper plays an important role. • Individuals' attitudes towards de-carbonization and mitigating air pollution differ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]