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Waterborne pathogens threaten 2.2 billion people lacking access to safely managed drinking water services, causing over a million annual diarrheal deaths. Individuals without access to chlorine reagents or filtration devices often resort to do-it-yourself (DIY) methods, such as boiling or solar disinfection (SODIS). However, these methods are not simple to implement. In this study, we introduced an innovative and easily implemented disinfection approach. We discovered that immersing aluminum foil in various alkaline solutions produces alkali-treated aluminum foil (ATA foil) that effectively adsorbs Escherichia coli (E. coli), Salmonella, and Acinetobacter through the generated surface aluminum hydroxide. For example, a 25 cm 2 ATA foil efficiently captures all 10 4 E. coli DH5α strains in 100 mL water within 30 min. Using a saturated suspension of magnesium hydroxide, a type of fertilizer, as the alkaline solution, the properties of the saturated suspension eliminate the need for measuring reagents or changing solutions, making it easy for anyone to create ATA foil. ATA foils can be conveniently produced within mesh bags and placed in household water containers, reducing the risk of recontamination. Replacing the ATA foil with a foil improves the adsorption efficiency, and re-immersing the used foil in the production suspension restores its adsorption capacity. Consequently, ATA foil is an accessible and user-friendly alternative DIY method for underserved communities. Verification experiments covering variations in the water quality and climate are crucial for validating the efficacy of the foil. Fortunately, the ATA foil, with DIY characteristics similar to those of boiling and SODIS, is well-suited for testing under diverse global conditions, offering a promising solution for addressing waterborne pathogens worldwide., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Pyrolysis holds immense potential for clean treatment of pulp and paper mill sludge (PPMS), enabling efficient energy and chemical recovery. However, current understanding of PPMS pyrolysis kinetics and product characteristics remains incomplete. This study conducted detailed modeling of pyrolysis kinetics for two typical PPMSs from a wastepaper pulp and paper mill, namely, deinking sludge (PPMS-DS) and sewage sludge (PPMS-SS), and analyzed comprehensively pyrolysis products. The results show that apparent activation energy of PPMS-DS (169.25-226.82 kJ/mol) and PPMS-SS (189.29-411.21 kJ/mol) pyrolysis undergoes significant change, with numerous parallel reactions present. A distributed activation energy model with dual logistic distributions proves to be suitable for modeling thermal decomposition kinetics of both PPMS-DS and PPMS-SS, with coefficient of determination >0.999 and relative root mean square error <1.99 %. High temperature promotes decomposition of solid organic materials in PPMS, and maximum tar yield for both PPMS-DS (53.90 wt%, daf) and PPMS-SS (56.48 wt%, daf) is achieved at around 500 °C. Higher levels of styrene (24.45 % for PPMS-DS and 14.71 % for PPMS-SS) and ethylbenzene (8.61 % for PPMS-DS and 8.33 % for PPMS-SS) are detected in tar and could be used as chemicals. This work shows great potential to propel development of PPMS pyrolysis technology, enabling green and sustainable production in pulp and paper industry., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have been regarded as the main sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study compares the influent characteristics of industrial wastewater represented by the WWTP of paper mill and that of domestic sewage represented by the Benchmark Simulation Model No. 1 (BSM1) under stormy weather. The various sources of GHG emissions from the two processes are calculated, and the contribution of each source to the total GHG emissions is assessed. Firstly, based on the mass balance analysis and the recognized emission factors, a GHG emission calculation model was established for the on-site and off-site GHG emission sources from the WWTP of paper mill. Simultaneously, a GHG emission experimental model was established by determining the dissolved concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) in the papermaking wastewater, to verify the accuracy of the developed GHG calculation model. Subsequently, an optimum aeration rate for the paper mill was investigated to comply with the discharging norms. Under the optimum aeration rate of 10 h -1 , the obtained calculation accuracies of CO 2 and N 2 O emissions were 94.6 % and 91.1 %, respectively. The mean total GHG emission in the WWTP of paper mill was 550 kg CO 2 -eq·h -1 , of which 44.6 % came from the on-site emission sources and 55.4 % from the off-site emission sources. It was also uncovered that the electrical consumption for aeration was the largest contributor to the total GHG emissions with a proportion of 25.2 %, revealing that the control strategy of the aeration rate is highly significant in reducing GHG emissions in WWTP of paper mills., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. Jiahui Han and Yin Liu contributed equally to this manuscript., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Fe-N-doped biochar is a promising material for advanced-oxidation heterogeneous catalysis, but its adsorption-catalytic performance is significantly affected by biomass feedstock compositions and thermal conversion conditions and is not yet conclusive. In this paper, four lignocellulosic biomasses (rice straw, bamboo, poplar wood, and corn stover) were selected as raw materials to prepare Fe-N-biochar as persulfate activators by hydrothermal-thermolysis composite. Their lignocellulosic fractions and elemental contents were detected, and a variety of thermal conversion conditions were investigated for the rice straw-based Fe-N-biochar with the best activation performance among them. It was found that the holocellulose and lignin contents of the biomass affected the catalytic activity of the prepared catalysts with correlation coefficients of 0.57 and -0.93, respectively. Increasing the pyrolysis temperature from 500 °C to 800 °C could increase the ratio of Fe 2+ /Fe 3+ and the relative amounts of CC, graphitized N, and oxidized N in the catalyst by 0.17 %, 7 %, 12 %, and 18 %, respectively. Extending the pyrolysis time from 0.5 to 2 h was able to increase the relative content of CC, graphitized N, and oxidized N by 0.18 %, 3 %, 9 %, and 4 %, respectively. The most catalytically active rice straw-derived Fe-NRBC was able to remove 91.7 % of sulfamethoxazole (SMX) and 93.07 % of TOC mainly via ·SO 4 - and ·OH in an adsorption-catalytic reaction of 60 min with a k of 0.047 min -1 , pyridine N, oxidized N and CO. Finally, degradation intermediates and pathways were also characterized. This paper is expected to provide a basis for the future targeted regulation of Fe-N biochar for water pollution treatment.0 , pyridine N, oxidized N and CO. Finally, degradation intermediates and pathways were also characterized. This paper is expected to provide a basis for the future targeted regulation of Fe-N biochar for water pollution treatment., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)