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This paper reviews the impact of cement industry towards the global environment and solutions to the problem. The increasing harvesting of raw materials for mounting cement manufacturing causes reduction in quantity of the non-renewable resources such as limestone. The activities linked to harvesting of the resources from natural surroundings, damages the green landscape which is the habitat of flora and fauna exposing to the risk of ecological imbalance. The continuous reaping of these precious resources, exposes it to the risk of depletion in future. Furthermore, the raw materials processing phases in the factory releases dust, noises, greenhouse gases especially carbon dioxide that contaminates the environment and aggravates the climate change. These uninvited environmental issues cause distress to the lifestyle of mankind. Therefore, enhancing the manufacturing technology of cement plant for cleaner production is one of the resolutions to this issue. Approach of using industrial waste as supplementary cementitious material or cement free concrete also would reduce dependency on cement demand. Success in utilizing other alternative material which production consumes lesser natural resources, economic and has lesser harm to the nature to act as binder in concrete would contribute to sustainable and healthier environment for future generation.

Environmental degradation has become an important issue for countries worldwide due to increase in carbon emission in recent years. It is an important concern for countries to achieve environmental sustainability; however, the debate on the role of innovation and institutions in environmental sustainability is still not adequate. There is a lack of understanding as to how countries can achieve higher economic growth as well to protect the quality of environment. Innovation is considered as effective tools as it enhances energy efficiency and cleaner production, which in turn lowers carbon emission. Quality institutions have also been considered as it enhances the quality of environment. Consequently, this study investigates trade openness, innovation and quality institutions in environmental sustainability in 176 countries of the world. By employing OLS regression, fixed effect and generalized method of moments, the results show that trade openness, renewable energy consumption and foreign direct investment are negatively associated with carbon emission, whereas most of institutional quality indicators significantly contribute to environmental sustainability; however, it is still below the desired level to enhance the quality of environment. Innovation positively and innovation square negatively affect carbon emission. Our analysis also confirms the existence of environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis and pollution halo hypothesis. The findings suggest policy makers on further improvement of trade policies, innovations, promotions of political and legal institutions and promotion of renewable energy sources to cope with environmental sustainability.

PurposeApplications of social network analysis (SNA) are evidently popular amongst scholars for mapping stakeholder and other relational networks in improving the sustainability of construction activities and the resulting built environment. Nevertheless, the literature reveals a lack of thorough understanding of optimal SNA applications in this field. Therefore, this paper aims to convey a comprehensive critical review of past applications of SNA in this field.Design/methodology/approach95 relevant journal papers were initially identified from the “Web of Science” database and a bibliometric analysis was carried out using the “VOS Viewer” software. The subsequent in-depth review of the SNA methods, focussed on 24 specifically relevant papers selected from these aforesaid 95 papers.FindingsA significant growth of publications in this field was identified after 2014, especially related to topics on stakeholder management. “Journal of Cleaner Production”, “International Journal of Project Management” and “Sustainability” were identified as the most productive sources in this field, with the majority of publications from China. Interviews and questionnaires were the popular data collection methods while SNA “Centrality” measures were utilised in over 70% of the studies. Furthermore, potential areas were noted, to improve the mapping and thereby provide useful information to managers who could influence relevant networks and consequentially better sustainability outcomes, including those enhanced by collaborative networks.Originality/valueCloser collaboration has been found to help enhance sustainability in construction and built environment, hence attracting research interest amongst scholars on how best to enable this. SNA is established as a significant methodological approach to analysing interrelationships and collaborative potential in general. In a pioneering application here, this paper initiates the drawing together of findings from relevant literature to provide useful insights for future researchers to comprehensively identify, compare and contrast the applications of SNA techniques in construction and built environment management from a sustainability viewpoint.

This paper presents a green manufacturing-recycling network design approach for multi-echelon electronic assembly process under a complex product mix scenario which incorporates trade-off between e...

Artificial intelligence (AI) is gaining acceptance for modern control systems in various applications in daily life including the Chemical process industry. Above all, application of AI is increasing in the field of membrane-based treatment where it shows great potential until now. Membrane separations are generally recognized as energy-efficient processes. In particular, membrane desalination, forward osmosis, energy generation, and biomass treatment have shown substantial potential in modern industries, such as wastewater treatment, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, and natural products. All these industries consume more than 20% of total energy consumption in the world. Moreover, the laboratory research outcomes illuminate the way to better membrane design and development, including advanced process control and optimization. The membrane processes with existing technologies for a sustainable environment could be integrated with the AI model. This review summarizes several membrane-based water treatment designs and plant performances where artificial intelligence is being used to minimize waste generation and lead to cleaner production.

The production operation plays a crucial role in reducing environmental impacts in various stages of the life cycle of products, from extraction of materials to production, end use, reuse, and recy...

This study aims to determine the impact of financial development on green ecology to promote cleaner production. Particularly, it estimates the evolution of characteristics of the green-ecology of 37 cities from the Yangtze River Delta and determines the impact of financial development on green-ecology using the projection pursuit model, Moran’s Index, and regression model. Results found that the green-ecology index showed an upward trend and the index in the East was higher than the West. The green ecology and its composition indexes were found with significant spatial positive agglomeration characteristics. The Eastern region was mainly distributed as high to high agglomeration while the Western region was distributed as low to low agglomeration. Regarding composition indexes of green ecology, financial development has promoted a positive effect on the green-growth and resource-environment indexes. The study results stress that the enterprises should strengthen the technological innovation for the improvement of resource use efficiency and reduction of pollution.

Manufacturing sector has traditionally employed the concepts of lean manufacturing for production optimization and waste elimination. However, the looming danger of climate change demands responsible production and consumption; oftentimes the environmental aspects have been ignored for economic gains. The fourth industrial revolution brought about a paradigm shift in the manufacturing landscape, yet there is dearth of approaches that combine the concepts of lean manufacturing, environmentally conscious manufacturing and Industry 4.0 for improving the production and ecological performance of manufacturing sector. This study has fulfilled this research gap by developing a comprehensive implementation framework that combines lean manufacturing, green manufacturing and Industry 4.0 in a harmonious manner. Using a longitudinal case study approach, the developed framework has been applied to an auto-parts manufacturing firm to achieve reduced lead time, value added time, non-value-added time and greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. The results revealed that the approaches of first-in-first out (FIFO), total productive maintenance (TPM), smart production control, cyberphysical systems, 6R and smart energy monitoring are extremely beneficial in achieving optimized and cleaner production, where the lead time, non-value added time and value added time has been reduced by 25.60%, 56.20% and 24.68% respectively, whereas the carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide emissions were reduced by 55%. The theoretical contribution of this research work lies in the development of a novel integration framework that combines the concepts of lean manufacturing and green manufacturing with Industry 4.0 technologies, whereas practitioners can benefit from the synergistic combination to achieve automation-based fast and environmentally conscious manufacturing.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the organization and content of postgraduate training of specialists in circular economics in the Republic of Poland on the example of Silesian Polytechnic. It is emphasized that the Republic of Poland is taking significant steps in the development of the circular economy and the training of specialists to implement its ideas. Based on the analysis of postgraduate education programs «Circular Economics and Cleaner Production in Practice» and «Cyclic Engineering» in the Silesian Polytechnic, the article reveals the requirements the requirements, rights and responsibilities of postgraduate students are revealed; knowledge, skills and competencies that they acquire in the process of training in circular economics programs; forms of education and the content of diplomas that students receive after training, as well as areas of possible employment. It is emphasized that in the system of postgraduate education of Silesian Polytechnic there are programs both directly from the circular economy and from certain problems that relate to the scope of such specialists and contribute to the development of a circular economy. It is proved that the training of specialists in circular economics in postgraduate studies acquires a systemic character in terms of coverage of the content of those problems that relate to the professional activities of specialists in circular economics. The indisputable value of such educational programs is to involve in their development and determine the content of training not only teachers of higher education institutions, but also public and professional societies that care for the environment, waste recycling and more. Educational programs on circular economics at Silesian Polytechnic are practice-oriented, they include consultations in circular production companies, trainings on business practice, as well as the development of an implementation project under the guidance of experts.

Sustainability is a key concern across industries. In the textile sector, companies face a very competitive environment and struggle to combine the pressures for the reduction of cost with the demands for the implementation of cleaner production practices (CPP) that are advanced by the society and public policies. Whereas several studies have explored the factors that influence the adoption of CPP there is still a paucity of research addressing the relationship between stakeholders’ influences and CPP. The objective of this study is to explore the influence of stakeholders on the adoption of CPP in the textile industry. The study builds on data from survey data and expert perspectives, whereas data analysis resorted to structured equation modelling and Spearman's correlation test. The study suggests that shareholders have a positive influence on the adoption of CPP in this industry, driven by the expected impacts thatCPP may have for reducing costs and improving company's brand. On the contrary, the study finds no support for business partners, society and the government influencing the adoption of CPP. The study offers several contributions to theory building, notably by highlightingthe relevance of interpreting environmental costs as an investment. The study offers also insights for managerial practice by exploring evidences about the emergence of environmental cultural change following the precautionary principle. Insights are also put forward concerning the growing social in monitoring environmental actions through social networks.

With the increasing scrutiny on tailings management and requirements of the ground subsidence control, both the academia and industry are highly advocating the utilization of cemented paste backfill (CPB) in the mining industry. Literature review has shown that there are some studies conducted to evaluate the ecological environment, economic development, and social impact of mining. However, a comprehensive study about the economic benefits, resource benefits, environmental benefits, and social benefits of CPB is still lacking. This study aims to present a comprehensive benefit index system for CPB from four aspects, i.e., economy, resource, environment, and society. Questionnaires from experts and the mining industry using CPB technology were collected, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used for data analysis. The relationships between economy, resource, environment, and society were analyzed. The results show that resource benefits have the greatest impact on the comprehensive benefit of CPB in the mining industry, followed by environmental, economic, and social benefits. According to relevance ranking, resource benefits are positively correlated with social, environmental, and economic benefits, whereas environmental, resource, and social benefits have correlation with economic benefits in turn. Therefore, resource, environmental, economic, and social benefits in order directly affect the comprehensive benefit of CPB on the basis of the influencing degree. Moreover, resource, environmental, and social benefits indirectly affect the comprehensive benefit of CPB. The research findings of this study would help the mining industry popularize the CPB technology and promote the sustainability and cleaner production of the mining industry.

The wood ash, generated at a large scale globally, is often landfilled or open dump, which creates a land shortage and environmental issues. Incorporating wood by-products in asphalt materials help...

Environmental pollution is a growing problem in developing countries, including China. The packaging-printing industry is considered as one of the main contributors to air pollution in China. Film lamination represents a critical proportion of flexible packaging products. At present, traditional lamination technologies, e.g., dry lamination, consume considerable resources and generate massive pollution. Correspondingly, novel solventless lamination could effectively replace conventional lamination processes and reduce air pollution, particularly the production of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). To promote cleaner packaging and printing production in China, we applied life cycle assessment (LCA) to compare solventless and dry film lamination processes in retort pouch packaging production and further validate the environmental advantages of the solventless approach. Our research model considered the entire LCA process with an emphasis on film composite processing. E-footprint software and databases were used to assess environmental impacts based on the ISO 14040 standards. In addition, the laminated films were further assessed for peel strength based on the GB standards. Six environmental indicators, including global warming potential (GWP), photochemical oxidant formation potential (POFP), primary energy demand (PED), water use (WU), acidification potential (AP), and respiratory inorganics (RI) were selected, with a particular focus on the first two indices. The LCA results showed that the environment impact of solventless lamination was markedly smaller than that of traditional dry lamination, with critical differences reflected in power consumption and adhesive type. Compared with dry lamination, solventless lamination reduced electrical energy consumption and CO2 emissions by 74.1% and 86.37%, respectively, and the unique adhesive reducing VOC emissions by more than 94.5%. Further estimation results confirmed the above findings, indicating that solventless production can reduce VOC and pollutant emissions from sources and thus promote cleaner production. In short, solventless lamination is an effective method, both in terms of performance and environmental friendliness.

Assessment cleaner production (CP) is an important and successful tool to resolve the contradiction between economic growth and environmental pollution. To avoid destroying the ecological environment in the utilization process of mineral resources, CP has been developed in many gold mines to achieve the goal of sustainable development. Further, the hamacher aggregation (HA) operator is a classical kind of aggregation operator used in fusion theory. The prominent characteristic of the HA operator is that it can capture the interrelationship among the multi‐input arguments. In this paper, the complex q-rung orthopair fuzzy sets (Cq-ROFSs) and their fundamental properties are developed. The HA operators based on Cq-ROFSs are pioneered and also study their existing methods. Moreover, we resolve the case of assessing CP in gold mines using multi-attribute group decision making (MAGDM) problem to examine the reliability and effectiveness of the proposed approach. Further, the comparative analysis, advantages and sensitive analysis of the proposed methods, using the cleaner production assessment in gold mines are also discussed.

Urea-free reactive printing has gained popularity as part of cleaner production in the textile printing industry. Printing additives containing little to no nitrogen are being explored as substitutes for urea. In this study, the hygroscopicity, ability to swell fibers, and ability to solubilize reactive dyes of various additives were compared to explore the intrinsic connections between the structures and the above-mentioned properties. The hydrogen-bond interactions between the reactive dye and additives were characterized by 1H NMR and DSC. Additives with good hygroscopic, swelling, and solubilizing properties were selected for their potential application in urea-free reactive deep printing on viscose fabric. Results showed that among various kinds of additives, glycerol had the best hygroscopicity, 1,4-butanediol had the best ability to swell viscose fibers, and the amides had the best ability to solubilize reactive turquoise K-GL. Hygroscopicity was considered as the most important factor, followed by the ability to swell fibers. When the mixed ratio of glycerol and 1,4-butanediol was 5:5, the color performances of the binary nitrogen-free compound were higher than those of a commercial alternative. Its printing performances came close to those of urea, exhibiting great potential as a substitute for urea. Nitrogen-free alternatives will remarkably reduce the ammonia–nitrogen pollutants emitted into the environment by the reactive printing process.

It has become an urgent issue for all countries to ease the sharp conflict between economic growth and ecological conservation. The fundamental way to achieve low-carbon economic growth is to make the energy consumption structure upgrade and develop towards a cleaner direction. Standing at the point of clean production, this study empirically analyses the nonlinear mechanism of the transformation of energy consumption structure on China's regional carbon productivity by using the threshold model based on the inter-provincial data from 2009 to 2017 (30 provinces in China). The research shows that there are significant differences in cleaner production levels in different parts of China. In contrast, the cleaner production capacity in most regions has been significantly improved during the sample period. It shows the energy consumption structure transformation has a remarkable double threshold effect on regional carbon productivity in China. While clean production keeps crossing the threshold value, the effect direction of energy consumption transformation on regional carbon productivity changes from negative to positive, with both the coefficient value and significance increasing. According to the research results, the paper focuses on adjusting energy resource consumption and improving the clean production level. Eventually, some policy inspirations are proposed for the lower emissions and sustainable process of the Chinese economy.

At present environmental pollution is the major problem that is drastically affecting human health and worsening the climatic conditions worldwide. Manufacturing industries are now working towards cleaner production to reduce the pollution level and other hazardous emissions emitted from manufacturing industries during manufacturing processes. In the present study Life cycle assessment tool is used to compute the total environmental impact of the sand casting process during its manufacturing phase and also different available scenarios have been compared to find the best one. Aluminum alloy-LM04 is used in the present study having good casting characteristics and a wide range of applications in different engineering sectors. The case study is carried out in the Indian additive manufacturing industry located in the Southern region of India. This study considers gate to gate analysis which considers the manufacturing phase of the aluminum product. The result calculated includes raw material, solid waste, energy consumption, and air emission during the manufacturing phase. Also, different environmental impact factors are calculated in the study. GABI software version 9 is used in this study for the analysis purpose. It is found that changes in electricity source in additive manufacturing industries result in about a 40 % reduction in emissions. Also, out of four studied electricity sources hydropower source is found be the best fit for manufacturing industries. About 91 % of solid waste can be reduced by the reuse of sand. Combining all the available scenario result 67 % reduction in emissions.

Current best practice methodologies of energy utilization are limited to core production processes, excluding non-core processes. Energy determinations are limited to specialized functions and do not cover the entire business. This research introduces business process modelling to evaluate the holistic business energy demand, inclusive of core production and support functions, of a coal fired power plant. The methodology includes, modelling and statistical techniques, in developing the holistic baseline model, with predictive capacities to forecast the energy impact of changes to the business. Post a validation cycle, the results provide for insights on the impact of optimization, including Cleaner Production, IoT and technology substitution on the coal to energy business. The results include CO2 impact, energy impact and resource (people) impacts as forecast by the model. The model is unique in that it is system agnostic and can be used to forecast any energy production configuration.

Every year approximately 70 million passenger cars are being produced and automotive industry is much bigger then just passenger cars. The impact of automotive industry on the environment is tremendous. From extracting raw materials through manufacturing and assembly processes, exploitation of the vehicle to the reprocessing irreversible, extensive environmental damage is done. The goal of this study is to show how implementing eco-design processes into supply chain management can reduce the impact of automotive industry on the environment by e.g. reducing the use of the fuel, increasing the use of recycled materials. Focus is on evaluation of current state, environmental impacts and potential improvements for design, raw materials, manufacturing and distribution and end-of-life phase.

Using the current state of life cycle assessment (LCA), carbon and water footprinting, and EPDs in South Africa, this work explores the challenges and opportunities for scholarly development in these areas in the country. Being a relatively small LCA community in South Africa, academics, consultants, and other stakeholders were approached to provide lists of known studies, with further reports, that may have been missed, obtained through internet searches. Information was collated on database development, capacity building, and other aspects and presented here in a single paper. While the authors are aware of companies working on LCA and related studies, hidden in confidential reports, we were able to find 27 LCA, 17 water and 12 carbon footprinting, and 10 EPD studies. Although these studies have potential advantages for policymaking and business, their number, implementation, and impact remain limited. While previously seen as an academic exercise, life cycle thinking has been adopted by industry, private consultants, and the South African National Cleaner Production Centre (NCPC-SA), among others. Growing interest has led to the creation of several training courses available at academic institutes, the NCPC-SA, and consulting firms, ranging from the basic understanding to advanced use of software packages and modeling techniques. The development of a national LCI database and further exposure and opportunity for LCA studies are important steps to hopefully spur LCA in Southern Africa in the future.

Generation of waste from the agro-processing industry is continually increasing due to increasing needs for food security. Beneficiation of this waste has both economic and environmental impacts that can be overcome via implementation of cleaner production technologies. Starch is a renewable biopolymer material which is completely biodegradable, easy to handle and widely available in nature. It has wide applications in various industries including food processing, pharmaceutical, confection, beverage, pulp and paper, chemical, cosmetic, binder and adhesive, packaging and printing, fermentation and textile industries. We have previously demonstrated that high-quality industrial-grade starch can be extracted from waste avocado seeds. This report is focussed on a techno-economic evaluation of the extraction process. It can be concluded, from the study that extraction of starch from waste avocado seeds is economically feasible with an accounting rate of return of 75% and a break-even analysis of 82% with a payback period of 2 years. The process is environmentally sustainable in that minimal amounts of chemicals are used in the extraction process and the wastes generated can be beneficiated into high-value products that can add further to the profitability of the venture.

Sustainability issues have been a major concern in the construction field, owing to the overexploration of natural raw material sources. The high demand of natural materials is traceble to increasing urbanization and industrialization. Various landmark research achievement has been made in the production of self-compacting concrete in recent years. The focus has been on the use of wastes emanating from agricultural, construction, and industrial activities. However, finding a workable framework for the use of the alternative materials is still an issue. This study presented procedures for cleaner production of self-compacting concrete with selected industrial rejects. The use of waste materials (supplementary cementitious materials (S.C.M.) and recycled materials) were explored. The materials, according to research trend, were either utilized as a partial or total replacement of conventional materials. From the available data, the study found that industrial by-products demonstrated potential to serve as an alternative material in production of self-compacting concrete. It is shown from the study that greener, and sustainable S.C.C. with enhanced properties could be achieved by using industry rejects. The presented procedures will serve as a guide for industrial application of the materials, and also foster economic benefits to the construction sector.

This paper presents a comprehensive overview of the potential and outlook of solar energy in Pakistan as a source of renewable and sustainable energy. A detailed energy infrastructure and major reasons behind the power crisis in Pakistan are presented followed by a detailed assessment of solar energy potential. The results obtained from the solar atlas for solar irradiation and PV electricity output show a high potential of solar power throughout the country. An average value of 4.1 kWh/kWp per day is obtained from an installed capacity of 1 KWp. Furthermore, the total estimated potential of solar power in Pakistan is around 2900 GW and its effective use will help in the growth of the country’s economy by reducing the import of fossil fuels. It is foreseen that the present research will help nations develop and utilize solar power in their respective countries efficiently and effectively.

One of the vital tasks to advance a specific line of research is synthesizing past research findings. Supplementing former quantitative and qualitative assessments of socio-economic impact research; an under-represented area, this study aims to conduct a bibliometric analysis of related articles. By means of co-citation and co-occurrence analyses, a bibliometric survey will give an alternate perspective by depicting the landscape and changing the path of socio-economic impact research over time. Utilizing the scientific visualization instrument VOSviewer and statistical software tool R, 2894 socio-economic impact works gathered from the Scopus database from 1965 to 2019. We used text mining techniques and presented major contents in the form of a conceptual structure map, word tree map, and word clouds. With a quantitative scientometric method, a historic and notable setting of research on socio-economic impact was provided, enabling us to follow the advancement of the field along with distinguishing the most productive authors, journals, institutions, and countries. We identified and envision the landscape of socio-economic research and track how this landscape has advanced. USA and UK are the prominent leaders in publications, although at a regional level most productive is Europe. Journal of Cleaner production, Climatic Change, and Plos One are the most influential and productive journals in the field. The insights of knowledge accumulated from a bibliometric review after mapping the landscape will give scholars an efficient comprehension of the advancement of the socio-economic impact field and a guide to further progress socio-economic impact research literature.

Young consumers are known to value environmentally sustainable features in products. In this regard, understanding the determinant green attributes and whether these attributes are able to compensate for the lack or low level of regular attributes can contribute to deepening the understanding of how young consumers decide. Hence, this paper aims to identify the determinant attributes for the behaviour of young consumer environmentally sustainable food purchases and to investigate the compensatory rules applied during pre-purchase evaluation processes. To that end, we employed a quantitative study of both descriptive and causal objectives through a questionnaire. To identify the determinant attributes, descriptive statistics techniques were used, with attributes divided into instrumental and expressive. Whereas for the compensatory rules, a factorial experiment was conducted to test purchase scenarios. We analysed the effect of environmentally sustainable product attributes on purchase intention using the analysis of variance. And, given the additive characteristic of compensatory models, a linear regression model was used to test the hypothesis of the application of compensatory rules for environmentally sustainable food purchase. Results showed that product quality, cleaner production and price are the determinant instrumental attributes valued by young consumers. Health concern, a healthy lifestyle and environmental concern are the determinant expressive attributes. Our inferential results support the hypothesis that young consumers judge environmentally sustainable food attributes under compensatory rules. Thus, high levels of attributes compensate for the low level or absence of others. The implications of such findings in light of consumer behaviour theory are then discussed.

The demand for water is high in the food industry, particularly during the processing of animal product origin. A more sustainable approach to the use of the water resource is needed to reduce its waste. A systematic literature review was carried out from publications identified according to relevance and timeliness. The aim was to find alternative food processing production methods that considered both recycling and reuse of water in different slaughtering of animals such as cattle, swine, poultry, goat, sheep and fish. Articles which addressed cleaner production methods were selected because of special relevance in water resource management, Poultry processing was considered a special case regarding the recycling and reuse of water. That was due to the volume of water used as well as the level of likely contamination it might pose if reused. Wastewater can be largely reduced by adopting changes in practices, such as plant layout; materials used; drainage systems using dedicated separation of effluents and shaded area at reception with ventilation and sprinkles.

While driving the regional economy, industrial parks also pose great threats to natural environment due to large quantities of resource consumption and intensive pollutants emissions. Eco-industrial development, including cleaner production, bioproducts or waste interchange, and infrastructure sharing, is key to improving the parks’ environmental quality and sustainability. However, how to measure the performance of eco-industrial development is an essential and hard work since the material and energy flows are complex and cannot be compared in various units. The water and non-renewable resources which are very vital materials to sustain industrial activities in the industrial parks were rarely considered in the previous traditional ecological footprint analysis. Therefore, our research depicts a real picture of all the resources including water and non-renewable resources to illustrate the actual environmental impact of a national high technology industrial development zone-Jiangyin high technology Park, using energy based ecological footprint method. Results show that the emergy-ecological footprint deficit and emergy-ecological footprint intensity of the study park decreased by 16.75% and 16.74% due to the implementation of eco-industrial development. In detail, minerals made the largest reduction, 2.00E + 2 ha/capita, followed by fossil fuels with a reduction of 1.01E + 2 ha/capita, and the resources from cropland and pasture did not make a contribution in reducing emergy ecological footprint. Policy implications such as further replenishing and improving the ecological industry chains are proposed based on this survey. This study provides a basis to improve the environmental management and performance of industrial parks.

PurposeIt is basically known that the oil and gas industry contributes to various forms of pollution through air, acid rain and water, as well as different kinds of illnesses in humans and aquatic animals. Eventually, this adversely contributes to climate change owing to increases in emission levels in various stages of oil and gas operations ranging from extraction, refining, transportation and even consumption. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to produce a simplistic model for compliance with environmental taxes in the oil and gas industry as an effort to curtail such adversities. This attempt is expected to set a new pace for heated debates towards the production of a robust environmental tax compliance model through further research. Specifically, it has examined the effect of extensive regulation and use of power in ensuring compliance with environmental taxation via enforcement mechanisms.Design/methodology/approachThe study used a quantitative research design through a positivist paradigm. The population of the study was 115 respondents who were identified as tax experts in three different stakeholder groups (regulators, operators and enforcers) in the Nigerian oil and gas industry. Out of this population, 103 served as the final sample of the study. The data collected from these tax experts were analyzed through partial least squares structural equation modelling.FindingsThe results revealed that both extensive regulation and the use of power have high likelihoods of enhancing compliance with environmental taxes through enforcement actions by the relevant authorities within the oil and gas industry.Research limitations/implicationsThe results implied the need for policymakers to deploy these enforcement mechanisms to enhance compliance with environmental taxes in the oil and gas industry, which will eventually reduce the environmental menace and ensure cleaner production. The paper also has highlighted the need for future researchers to expand this discussion through an elaborative approach either through disaggregating the variables studied here or integrating voluntary compliance mechanics into the model for further understanding of the drivers of environmental tax compliance. It also implied the need to utilize larger sample in other oil producing countries to improve generalization of results.Originality/valueThe work could be the pioneer in proposing and validating the enforced environmental tax compliance model in the oil and gas industry.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to focus on Tunisian tannery sector that causes a considerable damage to the environment and consequently leads to serious health problems due to the untreated effluents generated from the various leather processing stages.Design/methodology/approachThis paper discusses a voluntary initiative taken by the top managers of tannery enterprise to prevent pollution and disseminate the concept of eco-industrial activities between employees and stakeholders. In addition, this research assesses the performance of such treatment that characterizes the chemical parameters of generated pollutants. It also aims at optimizing the industrial process for cleaner production. Coagulation–flocculation process is investigated in this study. Moreover, oxidation phase by ozone is taking into account before and after coagulation–flocculation process to measure the effectiveness of the combined method for reducing the main pollutant concentrations.FindingsThe unhairing and chrome (Cr) tanning steps are considered the most polluting steps. Therefore, the application of various treatment techniques, including chemical and physicochemical processes, is realized to reduce the toxicity of the effluents. The correlation between experimental and modeling results, using artificial neural network (ANN) method, was investigated in this research. The results of the constructed ANN model are measured by the correlation of experimental and model results during coagulation–flocculation and oxidation stages. The validation of the elaborated model through the error calculation (MSE) and the correlation coefficient (R) confirm the reliability of ANN method.Originality/valueEventually, the establishment of ANN model for performance prediction of wastewater parameters is investigated due to different measurements of physical effluent outputs, such as: pH, turbidity, TSS, DS, COD, fat, TSS, S2- and Cr. This study uses predictive modeling, a machine learning technique to tackle the problem of accurately predicting the behavior of unseen configuration.

Many managers and firm owners nowadays pay special attention to green supplier selection to gain competitive advantage all over the world. Consequently, this subject a critical and significant decision for firms. This study utilizes an extension to analytical hierarchy process (AHP) under interval type-2 fuzzy environment (IT2FAHP) model to better cope with ambiguity and vagueness for solving supplier selection problem considering green concepts. A real case application is also performed in a home appliance manufacturer to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the IT2FAHP model in the present paper. The findings indicate that the most important factors that are effective in selecting green suppliers are cleaner production, energy/material saving, green package, remanufacturing, and environmental management system. Further, a comparison and a sensitivity analysis are conducted to display the consistency and stability of the proposed model. The findings reveal that the IT2FAHP model is quite consistent with the models in literature and green product, cleaner production, green design, and green package have a significant positive effect on performances of green suppliers.

Phosphogypsum–a byproduct of phosphoric acid production–piled near eco-sensitive regions, poses both environmental and health risks. By reacting phosphogypsum with NaOH, Ca(OH)2 is produced, which ...

The use of renewable materials and cleaner production is currently the target of the automotive industry to reduce the use-phase environmental impacts of vehicles. Renewable lightweight materials are used to replace conventional materials to produce lightweight automotive parts, leading to reduced fuel consumption, which contributes toward meeting the industry’s environmental impact target. In this study, we compared the life cycle of a conventional composite to that of a biocomposite for automotive applications using the standard set by the International Standards Organization (ISO 2006). The conventional one is talc-reinforced polypropylene composite (talc–PP) at a 70% PP to 30% talc weight ratio. The biocomposite is Miscanthus biochar-reinforced polypropylene composite (MB–PP) at a 70% PP to 30% MB. The functional unit is 982 cm3 of composite used for a certain vehicle part (i.e., an automotive component). The environmental impacts are determined using the Tool for the Reduction and Assessment of Chemical and Other Environmental Impacts (TRACI, v2.1). The system boundary includes material extraction to the disposal stage of the composites. The results revealed that MB–PP composite had the least impact for all categories than talc–PP composite and appeared to be a favorable option for automotive parts from an environmental perspective. This study indicates that MB-PP can reduce about 25% environmental impacts of the life of composite if it replaces the talc–PP composite. The MB–PP composite emerged as a promising option than talc–PP composite and has environmentally benign green credentials for automotive parts application.

By some estimates, globally use about 500 million straws. According to Bloomberg, straws account for roughly 0.03% of the plastic waste in the ocean. This corresponds to a large amount of plastic waste generated and thus it becomes quite challenging for the sustainability of the earth. We have come up with a material that can resist usage of plastic straws. This material is moulded into desired shape to form straws that are edible. These edible straws are flavoured are designed for the sustainability of the future and reduce the use of plastic straws.

Carbon dioxide emissions reduction has been a common trend for many industrial processes in recent years. However, few analytical tools have been developed for visualising CO2 emissions reduction and supporting decisions at the enterprise level. A graphical technique known as Carbon Emission Composite Curves was developed previously, but was limited to the production of single product. In this work, the CO2 emissions reduction procedure is focused and extended to multi-product plants, in which CO2 emissions of shared and dedicated facilities of the production line are analysed. For cases where the carbon intensity of shared facilities is higher than that of the dedicated facilities, CO2 emissions reduction should focus on the shared facilities, before efforts are put forward for the dedicated facilities. In contrast, when the carbon intensity of dedicated facilities is higher than that of the shared facilities, it is necessary to explore ways to reduce CO2 emissions of the dedicated facilities. Two case studies are used to illustrate the procedure.

The generation of industrial solid waste is increasing at an alarming rate worldwide and landfilling is no longer a feasible method for managing various industrial solid wastes. However, recent developments in environmental policies have led to many sustainable approaches towards integrated solid waste management. Industrial waste refers to the waste produced with the aid of industrial activity comprising of materials deemed useless in the production process of factories, mills, industries, and mining activities. This paper primarily focuses on waste management strategies adopted by industries: Iron & steel, mining respectively for cleaner production and sustainable development through effective utilization of solid waste in the construction industry especially in geopolymer concrete. The 21st-century demand's low carbon cement-free concrete for smart infrastructures. Geopolymer concrete, a third-generation construction material serves in effectively utilizing various industrial solid wastes generated by steel and mining industries. Short case studies have been carried out to discuss the response from the steel industry and mines towards sustainable development and waste management following the usage of GGBFS for production of geopolymer concrete thus encouraging further debate on progressive waste management strategies for a greener future.

The pulp and paper industry in contrast to other manufacturing industries consumes a large amount of energy and emits pollutants along with greenhouse gases. The waste generated from the pulp and paper industry causes severe harm to the aquatic life, disturbs the food chain, and also causes various health implications. In this review, we have highlighted some of the primary pollutants released from the industry and their health hazards. Strict action and implementation of the regulatory model is required in this industrial sector for environmental compliance. The environmental pollution caused by the pollutants poses a threat to aquatic life as well as to plants and human beings. The effect of pollutants on the environment has been assessed many times, but their mitigation still has a significant challenge. This review highlights some recent techniques to reduce pollutants from the pulp and paper industries. Among these techniques, microbial fuel cells, anaerobic digestion, bleaching technologies, cleaner production, and transformation pathways are the most used techniques. These will help in understanding the risk of pollutants released from the industry and the techniques will help in tackling these pollutants for a sustainable environment development.

Red mud (RM) is a by-product in the alumina manufacturing process, which is generated in large quantities. The challenge of increasing RM reserves poses a threat to the environment and can...

Anthropogenic emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases have increased since the pre-industrial era, driven largely by economic and population growth, and are now higher than ever. In this scope, hybrid biological–inorganic systems represent a sustainable and versatile chemical synthesis platform using CO2 as a feedstock which realizes the idea of ’Cleaner Production’. Practical implementation of hybrid biological–inorganic systems for the production of value-added chemical products requires development of scalable and robust electrobioreactors with a high energy efficiency and an adequate size. This work reports an in situ water electrolyzer stack design as part of an electrobioreactor system required for the pilot-scale operation of the hybrid biological–inorganic process approaching the aforementioned requirements. The electrolyzer is designed by applying fluid dynamics simulation tools to model the electrolyte flow. The design takes into consideration the problem of leakage currents, reported in the previous works, which is tackled by applying an electrically insulating coating. Different electrode surface modification approaches, such as coating with electrocatalysts and etching, are used to further enhance the performance and energy efficiency of the electrolyzer. The performance of the electrolyzer stack was evaluated in a pH-neutral solution required for the hybrid biological–inorganic processes. The in situ water electrolyzer developed in this study showed a high Faraday efficiency close to 90% and acceptable specific energy consumption below 90 kWh kgH2−1. The obtained energy-efficiency values are the highest reported for similar applications with a similar scale which emphasizes the successful design of the in situ water electrolyzer stack. All data collected during experimental work might be applied to further investigation, simulation, and optimization of electrobioreactors operating at neutral pH. Overall, the results achieved in this study are promising and represent a crucial step toward the industrial implementation of hybrid biological–inorganic systems.

Lignocellulose-bearing sediments are legacies of the previously unregulated wastewater discharge from the pulp and paper industry, causing large quantities of toxic organic waste on the Baltic Sea floor and on the bottom of rivers and lakes. Several km2 are covered with deposits of lignocellulosic residues, typically heavily contaminated with complex mixtures of organic and inorganic pollutants, posing a serious threat to human and ecological health. The high toxicity and the large volume of the polluted material are challenges for remediation endeavours. The lignocellulosic material is also a considerable bioresource with a high energy density, and due to its quantity, it could appeal to commercialization as feedstock for various marketable goods. This study sets out to explore the potential of using this polluted material as a resource for industrial production at the same time as it is detoxified. Information about modern production methods for lignocellulosic material that can be adapted to a polluted feedstock is reviewed. Biochemical methods such as composting, anaerobic digestion, as well as, thermochemical methods, for instance, HTC, HTL, pyrolysis, gasification and torrefaction have been assessed. Potential products from lignocellulose-bearing sediment material include biochar, liquid and gaseous biofuels, growing substrate. The use of a contaminated feedstock may make the process more expensive, but the suggested methods should be seen as an alternative to remediation methods that only involve costs. Several experiments were highlighted that support the conception that combined remediation and generation of marketable goods may be an appropriate way to address polluted lignocellulose-bearing sediments. Graphic abstract

Production environment in modern industries, like integrated circuits manufacturing, fiberglass processing, steelmaking, and ceramic frit, is characterized by zero idle-time between inbound and outbound jobs on every machine, this technical requirement improves energy efficiency, hence, has implications for cleaner production in other production situations. An exhaustive review of literature is first conducted to shed light on the development of no-idle flowshops. Considering the intractable nature of the problem, this research also develops an extended solution method for optimizing the Bi-objective No-Idle Permutation Flowshop Scheduling Problem (BNIPFSP). Extensive numerical tests and statistical analysis are conducted to evaluate the developed method, comparing it with the best-performing algorithm developed to solve the BNIPFSP. Overall, the proposed extension outperforms in terms of solution quality at the expense of a longer computational time. This research is concluded by providing suggestions for the future development of this understudied scheduling extension.

A novel approach was used to overcome inhibition of anaerobic digestion of tannery waste activated sludge by co-digesting with slaughterhouse sludge. The seasonal characteristics of the tannery sludge varied significantly. Macronutrient ratios were typically not ideal for anaerobic digestion, mainly due to an over-abundance of nitrogen. In addition, potentially inhibitory concentrations of metals were present. Optimal co-digestion with 50% (vol./vol.) slaughterhouse sludge achieved a CH4 yield of 215 mLCH4/gVS, and biodegradability of 55.7% VS, 45.5% TS and 48.2% COD. This resulted in a synergistic increase of ≥59.4% in biodegradability and 156% in CH4 yield compared to mono-digestion of tannery waste activated sludge. Furthermore, the regression of the cumulative CH4 yield using the Logistic, Cone and modified Gompertz model (adj R2≥0.998) showed an increase of 20.4–21.9%, 58.6–252%, and 164% in the ultimate CH4 yield, maximum CH4 production rate and the specific rate constant respectively, and 59.3% reduction of the lag phase. An alternative cleaner production technique that vertically integrates the value chain improves solid waste management and provides an income stream was demonstrated through this co-digestion strategy.

During the last decade, China's agro-food production has increased rapidly and been accompanied by the challenge of increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other environmental pollutants from fertilizers, pesticides, and intensive energy use. Understanding the energy use and environmental impacts of crop production will help identify environmentally damaging hotspots of agro-production, allowing environmental impacts to be assessed and crop management strategies optimized. Conventional farming has been widely employed in wolfberry (Lycium barbarum) cultivation in China, which is an important cash tree crop not only for the rural economy but also from an ecological standpoint. Energy use and global warming potential (GWP) were investigated in a wolfberry production system in the Yellow River irrigated Jingtai region of Gansu. In total, 52 household farms were randomly selected to conduct the investigation using questionnaires. Total energy input and output were 321,800.73 and 166,888.80 MJ ha−1, respectively, in the production system. The highest share of energy inputs was found to be electricity consumption for lifting irrigation water, accounting for 68.52%, followed by chemical fertilizer application (11.37%). Energy use efficiency was 0.52 when considering both fruit and pruned wood. Nonrenewable energy use (88.52%) was far larger than the renewable energy input. The share of GWP of different inputs were 64.52% electricity, 27.72% nitrogen (N) fertilizer, 5.07% phosphate, 2.32% diesel, and 0.37% potassium, respectively. The highest share was related to electricity consumption for irrigation, followed by N fertilizer use. Total GWP in the wolfberry planting system was 26,018.64 kg CO2 eq ha−1 and the share of CO2, N2O, and CH4 were 99.47%, 0.48%, and negligible respectively with CO2 being dominant. Pathways for reducing energy use and GHG emission mitigation include: conversion to low carbon farming to establish a sustainable and cleaner production system with options of raising water use efficiency by adopting a seasonal gradient water pricing system and advanced irrigation techniques; reducing synthetic fertilizer use; and policy support: smallholder farmland transfer (concentration) for scale production, credit (small- and low-interest credit) and tax breaks.

A cleaner separation method is proposed for recycling of Ag from lead–zinc tailings by an ultrasound-assisted leaching process. The pure sodium thiosulfate system was chosen as the leaching agent for Ag recovery via ultrasound irradiation to develop cleaner industrial processes. The effects of the ultrasonic irradiation on the conventional sodium thiosulfate silver leaching process were studied. Models of the leaching kinetics under conventional conditions and ultrasonic conditions were established. This integrated process is highly efficient and environmentally friendly.

In the circular economy era, environmental sustainability is critical, and both green and non-green products with similar functions co-exist in practice. There is little doubt that these two types of products are competing and may substitute one another even though one is more environmental friendly than the other. In this paper, we build analytical models to explore the optimal advertising and pricing decisions for a green product in the presence of a non-green product substitute. We investigate both simultaneous and sequential pricing strategies under which there are three possible pricing scenarios, namely: 1) both prices of green and non-green products are determined simultaneously (Strategy IP), 2) the green product's price is decided first and then the non-green product's price is determined (Strategy GL), and 3) the non-green product's price is decided first and then the green product's price is determined (Strategy NL). We find that the sequential pricing strategy is more profitable than the simultaneous pricing strategy for both green and non-green supply chains. It is interesting to prove the existence of “second-mover advantage” in the pricing game. Moreover, we identify that if the green supply chain uses Strategy NL, it could achieve a better performance in profit and minimize the corresponding environmental impact. If the green supply chain is truly socially responsible, it should design a product with low substitutability, so that the environmental impact can be enhanced. Furthermore, our numerical results indicate that Strategy IP never performs the best in terms of consumer surplus and social welfare when the product substitution level is sufficiently high. Findings of this paper contribute to the literature on cleaner production systems in the circular economy era.

Efficient reallocation and conjunctive operation of existing water supplies have been receiving increasing attention as the competition among water users are intensified in worldwide. In this paper, a market-based stochastic optimization model is developed to address inherent uncertainties and complexities in water resources planning in arid regions. This model can be used not only to explore the water conservation potential via three strategies as cropping pattern optimization, irrigation infrastructure improvement and water trading, but also to help generate related water policy that promote the local welfare and facilitate local cleaner production. A real case study of the pumping irrigation system located in Yellow River basin is conducted to demonstrate applicability of the proposed model. Our findings indicate that the adjusted cropping pattern significantly increases the irrigator's income by growing economic crops such as herb and wolfberry; meanwhile, it does not sacrifice the food production. With the efficient infrastructural development, substantial water resources are saved and traded to other industries, thereby stimulating the local economy. Optimum subsidization policy is identified to increase the local welfare by allowing seasonal water trading while lessening the financial burden of the local government.

Agri-food industries have consumed the most water among all industries, placing great pressure on water resources; therefore, academics tend to focus on exploring the ‘integrated’ method of managing water in the agricultural production system. Based on a systematic literature review of 105 articles related to water stewardship in agri-food supply chains, this review tends to synthesize the themes in relation to water management, aims to identify research gaps in the existing literature and proposes a more integrated water stewardship framework in agri-food supply chains. Based on both the descriptive and thematic findings, this paper then develops a conceptual framework to synthesise the key themes in water stewardship in the agri-food supply chains, including drivers, water stewardship practice, consequences and barriers. Finally, gaps in the existing research are identified and related future research recommendation are proposed. The review contributes to cleaner production literature by providing a comprehensive framework for water stewardship (e.g., reduction of water consumption) in each stage of the agri-food supply chain and production.

Diversity multi-criteria decision-making methods have been developed to address different complex decision-making problems, and the analytic network process has been found to be one of the most effective techniques. There is an increase in the quality and quantity of publications related to the analytic network process. This detailed overview can provide the research status and development characteristics of analytic network process research and will be useful to researchers for future research directions. To achieve these goals, bibliometric techniques were used. In addition, past and present hotspots of analytic network process research were concluded, and future research trends were determined. The bibliometric analysis was carried out from various aspects including countries and regions, institutions, journals, authors, research areas, articles and author keywords based on data harvested from the Web of Science database. There were 1485 analytic network process-related publications retrieved from the Web of Science. The results show that Expert Systems with Applications was the most productive journal publishing articles in analytic network process research (118); its number of publications has decreased dramatically since 2013, while Journal of Cleaner Production has shown an upward trend in recent years and ranks second with 47 publications. The most collaborative country is the United States. Taiwan takes a leading position in analytic network process research with 436 publications (29.36%), and National Chiao Tung University, which is located in Taiwan, produced the most articles and has gained the highest h-index (28). The major hot topics that employ analytic network process are sustainability, environmental management and supply chain management. These topics may continue to attract more attention in the future.

By considering the impacts of cleaner production (CP) on China's pulp industry, the synergistic effects of the capacity replacement policy on the focal sector and supply chain (SC) in China have been evaluated by taking into account its economic, eco-environmental, and social dimensions. The obtained results demonstrated that, when only focal enterprises were analysed on the nationwide scale, the capacity replacement policy was practical from economic and environmental perspectives, but sustainable problems manifest when we considered the five sustainable characteristics of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM). Furthermore, CP become not ‘clean’ when the SC of the reed pulp production was considered. The closure of small reed pulp mills (the focal sector) had destructive effects on reed harvesting (the supplier sectors), which intensifies the internal pollutant cycle (especially eutrophic pollutants) and accelerated the dying process of the lake and wetland. Hence, CP optimisation must necessarily include the SC and sustainability. From the obtained data, a win-win solution was proposed to apply the principles of SSCM to the optimisation of CP performance, which could be expressed as CP + SSCM→CPSSCM. CPSSCM not only provided a theoretical basis for CP implementation that current issues pertaining to SSCM. In addition, a conceptual model of CPSSCM was suggested and specific recommendations were provided for the underdeveloped countries by taking into account the main challenges posed by small-medium enterprises during CPSSCM implementation. It was also shown that implementing the proposed strategy might have wider implications in terms of controlling both the external discharge of pollutants and internal pollution of lakes.

Heavy metals could serve as both pollutants and resources. To better understand the cleaner production potential of material flow control for simultaneous pollution reduction and resource conservation at source in zinc hydrometallurgy system, the generation and distribution of the Pb, Cu, and Ag in the process network of a typical zinc hydrometallurgy plant were investigated in this study. Four kinds of hazardous wastes with a total dry weight of 942 kg/tZn were identified as the major system outputs for Pb (12.08 kg/tZn), Cu (5.63 kg/tZn), and Ag (70.5 g/tZn). More than 85% of the target substances were accumulated in the leaching and purification subsystem, which determined the final proportion of the substances in the system outputs. The unsatisfactory distribution of the substances in the present process network contributes 0%, 45.9% and 27.5% of final resource wastage or pollution for Pb, Cu, and Ag of the generated wastes, corresponding to 0, 0.53 kg/tZn, and 13 g/tZn, respectively. Presently the Pb wastage or generation of Pb pollution was mainly due to the lack of recovery process. However, the potential to optimize the flow partitioning for Cu is relatively high. In summary, optimization of the process distribution might slightly increase the total recovery rate of the substances, but could significantly reduce the environmental risk of the disposed wastes generated in the zinc hydrometallurgy system. These results will be helpful to improve the understanding of the mechanisms for heavy metal pollution generation and provide further insight in the control of pollution and resource in process industries, such as nonferrous metals industry.