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A hybrid-factorial environmental input–output model (HEIM) is proposed for controlling industrial energy-related air pollution. HEIM has the advantages of analyzing industrial air-pollutant emission system (IAES) performance, quantifying key factors’ individual and reciprocal effects on the system, generating optimal system planning strategies under multiple scenarios. HEIM is then applied to Fujian province, which is a special economic development region in China. The significant findings are as follows: (i) the main sectors of pollutants’ (NOx, SO2, PM and VOCs) emissions are electricity supply (ELE), transportation (TRA), nonmetal minerals (NON), chemical products (CHE) and metal processing (MET); (ii) the proportion of air pollutants (NOx, SO2 and PM) emitted from energy activities can reach 83.8%, 88.6% and 68.1% of the province’s total emissions, implying that it is desired for industrial activities to improve the energy efficiency and promote cleaner production; (iii) the system robustness was between 0.287 and 0.321 (maximum value is 0.368), indicating the emission structure of IAES was not healthy; (iv) the contributions of the key factors to air-pollutant emission equivalent are NOx emission (51.6%) > ELE coal consumption (25.8%) > SO2 emission (12.5%); (v) the contributions of the key factors affecting system robustness are equipment manufacturing’s (EQU) direct consumption coefficient (81.4%) > CHE coal consumption (11.7%) > NON coal consumption (5.0%). The optimal strategies should strictly control ELE coal consumption (replaced by clean energy) and strictly limit NOx and SO2 emissions (e.g., technology upgrade) from the main sectors.

This study extends the debate on environmental performance in PIIGS countries by examining the dynamic association between economic complexity, foreign direct investment, renewable energy, urbanization, and carbon emissions in 1990–2019. The dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS) estimator is applied for empirical analysis. The empirical evidence reveals the association between economic complexity and CO2 emissions is inverted-U and further N-shaped. This confirms the presence of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypotheses in the region. The empirical results also authenticate the pollution HAVEN hypothesis since high FDI is the culprit to increase environmental degradation in the PIIGS economies. The participation of renewable energy is found to inhibit CO2 emissions. Urbanization exerts huge pressure on environmental quality. Finally, the Dumitrescu-Hurlin causality test explores a bidirectional causal link between economic complexity and CO2 emissions. These findings advocate policymakers to propose comprehensive energy and economic policies by targeting cleaner production exercises, not only for environmental quality but also to accomplish the objectives of 17 sustainable development goals targets.

Large amounts of plastic wastes are generated due to the wide applications. Microwave-assisted pyrolysis for the production of aviation oil is a cleaner method to achieve the recycle of plastic waste. The study focuses on microwave-assisted pyrolysis of five kinds of plastic wastes (polypropylene, polystyrene, high- density polyethylene, low-density polyethylene, and polycarbonate) for cleaner aviation oil production. In this study, the heating performance, product yield, product component, and pyrolysis mechanism of five kinds of plastic wastes through performing microwave-assisted pyrolysis were systematically explored and visually compared, so as to highlight the advantages and disadvantages about the conversion of different kinds of plastic wastes into aviation oil. It was concluded that polystyrene showed the lowest average heating rates of 60 ◦C/min and highest aviation oil yield of 98.78 wt% among the five plastic wastes, and the highest aviation oil yield was occurred at the microwave power of 650 W, microwave absorbent load of 60 g, and pyrolysis temperature of 460 ◦C. Polypropylene, high-density polyethylene, and low-density polyethylene preferred to aliphatic hydrocarbons (99.33 area%, 98.45 area%, and 100 area%, respectively) mainly through random chain scission, recombination, and addition. Polystyrene preferred to aromatic hydrocarbons (73.39 area%) through β-scission, random chain scission, and intermolecular hydrogen transfer, whereas polycarbonate preferred to phenols (87.73 area%) mainly through decarboxylation and dihydroxylation. The majority of C8-16 hydrocarbons in aviation oil from polypropylene, polystyrene, high-density polyethylene, and low-density polyethylene were 91.02 area%, 64.79 area%, 77.52 area%, and 59.73 area%, respectively. Microwave-assisted pyrolysis of plastic waste can not only effectively solve the environmental problem, but also contribute to value-added products, showing a very good cleaner production method.

International audience; Nearly 300 million t of phosphogypsum (PG) are produced every year as a byproduct from phosphate fertilizer production worldwide. Approximately 58% of the PG are stacked, 28% are discharged in coastal waters and only 14% are further processed. This critical review provides an overview of the physical-chemical properties of PG produced from sedimentary and magmatic phosphate ore worldwide using various analytical tools. Results from more than 25 years of work on PG at École des Mines de Saint-Étienne are presented and critically discussed. In total PG samples from 67 industrial storage sites around the world and PG samples synthesized under different conditions in the laboratory have been considered. The low radioactivity present in PG (particularly PG produced from sedimentary phosphate rock) was identified as the main challenge to using PG as a raw material in construction. Water-soluble and volatile chemical compounds were identified as the main challenge to environmentally sound PG management. Although PG does (in most cases) not pose an immediate threat to the environment the authors recommend processing all PG instead of storing or disposing it, to eliminate potential long-term risks and utilize a relevant secondary resource.

Despite the rather long period of solving environmental issues and research, the problems of attracting green financial instruments as sources of financing and stimulating the development and implementation of clean technologies have not been sufficiently studied. The aim of the study is to: conduct a theoretical analysis of the available data; identify trends and study green financial instruments and propose their classification; formulate hypotheses for the development of green financial instruments; and apply empirical methods of analysis to identify the dynamics of the development of environmental taxation in the EU budget. A theoretical analysis of available sources identified existing green financial instruments, which were classified as: (a) aimed at improving existing technologies for the production of goods and services through the development of greening and eco-modernization projects that contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions; (b) aimed at the development and implementation of innovative projects that change the technology for the production of goods and services, completely eliminating the emission of greenhouse gases. The hypotheses put forward for the study of the management of green financial instruments through the use of financial management mechanisms are formulated through theoretical analysis based on the environmental taxation of production technologies.

Lithium ion batteries have been undergoing rapid development in the global market due to their superior performance. However, the soaring number of lithium ion batteries in the market presents serious disposal challenges at the end of life. Moreover, continuous mining processes are harmful to the environment. From the viewpoint of cleaner production and green chemistry, the efficient recovery and reutilization of spent lithium ion batteries are necessary. In this perspective, the overall process of lithium ion battery recycling, especially the recent advances of hydrometallurgical methods, are summarized, focusing on the leaching, separation, and purification processes. The proper disposal of the waste discharged during the recycling process is proposed, highlighting the mitigation of secondary pollution. In addition, the environmental impact of recycling processes is summarized and thoroughly evaluated by recent life cycle assessment studies, revealing the key role of recycling strategic metal elements toward sustainability in an anthropogenic cycle. Finally, the current challenges in this area are pointed out and perspectives on sustainable approaches, cleaner production, and life cycle assessment are proposed.

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.

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.

Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei is an important agricultural production area in China, and farmers’ agrochemical input behavior directly affects the risk of agricultural non-point source pollution and the effect of green agricultural development. Based on a questionnaire survey and field interview data, this study investigated the agrochemical input behavior of farmers in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei, and analyzed its influencing factors. Using the Probit model, we carried out an empirical study on farmers’ willingness to invest in cleaner production of agrochemicals from four aspects: farmers’ characteristics, agricultural input, environmental awareness and technical cognition. The results showed that the kinds of fertilizer were mainly compound fertilizer, urea and organic fertilizer, and the fertilization method was mainly surface spreading, accounting for 50.6% of the total surveys; the number of agrochemicals was determined chiefly by agricultural sellers, accounting for 55.5%. The proportion of the guidance from technical departments in Beijing was higher than that of Tianjin and Hebei. The first influencing factor for farmers’ behavior towards agrochemical input was the pursuit of high yield and high profit, accounting for 24.9%, 22.6% and 26.0%, respectively. The guidance of relevant technical departments still did not fully cover the use of agrochemicals. The study also found that factors such as the price of farming materials, the price of agricultural products, family income, farmland facilities, government propaganda, technical training and subsidies all impacted the agrochemical input behavior. Pre-production technical guidance and farmers’ awareness significantly affected the willingness to adopt cleaner production. Technical training was helpful to improve farmers’ willingness to participate actively, and enhancing the pertinence of training played an important role in the adoption of cleaner production technology. In conclusion, the influencing factors of farmers’ agrochemical input in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei were complex, and the scientific application level still needs to be improved. This paper finally discusses and puts forward some countermeasures and suggestions for agrochemical reduction and efficiency improvement.

This study investigates the carbon footprint of the University of Exeter by analysing its energy consumption between 2012 and 2020 to assess its current standing in the process of achieving carbon neutrality. The study then explores the possible methods of reaching this target in line with the University of Exeter’s Environment & Climate Emergency Policy Statement. The leading part of the statement is as follows: “All Campus activities/operations shall have a carbon net zero impact and or result in environmental gain by 2030 and aims to be carbon net zero by 2050 (accounting for all associated activities and Scope 3 footprint)”. Using methods of energy consumption reduction, a new carbon footprint for Scope 1 and 2 emissions was calculated for the year 2030, which included phasing out oil and gas and swapping out inefficient systems, such as old heating or lighting. This reduced the emissions from 17.24 ktCO2e to 3.34 ktCO2e also greatly helped by the reduction in electricity grid conversion factors. The remaining emissions would be reduced further to net zero by on site solar and offsite wind investment.

The present work addresses the issue on power consumption in finish hard turning of die steel under nanofluid-assisted minimum quantity lubrication condition. This study also aims to assess the propitious role of minimum quantity lubrication using graphene nanoparticle-enriched radiator green coolant-based nano-cutting fluid for machinability improvement of hardened steel. The hard turning trials are performed based on design of experiments by considering the geometrical parameters (insert’s nose radius) and machining parameters (cutting speed, axial feed, depth of cut). Combined approach of central composite design—analysis of variance, desirability function analysis, and response surface methodology—have been subsequently employed for analysis, predictive modeling, and optimization of machining power consumption. With a motivational philosophy of “Go Green-Think Green-Act Green”, the work also deals with energy-saving carbon footprint analysis, economic analysis, and sustainability assessment under environmental-friendly nanofluid-assisted minimum quantity lubrication condition. Results showed that machining with nanofluid-minimum quantity lubrication provided an effective cooling-lubrication strategy, safer and cleaner production, environmental friendliness, and assisted to improve sustainability.

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.

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 ...

Despite the large quantities and possibilities of reuse of the by-products (solids and liquids) generated by the brewing industry, the proper disposal of these by-products has imposed severe problems for circular and cleaner production transitions worldwide. These challenges are still more salient for the small breweries due to the recognized lack of resources, such as knowledge, finances, and skilled staff. To address this problem, this article aims to identify sustainable strategies for waste management and biomass valorization that can be implemented in the value chain of small breweries. A mixed-method approach was implemented for the data collection and analysis to expand the evidence of the findings, including interviews with 18 small breweries and six specialists in the sector. We found that breweries mainly dispose of the by-products for animal feeding, although industry experts and the specialized literature indicate that at least 21 reuse and recycling alternatives have not been implemented in the value chain. Findings add to the literature five new alternatives informed by companies and six informed by experts for circular and cleaner production realization in small breweries’ value chains. Furthermore, the article proposes a novel conceptual model to facilitate waste management and biomass valorization realization in small breweries value chains. Findings provide new insights that complement previous studies to overcome the challenges for waste management and biomass valorization in the sector. The article offers implications for theory, policymakers and managerial practice with repercussions on the production, environmental and financial issues.

Product-Service System (PSS) is a sustainable strategy that shifts the focus of the business from selling physical products to providing service by using the product. The innovation proposed in the PSS, focused on sustainable production and consumption, is consistent with the sustainable development goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. The scientific literature on PSS in machining showed studies that address the economic factor of PSS contract, machine maintenance and logistics and operational process improvement. Then, there is a lack of studies on the assessment of the PSS in machining under a sustainability factors perspective. Thus, the objective of this paper was to evaluate the economic, environmental, and social advantages of PSS cutting tools in machining. Consistent with this aim, the research focused on a case study in a diesel engine parts machining company. From an economic point of view, the results indicated a reduction in operating costs of US$ 1,206,080 per year, which allowed a nine-month return on investment. From an ecological perspective, the recovery of 602 kg of carbide per year mitigated the environmental impact of tungsten and cobalt exploration. These results are even more expressive because it deals with scarce metals. Furthermore, technological advances reduced the risk of injury to operators. This research increased knowledge on PSS in machining by presenting an original study that led the analysis under a sustainability perspective. Moreover, this study contributes to managers by showing the business model’s advantages that reduce operating costs and socio-environmental impacts, enhancing sustainable development.

Biodiesel is an emerging green fuel that is finding increasing applications. The further improvement of the sustainability of biodiesel production processes is a key element in the energy transition scenario. Among the social pillars of sustainability, safety is a specific requirement. However, several major accidents were experienced in biodiesel facilities, involving the inventory of hazardous substances. In the present study, an inherent safety methodology is proposed as a specific design criterion for the screening of technology alternatives, supporting the selection of the safest and most sustainable production process. Four reference process alternatives for the transesterification of rapeseed oil to produce biodiesel were conceptualized. Inherent Safety Key Performance Indicators (IS-KPIs) were defined to assess the safety performance of the alternative process technologies and to support the selection of the safest design option. A sensitivity analysis was performed in order to verify the robustness of the results with respect to possible uncertainties. The results allowed the comparative assessment of the inherent safety performance of the main biodiesel production technologies, enabling a deeper understanding of the safety-critical aspects of the novel processes proposed for industrial application. The IS-KPIs were integrated in a wider system of KPIs, addressing also the environmental and economic aspects, obtaining an overall assessment of the sustainability performance of the alternative design options considered.

The industrial impacts on the environment need to be minimized to reduce climate change, which will benefit human beings. Industry 4.0, the new production paradigm, promises productivity gains for companies that manage to implement it, but it is also dependent on natural resources, impacting the environment. The aim of this study is to identify and analyze possible cleaner production strategies associated with Industry 4.0 to optimize manufacturing systems in Industry 4.0 implementation projects, in addition to reducing the environmental impacts of these companies. Through a literature search, cleaner production strategies associated with Industry 4.0 were identified and classified into ten dimensions (strategy, waste, recycling, life cycle, resources, energy, production, work, performance and environment) contributing to the theory. The possibilities of using Industry 4.0 technologies were analyzed to meet each dimension. The relevance of this study lies in presenting possibilities for using and developing technologies and applications to meet these dimensions of cleaner production and helping those involved in Industry 4.0 projects to implement it more stably, contributing to the theory and practice.

This study aspires to investigate the influence of institutional pressure (IP) on cleaner production (CLP) practices and sustainable firm performances in the clothing industry of Bangladesh. Moreover, the research work explores the mediating role of cleaner production between institutional pressure and firms’ environmental performance. It also analyzes environmental performance as a mediator between cleaner production and firms’ economic performance. Data were collected from 246 textile and garments manufacturing units and analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) with the partial least square (PLS) method. The study findings unveiled a direct and positive relationship between institutional pressure and cleaner production, environmental performance and cleaner production, and firms’ environmental and economic performance. The study’s results also reveals that cleaner production partially mediate the relationship between institutional pressure and environmental performance while environmental performance is also partially mediate between cleaner production and firm’s economic performance. The research outcomes recommend that the clothing manufacturing sector welcome institutional pressures and employ cleaner production practices, leading to sustainable performance. Finally, the study highlights the managerial and theoretical implications.

Green investment and technology innovations are generally considered as an effective factor to mitigate CO2 emissions as these enhance cleaner production and energy efficacy. Thus, this study investigated the influence of green investment, technology innovations, and economic growth on CO2 emissions in selected Asian countries for the period 2001 to 2019. The Cross-Section dependency (CSD) signified the cross-section dependence in the panel countries, whereas CIPS and CADF testing affirmed the stationarity of all variables at the first difference. Consequently, the Westerlund cointegration method recognized a long-term association among variables. The outcomes of Panel Fully Modified OLS and Panel Dynamic OLS results indicated that green investment and technology innovations are helpful in mitigating CO2 emissions in selected Asian countries. In addition, the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) postulate is validated for the given time period and indicated inverted U-shaped linkages between the economic growth and CO2 emission. The outcomes of the remaining variables, including population growth, energy consumption, FDI inflow, and trade, are estimated to have an augmenting influence on CO2 emission. Our results regarding the FDI–CO2 emissions nexus support the presence of the pollution-haven hypothesis. Moreover, the estimated results from PFMOLS and PDOLS are validated by Granger Causality, and AMG and CCEMG tests. The study suggests the adoption of renewable sources as energy input and the promotion of innovations for energy efficiencies to reduce CO2 emissions in Asian economies.

Energy is the main element for a modern lifestyle that must be considered in economically reliable and sustainable development dialogues. The financial performance of solar power projects has become the main issue, especially in developing countries such as Pakistan, where it has gained the special attention of government and regulatory authorities. The present study evaluates green technology strategies for the sustainable development of solar power projects in Pakistan. We examine the moderating role of cost and riskiness of the methods between the nexus of capital budgeting techniques and the financial performance of solar power projects. The analysis is performed on data collected from 44 respondents (chief financial officers and chief executive officers) by accompanying an inclusive questionnaire survey. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is used to assess the formulated suppositions. The results reveal that green technology strategies positively impact the sustainable development of solar power projects. The profitability index is a good source of higher financial performance of the solar power projects. The results further demonstrate that the cost and riskiness of the methods significantly moderate the nexus of capital budgeting techniques and the financial performance of solar power projects. These findings provide a valuable manual for policymakers, government institutions, and regulators to select the appropriate green technology strategy to increase cleaner production and sustainable development of solar power projects.

The purpose of this article is to examine the impact of rural population aging on farmers’ cleaner production behavior through the intervening effects of three aspects (learning capacity, factor substitution and behavior imitation). The data used in this article were collected from a questionnaire survey of 916 farmers in the main grain producing provinces of the North China Plain. First, confirmatory factor analysis was carried out, and then data were analyzed through structural equation modeling using the bootstrap methodology in AMOS 24. The findings indicate that rural population aging inhibits farmers’ cleaner production behavior through learning capacity. In contrast, rural population aging promotes farmers’ cleaner production behavior through factor substitution and behavior imitation. From the perspective of both challenges and opportunities, this article investigates the impact mechanism and comprehensive effect of rural population aging on farmers’ cleaner production behavior, so as to explore new ways to promote cleaner agricultural production under the background of an accelerated aging the of rural labor force and provide reference for the formulation of relevant policies.

Food production and consumption account for a significant share of the impact of various pressing and important environmental concerns such as climate change, eutrophication, and loss of biodiversity. In this work, a bibliometric analysis of the last 50 years of research papers, written in English and indexed on Scopus database, was carried out to highlight the evolution of the global scientific research in the environmental assessment of food production (EAFP). The research papers in EAFP started to significantly increase from 2005, being most frequently published by the Journal of Cleaner Production and International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. The United States of America was the first publishing country, followed by China, the United Kingdom, and Italy. Wheat, rice, fish, maize, and milk were the food items mainly studied, with different importance depending on the authors’ publishing country. Life Cycle Analysis, Carbon Footprint, and Water Footprint were the first three standard methods used to assess climate change, energy consumption, and environmental impact. The Wageningen University, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Research Centre, and China Agricultural University were the main publishing research centers. All the papers published worldwide received 18.1 citations per paper, the UK and Chinese papers being those mostly and minimally cited, respectively. Over the last five years, this research field largely aimed to managing the agricultural practices, mitigating global warming and water use, assuring food security and sustainable food consumption, while minimizing food waste formation. Such an objective evaluation of this research topic might help guide researchers on where to address their future research work.

Green innovation is an important driving force in promoting the sustainable development of manufacturing enterprises and improving market competitiveness. This study selects indicators from the two aspects of ecostate and ecorole in order to reflect green research and development, cleaner production, and green marketing based on niche theory. We construct an evaluation index system to objectively and accurately assess the green innovation capability of manufacturing enterprises. Subsequently, based on the principle of relative entropy, the analytic hierarchy process, entropy weight method, and coefficient of variation method are fused to determine the combined weight of the indicators, and a multi-level, comprehensive evaluation model is constructed using cloud model tools. Finally, through an empirical analysis of the evaluation of the green innovation capability of five manufacturing enterprises, the feasibility of the model and the stability of the evaluation results are verified through three dimensions: numerical experiment, sensitivity analysis, and method comparison. The results show that the evaluation system constructed in this study is superior. It provides the basis and decision-making reference for enterprises to carry out market positioning and formulate innovation and development strategies.

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.

Achieving sustainable socio-economic development requires approaches that enhance resource use efficiencies and can address current cross-sectoral challenges in an integrated manner. Existing evidence suggests an urgent need for polycentric and transformative approaches, as global and local systems have come under strain. This study conducted a systematic literature review at the global level to assess the progress made towards achieving a circular economy between 2010 and 2020, a period covering the formulation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the initial five years of their implementation. The focus was on the potential of improved water and energy use efficiency, linking them to food production within the context of a circular economy. Identifying successes, opportunities, challenges, and pathways towards a circular economy from the literature review facilitated developing a conceptual framework to guide strategic policy formulations towards a more sustainable economy. A combination of transformative approaches is analysed in an integrated way in response to the 2030 global agenda on sustainable development. Thus, the study is informed by the initiatives to attain SDGs and mitigating negative environmental impacts due to waste and pollution. The premise is to enhance transformational change as a catalyst for employment creation and the attainment of a green economy while reducing waste. Transformative approaches have been identified to provide pathways towards global climate targets and protection of the environment from further degradation. They are a catalyst to achieve SDG 12 on ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns.

To reduce carbon dioxide emissions from traditional drying methods, this research investigated the use of microwave technology for drying Standard Thai Rubber (STR) in Thailand. Commercial microwave ovens were modified and integrated with the microwave emitting power control system to maintain the appropriate temperature levels to evaporate the moisture from rubber. Throughout the drying process, the temperature of the rubber was measured both internally and outside. The results revealed that STR5L and STR20 could be dried satisfactorily and met the requirements for standard Thai rubber properties by utilizing 500 W for 140 and 120 min, respectively. By keeping the temperatures less than 150 °C, rubbers’ molecular structure is not destroyed from internal heat stress. Although utilizing less power for a longer period of time is possible, more energy was used, which is unfavorable. Compared to traditional hot air drying technologies, which take approximately 4–6 h for the drying process, microwave technology potentially reduces the drying time by half or more. If solar energy is used to supply electrical energy, 300,000 tons of Carbon dioxide can potentially be eliminated annually in the STR drying industry in Thailand by promoting approximately 1115 MW of Photovoltaic technology installations with the solar resources in southern Thailand.

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.

Due to the widespread use, improving the sustainability of any pavement structures will give the potential to deliver tremendous environmental, social, and economic benefits, and the increasingly stringent environmental regulations and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions have inspired the transportation agencies and practitioners to cycle more waste materials. To promote and take full advantages of the currently available innovative technologies in transportation infrastructure, a Special Volume (SV) of the Journal of Cleaner Production (JCPL) was initiated. This SV consists of 26 papers mainly from the 10th International Conference on Road and Airfield Pavement Technology (10th ICPT, 2017). Papers from regular submissions with the themes on Sustainability in Transportation Infrastructure were also included in the SV. This SV covers the following four themes: Theme 1 Sustainable asphalt paving mixtures; Theme 2 Sustainable cementitious pavement materials; Theme 3 Sustainable and eco-friendly pavement systems; Theme 4 Quantification of benefits and life cycle assessment.

In this study, we aim to explore the role of the involvement of suppliers while firms execute sustainable initiatives. We have based the entire study on a survey covering 101 Swedish manufacturers. The structural equation models of partial least squares are adopted to analyse their responses, examining the relationship among the constructs, stakeholders' influence, sustainable practices, sustainable performance, and supplier involvement. We find that, in the firms, the effects of stakeholder influence on the sustainable practices is both significant and positive; the sustainable practices of sampled firms are to a great extent facilitating the sustainable performance. In addition, intensely participating in the initiatives related to environmental protection (e.g., cleaner production) by the suppliers, helps reinforce the relationship of sustainable practice and sustainable performance in the firms, however the moderating effects of supplier's involvement in economic and social activities is not significant. This has significant implications to firms' decision regarding where to invest in sustainability.

Substituting conventional fossil-based energy with eco-friendly and renewable option is inevitable owing to the harmful environmental emissions and steep increase in energy demand. In this context, biodiesel is a clean fuel considering fewer particulate and carbon emissions in comparison to fossil fuels. However, it still faces concerns towards commercialization due to the high cost of raw materials. Thus, in this study, laccase treated waste liquor of Ricinus communis was utilized for lipid production employing Aspergillus awamori. Detailed characterization of laccase treated waste liquor of Ricinus communis revealed that it is favourable for fungal lipid production owing to C/N molar ratio of 132.45 and phenolic content of 0.609 g Gallic Acid Equivalent per L. Major components of phenolics include cinnamic acid, 3-Bromo-5-ethoxy-4-hydroxybenzaldehyde and benzoic acid. Central composite design based response surface methodology was further adopted to maximize lipid content where optimal solution was predicted as 31 °C, carbon to nitrogen molar ratio 156 and inoculum volume 11.5% v/v resulting in 134 mg lipid/g sugar consumed. Further, validation of the process was carried out at pilot scale to justify the feasibility of the process and its applicability for industrial application. Biodiesel, thus produced was characterized for iodine value, acid value and gross calorific value which has been measured to be 73.68 g /100 g, 0.25 mg KOH/g and 37 MJ/kg respectively and conforms to EN 14214 and ASTM D6751 . Thus, the present study led to the development of an efficient and clean process for valorization of laccase treated Ricinus communis waste liquor towards biodiesel production.

Food production and transformation have an increasing impact on the environment. Tools to help the agri-food industry improving its environmental performance whilst increasing the value of the products are highly needed. The present study proposes a new approach to calculate eco-efficiency that goes beyond the production costs, but accounts for the functional value of the foodstuff. Instead of using the monetary unit as the product value, we propose value-based metrics closer to consumer interests, such as content of functional nutrients, taste and abatement of harmful substances. The approach was applied to evaluate the eco-efficiency of de-acidified cranberry juice by two alternative technologies in Quebec: ion-exchange resin process and de-acidification by electrodialysis with a bipolar membrane. Both are compared to non-de-acidified cranberry juice. The parameters chosen to quantify cranberry juice are polyphenol content, product taste, and percentage of harmful acid removed. Results show ion-exchange resin de-acidified juice is less eco-efficient than non-de-acidified cranberry juice for polyphenol content and product taste indicator but shows better results for the removed harmful acid parameter. The electrodialysis with a bipolar membrane technology allows the extraction of organic acids in a usable form. We evaluated their re-utilization in four different contexts showing that this context choice might have a key impact on the eco-efficiency conclusion. The most eco-efficient scenario is the utilization of the removed acid in dried cranberry production with the addition of sugar beet. By using an approach closer to consumers' interests, eco-efficiency results can be more relevant for decision making in the context of cleaner production, particularly when the monetary value is not reliable.

Sustainable agricultural technologies are being touted as a requirement for a sustainable world in many parts of the globe. Consequently, they have become a critical issue in the development policy agenda for Sub-Saharan Africa. Despite several studies conducted on the adoption of Sustainable agricultural technologies, they remain poorly understood in Mali. Thus, research that could inform policies capable of simultaneously addressing low agricultural productivity and environmental degradation is obstructed. To begin to fill this research gap, we use cross-sectional data from rice farmers in Mali. Stochastic production frontier is adopted for rice production and technical efficiency analysis in a one-step estimation using maximum likelihood method. The results reveal that adoption of the system of rice intensification, a sustainable agricultural technology, is consonant with cleaner production concept. Particularly, adopters are more technically efficient than non-adopters. The policy implication is that, if all farmers adopted system of rice intensification, their efficiency would increase by 17% while waste in production would reduce to 4.8%. Therefore, our study puts forward substantial empirical evidence to encourage the adoption of system of rice intensification as it could eventually enhance agricultural sustainability.

Modern manufacturing enterprises are consuming a considerable amount of energy every year. Improving energy efficiency will not only benefit the enterprises economically, but also help the world to overcome various problems such as energy crisis and air pollution. To achieve this, an accurate energy consumption model is essential. The main objective of this paper is to develop an improved cutting power-based energy consumption model for general end milling process. The proposed model consists of an idle part due to auxiliary components and spindle rotation, and an additional part due to cutting workpiece materials. The first part is modelled as a function of spindle rotation speed, and the other part is considered proportional to the cutting power. Experiments under various milling conditions have demonstrated the effectiveness and efficacy of the proposed model. Comparative studies show that the proposed model is more accurate than other models. Although calibrated from slotting experiments when cutting aluminium alloy, the proposed model is applicable for general milling process. Partial-immersion milling experiments show that the prediction error of the proposed model is as low as 1.74%. When workpiece material changes to titanium alloy, its performance remains decent, with low prediction error of 2.81%. This reveals its capability to provide reliable estimation for different workpiece materials. As such, it could help avoid tedious model calibration, thus saving time, material, and energy. Finally, the energy efficiency of general end milling process is investigated through numerical experiments with the proposed model. By revealing the relationship between energy consumption and various cutting parameters, the proposed model could serve as an excellent platform towards energy-efficient manufacturing/cleaner production.

Renewable energy development is one of the cleaner production paths for China's transformation of urbanization and economic development. Recognizing the nexus among them may help China to formulate a targeted policy for efficient and clean energy utilization, as well as for carbon reduction. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces and seven geographical regions over the period of 1997–2015, we apply a bootstrap panel causality test to explore the cause and effect of renewable energy consumption on urbanization and economic growth in China after a cross-sectional dependence test and a slope homogeneity test. We find that China's renewable energy consumption, urbanization and economic growth in one region might be influenced by the others. However, no causality is found in 80% of provinces and 71% of geographical regions for the nexus of renewable energy consumption and urbanization, and no causality is found in 53% of provinces and 43% of geographical regions for the nexus of renewable energy consumption and economic growth. Besides, significant geographical differences are found for the nexus. Therefore, the Chinese government should not only strengthen a unified renewable energy management system to advocate regional cooperation, but also give full play to the weak joint linkages and adopt differentiated renewable energy policies according to local conditions. The interactive mechanism and a virtuous cycle among the three indicators should be established in the medium and long term to help China's energy use towards a cleaner transition.

The role of smart technologies can become very important and useful to solve the main population issues nowadays and provide foundations for a sustainable future. A smart approach is an opportunity for knowledge integration, necessary to solve crucial problems of contemporary societies. Today, the main challenge is to reduce the effects of global warming and ensure a balanced economic development of society. The close collaboration of all involved engineering professions is mandatory to achieve interdisciplinary synergies and can bridge challenging engineering tasks. Intense research efforts should be directed towards balanced resource utilization, efficient energy conversion technologies, integration of renewable energy systems, effective approaches to enable circular economy framework, effective process integration as well as other issues important to the population. This review editorial is primarily focused on the contributions presented at the 3rd International Conference on Smart and Sustainable Technologies held in Split, Croatia, in 2018 (SpliTech2018). The SpliTech2018 conference was a multidisciplinary event with research topics related to the main conference tracks, i.e. Smart City/Environment, Energy, Engineering Modelling and e-Health. The strategic focus of the conference was to help solve crucial issues of our times, mainly related to the sustainability and smart utilisation of limited and valuable resources. This contribution brings new ideas and discusses present issues as well as challenges that should lead towards a sustainable future based on the application of the smart technologies. The herein addressed papers bring together latest research progress into four main topic areas: (i) Green Buildings, Energy Use and Consumption, (ii) Solar Energy Utilisation, (iii) Efficiency and Waste Elimination, (iv) Smart Cities and Internet of Things. The main results of this introduction review article include a discussion of different concepts and technologies that bring further development on a broad range of topics focused on efficiency improvement, smart and sustainable resource management, cleaner production concepts and on the discussion of the various actions which would lead towards a sustainable future.

Anaerobic digestion, an economic and energy-efficient biological process, is extensively applied in the treatment of a variety of wastewater streams and organic wastes. However, the ineffective mineralization of degradation-resistant organic wastes is considered a limiting factor for this promising technology, and has prevented it from being widely adopted for the anaerobic treatment of chemical-industrial organic wastewater. In this work, the advantages and benefits of anaerobic digestion and those conventional physical/chemical/biological methods are compared. This review also suggests the current challenges and barriers to the application of anaerobic digestion to the treatment of chemical-industrial organic wastewater by considering some typical degradation-resistant organic wastes as examples. Design improvements are required to enhance the degradation from refractory organics to fermentable organics. The applications of the up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket, anaerobic membrane bioreactor and their derivatives are highly recommended in the anaerobic treatment of chemical-industrial organic wastewater. While some state-of-the-art physical/chemical technologies have been widely reported and are currently applied in anaerobic treatment of chemical-industrial organic wastewater, high energy consumption and low efficiency of these processes is an obstacle to their smooth operation and presents clear difficulties. Therefore, this work provides some perspectives for future applications and practical advice for improving and enhancing the hydrolysis step of those degradation-resistant organic wastes. Synergistic processes, such as the co-culturing method, co-digestion and nitrate-reducing anaerobic digestion are suggested as a means to achieve the effective anaerobic treatment of chemical-industrial organic wastewater and sustainable regeneration of cleaner production.

Prior to the 21st century, China's industrialisation was mainly driven by investment; by contrast, it now relies on innovation-driven and environmentally friendly technology to achieve sustained and healthy growth. Spanning China's 11th-13th Five-Year Plans (2006–2020), chemical oxygen demand and ammonia nitrogen emissions have been the key pollutants that require monitoring for waste water pollution management. To fit well into one of the focus areas under China's government policy direction, the main objectives of this study are to measure input- and output-based technological progress and their determinants for 30 provinces and regions in China from 1999 to 2015. A green-biased technological progress model based on the directional distance function is adopted in this study. The results reveal that sustainable growth in total factor productivity was primarily due to green-biased technological progress. Most provinces and regions in China overused water resources for industrial production, as demonstrated by the high water consumption over the study period, while output-biased technological progress exacerbated the discharge of water pollutants before the implementation of China's 11th Five-Year Plan (2006–2010). Technological progress in the eastern region was more likely to promote industrial growth, while progress in the central and western regions was likely to promote increased pollutant emissions. Furthermore, industrial research and development investment, governance of waste water treatment investment, the educational level of the labour force, and water prices contributed significantly to biased technological progress in China over the study period. Overall, this study has important policy implications and can provide guidance for emissions reductions to promote cleaner production and optimise resource allocation in China's industrial sector.

Carbon dioxide emissions pricing is employed as an approach to mitigate climate change. To analyze the impact of carbon prices on the metal mining industry, this paper presents a new block-based carbon dioxide emissions estimation model to assess the carbon dioxide emissions and carbon intensity in varying carbon prices, by employing the engineering-based inputs from life cycle of mineral production. Such engineering-based data of an iron case is provided to test the impact of carbon prices on mining projects. The results indicate that the negative impact of carbon prices on the profit of mining projects is more sensitive in low minerals prices, especially for underground method. On the other hand, carbon price rising facilitates the mitigation of carbon dioxide emissions, by lowering the ratio of excavated waste rocks to mined-out raw ore, which varies linearly with the emissions. The carbon dioxide emissions in the studied case decrease from 39.92 kg carbon dioxide eq per ton to 21.50 kg carbon dioxide eq per ton, and from 51.02 kg carbon dioxide eq per ton to 42.80 kg carbon dioxide eq per ton, for surface and underground method, respectively. The results of carbon intensity show that it keeps increasing due to carbon price rising, until the mining boundaries are optimized based on the increased carbon price.

Energy transitions are ongoing processes all over the world. While sustainable solutions are envisioned for the future, many societies are still under high-carbon and high-pollution energy regime borne by fossil fuels. How to design pathways towards sustainable energy transition has attracted worldwide concerns. Understanding the possible transition pathways of the energy system requires the integration of new energy technologies, environmental sciences, economics and management. This Special Issue of Journal of Cleaner Production targets to collect the latest research results on sustainable energy systems, discover innovative avenues and inspiring models and share knowledge on energy system modelling and management. In this paper, we identify 4 themes on sustainable energy transition pathways including: (1) Sustainable energy economics and management; (2) Renewable energy generation and consumption; (3) Environmental impacts of energy systems; and (4) Electric vehicle and energy storage. Theories, technologies, innovative models, and successful experiences are discussed accordingly. It is suggested that creative, robust and audacious strategies in governance, management and education are needed to boost sustainable energy transition across various scales and sectors.

Due to the rapid expanding of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and electric vehicles (EVs), the projectfed demand for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) is huge and might result in supply risks for natural lithium-containing reserves. After the service life, spent LIBs continuously accumulate in the market, and they are excellent secondary resources for lithium recovery. To alleviate resource shortage and to decrease potential environmental pollution caused by improper solid waste disposal, recycling of spent LIBs is motivated world widely in recent years. Previous studies have usually focused on the recovery of cobalt and nickel, which create high economic benefit. Recovery of lithium, however, has not been highlighted. In this article, state-of-the-art on spent LIBs recycling is discussed with emphasis on lithium recovery. In addition to understanding underlying mechanisms and physiochemistry features of various recycling methods, the possibility for industrial realization of each method is also evaluated. The complex processing steps limit the industrial implementation of hydrometallurgy-dominant methods, which usually reclaim lithium in the last step, resulting in a poor recovery efficiency of lithium. The pyrometallurgy-dominant approach is readily to scale up but lithium is lost in the slag phase. Therefore, the mild recycling (cleaner production) methods are recommended for future study since they take advantages of traditional pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy, and could decrease treatment temperature as well as acid/alkaline usage.

Conceptually Cleaner Production seeks to integrate the continuous utilization of deterrent environmental approaches to processes, products and services aiming to rise efficiency and to minimize the risks to people and environment. Extant literature has shown that the implementation of Cleaner Production practices brings as a result economic and environmental gains. Nevertheless, very few studies link those savings to the Sustainable Development Goals, reason why this research aims to evaluate if the economic and environmental advantages coming from Cleaner Production adoption in the textile industry contributed to the Sustainable Development Goals. This was done through extensive review of the literature, complemented by the proposal of a theoretical framework confirmed through the development of two case studies. As a result, it was concluded that the adoption of Cleaner Production practices in Brazilian textile industries through technological innovation made it possible to highlight the economic and environmental gains relating those to Sustainable Development Goals 9, 12 and 15.

Pest control services facilitate cleaner production by farmers. To promote the interest of farmers in adopting pest control services for cleaner production, the preference of farmers for pest control firms must be determined. Based on a survey of 433 grain family farms in the Huang-huai-hai Plain and using the choice experiment method, this study eliminates the ordering effect through prior “warm-up” and “disclosure” and uses inferred attribute non-attendance to process information on the attributes of for-profit pest control firms that were neglected by grain family farms. The hierarchical Bayes generalized mixed logit model was used to examine the preference for for-profit pest control firms by grain family farms. The results indicate that grain family farms prefer to adopt pest control services and select for-profit pest control firms that satisfy their requirements (the coefficient of alternative specific constant, −0.627, is significant and negative). Grain family farms are heterogeneous in their preferences of for-profit pest control firms, and they particularly prefer those provide yield commitment, with high service efficiency, and allow payment delayed (the values of the mean coefficients are all greater than 1.0). Under the same combination of for-profit pest control firms attributes, the increase in profit per mu for grain family farms with highly educated farmers, who mainly plant rice and highly acknowledge the value of pest control services and the danger of chemical pesticides can possibly increase further (all interaction terms of alternative specific constant, i.e., −0.394, 0.381, −0.453, −0.779, −0.431 and −0.428, are significant).

Construction is a major contributor to pollution in the natural environment. Among all construction pollutants, construction dust is the most significant pollutant that endangers human health. To expand the limited scope of studies on construction dust exposure, this study investigates current dust control practices in the construction industry in Hong Kong through dust monitoring data compilation. The database constructed and compiled by this study is larger than any other previous dust-related datasets in the construction industry in Hong Kong. A total of 837 samples are collected from 33 construction sites and 16 contractors, among which 783 valid samples are analyzed. Descriptive statistics are reported in terms of “construction process”, “trade”, “tools”, “data source type”, and “dust control measure”. Overall geometric mean for personal exposures are 0.314 (geometric standard deviations: 3.929) mg/m3 for respirable dust and 0.003 (geometric standard deviations: 5.105) mg/m3 for quartz concentration. It is found that the top three dust respirable exposures are from cement mixing, concrete breaking, and manual demolition, whereas grinding and rock breaking are recorded the two highest processes in terms of quartz exposure. Analytical results indicate that respiratory protection commonly used on construction sites is often inadequate for exposures encountered. Data variability within task and tool is large, with high exposures reported for a broad spectrum of tools. This study attains a large dataset to represent as many dust production construction activities as possible, determining the most influential factors for predicting dust exposure and evaluating the effectiveness of current dust control practices. This knowledge should, in turn, lead to enhanced practices of dust control in Hong Kong and highlight areas that need improvements.

The adoption of sustainable residue management practices is considered as a cleaner production option for the agricultural sector. However, limited information is available from Pakistan on the current use and adoption of sustainable residue management practices and different socio-physiological factors are involved in the process of shaping farmers' intentions. Based on the protection motivation theory framework, this study analyzes the socio-physiological factors affecting the farmers' intentions on adopting sustainable crop residue management practices. The paper is based on cross-sectional data collected from 420 farmers across Punjab and employs a structural equation modeling to explore research objectives. The research findings show that farmers, who perceive high risk from crop residue burning or who are aware of its negative consequences, are more intended to adopt sustainable crop residue management practices. However, their adoption intentions do have significant relationship with the self-efficacy implying the lack of resources, time, knowledge, competency, and skills as constraints limiting the adoption of cleaner production strategies. Further, the research findings also confirm the positive and significant role of habits of farmers in shaping their intentions to use sustainable crop residue management practices. In addition to this, the paper found a positive and significant role in social interaction, sources of information and access to extension services in shaping farmers’ decision regarding sustainable residue management practices at the farm level. The research findings suggest enhancing awareness to highlight the negative impacts of crop residue burning and to train them regarding useful and sustainable crop residue management options that are not only cleaner production options but also generate economic benefits for farmers.