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This study explores for the first time the potential use of carbonation as a method for managing cork ash, a byproduct of biomass waste incineration. Additionally, the cork ash was combined with fly ash from municipal solid waste incineration to leverage the carbonation reaction's ability to stabilize heavy metals. The findings suggest that subjecting biomass ash to carbonation can lead to the formation of mineral carbonates, effectively capturing CO 2 and reducing its release into the atmosphere. The combination of various alkaline wastes and the stabilization of leachable heavy metals through carbonation reactions also opens opportunities for synergies between different industrial sectors. Finally, the study proposes a route for the obtained materials valorisation via 'end of waste': the reuse of the resulting materials as substitutes for natural resources, particularly in applications like building materials and polymer composites, can further enhance carbon dioxide savings., Competing Interests: The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Elza Bontempi is on the Advisory Board of the Heliyon Environment section., (© 2024 The Authors.)

The carbonation of alkaline industrial wastes is a pressing issue that is aimed at reducing CO 2 emissions while promoting a circular economy. In this study, we explored the direct aqueous carbonation of steel slag and cement kiln dust in a newly developed pressurized reactor that operated at 15 bar. The goal was to identify the optimal reaction conditions and the most promising by-products that can be reused in their carbonated form, particularly in the construction industry. We proposed a novel, synergistic strategy for managing industrial waste and reducing the use of virgin raw materials among industries located in Lombardy, Italy, specifically Bergamo-Brescia. Our initial findings are highly promising, with argon oxygen decarburization (AOD) slag and black slag (sample 3) producing the best results (70 g CO 2 /kg slag and 76 g CO 2 /kg slag, respectively) compared with the other samples. Cement kiln dust (CKD) yielded 48 g CO 2 /kg CKD. We showed that the high concentration of CaO in the waste facilitated carbonation, while the presence of Fe compounds in large amounts caused the material to be less soluble in water, affecting the homogeneity of the slurry.

The carbonation of alkaline wastes is an interesting research field that may offer opportunities for CO 2 reduction. However, the literature is mainly devoted to studying different waste sequestration capabilities, with lame attention to the reliability of the data about CO 2 reduction, or to the possibilities to increase the amount of absorbed CO 2 . In this work, for the first time, the limitation of some methods used in literature to quantify the amount of sequestered CO 2 is presented, and the advantages of using suitable XRD strategies to evaluate the crystalline calcium carbonate phases are demonstrated. In addition, a zero-waste approach, aiming to stabilize the waste by coupling the use of by-products and the possibility to obtain CO 2 sequestration, was considered. In particular, for the first time, the paper investigates the differences in natural and accelerated carbonation (NC and AC) mechanisms, occurring when municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) fly ash is stabilized by using the bottom ash with the same origin, and other by-products. The stabilization mechanism was attributed to pozzolanic reactions with the formation of calcium silicate hydrates or calcium aluminate hydrate phases that can react with CO 2 to produce calcium carbonate phases. The work shows that during the AC, crystalline calcium carbonate was quickly formed by the reaction of Ca(OH) 2 and CaClOH with CO 2 . On the contrary, in NC, carbonation occurred due to reactions also with the amorphous Ca. The sequestration capability of this technology, involving the mixing of waste and by-products, is up to 165 gCO 2 /Kg MSWI FA, which is higher than the literature data., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Phosphate rocks are a critical resource for the European Union, and alternative sources to assure the future production of a new generation of fertilizers are to be assessed. In this study, a statistical approach, combined with a sustainability evaluation for the recovery of materials from waste containing phosphorus (P), is presented. This work proposes a strategy to recover P and silica (SiO 2 ) from rice husk poultry litter ash (RHPLA). The design of experiment (DoE) method was applied to maximize the P extraction using hydrochloric acid (HCl), with the aim to minimize the contamination that can occur by leachable heavy metals present in RHPLA, such as zinc (Zn). Two independent variables, the molar concentration of the acid, and the liquid-to-solid ratio (L/S) between the acid and RHPLA, were used in the experimental design to optimize the operating parameters. The statistical analysis showed that a HCl concentration of 0.34 mol/L and an L/S ratio of 50 are the best conditions to recover P with low Zn contamination. Concerning the SiO 2 , its content in RHPLA is too low to consider the proposed recovery process as advantageous. However, based on our analysis, this process should be sustainable to recover SiO 2 when its content in the starting materials is more than 80%.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been proposed to give a possible future to humankind. Due to the multidimensional characteristic of sustainability, SDGs need research activities with a multidisciplinary approach. This work aims to provide a critical review of the results concerning sustainable materials obtained by Italian researchers affiliated to the National Interuniversity Consortium of Materials Science and Technology (INSTM) and their contribution to reaching specific indicators of the 17 SDGs. Data were exposed by using the Web of Science (WoS) database. In the investigated period (from 2016 to 2020), 333 works about sustainable materials are found and grouped in one of the following categories: chemicals (33%), composites (11%), novel materials for pollutants sequestration (8%), bio-based and food-based materials (10%), materials for green building (8%), and materials for energy (29%). This review contributes to increasing the awareness of several of the issues concerning sustainable materials but also to encouraging the researchers to focus on SDGs' interconnections. Indeed, the mapping of the achievements can be relevant to the decision-makers to identify the opportunities that materials can offer to achieve the final goals. In this frame, a "Sustainable Materials Partnership for SDGs" is envisaged for more suitable resource management in the future.

A multicentered study was carried out, under double-blind conditions, on 160 elderly patients afflicted with differently localized symptomatic osteoarthritis, for the purpose of evaluating the therapeutical efficacy and tolerability of ST-679 (per-os at a dose of 1200 mg pro die in 80 patients) and to compare them with those of tolmetin (per os at a dose of 1200 mg pro die in 80 patients). It was demonstrated that ST-679 was significantly active on all of the clinical parameters of the illness already recorded after a month of treatment. ST-679 was always excellently tolerated as shown by the scarce incidence of adverse reactions. Results of laboratory tests, of tests for hidden blood in the feces and of a gastroduodenoscopy confirmed the excellent biological and gastric tolerability of ST-679. ST-679 demonstrated, moreover, a significantly better tolerability with respect to tolmetin.

A double-blind phase II study of propionyl-L-carnitine (CAS 17298-37-2) versus placebo was carried out on a group of 60 patients with mild to moderate (II and III NYHA class) congestive heart failure. The group was made up of men and women aged between 48 and 73 years in chronic treatment with digitalis and diuretics for at least 3 months and who still displayed symptoms. Thirty of these patients were chosen randomly and for 180 days, 500 mg of propionyl-L-carnitine was orally administered, 3 times a day in addition to their usual treatment. At basal conditions and after 30, 90 and 180 days the maximum exercise time was evaluated using an exercise tolerance test performed on an ergometer bicycle and the left ventricular ejection fraction was tested by means of bidimensional echocardiography. After one month of treatment, the patients treated with propionyl-L-carnitine, compared to the control group, showed significant increases in the values of both tests, increases which became even more evident after 90 and 180 days. At the stated times the increases in the maximum exercise time were 16.4%, 22.9%, and 25.9%, respectively. The ventricular ejection fraction increased by 8.4%, 11.6% and 13.6%, respectively. On the basis of these results, having studied the particular mechanism of action of propionyl-L-carnitine the authors conclude that it represents a drug of undoubted therapeutic interest in patients with congestive heart failure, in whom it could be efficaciously administered along with a standard pharmacological therapy.

Clinical trials have been conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of Matrix in osteoarthritis, mainly as regards the advantages offered by its physiological mechanism of action. The experiment, lasting 6 months, was performed on two hundred patients in four different Hospital Departments and one University Center. The results showed a considerable improvement both in pain and in mobility. No relevant side effects were found; only 3% of patients, with oral administration, noticed slight nausea and found it necessary to interrupt treatment.