NGHIÊN CỨU - TRAO ĐỔI

Công bố quốc tế lĩnh vực môi trường số 13-2022

09/04/2022

Trân trọng giới thiệu tới quý độc giả Công bố Quốc tế lĩnh vực môi trường số 13-2022 với các công trình nghiên cứu của các nhà khoa học nổi tiếng từ nhiều quốc gia khác nhau và đã được công bố trên những tạp chí uy tín thế giới.

Công bố Quốc tế lĩnh vực môi trường số 13-2022 bao gồm 15 bài nghiên cứu về quản lý môi trường, 17 bài về môi trường đô thị và 15 bài về môi trường khu công nghiệp. Đặc biệt trong số 15 nghiên cứu về quản lý môi trường có nghiên cứu của các nhà khoa học Việt Nam với chủ đề “Kiểm tra thống kê mối liên hệ giữa phát triển đê điều và nhận thức của con người trong hệ thống thủy văn xã hội vùng đồng bằng sông Cửu Long của Việt Nam” đã được công bố trên tạp chí khoa học Science of The Total Environment, số 810, ngày 1/3/2022.

Theo nhóm nghiên cứu, những nỗ lực về khoa học thủy văn xã hội đã được thúc đẩy để giải quyết những thách thức mà quản lý nước hiện đại phải đối mặt. Nghiên cứu này nhằm mục đích hiểu rõ hơn về sự tương quan giữa phát triển của hệ thống thuỷ văn – con người ở vùng đồng bằng ngập lũ.

Để thực hiện nghiên cứu nói trên, nhóm tác giả đã tiến hành lấy ý kiến của 100 nông dân sống tại vùng thường xuyên xảy ra lũ lụt của Đồng bằng sông Cửu Long Việt Nam về lũ lụt, ảnh hưởng của đê điều và điều kiện sống trong các hệ thống đê khác nhau. Từ đó nhóm nghiên cứu tiến hành so sánh các ý kiến để khám phá mối liên hệ giữa nhận thức của con người và quá trình phát triển đê điều.

Bối cảnh cụ thể của địa phương đã dẫn đến nhiều hệ thống đê điều khác nhau. Các quá trình phát triển hệ thống đê điều có thể ảnh hưởng đến sinh kế, giao thông vận tải, nhận thức được những thay đổi về đỉnh lũ và các nguyên nhân làm giảm trữ lượng thuỷ sản trong vùng. Từ đó, một vòng tuần hoàn giữa đê – lũ – sinh kế mới có liên quan đến nhau đã được đề xuất cho các vùng ngập lũ.

Nghiên cứu này có thể là một tài liệu chuyên sâu hỗ trợ các nhà hoạch định xây dựng các chính sách thích ứng với biến đổi khí hậu phù hợp với các vùng khí hậu – xã hội khác nhau. Phát hiện của các nhà khoa học Việt Nam cũng góp phần vào sự hiểu biết hiện tại của các cộng đồng khoa học quốc tế về hệ thống nước – con người và cung cấp tài liệu để phát triển thêm các mô hình thủy văn – xã hội nhằm tăng cường khả năng dự đoán về cách hệ thống phức tạp phát triển ở vùng ngập lũ.

Dưới đây là Công bố quốc tế lĩnh vực môi trường số 13-2022 với những nội dung chính như sau:

Về quản lý môi trường

– Kiểm tra thống kê mối liên hệ giữa phát triển đê điều và nhận thức của con người trong hệ thống thủy văn xã hội vùng đồng bằng sông Cửu Long của Việt Nam.

– Đánh giá rủi ro của chì (Pb) tới sức khỏe con người thông qua con đường môi trường – thực phẩm.

– Ảnh hưởng của dòng chảy môi trường đến sự thay đổi thủy văn và độ tin cậy của nhu cầu nước.

– Sự tái xanh của các con sông ở bờ biển phía đông Australia: Một sự biến đổi ven sông chưa từng có.

– Duy trì độ che phủ của rừng để tăng cường khả năng đệm nhiệt độ trong điều kiện biến đổi khí hậu trong tương lai.

– Số phận môi trường của glyphosate được sử dụng trên đường sắt Thụy Điển – Kết quả giám sát môi trường được thực hiện từ năm 2007–2010 và 2015–2019.

– Ảnh hưởng của COVID-19 đối với sự phân bố các loại ô nhiễm PM10 của các phương tiện: So sánh giữa năm 2020 và 2018.

– Ảnh hưởng của các cuộc khủng hoảng toàn cầu đối với việc định hình lại hành vi ủng hộ môi trường, nghiên cứu điển hình: đại dịch COVID-19.

– Sự suy giảm nhanh chóng của lớp phủ tuyết ở Trung Quốc từ năm 1979 đến năm 2018 được quan sát từ không gian.

– Tính không ổn định của chỉ số sinh thái dựa trên viễn thám (RSEI) và sự cải thiện của nó đối với phân tích chuỗi thời gian.

Về môi trường đô thị

– Làm thế nào để xây dựng Urbanome, bộ gen của thành phố?

– Định lượng bộ gen SARS-CoV-2 trong nước thải ở quy mô khu vực và thành phố cho phép giám sát chính xác toàn bộ động thái bùng phát và các biến thể lây lan trong quần thể.

– Quan sát và mô phỏng các gốc HOx trong một khu đô thị ở Thượng Hải, Trung Quốc.

– Ảnh hưởng nhiệt đến nước ngầm trong môi trường đô thị – Một phân tích thống kê đa biến về hiệu ứng đảo nhiệt dưới bề mặt ở Munich.

– Đảo nhiệt đô thị dưới bề mặt ở Milan (Ý) – Một cách tiếp cận mô hình bao gồm các hiệu ứng nhiệt hiện tại và tương lai đối với các chế độ nước ngầm.

– Xác định vị trí xả thải bất hợp pháp trong cống thoát nước mưa ở các khu vực đô thị bằng cách sử dụng theo dõi nguồn đa thông số: Xác nhận thực địa của chỉ số tổng hợp hộp công cụ để ưu tiên các khu vực có nguy cơ cao.

– Tăng trưởng đô thị và sụt lún đất: Điều tra đa giai đoạn sử dụng dữ liệu định cư của con người và vệ tinh InSAR ở Morelia, Mexico.

– Đô thị hóa ảnh hưởng như thế nào đến năng suất thảm thực vật ở các thành phố ven biển phía đông Trung Quốc?

– Phân tích so sánh về chu kỳ lái xe, vi phạm giới hạn tốc độ và lượng khí thải ở hai thành phố: Toronto và Bắc Kinh.

Về môi trường khu công nghiệp

– Việc sử dụng tiềm năng các sản phẩm phụ và chất thải của ngành công nghiệp sữa thông qua các quy trình vi sinh: Đánh giá quan trọng.

– Xuất hiện gen kháng thuốc kháng sinh và vi khuẩn đa kháng thuốc trong quá trình xử lý nước thải.

– Các xu hướng giảm thiểu chất thải công nghiệp: Mối nguy hại sức khỏe toàn cầu, tác động môi trường và nền kinh tế thu được từ chất thải đối với môi trường bền vững.

– Sự đồng xuất hiện và các mối tương quan của PFAS và các hợp chất hữu cơ dễ bay hơi được clo hóa (cVOC) trong lớp đất dưới bề mặt trong khu công nghiệp hóa chất fluoride: Điều tra tại phòng thí nghiệm và hiện trường.

– Đánh giá lợi ích tiết kiệm năng lượng dựa trên công nghệ cộng sinh và giảm phát thải trong ngành gang thép: Nghiên cứu điển hình của Hà Nam, Trung Quốc.

– Thực hiện sinh thái công nghiệp trong các hoạt động tái tạo: Một con đường khả thi để chuyển đổi các hệ thống công nghiệp địa phương-khu vực của Trung Quốc theo hướng bền vững?

– Vai trò của phát triển kinh tế đối với hiệu quả của chính sách giảm thiểu ô nhiễm công nghiệp ở các thành phố Trung Quốc.

– Một kế hoạch giảm thiểu rủi ro an toàn thích ứng ở cấp độ quy trình để sản xuất bền vững trong các ngành công nghiệp hóa chất: Một cách tiếp cận tích hợp mờ-HAZOP-tốt nhất – tồi tệ nhất.

– Đánh giá rủi ro sinh thái theo cấp độ kết hợp với các kịch bản sinh thái đối với đất ở các khu công nghiệp bị ô nhiễm.

Sau đây là tên và phần tóm tắt các bài nghiên cứu bằng tiếng Anh:

QUẢN LÝ MÔI TRƯỜNG

1. Statistically examining the connection between dike development and human perceptions in the floodplains’ socio-hydrology system of Vietnamese Mekong Delta

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 810, 1 March 2022, 152207

Abstract

Efforts on socio-hydrology science have been promoted to solve challenges faced by contemporary water management. This study aims to better understand the co-evolution of human-water systems in floodplains. Specifically, farmers’ opinions on flooding, dike effects, and living conditions in different dike systems in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta floodplain are compared to explore possible connections between human perceptions and dike development processes by employing in-depth interviews of 7 officials and oral surveys of 100 farmers supported by a literature review. Local specific contexts have resulted in various dike systems. One mixed-low-dike-dominant, two mixed-high-dike-dominant, and one only-high-dike zones are found in the research area. High dikes have been operating in an ad hoc response to short-term demands in the mixed-dike zones while strictly following a provincial schedule in the only-high-dike zone. The Fisher-Freeman-Halton test was used to compare the farmers’ opinions on diverse questions between the zones. Dike development processes are suggested to influence livelihood, transportation, perceived flood peak changes and perceived causes for declining fish stocks. Although it remains challenging to directly attribute these differences to the dike development processes themselves, a new interrelated dike-flood-livelihood feedback loop is proposed for floodplains. Insights obtained are expected to support decision makers formulating tailored climate change adaptation policies to the different socio-hydrological zones. Our findings also contribute to the current understanding of international scientific communities on the human-water system and provide materials to further develop socio-hydrological models that strengthen our predictive capability on how the complex system evolves in floodplains.

2. Human health risk assessment of lead (Pb) through the environmental-food pathway

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 810, 1 March 2022, 151168

Abstract

Drinking water and farm-to-fork pathways have been identified as the predominant environmental pathways associated with human exposure (HE) to Pb. This study integrates a GIS-based survey of metal concentrations in soil and a probabilistic quantitative risk assessment of Pb through the food chain. The case study area was selected in the east of Ireland. A step-wise exposure assessment collated the data for Pb concentration in soil and water media, bioaccumulation of Pb in unprocessed food products, such as potatoes, carrots, green vegetables, and salad vegetables. The daily mean HE to Pb through selected food products was found to be 0.073 mg day−1, where a mean weekly exposure was estimated as 0.0065 mg kg body weight−1 week−1. Multiple risk estimates were used. Hazard Quotient (HQ), Daily Dietary Index (DDI), Daily Intake of Metal (DIM), Health Risk Index (HRI), Target Hazard Quotient (THQ) and Cancer Risk (CR) were found as 0.234 to 0.669, 0.002, 0.0002, 0.020 to 0.057, 0.234 to 0.669, and 0.00001, respectively which signify a low to moderate risk. A sensitivity analysis revealed that intake of potato is the most sensitive parameter of the model, which is positively correlated (coeff. + 0.66) followed by concentration of Pb in the arable soil (+0.49), bioaccumulation in tubers (+0.37), consumption of salad vegetables (+0.20), and consumption of green vegetables (+0.13) (top 5). A back-calculated limit of Pb in the soil (51 mg kg−1) justifies the lower threshold limit of Pb (50–300 mg kg−1) in agricultural soil set by the European Union to mitigate potential bio-transfer into food products. The study concludes there is a low to moderate risk posed by Pb, within the system boundary of the probabilistic model, and highlights the significance of limiting Pb concentrations in the vegetable producing agricultural soil.

3. Effects of environmental flows on hydrological alteration and reliability of water demands

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 810, 1 March 2022, 151630

Abstract

This paper presents a methodology to assess the effects of management strategies of environmental flows on the hydrological alteration of river basins on a daily scale. It comprises the collection and analysis of data, the implementation and calibration of a water allocation model; the computation of the natural flow regime; and the estimation, normalization, and aggregation of hydrological alteration indicators to obtain a global indicator of the hydrological alteration. The methodology was applied to a case study in the Iberian Peninsula: The Orbigo River basin, which belongs to the Duero River basin district. For that, three management scenarios were defined: the current scenario, a scenario without any environmental flow and the scenario with the environmental flows initially projected for the period 2022–2027. These scenarios were modelled with the SIMGES water allocation model, which is calibrated in the study site, and the hydrological alterations in four river stretches with different locations and characteristics were assessed. The implications of each environmental flow scenario on the demand reliabilities were also analysed. The global indicator of hydrological alteration obtained in the projected scenario was greater (better) than those of the other two scenarios, but the reliabilities of the water demands were worse. The methodology proposed in this work can be helpful to design environmental flow regimes considering both the effects on the hydrological alteration and the implication on the water demand reliabilities.

4. The re-greening of east coast Australian rivers: An unprecedented riparian transformation

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 810, 1 March 2022, 151309

Abstract

Eastern Australia has a climate characterised by extreme variability and the occurrence of multiple years of drought conditions. Arguably one of the severest droughts on record – the Big Dry ended in many areas with the La Niña of 2009/2010. A succession of subsequent dry years brought a return to drought conditions across much of eastern Australia in 2018 and 2019, ending with the catastrophic fires of 2019/2020. An analysis of river gauges in eastern Australia demonstrates that unregulated rivers have been subject to reduced monthly and total annual flow for far longer than the recent multi-year droughts. A breakpoint regression model on the annual streamflow data shows statistically significant declines in total annual flow (by up to a factor of three) since 1992/93 on the far South coast of New South Wales (NSW). In the monthly data, fifteen of the nineteen gauges analysed exhibit modelled breakpoints, but with statistically significant differences in monthly mean discharge between consecutive periods only occurring in three of these gauges (occurring between 1972 and 1993 in both the North and South coast). The trend toward reduced flow over the last few decades has, for many rivers, coincided with land use and river management changes resulting in increases in woody riparian vegetation. To show this we use a remote sensing technique and estimate the magnitude of vegetation change along all major rivers and their tributaries on the eastern seaboard of NSW (28 catchments with total river length assessed of 19,750 km) using a normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) analysis of woody vs non-woody riparian vegetation extent. Predicted vegetation change between 1987 and 2020 is spatially variable across catchments but the mean increase in woody riparian vegetation across all catchments is 9–51% (0.2 and 0.1 NDVI increases). Such increases are perhaps the largest biogeomorphic change the SE Australian drainage network has experienced since the initial clearance of vegetation associated with European colonisation in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

5. The re-greening of east coast Australian rivers: An unprecedented riparian transformation

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 810, 1 March 2022, 151309

Abstract

6. Concentration, optical characteristics, and emission factors of brown carbon emitted by on-road vehicles

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 810, 1 March 2022, 151307

Abstract

Atmospheric brown carbon (BrC) is a light-absorbing component that affects radiative forcing; however, this effect requires further clarification, particularly with respect to BrC emission sources, chromophores, and optical properties. In the present study, the concentrations, optical properties, and emission factors of organic carbon (OC), water-soluble OC (WSOC), and humic-like substances (HULIS) in fine particulate matter (PM2.5) emitted from vehicles in three road tunnels (the Wucun, Xianyue, and Wenxing tunnels in Xiamen, China) were investigated. The mass concentrations and light absorption of OC, WSOC, and HULIS were higher at the exits of each tunnel than at entrances, demonstrating that vehicle emissions were a BrC source. At each tunnel’s exit, the average light absorption contributed by HULIS-BrC to water-soluble BrC (WS-BrC) and total BrC at 365 nm was higher than the corresponding carbon mass concentration contributed by HULIS (HULIS-C) to WSOC and OC, indicating that the chromophores of HULIS emitted from vehicles had a disproportionately high effect on the light absorption characteristics of BrC. The emission factors (EFs) of HULIS-C and WSOC mass concentrations were highest at the Xianyue tunnel; however, the EFs of HULIS-BrC and WS-BrC light absorption were highest at the Wenxing tunnel, indicating that the chromophore composition of BrC was different among the tunnels and that the mass concentration EFs did not correspond directly to the light absorption EFs.

7. Maintaining forest cover to enhance temperature buffering under future climate change

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 810, 1 March 2022, 151338

Abstract

Forest canopies buffer macroclimatic temperature fluctuations. However, we do not know if and how the capacity of canopies to buffer understorey temperature will change with accelerating climate change. Here we map the difference (offset) between temperatures inside and outside forests in the recent past and project these into the future in boreal, temperate and tropical forests. Using linear mixed-effect models, we combined a global database of 714 paired time series of temperatures (mean, minimum and maximum) measured inside forests vs. in nearby open habitats with maps of macroclimate, topography and forest cover to hindcast past (1970–2000) and to project future (2060–2080) temperature differences between free-air temperatures and sub-canopy microclimates. For all tested future climate scenarios, we project that the difference between maximum temperatures inside and outside forests across the globe will increase (i.e. result in stronger cooling in forests), on average during 2060–2080, by 0.27 ± 0.16 °C (RCP2.6) and 0.60 ± 0.14 °C (RCP8.5) due to macroclimate changes. This suggests that extremely hot temperatures under forest canopies will, on average, warm less than outside forests as macroclimate warms. This knowledge is of utmost importance as it suggests that forest microclimates will warm at a slower rate than non-forested areas, assuming that forest cover is maintained. Species adapted to colder growing conditions may thus find shelter and survive longer than anticipated at a given forest site. This highlights the potential role of forests as a whole as microrefugia for biodiversity under future climate change.

8. Environmental fate of glyphosate used on Swedish railways — Results from environmental monitoring conducted between 2007–2010 and 2015–2019

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 811, 10 March 2022, 152361

Abstract

Glyphosate herbicides are widely relied upon by European railway operators for controlling vegetation growing on railway tracks. In Sweden, concentrations of glyphosate and its main degradation product AMPA have been monitored in the groundwater close to railways during two monitoring periods: between 2007–2010 and 2015–2019. In total, 603 groundwater samples from 12 different monitoring sites and 645 soil samples from 5 of these sites were analyzed. Glyphosate and AMPA were detected in 16% and 14%, respectively, of groundwater samples taken from directly beneath the track, with concentrations exceeding the EU groundwater quality standard of 0.1 μg/L in 6 and 4% of the cases, respectively. The highest concentrations detected in single samples were 7 μg glyphosate/L and 1.1 μg AMPA/L. However, further horizontal spread in the groundwater zone appeared to be limited as glyphosate and AMPA were only detected in 1–3% of the groundwater samples taken from outside the track area itself, and since no difference was seen between water from reference and down-gradient wells. In the autumn of 2018, higher concentrations were detected in the groundwater from beneath 3 out of the 5 then active monitoring sites and a possible explanation is that the unusually hot and dry summer of 2018 limited degradation, thus leading to an increased susceptibility of leaching. The contents of glyphosate and AMPA in soil samples from three of the sites were very low (average < 0.05 mg/kg in soil from 0 to 30 cm), indicating that they were only sprayed to a limited degree, whereas the contents from two of the test sites were in line with what would be expected based on the used dose and a predicted half-life of about 4 ± 2 months (average 0.22–0.84 mg/kg). No signs of accumulation of glyphosate in the railway ballast over time were observed.

9. The effect of COVID-19 on the distribution of PM10 pollution classes of vehicles: Comparison between 2020 and 2018

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 811, 10 March 2022, 152036

Abstract

A recent study by Pini et al. (2021), focusing on year 2018, demonstrated that different strategies should be considered in different Italian cities to mitigate the effects of PM10 pollution produced by circulating cars and commercial vehicles. The current study focuses on year 2020, considering the same ten Italian cities. This new study relies on the estimation of specific indices used to assess the size of the different circulating vehicle fleets (vehicle yearly mileage, diesel-fuel car and LCV fleet dimension, etc.) and their impact on PM10 pollution (Strength of Pollution). Results for 2020, severely affected by vehicular restrictions associated with COVID-19, indicate the need to adopt PM10 pollution reduction strategies for the various cities partially different from those identified earlier. For example, Euro 4 cars is the fleet having the highest impact on PM10 pollution in Rome (emitting 3,3 times more than Euro 6 vehicles), while in Milan the most polluting vehicles are Euro 0 cars (emitting 2 times more than Euro 6 vehicles). In Naples, Euro 0 cars emit 12,5 times more than Euro 6 vehicles. A careful look into the results also reveals that, for all considered cities, the three top fleets in terms of PM10 pollution always include Euro 4 or a higher Euro category fleet and a lower Euro category fleet (Euro 0 or Euro 3). These values were validated based on the use of pollution data from ground monitoring stations, which also allowed estimating the atmospheric mixing layer height. Results from the paper suggest that different incentivization policies have to be considered for the different considered cities. For example, in Naples the allocation of incentives should be ~60% towards new vehicles and ~40% towards recent used (i.e. second-hand) non-diesel vehicles, while in Florence it should be ~90% towards ECVs and ~10% towards recent used non-diesel vehicles.

10. The influence of global crises on reshaping pro-environmental behavior, case study: the COVID-19 pandemic

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 811, 10 March 2022, 151436

Abstract

As a profound crisis capable of threatening human well-being as well as existence, the COVID-19 pandemic can be considered as an awakening experience which may lead to the promotion of environmentally responsible behaviors in the society. In the present research, an extended form of the Theory of Planned Behavior has been applied to examine the moderating effect of COVID-19 pandemic on pro-environmental behavior mechanism in Iran. To evaluate this effect, a 5-scale Likert questionnaire was designed comprising of 28 questions in 7 sections of information and concerns about COVID-19, environmental knowledge, subjective norm, attitude, intention, perceived behavioral control and pro-environmental behavior. According to the results, the pandemic has led to an increase in people’s knowledge about their environment and has positively affected individuals’ subjective norms, or the perceived social pressure to get involved in environmentally friendly actions. Individuals’ attitude to perform pro-environmental behaviors has also increased as a result of this incident. Moreover, the role of perceived behavioral control over environmental actions has been influenced by the pandemic situation and the COVID-19 crisis has positively influenced the relationship between intention and pro-environmental behavior.

11. Accelerated decline of snow cover in China from 1979 to 2018 observed from space

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 814, 25 March 2022, 152491

Abstract

Snow cover is an important indicator of climate change. Variations of snow integrate the competing effect of increasing temperature and precipitation. In this study, based on Theil-Sen Median (TSM) and Mann-Kendall (M-K) methods, observational evidence from space was used to investigate the variation of snow parameters in China from 1979 to 2018, and some meaningful conclusions were found. (1) The downward trend of snow depth (SD) with a median of −0.02 cm/year was generally found in the high altitude mountains, and the upward trend of SD with a median of 0.01 cm/year occurs in the plains. A widespread and accelerated decrease of SD was observed in the latest period (2009–2018) in NC and NX. (2) The mean annual areas with snow cover days (SCDs) greater than 150 days (d) accounted for 17.8%, 24.73% and 38.14% in NC, NX and QTP. SCDs in NC and Northern QTP were widely reduced, but the longest snow season with more than eight months is still maintained on QTP. (3) The downward trend of snow storage (SS) was found in all three snow areas. The difference of snow phenology is reflected in the slowest accumulation and melting rate of SS on QTP; the largest peak value of SS and the shortest snow season in NC; the slow accumulation and rapid melting of snow in the NX, and the peak value is achieved at the latest. The trend of maximum temperature was judged as the most important factor affecting the change of SD, while longitude and latitude are closely related to the change of SCD.

12. Instability of remote sensing based ecological index (RSEI) and its improvement for time series analysis

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 814, 25 March 2022, 152595

Abstract

With the rapid development of remote sensing technology, the monitoring of land surface ecological status (LSES) based on remote sensing has made remarkable progress, which has a positive contribution on improving the regional ecological environment and promoting the realization of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Among them, the proposed Remote Sensing-based Ecological Index (RSEI) becomes the most widely used model in the current application of remote sensing-based LSES monitoring due to its complete derived from remote sensing images and no subjective intervention. RSEI is not flawless either, and it still suffers from some uncertainties in its application in multiple scenarios. However, compared to the extensive applied research, work on the instability assessment and improvement of RSEI is particularly scarce and urgently needed. Therefore, in this paper, we analyzed the possible instabilities in the RSEI calculation process and proposed various inversion models to evaluate their accuracy and stability in time-series LSES monitoring. The results indicated that the existing normalized RSEI is relatively stable for the characterization of single-phase LSES, however, there is a high risk in the time-series analysis or cross-regional comparison due to the interference of component extremes. The standard deviation discretized DRSEIs proposed in this paper perform better in both single-phase and long-term dynamics LSES assessments and are more consistent with the real land cover changes. Also, compared with the approach that measures LSES dynamics using time-series regional RSEI mean values, the DRSEIs change detection results can reveal the spatial heterogeneity of regional LSES dynamics more effectively and provide a finer reference for the formulation and implementation of ecological protection policies.

13. Oxidative potential and water-soluble heavy metals of size-segregated airborne particles in haze and non-haze episodes: Impact of the “Comprehensive Action Plan” in China

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 814, 25 March 2022, 152774

Abstract

Air pollution is a major environmental health challenge in megacities, and as such a Comprehensive Action Plan (CAP) was issued in 2017 for Beijing, the capital city of China. Here we investigated the size-segregated airborne particles collected after the implementation of the CAP, intending to understand the change of oxidative potential and water-soluble heavy metal (WSHM) levels in ‘haze’ and ‘non-haze’ days. The DNA damage and the levels of WSHM were analyzed by Plasmid Scission Assay (PSA) and High-Resolution Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (HR-ICP-MS) techniques. The PM mass concentration was higher in the fine particle size (0.43–2.1 μm) during haze days, except for the samples affected by mineral dust. The particle-induced DNA damage caused by fine sized particles (0.43–2.1 μm) exceeded that caused by the coarse sized particles (4.7–10 μm). The DNA damage from haze day particles significantly exceeded those collected on non-haze days. Prior to the instigation of the CAP, the highest value of DNA damage decreased, and DNA damage was seen in the finer size (0.43–1.1 μm). The Pearson correlation coefficient between the concentrations of water-soluble Pb, Cr, Cd and Zn were positively correlated with DNA damage, suggesting that these WSHM had significant oxidative potential. The mass concentrations of water-soluble trace elements (WSTE) and individual heavy metals were enriched in the finer particles between 0.43 μm to 1.1 μm, implying that smaller sized particles posed higher health risks. In contrast, the significant reduction in the mass concentration of water-soluble Cd and Zn, and the decrease of the maximum and average values of DNA damage after the CAP, demonstrated its effectiveness in restricting coal-burning emissions. These results have demonstrated that the Beijing CAP policy has been successful in reducing the toxicity of ‘respirable’ ambient particles.

14. Flood mitigation data analytics and decision support framework: Iowa Middle Cedar Watershed case study

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 814, 25 March 2022, 152768

Abstract

Flooding is one of the most frequent natural disasters, causing billions of dollars in damage and threatening vulnerable communities worldwide. Although the impact of flooding can never be diminished, minimizing future losses is possible by taking structural or non-structural mitigation actions. Mitigation applications are often costly practices. However, they can be more feasible for long-term planning and protection. On the other hand, selecting a feasible option requires a comprehensive analysis of potential risk and damages and comparing the costs and benefits of different mitigation types. This paper presents a web-based decision support framework called Mitigation and Damage Assessment System (MiDAS) that analyzes flood risk impacts and mitigation strategies at the community and property-level with the goal of informing communities on the consequences of flooding and mitigation alternatives and encouraging them to participate in the community rating system. The framework utilizes regulatory flood inundation maps, damage functions, property information, scenario-based climate projections, and mitigation inputs and guidelines from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). It will help users select the appropriate flood mitigation measures based on various characteristics (e.g., foundation type, occupancy, square footage) and provide cost estimates for implementing measures. The system also provides a decision tree algorithm for analyzing and representing the mitigation decision by reviewing existing guidelines (e.g., FEMA, USACE). We analyzed the community-level mitigation for three major cities in Eastern Iowa (Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids, and Waterloo) and found certain measures (e.g., wet/dry floodproofing) are cost-effective for community-level mitigation. Implementation of mitigation measures can reduce the property’s vulnerability and improve the response to a flooding event.

15. Hourly emission estimation of black carbon and brown carbon absorption from domestic coal burning in China

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 814, 25 March 2022, 151950

Abstract

Residential coal combustion (RCC) emission demonstrates obvious daily variation, while no real-time estimation of air pollutants from RCC has been reported, as the limitation of hourly activity data and emission factors. With a dilution sampling system, a high-precision electronic balance, and an Aethalometer Model AE33, a real-time monitoring platform for RCC emission was established. Hourly emission factors (EFs) of BC and absorption emission factors (AEFs) of BrC from eleven kinds of chunk coals and nine kinds of honeycomb coals burning in China were obtained. The monthly and hourly coal consumption amounts were calculated with the activity data from literature reviews and a field survey. The first hourly BC and absorption cross section of BrC emission inventories from RCC were established in China. The historical emission trends (2003–2017) indicated that the policy has rapidly controlled the emission of BC and ACSBrC from RCC in urban area (26.7% and 31.8% decreased, respectively in 2013). While in rural areas, their emission continually increased by 1.2% ~ 5.3% until more strict law enacted in 2017. Emissions of BC and ACSBrC in winter seasons were 60.1 Gg and 1064.1 Gm2, which accounted for 54.3% and 55.1% of the total BC and ACSBrC emissions correspondingly. The peak values of hourly emission of BC and ACSBrC (in 370 nm) normally appeared at 19:00–23:00, accounting for 43.0% and 41.5% of their total daily emission. The low emission periods were at cooking times including 7:00, 12:00, and 17:00 of a day and the whole emission of BC and ACSBrC for the three periods accounted for 1.8% and 2.3% of their daily emission. This high-resolution BC and ACSBrC emission inventories can be useful for future modeling works on the formation and evolution of a haze event, the smoke aging and transportation, as well as corresponding climate and human health effects.

MÔI TRƯỜNG ĐÔ THỊ

1. SARS-CoV-2 genome quantification in wastewaters at regional and city scale allows precise monitoring of the whole outbreaks dynamics and variants spreading in the population

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 810, 1 March 2022, 152213

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2 is a coronavirus causing a globalized outbreak called COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2 transmission is associated with inhalation of contaminated respiratory droplets and could causes severe complications. Until today several “waves” of infections have been observed despite implementation of strict health policies. Decisions for such sanitary measures are based on population health monitoring. Unfortunately, for COVID-19, a significant proportion of individuals are asymptomatic but play a role in the virus transmission.To overcome these limitations, several strategies were developed including genome quantification in wastewater that could allow monitoring of the health status of population, since shedding of SARS-CoV-2 in patient stool is frequent. Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) was established and several countries implemented this approach to allow COVID-19 outbreak monitoring. In France, the OBEPINE project performed a quantitative analysis of SARS-CoV-2 in raw wastewater samples collected from major wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) since March 2020.

In the greater Paris area 1101 samples (507 for five WWTP and 594 for sewer) were collected. This 16 months monitoring allows us to observe the outbreak dynamics. Comparison of WBE indicators with health data lead to several important observation; the good level of correlation with incidence rates, the average 3 days lead time, and the sensitivity (WBE change when incidence is > to 7/100000 inhabitants). We also compared the local monitoring (city level) with the regional monitoring, to help cluster identification.

Moreover, variants of concern (VOC) emerged due to the selection pressure. We developed a specific RT-qPCR method targeting the deletion H69-V70 in the spike protein, using this deletion as a proxy of the B.1.1.7 presence in the wastewater. With this data we demonstrate the predominant role played by this strain in the third wave.

All these results allow a better description and understanding of the pandemic and highlight the role of such WBE indicators.

2. Observation and simulation of HOx radicals in an urban area in Shanghai, China

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 810, 1 March 2022, 152275

Abstract

A continuous wintertime observation of ambient OH and HO2 radicals was first carried out in Shanghai, in 2019. This effort coincided with the second China International Import Expo (CIIE), during which strict emission controls were implemented in Shanghai, resulting in an average PM2.5 concentration of less than 35 μg/m3. The self-developed instrument based on the laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) technique reported that the average OH radical concentration at noontime (11:00–13:00) was 2.7 × 106 cm−3, while the HO2 concentration was 0.8 × 108 cm−3. A chemical box model utilizing the Regional Atmospheric Chemical Mechanism 2 (RACM2), which is used to simulate pollutant reactions and other processes in the troposphere and which incorporates the Leuven isoprene mechanism (LIM1), reproduced the OH concentrations on most days. The HO2 concentration was underestimated, and the observed-to-modelled ratio demonstrated poor performance by the model, especially during the elevated photochemistry period. Missing primary peroxy radical sources or unknown behaviors of RO2 for high-NOx regimes are possible reasons for the discrepancy. The daytime ROx production was controlled by various sources. HONO photolysis accounted for more than one half (0.83 ppb/h), and the contribution from formaldehyde, OVOCs and ozone photolysis was relatively similar. Active oxidation paths accelerated the rapid ozone increase in winter. The average ozone production rate was 15.1 ppb/h, which is comparable to that of a Beijing suburb (10 ppb/h for the ‘BEST-ONE’) but much lower than that of Beijing’s center (39 ppb/h in ‘PKU’ and 71 ppb/h in ‘APHH’) in wintertime. Cumulative local ozone based on observed peroxy radicals was five times higher than the value simulated by the current model due to the underprediction of HO2 and RO2 under the high-NOx regime. This analysis provides crucial information for subsequent pollution control policies in Shanghai.

3. How to build Urbanome, the genome of the city?

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 810, 1 March 2022, 152310

Abstract

The world’s population is shifting to the cities, and consequently, cities worldwide are growing in number and in size. Cities are complex systems, making it extremely difficult to build and run cities in a way that all the elements of the system operate in harmony. Recently a concept of urbanome, the genome of the city was proposed to address this complexity. Here we first explore this concept and analogy, taking advantage of the potential of other ‘omics, modern data collection techniques, Big Data analysis methods and a transdisciplinary approach. Then, we propose a theoretical approach to build the urbanome as a means of quantifying and qualifying population outcomes, being a function of the form of an urban area including the built environment, the physical and social services it provides, and the population density.

4. Thermal influences on groundwater in urban environments – A multivariate statistical analysis of the subsurface heat island effect in Munich

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 810, 1 March 2022, 152193

Abstract

Shallow aquifers beneath cities are highly influenced by anthropogenic heat sources, resulting in the formation of extensive subsurface urban heat islands. In addition to anthropogenic factors, natural factors also influence the subsurface temperature. However, the effect of individual factors is difficult to capture due to high temporal dynamics in urban environments. Particularly in the case of shallow aquifers, seasonal temperature fluctuations often override the influence of existing heat sources or sinks. For the city of Munich, we identify the dominant anthropogenic and natural influences on groundwater temperature and analyse how the influences change with increasing depth in the subsurface. For this purpose, we use depth temperature profiles from 752 selected groundwater monitoring wells. Since the measurements were taken at different times, we developed a statistical approach to compensate for the different seasonal temperature influences using passive heat tracing. Further, we propose an indicator to spatially assess the thermal stress on the aquifer.

A multiple regression analysis of four natural and nine anthropogenic factors identified surface sealing as the strongest and the district heating grid as a weak but significant warming influence. The natural factors, aquifer thickness, depth-to-water and Darcy velocity show a significant cooling influence on the groundwater temperature. In addition, we show that local drivers, like thermal groundwater uses, surface waters and underground structures do not significantly contribute to the city-wide temperature distribution. The subsequent depth-dependent analysis revealed that the influence of aquifer thickness and depth-to-water increases with depth, whereas the influence of Darcy velocity decreases, and surface sealing and the heating grid remain relatively constant. In conclusion, this study shows that the most critical factor for the mitigation of future groundwater warming in cities is to minimize further sealing of the ground, to restore the permeability of heavily sealed areas and to retain open landscapes.

5. The subsurface urban heat island in Milan (Italy) – A modeling approach covering present and future thermal effects on groundwater regimes

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 810, 1 March 2022, 152119

Abstract

Knowledge on the intensity and extension of current subsurface urban heat islands (SUHI) is not only based on the availability of spatiotemporal high-resolution and long-term groundwater monitoring data but also in-depth investigations on the role of single natural and anthropogenic factors. A holistic city-scale 3D FEM model is presented to introduce possible thermal management applications in the Milan metropolitan area such as: (1) understanding the hydro-thermal regime of the urban aquifer disentangling the thermal contribution of natural and anthropogenic heat sources, (2) quantifying the geothermal potential and (3) investigating the effects of urbanization and climate change scenarios. Focusing on the most relevant heat sources (boundaries) and transport mechanisms (parameters), this work deals with (I) the reconstruction of large-scale aquifer heterogeneities to consider the advective dominated heat transport, (II) the accurate definition of the upper thermal boundary by a coupled analytical solution and (III) the integration of natural and human-related fluid/heat sources as transient boundary conditions. The model was calibrated against 15 groundwater head and temperature time series and validated in space and time by temperature profiles at 40 additional observation wells. Thus, a fluid and heat budget analysis revealed the most relevant natural and anthropogenic sources at the city-scale. The heat flow from buildings, surface infrastructures and tunnels contribute to 85% of the net annual heat accumulation in the subsurface which totals to 1.4 PJ/y. The results of the simulations were used to evaluate the geothermal potential of the shallow aquifer and to localize promising and critical areas that should be further investigated for an effective thermal management. Finally, it was demonstrated that possible future climate change and city expansion scenarios could lead to the highest thermal energy increment in the subsurface compared to shallow geothermics development which, for this reason, should be highly supported.

6. Locating illicit discharges in storm sewers in urban areas using multi-parameter source tracking: Field validation of a toolbox composite index to prioritize high risk areas

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 811, 10 March 2022, 152060

Abstract

In urban areas served by separate sewerage systems, illicit connections to the storm drain system from residences or commercial establishments are frequent whether these misconnections were made accidentally or deliberately. As a result, untreated and contaminated wastewater enters into storm sewers leading to pollution of receiving waters and non-compliance with water quality standards. Typical procedures for detecting illicit connections to the storm sewer system are time consuming and expensive, especially in a highly urbanised area. In this study, we investigated the use of human wastewater micropollutants WWMPs (caffeine, theophylline, and carbamazepine) and advanced DNA molecular markers (human specific Bacteroides HF183 and mitochondrial DNA) as anthropogenic tracers in order to assist identifying potential cross connections.

Water samples from storm outfalls and storm sewer pipes in three urban subcatchments were collected in dry weather from 2013 to 2018. All samples contained various concentrations of these markers especially HF183, caffeine and theophylline, suggesting that the storm pipe system studied is widely contaminated by sanitary sewers. None of the traditional indicators or markers tested is sufficient alone to determine the origin of fecal pollution. In a highly urbanised area, the combination of at least three specific human markers was needed in order to locate the residential section with likely misconnections. The human specific Bacteroides HF183, and theophylline appeared to be the most effective markers (along with E. coli) of crossconnections, whereas carbamazepine can provide an indication of contamination through sanitary sewer exfiltration. A composite sewer cross-connection index was developed, and eight misconnected houses were identified and corrected. The index approach enables the reduction of false positives that could lead to expensive interventions to identify cross-connected households. The results show the multiparameter source tracking toolbox as an effective method to identify sewer cross connections for sustainable storm water management.

7. Effect of bromide on molecular transformation of dissolved effluent organic matter during ozonation, UV/H2O2, UV/persulfate, and UV/chlorine treatments

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 811, 10 March 2022, 152328

Abstract

Ozonation and ultraviolet-based advanced oxidation processes (UV-AOPs) play important roles in advanced treatment of municipal wastewater for water reuse. Bromide is widely present in wastewater at different concentration levels (ranging from μg/L to mg/L). However, the effect of bromide on molecular transformation of dissolved effluent organic matter (dEfOM) in real wastewater during ozonation and UV-AOPs treatments still remains unclear. Herein, Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS) was utilized to characterize the overall molecular transformation of dEfOM and the formation of unknown halogenated byproducts (X-BPs) in ozonation, UV/H2O2, UV/persulfate (UV/PS), and UV/chlorine (UV/Cl) processes in the presence of additional bromide. Compared with the same oxidation processes without additional bromide, the degree of dEfOM oxygenation had some extent decrement with the effect of bromide. A slightly increment of the number of unknown brominated byproducts (Br-BPs) was observed during ozonation, UV/H2O2, and UV/PS treatments in the presence of additional bromide, and the largest increment of these compounds was found in UV/Cl process. A total of 82 chlorinated byproducts (Cl-BPs) and 183 Br-BPs were detected in all oxidation processes with the effect of bromide, and the number of Br-BPs was significantly higher than that of Cl-BPs. Based on mass difference analysis, 69 pairs of possible precursors/Br-BPs were identified. In addition, the additional bromide did not remarkably increase the concentrations of trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs) in ozonation, UV/H2O2, and UV/PS treatments, while the production of THMs and HAAs significantly decreased by 68.06% and 54.55%, respectively, during UV/Cl treatment. The calculated cytotoxicity increased to some extent for each treatment, especially for UV/Cl treatment, and the compound with largest contribution to cytotoxicity was monobromoacetic acid. This study provides new insights into the formation and transformation of X-BPs during advanced treatment of real wastewater with the effect of bromide.

8. Concentration profiles of a typical ultraviolet filter benzophenone-3 and its derivatives in municipal sewage sludge in China: Risk assessment in sludge-amended soil

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 811, 10 March 2022, 152329

Abstract

The widespread occurrence of benzophenones in various environmental matrices is a public health concern due to their endocrine-disrupting effects. Nevertheless, information on the exposure and health risk of benzophenones derived from sludge-amended soil is scarce. Herein, we measured a typical ultraviolet filter benzophenone-3 (BP-3) and its four derivatives in sewage sludges from different regions of China. BP-3 was the most abundant benzophenone analog in sludge (range: 0.581–305 ng/g dw), whereas no difference was found for BP-3 in sludge from different regions (p > 0.05). The sum concentration range of the four BP-3 derivatives in sludge was 0.128–74.2 ng/g dw. The mass loading and per capita daily release were calculated to determine the environmental release of benzophenones. The highest mass loading of benzophenones was found in Eastern China (20.9 kg/yr), followed by Northeast China (8.41 kg/yr) and Northwest China (8.13 kg/yr). The per capita daily release value of benzophenones via sludge was estimated as 100 ng/day/person. Calculation of the risk quotients (RQs) of BP-3 and its derivatives showed that benzophenones in sludge-amended soils had low environmental risks (RQs < 0.1) in all geographic regions. This nationwide study provides information outlining the environmental release of benzophenones through sludge composting and potential ecological risk from sludge-amended soil.

9. COVID-19 and the compact city: Implications for well-being and sustainable urban planning

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 811, 10 March 2022, 152332

Abstract

This paper provides new evidence on the role of city planning, urban form, and built environment characteristics in health and well-being during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Based on survey and geographic information systems (GIS) data from Oslo and Viken in Norway, the paper investigates changes in health and well-being due to COVID-19 and how the compact city and its characteristics relate to these changes. Findings indicate that self-reported measures of health and well-being worsened due to COVID-19. The most substantial changes were reported for life satisfaction, anxiety, and satisfaction with leisure, personal relationships, and vacations. General health, happiness, and satisfaction with income also declined during COVID-19 in comparison with pre-COVID-19 times. Overall, residents of compact neighborhoods reported lower well-being during COVID-19 compared to residents of lower-density neighborhoods. Important compact city characteristics – higher neighborhood density, reliance on public transport, smaller dwellings, and less green space – were negatively associated with well-being and health outcomes during COVID-19. In contrast, another compact city attribute, the presence of numerous local facilities, was positively linked to well-being and health during COVID-19. Based on these findings, the paper presents possible implications for sustainable urban planning and compact cities.

10. Seasonal characteristics of atmospheric water-soluble organic nitrogen in PM2.5 in Seoul, Korea: Source and atmospheric processes of free amino acids and aliphatic amines

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 811, 10 March 2022, 152335

Abstract

The seasonal characteristics of atmospheric water-soluble organic nitrogen (WSON) in particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 μm or smaller (PM2.5) were analyzed focusing on sources and atmospheric processing. Daily collected samples over 23 h (10:00–9:00) from 7 August 2018 to 31 December 2019 on quartz filters with a high-volume sampler at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) in Seoul were considered. The most common species in the Seoul atmosphere included Glycine (5.45 ± 9.81 ng/m3) among free amino acids (FAAs) and trimethylamine (TMA) (5.35 ± 3.80 ng/m3) among aliphatic amines (AAs). The top 10 WSON species (93.6% of all WSON species) were categorized into three groups based on correlation analysis considering meteorological data, (e.g., temperature, rainfall, relative humidity (RH), wind speed) gaseous pollutants (e.g., SO2, CO, NO2) and mass concentration of PM10 and PM2.5. Those three groups are G1 (Glycine, Alanine, and Threonine), G2 (Gln Glutamine, Lys Lysine, and Glutamic acid) and G3 (Trimethylamine (TMA), dimethylamine (DMA), and methylamine (MA)), where G1, G2 and G3 accounted for 31.1%, 8.8% and 51.1%, respectively, of the total species. Among these three groups, G1 and G3 are from combustion sources, and G2 shows secondary features generated by photochemical reactions involving ozone. Although both G1 and G3 exhibited features influenced by combustion sources, the AA species (TMA, DMA, and MA) in G3 demonstrated typical features enhanced under high-humidity conditions, suggesting not only primary sources but also secondary formation at the local scale influence to the AA in G3 group. Based on long-term measurements more than a year, our findings suggest that complex and diverse sources of atmospheric WSON are in Seoul, Korea both from primary and secondary, which may affect its environmental, climate and health.

11. Urban growth and land subsidence: Multi-decadal investigation using human settlement data and satellite InSAR in Morelia, Mexico

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 811, 10 March 2022, 152211

Abstract

Limited attention is typically paid to the cause-effect relationship between land subsidence due to aquifers overexploitation in expanding metropolises and urban growth models and patterns. This paper implements an integrated urban and satellite Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) approach to investigate subsidence, multi-decadal urban growth and peopling trends in the Metropolitan Area of Morelia (ZMM) in the Mexican state of Michoacán. Stacking of JRC’s Global Human Settlement Layer, DLR’s World Settlement Footprint and INEGI’s National Geostatistical Framework datasets reveals a predominant edge-expansion growth model, with urban densification in 1975–2020 and some sprawling in 1990–2000. Population of the ZMM doubled in the last 30 years, reaching over 1 million inhabitants. The ENVISAT and Sentinel-1 InSAR analysis confirms that subsidence is structurally-controlled by the main normal faults within the Cuitzeo half-graben. Differential sinking and ground discontinuities are aligned with buried tectonic faults and contrasting compressible sediment thickness. Non-linearly deforming subsidence bowls develop at extraction wells in both old and newly urbanized sectors of the ZMM. Maximum vertical displacement velocities increased from −2.5 cm/year in 2003−2010 to −9.0 cm/year in 2014–2021, with subsidence migrating towards recently urbanized zones. More than 250 new groundwater wells were added to the public registry since 2000, many of which within new urban sectors. Time-lapse InSAR reveals a 4 km2 rapidly subsiding bowl that formed at the largest social housing neighbourhood of Villas del Pedregal, as building lots were progressively completed and sold, and new wells registered. With angular distortions due to the differential subsidence reaching 0.12% in 2014–2021, new buildings and roads are exposed to fracturing and surface faulting risk of comparable level as the city historic building blocks located along the main faults. By providing useful insights into the relationship between urban growth and land subsidence in the ZMM, the approach proves valuable for application to other metropolises worldwide.

12. Investigating the association between mass transit adoption and COVID-19 infections in US metropolitan areas

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 811, 10 March 2022, 152284

Abstract

Urbanization introduces the threat of increased epidemic disease transmission resulting from crowding on mass transit. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, which has directly led to over 600,000 deaths in the US as of July 2021, triggered mass social distancing policies to be enacted as a key deterrent of widespread infections. Social distancing can be challenging in confined spaces required for transportation such as mass transit systems. Little is published regarding the degree to which mass transit system adoption effects impacted the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic in urban centers. Taking an ecological approach where areal data are the unit of observation, this national-scale study aims to measure the association between the adoption of mass transit and COVID-19 spread through confirmed cases in US metropolitan areas. National survey-based transit adoption measures are entered in negative binomial regression models to evaluate differences between areas. The model results demonstrate that mass transit adoption in US metropolitan areas was associated with the magnitude of outbreaks. Higher incidence of COVID-19 early in the pandemic was associated with survey results conveying higher transit use. Increasing weekly bus transit usage in metropolitan statistical areas by one scaled unit was associated with a 1.38 [95% CI: (1.25, 1.90)] times increase in incidence rate of COVID-19; a one scaled unit increase in weekly train transit usage was associated with an increase in incidence rate of 1.54 [95% CI: (1.42, 2.07)] times. These conclusions should inform early action practices in urban centers with busy transit systems in the event of future infectious disease outbreaks. Deeper understanding of these observed associations may also benefit modeling efforts by allowing researchers to include mathematical adjustments or better explain caveats to results when communicating with decision makers and the public in the crucial early stages of an epidemic.

13. How does urbanization affect vegetation productivity in the coastal cities of eastern China?

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 811, 10 March 2022, 152356

Abstract

Changes in terrestrial gross primary productivity (GPP) caused by rapid urbanization may result in negative effects on ecosystem services and ecosystem health. These impacts are of great concern in coastal zones where rapid urbanization is predominant. Knowing how urbanization affects vegetation productivity will be helpful for policymakers to make decisions on urban vegetation and ecosystem management. In this study, we chose 48 cities along the coastal zone of eastern China to evaluate the impacts of urbanization on vegetation GPP. The spatiotemporal comparison was used to identify the changes in built-up lands and vegetation GPP for multiple years (2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015). The area percentage of built-up lands was used to define the urbanization density. It was found that: (1) the actual vegetation GPP changed in different patterns with urbanization gradient from low to high intensity, including straight declining, depressed, and reversed S shapes at the city scale. The vegetation GPP change due to urbanization include both direct impact that is resulted directly from the loss of green land, and indirect impact that is induced by the change of macro-environment associated with urbanization. The slope of direct impacts change from low to high urbanization intensity were − 0.917, −0.925, −0.933, −0.938 for 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015, respectively. The greater value means urban vegetation GPP loss faster as urbanization intensity increase. (2) A turning point on the maximum values for the indirect impacts was observed at approximately 0.8 of urbanization intensities, although it indicates both positive and negative value for the cities. However, no significant differences were observed for indirect impacts among provinces and coastal zones. The indirect impacts of urbanization on vegetation GPP were generally positive in the northern and middle coastal zones, and they were negative in the southern coastal zones. The results indicated that measures can be applied in the coastal cities in order to mitigate the negative impacts of urbanization on GPP. Our findings are helpful for policymakers to make decisions on urban planning and management.

14. A comparison of adsorption of organic micropollutants onto activated carbon following chemically enhanced primary treatment with microsieving, direct membrane filtration and tertiary treatment of municipal wastewater

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 811, 10 March 2022, 152225

Abstract

The adsorption of organic micropollutants onto powdered activated carbon (PAC) was investigated in laboratory scale based on samples from four wastewater process streams (matrices); three from a pilot-scale plant with different degrees of physicochemical treatment of municipal wastewater and one from a full-scale activated sludge plant with post-precipitation. The pilot-scale treatment consisted of chemically enhanced primary treatment with microsieving followed by direct membrane filtration as microfiltration or ultrafiltration. The results showed highest adsorption of micropollutants in the tertiary (biologically and chemically) treated wastewater and lowest adsorption in the microsieve filtrate. Adsorption of micropollutants in the direct membrane microfiltration (200 nm) permeate was generally similar to that in the direct membrane ultrafiltration (3 nm) permeate. The higher adsorption of micropollutants in the tertiary treated wastewater could be related to a lower concentration of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and lower affinity of DOC for PAC at low dosage (<15 mg PAC/L) in this matrix. At a PAC dose of 10 mg/L, sulfamethoxazole was removed by 33% in the tertiary treated wastewater and 7% in the direct membrane microfiltration permeate. In addition to the PAC experiments, a pilot scale sand filter and a proceeding GAC filter was operated on tertiary treated wastewater from the full-scale treatment plant. Similar removal trends in the PAC and GAC experiments were observed when studying a weighted average micropollutant removal in the GAC filter and a similar dose of activated carbon for both PAC and GAC. Positively charged micropollutants were removed to a higher extent than negatively charged ones by both PAC and GAC.

15. Comparative analysis of drive-cycles, speed limit violations, and emissions in two cities: Toronto and Beijing

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 811, 10 March 2022, 152323

Abstract

Driving behavior and speed enforcement are both important to road safety and affect vehicle exhaust emissions. Relationships between driving characteristics and safety or emissions have been assessed in multiple studies. However, there is scant information on whether safe driving also reduces emissions and how this relationship changes across urban areas. This study makes use of two similar GPS datasets collected in the metropolitan areas of Toronto and Beijing to conduct a comparative analysis of driving characteristics, speed limit violations, and emissions. Emissions for all trips were computed using the same emission rate database derived from a Portable Emissions Monitoring System (PEMS). We observe that the average speeds in the two cities are close to 25 km/h. In Toronto, the fraction of time spent at speeds over 80 km/h on expressways is 40% higher than in Beijing. We also note a higher level of accelerations in Toronto. The trips in Beijing have approximately 14%, 57%, 14%, and 21% lower emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and particle number (PN), respectively. Drivers in Toronto violate speed limits in 93% of their trips for 21% of trip travel time while the numbers for Beijing are 43% and 4%. These differences are not necessarily due to driving behavior, but rather to driving characteristics, which encompass the effects of behavior, road network design, traffic congestion, trip patterns, and speed enforcement. A scenario was evaluated by reconstructing drive-cycles to assess the effects of speed limit enforcement for trips where violations were detected. In Toronto, if obeying the speed limit, the mean trip travel time was estimated to increase by 1.8 min. In contrast, trip emissions of CO2, CO, NOx, and PN were found to decrease, on average, by 5.2%, 19.1%, 5.2%, and 2.9%, respectively. Speed limit enforcement can result in lower emissions, by reducing aggressive accelerations.

16. Cellulase production by Aspergillus niger using urban lignocellulosic waste as substrate: Evaluation of different cultivation strategies

Journal of Environmental Management, Volume 305, 1 March 2022, 114431

Abstract

Cellulases are used in various industries, acting efficiently and sustainably in the degradation of cellulose contained in different raw materials and recovering high value products. It is the third largest group of enzymes consumed industrially, as they are required in processes linked to the food, biofuel, textile, cleaning products, among others. However, the main disadvantage in the use of commercial cellulases is the high cost. In this context, the objective of this work was to determine conditions for obtaining more efficient and economical cellulases. For this, the efficiency in obtaining the extracellular cellulases endoglucanase (CMCase) and exoglucanase (FPase) by a fungus Aspergillus niger was investigated using an urban lignocellulosic waste as substrate characterized by tree leaves collected from squares and avenues in urban areas. As urban lignocellulosic waste is an innovative raw material, its chemical composition was determined. This substrate contains 20.36% cellulose and induced the production of cellulases in all fermentation methods, proving to be a promising and sustainable source. The influence of the nutrient medium on CMCase and FPase activities was evaluated for three different sequential fermentation (SF) configurations. Medium 2 provided an increase of up to 100 U/L of CMCase and FPase in relation to medium 1. The interactive effect of pH and moisture content on CMCase e FPase production under SF was studied in a central composite design (CCD). Also, different fermentation methods (solid state, submerged and sequential) were evaluated. The use of SF increased the enzymatic activities of both cellulases by 140% compared to other conventional methods and also stood out in the production of proteins (270.05 μg/mL) and reducing sugars (1.19 mg/mL). The desirability function determined the optimal activities of CMCase and FPase as 413.49 U/L and 230.68 U/L, respectively, obtained from the optimal variables of pH 5.5 and 75% moisture content under SF. The effect of pH and moisture content on the activity of each cellulase was analyzed using the Pareto chart and response surface methodology (RSM). These results revealed favorable strategies for cellulase production, such as the use of urban lignocellulosic waste, SF and ideal operational conditions.

17. An ecological perspective for understanding regional integration based on ecosystem service budgets, bundles, and flows: A case study of the Jinan metropolitan area in China

Journal of Environmental Management, Volume 305, 1 March 2022, 114371

Abstract

Regional integration can contribute to co-occurring benefits of different parts of an urban agglomeration by managing these parts as a whole. However, current regional integration mainly focuses on the socioeconomic rather than the ecological dimension. To interpret regional ecological integration, we firstly selected six typical ecosystem services (ESs) to represent ecological benefits that potentially need to be improved by ecological integration for further analysis. Then we used ES budgets, bundles, and flows to investigate the potential, basic analysis unit, and occurring manners of ecological integration, respectively. Our results show that supply-demand mismatches were observed in all the ES types. Meanwhile, coexisting ES surpluses and deficits on the town scale were found in supporting biodiversity, soil retention, water yield, green space recreation, and crop yield, which indicates that their supply-demand mismatches can be mitigated with ecological integration. Furthermore, all the towns were classified into five spatial clusters with distinct ES budget bundles, which acted as the basic analysis unit of ecological integration. ES flows with three flow characteristic types were observed between different clusters, and all the clusters had ES provider-beneficiary relationships with each other. Based on the ES approach, we provided an ecological perspective for understanding regional integration, which has the potential to promote regional ecological sustainability.

MÔI TRƯỜNG KHU CÔNG NGHIỆP

1. Potential utilization of dairy industries by-products and wastes through microbial processes: A critical review

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 810, 1 March 2022, 152253

Abstract

The dairy industry generates excessive amounts of waste and by-products while it gives a wide range of dairy products. Alternative biotechnological uses of these wastes need to be determined to aerobic and anaerobic treatment systems due to their high chemical oxygen demand (COD) levels and rich nutrient (lactose, protein and fat) contents. This work presents a critical review on the fermentation-engineering aspects based on defining the effective use of dairy effluents in the production of various microbial products such as biofuel, enzyme, organic acid, polymer, biomass production, etc. In addition to microbial processes, techno-economic analyses to the integration of some microbial products into the biorefinery and feasibility of the related processes have been presented. Overall, the inclusion of dairy wastes into the designed microbial processes seems also promising for commercial approaches. Especially the digestion of dairy wastes with cow manure and/or different substrates will provide a positive net present value (NPV) and a payback period (PBP) less than 10 years to the plant in terms of biogas production.

2. Vertical profile and assessment of soil pollution from a typical coking plant by suspect screening and non-target screening using GC/QTOF-MS

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 810, 1 March 2022, 151278

Abstract

A comprehensive workflow for suspect screening and non-target screening with gas chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC/QTOF-MS) was used to characterize the pollution characteristics of soil samples in a typical coking plant in China. Suspect screening confirmed 57 chemicals including PAHs, alkyl PAHs, and phthalates contained in high-resolution personal compound database and library (PCDL). Non-target screening detected 88 chemicals from soil samples in the NIST 17 library. A total of 122 chemicals were screened in soil samples, and many of them were of emerging concern. Their presence in the soil obtained from coking operations has been underestimated, such as the oxygenated PAHs (naphtho[2,1-b]furan and 9H-fluoren-9-one), and the alkyl biphenyls compounds (4,4′-dimethylbiphenyl, 3,3′-dimethylbiphenyl, 4-methyl-1,1′-biphenyl and 2,2′,5,5′-tetramethyl-1,1′-biphenyl). Toxicity assays by luminescent bacteria proved that the extracts from soil samples at different depths showed varying toxicity to V. qinghaiensis sp.-Q67. Soil extracts from a depth of 20–40 cm exhibited the greatest toxicity to luminescent bacteria compared with the other six-layered soil samples, which was correlated with the number of detectable pollutants and total organic carbon content. This study provided a screening method for suspect and non-target contaminants in urban industrial soil sites, which was important in identifying localized contamination sources.

3. Occurrence of antibiotic resistance genes and multidrug-resistant bacteria during wastewater treatment processes

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 811, 10 March 2022, 152331

Abstract

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) constantly receive a wide variety of contaminants, including pharmaceuticals, and are potential reservoirs of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). This favors the development of multidrug-resistant bacteria (MRB) through horizontal gene transfer. Samples from five different WWTP processes were collected in September 2020 and January 2021 to monitor ARG resistomes and culturable MRB in the presence of eight different antibiotics. Nanopore-based ARG abundance and bacterial community analyses suggested that ARG accumulation favors the generation of MRB. Activated and mixed sludges tended to have lower bacterial diversity and ARG abundance because of selective forces that favored the growth of specific microorganisms during aeration processes. Escherichia strains enriched in WWTPs (up to 71%) were dominant in all the samples, whereas Cloacamonas species were highly abundant only in anaerobically digested sludge samples (60%–79%). Two ARG types [sulfonamide resistance genes (sul1) and aminoglycoside resistance genes (aadA1, aadA13, and aadA2)] were prevalent in all the processes. The total counts of culturable MRB, such as Niabella, Enterococcus, Bacillus, and Chryseobacterium species, gradually increased during aerobic WWTP processes. Genomic analyses of all MRB isolated from the samples revealed that the resistome of Enterococcus species harbored the highest number of ARGs (7–18 ARGs), commonly encoding ant(6)-la, lnu(B), erm(B), and tet(S/M). On the other hand, Niablella strains possibly had intrinsic resistant phenotypes without ARGs. All MRB possessed ARGs originating from the same mobile genetic elements, suggesting that WWTPs are hotspots for the migration of ARGs and emergence of MRB.

4. Trends in mitigation of industrial waste: Global health hazards, environmental implications and waste derived economy for environmental sustainability

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 811, 10 March 2022, 152357

Abstract

Majority of industries, in order to meet the technological development and consumer demands generate waste. The untreated waste spreads out toxic and harmful substances in the environment which serves as a breeding ground for pathogenic microorganisms thus causing severe health hazards. The three industrial sectors namely food, agriculture, and oil industry are among the primary organic waste producers that affect urban health and economic growth. Conventional treatment generates a significant amount of greenhouse gases which further contributes to global warming. Thus, the use of microbes for utilization of this waste, liberating CO2 offers an indispensable tool. The simultaneous production of value-added products such as bioplastics, biofuels, and biosurfactants increases the economics of the process and contributes to environmental sustainability. This review comprehensively summarized the composition of organic waste generated from the food, agriculture, and oil industry. The linkages between global health hazards of industrial waste and environmental implications have been uncovered. Stare-of-the-art information on their subsequent utilization as a substrate to produce value-added products through bio-routes has been elaborated. The research gaps, economical perspective(s), and future research directions have been identified and discussed to strengthen environmental sustainability.

5. Co-occurrence and correlations of PFASs and chlorinated volatile organic compounds (cVOCs) in subsurface in a fluorochemical industrial park: Laboratory and field investigations

Science of The Total Environment, Volume 814, 25 March 2022, 152814

Abstract

Fluorochemical industrial park (FIP) represents an important source of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and chlorinated volatile organic compounds (cVOCs). Exploring the co-occurrence and correlations of PFASs and cVOCs is a key step towards the understanding their distributions in the field. In this study, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) was the dominant compound in groundwater and aquifer solids, and elevated concentrations of short-chain perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs) and hexafluoropropylene oxide oligomers were also detected in the field, suggesting their wide applications as substitutes for PFOA. Correlation analyses between PFASs and cVOCs suggested that cVOCs had a significant influence on the distribution and composition of PFASs in the field. In addition, the presence of cVOCs in the form of dense non-aqueous-phase organic liquids (DNAPL) affected the distribution and migration of PFASs at various depths, as evidenced by the relatively high PFASs concentrations (204 μg/L) and PFOA abundance (85.4%) in the deep aquifer, likely due to DNAPL-water interfaces sorption or partition into bulk DNAPL. The log Kd values, determined in the laboratory, were found to increase in the presence of DNAPL, especially for PFOA, with more than one time higher than those of perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA) and hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA). This conclusion further demonstrated that PFOA had a higher potential to participate into DNAPL, which can migrate with DNAPL to the deep aquifer, supporting the higher abundance of PFOA in the deep aquifer mentioned above. However, the log Kd-field values of PFBA and HFPO-DA in the field were higher than that of PFOA, and no significant correlations (p > 0.05) were found between log Kd-field values and the chain-length of PFCAs at various depths, suggesting that the phenomena observed in the field are a result of composite influencing factors.

6. High-efficient double-cross-linked biohybrid aerogel biosorbent prepared from waste bamboo paper and chitosan for wastewater purification

Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 338, 1 March 2022, 130550

Abstract

This work prepared a double-cross-linked biohybrid aerogel (DCBA) bead biosorbent from waste bamboo paper and chitosan by sequential physical (hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interaction between -COO- and -NH3+ groups) and chemical (polymerization reaction between -COOH and -NH2, dehydration condensation between Si-OH and -OH) cross-linkings. The resulting DCBA bead was applied to remove cationic (Methylene blue, MB) and anionic (Congo red, CR) dyes in both single and binary systems. The MB and CR adsorption capacities of DCBA bead increased with increasing adsorbent dosage, contact time, temperature and initial dye concentration. With increasing solution pH, the MB adsorption capacity increased, while that for CR increased first and then decreased. The maximal adsorption capacities for MB and CR were 653.3 and 559.6 mg/g, respectively, in the single system. The thermodynamic analysis results showed a spontaneous and endothermic adsorption process. DCBA bead had a good stability and reusability with the removal efficiencies of 49.4% and 60.6% for MB and CR, respectively, after five cycles of adsorption-desorption. In the binary system, the adsorption of MB was inhibited by CR, while the removal of CR was enhanced by MB.

7. Evaluation of symbiotic technology-based energy conservation and emission reduction benefits in iron and steel industry: Case study of Henan, China

Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 338, 1 March 2022, 130616

Abstract

Iron and steel industry (ISI) has been facing great pressure of energy conservation and emission reduction (ECER), and industrial symbiosis (IS) is expected to be a promising path to realize ECER in ISI. This study systematically identified the material and energy flows in ISI by using material flow analysis method to collect symbiotic technology at first. Then, a comprehensive assessment framework based on life cycle assessment and conservation supply curve was established to quantify and screen symbiotic technologies. On this basis, the ECER potential brought by promoting the selected technologies to Henan ISI was evaluated by scenario analysis. The result shows that: (1) The collected 35 technologies have remarkable effects on reducing the environmental impacts of Human Toxicity Potential, Primary Energy Demand and Global Warming Potential. And 18 best available technologies were selected after the comprehensive assessment. (2) The promotion of the best available technologies could bring great ECER potential to Henan’s ISI, with energy saving of 1.24 Mtce, emission reduction for CO2 of 4.64 Mt, SO2 of 6.97 kt, NOx of 4.00 kt and PM of 2.16 kt to Henan’s ISI in 2030 comparing with 2017, and the ECER rate reached 9%, 13%, 26%, 7% and 3.5% respectively. (3) Coking, ironmaking and steelmaking processes contributed the most to the ECER potential, while energy exchange technologies of generating electricity using sensible heat of coke (E1), recycling sensible heat from coke oven exhaust gas (E2), generating electricity from saturated converter steam (E12), and material substitution technologies of blast furnace slag instead of cement doping to produce concrete (MS7), and steel slag instead of cement doping to produce concrete (MS10) had significant ECER effect. In addition, targeted policy recommendations were proposed for the promotion of symbiotic technology in ISI. This study is helpful to improve the method of evaluating symbiotic technology at technical level, enrich the research of IS at industry level, and provide reference for the follow-up study in IS field.

8. Implementing industrial ecology in regeneration activities: A possible pathway for transforming China’s local-regional industrial systems towards sustainability?

Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 338, 1 March 2022, 130601

Abstract

As numerous industrial regeneration projects are planned and implemented, it is essential to ensure that these projects will contribute to a more sustainable future, especially for those industrial sites that maintain primary industrial use. This paper suggests that implementing industrial ecology in the regeneration of industrial sites (i.e. sustainable industrial regeneration) is a critical pathway for the ecological transformation of China’s local-regional industrial systems. Through the lens of Actor Network Theory (ANT), this paper develops a conceptual framework to re-conceptualize sustainable industrial regeneration as a reassembling process of social-material configuration towards sustainability and to reveal the mechanisms of ecological transformation of industrial networks in China. The detailed case study of Hengding Industrial Park in Shunde District shows that the reassembled industrial network has transformed the poor initial conditions through the implementation of industrial ecology initiatives (e.g. utility sharing and cascade recycling). However, in view of the network convergence and driving forces behind actor enrollment, the actor-networking performance faces a challenge in effectively transforming the sites towards regional industrial ecology. Three conditions strongly influencing the implementation of the eco-transformation pathway in Chinese industrial areas are the highly concentrated power and responsibility of administrative actors, initial industrial site conditions, and cluster-based relationships.

9. Estimating the potential of algal biodiesel to improve the environment and mitigate palm oil mill effluents in Malaysia

Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 338, 1 March 2022, 130583

Abstract

Although Malaysia produces palm biodiesel to boost renewable energy, the palm oil mills produce large quantities of palm oil mill effluent (POME), which emit methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Microalga could consume the POME and supply lipids for biodiesel. To investigate the economic feasibility of biodiesel made from microalgae, this study employs a partial equilibrium model of Malaysia’s agricultural sector. The analysis hinges on the base scenario, whereas the algal farms use regular water, labour, fertiliser, and CO2 from electric power plants as production inputs. For the second scenario, algal farms could blend POME into the algal ponds. Results indicate that algal farms’ operating and capital costs are high, and they do not produce biodiesel until the biodiesel price reaches RM3.25 (or $US 0.78)/litre. The algal farms start producing 425.9 ML of algal biodiesel in 2024 that attain a peak in 2039 and starts declining. The alga farms using POME reduce their fertiliser costs; the algal farms increase biodiesel production slightly as algal farms utilise a fourth of the POME. Another interesting aspect of this research is algal biodiesel reduces greenhouse gases considerably by reducing tailpipe emissions from diesel engines, methane emissions by utilising POME, and CO2 emissions from coal and natural gas electric power plants. Other countries, such as Indonesia and Thailand, could also benefit from this analysis and clean up their palm oil industry since they share a similar tropical climate.

10. Multifaceted application of microalgal biomass integrated with carbon dioxide reduction and wastewater remediation: A flexible concept for sustainable environment

Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 339, 10 March 2022, 130654

Abstract

Microalgae are ubiquitous, diverse, and photosynthetic organisms in nature and have prominent applications in carbon dioxide (CO2) mitigation and wastewater remediation. This review has compiled the recent trends in the potential application of microalgae for wastewater treatment and combating CO2 emissions and multifaceted use of its biomass for the co-production of bioenergy and human health products. In specific, this review critically addressed; (a) global scenario of carbon footprint and wastewater remediation and concept of circular bioeconomy, (b) approaches of sterile and non-sterile cultivation of microalgae, (c) state-of-art biorefinery especially for harvesting of algal biomass, d) details of microalgal high-value compounds (HVAC) such as lipids, fatty acids, carbohydrates, carotenoids, sterols, and polyphenolic compounds, (e) recent biomass to biofuel strategies, and (f) market analysis, recent challenges and future progress. The review establishes that the microalgae can simultaneously treat different types of wastewater, recover nutrients/metals, and mitigate CO2 from flue gas via its biofixation ability. The flocculation method is found to be best for harvesting the algal biomass. The non-sterile cultivated biomass can be utilized for biofuels production, and sterile biomass can be used to produce HVAC compounds that have significant application in human health.

11. The role of economic development on the effectiveness of industrial pollution reduction policy in Chinese cities

Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 339, 10 March 2022, 130709

Abstract

The societal impact of industrial pollution produced by economic activities is a global concern. This paper presents a causal analytic framework to evaluate the effectiveness of government policy on the reduction of industrial pollutants in 284 Chinese cities between 2005 and 2016. This study reports on the interaction between industrial pollution reduction and the level of regional economic development from four dimensions by using analysis of variance (ANOVA),multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and a bootstrap autoregressive-distributed lag (ARDL) test. The results indicate that city government policies, economic power, the influence of megacities, and the geographical region of the cities have significant effects on industrial pollution, in particular, sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission reduction and dust reduction. After taking account of the interaction effect of city government policies and the other three factors, it was found that economic power is the only factor to have a significant interaction with city government policies on industrial pollution reduction. The ARDL test found long-term causality among industrial pollution reduction, fixed assets investment, and GDP per-capita in city, urban agglomeration, and regional levels. This study sheds new light on the relationship between regional economic development and the development of sustainable societies.

12. An adaptive safety-risk mitigation plan at process-level for sustainable production in chemical industries: An integrated fuzzy-HAZOP-best-worst approach

Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 339, 10 March 2022, 130780

Abstract

Safety-risk management in the hydrocarbon processing industry necessitates the availability of appropriate data and decision-making tools. Operational factors may influence chemical and physical risk occurrences associated with high-hazard plant operation in the chemical process sectors. Thus, safety-risk technologies and assessments should be explored considering potential events that result in fatalities, property destruction, economic loss, and environmental degradation. This research established a systematic framework for reducing safety risks to decrease accidents and hazards associated with the inherent production processes, as well as proposing process-level maintenance techniques for the specified hydrocarbon processing industry. First, the hazards of chemical reactivity were studied to determine which equipment performance poses the greatest risk. Physical and chemical risks were obtained to configure out identical nodes of expressing severe hazard via a qualitative assessment using the HAZOP study. The fuzzy best-to-worst technique combined with an analytical network process (fuzzy-BWANP) was utilized to assess the safety-risk criticality due to the operational reaction process, environmental risk, economical safety, and occupational management. Furthermore, the annual loss of expectancy and exposure factors for the earlier categories based on their operational expenses and failure time were estimated. The case study examined how to increase the process feasibility of an acrylonitrile plant. Consideration of economic loss resulted in the extraction of a risk index that helps decision-makers in determining priority tasks for addressing urgent hazards in any hydrocarbon processing industry’s safety management.

13. Tiered ecological risk assessment combined with ecological scenarios for soil in abandoned industrial contaminated sites

Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 341, 20 March 2022, 130879

Abstract

Redeveloping abandoned contaminated industrial sites can effectively relieve urban land shortages. An economical and accurate ecological risk assessment (ERA) approach that guides remediation measures for enormous sites is therefore needed. A tiered ERA approach that combined with ecological scenarios is proposed in this study. At first step, prospective land use of site and the bioavailability of contaminants were integrated to create six ecological scenarios and different protection goals assigned to each ecological scenario. Industrial information and soil parameters of specific sites were then obtained to identify major contaminants and matching scenario. With collected toxicity data, tiered ERA combining a hazard quotient (HQ) and joint probability curve (JPC) was used to assess the ecological risk, under corresponding scenario. Recommendations for regulatory management were given based on the ERA and the tolerance of decision makers to ecological risks. This approach was validated using case studies at four abandoned industrial contaminated sites. The results indicated that the ecological scenarios defined as II and V matched with each site, respectively, and that Cd, Cu, Ni, and Pb were the major contaminants and had different ecological risk values under different ecological scenarios. Different remediation measures should be adopted to address different levels of ecological risk. The results demonstrated that the combination of a tiered ERA with matching ecological scenarios effectively reduced workloads and improved ERA accuracies for abandoned industrial contaminated sites with redevelopment potential.

14. Analysis of the threshold effect of agricultural industrial agglomeration and industrial structure upgrading on sustainable agricultural development in ChinaAbstract

Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 341, 20 March 2022, 130818

Abstract

Sustainable agricultural development plays a key role in natural resource conservation, environmental protection and the promotion of rural revitalization. Scholars agree on the need to implement agricultural industrial agglomeration and promote industrial structure upgrading to boost agricultural development. However, the contradiction between them is also coming to the fore, and the rapid development of industry has brought huge pressure on agricultural development by influencing resources and the environment. Therefore, the complicated nonlinear relationship between agricultural industrial agglomeration, industrial structure upgrading and sustainable agricultural development requires further clarification. Using panel data from 1997 to 2019, this study measures the agricultural sustainable development index (ASDI) in 31 provinces in China based on potential resources and environmental capacity. The nonlinear relationships between agricultural industrial agglomeration, industrial structure upgrading and sustainable agricultural development are then examined by panel threshold models. The results are as follows. (1) Taking 2002 and 2007 as the demarcation point, the national average ASDI presents a trend of rising first, then falling, and finally rising, and significant spatial differences existed. (2) Constrained arable land space and environmental space are the main drivers of the decline in the ASDI. (3) Agricultural industrial agglomeration and industrial structure upgrading had a nonlinear effect on sustainable agricultural development, and both of them also had threshold effects. (4) China is currently in the promotion stage for agricultural industrial agglomeration, but provinces have entered the restriction stage for industrial structure upgrading. These results may help China design relevant policies for sustainable agricultural development from an industrial development perspective.

15. Genotoxicity evaluation of paper industry wastewater prior and post-treatment with laccase producing Pseudomonas putida MTCC 7525

Journal of Cleaner Production, Volume 342, 15 March 2022, 130981

Abstract

Paper industry wastewater is considered a severe polluter of the environment because it contains various toxic pollutants that critically impact the aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The current study aimed to assess the bioremediation perspective of Pseudomonas putida strain to eliminate the hazardous pollutants of paper industry wastewater. The physico-chemical analysis of the treated wastewater showed that the Pseudomonas putida MTCC 7525, which secreted laccase enzyme, significantly reduced the pollution parameters such as EC, TDS, COD, phenols, TKN, TOC, lignin and color by 69, 87, 68, 97, 75, 85, 57 and 72%, respectively in comparison to the control. The organic pollutants in the wastewater samples were characterized and identified by GC-MS and FTIR analysis, which also showed that most of the toxic compounds were reduced following the bacterial treatment. The toxicity assessment of the wastewater was performed in terms of cyto-genotoxicity and phytotoxicity assay using onion and mung bean plants. The result of the toxicity study demonstrated that the toxic effect of the wastewater samples declined after the bacterial treatment. These results showed that Pseudomonas putida MTCC 7525 could be used effectively in the paper industry for bioremediation applications, thus minimizing the undesirable effects on the environment.

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