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Green Processes and Technologies for Environmental Applications

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A special issue of Clean Technologies (ISSN 2571-8797).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2022) | Viewed by 12147

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Sabino De Gisi

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Guest Editor

Department of Civil, Environmental, Land, Building Engineering and Chemistry (DICATECh), Polytechnic University of Bari, Via E. Orabona n. 4, 70125 Bari, Italy
Interests: environmental engineering; waste treatment; life-cycle assessment; materials from waste; sludge treatment; recycling; sustainability
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue aims to collect innovative contributions and review articles on green processes and technologies applied in the environmental field. Technologies also include methods, mathematical, and informatics models to design, analyse, and measure the cleanliness of processes and products. The experimental contributions should be designed to compare the innovative technology investigated with the conventionally adopted one, emphasising its green character. For intangible technologies, methodological and modelling approaches (e.g., Water Pinch Analysis) should be able to demonstrate the benefits for the environment, resource, and energy consumption generated by the introduction of a new process or technology.

Environmental applications are wide-ranging, from the treatment of air, liquid, and solid streams produced in a processing cycle to the decontamination of an environmental matrix, such as soils, sediments, and groundwater. Contributions aimed at the development of new materials, including those derived from secondary raw materials, subsequently applied in the environmental field will also be considered.

Dr. Sabino De Gisi
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Clean Technologies is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Air pollution
Demonstration
Development
Environmental impact
Holistic approaches
Innovation
Methodologies and models
Pollution control
Remediation of contaminated sites
Saving resources and energy
Solid waste
Wastewater treatment
Technology research

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 2333 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Carbon Footprint and Total Cost Evaluation of Different Bio-Plastics Waste Treatment Strategies

by Giovanni Gadaleta, Sabino De Gisi, Francesco Todaro and Michele Notarnicola

Clean Technol. 2022, 4(2), 570-583; https://doi.org/10.3390/cleantechnol4020035 - 16 Jun 2022

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3386

Abstract

To address the problem of fossil-based pollution, bio-plastics have risen in use in a wide range of applications. The current waste management system still has some weakness for bio-plastics waste (BPW) treatment, and quantitative data is lacking. This study combines environmental and economic assessments in order to indicate the most sustainable and suitable BPW management treatment between organic, plastic and mixed wastes. For the scope, the carbon footprint of each scenario was calculated by life cycle assessment (LCA), while the total cost of the waste management system was used as an economic parameter. The economic evaluation revealed that the organic, plastic and mixed waste treatment routes reached a total cost of 120.35, 112.21 and 109.43 EUR, respectively. The LCA results showed that the incomplete degradation of BPW during anaerobic digestion and composting led to the disposal of the compost produced, creating an environmental burden of 324.64 kgCO₂-Eq. for the organic waste treatment route, while the mixed and plastic treatment routes obtained a benefit of −87.16 and −89.17 kgCO₂-Eq. respectively. This study showed that, although the current amount of BPW does not affect the treatment process of organic, plastic and mixed wastes, it can strongly affect the quality of the output, compromising its further reuse. Therefore, specific improvement of waste treatment should be pursued, particularly with regard to the anaerobic digestion of organic waste, which remains a promising technology for BPW treatment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Processes and Technologies for Environmental Applications)

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15 pages, 1870 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Environmental Comparison of Different Mechanical–Biological Treatment Plants by Combining Life Cycle Assessment and Material Flow Analysis

by Giovanni Gadaleta, Sabino De Gisi, Francesco Todaro and Michele Notarnicola

Clean Technol. 2022, 4(2), 380-394; https://doi.org/10.3390/cleantechnol4020023 - 11 May 2022

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4526

Abstract

The role of Mechanical–Biological Treatment (MBT) is still of the utmost importance in the management of residual Municipal Solid Waste (MSW). These plants can cover a wide range of objectives, combining several types of processes and elements. The aim of this work is to assess and compare, from an environmental point of view, the performance of seven selected MBT plants currently operating in different countries, which represent the main MBT layout and processes. For the scope, a combined Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Material Flow Analysis (MFA) approach has been adopted to assess plant-specific efficiencies in materials and energy recovery. Metals recovery was a common and high-efficiency practice in MBT; further recovery of other types of waste was often performed. Each assessed MBT plant achieved environmental benefits: among them, the highest environmental benefit was achieved when the highest amount of waste was recovered (not only with material recycling). Environmental results were strongly affected by the recycling processes and the energy production, with a little contribution from the energy requirement. The impacts achieved by the MBT process were, on average, 14% of the total one. The main condition for a suitable MBT process is a combination of materials recovery for the production of new raw materials, avoiding disposal in landfill, and refuse-derived fuel production for energy recovery. This work can be of help to operators and planners when they are asked to define MBT schemes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Processes and Technologies for Environmental Applications)

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Other

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10 pages, 1253 KiB

Open AccessPerspective

Genetically Engineered Organisms: Possibilities and Challenges of Heavy Metal Removal and Nanoparticle Synthesis

by Siavash Iravani and Rajender S. Varma

Clean Technol. 2022, 4(2), 502-511; https://doi.org/10.3390/cleantechnol4020030 - 01 Jun 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3374

Abstract

Heavy metal removal using genetically engineered organisms (GEOs) offer more cost and energy-efficient, safer, greener, and environmentally-friendly opportunities as opposed to conventional strategies requiring hazardous or toxic chemicals, complex processes, and high pressure/temperature. Additionally, GEOs exhibited superior potentials for biosynthesis of nanoparticles with significant capabilities in bioreduction of heavy metal ions that get accumulated as nanocrystals of various shapes/dimensions. In this context, GEO-aided nanoparticle assembly and the related reaction conditions should be optimized. Such strategies encompassing biosynthesized nanoparticle conforming to the green chemistry precepts help minimize the deployment of toxic precursors and capitalize on the safety and sustainability of the ensuing nanoparticle. Different GEOs with improved uptake and appropriation of heavy metal ions potentials have been examined for bioreduction and biorecovery appliances, but effective implementation to industrial-scale practices is nearly absent. In this perspective, the recent developments in heavy metal removal and nanoparticle biosynthesis using GEOs are deliberated, focusing on important challenges and future directions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Processes and Technologies for Environmental Applications)

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