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Microbial fuel cell (MFC) has received much attention in the last decade as a promising technology to simultaneously generate electricity and decontaminate wastewater. This study aims to quantitatively review the published literature on MFC, published in the period of 1970–2020, based on the Web of Science (WoS) database. For the first time in literature, a comprehensive quantitative review of MFC has been conducted by employing the technique of bibliometric and content analyses. A total of 11,397 publications have been retrieved from WoS, out of which 81.6% are research articles. The evaluation in the field of MFC has been mapped in various categories, such as publication history, publication distribution, subject category distribution, leading journals, leading countries and leading organizations in MFC research. Additionally, content analysis has been conducted to unearth the research trends in MFC; and some hot research topics in MFC have been spotted. Results depict that the period 2011–2020 has been the most appreciating era for MFC research, as it contributed 87% of the total publications. Among the subject categories, energy fuel and microbiology lead with contributions of 26.5% for each, butthe overall growth of the energy fuel category in the last decade has been the highest. Out of 1,147 journals publishing MFC research, Bioresource Technology is the leading one; and countries like China, USA and India are the main hub of MFC research with 26.47%, 16.95% and 7.69% contributions in publications, respectively. The hottest topics in MFC research are nanoparticles, catalysts, air electrodes, graphene electrodes, power enhancement, air cathode and nitrogen removal. Moreover, major research areas are engineering, energy fuels and biotechnology with each contribution 26.5% of the total publications.

The manufacturing industry has undergone numerous revolutions over the years, with a unanimous acceptance of the greater benefits of being sustainable. The present industrial wave—Industry 4.0—by using its enabling technologies and principles holds great potential to develop sustainable manufacturing paradigms which require balancing out the three fundamental elements —products, processes, and systems. Yet, numerous stakeholders, including industrial policy and decision makers, remain oblivious of such potential and requirements. Thus, this bibliometric study is aimed at presenting an overview of the broad field of research on the convergence of sustainable manufacturing and Industry 4.0 under the umbrella of “Sustainable Manufacturing 4.0”, which has yet to be developed. It includes the dissemination of original findings on pathways and practices of Industry 4.0 applied to the development of sustainable manufacturing, contributing a bibliometric structure of the literature on the aforementioned convergence to reveal how Industry 4.0 could be used to shift the manufacturing sector to a more sustainable-based state. An initial research agenda for this emerging area has accordingly been presented, which may pave the way for having a futuristic view on Sustainable Manufacturing 5.0 in the next industrial wave, i.e., Industry 5.0.

Landfill gas (LFG) is essentially greenhouse gas (GHG) composed predominantly of methane and carbon dioxide produced from the anaerobic biodegradation of municipal solid waste in landfills. The amount of gas produced can be estimated using the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change methodology. Most sanitary landfills flare this potential renewable energy source, which is an unfortunate waste of a valuable resource. This study develops an optimization model for effective LFG utilization as a sustainable energy source based on economic and environmental considerations. The mixed integer linear programming model developed was applied to Seelong Sanitary Landfill, Malaysia, and led to profits 7.6 times higher than those currently gained. This enormous increase is due to the incorporation of renewable energy production in the new plan. In addition, the combined heat and power generation proposed is 2420 tons of oil equivalents, which is 0.0035% of the total energy production of Malaysia. Similarly, the LFG utilization leads to a national GHG reduction of 0.007%. Implementing this at the 14 sanitary landfills in the country will go a long way towards broadening the energy base while simultaneously reducing the carbon footprint of the nation. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 34: 289–296, 2015

The study is focusing on the environmental care components in solid waste management among students at UiTM Campus Tapah. This study is conducted through a questionnaire and involved a total of 354 students. The environment care components are consisting of knowledge, practice, attitude, perception and awareness. Statistical analysis of mean score and t-test are conducted in order to analyze the data collected. The results of the survey are highlighted that majority of the UiTM Tapah students had high knowledge level towards environmental care; and had very good practice in environment cleanliness; had a moderate concern on attitude, and the majority of the students had moderate perception in term of understanding and practicing solid waste separation and finally majority of students know their personal accountability towards environment care based on awareness component. As a conclusion, environmental care among students shows positive responses in Awareness, Practice, Attitude, Knowledge and Perception towards sustainable solid waste management in future.  

Abstract Nuclear power is an ideal option for sustainable energy sources from U-235 fission. However, this energy generates long-term radioactive waste such as partially used nuclear fuel (PUNF) during electricity production. This work reviews various technologies to provide viable, sustainable, and long-term solutions for the PUNF storage. They include vitrification, partitioning and transmutation (P&T), pyro-processing, and deep geological repository (DGR). Their benefits and drawbacks are evaluated and compared based on previous studies. How to deal with the public perception of DGR and its impacts on the future of nuclear energy and the business opportunities of nuclear storage technology in the global market are discussed. A perspective of recycling nuclear waste into usable fuel is also elaborated. Our literature survey of 160 published articles (1981–2021) showed that DGR is the most ideal solution for long-term storage of the PUNF, as it provides an ultimate destination in a deep underground that permanently isolates the waste from inhabitants and the environment. Although storing PUNF in a DGR maybe convenient and economical in the short-term, the waste must be stored in a retrievable form so that it can be recycled as a fuel. In the long-term, a complete recycling of used nuclear fuel is the best option. As technological solutions and sound radioactive waste management policy are important for the safe storage of PUNF, stakeholders in the nuclear industry should portray long-term radioactive waste management through viable, feasible, and permanent solutions to waste storage for the sake of public safety and the environment.

Abstract Palm oil mill effluent (POME) elimination has been considered recently as the alternative to expensive biogas recovery to conquer environmental criticisms in the palm oil industry involving the release of biogas (i.e., a primary contributor towards climate change), during POME treatment. With POME elimination and mill-refinery integration considered, the integrated palm oil-based complex (POBC) serves as an appropriate system for sustainable food-energy-water (FEW) nexus evaluations. In this respect, multi-objective optimisation and debottlenecking of POBC has been suggested to address the economic and environmental trade-offs in palm oil mill (POM) for cleaner production. In this study, a stepwise debottlenecking framework was proposed to include previous fuzzy multi-objective optimisation approach and a new debottlenecking method to improve the fuzzy optimal POBC design and evaluate the impact of process on FEW nexus contributions. Each process creates distinctive impact or influence on the POBC performance. Shapley-Shubik Power Index (SSI) has been applied in the notion of power for yes-no voting systems. By evaluating the operate-fail possibilities of internal processes, SSI can be utilised to allocate the power of each process in achieving or failing the POBC performance target, prior to identifying the system bottleneck (SB) in terms of process stage. Therefore, a novel process-level debottlenecking approach with SSI incorporation for a sustainable FEW system was proposed. The SB of greatest impact on overall POBC performance within the fuzzy optimal flowsheet was identified based on SSI allocation and weightage assignment considering decision-maker's interest in multiple goals. Subsequently, the debottlenecked POBC flowsheet with improvement in SB process parameter was generated subjected to profit maximisation and environmental constraints. In this study, the nut/kernel separation and biomass cogeneration system was identified as the SB of fuzzy optimal POBC. The debottlenecked results show 0.8% and 51% of profit and net energy improvement upon 30% increment of boiler efficiency. The debottlenecked flowsheet is validated in the benefit-to-drawback ratio analysis with a feasible score of 3.9. The POME-eliminated POBC generated via the integrated multi-objective optimisation and debottlenecking framework is applicable for POM retrofit to secure 13%, 97% and 47% of improvements in terms of economic potential, greenhouse gas emissions and water footprint compared to the status quo biogas utilisation scenario. The results of the study could aid palm oil holders in real-life planning of budget distribution and maintenance schedule for process stages in the retrofitted POM.

Abstract The present study was carried out to investigate biodiesel production via transesterification of sunflower oil employing heterogeneous catalyst derived from indigenous ginger (Zingiber Officinale) leaves. It also aims to compare the techno-economy performance of the ginger-based catalysts in 3 different forms viz. calcinated (CGL), activated by KOH (KGL) and NaOH (NGL). The plant-based catalysts were characterised by Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The parametric effects on the biodiesel production such as reaction time, methanol to oil ratio and catalyst loading were investigated. The experimental result shows that 1.6 wt % catalyst, 6:1 M ratio of alcohol to oil, 1 h 30 min of reaction time with a speed of 200 rpm gave the best results. It was found that the KGL obtained highest biodiesel yield of 93.83% under optimum conditions. Subsequently, the specific energy and energy productivity of KGL catalyst was found to be 1.2728, 26.1544 MJ/kg and 0.0382 kg/MJ, respectively, per 1 L of biodiesel. Meanwhile, the renewable energy to non-renewable energy ratio for CGL, KGL and NGL is found to be 3.17, 4.01 and 3.67, respectively. A higher sustainable renewable energy-yield ratio and overall economical profit cost ratio are preferable for the biodiesel production process.