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Abstract The environmental impacts of brine disposal from seawater desalination plants and wastewater treatment plants represent a subject of growing concern; thus, determining the potential applicability of zero liquid discharge (ZLD) for water treatment is crucial. Membrane-based technologies are a potentially attractive strategy that can be used to reach this goal. Recent studies have highlighted that integrating a series of membrane processes is a viable approach to achieving ZLD for industrial use. However, a relatively limited number of reports have been published on the challenging problems encountered with ZLD approaches. Here, we provide a review of membrane processes that may be used in ZLD approaches and describe their problems as well as potential solutions and innovative technologies for improving their performance. Furthermore, the energy consumption of the different approaches is calculated and analyzed because it represents a major contributor to the total cost, and investments in innovative technologies are discussed. Finally, the prospects for membrane-based ZLD and further research are highlighted.

The closed-loop supply chain management (CLSCM) is an attractive research field for the corporate and academic worlds; however, closing the loop is not a simple task. Reverse logistics activities increase management complexities and uncertainties by establishing multi-fold collection and return management processes. Unlike traditional supply chain management, where managers deal with only stochastic demand, in closed-loop supply chain management, they deal with both stochastic demand and returns, which increases the cumulative uncertainty in the system. Firms usually use disposable packaging, and demand uncertainties also increase the negative environmental implications of logistics activities. This study aims to investigate optimal remanufacturing strategy and reusable packaging capacity under stochastic demand and return rate for single and multi-retailer closed-loop supply chain models. The results show that a hybrid policy is an optimal option for both single and multi-retailer cases; however, the rate of remanufacturing increases for multiple-retailers. Furthermore, remanufacturing cost, manufacturing cost, and ordering cost of retailers are the principal drivers of hybrid supply chain management. The results further suggest that supply chain managers should reduce manufacturing and remanufacturing costs because they play a central role in deciding the optimal remanufacturing rate. Increasing the remanufacturing rate increases ordering quantities and reduces setup and ordering costs in the system. Thus the remanufacturing is a relatively inexpensive policy for supply chains with higher setup and ordering costs. Numerical examples, sensitivity analysis, and comparative study show the robustness and validity of the proposed model.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the trajectories of the urbanization process in Saudi Arabia in its regional context from the unification of the country by King Abdul Aziz Al Saud in 1932 to the present time, and the urbanization impact on the status and management of cultural heritage in the Kingdom.Design/methodology/approachOur study design integrated a well-articulated theoretical frame of sustainability to gain a heuristical understanding of urbanization in Saudi Arabia, and its link to cultural heritage. The methodological approach was mixed in nature involving (1) literature search and review, (2) analysis of public documents and databases, (3) analysis of photographs and (4) expert interviews.FindingsOne of the most obvious findings reached in this study is that there is considerable trade-off between heritage site conservation, population and economic demand for increased urbanization. Hence, with increasing urbanization pressures, the value of the heritage site may be rethought based on Saudi Arabia's economic and cultural conservation perspectives.Research limitations/implicationsSince our data are mostly of textual narrative in origin, precise predictions were difficult or impossible for many reasons such as non-linearity, and non-equilibrium dynamics, context and scale dependence as well as the historical exigency of urbanization. However, the same theoretical framework can be applied to appropriate longitudinal/ time series data for predictive analyses, which can be taken up as a future research agenda.Originality/valueThis paper analyzes the urbanization process and sustainability challenges of cultural heritage sites employing a mixed methodological approach, embedded in a holistic theoretical framework of sustainability.

As a clean and renewable energy, bioenergy is one of the most prospective alternatives to fossil fuels. Therefore, it has been received much attention and occupied a considerable status in the world's energy consumption. Moreover, the sustainable bioenergy production can effectively decrease the risk of energy poverty and contribute to the economic and ecological benefits, particularly in developing countries. However, the selection of bioenergy production technologies (BPTs) has significant challenges and uncertainties due to various factors. Thus, the aim of this study is to evaluate the BPTs and choose the most suitable and sustainable alternative among them. For this purpose, an integrated decision-making framework is proposed under single-valued neutrosophic environment. In the present approach, the method based on the removal effects of criteria (MEREC) and stepwise weight assessment ratio analysis (SWARA) weighting integrated procedure (MASWIP) is introduced to compute the relative significances of the considered sustainability indicators. Then, the MASWIP-based complex proportional assessment (COPRAS) is introduced to prioritize the BPTs from single-valued neutrosophic perspective. Further, the present framework is implemented on a case study of BPTs evaluation problem with uncertain, inconsistent and indeterminate information, which approves the effectiveness and practicality of introduced method. To assess its robustness and stability, sensitivity and comparative studies are performed. The advantages of the developed method are emphasized in terms of stability and reliability by comparisons with five existing approaches, and the effectiveness of the present approach is verified. The findings of the study prove that the application of single-valued neutrosophic MASWIP-based COPRAS method in BPT selection is robust.

The electrification of ferries requires efficient shore infrastructures that include energy supply grids, communication networks, charging systems, energy storage systems, interfacing and monitoring devices. In this context, a lot of research and development efforts have been made in the last decade that are reviewed in this paper. Energy storage technologies, battery charging requirements and their safety parameters are first analyzed. A comprehensive review on shore side infrastructure design and power system architecture are then provided. Different shore to ship interfaces are finally presented along with, some alternative solutions to battery charging stations.

Abstract Electrolyte-separator-free fuel cell (EFFC) is a new emerging energy conversion technology. The EFFC consists of a single-component of nanocomposite material which works as a one-layer fuel cell device contrary to the traditional three-layer anode–electrolyte–cathode structure, in which an electrolyte layer plays a critical role. The nanocomposite of a single homogenous layer consists of a mixture of semiconducting and ionic materials that provides the necessary electrochemical reaction sites and charge transport paths for a fuel cell. These can be accomplished through tailoring ionic and electronic (n, p) conductivities and catalyst activities, which enable redox reactions to occur on nano-particles and finally accomplish a fuel cell function.

This Special Section provides introduction to the 15th Conference Process Integration, Modelling and Optimisation for Energy Saving and Pollution Reduction (PRES 2012). In this editorial introduction, the editors are highlighting the individual articles included in this issue and discussing the main points. The main areas of this issue can be summarised as: Process Integration for Energy Saving, Integrating Renewable Energy Sources and Energy Optimisation issues.

The conventional electric power system is undergoing a transition from high fossil fuel dependence to significant renewable energy share primarily due to decreasing costs of renewable technologies, increasing environmental pollution, and favorable energy policies. The introduction of distributed energy resources with minimal power losses has also recently promoted the DC power systems deployment at small scale such as community-based DC microgrids. These systems allow the possibility of trading surplus energy from distributed energy resources with peer-to-peer (P2P) energy sharing. As power losses in a sharing scheme are non-linear concerning the distance between trading prosumers and power trade level, therefore, P2P energy sharing cannot be optimally managed with conventional factory-warehouse transportation techniques. In this work, we modeled a DC microgrid system with P2P sharing using a non-linear programming technique which allows the users to share their surplus energy from distributed energy resources with minimal system losses including distribution losses as well as conversion losses in comparison to conventionally employed factory-warehouse transportation technique. The proposed model is applied to a community microgrid having independent photovoltaic (PV) and battery systems installed at each house. Results show that the total system losses are reduced by up to 25% with the proposed optimization framework as compared to conventional factory-warehouse transportation sharing mechanism.