• Energy Research
• 2021-2025close
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Abstract Activated carbon is commonly used as a material for contaminant-adsorption processes in aqueous systems. However, its use is more restricted to charcoal than to coal, for the most part, in view of the fact of the higher cost (~ 40%) if the mineral is a fossil fuel which needs to be extracted from the earth by mining. For this reason, the peach stone that comes from alimentary industrial tailings can be a good choice for the separation of pollutants from aqueous suspensions and other soluble substances. The purpose of this research was the development of a low-cost filter, using stones to remove atrazine from water. Appraisal and characterization studies were performed along with batch experiments to investigate dosing effects of the activated carbon, atrazine concentration, contact time, and adsorption pH on removal procedures. From the results of the experiment, an excellent removal of the analyte in question was observed under conditions that can be considered as close as possible to the environment, such as pH = 6.5, room temperature and 10 minutes of agitation time, always choosing the best alternative with the lowest cost of energy and time. Batch system application has been recommended as versatile for utilization in seasonal problems such as pesticide contamination.

Heavy trucks contribute significantly to climate change, and in 2020 were responsible for 7% of total Swedish GHG emissions and 5% of total global CO2 emissions. Here we study the full lifecycle of cargo trucks powered by different energy pathways, comparing their biomass feedstock use, primary energy use, net biogenic and fossil CO2 emission, and cumulative radiative forcing. We analyse battery electric trucks with bioelectricity from standalone or combined heat and power (CHP) plants, and pathways where bioelectricity is integrated with wind and solar electricity. We analyse trucks operated on fossil diesel fuel and on dimethyl ether (DME). All energy pathways are analysed with and without carbon capture and storage (CCS). Bioelectricity and DME are produced from forest harvest residues. Forest biomass is a limited resource, so in a scenario analysis we allocate a fixed amount of biomass to power Swedish truck transport. Battery lifespan and chemistry, the technology level of energy supply, and the biomass source and transport distance are all varied to understand how sensitive the results are to these parameters. The scenario spans 100 years into the future. We find that pathways using electricity to power battery electric trucks have much lower climate impacts and primary energy use, compared to diesel and DME based pathways. The pathways using bioelectricity with CCS result in negative emissions leading to global cooling of the earth. The pathways using diesel and DME have significant and very similar climate impact, even with CCS. The robust results show that truck electrification and increased renewable electricity production is a much better strategy to reduce the climate impact of cargo transport and much more primary energy efficient than the adoption of DME trucks. This climate impact analysis includes all fossil and net biogenic CO2 emissions as well as the timing of these emissions. Considering only fossil emissions is incomplete and could be misleading. This dataset contains data on 4 metrics (primary energy use, biomass feedstock use, cumulative CO2 emissions, and cumulative radiative forcing) resulting from scenario modeling of cargo truck use in Sweden powered by different energy pathways. The energy pathways include battery electric trucks powered by bioelectricity, solar photovoltaic electricity and wind electricity, and internal combustion trucks powered by fossil diesel and dimethyl ether. The scenario spans 100 years into the future. The Excel sheet "tables" contains input data for the scenario modeling, with sources listed where applicable. The remaining sheets contains the modeled results and generated figures that are also a published in the associated article Sathre & Gustavsson (2023). Refer to the method description and reference list in the included documentation files for details. Tunga lastbilar bidrar kraftigt till klimatförändringarna och stod 2020 för 7% av de totala svenska växthusgasutsläppen och 5% av de totala globala CO2-utsläppen. Här studerar vi hela livscykeln för lastbilar som drivs av olika energivägar, jämför deras användning av biomassaråvaror, primär energianvändning, biogena och fossila CO2-utsläpp netto och kumulativ strålningstvingning. Vi analyserar batterielektriska lastbilar med bioel från fristående eller kraftvärmeverk och vägar där bioel integreras med vind- och solkraft. Vi analyserar lastbilar som drivs med fossilt dieselbränsle och med dimetyleter (DME). Alla energivägar analyseras med och utan avskiljning och lagring av koldioxid (CCS). Bioelektricitet och DME produceras av skogsavverkningsrester. Skogsbiomassa är en begränsad resurs, så i en scenarioanalys avsätter vi en fast mängd biomassa för att driva svenska lastbilstransporter. Batteriets livslängd och kemi, tekniknivån för energiförsörjning och biomassakällan och transportavståndet varierar alla för att förstå hur känsliga resultaten är för dessa parametrar. Scenariot sträcker sig 100 år in i framtiden. Vi finner att vägar som använder el för att driva batterielektriska lastbilar har mycket lägre klimatpåverkan och primär energianvändning, jämfört med diesel- och DME-baserade vägar. De vägar som använder bioelektricitet med CCS resulterar i negativa utsläpp som leder till global kylning av jorden. Vägarna med diesel och DME har betydande och mycket liknande klimatpåverkan, även med CCS. De robusta resultaten visar att elektrifiering av lastbilar och ökad förnybar elproduktion är en mycket bättre strategi för att minska godstransporternas klimatpåverkan än införandet av DME-lastbilar, och mycket mer primärenergieffektiv. Denna klimatkonsekvensanalys omfattar alla fossila och biogena CO2-utsläpp samt tidpunkten för dessa utsläpp. Att bara ta hänsyn till fossila utsläpp är ofullständigt och kan vara missvisande. Detta dataset innehåller data om 4 mätvärden (primär energianvändning, biomassaråvara, kumulativa CO2-utsläpp och kumulativ strålkraftspåverkan) som härrör från scenariomodellering av lastbilsanvändning i Sverige som drivs av olika energivägar. Energivägarna inkluderar batterielektriska lastbilar som drivs av bioelektricitet, solcellselektricitet och vindkraft samt förbränningsbilar som drivs av fossil diesel och dimetyleter. Scenariot sträcker sig 100 år in i framtiden. På arket "tables" i Excelfilen återfinns den indata som använts i modelleringen med angivna källor där detta är tillämpligt. Övriga ark innehåller resultat samt figurer som också publiceras i den samhörande artikeln Sathre & Gustavsson (2023). Se metodbeskrivning samt referenslista i tillhörande dokumentationsfiler för detaljer.

Seeds of 52 species of herbaceous plants typical from European grassland ecosystems were obtained from a commercial supplier (Planta naturalis). When species germinated in Petri dishes the seedlings were then transplanted to plastic pots (11 x 11 x 12 cm height, 1L volume). Pots were filled with a mixture of a potting substrate (Biolan Murumuld) and sand. Pots were randomly placed in the greenhouse of the University of Tartu, Estonia. Then, we established monocultures with seven individuals of a single species per pot which were grown under well-watered conditions. One month after transplanting the seedlings to the pots, a drought treatment was applied to half of the pots (five pots per species). The experiment was harvested in late July 2020, when the first individuals started flowering, after month-long drought treatment. Plant traits related to drought responses and resource use strategies were selected and measured for each species following established protocols. These included seven above- and belowground traits: Vegetative plant height (H, cm), Leaf Area (LA, mm2), Specific Leaf Area (SLA, mm2 mg-1), Leaf Dry Matter Content (LDMC, mg g-1), Specific Root Length (SRL, cm g-1), Average root Diameter (AvgD, mm), Root Dry Matter Content (RDMC, mg g-1). Before harvesting, we measured the plant height and collected one leaf per individual for three individuals per pot. Afterward, we collected the aboveground biomass and belowground biomass of all the individuals in each pot. Due to the difficulty in untangling the roots of the different individuals in a pot, root traits were estimated at the pot level. Roots were washed and a sample of finest roots (10-50mg) was collected. Leaves and fine roots were scanned at 300dpi and 600dpi, respectively, using an Epson perfection 3200 Photo scanner for leaves and Epson V700 Photo scanner for fine roots. After scanning, leaves and roots were oven-dried at 60°C for 72h. AvgD and root length were determined using WinRHIZO Pro 2015 (Regent Instruments Inc., Canada), and leaf area with ImageJ software. We averaged all traits values at the species level, attaining a single value for each trait in each treatment. The total aboveground biomass and total belowground biomass of each pot were oven-dried at 60°C for 72h and weighed. Drought is expected to increase in future climate scenarios. Although responses to drought of individual functional traits are relatively well-known, simultaneous changes across multiple traits in response to water scarcity remain poorly understood despite its importance to understand alternative strategies to resist drought. We grew 52 herbaceous species in monocultures under drought and control treatments and characterized the functional space using seven measured above- and belowground traits: plant height, leaf area, specific leaf area, leaf dry matter content, specific root length, average root diameter, and root dry matter content. Then, we estimated how each species occupied this space and the amount of functional space occupied in both treatments using trait probability density functions. We also estimated intraspecific trait variability (ITV) for each species as the dissimilarity in trait values between the individuals of each treatment. We then mapped drought resistance and ITV in the functional space using generalized additive models. The response of species to drought strongly depended on their traits, with species that invested more in root tissues and conserved small size being both more resistant to drought and having higher ITV. We also observed a significant trend of trait displacement towards less conservative strategies. However, these changes depended strongly on the trait values of species in the control treatment, with species with different traits having opposing responses to drought. These contrasting responses resulted in lower trait variability in the species pool in drought compared to control conditions. Our results suggest strong trait filtering acting on conservative species as well as the existence of an optimal part in the functional space to which species converge under drought. Our results show that changes in species trait-space occupancy are key to understand plant strategies to withstand drought, highlighting the importance of individual variation in response to environmental changes, and suggest that community-wide functional diversity and biomass productivity could decrease in a drier future. Knowing these shifts will help to anticipate changes in ecosystem functioning facing climate change. The complete dataset is in the file.

Cyanobacterial biomass is important for biofuel and biofertilizer, however, biomass production requires expensive chemical growth nutrients. To address this issue, we explored the useof inexpensive growth nutrient media from an integrated manure-seawater system for cyanobacterial biomass production. Salt-tolerant cyanobacterial strain HSaC and salt-sensitive cyanobacterial strain LC were tested to evaluate the potential of integrated manure-seawater media for sustainable cyanobacterial biomass production. As a prerequisite for seawater experiments, strain HSaC was grown at different NaCl concentrations (0 mM, 60 mM, 120 mM, 180 mM, 240 mM and 300 mM) to identify the optimum salt concentration. The highest biomass yield and photosynthetic pigment contents were obtained at 120 mM NaCl concentration. The highest exo-polysaccharide (EPS) content was obtained at 180 mM NaCl concentration. The treatments for the manure-seawater media were cow manure, pig manure, chicken manure and BG11, each with distilled water, diluted seawater and non-diluted seawater. The highest biomass and photosynthetic pigment yield for cyanobacterial strains LC and HSaC were obtained from 0.5 dS/m and 10 dS/m diluted seawater integrated with cow manure, respectively, but pig and chicken manure performed poorly. Overall, the biomass production and photosynthetic pigment results from cow manure-seawater were relatively better than those from the reference media (BG11). Based on the current findings, it is concluded that the growth nutrients from integrated cow manure-seawater can wholly substitute for the BG11 without affecting cyanobacterial growth, thereby reducing the usage of expensive chemical growth media. Thus,The results of study help to enhance the biomass production of both salt-sensitive and salt-tolerant cyanobacteria for sustainable biofuel and biofertilizer production. Cyanobacterial biomass is important for biofuel and biofertilizer, however, biomass production requires expensive chemical growth nutrients. To address this issue, we explored the useof inexpensive growth nutrient media from an integrated manure-seawater system for cyanobacterial biomass production. Salt-tolerant cyanobacterial strain HSaC and salt-sensitive cyanobacterial strain LC were tested to evaluate the potential of integrated manure-seawater media for sustainable cyanobacterial biomass production. As a prerequisite for seawater experiments, strain HSaC was grown at different NaCl concentrations (0 mM, 60 mM, 120 mM, 180 mM, 240 mM and 300 mM) to identify the optimum salt concentration. The highest biomass yield and photosynthetic pigment contents were obtained at 120 mM NaCl concentration. The highest exo-polysaccharide (EPS) content was obtained at 180 mM NaCl concentration. The treatments for the manure-seawater media were cow manure, pig manure, chicken manure and BG11, each with distilled water, diluted seawater and non-diluted seawater. The highest biomass and photosynthetic pigment yield for cyanobacterial strains LC and HSaC were obtained from 0.5 dS/m and 10 dS/m diluted seawater integrated with cow manure, respectively, but pig and chicken manure performed poorly. Overall, the biomass production and photosynthetic pigment results from cow manure-seawater were relatively better than those from the reference media (BG11). Based on the current findings, it is concluded that the growth nutrients from integrated cow manure-seawater can wholly substitute for the BG11 without affecting cyanobacterial growth, thereby reducing the usage of expensive chemical growth media. Thus,The results of study help to enhance the biomass production of both salt-sensitive and salt-tolerant cyanobacteria for sustainable biofuel and biofertilizer production.

The data used in this article are related to the rice yield following the use of the RiceAdvice technology recommendation and the rice yield following the recommended level of fertilizer recommendations. The data were collected in 5 sites in Mali. In all sites, rice yield with RiceAdvice was higher than rice yield following the conventional levels of fertilizer. On average, rice yield with RiceAdvice was 0.7 t/ha higher than rice yield with the conventional level of fertilizer recommendations.

Widespread shrub encroachment is profoundly impacting the structures and functions of global drylands, and precipitation change is assumed to be one of the most critical factors affecting this phenomenon. However, there is little evidence to show how precipitation changes will affect the process. In this study, we conducted a 6-year precipitation manipulation experiment (-30%, ambient, +30%, and +50%) to investigate the effects of precipitation changes on the growth of shrubs and herbaceous plants in a shrub-encroached grassland in Inner Mongolia. We found that the increasing precipitation significantly increased the mean height, coverage, and aboveground biomass of herbaceous species, while the growth of shrub species did not exhibit a significant response to precipitation changes. With increasing precipitation, the relative coverage of shrubs decreased, while that of herbs increased. The native dominant herbaceous plant (Leymus chinensis) with more sensitive maximum photosynthetic rate to the precipitation change, showed higher photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency and water use efficiency than those of the encroached shrub species (Caragana microphylla) at high soil moisture contents, reflecting that the ecophysiological characteristics of L. chinensis might provide it a competitive advantage under increased precipitation. Our findings suggest that increasing precipitation may slow down shrub encroachment by facilitating herbaceous growth in Mongolian grasslands, and consequently affect the forage value and carbon budget in these ecosystems. 

Sustainable agriculture is the backbone of food security systems and a driver of human well-being in global economic development (Sustainable Development Goal SDG 3). With the increase in world population and the effects of climate change due to the industrialization of economies, food security systems are under pressure to sustain communities. This situation calls for the implementation of innovative solutions to increase and sustain efficacy from farm to table. Agricultural social networks (ASNs) are central in agriculture value chain (AVC) management and sustainability and consist of a complex network inclusive of interdependent actors such as farmers, distributors, processors, and retailers. Hence, social network structures (SNSs) and practices are a means to contextualize user scenarios in agricultural value chain digitalization and digital solutions development. Therefore, this research aimed to unearth the roles of agricultural social networks in AVC digitalization, enabling an inclusive digital economy. We conducted automated literature content analysis followed by the application of case studies to develop a conceptual framework for the digitalization of the AVC toward an inclusive digital economy. Furthermore, we propose a transdisciplinary framework that guides the digitalization systematization of the AVC, while articulating resilience principles that aim to attain sustainability. The outcomes of this study offer software developers, agricultural stakeholders, and policymakers a platform to gain an understanding of technological infrastructure capabilities toward sustaining communities through digitalized AVCs.

Plastic film mulching (FM) became a general practice to enhance crop productivity and its net primary production (NPP), but it can increase greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The proper addition of organic amendments might effectively decrease the impact of FM on global warming. To evaluate the feasibility of biomass addition on decreasing this negative influence, cover crop biomass as a green manure was incorporated with different recycling levels (0-100% of aboveground biomass) under FM and no-mulching. The net global warming potential (GWP) which integrated with soil C stock change and GHG (N2O and CH4) fluxes with CO2-equivalent was evaluated during maize cultivation. Under the same biomass incorporation, FM significantly enhanced the grain productivity and NPP of maize by 22-61 and 18-58% over no-mulching, respectively. In contrast, FM also highly increased the respired C loss, which was 11-95% higher than NPP increase, over no-mulching. Irrespective with biomass recycling ratio and mulching system, negative NECB which indicates the decrease of soil C stock was observed, mainly due to big harvest removal. FM decreased more soil C stock by 57-158% over no-mulching, but its C stock was clearly increased with increasing biomass addition. FM significantly increased total N2O and CH4 fluxes by 4-61 and 140-600% over no-mulching, respectively. Soil C stock changes mainly decided net GWP scale, but N2O and CH4 fluxes negligibly influenced. As a result, FM highly increased net GWP over no-mulching, while this net GWP was clearly decreased with increasing biomass application. However, cover cropping, and its biomass recycling was not enough to compensate the negative impact of FM on global warming. Therefore, more biomass incorporation might be essential to compensate this negative effect of FM.