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The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report that to limit warming to 1.5 °C, Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) is required. Integrated assessment models (IAMS) predict that a land area between the size of Argentina and Australia is required for bioenergy crops, a 3–7 time increase in the current bioenergy planting area globally. The authors pose the question of whether vertical farming (VF) technology can enable BECCS deployment, either via land sparing or supply. VF involves indoor controlled environment cultivation, and can increase productivity per unit land area by 5–10 times. VF is predominantly being used to grow small, high value leafy greens with rapid growth cycles. Capital expenditure, operational expenditure, and sustainability are challenges in current VF industries, and will affect the ability to utilise this technology for other crops. The authors argue that, whilst challenging, VF could help reach wider climate goals. Application of VF for bioenergy crops could be a game changer in delivering BECCS technologies and may reduce the land footprint required as well as the subsequent associated negative environmental impacts. VF bioenergy could allow us to cultivate the future demand for bioenergy for BECCS on the same, or less, land area than is currently used globally.

Production of biodiesel from yellow grease (waste cooking oil and waste animal fats) is fast emerging as a promising alternative to address the twin challenges before the biodiesel industry today-fluctuation in prices of vegetable oil and the food versus fuel debate. Yellow grease has a high percentage of free fatty acids (FFA) and proves to be an unsuitable feedstock for biodiesel production from commercially viable alkali-catalyzed production systems due to saponification problems.“Green” methodologies based on heterogeneous solid acid catalyzed reactions have the potential to simultaneously promote esterification and transesterification reactions of yellow grease to produce biodiesel without soap formation and offer easy catalyst separation without generation of toxic streams. This paper presents kinetic studies for the conversion of model yellow grease feeds to biodiesel using a heteropolyacid supported on alumina (HSiW/Al2O3) using a batch autoclave. Three model yellow grease feeds were prepared using canola oil with added FFA such as palmitic, oleic and linoleic acid. A pseudo homogeneous kinetic model for the parallel esterification and transesterification was developed. The rate constants and activation parameters for esterification and transesterification reactions for the model yellow grease feeds were determined. The rate constants for esterification are higher than the transesterification rate constants. The kinetic model was validated using the experimental biodiesel data obtained from processing a commercial yellow grease feed. The kinetic model could be used to design novel processes to convert various low-value waste oils, fats and non-food grade oils to sustainable biodiesel. Keywords: Yellow grease, Canola oil, Free fatty acids, Heteropolyacid, Kinetics for esterification and transesterification

Abstract In this study, crude cellulose derived from cornstalk, after bleaching, was used as raw material for the synthesis of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) by reacting with the cellulose with NaOH and chloroacetic acid at 75 °C for 1.5 h. Effects of alkali dosage, concentration of chloroacetic acid on the physical and chemical properties of the CMC products were investigated. It was revealed that the reactants alkali reagent/chloroacetic acid/cellulose at the molar ratio of 4.6:2.8:1and 4:2.5:1, or at the molar ratio of NaOH/ClCH 2 COOH ≈1.6–1.64, resulted in CMC products of relatively high water solubility. The viscosity-average molecular weight M v of these two CMC products obtained at molar ratios of 4.0:2.5:1 and 4.6:2.8:1 is in the range of 1.94 × 10 4 –2.48 × 10 4 g mol −1 , and the average DS of the two products are 0.57 and 0.85, respectively. As the solute concentration is above 2 wt%, the viscosity of the CMC-water solution exhibits nonlinear (exponential) increasing with increasing the solute concentration (typical of non-Newton fluids).

Climate change, environmental degradation, and limited resources are motivations for sustainable forest management. Forests, the most abundant renewable resource on earth, used to make a wide variety of forest-based products for human consumption. To provide a scientific measure of a product’s sustainability and environmental performance, the life cycle assessment (LCA) method is used. This article provides a comprehensive review of environmental performances of forest-based products including traditional building products, emerging (mass-timber) building products and nanomaterials using attributional LCA. Across the supply chain, the product manufacturing life-cycle stage tends to have the largest environmental impacts. However, forest management activities and logistics tend to have the greatest economic impact. In addition, environmental trade-offs exist when regulating emissions as indicated by the latest traditional wood building product LCAs. Interpretation of these LCA results can guide new product development using biomaterials, future (mass) building systems and policy-making on mitigating climate change. Key challenges include handling of uncertainties in the supply chain and complex interactions of environment, material conversion, resource use for product production and quantifying the emissions released.

A major achievement in research supported by the Kluane Lake Research Station was the recovery, in 2001 – 02, of a suite of cores from the icefields of the central St. Elias Mountains, Yukon, by teams of researchers from Canada, the United States, and Japan. This project led to the development of parallel, long (103 – 104 year) ice-core records of climate and atmospheric change over an altitudinal range of more than 2 km, from the Eclipse Icefield (3017 m) to the ice-covered plateau of Mt. Logan (5340 m). These efforts built on earlier work recovering single ice cores in this region. Comparison of these records has allowed for variations in climate and atmospheric composition to be linked with changes in the vertical structure and dynamics of the North Pacific atmosphere, providing a unique perspective on these changes over the Holocene. Owing to their privileged location, cores from the St. Elias Icefields also contain a remarkably detailed record of aerosols from various sources around or across the North Pacific. In this paper we review major scientific findings from the study of St. Elias Mountain ice cores, focusing on five main themes: (1) The record of stable water isotopes (δ18O, δD), which has unique characteristics that differ from those of Greenland, other Arctic ice cores, and even among sites in the St. Elias; (2) the snow accumulation history; (3) the record of pollen, biomass burning aerosol, and desert dust deposition; (4) the record of long-range air pollutant deposition (sulphate and lead); and (5) the record of paleo-volcanism. Our discussion draws on studies published since 2000, but based on older ice cores from the St. Elias Mountains obtained in 1980 and 1996.

AbstractRevolutionary changes in energy storage technology have put forward higher requirements on next‐generation anode materials for lithium‐ion battery. Recently, a new class of materials with complex stoichiometric ratios, high‐entropy oxide (HEO), has gradually emerging into sight and embracing the prosperity. The ideal elemental adjustability and attractive synergistic effect make HEO promising to break through the integrated performance bottleneck of conventional anodes and provide new impetus for the design and development of electrochemical energy storage materials. Here, the research progress of HEO anodes is comprehensively reviewed. The driving force behind phase stability, the role of individual cations, potential mechanisms for controlling properties, as well as state‐of‐the‐art synthetic strategies and modification approaches are critically evaluated. Finally, we envision the future prospects and related challenges in this field, which will bring some enlightening guidance and criteria for researchers to further unlock the mysteries of HEO anodes.image

Among various bioreactors examined in anaerobic digestion and dark fermentation, UASB bioreactor has shown to be a promising alternative. However, mass transfer resistance and biomass washout have been the issues that reported as draw backs of the granular system in the literature. Another problem associated with such a system is its long start-up period as a result of biomass washout and long microbial granulation stage. In this paper, the results obtained from an UASFF bioreactor in methane (AD process) and hydrogen (DF process) production from POME, are presented to assess mass transfer of substrate into the granules and also study the role of internal packing used in the middle part of reactor in the process stability. The value of effectiveness factor, η, for AD and DF processes were calculated to be 0.96 and 0.94, respectively, indicating that there was no mass transfer resistance due to internal and/or external factors. The results showed that the packing material could retain biomass in the reactor and had outstanding contribution in the granulation enhancement. Its role as a supplementing treatment stage was more significant at low HRTs and up-flow velocities.

The benefits of aluminum lamination in improving the physical and mechanical properties of wood-based composites is now well documented. This paper shows the contribution of life cycle assessment (LCA) as a tool to assess and compare the environmental footprint in the development of laminated panels. SimaPro 9.0 software, using Ecoinvent database was used to analyze the environmental impacts associated with the manufacturing of wood aluminum-laminated (WAL) panels and aluminum honeycomb panel (AHP). The impact 2002+ method was used to estimate environmental impacts. The LCA results show that the WAL panels manufacturing had a lower environmental impact than AHP manufacturing. In term of product, wood-based composites were the best choice as a core in laminated panel manufacturing. Wood-based composite manufacturing showed environmental advantages in all damage categories except in ecosystem quality. Aluminum alloy sheets manufacturing played an important role in the generation of environmental impacts for laminated panel development.