Topic Review
Iron Ore Reduction with Hydrogen
The steel industry represents about 7% of the world’s anthropogenic CO2 emissions due to the high use of fossil fuels. The CO2-lean direct reduction of iron ore with hydrogen is considered to offer a high potential to reduce CO2 emissions, and this direct reduction of Fe2O3 powder is investigated in this research.
  • 1.2K
  • 18 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Ecological Land in Arid Hilly
Cities in hilly arid areas of northwest China have generally experienced a low level of economic development; they also have unique natural characteristics such as climate, soil, terrain, environment, and surface cover. High quality ecological lands are those that provide humans and the environment with relatively high levels of ecological services including soil, water, and air purification, adsorbing pollutants, or providing water or nutrients needed by plants. This paper uses an improved model to evaluate the importance of ecological land in the core urban area of Lanzhou with specific attention to natural ecology and human needs. The purpose of this research is mainly twofold: (1) to construct a significant evaluation system for ecological land in the northwest arid hilly area, via the study’s methodology; (2) to explore the structure and spatial distribution characteristics of ecological land in the core area of Lanzhou in a practical sense, to reveal the development characteristics of ur-ban ecological land in the arid hilly region of northwest China, and to provide some guidance for the long-term development of Lanzhou.
  • 554
  • 17 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Cement Production in Nigeria
Cement is the most common and extensively used adhesive in the construction industry. It is employed on highways, houses, embankments, bridges, commercial establishments, and flyovers. In recent years, the Nigerian cement industry has grown from import dependency to an export-thriving epicentre within Africa. The country possesses the largest cement industry within West Africa, with at least 12 registered companies amounting to a merged cement capacity of 58.9 Mt/yr. Dangote Cement is the largest cement producer in Nigeria and West Africa, manufacturing a combined share of more than 28.5 Mt/yr of cement capacity. Also, LafargeHolcim (through its subsidiary AshakaCem & Lafarge WAPCO) and BUA Group boost 18.9 Mt/yr and 11.5 Mt/yr of integrated cement capacity, respectively.
  • 13.0K
  • 16 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Environmental Performance Index
The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) developed by Yale University is regarded as an all-inclusive proxy to examine the country’s environmental conditions. Ozturk et al. also argued that CO2 emissions only cover a small part of the total environmental pollution. The recently revised EPI of 2020 comprises 32 performance indicators across 11 issue categories. It ranks countries under two domains, environmental health and ecosystem vitality, which demonstrate the environmental pollution impacts on human health and also the effects that ensue on the ecosystem through environmental pollution. The Environmental Health Index (HLT) measures the quality of air, water, and exposure to heavy metals. The Ecosystem Vitality Index (ECO) considers issues such as climate change and biodiversity. 
  • 1.7K
  • 16 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Sustainability Reporting in Extractive Industries
Sustainability reporting is one of the tools that contribute to incorporating sustainable development in the design of extractive operations (i.e., “Design for Sustainability”), and the demand for sustainability reports is increasing due to the increased focus on sustainable development and sustainable financing efforts. The extractive industries are believed to have unique strengths to contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Nonetheless, companies are expected to be transparent and accountable not only to investors but to all stakeholders, including communities, suppliers, clients, employees, and governments. Therefore, extractive industries require effective sustainability accounting and reporting to transition and contribute to sustainable development.
  • 600
  • 16 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Plastic Packaging Recycling
Today, the scientific community is facing crucial challenges in delivering a healthier world for future generations. Among these, the quest for circular and sustainable approaches for plastic recycling is one of the most demanding for several reasons. Indeed, the massive use of plastic materials over the last century has generated large amounts of long-lasting waste, which, for much time, has not been object of adequate recovery and disposal politics. Most of this waste is generated by packaging materials. Nevertheless, in the last decade, a new trend imposed by environmental concerns brought this topic under the magnifying glass, as testified by the increasing number of related publications. Several methods have been proposed for the recycling of polymeric plastic materials based on chemical or mechanical methods. A panorama of the most promising studies related to the recycling of polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and polystyrene (PS) is given within this review. 
  • 2.3K
  • 16 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Global Marine Dissolved Organic Matter
Marine dissolved organic matter (DOM) holds ~660 billion metric tons of carbon, making it one of Earth’s major carbon reservoirs that is exchangeable with the atmosphere on annual to millennial time scales. The global ocean scale dynamics of the pool have become better illuminated over the past few decades. 
  • 789
  • 15 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Classified Urban Land Cover Classes
The urban land cover consists of very complex physical materials and surfaces that are constantly having anthropological impacts. The urban surface types are a mosaic of seminatural surfaces such as grass, trees, bare soil, water bodies, and human-made materials of diverse age and composition, such as asphalt, concrete, roof tiles for energy conservation and fire danger, and generally impervious surfaces for urban flooding studies and pollution. The complexity of urban analysis also depends on the scale chosen and its purpose.
  • 1.4K
  • 15 Sep 2021
Topic Review
BiOCl and g-C3N4
Many organic pollutants are discharged into the environment, which results in the frequent detection of organic pollutants in surface water and underground water. Some of the organic pollutants can stay for a long time in the environment due to their recalcitrance. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) can effectively treat the recalcitrant organic compounds in water. Photocatalysis as one of the AOPs has attracted a lot of interest. BiOCl and g-C3N4 are nice photocatalysts. However, their catalytic activity should be further improved for industrial utilization. The construction of heterojunction between the two different components is deemed as an efficient strategy for developing a highly efficient photocatalyst. As a typical type-II heterojunction, g-C3N4/BiOCl heterojunctions showed better photocatalytic performance. To date, the g-C3N4/BiOCl composites were mainly studied in the field of water purification. The photoactivity of the pristine catalysts was greatly enhanced by the combination of the two materials. However, three kinds of proposed mechanisms were used to explain the improvement of the g-C3N4/BiOCl heterojunctions. But few researchers tried to explain why there were three different scenarios employed to explain the charge transfer. According to the articles reviewed, no direct evidence could indicate whether the band structures of the heterojunctions based on BiOCl and g-C3N4 were changed. Therefore, many more studies are needed to reveal the truth. Having a clearer understanding of the mechanism is beneficial for researchers to construct more efficient photocatalysts. This article is trying to start a new direction of research to inspire more researchers to prepare highly effective photocatalysts.
  • 1.2K
  • 15 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Natural Resource Management (NRM)
Natural capital is the wealth of nations that determine their economic status. Worldwide, vulnerable people depend on natural capital for employment, salaries, wealth, and livelihoods and, in turn, this determines the developmental index of the nation to which they belong. In this short review, we have tried to sum up the ideas and discussions over natural capital’s role in ascribing economic status to countries as well as the need for natural resource management and sustainability. This paper aimed to discuss how humanity’s prosperity is intertwined with the services that ecosystems provide, and how poor natural resource management (NRM) has adversely affected human well-being. Our preselected criteria for the review paper led us to evaluate 96 peer-reviewed publications from the SCOPUS database, which is likely the most comprehensive archive of peer-reviewed scientific literature as well as WoS, PUBMED, and Google Scholar databases. Our review revealed that the availability of ecological services is crucial for clean water and air, food and fodder, and agricultural development. We further discussed important concepts regarding sustainability, natural capital and economics, and determinants of human well-being vis-à-vis the intergenerational security of natural wealth. To ensure current and future human well-being, we conclude that an in-depth understanding of the services that ecosystems provide is necessary for the holistic management of the Earth system. 
  • 1.0K
  • 14 Sep 2021
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