Oils and fats of vegetable and animal origin have been the most important renewable feedstock of the chemical industry in the past and in the present. A tremendous geographical and feedstock shift of oleochemical production has taken place from North America and Europe to southeast Asia and from tallow to palm oil. It will be important to introduce and to cultivate more and new oil plants containing fatty acids with interesting and desired properties for chemical utilization while simultaneously increasing the agricultural biodiversity. The problem of the industrial utilization of food plant oils has become more urgent with the development of the global biodiesel production. The remarkable advances made during the last decade in organic synthesis, catalysis, and biotechnology using plant oils and the basic oleochemicals derived from them will be reported, including, for example, ω-functionalization of fatty acids containing internal double bonds, application of the olefin metathesis reaction, and de novo synthesis of fatty acids from abundantly available renewable carbon sources.

Oils and Fats as Renewable Raw Materials in Chemistry

Ever-growing global energy needs and environmental damage have motivated the pursuit of sustainable energy sources and storage technologies. As attractive energy storage technologies to integrate renewable resources and electric transportation, rechargeable batteries, including lead–acid, nickel–metal hydride, nickel–cadmium, and lithium-ion batteries, are undergoing unprecedented rapid development. However, the intrinsic toxicity of rechargeable batteries arising from their use of toxic materials is potentially environmentally hazardous. Additionally, the massive production of batteries consumes numerous resources, some of which are scarce. It is therefore essential to consider battery recycling when developing battery systems. Here, we provide a systematic overview of rechargeable battery recycling from a sustainable perspective. We present state-of-the-art fundamental research and industrial technologies related to battery recycling, with a special focus on lithium-ion battery recycling. We introduce the concept of sustainability through a discussion of the life-cycle assessment of battery recycling. Considering the forecasted trend of a massive number of retired power batteries from the forecasted surge in electric vehicles, their repurposing and reuse are considered from economic, technical, environmental, and market perspectives. New opportunities, challenges, and future prospects for battery recycling are then summarized. A reinterpreted 3R strategy entailing redesign, reuse, and recycling is recommended for the future development of battery recycling.

Toward sustainable and systematic recycling of spent rechargeable batteries

As more renewable energy is developed, energy storage is increasingly important and attractive, especially grid-scale electrical energy storage; hence, finding and implementing cost-effective and sustainable energy storage and conversion systems is vital. Batteries of various types and sizes are considered one of the most suitable approaches to store energy and extensive research exists for different technologies and applications of batteries; however, environmental impacts of large-scale battery use remain a major challenge that requires further study. In this paper, batteries from various aspects including design features, advantages, disadvantages, and environmental impacts are assessed. This review reaffirms that batteries are efficient, convenient, reliable and easy-to-use energy storage systems (ESSs). It also confirms that battery shelf life and use life are limited; a large amount and wide range of raw materials, including metals and non-metals, are used to produce batteries; and, the battery industry can generate considerable amounts of environmental pollutants (e.g., hazardous waste, greenhouse gas emissions and toxic gases) during different processes such as mining, manufacturing, use, transportation, collection, storage, treatment, disposal and recycling. Battery use at a large scale or grid-scale (>50 MW), which is widely anticipated, will have significant social and environmental impacts; hence, it must be compared carefully with alternatives in terms of sustainability, while focusing on research to quantify externalities and reduce risk. Alternatives such as pumped hydro and compressed air energy storage must be encouraged because of their low environmental impact compared to different types of batteries.

Study of energy storage systems and environmental challenges of batteries

The rapid pace of industrialization and urbanization has given birth to heavy metal pollution. Heavy metals are one of the most hazardous contaminants that may be present in the aquatic environment. It derives its origin from both natural and anthropogenic sources. Heavy metal pollution in aquatic ecosystem poses a serious threat to aquatic biodiversity, and drinking contaminated water poses severe health hazards in humans. The economic aspects and side effects of conventional treatment technologies in aquatic ecosystems paved the way to phytoremediation technology. In phytoremediation, plants are used to ameliorate the environment from various hazardous pollutants. It is cost-effective and eco-friendly technology for environmental cleanup. The characteristics, general mechanism, and ecology of metal hyper-accumulation have been discussed previously. The present review examines the role of aquatic macrophytes in phytoremediation studies. Macrophytes are potent tools in the abatement of heavy metal polluti...

Heavy Metal Phytoremediation from Aquatic Ecosystems with Special Reference to Macrophytes

Environmental pollution, particularly from heavy metal ions in the wastewater, is one of the most serious concerns of the world. In the pursuit of remedial action, various conventional methods such...

Adsorption of heavy metal ions by various low-cost adsorbents: a review

Hydrometallurgical extraction of zinc from zinc ferrites

Use of sodium decanoate for selective precipitation of metals contained in industrial wastewater.

Hydrometallurgical recovery of zinc and lead from electric arc furnace dust using mononitrilotriacetate anion and hexahydrated ferric chloride.

Antioxidant enzyme activities as affected by trivalent and hexavalent chromium species in Fontinalis antipyretica Hedw

This study deals with the feasibility of the oxidative leaching of molybdenum and cobalt sulphides contained in a spent hydrodesulphurisation catalyst using H2O2 in acidic medium. The study was first carried out with MoS2 in order to define the important parameters of the leaching procedure and then applied to an unroasted CoMo/Al2O3 spent catalyst containing 11 wt % of Mo and 2.7 wt % of Co. In both cases, a 23 factorial design was used. The results obtained with MoS2 highlighted the necessity to limit the increase in temperature of the medium to minimize the decomposition of H2O2 and the necessity to keep pH constant to avoid an important acidification of the medium which could cause dissolution of alumina matrix when leaching will be applied to spent catalysts. The oxidative leaching of the unroasted CoMo/Al2O3 spent catalyst was performed without previous grinding. In a single-step, at pH = 1.3 with a stoichiometric factor equal to 2.4, an L/S ratio equal to 7.5, and an H2O2 concentration of 3.75 mol·...

Eric Meux

Papers

Hydrometallurgical extraction of zinc from zinc ferrites

Use of sodium decanoate for selective precipitation of metals contained in industrial wastewater.

Hydrometallurgical recovery of zinc and lead from electric arc furnace dust using mononitrilotriacetate anion and hexahydrated ferric chloride.

Antioxidant enzyme activities as affected by trivalent and hexavalent chromium species in Fontinalis antipyretica Hedw

Hydrometallurgical Treatment for Valuable Metals Recovery from Spent CoMo/Al2O3 Catalyst. 2. Oxidative Leaching of an Unroasted Catalyst Using H2O2