Water is essential in all aspects of life, being the defining characteristic of our planet and even our body. Regrettably, water pollution is increasingly becoming a challenge due to novel anthropogenic pollutants. Of particular concern are emerging organic contaminants (EOCs), the term used not only to cover newly developed compounds but also compounds newly discovered as contaminants in the environment. Aside from anthropogenic contamination, higher temperature and more extreme and less predictable weather conditions are projected to affect water availability and distribution. Therefore, wastewater treatment has to become a valuable water resource and its reuse is an important issue that must be carried out efficiently. Among the novel technologies considered in water remediation processes, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are regarded as promising materials for the elimination of EOCs since they present many properties that commend them in water treatment: large surface area, easy functionalizable cavities, some are stable in water, and synthesized at large scale, etc. This review highlights the advances in the use of MOFs in the elimination (adsorption and/or degradation) of EOCs from water, classifying them by the nature of the contaminant.

Metal-Organic Frameworks for the Removal of Emerging Organic Contaminants in Water.

Functionalized metal-organic frameworks for photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants in environment.

The universal link planetary energetics photosynthesis heterotrophic conversations human energetics man as a simple heterotroph man as a solar farmer preindustrial complexification fossil fuels fossil-fuelled civilization energetics of food environmental implications energetic correlates grand patterns.

http://library.um.ac.id/free-contents/downloadpdf.php/buku/general-energetics-energy-in-the-biosphere-and-civilization-vaclav-smil-12423.pdf

General energetics : energy in the biosphere and civilization / Vaclav Smil)

The purpose of this paper is to provide a source of information on thermal energy use in buildings, its drivers, and their past, present and future trends on a global and regional basis. Energy use in buildings forms a large part of global and regional energy demand. The importance of heating and cooling in total building energy use is very diverse with this share varying between 18% and 73%. Biomass is still far the dominant fuel when a global picture is considered; the role of electricity is substantially growing, and the direct use of coal is disappearing from this sector, largely replaced by electricity and natural gas in the most developed regions. This paper identifies the different drivers of heating and cooling energy demand, and decomposes this energy demand into key drivers based on a Kaya identity approach: number of households, persons per household, floor space per capita and specific energy consumption for residential heating and cooling; and GDP, floor space per GDP, and specific energy consumption for commercial buildings. This paper also reviews the trends in the development of these drivers for the present, future – and for which data were available, for the past – in 11 world regions as well as globally. Results show that in a business-as-usual scenario, total residential heating and cooling energy use is expected to more or less stagnate, or slightly decrease, in the developed parts of the world. In contrast, commercial heating and cooling energy use will grow in each world region. Finally, the results show that per capita total final residential building energy use has been stagnating in the vast majority of world regions for the past three decades, despite the very significant increases in energy service levels in each of these regions.

Heating and cooling energy trends and drivers in buildings

Magnetic CoO–NiFe2O4 catalyst was successfully fabricated from layered double hydroxide through a simple co-precipitation and calcination method, and for the first time applied as a novel Fenton-like catalyst for the decolorization of Eriochrome black T dye (EB). The characteristics results demonstrated that CoO–NiFe2O4 exhibits a broad pore size distribution in the range of 5–40 nm, large specific surface area (363.6 m2 g–1) with the high structural stability and saturation magnetization (83.2 emu g–1), hence, can be easily recycled for five subsequent runs without significant activity loss. The catalytic activity of CoO–NiFe2O4 was systematically evaluated under varying reaction conditions including initial pH, catalyst dosage, initial dye and H2O2 concentrations. Under the optimal conditions, the CoO–NiFe2O4 accomplished ∼87–97% decolorization of EB within 120 min. Here, the possible catalytic mechanism for EB decolorization is proposed and concluded to be multi-process induced by OH, O2− or h+ in the Fenton-like system.

Magnetic LDH-based CoO–NiFe2O4 catalyst with enhanced performance and recyclability for efficient decolorization of azo dye via Fenton-like reactions

A robust sunlight-driven AgIO3/MIL-53 (Fe) nanohybrid composite (NC) was successfully synthesised and characterised. The efficacy of the NC was estimated by decomposing two organophosphates pesticides (methyl malathion (MP) and chlorpyrifos (CP)) under sunlight irradiation. The degradation of MP and CP was strongly influenced by pH, catalyst dose and initial pesticide concentration. Under 60 min solar light illumination, ∼78–90% CP and MP were degraded individually in tap and distilled water, respectively. In binary mixture (MP + CP), ∼70% mineralisation was achieved within 180 min. The efficiency of NC is attributed to the prolonged separation of photogenerated carriers, a large concentration of surface hydroxyl groups and high specific surface area. Under artificial neural network (ANN) predicted conditions, 0.5 g NC, pH 5 and 2.5 mL of 50 mg/L Na2S2O8 are required for complete mineralisation of the pesticides.

Highly robust AgIO3/MIL-53 (Fe) nanohybrid composites for degradation of organophosphorus pesticides in single and binary systems: Application of artificial neural networks modelling

Experimental performance of perforated glazed solar air heaters and unglazed transpired solar air heater

This study was undertaken to forecast the waste generation rates of the accommodation sector in North Cyprus. Three predictor models, multiple linear regression (MLR), artificial neural networks (ANNs) and central composite design (CCD), were applied to predict the waste generation rate during the lean and peak seasons. ANN showed highest prediction performance, specifically, lowest values of the standard error of prediction (SEP = 2.153), mean absolute error (MAE = 1.378) and highest R2 value (0.998) confirmed the accuracy of the model. The analysed waste was categorised into recyclable, general waste and food residue. The authors estimated the total waste generated during the lean season at 2010.5 kg/day, in which large hotels accounted for the largest fraction (66.7%), followed by medium-sized hotels (19.4%) and guesthouses (2.6%). During the peak season, about 49.6% increases in waste generation rates were obtained. Interestingly, 45% of the waste was generated by British tourists, while the least waste was generated by African tourists (7.5%). The ANN predicted that small and large hotels would produce 5.45 and 22.24 tons of waste by the year 2020, respectively. The findings herein are promising and useful in establishing a sustainable waste management system.

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/9/2965/pdf

Comparative Modelling and Artificial Neural Network Inspired Prediction of Waste Generation Rates of Hospitality Industry: The Case of North Cyprus

The increasing number of pollutants in the environment poses a threat to the safety and health of aquatic species and humans. Particularly, their adverse effects, such as hindering metabolic processes and occupying hormone receptors when consumed by aquatic species and humans is of concern. Here we present an overview on endocrine disruptors, pharmaceuticals, pesticides and hormones, with emphasis on their potential risk of exposure in water, occurrences and environmental fates. Special emphasis is directed to the adsorptive removal of these micropollutants. We review recent developments in raw and modified green adsorbents for adsorption of antibiotics, pesticides and endocrine disruptors from wastewaters.

Roozbeh Vaziri

Papers

Highly robust AgIO3/MIL-53 (Fe) nanohybrid composites for degradation of organophosphorus pesticides in single and binary systems: Application of artificial neural networks modelling

Experimental performance of perforated glazed solar air heaters and unglazed transpired solar air heater

Comparative Modelling and Artificial Neural Network Inspired Prediction of Waste Generation Rates of Hospitality Industry: The Case of North Cyprus

Green Adsorbents for Removal of Antibiotics, Pesticides and Endocrine Disruptors

In2S3/AgIO3 photoanode coupled I−/I3− cyclic redox system for solar-electrocatalytic recovery of H2 and S from toxic H2S