Sustainable Materials and their Contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): A Critical Review Based on an Italian Example

Surface-engineered natural fibers: Emerging alternative substrates for chemical sensor applications: A review

Natural fiber has become one of the most widely used alternative materials for chemical sensor fabrication due to its advantages, such as biocompatibility, flexibility, and self-microfluidic properties. Enhanced natural fiber surface has been used as a substrate in colorimetric and electrochemical sensors. This review focuses on improving the natural fiber properties for preparation as a substrate for chemical sensors. Various methods for natural fiber extraction are discussed and compared. Bleaching and decolorization is important for preparation of colorimetric sensors, while carbonization and nanoparticle doping are favorable for increasing their electrical conductivity for electrochemical sensor fabrication. Also, example fabrications and applications of natural fiber-based chemical sensors for chemical and biomarker detection are discussed. The selectivity of the sensors can be introduced and improved by surface modification of natural fiber, such as enzyme immobilization and biorecognition element functionalization, illustrating the adaptability of natural fiber as a smart sensing device, e.g., wearable and portable sensors. Ultimately, the high performances of natural fiber-based chemical sensors indicate the potential uses of natural fiber as a renewable and eco-friendly substrate material in the field of chemical sensors and biosensors for clinical diagnosis and environmental monitoring.

Nanocellulose: Structure, modification, biodegradation and applications in agriculture as slow/controlled release fertilizer, superabsorbent, and crop protection: A review

This review investigates the potential of nanocellulose in agriculture, encompassing its structure, synthesis, modification, and applications. Our investigation of the characteristics of nanocellulose includes a comprehensive classification of its structure. Various mechanical, chemical and enzymatic synthesis techniques are evaluated, each offering distinct possibilities. The central role of surface functionalization is thoroughly examined. In particular, we are evaluating the conventional production of nanocellulose, thus contributing to the novelty. This review is a pioneering effort to comprehensively explore the use of nanocellulose in slow and controlled release fertilizers, revolutionizing nutrient management and improving crop productivity with reduced environmental impact. Additionally, our work uniquely integrates diverse applications of nanocellulose in agriculture, ranging from slow-release fertilizers, superabsorbent cellulose hydrogels for drought stress mitigation, and long-lasting crop protection via nanocellulose-based seed coatings. The study ends by identifying challenges and unexplored opportunities in the use of nanocellulose in agriculture. This review makes an innovative contribution by being the first comprehensive study to examine the multiple applications of nanocellulose in agriculture, including slow-release and controlled-release fertilizers.

Socio-economic sustainability with circular economy - An alternative approach

As the global population and living standards rise, it pushes the demand for basic amenities like food, health, and energy resources. Additionally, manufacturing automation has led to mass production and consumption, triggering waste production. The existing linear economy approach has led to increasing waste production and resource depletion, posing significant environmental and public health threats. To overcome these impediments, an alternative model called the circular economy concept has gained popularity in the global industry community. This closed-loop, restorative, waste-free concept has the potential to protect the environment and improve economics by reducing energy and resource consumption. Thus, major impetus should be given to strengthening the backbone of the economy where tools such as green technologies, decarbonization strategies, bio refinery processes, material flow analysis, life cycle assessment, ecological footprints (water, carbon, and material), substance flow analysis, circularity index, eco-designing, bioresource management, new business models, and policy play an essential role in the areas of socio-economic sustainability, ecological facts, and industrial aspects to enhance socio-economic growth in a sustainable manner. Sectoral awareness, collaborations, and partnerships among the Government, stakeholders, policymakers, and competent authorities are also essential to enabling circularity within the eco-systems.

Characterization of Three Types of Recycled Aggregates from Different Construction and Demolition Waste: An Experimental Study for Waste Management

Achieving sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources stands out as one of the goals included in the Goals for Sustainable Development in the 2030 Agenda. The construction sector is currently far from presenting an efficient model in terms of treating waste generated by it. Variations in the physical and chemical properties of recycled aggregates coming from construction and demolition waste are one of the main reasons of their limited use in the production of construction materials. This research presents a physicochemical characterization of three different types of recycled aggregates coming from different types of waste: concrete, ceramic and mixed. Physical characterization shows that recycled concrete aggregate has better physical properties compared with mixed recycled aggregate and ceramic recycled aggregate, which makes it more suitable for use in masonry mortars and concrete, due to its higher dry density (2210.33 kg/m3), its lower content of fines (5.17%), its lower friability coefficient (24.60%), and its water absorption coefficient (6.70%). Chemical characterization shows that none of the tested recycled aggregates contains traces of harmful chemical agents that exceed the limits established by the reference regulations. Finally, the statistical analysis shows good homogeneity for these raw materials, obtaining low coefficients of variation and values within the recommended in each of the calculated confidence intervals.

SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens in municipal wastewater, landfill leachate, and solid waste: A review about virus surveillance, infectivity, and inactivation

This review discusses the techniques available for detecting and inactivating of pathogens in municipal wastewater, landfill leachate, and solid waste. In view of the current COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 is being given special attention, with a thorough examination of all possible transmission pathways linked to the selected waste matrices. Despite the lack of works focused on landfill leachate, a systematic review method, based on cluster analysis, allows to analyze the available papers devoted to sewage sludge and wastewater, allowing to focalize the work on technologies able to detect and treat pathogens. In this work, great attention is also devoted to infectivity and transmission mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, the literature analysis shows that sewage sludge and landfill leachate seem to have a remote chance to act as a virus transmission route (pollution-to-human transmission) due to improper collection and treatment of municipal wastewater and solid waste. However due to the incertitude about virus infectivity, these possibilities cannot be excluded and need further investigation. As a conclusion, this paper shows that additional research is required not only on the coronavirus-specific disinfection, but also the regular surveillance or monitoring of viral loads in sewage sludge, wastewater, and landfill leachate. The disinfection strategies need to be optimized in terms of dosage and potential adverse impacts like antimicrobial resistance, among many other factors. Finally, the presence of SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogenic microorganisms in sewage sludge, wastewater, and landfill leachate can hamper the possibility to ensure safe water and public health in economically marginalized countries and hinder the realization of the United Nations' sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Occurrence, transformation, bioaccumulation, risk and analysis of pharmaceutical and personal care products from wastewater: a review

Almost all aspects of society from food security to disease control and prevention have benefited from pharmaceutical and personal care products, yet these products are a major source of contamination that ends up in wastewater and ecosystems. This issue has been sharply accentuated during the coronavirus disease pandemic 2019 (COVID-19) due to the higher use of disinfectants and other products. Here we review pharmaceutical and personal care products with focus on their occurrence in the environment, detection, risk, and removal.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10311-022-01498-7.

Formulation and evaluation of organo-mineral fertilizers based on sewage sludge optimized for maize and sunflower crops

The depletion of natural resources, energy consumption and environmental issues relating to fertilizer production processes are driving a move towards a more sustainable use of resources and the recycling of nutrients. With regard to the fertilizer industry, this gives the opportunity to use the fertilizing potential of alternative raw materials. This paper evaluates the possibility of using dried sewage sludge in the manufacture of organo-mineral fertilizers. Fertilizers based on sewage sludge with an addition of poultry litter ash and mineral fertilizers were developed and characterized in the study. It was possible to produce multicomponent organo-mineral fertilizers with optimized compositions for maize and sunflower crops, characterized by total nutrient content over 20%. Moreover, they contained beneficial secondary nutrients and micronutrients originated from waste materials. The fertilizers were free of pathogens and fulfilled the requirements related to heavy metal content according to Polish legislation. The method of manufacturing organo-mineral fertilizers based on waste materials is a simple waste management solution offering organic matter and nutrient recycling in line with the circular economy and reducing reliance on imported raw materials.

A post-pandemic sustainable scenario: What actions can be pursued to increase the raw materials availability?

On January 30, 2020, COVID-19 outbreak, detected for the first time in Wuhan (China), was declared by WHO a Public Health Emergency. In a strongly connected world, the consequent slowdown of the Chinese economy contributed to disrupt the global supply chains of several products. In a post-pandemic scenario, the expected rapid increase in demand of critical raw materials (associated with the transition to more green energy sources), coupled with the problems that some mining activities are relegated only in certain countries and regions, must be considered in a sustainable perspective. This work analyses the literature about (critical) raw materials and COVID-19, not only to present the impact of the pandemic on their supply, but also to propose some actions that should be pursued in a post-pandemic renaissance scenario, to increase raw materials availability, with great attention to most critical ones, in the frame of circular economy principles. The post-pandemic possibilities are evaluated and suitable actions are suggested to secure the raw materials availability for the foreseen increase of investments in crucial and strategic sectors, in accord with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The proposed actions can be summarized as policy, strategy, economy, and technology activities.

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on sustainable development goals - A survey

COVID-19 pandemic is the biggest challenge facing humanity after the 1918 Flu pandemic. The pandemic also poses a massive challenge to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Meeting this challenge requires a comprehensive investigation of the impact of the pandemic on sustainability. In this work, publications related to the impact of COVID-19 on sustainability in the Web of Science database were explored systematically by using bibliometrics techniques and meta-analysis approach. The results show the research scope is extensive, covering many subjects, whereas the research depth is not enough. Research in developed countries is dominant, although the pandemic poses more significant challenges to the sustainable development of developing countries than of developed countries. Developed countries are committed to studying education sustainability, while developing countries have shown greater attention to economic sustainability during the epidemic. The cluster analysis also shows that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought negative effects on 17 SDGs goals, whereas the pandemic may also bring opportunities to another 14 SDGs goals. At the end of the article, we put forward relevant suggestions for achieving sustainable development goals in the post-epidemic era.

Phosphorous and Silica Recovery from Rice Husk Poultry Litter Ash: A Sustainability Analysis Using a Zero-Waste Approach

Phosphate rocks are a critical resource for the European Union, and alternative sources to assure the future production of a new generation of fertilizers are to be assessed. In this study, a statistical approach, combined with a sustainability evaluation for the recovery of materials from waste containing phosphorus (P), is presented. This work proposes a strategy to recover P and silica (SiO2) from rice husk poultry litter ash (RHPLA). The design of experiment (DoE) method was applied to maximize the P extraction using hydrochloric acid (HCl), with the aim to minimize the contamination that can occur by leachable heavy metals present in RHPLA, such as zinc (Zn). Two independent variables, the molar concentration of the acid, and the liquid-to-solid ratio (L/S) between the acid and RHPLA, were used in the experimental design to optimize the operating parameters. The statistical analysis showed that a HCl concentration of 0.34 mol/L and an L/S ratio of 50 are the best conditions to recover P with low Zn contamination. Concerning the SiO2, its content in RHPLA is too low to consider the proposed recovery process as advantageous. However, based on our analysis, this process should be sustainable to recover SiO2 when its content in the starting materials is more than 80%.

Dispersion of Micro Fibrillated Cellulose (MFC) in Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) from Lab-Scale to Semi-Industrial Processing Using Biobased Plasticizers as Dispersing Aids

In the present study, two commercial typologies of microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) (Exilva and Celish) with 2% wt % were firstly melt-compounded at the laboratory scale into polylactic acid (PLA) by a microcompounder. To reach an MFC proper dispersion and avoid the well-known aglomeration problems, the use of two kinds of biobased plasticisers (poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and lactic acid oligomer (OLA)) were investigated. The plasticizers had the dual effect of dispersing the MFC, and at the same time, they counterbalanced the excessive stiffness caused by the addition of MFC to the PLA matrix. Several preliminaries dilution tests, with different aqueous cellulose suspension/plasticizer weight ratios were carried out. These tests were accompanied by SEM observations and IR and mechanical tests on compression-molded films in order to select the best plasticizer content. The best formulation was then scaled up in a semi-industrial twin-screw extruder, feeding the solution by a peristaltic pump, to optimize the industrial-scale production of commercial MFC-based composites with a solvent-free method. From this study, it can be seen that the use of plasticisers as dispersing aids is a biobased and green solution that can be easily used in conventional extrusion techniques.

MgO-Based Cementitious Composites for Sustainable and Energy Efficient Building Design

Concrete made with Portland cement is by far the most heavily used construction material in the world today. Its success stems from the fact that it is relatively inexpensive yet highly versatile and functional and is made from widely available raw materials. However, in many environments, concrete structures gradually deteriorate over time. Premature deterioration of concrete is a major problem worldwide. Moreover, cement production is energy-intensive and releases a lot of CO2; this is compounded by its ever-increasing demand, particularly in developing countries. As such, there is an urgent need to develop more durable concretes to reduce their environmental impact and improve sustainability. To avoid such environmental problems, researchers are always searching for lightweight structural materials that show high performance during both processing and application. Among the various candidates, Magnesia (MgO) seems to be the most promising material to attain this target. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the characteristics and developments of MgO-based composites and their applications in cementitious materials and energy-efficient buildings. This paper starts with the characterization of MgO in terms of environmental production processes, calcination temperatures, reactivity, and micro-physical properties. Relationships between different MgO composites and energy-efficient building designs were established. Then, the influence of MgO incorporation on the properties of cementitious materials and indoor environmental quality was summarized. Finally, the future research directions on this were discussed.

The Reuse of Industrial By-Products for the Synthesis of Innovative Porous Materials, with the Aim to Improve Urban Air Quality

This works concerns the characterization and the evaluation of adsorption capability of innovative porous materials synthesized by using alginates and different industrial by-products: silica fume and bottom ash. Hydrogen peroxide was used as pore former to generate a porosity able to trap particulate matter (PM). These new materials are compared with the reference recently proposed porous SUNSPACE hybrid material, which was obtained in a similar process, by using silica fume. Structural, morphological, colorimetric and porosimetric analyses were performed to evaluate the differences between the obtained SUNSPACE typologies. The sustainability of the proposed materials was evaluated in terms of the Embodied Energy and Carbon Footprint to quantify the benefits of industrial by-products reuse. Adsorption tests were also performed to compare the ability of samples to trap PM. For this aim, titania suspension, with particles size about 300 nm, was used to simulate PM in the nanoparticle range. The results show that the material realized with bottom ash has the best performance.

Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Cellulose Nanofibres Production Routes from Virgin and Recycled Raw Materials

Nanocellulose-based materials are attracting an increasing interest for the positive role they could play in sustainable development; being originated from renewable resources. Moreover, cellulose has a high potential of recycling from both post-consumer waste and industrial waste. Both factors, i.e., recyclability and renewable resources; results are also extremely favourable in the perspective of circular economy. Despite all these positive aspects, an industrial production has yet to start. At the lab scale, many preparation methods of cellulose nanofibres (CNF) are available; here, the three most common are analysed: (1) enzymatic pre-treatment followed by homogenisation (ENZHO), (2) oxidative pre-treatment combined with homogenisation (TOHO) or (3) oxidative pre-treatment followed by sonication (TOSO). All three processes have been experimentally carried out starting from both virgin and recycled cellulose from industrial waste sludge. The environmental sustainability of these three routes is estimated by the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) using experimental lab scale data. In this scenario, the comparative LCA has pointed out a superior performance of the ENZHO process, followed by TOHO and, lastly, by TOSO. The influence of energy consumption on the final results has been further investigated by a sensitivity analysis, showing that the TOHO and TOSO routes could reach similar performances by scaling-up the process from the laboratory. The different typology of CNF obtained by conducting the ENZHO process with respect to the TEMPO-mediated oxidation approach is also outlined as an additional element to be considered for the final selection of a suitable process.