Environmental Science and Pollution Research

Rajendran, Rajalakshmi; Chathambath, Anjana; Al-Sehemi, Abdullah G.; Pannipara, Mehboobali; Unnikrishnan, Mazhuvancherry Kesavan; Aleya, Lotfi; Raghavan, Roshni Pushpa; Mathew, Bijo

doi: 10.1007/s11356-022-19148-4pmid: 35258738

COVID-19 is a serious respiratory infection caused by a beta-coronavirus that is closely linked to SARS. Hypoxemia is a symptom of infection, which is accompanied by acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Augmenting supplementary oxygen may not always improve oxygen saturation; reversing hypoxemia in COVID-19 necessitates sophisticated means to promote oxygen transfer from alveoli to blood. Inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) has been shown to inhibit the multiplication of the respiratory coronavirus, a property that distinguishes it from other vasodilators. These findings imply that NO may have a crucial role in the therapy of COVID-19, indicating research into optimal methods to restore pulmonary physiology. According to clinical and experimental data, NO is a selective vasodilator proven to restore oxygenation by helping to normalize shunts and ventilation/perfusion mismatches. This study examines the role of NO in COVID-19 in terms of its specific physiological and biochemical properties, as well as the possibility of using inhaled NO as a standard therapy. We have also discussed how NO could be used to prevent and cure COVID-19, in addition to the limitations of NO.

Purnachandrakumar, Danduprolu; Mittal, Gaurav; Sharma, Ram K.; Singh, Desh Bandhu; Tiwari, Sumit; Sinhmar, Harender

doi: 10.1007/s11356-022-18952-2pmid: 35258729

Environmental pollution and water resource management are some of the biggest challenges for the twenty-first century. The utilization of solar energy for water purification through solar stills is an environmental friendly and sustainable approach. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a valuable and cost-effective tool for the simulation of fluid and thermal phenomena in solar stills as well as for their optimization for maximum productivity. The objective of the current study is to present a comprehensive review of the significance of the CFD tool in analysis, performance estimation, and design improvements of solar still. Various studies in this direction are classified according to the comprehensiveness of the modeling approach employed. The approaches are classified into three categories. The assumptions and governing equations for various approaches are presented. It is highlighted that the relatively simpler CFD modeling of only the humid air zone in the solar still, which relies on the availability of experimental data, the modeling approach has now evolved to an advanced level and can give predictive estimates by using only the ambient atmospheric conditions and solar irradiation as input. Various studies are also classified based on configurations, computational domain, and operational and geometrical parametric range. The key results from various CFD studies are summarized.

Goel, Manika; Jha, Bandana; Khan, Safiullah

doi: 10.1007/s11356-022-19501-7pmid: 35262887

In the current Anthropocene epoch, globalization and urbanization have adversely affected our environment causing global warming. To counter the adverse effects of global warming, research is being conducted into many innovative technologies to identify viable solutions. This paper will focus on one such solution, Living walls and how the built form is enriched by the environmental and psychological benefits provided by Living walls. Buildings with Living walls have lively surroundings which enhance the urban fabric. This review paper shall elaborate on the effects of Living walls on the built environment in the urban realm and analyze how Living walls improve the urban fabric in terms of activity and behavior pattern, streetscape and building frontage.

Kunalan, Shankar; Palanivelu, Kandasamy

doi: 10.1007/s11356-022-19519-xpmid: 35275372

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emission to the atmosphere is the prime cause of certain environmental issues like global warming and climate change, in the present day scenario. Capturing CO2 from various stationary industrial emission sources is one of the initial steps to control the aforementioned problems. For this concern, a variety of resources, such as liquid absorbents, solid adsorbents, and membranes, have been utilized for CO2 capturing from various emission sources. Focused on membrane-based CO2 capture, polymeric membranes with composite structure (polymeric composite membrane) offer a better performance in CO2 capturing process than other membranes, due to the composite structure it offers higher gas flux and less material usage, thus facile to use high performed expensive material for membrane fabrication and achieved good efficacy in CO2 capture. This compressive review delivers the utilization of different polymeric composite membranes in CO2 capturing applications. Further, the types of polymeric materials used and the different physicochemical modifications of those membrane materials and their CO2 capturing ability are briefly discussed in the text. In conclusion, the current status and possible perspective ways to improve the CO2 capture process in industrial CO2 gas separation applications are described in this review.

Sierra-Sánchez, Ana Gabriela; Castillo-Suárez, Luis Antonio; Martínez-Miranda, Verónica; Linares-Hernández, Ivonne; Teutli-Sequeira, Elia Alejandra

doi: 10.1007/s11356-022-19444-zpmid: 35277825

Drinking water contaminated with As and F-\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$${\mathrm{F}}^{-}$$\end{document} is increasingly prevalent worldwide. Their coexistence can have negative effects due to antagonistic or synergistic mechanisms, ranging from cosmetic problems, such as skin lesions and teeth staining, to more severe abnormalities, such as cancer and neurotoxicity. Available technologies for concurrent removal include electrocoagulation ~ adsorption > membranes > chemical coagulation > , and among others, all of which have limitations despite their advantages. Nevertheless, the existence of competing ions such as silicon > phosphate > calcium ~ magnesium > sulfate > and nitrate affects the elimination efficiency. Mexico is one of the countries that is affected by As and F-\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$${\mathrm{F}}^{-}$$\end{document} contamination. Because only 10 of the 32 states have adequate removal technologies, more than 65% of the country is impacted by co-presence problems. Numerous reviews have been published concerning the elimination of As or F-\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$${\mathrm{F}}^{-}$$\end{document}. However, only a few studies have focused on the simultaneous removal. This critical review analyzes the new sources of contamination, simultaneous physicochemical behaviors, available technologies for the elimination of both species, and future trends. This highlights the need to implement technologies that work with actual contaminated water instead of aqueous solutions (55% of the works reviewed correspond to aqueous solutions). Similarly, it is necessary to migrate to the creation of pilot, pre-pilot, or prototype scale projects, because 77% of the existing studies correspond to lab-scale research.

Huang, Han; Long, Ruyin; Chen, Hong; Li, Qianwen; Wu, Meifen; Gan, Xin

doi: 10.1007/s11356-022-19200-3pmid: 35277817

Green consumption (GC), as one of the important initiatives to achieve the goal of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, has attracted widespread attention from scholars in environmental and economic fields. This article reviews the literature on GC, asking two main questions: how can GC research be analyzed from macro, meso, and micro perspectives? How have the research topics in the field of GC evolved in international and Chinese academia? This study makes a visual analysis of knowledge domain based on the literature of Web of Science Core Collection and China National Knowledge Infrastructure, so as to reveal hot topics, stage division, and research trend of GC research. The results revealed the following: GC research is in a period of rapid growth, and it is mainly distributed in developed countries dominated by the USA and in developing countries dominated by China. There is a trend of interdisciplinary research on GC, such as ecology, psychology, health, systematics, politics, and economics, which indicates that GC research has become increasingly inseparable from human survival and health, psychological acceptance, and social development. For the international academia, GC research pays more attention to the transformation of consumer psychology, while the Chinese academia is more concerned with the regulation of consumer behavior and the activation of green emotions. Considering the focus and characteristics of GC supervision, this study proposes GC 3.0 with a consumer-oriented and emphasizing green emotions and proposes future application scenarios from four aspects: government supervision, social self-regulation, enterprise demonstration, and personal self-monitoring.

Mohiuddin, Shaik Afzal; Kaviti, Ajay Kumar; Rao, Talluri Srinivasa; Sikarwar, Vineet Singh

doi: 10.1007/s11356-022-19527-xpmid: 35292891

Solar still, which uses solar renewable energy sources, especially solar energy, to produce pure water, is a promising technology as it is abundantly available and eco-friendly. Researchers have innovated in internal and external designs to enhance distillate productivity in solar desalination systems. The present review paper discusses the major internal modifications done in history and recent past to enhance the distillate output. Six sub-sections have been developed concerning historic internal modifications that discuss types of basin liners, water depth, stones, dyes, phase change materials, and weirs. It has been found that among all the historic internal modifications, phase change materials were the most effective with distillate yield enhancement of up to 80%. The limitation in distillate yield made the researchers to perform further modifications to enhance the productivity, and hence, recent internal designs have also been discussed. Recent internal modifications have six sub-sections: fins, wicks, nanofluids, nanostructures, dynamic modifications, and natural materials. Among the recent, dynamic modifications were the most efficient with productivity enhancement of up to 300%, with a maximum cumulative yield of 8.78 kg/m2/day for the rotating wick solar still compared to CSS which gave only 2.21 kg/m2/day. Such a kind of review work has not been performed till date, which covers all the internal design modifications in one paper exhaustively. Furthermore, gaps have been identified, and future perspectives have been presented in the conclusion section. It has been observed that nanostructures, nanoparticles, and dynamic modifications are the most promising internal modifications in recent times that can boost distillate productivity to a greater degree.

Abdelgaied, Mohamed; Seleem, Mohamed Fathi; Bassuoni, Mohamed Mahgoub

doi: 10.1007/s11356-022-19625-wpmid: 35294688

Freshwater and energy are critical components for the growth and progress of societies. The scarcity of freshwater and rapid population growth, especially in remote countries, has led to an urgent need to develop desalination technologies in order to raise its productivity and reduce its energy consumption rates. Membrane distillation is one of the effective methods characterized by its high productivity, but its disadvantage by higher electricity consumption. Also, solar stills are one of the sustainable and economical technologies, but the disadvantage by lower productivity. Accordingly, this manuscript dealt with a comprehensive review and detailed comparison of the most important modifications and innovations that were made to the design of the membrane distillation units, which aim to reduce electricity consumption rates, as well as the design of solar stills, which aims to maximize the productivity and efficiency. This was done by providing a detailed comparison of the most important three axes of modifications and innovations that were addressed by recent previous studies on the design of membrane distillation units and solar stills, and their statement as follows: preheating technology, use of the thermal storage materials, and nanomaterials technology. Finally, based on this review, the authors make some recommendations for future work in the field of solar and membrane desalination.

Yip, Wai Sze; Zhou, HongTing; To, Suet

doi: 10.1007/s11356-022-19634-9pmid: 35298803

Manufacturing, as one of the most important sectors in a civilized society, has a strong impact on our city’s sustainability issues, and it is therefore justified in taking a more sustainable approach in the future. As a consequence, research works and the research trend of sustainable manufacturing (SM) play a critical role in supporting the sustainable development of industries. With the knowledge of the research themes on SM from the past to the present, preferred options for planning the future of manufacturing and executing SM could be offered to industries. Motivated by this, this study presents a thematic and bibliometric analysis on research papers of SM, with the goal of providing an overall overview of SM research trends, as well as identifying the critical time of having major breakthroughs and evolution of the corresponding research works by comparing the research themes across the longitudinal timeline. A thematic analysis was used to determine the keywords and main themes of the research on SM in various time frames, as well as the perspectives on how the research works in relation to current technology and dynamic changes. Finally, the three stages of SM research were determined based on the overall results. Furthermore, this article demonstrates the research directions and advancements of SM in 2020, presenting the most recent research trends in SM to both industry and academia.

Bereketoglu, Ceyhun; Pradhan, Ajay

doi: 10.1007/s11356-022-19594-0pmid: 35303231

This review aims to understand the impacts of plasticizers on the thyroid system of animals and humans. The thyroid gland is one of the earliest endocrine glands that appear during embryogenesis. The thyroid gland synthesizes thyroid hormones (TH), triiodothyronine (T3), and thyroxine (T4) that are important in the regulation of body homeostasis. TH plays critical roles in regulating different physiological functions, including metabolism, cell growth, circadian rhythm, and nervous system development. Alteration in thyroid function can lead to different medical problems. In recent years, thyroid-related medical problems have increased and this could be due to rising environmental pollutants. Plasticizers are one such group of a pollutant that impacts thyroid function. Plasticizers are man-made chemicals used in a wide range of products, such as children’s toys, food packaging items, building materials, medical devices, cosmetics, and ink. The increased use of plasticizers has resulted in their detection in the environment, animals, and humans. Studies indicated that plasticizers could alter thyroid function in both animals and humans at different levels. Several studies demonstrated a positive and/or negative correlation between plasticizers and serum T4 and T3 levels. Plasticizers could also change the expression of various TH-related genes and proteins, including thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH), and transporters. Histological analyses demonstrated thyroid follicular cell hypertrophy and hyperplasia in response to several plasticizers. In conclusion, plasticizers could disrupt TH homeostasis and the mechanisms of toxicity could be diverse.