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Sustainability of Bioenergy Production and Consumption towards Carbon Neutrality
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Sustainability of Bioenergy Production and Consumption towards Carbon Neutrality

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Bioeconomy of Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2023) | Viewed by 10220

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Muhammad Farooq

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore 54840, Pakistan
Interests: waste to energy; carbon capture; regeneration of adsorbents; sustainable environment; biomass utilization; waste management; environmental pollution
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Abdul-Sattar Nizami

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Sustainable Development Study Centre (SDSC) Government College University, Lahore 54840, Pakistan
Interests: sustainable development goals; life cycle assessment; waste to energy; biomass energy production
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Muhammad Imran

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Mechanical, Biomedical and Design Engineering, College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK
Interests: thermal management; thermal energy storage/systems; computational fluid dynamics; sustainable environment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are designed to revolutionize societies to prepare for the future challenges. However, the practical implementation of these goals in many domains has yet to be achieved despite their singular importance. Sustainable energy production (aligned with SDG 7), sustainable waste services (aligned with SDG 11), and mitigating climate change impacts (aligned with SDG 13) have been the prime focus among the SDGs. The scarcity of fossil fuels and the degradation of our environment are the major contributors towards the prompt and necessary development of technology—especially technologies to support the sustainability of renewable energy generation and consumption towards carbon-neutral processes. Many developing and/or emerging economies have agriculture-based economies, and the production of crops at large scale leads to the generation of a byproduct known as biomass, which is considered waste at a global level. Waste management has been a neglected sector in emerging and developing regions worldwide. Uncontrolled open dumping sites are a threat to the environment, and in addition to all these recurring issues, the current energy demands lead to a need to tap renewable energy resources. This Special Issue aims to contribute to the sustainable sources for the clean and green energy production for a carbon-neutral cycle. The main topics of interest for this Special Issue include, but are not limited to:

  • Bioenergy and Sustainable Development Goals;
  • Low-carbon technologies;
  • Bioenergy transition and its barriers;
  • The role of bioenergy and carbon efficiency for the Sustainable Development Goals;
  • Assessment of sustainable biomass resources for carbon neutral cycle;
  • Integrated approach for sustainable bioenergy production;
  • Process optimization and scale-up of WtE systems;
  • Roadmap and strategies for sustainable bioenergy deployment.

Dr. Muhammad Farooq
Dr. Abdul-Sattar Nizami
Dr. Muhammad Imran
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainable development goals
  • waste to energy
  • environmental pollution
  • climate change
  • waste management
  • low-carbon technologies

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 1934 KiB  
Article
Gas Leakage Identification and Prevention by Pressure Profiling for Sustainable Supply of Natural Gas
by Tahir Javed Butt, Muhammad Amjad, Syed Farhan Raza, Fahid Riaz, Shafiq Ahmad and Mali Abdollahian
Sustainability 2023, 15(18), 13604; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151813604 - 12 Sep 2023
Viewed by 992
Abstract
In the strive for an environmentally conscious energy sector, a sustainable supply of natural gas necessitates comprehensive strategies that prioritise the prevention of gas leakages, ensuring minimal ecological harm while harnessing the benefits of this valuable resource. Though all sectors are putting their [...] Read more.
In the strive for an environmentally conscious energy sector, a sustainable supply of natural gas necessitates comprehensive strategies that prioritise the prevention of gas leakages, ensuring minimal ecological harm while harnessing the benefits of this valuable resource. Though all sectors are putting their efforts into coping with the problems associated with the energy crisis, one of the many ways is to reduce distribution losses, particularly in the gas sector. The loss impacts include methane escaping to the environment to affect ozone, direct financial loss, non-availability of gas to the domestic, commercial, and industrial sectors, public safety hazards and indirect environmental impacts. There is a dire need to improve the natural gas distribution system, which has its own insight problems to be addressed. This work aims to investigate leakages in domestic, commercial and industrial gas distribution lines with different times, volumes and pressures using a pressure profiling technique. As a result of this investigation, around 293 million cubic feet (MMCF) of natural gas is saved, which is enough volume to feed approximately 16,000 domestic consumers for 365 days. The same energy content is equivalent to 21 million pounds of coal, which emits 64 million pounds of carbon dioxide, whereas natural gas would have 50% less CO2 emissions, and that is apart from the tangible pollution and waste associated with the use of coal. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability of Bioenergy Production and Consumption towards Carbon Neutrality)
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16 pages, 1429 KiB  
Article
Investigating the Impact of Shifting the Brick Kiln Industry from Conventional to Zigzag Technology for a Sustainable Environment
by Zain Bashir, Muhammad Amjad, Syed Farhan Raza, Shafiq Ahmad, Mali Abdollahian and Muhammad Farooq
Sustainability 2023, 15(10), 8291; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15108291 - 19 May 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3224
Abstract
The brick kiln industry is one of the largest and most highly unregulated industrial sectors in developing countries. Most of the kilns use low-quality coal as primary fuel along with small quantities of bagasse, rice husk, and wooden chips. As a result of [...] Read more.
The brick kiln industry is one of the largest and most highly unregulated industrial sectors in developing countries. Most of the kilns use low-quality coal as primary fuel along with small quantities of bagasse, rice husk, and wooden chips. As a result of inefficient methods of combustion in conventional brick kilns, such as fixed chimney Bull’s trench kilns (FCBTKs), harmful pollutants are emitted in high quantities, which ultimately deteriorate the environment and are widely in operation in Pakistan. The most prominent harmful pollutants include carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), sulphur dioxide (SO2), black carbon (BC), and particulate matter less than 2.5 microns (PM2.5). Over the years, new technologies have been adopted by developed countries for the reduction of environmental burdens. One of these technologies is induced draught zigzag kilns (IDZKs), or zigzag kilns (ZZKs), technology, which effectively improves the combustion across the path of bricks stacked in a zigzag pattern. For the mass adoption of this technology, environmental assessment and comparison of both technologies is a crucial step. Both types of kiln sites are investigated for the analysis of their emissions and their environmental impact in this work. Carbon mass balance equations are used for the calculation of emission factors. Collected inventory data is then used for the life cycle assessment of both types of kilns using open LCA (version 1.10.3) and the Eco-invent database. According to the study, ZZK technology outperforms FCBTK in all aspects. The analysis of the specific energy consumption (SEC) of fired bricks for each kiln type reveals that ZZKs require 30% less energy than the conventional FCBTK. This implies that ZZKs demand lesser fuel than FCBTKs. The zigzag technology adoption scenario, in particular, can lead to approximately 30% lower CO2 emissions, which can be further reduced by up to 80% when taking into account black carbon (BC) emissions. Additionally, the adoption of zigzag technology can result in a 35% decrease in PM2.5 emissions. The study shows that adopting ZZK technology significantly reduces impact categories, such as particulate matter formation (PMF), photochemical oxidant formation (POF), and terrestrial acidification (TA) by 63%, 93%, and 95%, respectively. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability of Bioenergy Production and Consumption towards Carbon Neutrality)
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21 pages, 7004 KiB  
Article
A Critical Analysis of the Energy Requirements of a Commercial Building Based on Various Types of Glass Insulations
by Israr Ahmed, Jamal Umer, Abdullah Altamimi, Ahmad Raza Khan Rana, Zafar A. Khan, Muhammad Imran, Muhammad Awais and Saeed Alyami
Sustainability 2023, 15(4), 2998; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15042998 - 07 Feb 2023
Viewed by 1506
Abstract
Heat loss through the building envelope comprises air leaks through the cracks and largely through the windows, which is the weakest link of the thermal envelope. Therefore, it is necessary to devise a systematic approach to analyze the rightful selection of glass for [...] Read more.
Heat loss through the building envelope comprises air leaks through the cracks and largely through the windows, which is the weakest link of the thermal envelope. Therefore, it is necessary to devise a systematic approach to analyze the rightful selection of glass for buildings. The investigation is to analyze the energy-saving potential of different glasses and their comparisons to the initial capital cost to find the payback time in terms of energy saving by using two different types of equipment. The quantitative simulation study was completed on the Hourly Analysis Program (HAP) to analyze the annual energy consumption of the HVAC system for seven glasses and two types of chilled water equipment. The results show that the performance glasses with a tint had better efficiency in terms of energy saving, with a payback time of 3–7 months. A comparison of all glasses illustrated that float glass contributes the most to the total cooling load among all glasses, which were 5.04%, 5.7%, 7.6%, and 8.9% for the N, S, E, and W orientations, respectively. Moreover, the lowest contribution of glass to the total cooling load was given by tinted double-glazed glass, which was 2%, 2.3%, 3.0%, and 3.01% for N, S, E, and W orientations, respectively. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability of Bioenergy Production and Consumption towards Carbon Neutrality)
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17 pages, 3195 KiB  
Article
Energy Production from Cattle Manure within a Life Cycle Assessment Framework: Statistical Optimization of Co-Digestion, Pretreatment, and Thermal Conditions
by Alonso Albalate-Ramírez, Mónica María Alcalá-Rodríguez, Luis Ramiro Miramontes-Martínez, Alejandro Padilla-Rivera, Alejandro Estrada-Baltazar, Brenda Nelly López-Hernández and Pasiano Rivas-García
Sustainability 2022, 14(24), 16945; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142416945 - 17 Dec 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1721
Abstract
Waste to energy processes from anaerobic digestion (WtE-AD) from cattle manure (CM) have low CH4 yields due to CM’s structural composition. The search for alternatives to increase the energy yields of these processes must consider the optimization of operating parameters within a [...] Read more.
Waste to energy processes from anaerobic digestion (WtE-AD) from cattle manure (CM) have low CH4 yields due to CM’s structural composition. The search for alternatives to increase the energy yields of these processes must consider the optimization of operating parameters within a framework of mitigating the environmental footprint. The goal of this paper is to provide a statistical optimization strategy based on experimental designs to improve CH4 yields and reduce the environmental profile of CM valorization through a WtE-AD process. Biochemical methane potential tests were conducted to determine the energetic and environmental effects that alkaline pretreatments, different AD temperatures, and co-digestion formulations with fruit and vegetable waste (FVW) have on the WtE-AD process from CM. The evaluation was conducted following a life cycle assessment approach through energy balances. The results indicate that the highest CH4 yield (384.3 mL CH4 g VS−1) and the lowest environmental impact (−0.06 kg CO2 eq kWh−1 of electricity production) were achieved with the co-digestion of CM with FVW 1:1, pretreatment with 10 g NaOH 100 g−1 of VS of CM, and a temperature of 45 °C. It was found that the CM pretreatment with NaOH substantially increases the energy profile of the WtE-AD process without compromising the environmental impact since greenhouse gas emissions in chemical production are negligible. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability of Bioenergy Production and Consumption towards Carbon Neutrality)
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Review

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23 pages, 1996 KiB  
Review
Recent Trends in Transition Metal Phosphide (TMP)-Based Seawater Electrolysis for Hydrogen Evolution
by Walid Tahri, Xu Zhou, Rashid Khan and Muhammad Sajid
Sustainability 2023, 15(19), 14389; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151914389 - 29 Sep 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1397
Abstract
Large-scale hydrogen (H2) production is an essential gear in the future bioeconomy. Hydrogen production through electrocatalytic seawater splitting is a crucial technique and has gained considerable attention. The direct seawater electrolysis technique has been designed to use seawater in place of [...] Read more.
Large-scale hydrogen (H2) production is an essential gear in the future bioeconomy. Hydrogen production through electrocatalytic seawater splitting is a crucial technique and has gained considerable attention. The direct seawater electrolysis technique has been designed to use seawater in place of highly purified water, which is essential for electrolysis, since seawater is widely available. This paper offers a structured approach by briefly describing the chemical processes, such as competitive chloride evolution, anodic oxygen evolution, and cathodic hydrogen evolution, that govern seawater electrocatalytic reactions. In this review, advanced technologies in transition metal phosphide-based seawater electrolysis catalysts are briefly discussed, including transition metal doping with phosphorus, the nanosheet structure of phosphides, and structural engineering approaches. Application progress, catalytic process efficiency, opportunities, and problems related to transition metal phosphides are also highlighted in detail. Collectively, this review is a comprehensive summary of the topic, focusing on the challenges and opportunities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability of Bioenergy Production and Consumption towards Carbon Neutrality)
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