This work addresses the synthesis of graphene oxide, its structural characterization, and its application in the removal of cationic surfactants from water. The synthesized graphene oxide was characterized by Raman, infrared and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopies, scanning and transmission electron microscopies, and zeta potential. After the nanomaterial structural elucidation, optimization tests, studies of kinetics, isotherm, and thermodynamics of adsorption were performed to study adsorbent/adsorbate interactions in the adsorption process of cationic surfactants on graphene oxide. Under optimized conditions, graphene oxide showed the highest removal potential for the pyridinium-containing surfactant (2083 mg/g), followed by the benzyl-containing surfactant (431 mg/g) and the tetrakyl surfactant (329 mg/g), suggesting that electrostatic, hydrophobic, and cation-π interactions are common in the process, but pyridinium-π and π-π interactions are stronger. In addition, the adsorbent, under optimized conditions, compared with other sorbents described in the literature, presented higher potential adsorption.

The effect of char addition on the digestion of animal by-products was evaluated as a way for enhancing the performance of the process. Two different types of carbonaceous materials were tested as carbon conductive elements to improve biological treatment. One was derived from a torrefaction process intended for increasing the energy density of lignocellulosic biomass, and the other was obtained from a hydrothermal carbonisation process. In this research, batch digestion systems of animal waste samples were evaluated at a volatile solid (VS) ratio of 1:1 inoculum–substrate (where the content of the substrate in the system was 1.69 ± 0.2 g). The system reported a baseline methane yield of 380 L CH₄ kg VS⁻¹ which increased on average to 470 L CH₄ kg VS⁻¹ following to the addition of char. The presence of char allowed a faster degradation of the lipid and protein material, reducing inhibitory interactions. The use of Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy was applied for elucidating the predetermination of the degradation process and bring an insight into the greater degradation potential attained when carbon materials are used for enhancing microbial performance.

Setbacks are prescribed distances from surface waters within which manure application is not allowed. Little information is available concerning the retention of swine slurry constituents in soil and crop residue materials within setback areas. This study was conducted to measure the retention of selected constituents within a setback area following the upslope application of swine slurry and the introduction of simulated rainfall. The no-till cropland site had a slope gradient of 4.9% and a mean winter wheat residue cover of 7.73 Mg ha⁻¹. Soil and vegetative samples were collected on 3.7 m wide by 23.2 m long plots with and without the addition of slurry. Slurry was added at the 0–4.9 m distance on selected plots, and simulated rainfall was then applied to the entire plot area during two separate events. Soil cores and vegetative samples were collected from each plot at distances of 2.44, 5.18, 7.92, 11.0, 14.0, 17.1, and 20.1 m from the upper plot border. The soil cores were separated into 0–10, 10–20, and 20–30 cm depth increments. Significant increases in soil concentrations of chloride, nitrate, phosphorus, and zinc were found both within and downslope from the slurry application area. Residue materials located both within and downslope from the slurry application area contained significantly increased concentrations of boron, calcium, copper, magnesium, sulfur, and zinc. When estimating the downslope transport of constituents contained in swine slurry, contributions from runoff, soil, and residue should all be considered.

Wastewater pollution results in detrimental effects on ecosystems and poses human health hazards. As the human population and urbanization rates increase, so do abiotic and biotic contaminants such as Escherichia coli within natural waterways. For example, the Chicago River has been degraded by contaminants and untreated sewage from city occupants since the late 1700s. Surprisingly, water treatment of the Chicago River has not met EPA freshwater river standards for some time, creating a need for remediation alternatives. Such an alternative is mycoremediation, where fungi are used to degrade and remove water contaminants. To explore this alternative for bioremediation of contaminated waterways, this two-part study focused on the feasibility and time efficiency of mycoremediation of polluted waters through mycofiltration. In the lab-based experiment, known amounts of E. coli–inoculated water were processed through organic wheat straw with mycelia of Pleurotus ostreatus (oyster mushroom) to assess if these fungi were capable of E. coli removal and at what rates. The second part of the study replicated the lab-based experiment with water samples from the Chicago River. Results showed that mycelia treatments were able to remove significant amounts of E. coli in lab- and field-sampling-based settings (99.25% and 99.74% over 96 h respectively), and did so at higher rates within the initial 48 h. With a substantial E. coli reduction by fungal mycelia from initial colony counts over 96 h, our study demonstrated that mycoremediation may be a feasible and possible option for natural contaminant remediation.

This study contemplates the effectiveness of the cognitive CEO on corporate environmental performance for the 1058 listed Chinese firms on Shenzhen and Shanghai stock exchanges for the years 2015–2019. The contributive concept of the cognitive CEO has been demonstrated through CEO tenure, education, goodwill, and attainment of tacit knowledge while implementing the DAE statistical technique. Additionally, the corporate environmental performance has been formulated, signifying the eight environmental attributes. Convincingly, innovation is intertwined with corporate environmental responsibility, which has been analyzed as a mediator. Remarkably, our findings envisage the cognitive CEO as a promoter of corporate environmental responsibility. Meanwhile, under the patronage of the cognitive CEO, innovation output has been ascertained as a vigorous intensifier of corporate environmental performance as compared with innovation input. Moreover, firms exhibiting specific characteristics like firm age, presence of independent directors, and being a state-owned enterprise proclaim their orientation towards corporate environmental responsibility. Specifically, under the patronage of stakeholder theory, empirical results have been interpreted. Significantly, the integrity of empirical results has been authenticated via the execution of GMM instrumental regression. Lastly, the implication of the study recommends the mangers, academicians, and organizational theorists to perceive the significance of cognitive CEO who can manage the funds for both innovation and corporate environmental responsibility.

Green consumption can facilitate sustainable industrial development and improve the overall efficiency of resource utilization. In response to rapid economic development and increasing environmental emissions, it is critical to promote green consumption so that the whole society can move toward sustainable development. This study aims to systematically review studies on green consumption by means of meta-analysis, bibliometric analysis, and social network analysis. The results show that green consumption is an interdisciplinary research field, involving environmental science, social science, medical science, economics, and other disciplines. Most productive countries, institutions, authors are identified so that the new researchers in this field can find their research partners. Keywords analysis results help identify the research hotpots in this field. It is suggested that future green consumption research should focus on behavior mechanism, stakeholder coordination, and policy evaluation. In general, the results obtained from this study provide valuable information for researchers and practitioners to promote green consumption research.

Plastics are a widespread environmental problem, particularly in the form of small particles or fragments (microplastics). With the purpose of gradually replacing the use of plastics in cosmetic products (primary microplastics), the use of paraffin in microspheres has recently been applied. Paraffin waxes are composed by organic molecules usually derived from petroleum, thus assumed to be chemically and biologically inert, having a lower (eco)toxicity and residence time compared with plastic particles. However, the low ecotoxicity of paraffin waxes may be somewhat questionable, because some paraffin constituents can be absorbed and catabolized, thus exerting biological effects. The main objective of this study was to understand the potential toxic effects of paraffin microparticles on key physiological processes of the polychaete Hediste diversicolor. To attain this objective, this work assessed the acute and chronic effects of three densities (5, 20, and 80 mg L⁻¹) of four size ranges of paraffin particles (from 100 to 1200 μm) on this epibenthic organism. Although paraffin wax can be generically considered innocuous, the present study was able to demonstrate a significant inhibition in the activity of acetylcholinesterase in acutely exposed organisms and an increase in the activity of glutathione peroxidase, catalase, and glutathione S-transferase under some specific scenarios.

Energy stocks have become an essential segment of the investment portfolios of both households and institutional investors. This study investigates the dynamic aspect of evolving weak-form efficiency in six energy stock markets: those of the United States (US), Canada, China, Australia, India, and Saudi Arabia. The generalized autoregressive conditionally heteroskedastic in the mean GARCH-M(1,1) method is applied, alongside the state-space time-varying approaches with the Kalman filter estimation, to detect the evolving efficiency for periods ending in November 2019. The empirical results reveal that the studied markets undergo various extents of time-varying efficiency, containing periods of efficiency enhancement as well as periods of deviation from efficiency. Meanwhile, the 2007–2009 global financial crisis and the 2015 changes in the energy sector—in addition to other contemporaneous crises—have a profound influence on the timeline of market efficiency evolution. Overall, all of the markets gradually became more efficient, apart from India’s energy market as a result of the current energy crisis in India. Amid the energy markets explored in this study, the US energy market was found to be the most efficient.

The ecotoxicological effect of multicomponent mixtures (landfill leachate (LL) and biomass of harmful cyanobacterial bloom (cyanoHAB)) on growth and mortality of organisms belonging to different trophic levels and development stages was investigated. The effect of LL and cyanoHAB biomass on test organisms was concentration- and trophic-level-dependent, and in the case of fish, development stage–dependent. The secondary consumer Oncorhynchus mykiss and larvae of the Danio rerio proved to be most sensitive to LL additions, while Scenedesmus quadricauda, representing primary producers, to cyanoHAB exposure. The overall ecotoxic effect of both mixtures on the tested organisms varied from low (Class II) to high (Class IV). This study highlights complex and unambiguous effects of LL and cyanoHAB biomass on aquatic organisms. We suggest that the use of multiple tests on organisms belonging to different trophic levels for the assessment of the ecotoxicological risk of these mixtures may provide a better understanding of how anthropogenic pollution affects food web functioning.

Cisplatin (CP) is a highly effective chemotherapeutic agent against neoplasms, but its clinical utility is limited due to the side effects of its dose-dependent nephrotoxicity. Vitamin E (Vit E) and cod liver oil (CLO) are natural substances with chemoprotective effects. The present study was conducted to evaluate the protective effects of Vit E and/or CLO for CP-induced acute kidney injury (AKI) in rats. This study involved 40 mature male Wistar albino rats that were equally allocated into eight groups: Veh, Vit E, CLO, Vit E + CLO, CP, Vit E + CP, CLO + CP, and Vit E + CLO + CP. The co-administration of Vit E and CLO significantly ameliorated CP-induced elevations in serum creatinine (Cr), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β), and interleukin- 6 (IL-6). Further, rats that received Vit E and/or CLO showed significant decrease in malondialdehyde (MDA) and increases in superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione (GSH) levels in renal tissues, compared to CP-intoxicated rats. Additionally, the treatment restored the normal histological architecture (except for few cast formations) and upregulated the immunostaining area% of aquaporin 3 (AQP3) and downregulated the immunostaining area% of Bcl2 associated X protein (BAX) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). The observed effects were stronger in the combination treatment group. The obtained data revealed that Vit E and CLO co-administration protects against the CP-induced AKI more than monotherapy with Vit E or CLO.