Cadmium (Cd) uptake and accumulation in crop plants, especially in wheat (Triticum aestivum) and rice (Oryza sativa) is one of the main concerns for food security worldwide. A field experiment was done to investigate the effects of limestone, lignite, and biochar on growth, physiology and Cd uptake in wheat and rice under rotation irrigated with raw effluents. Initially, each treatment was applied alone at 0.1% and combined at 0.05% each and wheat was grown in the field and then, after wheat harvesting, rice was grown in the same field without additional application of amendments. Results showed that the amendments applied increased the grain and straw yields as well as gas exchange attributes compared to the control. In both crops, highest Cd concentrations in straw and grains and total uptake were observed in control treatments while lowest Cd concentrations was observed in limestone + biochar treatment. No Cd concentrations were detected in wheat grains with the application of amendments except limestone (0.1%). The lowest Cd harvest index was observed in limestone + biochar and lignite + biochar treatments for wheat and rice respectively. Application of amendments decreased the AB-DTPA extractable Cd in the soil while increasing the Cd immobilization index after each crop harvest. The benefit-cost ratio and Cd contents in plants revealed that limestone + biochar treatment might be an effective amendment for increasing plant growth with lower Cd concentrations.

Ammonia (NH₃) emissions, the majority of which arise from livestock production, are linked to high concentration of PM₂.₅ and lower air quality in China. NH₃ mitigation options were well studied at the small-scale (laboratory or pilot), however, they lack of a large-scale test in China. This study fills this crucial gap by evaluating the cost-benefit of pioneering NH₃ mitigation projects carried out for a whole county – Sheyang, Jiangsu province, China. Measures were implemented in 2019 following two distinct strategies, improved manure treatment for industrial livestock farms, and collection and central treatment for traditional livestock farms. Emission reductions of 16% were achieved in a short time. While this is remarkable, it falls short of expectations from small-scale studies. If measures were fully implemented according to purpose and meet expectations from the small scale, higher emission reductions of 42% would be possible. The cost benefit analysis presented in this study demonstrated advantages of central manure treatment over in-farm facilities. With improved implementation of mitigation strategies in industrial livestock farms, traditional livestock farms may play an increasing role in total NH₃ emissions, which means such farms either need to be included in future NH₃ mitigation policies or gradually replaced by industrial livestock farms.The study found an agricultural NH₃ reduction technology route suitable for China's national conditions (such as the “Sheyang Model”).

Routine waterway dredging activities generate huge volumes of dredged sediment. The remediation of dredged contaminated sediment is a worldwide challenge. Novel and sustainable ex-situ remediation technologies for contaminated sediment have been developed and adopted in recent years. In this review paper, the state-of-art ex-situ treatment technologies and resource utilisation methods for contaminated sediment were critically reviewed. By applying different techniques, sediment could been successfully transformed into sustainable construction materials, such as ceramsite, supplementary cementitious materials, fill materials, paving blocks, partition blocks, ready-mixed concrete, and foamed concrete. We highlighted that proper remediation technologies should be cleverly selected and designed according to the physical and chemical characteristics of sediment, without neglecting important aspects, such as cost, safety, environmental impacts, readiness level of the technology and social acceptability. The combination of different assessment methods (e.g., environmental impact assessment, cost-benefit analysis, multi-criteria decision analysis and life cycle assessment) should be employed to comprehensively evaluate the feasibility of different sustainable remediation technologies. We call on the scientific community in a multidisciplinary fashion to evaluate the sustainability of various remediation technologies for contaminated sediment.

The continued rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels is driving climate change and temperature shifts at a global scale. CO2 Capture and Storage (CCS) technologies have been suggested as a feasible option for reducing CO2 emissions and mitigating their effects. However, before CCS can be employed at an industrial scale, any environmental risks associated with this activity should be identified and quantified. Significant leakage of CO2 from CCS reservoirs and pipelines is considered to be unlikely, however direct and/or indirect effects of CO2 leakage on marine life and ecosystem functioning must be assessed, with particular consideration given to spatial (e.g. distance from the source) and temporal (e.g. duration) scales at which leakage impacts could occur. In the current mesocosm experiment we tested the potential effects of CO2 leakage on macrobenthic assemblages by exposing infaunal sediment communities to different levels of CO2 concentration (400, 1000, 2000, 10,000 and 20,000 ppm CO2), simulating a gradient of distance from a hypothetic leakage, over short-term (a few weeks) and medium-term (several months). A significant impact on community structure, abundance and species richness of macrofauna was observed in the short-term exposure. Individual taxa showed idiosyncratic responses to acidification. We conclude that the main impact of CO2 leakage on macrofaunal assemblages occurs almost exclusively at the higher CO2 concentration and over short time periods, tending to fade and disappear at increasing distance and exposure time. Although under the cautious perspective required by the possible context-dependency of the present findings, this study contributes to the cost-benefit analysis (environmental risk versus the achievement of the intended objectives) of CCS strategies.

Beach nourishment practices are a key aspect in coastal management plans for stakeholders and communities. Stemming from a concrete case-study (Tuscany), this research analyzes: (i) principal problems of current law regulating dredging, (ii) gaps in technical guidelines, (iii) advantages of integrated approaches to the decision-making process, (iv) possible applicable nourishment options and their costs and benefits. Our results show that sand compatibility is driven mainly by grain-size stability due to the occurrence of lower pollution levels in off-shore deposits than in threatened beaches, thus current laws and guidelines should be improved to fill the evident gap in the evaluation process and to include a more complete approach to data evaluation and an integrated approach to ecotoxicity evaluation, which is relevant in cases of geochemical anomalies. The cost-benefit analysis performed indicates that only dredging intended to manage more than 1millionm3 of aggregates would represent a real advantage for local communities.

In this study, a novel two-step integrated process is proposed to facilitate the microalgae biofuel production as well as fresh cheese whey wastewater (FCWW) treatment simultaneously. The pre- and post-treatment of high-strength FCWW were performed by means of coagulation and algal cultivation, respectively. The pre-treatment of FCWW for maximum removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD), turbidity (TUR) and total solids (TS) as responses was obtained by statistical optimization of coagulation parameters. The maximum removal of COD, TUR and TS at the optimum level of variables was obtained as 68.09%, 47.80% and 73.63%, respectively. The pre-treated FCWW was further treated by Chlorella pyrenoidosa and observed a significant reduction in the above-mentioned responses (87–94%). The maximum algal biomass yield and lipid productivity were observed as 2.44 g L⁻¹ and 77.41 mg L⁻¹ day⁻¹, respectively. Based on promising results of FCWW treatment and its use as a third-generation biodiesel feedstock, a cost-benefit analysis of the developed process was assessed for microalgal oil production. The total profit earned by the integrated process model was $9.59 million year⁻¹. Accordingly, the estimated production cost of algal oil (TAG) from the developed system was estimated to be $79.03 per barrel.

In this paper, we compared the costs and benefits of reducing premature mortality caused by exposure to surface ozone and particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter <2.5 μm (PM₂.₅) in East Asia in 2020. The cost of ozone and PM₂.₅emission reduction is estimated using the Greenhouse Gas and Air Pollution Interactions and Synergies (GAINS)-China model. The benefit of reducing premature mortality caused by exposure to corresponding ozone and PM₂.₅emission is valued by the value of statistical life (VSL). The costs and benefits are evaluated for two emission reduction policies in 2020 with varying stringency in China: Case FS (the strict policy implementation case in China) and Case FR (the less strict policy implementation case in China). For ozone, the emission reduction cost and the benefit of life saving are 33,000 and 8200, 36,600–99,700 and 22,200–60,700 (million int. $, 2005), for Case FS and Case FR, respectively. The corresponding cost and benefit for PM₂.₅are 3580 and 523, 292,000–797,000 and 194,000–530,000 (million int. $, 2005), respectively. In total (ozone and PM₂.₅), the respective values are 36,400 and 8720, 329,000–897,000 and 217,000–591,000 (million int. $, 2005). Owing to these large benefits and also relatively low PM control costs, the benefits of controlling PM₂.₅surpass control costs significantly. The benefit/cost ratio is especially high for PM₂.₅for both policies and highlight the priority of controlling aerosol emissions in East Asia.