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This study examines who are the social actors in coordinating the environmental hot spots along the process of desalination. The integrated model design of life cycle modeling and Social Network Analysis is evaluated holistically by the inventory of life cycle and actor engagement ratings. Instances of the first small-scale reverse osmosis desalination plant project in Kelantan, Malaysia were used to meet the demands of this study. Environmental performance is measured through the Eco-Indicator 99 method in the Life Cycle Assessment Principles. Meanwhile, the network analysis of the actors’ networks involves stakeholders visualized through the UCINET software. The results show three hotspot points of membrane and brine disposal, the use of electrical energy, and the use of chemicals. The results acknowledged that 87 percent of the actors’ involvement from the dominant stakeholder group has been in control of the management and of the aforementioned hotspot. Undoubtedly, the results of this study can provide a better understanding of the potential market of actors to work with a more accurate and polycentric information flow for the development of more established desalination systems. This intriguing research will require further exploration in future studies.

Phosphorus (P) in the waste at Terengganu can be identified by the heterogeneity of waste sources present at the waste disposal collected, the technology used, location of disposal and the management depends on microbial waste decomposition operations. The diversion of phosphorus out of the waste disposal sites is associated with the presence of low phosphorus inflows due to reduction, recycling and waste recovery activities outside of the landfill system. This finding motivates the socioeconomic characterization of the actors (players) and the identification of management strategies developed by the stakeholders. Thus, the purpose of this study was to identify the nutrient element of phosphorus in the waste disposal site and investigate whether stakeholders were aware of phosphorus and phosphorus credit related to local economic circulars and to examine possible ways of managing phosphorus in the waste source by small waste players in Terengganu. The design of this study was qualitative, involving face-to-face interviews with the stakeholders and a corresponding analysis of their responses. The findings revealed lack of knowledge and awareness by actors regarding the element phosphorus, the causes and sources of phosphorus generation as well as the effects of phosphorus on environmental sustainability. This study highlights useful factors to guide future management decisions and educational programs as well as further research, to disseminate information concerning phosphorus recovery among actors involved in waste management at Terengganu.

Energy in maize productivity is an important parameter that is often used as a stabilization indicator in sustainable agricultural management. The production of maize contributed 25 percent of the total crop production in Terengganu, Malaysia. The purpose of this study is to examine the extent of the effectiveness of the Giddens Structural Theory-based Material Flow Analysis approach in creating an eco-friendly, sustainable and green economy through energy flow for maize production management. A total of 10 farms exceeding 50 hectares of land were involved as study samples, and the biomass energy from maize production waste was selected as a parameter of the study. The data was analyzed using the SubTANce Analysis (STAN) 2.5, ArcGIS and Microsoft Excel software packages. The results of the study show a continuous and significant relationship in the acquisition of biomass energy flow data in the proposed integrated framework model. These results support the fact that in the maize waste production the biomass energy balance data can be evaluated through a computational and correlative calculation method. The conclusion of this study also identified the change agents involved concretely in developing a more efficient and effective governance system for the management of maize productivity and its residual waste.

Environmental pollution in the pottery industry is a severe problem, particularly dust and smoke pollution from the building-pottery industry. The main objectives of this study are to quantify the carbon emissions and solid-waste generation from the life cycle of pottery production in Yunnan. This study was carried out between November 2020 and May 2021. LCA was used, and 1 kg of pottery was used as the functional unit. There is a lot of literature to obtain data on the carbon emissions and solid waste generated in the process of pottery production for reference and calculation. This study forces the extraction of raw materials to the processing point, the device boundary of the pottery-production process. Carbon emissions in the pottery-production process account for about 80% of the whole pottery life cycle. Moreover, a large amount of solid waste is mainly produced as a result of the waste and production process. It is recommended that the serious pollution-causing combustion system should be reformed. The enterprise’s waste can be recycled. Most of the waste products can only be used as construction filling, and a small amount of the waste products can be used as hard materials in proportion after crushing.

Seawater desalination is an alternative technology to provide safe drinking water and to solve water issues in an area having low water quality and limited drinking water supply. Currently, reverse osmosis (RO) is commonly used in the desalination technology and experiencing significant growth. The aim of this study was to analyze the environmental impacts of the seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) plant installed in Kampung Pantai Senok, Kelantan, as this plant was the first installed in Malaysia. The software SimaPro 8.5 together with the ReCiPe 2016 database were used as tools to evaluate the life cycle assessment (LCA) of the SWRO plant. The results showed that the impact of global warming (3.90 kg CO2 eq/year) was the highest, followed by terrestrial ecotoxicity (1.62 kg 1,4-DCB/year) and fossil resource scarcity (1.29 kg oil eq/year). The impact of global warming was caused by the natural gas used to generate the electricity, mainly during the RO process. Reducing the environmental impact can be effectively achieved by decreasing the electricity usage for the seawater desalination process. As a suggestion, electricity generation can be overcome by using a high-flux membrane with other suitable renewable energy for the plant such as solar and wind energy.

The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) system, which can be used as a decision support tool for managing environmental sustainability, includes carbon footprint assessment as one of the available methodologies. In this study, a carbon footprint assessment was used to investigate seawater production systems of a desalination plant in Senok, Kelantan, Malaysia. Three stages of the desalination plant processing system were investigated and the inventory database was developed using the relevant model framework. Subsequently, measurements and interpretations were performed on several key indicators such as greenhouse gases, energy efficiency, acidic gases, smog, and toxic gases. Overall, the results of the study indicate that the Reverse Osmosis (RO) technology that is used in the desalination plant in the study area is one of the best options to meet the demands of the environmental sustainability agenda (SDGs). This is due to the lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emission, of about 3.5 × 10−2 kg of CO2 eq per m3/year, that was recorded for the entire operation of the system. However, several factors that influence important errors in carbon footprint decisions, such as the lack of EIA reporting data and the literature on carbon footprint in the Malaysian scenario, in addition to direct and indirect carbon input calculations, need to be identified in more detail in future research.

PurposeCarbon footprint calculation is one of the approaches available in the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) system, which can be considered as a decision support tool for environmental sustainability management. Hence, this purpose of this study is to examine the potential contribution of the product, namely water through carbon footprint measurement. Seawater has been selected as the source for clean water transformation in Senak due to its ability to meet the growing demands of the local population and its ability to be recycled in the long term.MethodsIn this study, carbon footprint assessment was used to investigate seawater production systems from a desalination plant in Senok, Kelantan, Malaysia. Three stages of the desalination plant processing system have been investigated and the inventory database has been developed using the relevant model framework. The LCA method, in accordance with ISO14040-43 guidelines has been simplified with working unit selected is 1 per cubic meter of treated water produced from a salt water desalination source.Results and discussionOverall, the results of the study indicate that the Revolutionary Osmotic (RO) technology that has been used in the desalination plant in the study area is one of the best options to meet the demands of the environmental sustainability agenda (SDGs). This is due to a lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emission of about 3.5 × 10−2 kg of CO2 eq per m3/year that has been recorded for the entire operation of the system. The other pollutants involved the emission of NOx and Sox, which were considered to be insignificant. However, if the plant continues to operate completely on fossil fuel for the next 25 years, the emission is expected to affect the health of the community.ConclusionsSeveral factors that influence important errors in carbon footprint decisions such as the lack of EIA reporting data and the literature on carbon footprint in the Malaysian scenario. The total dependency of electrical source for SWRO process of fossil fuel is the most critical factor in the carbon footprint issue in this study. These findings can be used to develop a carbon footprint model that can commercialise carbon tax, carbon economy capital, energy security assurance, and standard carbon regulation and legislation in the context of local desalination projects.