Plastic products are items that we use every day around us, and their replacement speed are very fast, so that to recycle waste plastic has become the focus of environmental problems. This study has proposed an optimized circular design for the recycle plant of waste plastic, therefore, and our proposed strategy is to build a new tertiary recycling plant to reduce the total generation amount of the derived solid plastic waste from ordinary and secondary recycling plants and the semi-finished products from secondary recycling plant. Results obtained from a real recycle plant has showed that to recycle the tertiary waste plastic in a tertiary recycling plant, the finished products produced from a secondary recycling plant accounts about 27% of ordinary waste plastic, and the semi-finished products that mainly is scrap hardware accounts about 1% of ordinary waste plastic. Other derived solid plastic waste accounts for 6% of ordinary plastic waste. Therefore, if the ordinary, secondary and tertiary recycle plant can be set all-in-one, it can reduce the total generation amount of derived solid plastic waste from 34% to 6%, without and with a tertiary recycling plant, respectively. It can also increase the operating income of the secondary recycle plant and the investment willingness of the new tertiary recycle plant.
Blockchain technology is poised to significantly transform the corporate world, heralding a new era of innovation and efficiency. Over the past few years, its impact has been noted by leaders, academics, and government representatives around the globe this growing interest underscores businesses’ need to evolve and reconsider traditional operational models. To remain competitive, organizations must embrace this change. Before introducing such ground-breaking technology, it is crucial to assess the motivations of primary stakeholders concerning its implementation. This study looks into what influences the use of Blockchain technology in the oil and gas sector, primarily using a quantitative survey of Iraqi oil and gas companies. A questionnaire was distributed among 250 top-level managers, senior executives, project managers, and IT managers for analyzing the data, the study employs the Structural Equation Modelling-Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) technique, with Smart PLS for data processing. The findings suggest that the intention to utilise blockchain technology is influenced by one’s attitude towards it. Competitive pressure (environmental factors), functional benefit, and privacy/security (technological factors) significantly affect blockchain adoption intention. Nevertheless, there was no discernible correlation between regulatory backing and the desire to use Blockchain. Additionally, cost concern and perceived risk (organizational factors) two factors contribute negatively to the perception of blockchain technology. Besides the direct relationship, the findings revealed that attitude toward blockchain technology mediate the relationship between cost concern, perceived risk, and intention to adopt Blockchain. Built upon the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) model and the Theory of Reasoned Action, this research offers a comprehensive framework for investigating the intention to adopt blockchain technology. The results enhance both theoretical understanding and practical implementation by providing valuable insights into the emerging area of blockchain adoption intentions.
The developmental and advancement of engineering vis-à-vis scientific and technological research and development (R&D) has contributed immensely to sustainable development (SD) initiatives, but our future survival and development are hampered by this developmental and advancement mechanism. The threat posed by current engineering vis-à-vis scientific and technological practices is obvious, calling for a paradigm change that ensures engineering as well as scientific and technological practices are focused on SD initiatives. In order to promote sound practices that result in SD across all economic sectors, it is currently necessary to concentrate on ongoing sustainable engineering vis-à-vis scientific and technological education. Hence, this perspective review article will attempt to provide insight from Sub-Saharan Africa (Nigeria to be specific) about how engineering vis-à-vis scientific and technological R&D should incorporate green technologies in order to ensure sustainability in the creation of innovations and practices and to promote SD and a green economy. Furthermore, the study highlights the importance as well as prospects and advancements of engineering vis-à-vis scientific and technological education from the in Sub-Saharan Africa context.
To achieve the energy transition and carbon neutrality targets, governments have implemented multiple policies to incentivize electricity suppliers to invest in renewable energy. Considering different government policies, we construct a renewable energy supply chain consisting of electricity suppliers and electricity retailers. We then explore the impact of four policies on electricity suppliers’ renewable energy investments, environmental impacts, and social welfare. We validated the results based on data from Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China. The results show that government subsidy policies are more effective in promoting electricity suppliers to invest in renewable energy as consumer preferences increase, while no-government policies are the least effective. We also show that electricity suppliers are most profitable under the government subsidy policy and least profitable under the carbon cap-and-trade policy. Besides, our results indicate that social welfare is the worst under the carbon cap-and-trade policy. With the increase in carbon intensity and renewable energy quota, social welfare is the highest under the subsidy policy. However, the social welfare under the renewable energy portfolio standard is optimal when the renewable energy quota is low.
In engineering, a design is best described based on its alternative performance operation. In this paper, an electric power plant is analysed based on its effective operational performance even during critical situation or crisis. Data is generated and analysed using both quantitative and qualitative research approach. During maintenance operation of an electric power plant, some components are susceptible to wide range of issues or crises. These includes natural disasters, supply chain disruptions, cyberattacks, and economic downturns. These crises significantly impact power plant operations and its maintenance strategies. Also, the reliable operation of power plants is often challenged by various technical, operational, and environmental issues. In this research, an investigation is conducted on the problems associated with electric power plants by proposing a comprehensive and novel framework to maintenance the power plant during crises. Based on the achieved results discussed, the framework impact and contribution are the integration of proactive maintenance planning, resilient maintenance strategies, advanced technologies, and adaptive measures to ensure the reliability and resilience of electric power plant during power generation operations in the face of unforeseen challenges/crisis. Hypothetical inferences are used ranging from mechanical failures to environmental constraints. The research also presents a structured approach to ensure continuous operation and effective maintenance in the electric power plant, particularly during crisis (such as environmental issues and COVID-19 pandemic issues).
Copyright © by EnPress Publisher. All rights reserved.