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Pillar
Published in Andrew Braham, Sadie Casillas, Fundamentals of Sustainability in Civil Engineering, 2020
The third quantification, ocean acidification, quantifies a by-product of the natural ocean cycle where water attracts carbon dioxide. Like ozone depletion and eutrophication, ocean acidification occurs naturally, but human influence can accelerate the process, upsetting the natural equilibrium and causing significant changes in the ecosystem. In short, ocean acidification is the decrease in pH of the ocean from uptake of CO2 in the atmosphere, and can be shown through the following reaction: CO2+H2O→HCO3−+H+↔CO32−+2H+
Pillar: Environmental Sustainability
Published in Andrew Braham, Fundamentals of Sustainability in Civil Engineering, 2017
The third quantification, ocean acidification, quantifies a by-product of the natural ocean cycle where water attracts carbon dioxide. Like ozone depletion and eutrophication, ocean acidification occurs naturally, but human influence can accelerate the process, upsetting the natural equilibrium and causing significant changes in the ecosystem. In short, ocean acidification is the decrease in pH of the ocean from uptake of CO2 in the atmosphere, and can be shown in the following reaction: CO2+H2O→HCO3−+H+↔CO32−+2H+
Global Climate Change
Published in John C. Ayers, Sustainability, 2017
Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is only one part of the global carbon cycle. The carbon cycle is critical to understanding the greenhouse effect and global warming. Understanding the role of feedbacks in the climate system is essential for predicting the environmental effects of anthropogenic activity. For example, photosynthesis counteracts anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. As we pump increasing amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and temperature rises, the Earth acts more like a greenhouse and plants grow faster. Increased plant growth removes more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and stores it in plant tissue (Equation 2.1), acting as a sink by removing some, but not all, anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions. Increased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration also causes more carbon dioxide to dissolve in seawater to form carbonic acid, leading to ocean acidification (Chapter 15). Thus, photosynthesis and carbon dioxide dissolution in seawater counteract the addition of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, according to Le Chatlier’s principle. Another negative feedback that is poorly understood involves land (soil) acting as a net carbon dioxide sink, absorbing more carbon dioxide than it releases. These negative feedbacks slow the rate of accumulation of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere is still increasing, but not as fast as it would without these negative feedback loops.
Evaluating municipal solid waste management using life cycle analysis: a case study
Published in Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects, 2022
Serpil Öztaş, Suna Aliye Erses Yay, Nihal Bektaş
Acidification can be defined as the number of H+ ions produced per kg SO2 equivalent (kg SO2 eq/kg emission) raised from the pollutants such as SO2, NOx and HCL and NH3. Protons can cause acidification in terrestrial and freshwater in an environment with poor buffering capacity. As a result of this acidification, terrestrial area and freshwater ecosystems are destroyed or even extinct. Acidification potential is higher especially in S-0, where landfill is the most intense use and less in the integrated waste management system, S-4 scenario. This is due to SO2 and NOx emissions occur during energy production and transportation of SW. In S-3, where incineration is compared to compost, it appears to have a relatively higher acidification effect. S-6 that is an integrated system with the equal ratio of composting, incineration, and recycling has the lowest effect of acidification because of low landfilling ratio. Hence, S-0 has the highest effect because of 95% of landfilling ratio with the high NO2 and SO2 emissions. During the incineration process, sulfur and nitrogen in the wastes convert to SOx and NOx gases, which cause an increase in the acidification. Jeswani and Azapagic (2016) also showed in their studies that the acidification potential of incineration has higher effect than landfill.
Neutralization of acidic soil using Myxococcus xanthus: Important parameters and their implications
Published in Geosystem Engineering, 2021
MinJung Cho, SeonYeong Park, EunYoung You, ChangGyun Kim
Soil acidification has become a serious concern in many parts of the world, with negative effects on soil fertility, agricultural productivity, and global food security (Goulding, 2016; Tang et al., 2003). The acidification potential has increased due to natural weathering of bed-rocks, acid rain, deposition from anthropogenic activities, and overuse of chemical fertilizers (Whitten et al., 2000). Especially, acid rain/deposition is a severe environmental problem in an ecosystem, attributed to the emission of acidic gases such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides (Duan et al., 2016). At low soil pH, the loss of basic cations (e.g., Ca, Mg) in the soil reduces the bioavailability of macronutrients (Brady et al., 2008; de, Ni et al., 2018) and increases the proportion of the acid cations (e.g., Al, Mn), causing detrimental toxicity against ecosystem. These nutritional imbalances and toxicity in acidified soil (< pH 5.0) interferes with plant growth and vitality (Sumner & Noble, 2003; Zou et al., 2018).