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Sustainability
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Environmental Protection and Sustainable Ecological Engineering
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Environmental Protection and Sustainable Ecological Engineering

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Engineering and Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2024 | Viewed by 606

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Slobodan B. Mickovski

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Built Environment Asset Management Centre, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow G4 0BA, UK
Interests: nature-based solutions; ecological engineering; geoenvironmental engineering; environmental civil engineering
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Olavo F. Santos Jr.

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Centre of Technology, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte-UFRN, Natal, Brazil
Interests: geotechnical engineering; coastal erosion; natural hazards; landslide; slope stability
Dr. Alejandro Gonzalez-Ollauri

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Built Environment Asset Management Centre, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow G4 0BA, UK
Interests: ecosystem services; environmental protection; hydro-meteorological risk management; GIS; machine learning; co-design and co-deployment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Jovan Br. Papić

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Civil Engineering, Ss Cyril and Methodius University, 1000 Skopje, North Macedonia
Interests: geoenvironmental engineering; landslides; restoration; green infrastructure; soil erosion

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Environmental protection is usually defined as the practice of protecting the natural environment and is done by individuals, groups and governments. Its objectives are to conserve natural resources and the existing natural environment and, where possible, to repair damage and reverse detrimental trends. In the past few decades, ecological engineering has proved to be a powerful tool for environmental protection.  Ecological engineering is known to combine ecology and engineering to predict, design, construct or restore, and manage ecosystems which integrate human society with its natural environment for the benefit of both. In this respect, this Special Issue aims to bring together science, engineering and socio-economics related to ecological engineering employed for environmental protection. A multi-disciplinary approach is needed to address the sustainability challenges which lie at the core and define the scope of this journal.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Nature-based solutions for environmental protection.
  • Green infrastructure.
  • Soil and water bioengineering techniques for environmental protection.
  • Efficiency of ecological engineering measures.
  • Life-cycle analysis of environmental protection measures.
  • Building Information Modeling for environmental protection.
  • Geo-environmental engineering.
  • Environmental science.
  • Socio-economic analysis of environmental protection.
  • Co-design and co-creation of environmental protection measures.
  • Geo-hydrological ecoengineering design.
  • Design for resilience.
  • Use of vegetation for environmental protection.
  • Aesthetics drivers for environmental protection.
  • Mitigation of hydro-meteo hazards.
  • Geotechnical engineering.
  • Bio-stabilization and bio-reinforcement of soils.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Slobodan B. Mickovski
Prof. Dr. Olavo F. Santos Jr.
Dr. Alejandro Gonzalez-Ollauri
Dr. Jovan Br. Papic
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • environmental protection
  • sustainability
  • ecological engineering
  • green infrastructure
  • nature-based solutions
  • resilience

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

15 pages, 3391 KiB  
Article
Investigation on the Durability of a Polypropylene Geotextile under Artificial Aging Scenarios
by Philipp Scholz, Jana Falkenhagen, Volker Wachtendorf, Robert Brüll and Franz-Georg Simon
Sustainability 2024, 16(9), 3559; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su16093559 - 24 Apr 2024
Viewed by 361
Abstract
Geosynthetics are widely used in various civil engineering applications, such as geotextiles in coastal protection, and display a sustainable alternative to natural mineral materials. However, the full benefits of using geosynthetics can only be gained with a long service lifetime of the products. [...] Read more.
Geosynthetics are widely used in various civil engineering applications, such as geotextiles in coastal protection, and display a sustainable alternative to natural mineral materials. However, the full benefits of using geosynthetics can only be gained with a long service lifetime of the products. With the use of added stabilizers to the polymers, service lifetimes can be achieved in the range of 100 years. Therefore, accelerated aging methods are needed for the assessment of the long-term performance of geotextiles. In the present study, the behavior of geosynthetic materials made of polypropylene was investigated under artificial aging conditions involving elevated temperatures ranging from 30 to 80 °C, increased oxygen pressures ranging from 10 to 50 bar in water-filled autoclaves, and UV irradiation under atmospheric conditions. ATR-IR spectroscopy was employed to detect the increase in the carbonyl index over various aging durations, indicating the oxidative degradation of the geotextile. The most pronounced increase was observed in the case of aging through UV irradiation, followed by thermal aging. Elevated pressure, on the other hand, had a lower impact on oxidation. High-temperature size exclusion chromatography was utilized to follow the reduction in molar mass under different degradation conditions, and the results were consistent with those obtained from ATR-IR spectroscopy. In polyolefins such as polypropylene, Hindered Amine Stabilizers (HAS) are used to suppress oxidation caused by UV radiation. The quantitative analysis of HAS was carried out using a UV/Vis method and HPLC. The degradation of UV stabilizers during the aging of geotextiles is responsible for the oxidation and the reduction in the molar mass of polypropylene. From the results, it can be concluded that applications of PP geotextile without soil or sand cover might cause the risk of the formation of microplastic particles. Material selection, design, and maintenance of the construction must follow best practices, including the system’s removal or replacement at end-of-life. Otherwise, a sustainable use of geotextiles in civil engineering is not possible. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Environmental Protection and Sustainable Ecological Engineering)
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