Pavani Dulanja Dissanayake

Korea University | KU · University of Wuppertal Germany

One-third of the annual food produced globally is wasted and much of the food waste (FW) is unutilized; however, FW can be valorized into value-added industrial products such as biofuel, chemicals, and biomaterials. Converting FW into soil amendments such as compost, vermicompost, anaerobic digestate, biofertilizer, biochar, and engineered biochar...

Metal halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have gained extensive attention in the field of solar photovoltaic technology over the past few years. Despite being a remarkable alternative to fossil fuels, solar cells may have detrimental effects on the environment and human health owing to the use of toxic materials during manufacturing. Although mode...

Humanity needs innovative ways to combat the environmental burden caused by food waste, which is one of the critical global issues. We proposed food waste-derived engineered biochar (FWDEB) for CO2 capture from the life cycle perspective. FWDEB samples were prepared by carbonization and chemical activation for CO2 adsorption. FW400-KOH600(2), carbo...

Biochar application is a promising strategy for the remediation of contaminated soil, while ensuring sustainable waste management. Biochar remediation of heavy metal (HM)-contaminated soil primarily depends on the properties of the soil, biochar, and HM. The optimum conditions for HM immobilization in biochar-amended soils are site-specific and var...

The addition of thermally conductive nanomaterials is an effective strategy for increasing the thermal conductivity of phase change materials (PCMs). However, nanomaterials are expensive and may significantly reduce the latent heat capacity of PCMs. In this study, low-cost and eco-friendly biochar microparticles were prepared from garlic stems, a c...

Accumulation of microplastics (MPs) in agricultural environments has caused growing concern in recent years because of its detrimental impacts on soil quality, crop productivity, and ecosystem function. This study was conducted to assess the impact of biochar on soil chemical and microbial properties in a MP‐contaminated soil under two moisture reg...

Increase of atmospheric CO2 concentration, a key driver of global warming and climate change, has become an increasing environmental and economic concern over the past decades. Biochar has been identified as a promising sorbent for capturing CO2, owing to its low-cost, eco-friendliness, high porosity, and easiness to modify surface structure. Vario...

Value-added materials such as biochar and activated carbon that are produced using thermo-chemical conversion of organic waste have gained an emerging interest for the application in the fields of energy and environment because of their low cost and unique physico-chemical properties. Organic waste-derived materials have multifunctional abilities i...

Anaerobic fermentation (AF) is a widely used process for the transformation of organic waste into biogas. However, despite its ubiquitous use, it has several limiting factors, including low yield, redox imbalance, high concentration of inhibitors, and a long retention time. Integration of pyrolysis with AF improves efficiency and facilitates effect...

Anaerobic digestion produces biogas, a mixture of CH4 and CO2, where CH4 is a low cost, environmentally friendly, and renewable energy source. The application of biogas production is increasing rapidly as a means of reducing the pollution impact of organic biomasses. However, biogas contains unwanted elements such as hydrogen sulfide, carbon monoxi...

The accumulation of microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems has raised concerns because of their adverse effects on ecosystem functions and human health. Plastic waste management has become a universal problem in recent years. Hence, sustainable plastic waste management techniques are vital for achieving the...

With technological advancements, many interconnected environmental issues have been worsening, including soil, water, and air pollution, climate change, loss of biodiversity, and over-exploitation of natural resources. With the inception of the term “sustainable development”, many market participants, including institutional and private investors,...

Biomass waste-derived porous carbons (BWDPCs) are a class of complex materials that are widely used in sustainable waste management and carbon capture. However, their diverse textural properties, the presence of various functional groups, and the varied temperatures and pressures to which they are subjected during CO 2 adsorption make it challengin...

The presence of emerging pollutants especially hazardous chemicals and pharmaceuticals in aquatic environments is a matter of grave concern to human health and the environment. In this study, coffee bean waste (CBW) was utilized to synthesize pristine (CBW550) and activated (CBW550HPO) biochars for the elimination of diclofenac (DF) and levofloxaci...

Coconut is a versatile crop that provides useful products from every part of the palm. Traditionally, most of the coconut products are used in day today life in most of the tropical countries where coconut is widely grown. With the commercialization of coconut industry, mainly coconut-based food products gained more attention resulting in numerous...

A wood waste-derived biochar was applied to food-waste anaerobic digestion to evaluate the feasibility of its utilisation to create a circular economy. This biochar was first purposed for the upgrading of the biogas from the said anaerobic digestion, before treating and recovering the nutrients in the solid fraction of the digestate, which was fina...

Here we developed the functionalized biochar as low-cost and heavy metal-free photocatalysts via a facile iodine doping method, which exhibit efficient adsorption and visible-light-driven photocatalytic degradation of representative organic pollutants, phenol and tetracycline. On one hand, iodine doping elevates the adsorption via creating extra po...

Pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) are a group of emerging contaminants frequently detected in water and wastewater. Conventional water treatment processes are not specifically designed for PPCP removal. Thus, advanced materials and technologies are required to eliminate PPCPs to ensure water safety. This review provides an overview...

The exploitation of green and renewable energy sources is imperative due to the environmental pollution produced by the massive use of non-renewable fossil energy. Hydrogen is a promising clean fuel since it exhibits high energy density and causes no secondary pollution. The photocatalytic production of H2 from water splitting has gained immense at...

Biochar has recently been used for recovering nutrients from waste streams including source-separated human urine. The increased consumption of pharmaceuticals has been a subject of concern as some of the compounds are not completely metabolized and consequently present in human urine. As urine contains both nutrients and pharmaceuticals, biochar a...

Landfilling and open burning of biomass wastes lead to adverse environmental impacts. A potential means to valorize such wastes can be achieved through thermal conversion to biochar, and applying the produced biochar as admixture in cementitious construction materials. This article aims to investigate the influence of biochar from different lignoce...

The CO2 concentration in the atmosphere is increasing and threatening the earth's climate. Selective CO2 capture at large point sources will help reduce the CO2 emissions to the atmosphere. Biochar with microporous structure could be a potential material to capture CO2. The impact of feedstock type, pyrolysis temperature and steam activation of bio...

Eutrophication of natural water is a universal problem. Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) from agricultural runoff are the main sources of nutrient input, provided that emissions from industrial point sources (IPS) are under control. Therefore, it is of great environmental importance to reduce pollution associated with agricultural runoff as a means...

Extensive energy consumption has become a major concern due to increase of greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. Hence, hydrogen has attracted attention as a green fuel with zero carbon emission for green transportation through production of electric vehicles with hydrogen fuel cells. South Korea has launched a hydrogen society policy with t...

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the main anthropogenic greenhouse gas contributing to global warming, causing tremendous impacts on the global ecosystem. Fossil fuel combustion is the main anthropogenic source of CO2 emissions. Biochar, a porous carbonaceous material produced through the thermochemical conversion of organic materials in oxygen-depleted con...

Biochar is newly proposed as an innovative and cost-effective material to capture CO2. In this study, biochar was produced from feedstock mixtures of food waste and wood waste (i.e., 20%:80% WFW20, 30%:70% WFW30 and 40%:60% WFW40) by gasification. The two biochar adsorbents containing the highest percentage of food waste, i.e., WFW40-K and WFW40-KC...

Increasing nutrient inputs into terrestrial cropping system has been a major contributor in enhancing the productivity of agricultural systems. While fertilizers play a key role in yield enhancement they have an impact on below ground microbial community. A pot experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of applying inorganic fertilizer alone a...

Nitrification is one of the important microbial processes that govern the availability of nitrogen for plants. A pot experiment was conducted to assess the effect of sodium chloride (NaCl) application together with Adult Palm Mixture (APM) on nitrification rates of a coconut growing Sandy Regosol (Aquic Quartzipsamments) and to determine the leachi...

Introduction Intensification of agriculture with heavy and long-term use of inorganic fertilizers leads to loss of plant nutrients from soil through leaching and subsequent contamination of groundwater and surface water. In Kalpitiya Peninsula, vegetable cultivation is practised with adding high doses of fertilizers than recommended by the Departme...

Chemical fertilizers, particularly nitrogen based fertilizers are known to contaminate soil, food and water and affect environmental health. This study was conducted to assess the impact of different fertilizer application practices on the nitrate (NO 3-) accumulation in selective crops under controlled conditions and levels of NO 3-in well water i...