Renewable Energies in the Agricultural Sector: A Perspective Analysis of the Last Three Years

Renewable energy arises as a tool for the supply of energy to the agriculture sector. Currently, there is a growing concern for the environment. This circumstance has led to technological progress in energy use in relation to natural resources and their availability for all productive sectors, including agriculture. The main objective of this work is to perform analysis from a bibliometric point of view and to analyze scientific advances in renewable energy and agriculture worldwide that have occurred in the last three years (2019–2021). The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of the last three years on the topic in order to contribute to the international scientific community, specifically towards collaboration between authors, institutions, and countries. A keyword analysis using community detection was applied to detect the five main clusters of this research and was largely dedicated to the following topics: renewable energy technologies in agriculture, bioenergy, sustainable agriculture, biomass energy, and the environmental impact of agriculture. The main countries found to be conducting research on renewable energy and agriculture include India, China, the United States, Italy, the United Kingdom, Poland, Indonesia, Germany, the Russian Federation, and Spain; the most important institutions conducting research in this area include the Ministry of Agriculture of the People’s Republic of China, the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers at the National Research University in Uzbekistan, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and the Grupo de Investigação em Engenharia e Computação Inteligente para a Inovação e o Desenvolvimento in Portugal. These results may contribute to the identification of new research needs and therefore to the development of future directions of research on renewable energies in the agricultural sector

Renewable Energies in the Agricultural Sector: A Perspective Analysis of the Last Three Years

Renewable energy arises as a tool for the supply of energy to the agriculture sector. Currently, there is a growing concern for the environment. This circumstance has led to technological progress in energy use in relation to natural resources and their availability for all productive sectors, including agriculture. The main objective of this work is to perform analysis from a bibliometric point of view and to analyze scientific advances in renewable energy and agriculture worldwide that have occurred in the last three years (2019–2021). The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of the last three years on the topic in order to contribute to the international scientific community, specifically towards collaboration between authors, institutions, and countries. A keyword analysis using community detection was applied to detect the five main clusters of this research and was largely dedicated to the following topics: renewable energy technologies in agriculture, bioenergy, sustainable agriculture, biomass energy, and the environmental impact of agriculture. The main countries found to be conducting research on renewable energy and agriculture include India, China, the United States, Italy, the United Kingdom, Poland, Indonesia, Germany, the Russian Federation, and Spain; the most important institutions conducting research in this area include the Ministry of Agriculture of the People’s Republic of China, the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers at the National Research University in Uzbekistan, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, and the Grupo de Investigação em Engenharia e Computação Inteligente para a Inovação e o Desenvolvimento in Portugal. These results may contribute to the identification of new research needs and therefore to the development of future directions of research on renewable energies in the agricultural sector

TiO₂-La₂O₃ as Photocatalysts in the Degradation of Naproxen

The indiscriminate use of naproxen as an anti-inflammatory has been the leading cause of pollution in sewage effluents. Conversely, titanium dioxide is one of the most promising photocatalyst for the degradation of pollutants. Ti-La mixed oxides containing 0, 1, 3, 5, and 10 wt.% of lanthanum were synthetized by sol-gel and tested as photocatalysts in the degradation of naproxen (NPX). The materials were further characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), nitrogen physisorption (BET), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV-Vis and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The XRD patterns resembled that of anatase titania. The Eg values, determined from the UV-Vis spectra, vary from 2.07 to 3.2 eV corresponded to pure titania. The photocatalytic activity of these materials showed a degradation of naproxen from 93.6 to 99.8 wt.% after 4 h under UV irradiation