Waste Valorisation

4Valorisation of Agricultural Waste Residues

Srinivas Mettu^1,2,3,, Pobitra Halder², Savankumar Patel², Sazal Kundu², Kalpit Shah², Shunyu Yao¹, Zubeen Hathi³, Khai Lun Ong³, Sandya Athukoralalage², Namita Roy Choudhury², Naba Kumar Dutta², and Carol Sze Ki Lin³

Sonochemistry Group, School of Chemistry, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Melbourne, 3010, Australia

¹Chemical and Environmental Engineering, RMIT University, Victoria, Melbourne, 3000, Australia

²School of Energy and Environment (SEE), City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong

4.1 Introduction

Climate change effects are being felt throughout the world, as evidenced by extreme weather conditions and increases in average temperatures. The recent extensive and unmanageable bushfire situation in Australia (December 2019 and January 2020 in New South Wales and Victoria states) exemplifies the effects of climate change directly affecting the lives of many rural and urban communities. Millions of animals have died in these bushfires, while the surviving animals face total habitat loss and food scarcity. The total number of animals that are affected by these bushfires is still increasing and it might reach more than 1 billion animals according to some estimates (WWF‐Australia 2020). The secondary consequences of these bushfires have affected major cities in Australia such as Sydney and Melbourne. The smoke from the bushfires blanketed the two cities, causing hazardous air quality issues ...