Variations and driving mechanisms of desertification in the southeast section of the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Zone.

Desertification seriously restricts sustainable development in the arid-semiarid areas of the eastern section of the China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Zone, especially in China and Mongolia. In this study, the potential range of desertification was bounded. Spatio-temporal dynamics from 2000 to 2020 were analyzed using best-performing indices (fvc, albedo and LST). Further analysis focused on the driving factors resulting in desertification. The research showed that the potential range of desertification accounted for 50.99 % of the entire region, mainly distributed in central and western parts of Inner Mongolia, and central and southern parts of Mongolia. From 2000 to 2020, desertification in the entire study area improved, with a 2.23 % decrease in the area of severe and extremely severe desertification. Among the studied countries, the grades of desertification in China decreased over the years of study; the area of desertification in Mongolia expanded. The study also indicated that the restoration regions were affected mainly by climatic factor sand human activities, and the degradation area was driven primarily by human activities. Therefore, it is essential to formulate a reasonable land policy for desertification control.

Impacts of utilization patterns of cellulosic C5 sugar from cassava straw on bioethanol production through life cycle assessment.

Integrated processes of whole plant cassava bioethanol production using full components including cellulosic C5 sugar are proposed. The impacts of different utilization patterns of cellulosic C5 sugar on bioethanol production are investigated by life cycle assessment. Results show that for cassava straw bioethanol, process using cellulosic C5 sugar performs better, and the NER, renewability and GWP (global warming potential) are 0.94, 1.09 and 2929 kg CO2 eq. The integrated process WPC-2 that the cellulosic C5 sugar mash is fermented together with the cassava starch, is a better cellulosic C5 sugar utilization pattern with NER 1.49, renewability 2.20 and GWP 1579 kg CO2 eq. The process WPC-2 shows the potential to approach cassava bioethanol in terms of energy and environmental emissions. The downstream products are investigated and the E85 fuel from WPC-2 has higher application potential.