Blockchain Papers

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213 papersLast indexed Aug 31, 2026
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Apr 1, 2022·Energies
15 cites
Proxy Re-Encryption-Based Traceability and Sharing Mechanism of the Power Material Data in Blockchain Environment

Jien Song, Yang Yang, Jie Mei, Gaofeng Zhou · 12 authors

The need to accelerate the innovation and application of the supply chain has been suggested by the State Council of China. To solve the problem of data isolation caused by privacy protection in the power material supply chain, a data traceability and sharing mechanism based on blockchain is designed in this paper. Firstly, the existing problems of the power material supply chain are introduced, and the applicability of blockchain in the power material supply chain in view of these problems is analyzed. Secondly, blockchain-based power material supply deployment and application structures are proposed. Then, considering the problem of data isolation in the material inspection and distribution links between suppliers and the material company, a data traceability mechanism based on blockchain is designed to provide evidence for the data authenticity and a proxy re-encryption method is used to ensure security and privacy in data sharing. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed data traceability and sharing mechanism is verified using the Hyperledger Fabric platform for power material case studies. The simulation results show that the combination of proxy re-encryption and blockchain technology in the power material supply chain can confirm the validity of the historical data and keep the private data of the material company confidential, so as to realize the traceability and sharing of the power material supply data.

Open access
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
Cloud Data Security Solutions
Original source
Mar 31, 2022·Business Strategy and the Environment
149 cites
Tunneling the barriers of blockchain technology in remanufacturing for achieving sustainable development goals: A circular manufacturing perspective

Kannan Govindan

Abstract As a concern with manufacturing industries, circular economy (CE) practices—often labeled “circular manufacturing (CM)”—are industrial tasks through which several circular economy principles have been integrated. Among these circular manufacturing strategies, “3R” (recycle, refurbish/remanufacture, and reuse/redistribute) is the key strategy that assists the manufacturing industry with closing the loop for sustainability. An effective inclusion and management of 3R lead a firm to a greater likelihood of successfully integrating CE and CM. In recent years, remanufacturing has gained greater prominence, especially with the emergence of technology, including cyber‐physical systems. These technologies assist the remanufacturing firm with efficient take‐back systems through tracking. However, data transferred through these technologies among value chain partners in remanufacturing are not reliable. Due to the lack of trust and transparency, value chain partners are hesitant to participate in remanufacturing supply chains. To address the limitation of technologies in remanufacturing, blockchain has been introduced to secure the data. Despite the advantages of blockchain technology, practitioners face difficulties in integrating these blockchain technologies into the remanufacturing context. Several earlier studies addressed the challenges of implementing blockchain, but no earlier studies have specifically examined remanufacturing industries, which are entirely different from forward supply chain industries. Concerning the fact, this study identifies the barriers that exist with the implementation of blockchain technology in the application of the remanufacturing sector. A framework has been proposed and validated in a Danish automotive parts remanufacturing company. Multi‐criteria decision‐making method has been used to identify the effective and most influential barriers among common barriers. Results reveal that “scaling of technology” ( B6 ) is the key barrier of BCT implementation in remanufacturing context. This study concludes with useful discussions based on the results along with the recommendations to eradicate those influential barriers and their respective impacts on SDGs (SDG4, SDG8, SDG9, and SDG17). Finally, this study sheds light on future enhancements on the integration of blockchain technology in remanufacturing to reap several benefits of circular manufacturing.

Open access
Sustainable Supply Chain Management
Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
Innovation and Socioeconomic Development
Original source
Mar 2, 2022·International Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security
10 cites
Towards Detection of Selfish Mining Using Machine Learning

Matthew Gregor Peterson, Todd R. Andel, Ryan Benton

Selfish mining is an attack against a blockchain where miners hide newly discovered blocks instead of publishing them to the rest of the network. The selfish miners continue to mine on their private chain while the honest miners waste resources mining on a shorter chain. According to the blockchain protocol, a longer chain takes precedent and shorter chains are discarded which allows the selfish miners to gain an advantage by keeping their chain secret. This attack can be used by malicious miners to earn a disproportionate share of the mining rewards or in conjunction with other attacks to steal money from cryptocurrency exchanges. Several of these attacks were launched in 2018 and 2019 with the attackers stealing as much as $18 Million. Developers made several different attempts to fix this issue, but the effectiveness of the fixes is currently unknown. Although this attack is possible against both Proof-of-Work and Proof-of-Stake blockchains, this research concentrates on detection in Proof-of-Work blockchains. As is difficult to evaluate security advances in the real-time blockchain, it is imperative to focus on simulation to evaluate blockchain security properties. To this end, we extend a blockchain simulator and add the ability to simulate selfish mining attacks. Several existing simulators are examined before choosing SimBlock for this research. Our goal is to identify the factors that identify selfish mining. Using existing research, we choose several factors that could identify an attack in an unlaunched state, an active state, or historically. We plan to use simulated data to train a machine learning model to detect selfish mining. Using the modified simulator, we generate training and test data for unlaunched and active attacks. For historical attacks, we will use historical data from known selfish mining attacks. While some existing research has examined the detection of selfish mining, it only examines active attacks. In this paper, we seek to lay the groundwork for future research into detecting attacks that are unlaunched, active, or historical.

Open access
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Spam and Phishing Detection
Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
Original source
Feb 12, 2022·Sustainability
30 cites
Measuring the Value of Blockchain Traceability in Supporting LCA for Textile Products

Vincent Carrières, Andrée-Anne Lemieux, Manuele Margni, Robert Pellerin · 5 authors

The efficiency of sustainability assessments of textile products is generally prevented because of a lack of available and reliable data across complex and globalized supply chains. The purpose of this study is to evaluate how blockchain traceability data can improve the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of textile products and to measure the actual value of exploiting this specific traceability data. To do so, a case study consisting of two LCAs modeling the production of wool top lots in China was conducted. A first LCA was conducted with generic data and the second with the added value of specific blockchain traceability data. Based on the second LCA, different wool top lot composition scenarios were then modeled to account for the environmental impact of different farming practices. Two main results were obtained: the environmental impact of wool top lots can vary up to +118% between two batches depending on their composition, and the specific data changes drastically from the impact calculated with generic data, with +36% calculated impact for the same wool composition of batches. Therefore, it was concluded that blockchain traceability data could be a strong asset for conducting LCA at the batch level by providing differentiated data on batch composition and origin and providing readily available specific data for a more representative assessment.

Open access
Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
Sustainable Supply Chain Management
Green IT and Sustainability
Original source
Feb 5, 2022·IET Networks
54 cites
PharmaChain: A Blockchain to Ensure Counterfeit Free Pharmaceutical Supply Chain

Anand K. Bapatla, Saraju P. Mohanty, Elias Kougianos, Deepak Puthal · 5 authors

Abstract Globalisation has facilitated different industries to eliminate geographical boundaries and equipped organisations to work collectively to produce goods. Pharmaceuticals is one such industry which has majorly benefited from globalisation to reduce costs and increase profitability at different aspects of research, development, manufacturing of drugs and finally distribution of drugs. Globalisation not only reduces costs and increases profits for the industry, it also makes essential medication available to all individuals even at remote areas of undeveloped, developing and developed countries. As the number of entities or participants grew in the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain (PSC), the complexity and abstractness of the drug delivery from manufacturer to consumer has increased, which raised new concerns like counterfeit medication, incorrect, incomplete or no information about the drug reaching the consumer thus undermining customer confidence and most importantly distribution delays which can cause serious impact on the life of the consumer as well as business growth. Considering all these challenges, there is a dire need for a robust PSC which can eliminate blind parties and provide a transparent chain. A transparent PSC will eliminate data fragmentation between different participating entities by creating a trail of secure, single source of truth for the entire life cycle of a medicine, thereby eliminating the introduction of counterfeits and ensuring the consumer safety. This article proposes a novel Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) based transparent supply chain for PSC and proof‐of‐concept is implemented to analyse the scalability and efficiency of the proposed architecture. Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) is one of the technologies which can provide such transparent PSC and Smart Contracts (SC) are the most commonly used component in such systems to implement business logic and access control mechanisms. The proposed PharmaChain model investigates all the interactions between the main entities in PSC and also addresses smart contract issues such as re‐entrance, randomness and lacking trustworthy data feed. Results are compared with other proposed solutions for PSC based on DLT.

Open access
3 source records
cs.CR
cs.CY
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Original source
Jan 27, 2022·MIT Case Studies in Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing
118 cites
The Cloud Is Material: On the Environmental Impacts of Computation and Data Storage

Steven Gonzalez Monserrate

In the age of machine learning, cryptocurrency mining, and seemingly infinite data storage capacity enabled by cloud computing, the environmental costs of ubiquitous computing in modern life are obscured by the sheer complexity of infrastructures and supply chains involved in even the simplest of digital transactions. How does computation contribute to the warming of the planet? As information technology (IT) capacity demands continue to trend upward, what are some of the ecological obstacles that must be overcome to accommodate an ever-expanding, carbon-hungry Cloud? How do these material impacts play out in everyday life, behind the scenes, where servers, fiber optic cables, and technicians facilitate cloud services? This case study draws on firsthand ethnographic research in data centers—sprawling libraries of computer servers that facilitate everything from email to commerce—to identify some of the far-reaching and tangled environmental impacts of computation and data-storage infrastructures. It surveys a range of empirical accounts of server technicians to illustrate on-the-ground examples of material and ecological factors that permeate everyday life in the Cloud. These examples include air conditioning and thermal management, water cycling, and the disposal of e-waste. By attending to the culture of workplace practice and the behaviors and training of technicians in data centers, this case study reveals that the Cloud is not fully automated, nor is it hyperrational; emotion, instinct, and human judgment are enlisted to keep servers running. This case study closes with a speculative vignette that scales up from various local impacts to a planetary framework, sketching some of the particular ways that computation contributes to climate change and the Anthropocene.

Open access
Innovative Human-Technology Interaction
Green IT and Sustainability
Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
Original source
Jan 24, 2022·Industrial Marketing Management
101 cites
Blockchain application in circular marine plastic debris management

Yu Gong, Yan Wang, Regina Frei, Bill Wang · 5 authors

The threat to the environment and humanity caused by marine plastic debris has aroused global attention. This research aims to explore the feasibility of applying blockchain technology (BCT) in marine plastic debris management. A case study on three pioneer recycling organizations is conducted based on secondary data. The study found that BCT can be applied to solve some of the existing challenges of marine plastic debris management. A digital token system and identity recognition mechanism based on BCT can increase the public awareness for marine plastic debris governance. The derived digital wallets and distributed ledgers can effectively replace paper documents and cash transactions in the traditional recycling chain, and minimize global impact on local economies, thus improve efficiency and safety. Also, the traceability and high transparency of blockchain and the application of smart contracts can effectively build a global recycling network. In addition, the application of BCT can greatly improve the transparency of recycling value chains, and make them more accepting of supervision from society and consumers. This research is one of the first studies on BCT in marine plastic debris management and explores worldwide pioneering companies. In practice, this study can help companies analyse the defects in their own waste disposal models and help practitioners make decisions to adopt BCT. In academia, as one of the early exploratory studies on the application of BCT to the treatment of marine plastic debris, this study provides further empirical reference on BCT based business models and recycling chains, and can guide future research in this field.

Open access
Microplastics and Plastic Pollution
Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Original source
Jan 1, 2022·IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science
23 cites
Blockchain Technology and Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) – Improving Environmental and Energy Performance in Multi-echelon Supply Chains

Muhammad Salman Asif, Harsimran K. Gill

Abstract In this competitive and technology driven world, businesses are striving to gain benefits of environmental sustainability and energy conservation by implementing the latest technologies in their supply chains. A promising way of evaluating the environmental performance of a product or a process is Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) modelling, but the reliability of LCA results is mostly compromised due to the lack of real data from upstream and downstream supply chains. Our research aim is to drive LCA modelling through Blockchain Technology (BCT) and internet-of-things which have the capability to record reliable, transparent, and secure data from across the supply chain. The modified LCA model will provide various industries with the quantified benefits of BCT in terms of industrial emissions reduction. This conference paper reflects the 1st stage of research where we carried out a detailed literature review on potential use of blockchain technology in green supply chain management and based on the findings, we developed an integrative framework architecture for the supply chain of a supermarket product. In the next phase, the integration of BCT and LCA will be studied in food supply chains using a supermarket case study of Walmart-IBM developed blockchain consortium.

Open access
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
Sustainable Supply Chain Management
Original source
Jan 1, 2022·IFAC-PapersOnLine
9 cites
The Potential of Blockchain Applications in Urban Industrial Symbiosis

Radu Godina, Aurélien Bruel, Ângela Neves, Jo�ão Matias

In many cities and their surrounding environments, materials are wasted and underutilized. As a result, waste and energy recovery can play a critical role. The concept of circularity can be applied to urban environments and their areas of influence in order to stimulate Urban Industrial Symbiosis (UIS). As such, it is vital for cities to have a robust and trustworthy information management infrastructure. A blockchain-based system can provide the accountability the UIS networks need to become traceable, transparent and unchangeable for all the parties involved. Similar to the benefits that blockchain can provide supply chain networks, UIS could benefit from blockchain as well. In this article, we look at blockchain and Smart Contracts as a way to benefit UIS, what they can be used for, what the goals and potential limitations for their implementation are, and how those goals and limitations might influence UIS. Finally, through the implementation of modular blockchain architecture, an UIS blockchain model based on smart contracts is proposed.

Open access
Sustainable Industrial Ecology
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
Original source
Jan 1, 2022·IEEE Access
22 cites
A Blockchain-Based Solution for Mitigating Overproduction and Underconsumption of Medical Supplies

Diana Hawashin, Khaled Salah, Raja Jayaraman, Ibrar Yaqoob · 5 authors

Billions of dollars lost has been recorded over the past decade due to the overproduction and underconsumption of medical supplies. The overproducation and underconsumption are usually due to the lack of accountability, transparency, traceability, audit, assessment, security, and trust features in the current healthcare supply chain systems. It is required to ensure that everyone is getting a fair share of medical supplies without unnecessary waste. In this paper, we propose a blockchain-based solution that ensures the commitment and accountability of all participants to prevent them from producing any unnecessary waste. We introduce five phases, such as registration, commitment, production, delivery, and consumption, to perform the waste assessment accurately and fairly. We develop four smart contracts that ensure data provenance, transparency, security, and accountability while recording all actions on an immutable ledger automatically. We utilize offchain decentralized storage to deal with the large data problem. We present five algorithms and discuss each phase of the proposed solution, along with their full implementation, testing, and validation details. We conduct the security analysis to ensure that our smart contracts are secure enough and they do not have vulnerabilities and flaws. The smart contracts code is made publicly available on GitHub.

Open access
Healthcare and Environmental Waste Management
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
Original source
Jan 1, 2022·Procedia Computer Science
52 cites
Blockchain technology needs for sustainable mineral supply chains: A framework for responsible sourcing of Cobalt.

Godfrey Mugurusi, Emmanuel Ahishakiye

Blockchain technology has recently become the go-to solution for companies and industries that seek to enhance value chain traceability of their products, and transparency in their supply chains. Because of these benefits, it’s been proposed for monitoring environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance and compliance in industries that have weak regulatory and formal structures. The cobalt mining industry especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the world’s biggest producer of cobalt ore used in the manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries, is one such environment that’s characterized by conflict, and serious human rights abuses. The key actors in the cobalt supply chain, therefore, face the tradeoff involving maintaining long-term supply versus reducing the risks associated with cobalt sourced from locations with poor environmental and human rights records. Most of such problems emerge from Artisanal and small-scale mining. This paper presents an attempt to tightly link existing blockchain technology frameworks in the cobalt industry with ESG performance of companies to enable them to audit the chain of custody journeys for their components and ultimately sustainability performance. We present a responsible sourcing framework to connect blockchain source data needs to ESG metrics to help companies build interoperable but understandable blockchain architectures.

Open access
Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Extraction and Separation Processes
Original source
Jan 1, 2022·IEEE Access
119 cites
A Blockchain-Based IoT-Enabled E-Waste Tracking and Tracing System for Smart Cities

Atta ur Rehman Khan, Raja Wasim Ahmad

Recycling of electronic waste is a rapidly growing global issue that requires proper monitoring and tracing of electronic devices and the business transactions between the stakeholders. The majority of current systems that manage electronic devices throughout their supply chain stages are centralized and lack data transparency, immutability, and security. Specifically, such systems are incapable of handling problems like comprehensive coverage of the life cycle of e-products, access control for maintaining data security, reputation-aware selection of stakeholders, and large amounts of data generated during various stages of the supply chain processes. In this paper, we propose a blockchain-based IoT-enabled system for monitoring all post-production business processes, activities, and operations performed on an electronic device. The system is supported by five smart contracts that record the actions of users on the immutable distributed ledger that aid in ensuring that the business processes carried out by the participants are transparent, traceable, and secure. To store large files, such as images of e-waste materials, products, and licenses for stakeholders, we have integrated our system with a distributed storage system. The proposed system is tested on Ethereum blockchain to check the gas consumption of the functions of the smart contracts. The cost and security analysis shows that the proposed system is viable.

Open access
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
IoT and Edge/Fog Computing
Original source
Dec 9, 2021·Energies
18 cites
Blockchain Technology in Life Cycle Assessment—New Research Trends

Robert Karaszewski, Paweł Modrzyński, Gözde Türkmen Müldür, Jacek Wójcik

Environmental protection is currently one of the key priority areas of the European Union (EU). The search for precise tools to assess the impact of the economy, industry, or the production of individual products or services is crucial for an effective and efficient policy in environmental protection. Blockchain technology, originally related to the financial sector and cryptocurrencies, is an innovative solution that is increasingly being implemented by other areas of the economy and industry sectors. The authors reviewed the literature and based on it presented the possibilities and effects of using blockchain technology in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), which is in line with the current development trends of this method. The analysis of the research conducted in this area also allowed to present not only the advantages of blockchain in LCA, but also the limitations of this technology and the potential directions of further research.

Open access
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
Green IT and Sustainability
Original source
Dec 2, 2021·Sustainability
14 cites
The Application of Blockchain-Based Life Cycle Assessment on an Industrial Supply Chain

Xuda Lin, Xing Li, Sameer Kulkarni, Fu Zhao

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a widely recognized tool used to evaluate the environmental impacts of a product or process, based on the environmental inventory database and bills of material. Data quality is one of the most significant factors affecting the analysis results. However, currently, most datasets in inventory databases are generic, i.e., they may represent the material and energy flow of a process at a market average, instead of a specific process used by a manufacturer. As a result, stockholders are unable to track their supply chain to find out the actual environmental impact from each supplier and to compare the environmental performance of alternative options. In this paper, we developed a new framework, i.e., blockchain-based LCA (BC-LCA), where blockchain technology is adapted to secure and transmit inventory data from upstream suppliers to downstream manufacturers. With BC-LCA, more specific data can be acquired along the supply chain in a real-time manner. Moreover, the availability, accuracy, privacy, and automatic update of inventory data can be improved. A case study is provided based on an industrial supply chain to demonstrate the utilization of BC-LCA.

Open access
Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
Sustainable Supply Chain Management
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Original source
Nov 11, 2021·Social Sciences
49 cites
Blockchain Technology for Governance of Plastic Waste Management: Where Are We?

Katrien Steenmans, Phillip Taylor, Ine Steenmans

Blockchain technology is emerging as a plausible disruptor of waste management practices that influence the governance of plastics. The interest among the waste management community in the potential and fundamental changes to complex resource management associated with blockchain adoption parallels recent research in other sectors, such as finance, health, public administration, etc. During any comparable period characterized by a step-change in positive coverage of an early-stage technology, it can be challenging for actors to access a grounded, evidence-based oversight of the current state of practice and make informed decisions about whether or how to adopt blockchain technology. The current absence of such a systematic overview of recent experiences with blockchain initiatives disrupting waste practices not only limits the visibility of these experimental efforts, but also limits the learning that can be shared across waste plastics researcher and practitioner communities. This paper contributes with a current overview of blockchain technology adoption in the waste management sector, giving particular attention to implications for the governance of plastics. Our study draws on both primary interview data and secondary documentation data to map the landscape of current blockchain initiatives in the global waste sector. We identify four areas of blockchain use that are beginning to change waste management practices (payment, recycling and reuse rewards, monitoring and tracking of waste, and smart contracts). We conclude by outlining five areas of significant blockchain uses, implications, and influences of relevance to the development of circular plastic waste governance in both research and practice.

Open access
Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
Healthcare and Environmental Waste Management
Microplastics and Plastic Pollution
Original source
Oct 1, 2021·Annals of Emerging Technologies in Computing
20 cites
Evaluation of Green Alternatives for Blockchain Proof-of-Work (PoW) Approach

Mahdi H. Miraz, P.S. Excell, Khan Sobayel

Following the footprints of Bitcoins, many other cryptocurrencies were developed mostly adopting the same or similar Proof-of-Work (PoW) approach. Since completing the PoW puzzle requires extremely high computing power, consuming a vast amount of electricity, PoW has been strongly criticised for its antithetic stand against the notion of green computing. Use of application-specific hardware, particularly application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) has further fuelled the debate, as these devices are of no use once they become “legacy” and hence obsolete to compete in the mining race, thus contributing to electronics waste. Therefore, this paper surveys the currently available alternative approaches to PoW and evaluates their applicability - especially their appropriateness in terms of greenness.

Open access
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Cloud Data Security Solutions
Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
Original source
Sep 3, 2021·Sustainability
21 cites
Circularity for Electric and Electronic Equipment (EEE), the Edge and Distributed Ledger (Edge&DL) Model

Terje Andersen, Bjørn Jæger

In the transition to a circular focus on electric and electronic products, manufacturers play a key role as the originators of both the products and the information about the products. While the waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE) directive’s contemporary focus is on handling the product as waste after its end of life, the circular economy focuses on retaining the product’s value with a restorative system. The polluter-pays principle requires producers of pollution to bear the costs of handling the pollution, leading to the extended producer responsibility (EPR) principle. This requires manufacturers to change their focus from their current passive role of out-sourcing end-of-life treatment to taking explicit responsibility for product management over an extended period of time. This paper investigates how a manufacturer can assume its responsibility to achieve circularity for its products. Based on our findings, three fundamental circularity principles, the circular electric and electronic equipment (CEEE) principles, for manufactures of electronic and electrical equipment are defined: (1) Serialize product identifiers, (2) data controlled by their authoritative source at the edge, and (3) independent actors’ access to edge data via a distributer ledger are the foundation of the Edge and Distributed Ledger (Edge&DL) model. We demonstrate the model through a case study of how to achieve circularity for lighting equipment. The CEEE principles and the demonstrated model contribute to building new circularity systems for electronic and electric products that let manufacturers undertake their extended product responsibility.

Open access
Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
Sustainable Supply Chain Management
Green IT and Sustainability
Original source
Aug 23, 2021·Scientific Programming
25 cites
Traceability Management Strategy of the EV Power Battery Based on the Blockchain

Yanjin Cheng, Hao Hao, Shi-Peng Tao, Yanjun Zhou

Regulating and supervising the energy vehicle (EV) power battery recycling market, improving the utilization rate of EV power battery recycling, and guaranteeing the safety and control of all aspects of recycling treatment require the establishment of an effective traceability system. The decentralization and tamper-proof characteristics of the blockchain can ensure the safety and reliability of relevant data while realizing traceability management. This study establishes the Stackelberg game model to compare and analyze the effects of different government mechanisms on the profits of each subject before and after participating in power battery traceability management. The study further uses the model to explore strategies to improve the enthusiasm of EV power battery recycling subjects to participate in traceability management. The results show that (1) the participation of each recycling subject in EV power battery blockchain traceability can help move more spent power batteries into formal recycling channels; (2) the government should adopt appropriate mechanisms to promote its participation in EV power battery blockchain traceability, the best result being when the government adopts a subsidy mechanism for consumers; and (3) the profit of the EV power battery manufacturer is inversely proportional to the target recycling rate set by the government. Furthermore, the pursuit of a very high target recycling rate is not conducive to the normal implementation of initial EV power battery blockchain traceability management. Therefore, it is crucial for the government to set a reasonable target recycling rate.

Open access
Electric Vehicles and Infrastructure
Sustainable Supply Chain Management
Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
Original source
Aug 19, 2021·Electronics
33 cites
The Green Blockchains of Circular Economy

George Hatzivasilis, Sotiris Ioannidis, Konstantinos Fysarakis, George Spanoudakis · 5 authors

Eco-friendly systems are necessitated nowadays, as the global consumption is increasing. A data-driven aspect is prominent, involving the Internet of Things (IoT) as the main enabler of a Circular Economy (CE). Henceforth, IoT equipment records the system’s functionality, with machine learning (ML) optimizing green computing operations. Entities exchange and reuse CE assets. Transparency is vital as the beneficiaries must track the assets’ history. This article proposes a framework where blockchaining administrates the cooperative vision of CE-IoT. For the core operation, the blockchain ledger records the changes in the assets’ states via smart contracts that implement the CE business logic and are lightweight, complying with the IoT requirements. Moreover, a federated learning approach is proposed, where computationally intensive ML tasks are distributed via a second contract type. Thus, “green-miners” devote their resources not only for making money, but also for optimizing operations of real-systems, which results in actual resource savings.

Open access
Sustainable Supply Chain Management
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
Original source
Aug 16, 2021·Sustainability
100 cites
Efficient Plastic Recycling and Remolding Circular Economy Using the Technology of Trust–Blockchain

Swikriti Khadke, Pragya Gupta, Shanmukh Rachakunta, Chandreswar Mahata · 16 authors

Global plastic waste is increasing rapidly. In general, densely populated regions generate tons of plastic waste daily, which is sometimes disposed of on land or diverged to sea. Most of the plastics created in the form of waste have complex degradation behavior and are non-biodegradable by nature. These remain intact in the environment for a long time span and potentially originate complications within terrestrial and marine life ecosystems. The strategic management of plastic waste and recycling can preserve environmental species and associated costs. The key contribution in this work focuses on ongoing efforts to utilize plastic waste by introducing blockchain during plastic waste recycling. It is proposed that the efficiency of plastic recycling can be improved enormously by using the blockchain phenomenon. Automation for the segregation and collection of plastic waste can effectively establish a globally recognizable tool using blockchain-based applications. Collection and sorting of plastic recycling are feasible by keeping track of plastic with unique codes or digital badges throughout the supply chain. This approach can support a collaborative digital consortium for efficient plastic waste management, which can bring together multiple stakeholders, plastic manufacturers, government entities, retailers, suppliers, waste collectors, and recyclers.

Open access
Microplastics and Plastic Pollution
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
Original source
Aug 6, 2021·Buildings
43 cites
When Blockchain Meets the AEC Industry: Present Status, Benefits, Challenges, and Future Research Opportunities

Mengyuan Cheng, Guoliang Liu, Yongshun Xu, Ming Chi

Blockchain is regarded as a potential technology for transforming the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry, and the number of related publications is increasing rapidly. However, a systematic review of blockchain applications in the AEC industry is lacking. The objective of this study was to review the current status of blockchain applications via a bibliometric analysis combined with a systematic literature review. According to related articles collected from databases, the present status of blockchain was analysed with regard to the distribution of articles over publication years, journals, institutions, countries, cooperation networks between authors, keyword co-occurrence networks, and research methodologies. The results indicated that research on blockchain applications is still relatively new and fragmented with regard to several topics. Five areas of benefit were identified: (i) supply chain management, (ii) contract management, (iii) information management, (iv) stakeholder management, and (v) integration management. On the basis of the technology–organisation–environment framework, nine types of challenges were identified. Future research opportunities were proposed according to the research findings. This study contributes to the current body of knowledge and provides guidelines for further research on blockchain applications in the AEC industry.

Open access
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
Cloud Data Security Solutions
Original source
Jul 14, 2021·Sustainability
224 cites
Applications of Blockchain Technology in Sustainable Manufacturing and Supply Chain Management: A Systematic Review

Ahmad A. Khanfar, Mohammad Iranmanesh, Morteza Ghobakhloo, Madugoda Gunaratnege Senali · 5 authors

Developing sustainable products and processes is essential for the survival of manufacturers in the current competitive market and the industry 4.0 era. The activities of manufacturers and their supply chain partners should be aligned with sustainable development goals. Manufacturers have faced many barriers and challenges in implementing sustainable practices along the entire supply chain due to globalisation, outsourcing, and offshoring. Blockchain technology has the potential to address the challenges of sustainability. This study aims to explain the applications of blockchain technology to sustainable manufacturing. We conducted a systematic literature review and explained the potential contributions of blockchain technology to the economic, environmental, and social performances of manufacturers and their supply chains. The findings of the study extend our understanding of the blockchain applications in sustainable manufacturing and sustainable supply chains. Furthermore, the study explains how blockchain can influence the sustainable performance of manufacturers by creating transparency, traceability, real-time information sharing, and security of the data capabilities.

Open access
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Sustainable Supply Chain Management
Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
Original source
Jul 1, 2021·Journal of Scientific & Industrial Research
5 cites
Trusted and Transparent Blockchain-enabled E-waste Optimization to Recover Precious Metals with Microwave Heating

Authors unavailable

Blockchain technology facilitates trust and transparency in the decision-making process and enables the transaction's verifiability by reading immutable distributed ledgers. It has been innovatively applied this technology in the E-waste optimization for the recovery of precious metals using microwave heat treatment. This present paper presents the maximum recovery of precious and base metals from E-waste with a numerical technique called surface response methodology, and was compared with the actual experimental results. The main goal of this paper is to recover the precious metals like copper and gold with its adjacent metals from unwanted and discarded printed circuit boards, integrated circuits, and standards connectors, with the input variables of microwave power, maximum temperature, and aqua leaching ratio. The obtained empirical information of recovered metals was recorded in immutable distributed ledgers so that every member of the blockchain network can be read and verified through the stored records. These records were also utilized to minimize the error and maximize the precious metal outcomes. The result with blockchain network also shows that identical resemblance between the experimental and statistical predicted data obtained with surface methodology. Further, Smart Contracts has been created and deployed to store and retrieve empirical records in the Hyperledger Fabric Blockchain Platform and then measured the performance using Hyperledger Caliper Benchmark

Open access
Recycling and Waste Management Techniques
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Healthcare and Environmental Waste Management
Original source