Submit to Materials Review for Materials Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser

Green Biosorbents: Synthesis, Characterization and Application for the Removal of Contaminants from Water and Soil

Special Issue Editors
Special Issue Information
Keywords
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
Published Papers

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Advanced Composites".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 June 2023) | Viewed by 3396

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Vanesa Santás-Miguel

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Plant Biology and Soil Sciences, University of Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain
Interests: antibiotics; heavy metals; soil microbial communities; soil bacterial growth; PICT; bioremediation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Daniel Arenas Lago

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Plant Biology and Soil Sciences, University of Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain
Interests: soil pollution; phytoremediation; nanoparticles; soil agriculture; metals; bioremediation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems are highly threatened by the continuous discharge and accumulation of toxic organic and inorganic pollutants. Many of these pollutants are non-biodegradable and/or difficult to degrade, which makes them a major environmental and human health hazard. The immobilization of these substances is intended to prevent their possible toxic effect on organisms present in water and/or soils, as well as their transfer to other compartments of the ecosystem.

The proliferation and synthesis of new environmentally friendly biadsorbents with the capacity to immobilize pollutants is one of the most important challenges facing materials science in the coming years. This Special Issue aims to present new innovative techniques for the synthesis of biadsorbents and their characterization, based on eco-friendly materials, including different particle shapes and sizes (nano-, micro-, macro- and bioadsorbents). These can help to combat the harmful effects of pollutants in soil and/or water, making these environmental compartments more sustainable, cleaner and safer.

In view of that, the Guest Editors of the Special Issue encourage researchers that have interesting results in this area to submit high-quality manuscripts, including research papers, review papers or short communications, with experimental results, discussion, reflections and prospectives related to their work. The Guest Editors think that this subject is of interest for the scientific community and for all of society and will have high relevance for the coming years.

Dr. Vanesa Santás-Miguel
Dr. Daniel Arenas Lago
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

bioadsorption
biodegradation
bioremediation
biosorption
water pollution
wastewater treatment
biochar
heavy metals
antibiotics
nanoparticles
pesticides
herbicides
POPs
pollutant removal
soil amendment
soil remediation
waste management
industrial waste
urban waste

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers

Order results

Result details

Show export options Show export options

Select all

Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

25 pages, 2536 KiB

Open AccessArticle

High-Efficiency Removal of Lead and Nickel Using Four Inert Dry Biomasses: Insights into the Adsorption Mechanisms

by Candelaria Tejada-Tovar, Angel Villabona-Ortíz and Ángel Darío González-Delgado

Materials 2023, 16(13), 4884; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16134884 - 7 Jul 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1294

Abstract

In this study, inert dry bioadsorbents prepared from corn cob residues (CCR), cocoa husk (CH), plantain peels (PP), and cassava peels (CP) were used as adsorbents of heavy metal ions (Pb²⁺ and Ni²⁺) in single-batch adsorption experiments from synthetic aqueous solutions. The physicochemical properties of the bioadsorbents and the adsorption mechanisms were evaluated using different experimental techniques. The results showed that electrostatic attraction, cation exchange, and surface complexation were the main mechanisms involved in the adsorption of metals onto the evaluated bioadsorbents. The percentage removal of Pb²⁺ and Ni²⁺ increased with higher adsorbent dosage, with Pb²⁺ exhibiting greater biosorption capacity than Ni²⁺. The bioadsorbents showed promising potential for adsorbing Pb²⁺ with monolayer adsorption capacities of 699.267, 568.794, 101.535, and 116.820 mg/g when using PP, CCR, CH, and CP, respectively. For Ni²⁺, Langmuir’s parameter had values of 10.402, 26.984, 18.883, and 21.615, respectively, for PP, CCR, CH, and CP. Kinetics data fitted by the pseudo-second-order model revealed that the adsorption rate follows this order: CH > CP > CCR > PP for Pb²⁺, and CH > CCR > PP > CP for Ni²⁺. The adsorption mechanism was found to be controlled by ion exchange and precipitation. These findings suggest that the dry raw biomasses of corn cob residues, cocoa husk, cassava, and plantain peels can effectively remove lead and nickel, but further research is needed to explore their application in industrial-scale and continuous systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Green Biosorbents: Synthesis, Characterization and Application for the Removal of Contaminants from Water and Soil)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

11 pages, 1515 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Removal of Methylene Blue from Wastewater by Waste Roots from the Arsenic-Hyperaccumulator Pteris vittata: Fixed Bed Adsorption Kinetics

by Leone Mazzeo, Davide Marzi, Irene Bavasso, Vincenzo Piemonte and Luca Di Palma

Materials 2023, 16(4), 1450; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16041450 - 9 Feb 2023

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1652

Abstract

Phytoremediation of arsenic-contaminated water was successfully conducted by means of the perennial fern Pteris vittate, which is an arsenic-hyperaccumulator plant able to grow in hydroponic cultures. In order to avoid the costs linked to the disposal of As-contaminated biomass, in this work, Pteris vittata waste roots were tested as a low-cost bio-adsorbent for the removal of methylene blue (MB) from water in a fixed-bed adsorption configuration. As a matter of fact, methylene blue can negatively impact the growth and health of algae and plants by blocking light from reaching them in water, which can alter their normal biological processes. Previous works have already shown the potentiality of such material toward the uptake of methylene blue; however, all the studies conducted were just focused on batch-mode experiments. In this work, column runs were carried out at 20 °C, evaluating the bed void fraction for each test and hence estimating the apparent density of the material (300 g/L). The breakthrough curves collected were fitted by means of a mathematical model based on the linear driving force (LDF) approximation to obtain information on the mass transfer mechanism occurring in the system. A relation for the product between the LDF mass transfer coefficient and the solid specific surface (

k_{L D F} a_{s}

) with respect to the Reynolds (

R e

) dimensionless number was obtained (

k_{L D F} a_{s} = 0.45 R e

). The range of validity of such expression was

R e < 0.025

. Its applicability was deeply discussed: in such conditions, the technology is ready to be tested at larger scales. Full article