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Efficient Chemical Technologies and Adsorbents for Environmental Pollution Removal and Wastes Recycling II

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A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Green Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2025 | Viewed by 11949

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Dr. Monika Wawrzkiewicz

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Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Institute of Chemical Science, Faculty of Chemistry, Marie Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin, 20-031 Lublin, Poland
Interests: sorption; separation of inorganic and organic compounds; heavy metal ions; dyes; phenols; textile wastewaters treatment; chemical modification of synthetic and natural polymers; adsorbents for water treatment; hybrid materials; low-cost adsorbents; ion-exchange resins; synthetic oxide materials; photochemistry; environmental protection
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Dr. Anna Wołowicz

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Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Institute of Chemical Science, Faculty of Chemistry, Marie Curie-Sklodowska University, Maria Curie-Sklodowska Square 2, 20-031 Lublin, Poland
Interests: sorption; separation; removal; recovery; heavy and noble metals; dyes; phenols; textile wastewaters treatment; ion-exchange resins; synthetic oxide materials; hybrid materials; low-cost adsorbents; environmental protection
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce the second edition of “Efficient Chemical Technologies and Adsorbents for Environmental Pollution Removal and Wastes Recycling”.

The world's industry is faced with an increasing amount of pollution generated to the environment as a result of intensive development and human activity. Particular attention is paid to those branches of industry that use large quantities of water in technological processes, and thus generate huge amounts of wastewater containing harmful and toxic substances that pose a direct threat to human health. Therefore, waste recycling and technologies considered waste as a source of raw materials, fuels and energy are of particular importance.

We are pleased to invite you to submit scientific articles, reviews and short communications discussing the latest developments in wastewater treatment technologies (adsorption, advanced oxidation processes, coagulation, flocculation, irradiation, membrane filtration), as well as waste recycling and the recovery of valuable raw materials, such as precious metals or rare earths from spent catalysts or electronic waste.

Dr. Monika Wawrzkiewicz
Dr. Anna Wołowicz
Guest Editors

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Keywords

emerging pollutants
heavy metals
noble metals
dyes
adsorbents
removal
recovery
sorption
pyrometallurgical process
hydrometallurgical process
leaching methods
spent catalyst
electronic waste
wastewater treatment
advanced oxidation process
coagulation
flocculation
irradiation
membrane filtratio

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Published Papers (8 papers)

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Research

24 pages, 13119 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Innovative Sorbents in Restoring Enzymatic Activity of Soil Contaminated with Bisphenol A (BPA)

by Magdalena Zaborowska, Jadwiga Wyszkowska, Agata Borowik and Jan Kucharski

Molecules 2024, 29(13), 3113; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules29133113 - 29 Jun 2024

Viewed by 977

Abstract

As part of the multifaceted strategies developed to shape the common environmental policy, considerable attention is now being paid to assessing the degree of environmental degradation in soil under xenobiotic pressure. Bisphenol A (BPA) has only been marginally investigated in this ecosystem context. Therefore, research was carried out to determine the biochemical properties of soils contaminated with BPA at two levels of contamination: 500 mg and 1000 mg BPA kg⁻¹ d.m. of soil. Reliable biochemical indicators of soil changes, whose activity was determined in the pot experiment conducted, were used: dehydrogenases, catalase, urease, acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase, arylsulfatase, and β-glucosidase. Using the definition of soil health as the ability to promote plant growth, the influence of BPA on the growth and development of Zea mays, a plant used for energy production, was also tested. As well as the biomass of aerial parts and roots, the leaf greenness index (SPAD) of Zea mays was also assessed. A key aspect of the research was to identify those of the six remediating substances—molecular sieve, zeolite, sepiolite, starch, grass compost, and fermented bark—whose use could become common practice in both environmental protection and agriculture. Exposure to BPA revealed the highest sensitivity of dehydrogenases, urease, and acid phosphatase and the lowest sensitivity of alkaline phosphatase and catalase to this phenolic compound. The enzyme response generated a reduction in the biochemical fertility index (BA₂₁) of 64% (500 mg BPA) and 70% (1000 mg BPA kg⁻¹ d.m. of soil). The toxicity of BPA led to a drastic reduction in root biomass and consequently in the aerial parts of Zea mays. Compost and molecular sieve proved to be the most effective in mitigating the negative effect of the xenobiotic on the parameters discussed. The results obtained are the first research step in the search for further substances with bioremediation potential against both soil and plants under BPA pressure. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Efficient Chemical Technologies and Adsorbents for Environmental Pollution Removal and Wastes Recycling II)

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18 pages, 2952 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Modified Halloysite as an Adsorbent for the Removal of Cu(II) Ions and Reactive Red 120 Dye from Aqueous Solutions

by Krzysztof Kuśmierek, Andrzej Świątkowski, Ewa Wierzbicka and Izabella Legocka

Molecules 2024, 29(13), 3099; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules29133099 - 28 Jun 2024

Viewed by 695

Abstract

The adsorption of copper ions and Reactive Red 120 azo dye (RR-120) as models of water pollutants on unmodified halloysite (H-NM), as well as halloysites modified with sulfuric acid (H-SA) and (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (H-APTES), was investigated. The results showed that adsorption of both the adsorbates was pH-dependent and increased with the increase in halloysite dosage. The adsorption kinetics were evaluated and the results demonstrated that the adsorption followed the pseudo-second-order model. The adsorption isotherms of Cu(II) ions and RR-120 dye on the halloysites were described satisfactorily by the Langmuir model. The maximum adsorption capacities for the Cu(II) ions were 0.169, 0.236, and 0.507 mmol/g, respectively, for H-NM, H-SA, and H-APTES indicating that the NH₂-functionalization rather than the surface area of the adsorbents was responsible for the enhanced adsorption. The adsorption capacities for RR-120 dye were found to be 9.64 μmol/g for H-NM, 75.76 μmol/g for H-SA, and 29.33 μmol/g for H-APTES. The results demonstrated that APTES-functionalization and sulfuric acid activation are promising modifications, and both modified halloysites have good application potential for heavy metals as well as for azo dye removal. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Efficient Chemical Technologies and Adsorbents for Environmental Pollution Removal and Wastes Recycling II)

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16 pages, 3757 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Removal of Cr(VI) from Wastewater Using Acrylonitrile Grafted Cellulose Extracted from Sugarcane Bagasse

by Idrees Khan, Ashraf Ali, Alia Naz, Zenab Tariq Baig, Wisal Shah, Zia Ur Rahman, Tawaf Ali Shah, Kotb A. Attia, Arif Ahmed Mohammed and Yaser M. Hafez

Molecules 2024, 29(10), 2207; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules29102207 - 8 May 2024

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1053

Abstract

A highly efficient low-cost adsorbent was prepared using raw and chemically modified cellulose isolated from sugarcane bagasse for decontamination of Cr(VI) from wastewater. First, cellulose pulp was isolated from sugarcane bagasse by subjecting it to acid hydrolysis, alkaline hydrolysis and bleaching with sodium chlorate (NaClO₃). Then, the bleached cellulose pulp was chemically modified with acrylonitrile monomer in the presence Fenton’s reagent (Fe⁺²/H₂O₂) to carry out grafting of acrylonitrile onto cellulose by atom transfer radical polymerization. The developed adsorbent (acrylonitrile grafted cellulose) was analyzed by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). Both raw cellulose and acrylonitrile grafted cellulose were used for chromium removal from wastewater. The effects of metal ion concentration, pH, adsorbent dose and time were studied, and their values were optimized. The optimum conditions for the adsorption of Cr(VI) onto raw and chemically modified cellulose were: metal ion concentration: 50 ppm, adsorbent dose: 1 g, pH: 6, and time: 60 min. The maximum efficiencies of 73% and 94% and adsorption capacities of 125.95 mg/g and 267.93 mg/g were achieved for raw and acrylonitrile grafted cellulose, respectively. High removal efficiency was achieved, owing to high surface area of 79.92 m²/g and functional active binding cites on grafted cellulose. Isotherm and kinetics studies show that the experimental data were fully fitted by the Freundlich isotherm model and pseudo first-order model. The adsorbent (acrylonitrile grafted cellulose) was regenerated using three different types of regenerating reagents and reused thirty times, and there was negligible decrease (19%) in removal efficiency after using it for 30 times. Hence, it is anticipated that acrylonitrile could be utilized as potential candidate material for commercial scale Cr(VI) removal from wastewater. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Efficient Chemical Technologies and Adsorbents for Environmental Pollution Removal and Wastes Recycling II)

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19 pages, 6400 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Catalytic Ozonation of Reactive Black 5 in Aqueous Solution Using Iron-Loaded Dead Leaf Ash for Wastewater Remediation

by Latif Hussain, Farhan Javed, Muhammad Wasim Tahir, Hafiz Muhammad Shahzad Munir, Amir Ikhlaq and Anna Wołowicz

Molecules 2024, 29(4), 836; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules29040836 - 13 Feb 2024

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1168

Abstract

In the current study, iron-loaded dead leaf ash (Fe-DLA) was used as a novel catalyst in the heterogeneous catalytic ozonation process (HCOP) for textile wastewater containing Reactive Black 5 (RB-5). The research demonstrates a significant boost in removal efficiency, reaching 98.76% with 1.0 g/min O₃ and 0.5 g/L catalyst dose, by investigating key variables such as pH, ozone and catalyst doses, initial concentration, and the presence of scavengers in 1 L wastewater. The addition of tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) reduced RB-5 elimination, indicating the involvement of OH radicals. Catalyst reusability decreased slightly (2.05% in the second run; 4.35% in the third), which was attributed to iron leaching. A comparison of single ozonation (Fe-DLA) adsorption and catalytic ozonation processes (Fe-DLA/O₃) revealed that the combined process improved dye degradation by 25%, with removal rates ranking as Fe-DLA adsorption O₃ Fe-DLA/O₃, with an impressive 76.44% COD removal. These results strongly support RB-5 removal using Fe-DLA and HCOP at a basic pH, highlighting the catalyst’s utility in practical wastewater treatment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Efficient Chemical Technologies and Adsorbents for Environmental Pollution Removal and Wastes Recycling II)

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26 pages, 8758 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Biosorption of Pb(II) Using Natural and Treated Ardisia compressa K. Leaves: Simulation Framework Extended through the Application of Artificial Neural Network and Genetic Algorithm

by Alma Y. Vázquez-Sánchez, Eder C. Lima, Mohamed Abatal, Rasikh Tariq, Arlette A. Santiago, Ismeli Alfonso, Claudia Aguilar and América R. Vazquez-Olmos

Molecules 2023, 28(17), 6387; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28176387 - 31 Aug 2023

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2044

Abstract

This study explored the effects of solution pH, biosorbent dose, contact time, and temperature on the Pb(II) biosorption process of natural and chemically treated leaves of A. compressa K. (Raw-AC and AC-OH, respectively). The results show that the surface characteristics of Raw-AC changed following alkali treatment. FT-IR analysis showed the presence of various functional groups on the surface of the biosorbent, which were binding sites for the Pb(II) biosorption. The nonlinear pseudo-second-order kinetic model was found to be the best fitted to the experimental kinetic data. Adsorption equilibrium data at pH = 2–6, biosorbents dose from 5 to 20 mg/L, and temperature from 300.15 to 333.15 K were adjusted to the Langmuir, Freundlich, and Dubinin–Radushkevich (D-R) isotherm models. The results show that the adsorption capacity was enhanced with the increase in the solution pH and diminished with the increase in the temperature and biosorbent dose. It was also found that AC-OH is more effective than Raw-AC in removing Pb(II) from aqueous solutions. This was also confirmed using artificial neural networks and genetic algorithms, where it was demonstrated that the improvement was around 57.7%. The nonlinear Langmuir isotherm model was the best fitted, and the maximum adsorption capacities of Raw-AC and AC-OH were 96 mg/g and 170 mg/g, respectively. The removal efficiency of Pb(II) was maintained approximately after three adsorption and desorption cycles using 0.5 M HCl as an eluent. This research delved into the impact of solution pH, biosorbent characteristics, and operational parameters on Pb(II) biosorption, offering valuable insights for engineering education by illustrating the practical application of fundamental chemical and kinetic principles to enhance the design and optimization of sustainable water treatment systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Efficient Chemical Technologies and Adsorbents for Environmental Pollution Removal and Wastes Recycling II)

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15 pages, 1768 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Utilizing Black Soldier Fly Larvae to Improve Bioconversion and Reduce Pollution: A Sustainable Method for Efficient Treatment of Mixed Wastes of Wet Distiller Grains and Livestock Manure

by Tao Li, Samiullah Khan, Mao Wei, Haiyin Li, Tingchi Wen, Jianjun Guo and Daochao Jin

Molecules 2023, 28(15), 5735; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28155735 - 28 Jul 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1558

Abstract

Widespread environmental contamination caused by huge amounts of wastes generated by human activities has become a critical global concern that requires urgent action. The black soldier fly (BSFL) has gradually been used to treat different wastes due to high efficiency and low cost. However, little information is available regarding the treatment of mixed wastes by BSFLs. The impact of BSFLs on conversion of cow manure (COM) and pig manure (PM) via the incorporation of wet distiller grains (WDG) was assessed. Results demonstrate that the waste reduction rate was increased by 20% by incorporating 45% WDG to COM and PM. The bioconversion rate of BSFLs in COM and PM also increased from 1.20 ± 0.02% and 0.92 ± 0.02% to 10.54 ± 0.06% and 10.05 ± 0.11%, respectively. Total nitrogen content and δ¹⁵N/¹⁴N ratios of WDG + COM and WDG + PM were found to be significantly lower than those of COM and PM alone (p < 0.01). The organic matter changes during manure degradation were further analyzed by combing ultraviolet–visible spectrum (UV–vis) with excitation–emission matrix (EEM) spectroscopy techniques and fluorescence area integration (FRI) method. The UV–vis spectra results indicate that the addition of WDG to manures resulted in the decreased aromaticity and molecular weight of the waste. EEM spectra demonstrated that the accumulative P_i,n values of regions III and V in COM, COM + WDG, PM, and PM + WDG were 58%, 49%, 52% and 63%, respectively. These results not only provide new insights into the potential of mixed wastes for BSFL treatment but also contribute to the basis for the formulation of effective management measurements that reduce and/or reuse these wastes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Efficient Chemical Technologies and Adsorbents for Environmental Pollution Removal and Wastes Recycling II)

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12 pages, 5253 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Synthesis of Iron on Carbon Foam for Use in the Removal of Phenol from Aqueous Solutions

by Siphesihle Praise-God Khumalo, David Lokhat, Chante Jasmine-Tre Anwar and Huvin Reddy

Molecules 2023, 28(3), 1272; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28031272 - 28 Jan 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1515

Abstract

The potential use of magnetic nanopowder for phenol adsorption mobilised on natural grain carbon foam from an aqueous solution was studied. Phenolic compounds are priority pollutants with high toxicity even at low concentrations. A magnetic nanopowder was synthesised by dissolving an iron sponge in nitric acid to produce iron nitrate, which was added to a natural grain mixture with flour as the main ingredient. The synthesised carbon foam was investigated for the effects of initial concentration, time, and TEM (transmission electron microscopy) characterisation. The phenol adsorption increased as the iron content of the carbon foam and the initial concentration increased. A kinetic study showed that the phenol adsorption data adequately covered all the carbon foam samples tested using an equation corresponding to a pseudo-first order chemical reaction. The Freundlich, Langmuir, and Temkin equations were tested for modelling the adsorption isotherms at equilibrium, and it was concluded that the Temkin model fit the experimental data adequately. Due to its exceptional physical and chemical properties, carbon magnetic nanopowder is regarded as an outstanding pollutant absorber in environmental investigations. R² values derived from the pseudo-first-order model exceed 0.99. R² > 0.94 indicates that the Freundlich isotherm provides the best fit to the equilibrium data. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Efficient Chemical Technologies and Adsorbents for Environmental Pollution Removal and Wastes Recycling II)

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16 pages, 4346 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Application of Synthesized Vanadium–Titanium Oxide Nanocomposite to Eliminate Rhodamine-B Dye from Aqueous Medium

by Mohamed R. Elamin, Babiker Y. Abdulkhair, Nuha Y. Elamin, Khalid H. Ibnaouf, Hajo Idriss, Rafia Bakheit and Abueliz Modwi

Molecules 2023, 28(1), 176; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28010176 - 25 Dec 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1899

Abstract

In this study, a V@TiO₂ nanocomposite is examined for its ability to eliminate carcinogenic Rhodamine (Rh-B) dye from an aqueous medium. A simple ultrasonic method was used to produce the nanosorbent. In addition, V@TiO₂ was characterized using various techniques, including XRD, HRTEM, XPS, and FTIR. Batch mode studies were used to study the removal of Rh-B dye. In the presence of pH 9, the V@TiO₂ nanocomposite was able to remove Rh-B dye to its maximum extent. A correlation regression of 0.95 indicated that the Langmuir model was a better fit for dye adsorption. Moreover, the maximum adsorption capacity of the V@TiO₂ nanocomposite was determined to be 158.8 mg/g. According to the thermodynamic parameters, dye adsorption followed a pseudo-first-order model. Based on the results of the study, a V@TiO₂ nanocomposite can be reused for dye removal using ethanol. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Efficient Chemical Technologies and Adsorbents for Environmental Pollution Removal and Wastes Recycling II)

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