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Polymers Materials for Water Treatment

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2022) | Viewed by 14180

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Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
Interests: environment and sustainable development; waste treatment; polymers; environmental monitoring; ecology; ornithology
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With the current pressures on water supply, low-cost and high efficiency in water treatment will be of utmost importance. Natural and synthetic polymers display remarkable characteristics when applied to remove pollutants from water and wastewater. The main purpose of this Special Issue is to give an overview of the recent developments in polymer application for water and wastewater treatment. Synthetic and natural origin polymers, polymer characterization and properties, polymers for coagulation and flocculation, polymer and polymer-based adsorbents, polymer composites, polymer enhanced filtration, functional groups effect, treatment testing and evaluation, etc.—these are just some of the topics that will be covered in the Special Issue, and we are seeking contributions from researchers which discuss all aspects regarding the application of polymers for water treatment.

Dr. Loris Pietrelli
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • water treatment
  • wastewater
  • polymer applications
  • water purification
  • separation techniques
  • freshwater

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 15500 KiB  
Article
PES-Ag3PO4/g-C3N4 Mixed Matrix Film Photocatalyst for Degradation of Methyl Orange Dye
by Hayati Mohamad Mukhair, Abdul Halim Abdullah, Zulkarnain Zainal and Hong Ngee Lim
Polymers 2021, 13(11), 1746; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13111746 - 27 May 2021
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3306
Abstract
In the present study, we explored the effectiveness of PES-Ag3PO4/g-C3N4 film photocatalyst in degrading methyl orange dye under visible light irradiation. The PES-Ag3PO4/g-C3N4 film photocatalyst was prepared via a [...] Read more.
In the present study, we explored the effectiveness of PES-Ag3PO4/g-C3N4 film photocatalyst in degrading methyl orange dye under visible light irradiation. The PES-Ag3PO4/g-C3N4 film photocatalyst was prepared via a non-solvent-induced phase inversion process and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), laser scanning microscopy (LSM), X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS), UV-diffuse reflectance (DRS), and water contact angle. The incorporation of the Ag3PO4/g-C3N4 composite into the PES matrix improved the pristine PES film’s hydrophilicity, as evidenced by the reduction of water contact angle from 79.03° to 54.33° for a film containing 15 wt % of Ag3PO4/g-C3N4 composite. The film’s photoactivity showed that 13 wt % was the best loading of Ag3PO4/g-C3N4 composite, and the degradation performance was maintained up to three cycles. The •O2 and h+ were the predominant species responsible for the methyl orange degradation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymers Materials for Water Treatment)
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17 pages, 2252 KiB  
Article
Preparation and Characterization of Chitosan-Coated Manganese-Ferrite Nanoparticles Conjugated with Laccase for Environmental Bioremediation
by Azzurra Apriceno, Ilaria Silvestro, Annamaria Girelli, Iolanda Francolini, Loris Pietrelli and Antonella Piozzi
Polymers 2021, 13(9), 1453; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13091453 - 30 Apr 2021
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 3492
Abstract
Bioremediation with immobilized enzymes has several advantages, such as the enhancement of selectivity, activity, and stability of biocatalysts, as well as enzyme reusability. Laccase has proven to be a good candidate for the removal of a wide range of contaminants. In this study, [...] Read more.
Bioremediation with immobilized enzymes has several advantages, such as the enhancement of selectivity, activity, and stability of biocatalysts, as well as enzyme reusability. Laccase has proven to be a good candidate for the removal of a wide range of contaminants. In this study, naked or modified MnFe2O4 magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) were used as supports for the immobilization of laccase from Trametes versicolor. To increase enzyme loading and stability, MNPs were coated with chitosan both after the MNP synthesis (MNPs-CS) and during their formation (MNPs-CSin situ). SEM analysis showed different sizes for the two coated systems, 20 nm and 10 nm for MNPs-CS and MNPs-CSin situ, respectively. After covalent immobilization of laccase by glutaraldehyde, the MNPs-CSin situ-lac and MNPs-CS-lac systems showed a good resistance to temperature denaturation and storage stability. The most promising system for use in repeated batches was MNPs-CSin situ-lac, which degraded about 80% of diclofenac compared to 70% of the free enzyme. The obtained results demonstrated that the MnFe2O4-CSin situ system could be an excellent candidate for the removal of contaminants. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymers Materials for Water Treatment)
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16 pages, 4898 KiB  
Article
Synthetic Biomimetic Polymethacrylates: Promising Platform for the Design of Anti-Cyanobacterial and Anti-Algal Agents
by Přemysl Mikula, Marie Mlnaříková, Enrico T. Nadres, Haruko Takahashi, Pavel Babica, Kenichi Kuroda, Luděk Bláha and Iva Sovadinová
Polymers 2021, 13(7), 1025; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13071025 - 26 Mar 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2986
Abstract
Extensive, uncontrolled growth of algae and cyanobacteria is an environmental, public health, economic, and technical issue in managing natural and engineered water systems. Synthetic biomimetic polymers have been almost exclusively considered antimicrobial alternatives to conventional antibiotics to treat human bacterial infections. Very little [...] Read more.
Extensive, uncontrolled growth of algae and cyanobacteria is an environmental, public health, economic, and technical issue in managing natural and engineered water systems. Synthetic biomimetic polymers have been almost exclusively considered antimicrobial alternatives to conventional antibiotics to treat human bacterial infections. Very little is known about their applicability in an aquatic environment. Here, we introduce synthetic biomimetic polymethacrylates (SBPs) as a cost-effective and chemically facile, flexible platform for designing a new type of agent suitable for controlling and mitigating photosynthetic microorganisms. Since SBPs are cationic and membranolytic in heterotrophic bacteria, we hypothesized they could also interact with negatively charged cyanobacterial or algal cell walls and membranes. We demonstrated that SBPs inhibited the growth of aquatic photosynthetic organisms of concern, i.e., cyanobacteria (Microcystis aeruginosa and Synechococcus elongatus) and green algae (Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and Desmodesmus quadricauda), with 50% effective growth-inhibiting concentrations ranging between 95 nM and 6.5 μM. Additionally, SBPs exhibited algicidal effects on C. reinhardtii and cyanocidal effects on picocyanobacterium S. elongatus and microcystin-producing cyanobacterium M. aeruginosa. SBP copolymers, particularly those with moderate hydrophobic content, induced more potent cyanostatic and cyanocidal effects than homopolymers. Thus, biomimetic polymers are a promising platform for the design of anti-cyanobacterial and anti-algal agents for water treatment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymers Materials for Water Treatment)
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27 pages, 6259 KiB  
Article
Polymer Ligands Derived from Jute Fiber for Heavy Metal Removal from Electroplating Wastewater
by Md Lutfor Rahman, Choong Jian Fui, Tang Xin Ting, Mohd Sani Sarjadi, Sazmal E. Arshad and Baba Musta
Polymers 2020, 12(11), 2521; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12112521 - 29 Oct 2020
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 3269
Abstract
Industrial operations, domestic and agricultural activities worldwide have had major problems with various contaminants caused by environmental pollution. Heavy metal pollution in wastewater also a prominent issue; therefore, a well built and economical treatment technology is demanded for pollution-free wastewater. The present work [...] Read more.
Industrial operations, domestic and agricultural activities worldwide have had major problems with various contaminants caused by environmental pollution. Heavy metal pollution in wastewater also a prominent issue; therefore, a well built and economical treatment technology is demanded for pollution-free wastewater. The present work emphasized pure cellulose extracted from jute fiber and further modification was performed by a free radical grafting reaction, which resulted in poly(methyl acrylate) (PMA)-grafted cellulose and poly(acrylonitrile)-grafted cellulose. Subsequently, poly(hydroxamic acid) and poly(amidoxime) ligands were prepared from the PMA-grafted cellulose and PAN-grafted cellulose, respectively. An adsorption study was performed using the desired ligands with heavy metals such as copper, cobalt, chromium and nickel ions. The binding capacity (qe) with copper ions for poly(hydroxamic acid) is 352 mg g−1 whereas qe for poly(amidoxime) ligand it was exhibited as 310 mg g−1. Other metal ions (chromium, cobalt and nickel) show significance binding properties at pH 6. The Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm study was also performed. The Freundlich isotherm model showed good correlation coefficients for all metal ions, indicating that multiple-layers adsorption was occurred by the polymer ligands. The reusability was evaluated and the adsorbents can be reused for 7 cycles without significant loss of removal performance. Both ligands showed outstanding metals removal capacity from the industrial wastewater as such 98% of copper can be removed from electroplating wastewater and other metals (cobalt, chromium, nickel and lead) can also be removed up to 90%. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymers Materials for Water Treatment)
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