Removal of Pollutants by Adsorption Technologies

Dear Colleagues,

The existing remediation methodologies for the removal of metals or organics are oxidation, coagulation and flocculation, precipitation, ion exchange, membrane filtration, ozone oxidation and bioremediation. Most of the methods involve the production of highly contaminated sludge and high maintenance costs or the use of a relatively expensive mineral matrix that offsets the performance and efficiency advantages. Adsorption has largely emerged as significant technology for removing harmful substances from water or soil.

Charcoal, activated carbon and biochar are three forms of carbon that have a lot of common properties, with very similar composition and method of production. Important physicochemical properties of the aforementioned forms of coal have favorable pH values, great water-holding capacity and low values of bulk density. Additionally, the presence of substantial amounts of plant nutrients renders them into potential soil amelioratives for effectively immobilizing PTEs in contaminated soils. There are two parameters for an effective in situ remediation technology: firstly, the induced changes of chemical speciation and of physicochemical state of contaminants, and secondly, the embodiment of amendments in polluted soils.

Elevated concentrations of heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are known to have adverse effects on the aquatic environment due to their high toxicity and long persistence. Several treatment methods have been used to remove these pollutants from water such as ion exchange/adsorption, biodegradation, photocatalysis oxidation, chemical precipitation, membrane filtration and electrochemical techniques. Of these, adsorption is the most cost-effective, simple, flexible and efficient process. In addition, it produces minimum chemical or biological sludge and the adsorbent can be regenerated and reused which leads to a more cost-effective process.

This Special Issue is organized into three sections:

• Section 1— Advanced activated carbon preparation technology and activated carbon with strong adsorption capacity;
• Section 2—Activated carbon as potential material for heavy metal removal from wastewater or soil;
• Section 3—Activated carbon adsorption kinetics and in situ soil remediation techniques.

Dr. Hongyu Zhao
Dr. Jun Chen
Dr. Qiang Song
Dr. Lihui Gao
Dr. Jihui Li
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. Processes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2400 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.

• water, soil
• heavy metals
• organic matter
• adsorption mechanism
• adsorption material
• kinetics
• thermodynamics