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A special issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental and Green Processes".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 November 2022) | Viewed by 51385

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Lin He

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Guest Editor

School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, China
Interests: oil-water separation; oil-solid separation; adsorption-desorption of gas; organic wastes treatment; VOCs; soil remediation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Jun Han

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Guest Editor

College of Resource and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430081, China
Interests: VOC control; chemical safety; flue gas cleaning

Prof. Dr. Erhong Duan

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Guest Editor

School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hebei University of Science and Technology, 26th Yuxiang Street, Shijiazhuang 050018, China
Interests: volatile organic compounds; environmental catalysis; ionic liquids; cleaner production

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Industrial evolution has brought about huge changes to human society in many different aspects. During industrial production, large amounts of organic substances have been used as raw chemicals or produced as organic products. These organic materials are released or discharged into the environment, leading to serious environmental pollutions, such as wastewater, solid wastes, polluted gases (i.e., VOCs). Intrinsically, these organic pollutants or wastes represent resources that could be recovered as new products. Basically, there are different recovery methods or processes being proposed to recover these organic materials from different mixtures, such as extraction, adsorption, absorption, distillation, membrane separation, hydrothermal conversion, microbial extraction, flotation, combustion, or combined processes, etc. Many different functional materials and equipment have also been developed, some of which have been applied in industry. These advancements in organic pollutants treatment can provide more insights into developing recovery and harmless treatment technologies as well as their potential applications.

This Special Issue on “Resource Recovery and Harmless Treatment Processes for Industrial Organic Pollutants” seeks high-quality works focusing on the latest novel advances in recovery and harmless treatment technologies for industrial organic pollutants. Topics include, but are not limited to:

Industrial organic pollutants analysis;
Functional materials (membrane, adsorbents, absorbents, oxidents, catalysts, etc.) and performance application;
Waste organics recovery from solution;
Solid organic wastes recovery and harmless conversion;
Industrial VOC recovery and harmless conversion;
Recovery process industrial integration, application and modeling.

Dr. Lin He
Prof. Dr. Jun Han
Prof. Dr. Erhong Duan
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 papers will be 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 2000 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

organic pollutants
organic solid wastes
VOCs
wastewater
recovery
separation
adsorption and absorption
membrane
extraction
hydrothermal conversion
flotation
distillation
economic evaluation

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Published Papers (12 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research, Review

5 pages, 197 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Special Issue on “Resource Recovery and Harmless Treatment Processes for Industrial Organic Pollutants”

by Lin He, Jun Han and Erhong Duan

Processes 2023, 11(7), 2128; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr11072128 - 17 Jul 2023

Viewed by 853

Abstract

Industrial transformation has brought about huge changes to the human society in many different aspects [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resource Recovery and Harmless Treatment Processes for Industrial Organic Pollutants)

Research

Jump to: Editorial, Review

14 pages, 4428 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Turbulent Mass Diffusivity Model for Predicting Species Concentration Distribution in the Biodegradation of Phenol Wastewater in an Airlift Reactor

by Liang Li, Runqiu Hao, Xiaoxia Jin, Yachao Hao, Chunming Fu, Chengkai Zhang and Xihui Gu

Processes 2023, 11(2), 484; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr11020484 - 6 Feb 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1410

Abstract

In this study, a three-dimensional CFD transient model is established for predicting species concentration distribution in the biodegradation of phenol in an airlift reactor (ALR). The gas–liquid flow in the ALR is determined by the Euler–Euler method coupled with the standard k-ε model, and the bubble size is predicted by the population balance model (PBM). A turbulent mass diffusivity model is developed to simulate the turbulent mass transfer process and to predict the species concentration distribution. No empirical methods are needed as the turbulent mass diffusivity can be expressed by the concentration variance

\bar{c^{2}}

and its dissipation rate ε_c. A good agreement is found between simulated and experimental results in the literature. It is not reasonable to assume a constant turbulent Schmidt number because the calculated distribution of turbulent mass diffusivity is not identical to that of turbulent viscosity. Finally, the hydrodynamic characteristics and biodegradation performance of the proposed model in a novel ALR are compared with that in the original ALR. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resource Recovery and Harmless Treatment Processes for Industrial Organic Pollutants)

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12 pages, 1866 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Study on Demulsification Technology of Heavy Oil Blended in Xinjiang Oilfield

by Jungang Zou, Yaermaimaiti Patiguli, Jun Chen, Awan Alimila, Bin Zhao and Junwei Hou

Processes 2023, 11(2), 409; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr11020409 - 30 Jan 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1726

Abstract

HYW (Hong Yi Wu line) heavy oil emulsion in Xinjiang Oilfield (Karamay, China) is a kind of heavy oil with high viscosity and high emulsification. Its viscosity reaches 120,000 mPa·s at 40 °C. The emulsion has no demulsification. Even if the demulsification temperature reaches 90 degrees, the concentration of demulsifier reaches 260 mg/L. In this paper, a new process of thermochemical demulsification of heavy oil after blending is studied. First, SE low-viscosity oil with viscosity of 640 mPa·s and water cut of 90% was selected as blended oil. Study the viscosity of SE line and HYW line at different temperatures after fully blended. The results show that the heavy oil blended model conforms to Bingham model. When the temperature is 40 °C and the content of SE line is 30%, the viscosity is less than 10,000 mPa·s. With the increase of temperature, the viscosity continues to decline. When the temperature exceeds 80 °C, the viscosity is less than 1000 mPa·s. The final design SE line content is 30%, the demulsification temperature is 70 °C, and the demulsifier concentration is 160 mg/L as the best demulsification parameter. The field results show that the demulsification rate of heavy oil in this process reaches more than 90%. This experiment lays a foundation for demulsification of high emulsified crude oil developed by heavy oil in Xinjiang oilfield. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resource Recovery and Harmless Treatment Processes for Industrial Organic Pollutants)

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15 pages, 2974 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Valorization of Bayer Red Mud in a Circular Economy Process: Valuable Metals Recovery and Further Brick Manufacture

by Carlos Leiva, Fátima Arroyo-Torralvo, Yolanda Luna-Galiano, Rosario Villegas, Luis Francisco Vilches and Constantino Fernández Pereira

Processes 2022, 10(11), 2367; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr10112367 - 11 Nov 2022

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2138

Abstract

In this work, the recovery of valuable metals from Bayer red mud using hydrometallurgical techniques and the subsequent use of the solid remaining after leaching as the principal component of the fired bricks were analyzed. Water, sulfuric acid, and sodium hydroxide were used as leaching agents. Different L/S ratios and contact times were also tested. According to technical, economic, and environmental considerations, the optimal conditions to recover valuable elements from red mud were 2 M H₂SO₄, in contact for 24 h, with an L/S ratio = 5. Under these conditions, high leaching yields of valuable elements such as La (47.6%) or V (11%) were achieved. After the leaching process, the remaining solid was mixed with clay and water to produce bricks. Two doses of red mud (50 and 80% w) and two different sintering temperatures (900 and 1100 °C) were tested. When the proportion of treated RM in the mix was increased, the compressive strength of the bricks was reduced, but it was increased as the sintering temperature was increased. The environmental safety of the bricks manufactured (leaching of heavy metals and radionuclides) was also studied, and it was found that it was more favorable when red mud was treated instead of fresh red mud being used. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resource Recovery and Harmless Treatment Processes for Industrial Organic Pollutants)

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12 pages, 3428 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Modelling for the Efficient Effluent Dye Removal to Reuse Water and Salt

by Valentina Buscio, Víctor López-Grimau, Bettina Vallés, Montserrat Pepió and Carmen Gutiérrez-Bouzán

Processes 2022, 10(10), 2024; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr10102024 - 7 Oct 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1385

Abstract

The objective of this work was to determine the optimal conditions for the electrooxidation treatment in order to decolourise the effluents that contain reactive dyes. According to the results, when Na₂SO₄ is used as an electrolyte, the decolouration reactions follow first-order kinetics. However, when NaCl is present in the effluent, the first-order kinetics is stabilised after applying a minimal electric current value. The models obtained from the results show that the higher the concentration of NaCl, the lower the energy consumption. On the other hand, an increase in dye concentration leads to an increase in electrical consumption. In relation to the pH, the results show that it is not a key factor in the decolouration efficiency. Finally, the obtained model was applied to two real effluents. The feasibility of individually treating the effluents from the dyeing process and those from the subsequent wash-off process was evaluated. From an industrial application point of view, it is recommended to mix both effluents before treatment, especially when the dye concentration is high. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resource Recovery and Harmless Treatment Processes for Industrial Organic Pollutants)

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10 pages, 1727 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Physical and Chemical Regularities of Phosphorus and Beryllium Recovery by the Sorbents Based on Acrylic Fiber Impregnated by Iron Hydroxide (III)

by Nikolay A. Bezhin, Mariya A. Frolova, Ol’ga N. Kozlovskaia, Evgeniy V. Slizchenko, Iuliia G. Shibetskaia and Ivan G. Tananaev

Processes 2022, 10(10), 2010; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr10102010 - 5 Oct 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1507

Abstract

The paper investigates the physicochemical regularities (kinetics and isotherm) of phosphorus and beryllium recovery by sorbents based on polyacrylonitrile (PAN) fiber and Fe(OH)₃ obtained by various methods: PAN or pre-hydrolyzed PAN with precipitation of FeCl₃ with ammonia, using ready-made or electrochemically generated Na₂FeO₄, pre-hydrolyzed PAN treated with an alkaline solution of Na₂FeO₄, as well as their comparison with granular aluminum oxide. The Langmuir, Freudlich and Dubinin–Radushkevich models show high performance of materials for sorption of stable P and Be used as tracers for the release of ⁷Be, ³²P, and ³³P from seawater. The obtained kinetic data are processed using kinetic models of intraparticle diffusion and the pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, and Elovich models. Optimal conditions for obtaining sorbents are established, namely, the effect of NaOH concentration at the stages of preparation on the properties of sorbents based on the PAN fiber and Fe(OH)₃ obtained by various methods. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resource Recovery and Harmless Treatment Processes for Industrial Organic Pollutants)

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17 pages, 8059 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Reaction Extraction of Levulinic Acid and Formic Acid from Cellulose Deep Hydrolyzate

by Baoshi Dong, Haifeng Cong, Xingang Li, Hong Li and Xin Gao

Processes 2022, 10(4), 734; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr10040734 - 11 Apr 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2962

Abstract

Levulinic acid (LA), a platform chemical with high added value, can be obtained by deep hydrolysis of cellulose, but accompanied by the production of formic acid (FA). Due to its high water content, the recovery of levulinic acid and formic acid from aqueous solution consumes a lot of energy in industry. This paper will use the method of reactive extraction to explore the optimal conditions for the recovery of levulinic acid and formic acid from deep hydrolysate. First, the kinetic and thermodynamic parameters of the reaction process were studied. Then, the effects of different parameters, such as temperature, catalyst dosage, and raw material ratio, on the reaction extraction process were investigated. Finally, through the simulation and optimization of the process, the optimized recovery conditions were chosen to realize the recovery of formic acid and levulinic acid. It is found that reactive extraction can achieve the purpose of efficiently separating levulinic acid and formic acid from the aqueous solution by the yield of 99.1% and 99.9%, respectively. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resource Recovery and Harmless Treatment Processes for Industrial Organic Pollutants)

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13 pages, 2395 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Pyrolysis and Volatile Evolution Behaviors of Cold-Rolling Oily Sludge

by Zhigang Que, Yinxuan Fu, Jinming Shi, Xianbin Ai and Chunbao Xu

Processes 2022, 10(3), 543; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr10030543 - 11 Mar 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2403

Abstract

Cold-rolling oily sludge contains high amounts of oil and iron resources that can be recycled by pyrolysis. We investigated the pyrolysis behavior and volatile products of oily sludge by thermogravimetric analysis (TG) coupled with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and a pyrolyzer (PY) coupled with gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The pyrolysis process was divided into three stages: H₂O drying and CO₂ desorption at low temperatures (below 393 K); the volatilization of low-molecular-weight organics and the covalent bond cleavage of C=C, C-O, and C-H in the medium-molecular-weight organics at medium temperatures (393–844 K); and chain scission of the high-molecular-weight organics and reduction of iron oxides by CO at high temperatures (above 844 K). The weight losses of oily sludge in the three stages were 0.4 wt %, 47.9 wt %, and 14.7 wt %, respectively. According to the kinetic models, stage 2 and stage 3 could be described with the second-order and third-order reaction models, and their activation energies were 40.22 kJ/mol and 214.99 kJ/mol, respectively. The compounds in the volatile products were identified by FTIR and GC/MS. The organics in the volatile products from stage 2 pyrolysis mainly consisted of aliphatic hydrocarbons, fatty acids, esters, ketones, and nitrogen compounds, while the volatile products from stage 3 predominantly contained aliphatic hydrocarbons, mononuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, and small amounts of nitrogen compounds and CO, suggesting the occurrence of chain scission of heavy organics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resource Recovery and Harmless Treatment Processes for Industrial Organic Pollutants)

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14 pages, 3369 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Enhanced Separation of Oil and Solids in Oily Sludge by Froth Flotation at Normal Temperature

by Wenying Li, Hongyang Lin, Yang Yang, Zhenxiao Shang, Qiuhong Li, Yanfei Ma, Aiju Liu and Man Jiang

Processes 2021, 9(12), 2163; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr9122163 - 1 Dec 2021

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2577

Abstract

Oily sludge (OS) contains a large number of hazardous materials, and froth flotation can achieve oil recovery and non-hazardous disposal of OS simultaneously. The influence of flotation parameters on OS treatment and the flotation mechanism were studied. OS samples were taken from Shengli Oilfield in May 2017 (OSS) and May 2020 (OST), respectively. Results showed that Na₂SiO₃ was the suitable flotation reagent treating OSS and OST, which could reduce the viscosity between oil and solids. Increasing flotation time, impeller speed and the ratio of liquid to OS could enhance the pulp shear effect, facilitate the formation of bubble and reduce pulp viscosity, respectively. Under the optimized parameters, the oil content of OST residue could be reduced to 1.2%, and that of OSS could be reduced to 0.6% because of OSS with low heavy oil components and wide solid particle size distribution. Orthogonal experimental results showed that the impeller speed was the most significant factor of all parameters for OSS and OST, and it could produce shear force to decrease the intensity of C-H bonds and destabilize the OS. The oil content of residue could be reduced effectively in the temperature range of 24–45 °C under the action of high impeller speed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resource Recovery and Harmless Treatment Processes for Industrial Organic Pollutants)

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20 pages, 3717 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Modeling CO₂, H₂S, COS, and CH₃SH Simultaneous Removal Using Aqueous Sulfolane–MDEA Solution

by Ke Liu, Honggang Chang, Gang Xiong, Jinlong He, Qisong Liu and Jinjin Li

Processes 2021, 9(11), 1954; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr9111954 - 31 Oct 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3055

Abstract

In this study, a rate-based absorption model coupled with an improved thermodynamic model was developed to characterize the removal of acid components (CO₂ and H₂S) and organic sulfur (COS and CH₃SH) from natural gas with an aqueous sulfolane–MDEA solution. First, the accuracy of the thermodynamic model was validated by comparing the calculated partial pressure of CO₂, H₂S, and CH₃SH with those of the experimental data reported in the literature. Then, the industrial test data were employed to validate the absorption model and the simulation results agreed well with the experimental data. The average relative errors of the removal rates of CO₂, COS, and CH₃SH are 3.3%, 3.0%, 4.1%, respectively. Based on the validated coupled model, the total mass transfer coefficient and mass transfer resistance of each solute component at different column positions were analyzed. The effects of the gas–liquid ratio, overflow weir height, and absorption pressure on the absorption performance of each component were studied, and the influence of the acid component concentration in the feed gas on the removal efficiency of methyl mercaptan (CH₃SH) was also discussed. It is found that the improved absorption model can better characterize the absorption performance and be conducive to the optimal design of the absorber column. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resource Recovery and Harmless Treatment Processes for Industrial Organic Pollutants)

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13 pages, 3076 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Amino Acid-Based Natural Deep Eutectic Solvents for Extraction of Phenolic Compounds from Aqueous Environments

by Meiyu Li, Yize Liu, Fanjie Hu, Hongwei Ren and Erhong Duan

Processes 2021, 9(10), 1716; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr9101716 - 24 Sep 2021

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 4146

Abstract

The environmental pollution of phenol-containing wastewater is an urgent problem with industrial development. Natural deep eutectic solvents provide an environmentally friendly alternation for the solvent extraction of phenol. This study synthesized a series of natural deep eutectic solvents with L-proline and decanoic acid as precursors, characterized by in situ infrared spectrometry, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, hydrogen nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry, and differential thermogravimetric analysis. Natural deep eutectic solvents have good thermal stability. The high-efficiency extraction of phenol from wastewater by natural deep eutectic solvents was investigated under mild conditions. The effects of natural deep eutectic solvents, phenol concentration, reaction temperature, and reaction time on phenol extraction were studied. The optimized extraction conditions of phenol with L-prolin/decanoic acid were as follows: molar ratio, 4.2:1; reaction time, 60 min; and temperature, 50 °C. Extraction efficiency was up to 62%. The number of extraction cycles can be up to 6, and extraction rate not less than 57%. The promising results demonstrate that natural deep eutectic solvents are efficient in the field of phenolic compound extraction in wastewater. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resource Recovery and Harmless Treatment Processes for Industrial Organic Pollutants)

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Review

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34 pages, 6369 KiB

Open AccessReview

The Formation, Stabilization and Separation of Oil–Water Emulsions: A Review

by Ying Tian, Jingjing Zhou, Changqing He, Lin He, Xingang Li and Hong Sui

Processes 2022, 10(4), 738; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr10040738 - 11 Apr 2022

Cited by 65 | Viewed by 25903

Abstract

Oil–water emulsions are widely generated in industries, which may facilitate some processes (e.g., transportation of heavy oil, storage of milk, synthesis of chemicals or materials, etc.) or lead to serious upgrading or environmental issues (e.g., pipeline plugging, corrosions to equipment, water pollution, soil pollution, etc.). Herein, the sources, classification, formation, stabilization, and separation of oil–water emulsions are systematically summarized. The roles of different interfacially active materials–especially the fine particles–in stabilizing the emulsions have been discussed. The advanced development of micro force measurement technologies for oil–water emulsion investigation has also been presented. To provide insights for future industrial application, the separation of oil–water emulsions by different methods are summarized, as well as the introduction of some industrial equipment and advanced combined processes. The gaps between some demulsification processes and industrial applications are also touched upon. Finally, the development perspectives of oil–water treatment technology are discussed for the purpose of achieving high-efficiency, energy-saving, and multi-functional treatment. We hope this review could bring forward the challenges and opportunities for future research in the fields of petroleum production, coal production, iron making, and environmental protection, etc. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resource Recovery and Harmless Treatment Processes for Industrial Organic Pollutants)

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