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Sustainability
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Emerging Topics in Soil Pollution and Ecological Agriculture
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Emerging Topics in Soil Pollution and Ecological Agriculture

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Soil Conservation and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 November 2023) | Viewed by 3176

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Adel Rabie Ahmed Usman

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Soils and Water Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt
Interests: soil pollution; heavy metals; soil remediation; risk assessment; biochar; carbon sequestration
Prof. Dr. Mohammad Ibrahim Al-Wabel

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Soil Sciences Department, College of Food & Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Interests: soil and water remediation; biochar synthesis and application; nanoclay; greywater; water treatment and reuse
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the soil environment, organic and inorganic contaminants have adverse impacts on agriculture. Organic pollutants in soils include polychlorinated biphenyls, polybrominated biphenyls, polychlorinated dibenzofurans, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, organophosphorus and carbamate insecticides, herbicides, and organic fuels. On the other hand, inorganic pollutants include heavy metals. These pollutants can cause serious health problems and pose ecological risks. Therefore, it is important that research focuses on studying the levels and sources of pollutants in agricultural soils as well as the associated health and agroecological risks.

This Special Issue aims to collect breakthrough research on the emerging topics in soil pollution and ecological agriculture. The scope will cover, but is not limited to, the following topics:

  • Assessment of levels and sources of soils polluted with organic and inorganic contaminants.
  • Health and agroecological risks of soil pollution with organic and inorganic pollutants.
  • The impact of soil pollution on the environment and ecological agriculture.
  • Soil pollution and sustainable agriculture.
  • Soil amendments as immobilizing agents for the remediation and rehabilitation of soils for agricultural use.

Prof. Dr. Adel Rabie Ahmed Usman
Prof. Dr. Mohammad Ibrahim Al-Wabel
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. Sustainability 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 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.

Keywords

  • agricultural soil
  • heavy metals
  • organic pollutants
  • human health risk
  • ecological risk
  • soil remediation

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

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 1695 KiB  
Article
Kaolinite-Composited Biochar and Hydrochar as Low-Cost Adsorbents for the Removal of Cadmium, Copper, Lead, and Zinc from Aqueous Solutions
by Hamed A. Al-Swadi, Abdullah S. Al-Farraj, Mohammad I. Al-Wabel, Munir Ahmad, Jahangir Ahmad, Mohammed Awad Mousa, Muhammad Imran Rafique and Muhammad Usama
Sustainability 2023, 15(22), 15978; https://doi.org/10.3390/su152215978 - 15 Nov 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1355
Abstract
During the last decade, due to an increase in anthropogenic activities, a higher environmental accumulation of heavy metals has been found, which has resulted in disturbed biogeochemical balance. Many kinds of remediation techniques have been practiced to mitigate heavy metal toxicity in the [...] Read more.
During the last decade, due to an increase in anthropogenic activities, a higher environmental accumulation of heavy metals has been found, which has resulted in disturbed biogeochemical balance. Many kinds of remediation techniques have been practiced to mitigate heavy metal toxicity in the aqueous phase; however, adsorption is the most commonly accepted technique for efficient heavy metal removal. In this study, conocarpus waste was pretreated with 0%, 10%, and 20% kaolinite and pyrolyzed at 600 °C for 1 h to synthesize biochars (BC, BCK10, and BCK20, respectively), while hydrothermalized at 200 °C for 6 h to synthesize hydrochars (HC, HCK10, and HCK20, respectively). After characterization, synthesized materials were employed for the removal of cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), and zinc (Zn) from contaminated water. Experimental data was further subjected to isotherm and kinetic models to estimate the adsorption mechanism. Among all the tested adsorbents, kaolinite-synthesized materials revealed comparatively higher adsorption compared to pristine materials. It was found that pH 7 was optimum for the maximum removal of tested heavy metals. Adsorption of tested heavy metals was well explained by Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms, while pseudo-second order and Elovich kinetics models fitted well for adsorption kinetics. The maximum adsorption capacity, as predicted by the Langmuir isotherm, was the highest for BCK20 (63.19 mg g−1 for Cd, 228.05 mg g−1 for Cu, 248.33 mg g−1 for Pb, and 45.79 mg g−1 for Zn) compared to the other tested materials, and for HCK20 (31.93 mg g−1 for Cd, 181.78 mg g−1 for Cu, 231.85 mg g−1 for Pb, and 45.72 mg g−1), it was higher than pristine HC. Isotherm and kinetics modeling data indicated that multiple mechanisms were involved in Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn removal, such as chemisorption and electrostatic interactions. The amount of oxygen-containing surface functional groups and SiO2 particles could be responsible for the maximum adsorption of heavy metals by BCK20 and HCK20. Our findings suggest that biochar, hydrochar, and their kaolinite-modified composites possess the excellent potential to remove heavy metals from contaminated aqueous media, and could be further applied to treat wastewater to mitigate heavy metal toxicity for a sustainable environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Topics in Soil Pollution and Ecological Agriculture)
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10 pages, 4461 KiB  
Article
Temporal and Spatial Distribution of Residual Film in Soil Profile under Continuous Film Mulching
by Xiaoting Yang, Wei Fan, Jinggui Wu, Yan Lv, Wenyue Zhu and Hongguang Cai
Sustainability 2023, 15(21), 15534; https://doi.org/10.3390/su152115534 - 1 Nov 2023
Viewed by 1340
Abstract
Plastic pollution in farmland soil has become a significant concern for scientists studying farmland ecosystems. However, the current research focus on the environmental impacts of plastics in soil overlooks crucial factors such as sources, distribution, and persistence. In this study, we examined the [...] Read more.
Plastic pollution in farmland soil has become a significant concern for scientists studying farmland ecosystems. However, the current research focus on the environmental impacts of plastics in soil overlooks crucial factors such as sources, distribution, and persistence. In this study, we examined the distribution of residual film after eight years of film mulching in mid-April 2018. We also assessed changes in spatial distribution from 2018 to 2020. Our findings reveal that eight years of film mulching significantly increased the quantity of agricultural mulch film residues in the soil. The size of residual film fragments varied from 0.25 cm2 to 109 cm2, and the average size, number, and quantity of residues were influenced by soil depth. There was a noticeable downward trend in the quantity of agricultural mulch film residues, decreasing annually by 0.525 kg·ha−1. In contrast, the number of residual films showed an average annual growth rate of 2.13 × 105 p·ha−1. Importantly, we observed a substantial accumulation of residual film fragments below the 10 cm soil layer over time. Fragments ranging from 1–5 cm2 were the most abundant and gradually accumulated in deeper soil layers, enhancing mulching film recovery efficiency. This study provides valuable insights into the influence of mulch cycles on farmland soil profiles, identifying the key locations and size-to-shape ratios of residual films. These findings serve as a theoretical foundation for implementing effective measures to control mulch film pollution in agricultural practices. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Topics in Soil Pollution and Ecological Agriculture)
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