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Toxics
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Monitoring, Assessment, and Remediation of Emerging Contaminants in Soil and...
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Monitoring, Assessment, and Remediation of Emerging Contaminants in Soil and Water

A special issue of Toxics (ISSN 2305-6304). This special issue belongs to the section "Emerging Contaminants".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 December 2023) | Viewed by 6647

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Munir Ahmad

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: engineering/designing and application of biochar for sustainable environment; monitoring, assessment and remediation of organic and inorganic pollutants in soil and water
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
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
Prof. Dr. Abdullah Alfarraj

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 remediation and rehabilitation; assessing urban soil pollution; monitoring dust pollution; soil minerology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Rapid escalation in global population has resulted in various socioeconomic and environmental problems. Expansion in urbanization and industrialization has generated substantially large amounts of organic and inorganic pollutants that have been pumped into various environmental matrices, consequently posing serious health risks to human being. Environmental pollution by various toxic emerging contaminants has become one of the most serious problems globally. More than 22,000 tons of Cd, 939,000 tons of Cu, 783,000 tons of Pb, and 1,350,000 tons of Zn has been released into the environment in last few decades. About 10 million contaminated sites have been reported globally, occupying about 49.42 million acres of land, of which >50% is contaminated with toxic heavy metals. Similarly, 8.3 billion tons of plastic has been produced in last few decades, and more than 60% of it has been released into the environment. Thus, limiting the release of pollutants into the environment, and removing the prevailing contaminants from the environment on a sustainable basis are the biggest challenges for the researchers in this modern era. Therefore, efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly technologies are needed to monitor, evaluate, and remove the emerging contaminants from water and soil systems.

In the light of aforementioned facts, in this Special Issue, original research articles as well as review articles are welcomed. Research areas may include (but not limited to) the following:

  • Monitoring and assessment of emerging contaminants in soil and water;
  • Occurrence and transport of heavy metals in soil and water;
  • Monitoring of micro– and nanoplastics in water, soil, and food;
  • Monitoring the presence of organic micropollutants in soil and water;
  • Ecological and health risks assessment for emerging environmental pollutants;
  • Recent technologies for sustainable soil remediation and rehabilitation;
  • Stabilization of industrial, mining, and urban contaminated soils;
  • Sustainable technologies for contaminated water remediation;
  • Designing biochar-based adsorptive materials for the efficient removal of contaminants from soil and water;
  • Synthesis and designing of new cheap and efficient adsorbents for soil and water remediation.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Munir Ahmad
Prof. Dr. Mohammad Ibrahim Al-Wabel
Prof. Dr. Abdullah Alfarraj
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. Toxics 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 2600 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

  • heavy metals pollution
  • organic micropollutants
  • micro- and nanoplastics
  • monitoring
  • ecological and health risks
  • remediation
  • adsorbents
  • biochar
  • sustainable environment

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 2634 KiB  
Article
Microplastic-Assisted Removal of Phosphorus and Ammonium Using Date Palm Waste Derived Biochar
by Munir Ahmad, Muhammad Imran Rafique, Mutair A. Akanji, Hamed Ahmed Al-Swadi, Muhammad Usama, Mohammed Awad Mousa, Mohammad I. Al-Wabel and Abdullah S. F. Al-Farraj
Toxics 2023, 11(11), 881; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics11110881 - 26 Oct 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1717
Abstract
Microplastics (MPs) are emerging environmental pollutants worldwide, posing potential health risks. Moreover, MPs may act as vectors for other contaminants and affect their fate, transport, and deposition in the environment. Therefore, efficient and economical techniques are needed for the removal of contemporary MPs [...] Read more.
Microplastics (MPs) are emerging environmental pollutants worldwide, posing potential health risks. Moreover, MPs may act as vectors for other contaminants and affect their fate, transport, and deposition in the environment. Therefore, efficient and economical techniques are needed for the removal of contemporary MPs and contaminants from the environment. The present research study investigated the sorption of phosphorus (P) and ammonium (NH4+) onto date palm waste-derived biochar (BC) from an aqueous solution in the presence of polyamide (PA) and polyethylene (PE) MPs. The BC was prepared at 600 °C, characterized for physio-chemical properties, and applied for P and NH4+ removal via isotherm and kinetic sorption trials. The results of the sorption trials demonstrated the highest removal of NH4+ and P was obtained at neutral pH 7. The highest P sorption (93.23 mg g−1) by BC was recorded in the presence of PA, while the highest NH4+ sorption (103.76 mg g−1) was found with co-occurring PE in an aqueous solution. Sorption isotherm and kinetics models revealed that P and NH4+ removal by MP-amended BC followed chemisorption, electrostatic interaction, precipitation, diffusion, and ion exchange mechanisms. Overall, co-existing PA enhanced the removal of P and NH4+ by 66% and 7.7%, respectively, while co-existing PE increased the removal of P and NH4+ by 55% and 30%, respectively, through the tested BC. Our findings suggested that converting date palm waste into BC could be used as a competent and economical approach to removing P and NH4+ from contaminated water. Furthermore, microplastics such as PE and PA could assist in the removal of P and NH4+ from contaminated water using BC. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Monitoring, Assessment, and Remediation of Emerging Contaminants in Soil and Water)
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16 pages, 4845 KiB  
Article
Ecological Risk Assessment and Source Identification of Heavy Metals in Soils from Shiyang River Watershed in Northwest China
by Jie Liao, Tao Wang, Jianhua Gui, Hengping Zhang, Cuihua Huang, Xiang Song and Shengyin Zhang
Toxics 2023, 11(10), 825; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics11100825 - 29 Sep 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1520
Abstract
Shiyang River Watershed is an important ecological barrier and agricultural production area in Northwest China, and the study of soil heavy metal content, distribution, and sources is important for agricultural product safety, pollution control, and ecosystem health. In this paper, 140 soil samples [...] Read more.
Shiyang River Watershed is an important ecological barrier and agricultural production area in Northwest China, and the study of soil heavy metal content, distribution, and sources is important for agricultural product safety, pollution control, and ecosystem health. In this paper, 140 soil samples were collected from 28 stations to assess the level of heavy metal (Arsenic (As), Copper (Cu), Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr), Mercury (Hg), Nickel (Ni), Zinc (Zn)) contamination, pollutant sources and influencing factors of soil in Shiyang River Watershed through determination of the metal contents and statistical analysis. The results indicated that the soils in the study area are typical saline soils in arid zones. The enrichment factors (EF) of As, Cr, Cu, Ni, Zn, and Pb indicate no contamination, and the EFs of Cd and Hg suggested minor contamination. Although the concentrations of Cd and Hg in soil are lower than others, they are more biotoxic and exhibit a moderate–high ecological risk. The index of geoaccumulation (Igeo) values reflect that most of the stations, especially the three groups of samples from depths of 10–20 cm, 20–40 cm, and 40–80 cm, are below the contamination threshold for all heavy metals. The chemical speciation of heavy metals, principal component analysis, and correlation analysis showed that Cr, Cu, Pb, Cd, Ni, and Zn mainly come from the natural accumulation upon weathering of soil-forming matrices. Hg and As mainly come from anthropogenic contributions. The effect of agricultural crop cultivation on soil heavy metal contamination is mainly through farm irrigation and crop–soil interactions, which accelerate the release of heavy metals through the weathering of soil-forming parent material and irrigation, which transports the heavy metals below the surface. The results of this study can provide a scientific basis for the involved authorities to formulate reasonable policies on environmental protection and pollution control. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Monitoring, Assessment, and Remediation of Emerging Contaminants in Soil and Water)
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Review

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19 pages, 4415 KiB  
Review
Approaches for the Efficient Removal of Fluoride from Groundwater: A Comprehensive Review
by Negar Arab, Reza Derakhshani and Mohammad Hossein Sayadi
Toxics 2024, 12(5), 306; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics12050306 - 23 Apr 2024
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2638
Abstract
Contamination of groundwater with fluoride represents a significant global issue, with high concentrations posing serious public health threats. While fluoride is a critical element in water, excessive levels can be detrimental to human health and potentially life-threatening. Addressing the challenge of removing fluoride [...] Read more.
Contamination of groundwater with fluoride represents a significant global issue, with high concentrations posing serious public health threats. While fluoride is a critical element in water, excessive levels can be detrimental to human health and potentially life-threatening. Addressing the challenge of removing fluoride from underground water sources via nanotechnological approaches is a pressing concern in environmental science. To collate relevant information, extensive literature searches were conducted across multiple databases, including Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, the American Chemical Society, Elsevier, Springer, and the Royal Society of Chemistry. VOS Viewer software version 1.6.20 was employed for a systematic review. This article delivers an exhaustive evaluation of various groundwater fluoride removal techniques, such as adsorption, membrane filtration, electrocoagulation, photocatalysis, and ion exchange. Among these, the application of nanoparticles emerges as a notable method. The article delves into nano-compounds, optimizing conditions for the fluoride removal process and benchmarking their efficacy against other techniques. Studies demonstrate that advanced nanotechnologies—owing to their rapid reaction times and potent oxidation capabilities—can remove fluoride effectively. The implementation of nanotechnologies in fluoride removal not only enhances water quality but also contributes to the safeguarding of human health. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Monitoring, Assessment, and Remediation of Emerging Contaminants in Soil and Water)
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