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Biomass-Derived Materials for Environmental Applications

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Applied Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2024 | Viewed by 5394

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of the Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
Interests: biomaterials; environmental applications; adsorption; coagulation; flocculation; sludge dewatering; membrane; scale inhibition

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Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry, The American University in Cairo, New Cairo 11835, Egypt
Interests: analytical and environmental chemistry; drug delivery; computational chemistry and modeling

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Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry, School of Sciences and Engineering, The American University in Cairo, New Cairo 11835, Egypt
Interests: adsorption; membrane separation; surface chemistry; nanoporous materials; water treatment; biomass conversion

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Biomass-derived materials have been recently paid much more attention in environmental applications for their advantages of high efficiency, wide sources, low price, non-toxicity, and biodegradation. After suitable modification, they can be used as various kinds of functional materials such as adsorbents, coagulants, flocculants, scale inhibitors, membrane, and so on. Recent advances in preparation and application technologies of novel, high-efficiency, and low-cost biomass-derived materials including their mechanisms in environmental applications provide potential in long-term and large scale applications. We invite researchers to contribute original research articles as well as review articles that will stimulate the continuing development in biomass-based materials in various aspects in environmental applications. We are particularly interested in articles describing novel synthesis methods, new application technologies in environmental remediation, the mechanisms and principle of biomass-based materials in environmental applications.

Prof. Dr. Hu Yang
Prof. Dr. Tamer Shoeib
Dr. Mayyada El-Sayed
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • biomaterials
  • environmental applications
  • adsorption
  • coagulation
  • flocculation
  • sludge dewatering
  • membrane
  • scale inhibition

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 7659 KiB  
Article
Enhancing Cr (VI) Adsorption of Chestnut Shell Biochar through H3PO4 Activation and Nickel Doping
by Wen Hu, Xiaojing Zhang, Ming Chen, Sheikh Tamjidur Rahman, Xin Li and Geming Wang
Molecules 2024, 29(10), 2220; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules29102220 - 9 May 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 991
Abstract
A high-efficiency nickel-doped porous biochar (PCNi3) has been successfully synthesized from chestnut shell waste via a two-step chemical activation treatment with H3PO4. The influences of microstructure, surface morphology, elemental composition, surface functional groups, specific surface area, porosity, [...] Read more.
A high-efficiency nickel-doped porous biochar (PCNi3) has been successfully synthesized from chestnut shell waste via a two-step chemical activation treatment with H3PO4. The influences of microstructure, surface morphology, elemental composition, surface functional groups, specific surface area, porosity, pore-size distribution, and chemical properties of the surface state on the removal of Cr (VI) from water were thoroughly investigated by using XRD, FESEM, FTIR, Raman, BET, and XPS testing methods, N2 adsorption, and XPS testing techniques respectively. The results indicate that the treatment of H3PO4 activation and nickel doping can effectively improve microstructure characteristics, thus promoting Cr (VI) adsorption capacity. The effects of initial solution pH, solution concentration, time, and temperature on remediation are revealed. The Cr (VI) uptake experiments imply that the adsorption curves of PCNi3 fit well with the Freundlich model, the pseudo-second-order kinetic model, and the Elovich model. The adsorption process of PCNi3 can be regarded as a spontaneous endothermic reaction limited by diffusion among particles and porosity. The adsorption mechanisms of PCNi3 are ion exchange, complexation, electrostatic adsorption, and coprecipitation with the assistance of surface active sites, porosity, Ni0 particles, and Ni7P3. With these advantages, PCNi3 reveals an extraordinary Cr (VI) removal capacity and a strong ability to reduce Cr (VI) to Cr (III). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomass-Derived Materials for Environmental Applications)
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10 pages, 2423 KiB  
Article
Preparation and Performance Verification of a Solid Slow-Release Carbon Source Material for Deep Nitrogen Removal in Urban Tailwater
by Zhang Luo, Hongtao Shi, Hanghang Lyu, Hang Shi and Bo Liu
Molecules 2024, 29(9), 2031; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules29092031 - 28 Apr 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 761
Abstract
Urban tailwater typically has a low carbon-to-nitrogen ratio and adding external carbon sources can effectively improve the denitrification performance of wastewater. However, it is difficult to determine the dosage of additional carbon sources, leading to insufficient or excessive addition. Therefore, it is necessary [...] Read more.
Urban tailwater typically has a low carbon-to-nitrogen ratio and adding external carbon sources can effectively improve the denitrification performance of wastewater. However, it is difficult to determine the dosage of additional carbon sources, leading to insufficient or excessive addition. Therefore, it is necessary to prepare solid slow-release carbon source (SRC) materials to solve the difficulty in determining the dosage of carbon sources. This study selected two SRCs of slow-release carbon source 1 (SRC1) and slow-release carbon source 2 (SRC2), with good slow-release performance after static carbon release and batch experiments. The composition of SRC1 was: hydroxypropyl methylcellulose/disodium fumarate/polyhydroxy alkanoate (HPMC/DF/PHA) at a ratio of 3:2:4, with an Fe3O4 mass fraction of 3%. The composition of SRC2 was: HPMC/DF/PHA with a ratio of 1:1:1 and an Fe3O4 mass fraction of 3%. The fitted equations of carbon release curves of SRC1 and SRC2 were y = 61.91 + 7190.24e−0.37t and y = 47.92 + 8770.42e−0.43t, respectively. The surfaces of SRC1 and SRC2 had a loose and porous morphological structure, which could increase the specific surface area of materials and be more conducive to the adhesion and metabolism of microorganisms. The experimental nitrogen removal by denitrification with SRCs showed that when the initial total nitrogen concentration was 40.00 mg/L, the nitrate nitrogen (NO3-N) concentrations of the SRC1 and SRC2 groups on the 10th day were 2.57 and 2.66 mg/L, respectively. On the 20th day, the NO3-N concentrations of the SRC1 and SRC2 groups were 1.67 and 2.16 mg/L, respectively, corresponding to removal efficiencies of 95.83% and 94.60%, respectively. The experimental results indicated that SRCs had a good nitrogen removal effect. Developing these kinds of materials can provide a feasible way to overcome the difficulty in determining the dosage of carbon sources in the process of heterotrophic denitrification. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomass-Derived Materials for Environmental Applications)
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13 pages, 5227 KiB  
Article
Fluorescent Paper Based on CQDs/Rhodamine B: A Ratio and Sensitive Detection Platform for On-Site Fe3+ Sensing
by Guangda Han, Jihai Cai, Lu Yang, Xiaoyun Li and Xiaoying Wang
Molecules 2024, 29(7), 1658; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules29071658 - 7 Apr 2024
Viewed by 1487
Abstract
Fluorescent sensors with single reading are generally subject to unpredictable disturbs from environmental and artificial factors. In order to overcome this barrier of detection reliability, a paper-based optical sensor with proportional fluorescence was established and further combined with a smartphone for visual, on-site [...] Read more.
Fluorescent sensors with single reading are generally subject to unpredictable disturbs from environmental and artificial factors. In order to overcome this barrier of detection reliability, a paper-based optical sensor with proportional fluorescence was established and further combined with a smartphone for visual, on-site and quantitative detection of Fe3+, which affects the color, smell and taste of water, and endangers the health of plants and animals. The ratio fluorescent probe was fabricated by rhodamine B and carbon quantum dots derived from xylan. The red fluorescence of rhodamine B was inert to Fe3+, which was referred to as background. And blue emitting carbon quantum dots functioned as signal report units, which would be quenched by Fe3+ and make the fluorescence of the ratio probe change from purple to red. The quantitative detection of Fe3+ was conducted by investigating the RGB value of fluorescent images with a smartphone. With the increase of Fe3+ concentration, the R/B (red/blue) value of the fluorescent paper gradually increased. The linear detection range was 10–180 μM, and the limit of detection was 198.2 nM. The application of ratio fluorescent paper with a smartphone provides a facile method for the rapid detection of ions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomass-Derived Materials for Environmental Applications)
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16 pages, 3128 KiB  
Article
Cationic Surfactant-Modified Tetraselmis sp. for the Removal of Organic Dyes from Aqueous Solution
by Buhani, Istikomah, Suharso, Sumadi, Sutarto, Huda M. Alghamdi and Khalid Z. Elwakeel
Molecules 2023, 28(23), 7839; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28237839 - 29 Nov 2023
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 1541
Abstract
The modification of the Tetraselmis sp. algae material (Tetra-Alg) with surfactant Cethyltrimethylammonium Bromide (CTAB) yielded adsorbent Tetra-Alg-CTAB as an adsorbent of methyl orange (MO) and methylene blue (MB) solutions. The characterization of the adsorbent used an infrared (IR) spectrometer to identify functional groups [...] Read more.
The modification of the Tetraselmis sp. algae material (Tetra-Alg) with surfactant Cethyltrimethylammonium Bromide (CTAB) yielded adsorbent Tetra-Alg-CTAB as an adsorbent of methyl orange (MO) and methylene blue (MB) solutions. The characterization of the adsorbent used an infrared (IR) spectrometer to identify functional groups and Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX FEI Inspect-S50, Midland, ON, Canada) to determine the surface morphology and elemental composition. Methyl orange and methylene blue adsorption on the adsorbent Tetra-Alg, Tetraselmis sp. algae-modified Na+ ions (Tetra-Alg-Na), and Tetra-Alg-CTAB were studied, including variations in pH, contact time, concentration, and reuse of adsorbents. The adsorption of MO and MB by Tetra-Alg-CTAB at pH 10, during a contact time of 90 min, and at a concentration of 250 mg L−1 resulted in MO and MB being absorbed in the amounts of 128.369 and 51.013 mg g−1, respectively. The adsorption kinetics and adsorption isotherms of MO and MB and Tetra-Alg, Tetra-Alg-Na, and Tetra-Alg-CTAB tend to follow pseudo-second-order kinetics models and Freundlich adsorption isotherms with each correlation coefficient value (R2) approaching 1. Due to the modification with the cationic surfactant CTAB, anionic dyes can be strongly sorbed in alkaline pH due to strong electrostatic attraction, while MB is more likely to involve cation exchange and hydrogen bonding. The reuse of Tetra-Alg-CTAB was carried out four times with adsorption percent > 70%, and the adsorbent was very effective in the adsorption of anionic dyes such as MO. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomass-Derived Materials for Environmental Applications)
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