Optimization of Adsorbent Materials and Their Application in Sustainable Wastewater Treatment

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, the demand for clean water and the compromise on the quality of the available water resources has been on the increase due to the global water scarcity and the negative environmental impacts of industrialization and urbanization. Globally, wastewater management professionals have to ensure that the discharged effluent does not compromise the quality and the safety of the receiving water bodies. Given the prevailing water challenges, the development of sustainable wastewater treatment technologies has become evident to achieve the agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals. Among the treatment methods of wastewater, the adsorption process using adsorbent materials emerges as a pivotal area of research due to its safe, efficient, versatile, multi-functional modification ability, reusability, and cost effectiveness in removing pollutants from wastewater. The effectiveness of adsorption technology depends largely on the properties of the adsorbent materials, like their surface area, surface chemistry, the pore size distribution, and specificity in pollutant affinity. In wastewater treatment, the adsorbent materials enhance both the physical and chemical binding of the heavy metals, dyes, organic compounds, and emerging pollutants towards their surface, thereby removing them from the wastewater. Consequently, the optimization of these materials to enhance their adsorption capacity and selectivity is the significant focus of this Special Issue.

This Special Issue on “Optimization of Adsorbent Materials and Their Application in Sustainable Wastewater Treatment” seeks high-quality works that focus on the advances in the development and application of optimized adsorbent materials for the treatment of contaminated water resources. We invite submissions that investigate the innovative synthesis of adsorbent materials, modifications of existing materials performance, and the adsorption efficiency tests of wastewater treatment using optimization techniques.

Topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Optimization of the synthesis of adsorbent materials for pollutant removal from wastewater.
• Advanced modifications of the natural and synthetic adsorbents for wastewater treatment.
• Optimization of the composites of green materials for wastewater treatment.
• Application of advanced analytical techniques to demonstrate the properties of the adsorbent materials.
• Determination of the optimum conditions of the adsorption process parameters in wastewater treatment.
• The regeneration and reuse of adsorbent materials capacity in the sustainability of wastewater treatment technique.
• Determination of the adsorption process mechanisms using optimized adsorbent materials.
• Application of optimized adsorbent materials in industrial, municipal, and agricultural wastewater treatment.
• Challenges and opportunities in scaling up adsorbent-based wastewater treatment technologies for practical applications.
• Application of nanotechnology and nanomaterials in adsorption processes.
• Systematic insights on the modeling of adsorption equilibrium, kinetics, and thermodynamics.
• Environmental and economic assessments of adsorbent materials.
• Integration of adsorbent materials in conventional and innovative wastewater treatment systems.
• Regulatory and safety considerations in the deployment of adsorbent materials.

Dr. Titus Chinedu Egbosiuba
Dr. Chinenye Adaobi Igwegbe
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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.

• adsorbent
• nanomaterials
• optimization
• materials characterizations
• pollutants
• adsorption
• adsorption capacity
• adsorption parameters
• wastewater treatment
• mechanism
• adsorbent reusability