Separations

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Xinyue Zhao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

School of Resources and Environment, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China
Interests: wastewater treatment for nitrogen removal and constructed wetlands technology

Prof. Dr. Lixin Li

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

School of Environment and Chemical Engineering, Heilongjiang University of Science and Technology, Harbin, China
Interests: purification technology; wastewater treatment technology and energy recovery; development and environmental application of biochar; advanced oxidation technology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The literature on wastewater provides substantial evidence on the harmful impact of wastewater derived from industrial and agricultural practices on human health and ecosystem safety. Addressing wastewater pollution will aid in the efficient and rational use of water resources and formulation of policies to adequately respond to water disasters across the world. Although both physicochemical technologies and biological-based denitrification are utilized to remove pollutants, the latter has emerged as a more promising method due to its higher efficiency, operational simplicity and lower maintenance cost compared to the former.

This Special Issue aims to publish research that investigates the reliability and efficiency of biotechnology in solving nitrogen or nutrient pollution in the environment, encompassing studies of the advanced nitrogen removal process in adsorption and removal of pollutants. We also encourage submissions of novel multidisciplinary research on physicochemical technologies assisting in effective pollutants removal. Treatment processes for wastewaters, biological waste treatment, pollutant sensing, monitoring, fate, and assessment are potential topics of interest.

Dr. Xinyue Zhao
Prof. Dr. Lixin Li
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. Separations 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

pollutant removal
advanced nitrogen removal
biological-based denitrification
microbial community
physicochemical technologies
pollutant monitoring

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers

Research

Jump to: Review

13 pages, 2628 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Rare Earth Doping on Structural and Electrocatalytic Properties of Nanostructured TiO₂ Nanotubes/SnO₂-Sb Electrode for Electrochemical Treatment of Industrial Wastewater

by Lisha Yang and Yanming Guo

Separations 2023, 10(11), 560; https://doi.org/10.3390/separations10110560 - 9 Nov 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1192

Abstract

The solvothermal synthesis technique was employed to successfully fabricate a series of rare earth doped SnO₂-Sb electrodes on the TNTs array substrate, serving as anode material for electrocatalytic degradation of phenol. The electrode doped with rare earth elements demonstrated superior electrocatalytic activity and stability in comparison to the undoped electrode. The influence of adding rare earth elements (i.e., Gd and Nd) into the precursor solution on the structural and property of TNTs/SnO₂-Sb electrodes was studied in detail. The results obtained from SEM and XRD indicated that, compared to TNTs/SnO₂-Sb-Nd, TNTs/SnO₂-Sb-Gd exhibited a finer grain size due to the smaller ionic radius of the Gd element. This facilitated its incorporation into the SnO₂ lattice interior and inhibited grain growth, resulting in a significant decrease in particle size for exposing more active sites. The influence mechanism of rare earth doping on electrochemical activity was investigated through XPS, EPR, LSV, EIS and Hydroxyl radicals (•OH) generation tests. The results demonstrated that the enhanced electrocatalytic activity can be attributed to an increased generation of oxygen vacancies on the electrode surface, which act as active sites for enhancing the adsorption of oxygen species and promoting •OH generation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Nitrogen Removal Process in Adsorption and Removal of Pollutants)

► Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Review

Jump to: Research

18 pages, 3402 KiB

Open AccessReview

Resource and Energy Utilization of Swine Wastewater Treatment: Recent Progress and Future Directions

by Xiangwei Meng, Ming Jin, Qianzi Feng, Aiqi Sha, Shunwen Bai and Xinyue Zhao

Separations 2023, 10(12), 591; https://doi.org/10.3390/separations10120591 - 3 Dec 2023

Viewed by 2007

Abstract

Livestock and poultry farming, as a crucial component of agricultural production, poses a substantial threat to the ecological environment due to the discharge of wastewater. In recent years, researchers have proposed various resource treatment technologies for livestock and poultry breeding wastewater. However, a comprehensive discussion regarding the limitations and avenues for optimizing resource utilization technologies for livestock and poultry farming wastewater treatment is notably absent in existing literature. This paper takes swine wastewater as an illustrative case and undertakes a review of the advantages, disadvantages, and optimization directions of resource treatment technologies, including physical and chemical technology, microbial metabolism, microbial electrochemistry, constructed wetlands, and microalgae-based techniques. Based on mass balance, the recovery rates of various treatment technologies are estimated, and it was found that microbial electrochemistry and constructed wetland techniques may become the mainstream for resource utilization in the future. Furthermore, this paper emphasizes that in addition to resource efficiency, the optimization of resource utilization technologies for swine wastewater should also focus on the following aspects: (1) striking a balance between environmental impact and economic benefits; (2) reducing the cost of resource and energy utilization; and (3) safeguarding environmental and ecological security. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Nitrogen Removal Process in Adsorption and Removal of Pollutants)

► Show Figures