(Bio)-Sorbents for Water Treatment and Soil Remediation

A special issue of Separations (ISSN 2297-8739). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Separations".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 September 2023) | Viewed by 3482

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Institute for Mechanics of Materials, University of Latvia, Jelgavas Street 3, LV-1004 Riga, Latvia
Interests: computer modeling; materials science and engineering; physical chemistry; polymer science; composite materials; mathematical modelling; environmental aging; durability
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

(Bio)-sorbents are gaining widespread use in various practical water treatment and soil remediation applications due to their often natural origins, as well as to a search for more sustainable and circular remediation solutions, while providing well-predictable and consistent sorptive behaviour. Other novel sorbent material types, such as zeolites; clays; MOFs; and geopolymer, hybrid and composite sorbents, are frequently introduced on the market, opening opportunities for the advancement of practical applications, including water treatment and soil remediation.

This issue aims to be multidisciplinary, involving theoretical and computational aspects of (bio)-sorbent material design and engineering; material property prediction, e.g., quantitative structure–property relationships; as well as intermolecular material–environment interactions (MEI).

Practical and engineering works involving (bio)-sorbents and sorbents are welcome. Novel practical applications are especially interesting, especially if green, sustainable and circular routes are studied.

We invite researchers to contribute to this Special Issue on “(Bio)-Sorbents for Water Treatment and Soil Remediation”, which intends to serve as a unique multidisciplinary forum on theoretical, computational and experimental science and engineering, including technology and the application of crystalline adsorbents.

The potential topics include, but are not limited to:

  • The synthesis, development and characterization of (bio)-sorbents;
  • Water treatment and remediation;
  • Soil remediation;
  • Zeolite and zeolite-like materials;
  • Clays and clay-like materials;
  • Composite and hybrid sorbents;
  • Quantitative structure–property relationships;
  • Computational property prediction and modelling;
  • Novel practical applications of (bio)-sorbent adsorbents;
  • Sustainable and circular solutions.

Dr. Andrey E. Krauklis
Dr. Ivar Zekker
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • sorbents
  • clays
  • environmental remediation
  • adsorption
  • soil remediation
  • water treatment
  • biosorbents
  • material-environment interactions
  • sustainability
  • separation

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 3311 KiB  
Article
Potential Use of Agricultural Waste—Carob Kibbles (Ceratonia siliqua L.) as a Biosorbent for Removing Boron from Wastewater
by Luz Adriana Díaz, Jorge Dias Carlier, Izabela Michalak and María Clara Costa
Separations 2023, 10(9), 464; https://doi.org/10.3390/separations10090464 - 24 Aug 2023
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Abstract
The release of boron (B) into the environment as a result of anthropogenic activity modifies sustainable natural conditions, thus affecting ecosystems. To meet water quality regulations, commercial and natural boron adsorbents are available to reduce its concentrations in industrial effluents, with the former [...] Read more.
The release of boron (B) into the environment as a result of anthropogenic activity modifies sustainable natural conditions, thus affecting ecosystems. To meet water quality regulations, commercial and natural boron adsorbents are available to reduce its concentrations in industrial effluents, with the former being not only more expensive but also less sustainable. In the publication, the biosorption parameters of carob kibbles (Ceratonia siliqua L.) were optimized in order to remove boron from aqueous solutions using batch experiments. The biosorbent used in the present research was agro-waste biomass provided by the local locust-beam gum industry. Boron removal by carob kibbles was favored at high initial pH values, and this capacity was found to be a function of boron initial concentration, biosorbent content in the solution, and particle size. The change in temperature did not affect the potential of biomass to remove boron. The highest boron removal efficiency (55.1%) was achieved under the following optimal conditions: 50 g/L biosorbent dose (Cs), with particle size range 0.025–0.106 mm, for the initial concentration (C0) of boron in the solution of 100 mg/L, at an initial pH of 11.5, for 5 h at 25 °C. This investigation suggests that carob kibble agro-waste can be valorized as a biosorbent to remove boron from wastewater, and the boron-loaded residue may eventually be explored as a new boron-fertilizer. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue (Bio)-Sorbents for Water Treatment and Soil Remediation)
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21 pages, 4481 KiB  
Article
Application of a Novel Bifunctionalized Magnetic Biochar to Remove Cr(VI) from Wastewater: Performance and Mechanism
by Xiangfen Cui, Juan Wang, Qun Zhao, Chen Li, Jianhong Huang, Xuewei Hu, Jie Li and Mantao Li
Separations 2023, 10(6), 358; https://doi.org/10.3390/separations10060358 - 15 Jun 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1496
Abstract
Biochar adsorption has emerged as a favorable and environmentally friendly approach for removing metals such as chromium (Cr) from wastewater. However, the use of pristine biochar (PBC) is limited due to its finite adsorptive capacity, selectivity, and potential for secondary pollution. In this [...] Read more.
Biochar adsorption has emerged as a favorable and environmentally friendly approach for removing metals such as chromium (Cr) from wastewater. However, the use of pristine biochar (PBC) is limited due to its finite adsorptive capacity, selectivity, and potential for secondary pollution. In this study, a novel bifunctionalized magnetic biochar (BMBC) was fabricated by incorporating cystamine as a ligand and glutaraldehyde as a crosslinker into alkali-treated magnetic biochar (MBC). This chemical modification introduced numerous amino groups and disulfide bonds onto the surfaces of BMBC. The biochar adsorbents’ surface morphologies, crystal structures, and texture properties were characterized using SEM, XRD, and N2 adsorption-desorption techniques. The specific surface area was determined using the BET method. Furthermore, the surface functional groups and elemental compositions before and after adsorption were analyzed using FTIR and XPS, respectively. The results demonstrated higher Cr(VI) removal efficacy of BMBC (100%) than MBC (72.37%) and PBC (61.42%). Optimal conditions for Cr(VI) removal were observed at a solution pH of 2, a temperature of 50 °C, a reaction time of around 1440 min, and an initial adsorbate concentration of 300 mg/L. The sorption process followed a chemical mechanism and was controlled by monolayer adsorption, with a maximum adsorption capacity of 66.10 mg/g at 50 °C and a pH of 2, as indicated by the larger fitting values of the pseudo–second-order and Langmuir models. The positive ∆Ho and ∆So values and negative ∆G0 values suggested a spontaneous and endothermic Cr(VI) adsorption process with high randomness at the solid/liquid interface. The removal of Cr(VI) was attributed to the reduction of Cr(VI) into Cr(III) facilitated by the introduced amino acids, sulfur, and Fe(II), electrostatic interaction between Cr(VI) in the solution and positive charges on the adsorbent surface, and complexation with functional groups. The presence of co-existing cations such as Cu(II), Cd(II), Mn(II), and K(I) had little effect on Cr(VI) removal efficiency. At the same time, the co-existence of anions of Cl, NO3, SO42−, and HPO42− resulted in a 7.58% decrease in the Cr(VI) removal rate. After five consecutive adsorption/desorption cycles, BMBC maintained a high Cr(VI) removal rate of 61.12%. Overall, this novel BMBC derived from rice straw shows great promise as a biosorbent for treating Cr(VI) in wastewater. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue (Bio)-Sorbents for Water Treatment and Soil Remediation)
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