Sustainable Environmental Solutions

Dear Colleagues,

The continuous development of our society has led to a steady growth of problems related to environmental pollution. Unfortunately, due to numerous socioeconomic reasons, the development of technologies able to remedy the damage caused by human activities has not been so rapid.

In recent decades, increasing attention has been given to the sustainability of products and processes. This also applies to activities aimed at environmental protection, site reclamation or treatment of contaminated effluents, as well as the valorisation of waste through the recovery of resources. Although implemented with “noble intentions”, these activities are often highly invasive, unsustainable, and socially unacceptable, as they involve a significant use of chemical products or processes.

This Special Issue aims at collecting research activities focused on the development of new processes to replace the above-cited obsolete practices. Taking inspiration from real problems and the need to face real cases of contamination or prevent potentially harmful situations, we discuss the development and optimisation of “smart” solutions, i.e., sustainable not only from an environmental point of view, but also economically, in order to encourage as much as possible their actual implementation.

Contributions on the following topics are particularly welcome:

• Energy and water efficiency in industry and mining (construction materials; food industry; metallurgy; chemical industry; process optimisation; water use and waste minimisation; life cycle assessment; cleaner production; environmental impact assessment);
• Renewable energy resources (technical and economic potentials; barriers; cost and benefits);
• Nano/microtechnologies and science for sustainable development of energy, water, and environment systems;
• Environmental management (waste management; wastewater management; climate change mitigation; climate change adaptation; land management; reclamation and rewilding; social aspects; strategic environmental impact assessment);
• Modelling for pollution avoidance, energy efficiency and resources optimisation (computer-aided engineering; pollution spreading; heat and mass transfer modelling).

Dr. Sergio Ferro
Dr. Marco Vocciante
Guest Editors

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