Polymer-Based Materials for Water Purification and Wastewater Treatment

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Circular and Green Polymer Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 May 2023) | Viewed by 10116

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Centro de Investigación y Estudios de Posgrado, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí 78290, Mexico
Interests: wastewater treatment; drinking water, adsorption, adsorbents, biomass, biodiesel; photochemistry

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Group of Porous Solids and Calorimetry, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá 111711, Colombia
Interests: adsorption and difussion in porous materials; biomass utilization; nanoporous materials (zeolites, mesoporous silicates, metal organic frameworks); gas adsorption processes; heterogeneous catalysis and photocatalysis; immersion and adsorption calorimetry applied to the study of adsorbate-adsorbent interactions

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Departamento de Química, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Carrera 30 No 45-03, Bogotá, DC, Colombia
Interests: Thermodynamic; Porous Solids; Calorimetry; MOF´s; Catalysis; Photochemistry;Energy storage; Adsorption

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

At present, there is a need to treat drinking water and wastewater to an acceptable quality for its use. This can be achieved through various technologies that employ polymer-based materials, such as polymeric adsorbents, composites, polymeric flocculants, polymeric filters, polymeric membranes, and polymeric composites, among others. These materials can be modified or treated to increase their effectiveness in removing pollutants from effluents or to improve their physicochemical or mechanical properties for their use. This Special Issue on “Polymer-Based Materials for Water Purification and Wastewater Treatment” considers research papers with a focus on the use of polymer-based materials used in various drinking water and wastewater treatment technologies.

Dr. Nahum Medellín-Castillo
Dr. Juan Carlos Moreno-Piraján
Prof. Dr. Liliana Giraldo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 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

  • polymeric materials
  • wastewater treatment
  • drinking water
  • adsorption
  • water management
  • characterization
  • membranes
  • hydrogels
  • composites

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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31 pages, 10378 KiB  
Article
Porous Geopolymer/ZnTiO3/TiO2 Composite for Adsorption and Photocatalytic Degradation of Methylene Blue Dye
by Ximena Jaramillo-Fierro, Sneyder Gaona, John Ramón and Eduardo Valarezo
Polymers 2023, 15(12), 2697; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15122697 - 15 Jun 2023
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1674
Abstract
In this study, GP (geopolymer) and GTA (geopolymer/ZnTiO3/TiO2) geopolymeric materials were prepared from metakaolin (MK) and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-rays (EDX), specific surface area (SSA), and point of [...] Read more.
In this study, GP (geopolymer) and GTA (geopolymer/ZnTiO3/TiO2) geopolymeric materials were prepared from metakaolin (MK) and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-rays (EDX), specific surface area (SSA), and point of zero charge (PZC). The adsorption capacity and photocatalytic activity of the compounds prepared in the form of pellets was determined by degradation of the methylene blue (MB) dye in batch reactors, at pH = 7.0 ± 0.2 and room temperature (20 °C). The results indicate that both compounds are highly efficient at adsorbing MB, with an average efficiency value of 98.5%. The Langmuir isotherm model and the pseudo second order kinetic model provided the best fits to the experimental data for both compounds. In the MB photodegradation experiments under UVB irradiation, GTA reached an efficiency of 93%, being higher than that achieved by GP (4%). Therefore, the incorporation of ZnTiO3/TiO2 in the geopolymeric matrix allowed GTA to achieve higher overall efficiency, by combining adsorption and photocatalysis, compared to the GP compound. The results indicate that the synthesized compounds could be used for up to five consecutive cycles for the removal of MB from wastewater through adsorption and/or photocatalysis processes. Full article
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12 pages, 1753 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Turbidity and Color Removal in Water Treatment: A Comparative Study between Opuntia ficus-indica Fruit Peel Mucilage and FeCl3
by Maria Carolina Otálora, Andrea Wilches-Torres, Carlos Rafael Lara, Jovanny A. Gómez Castaño and Gabriel Ricardo Cifuentes
Polymers 2023, 15(1), 217; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15010217 - 31 Dec 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3077
Abstract
Natural coagulants derived from by-products have gained popularity as sustainable alternatives to inorganic coagulants in water/wastewater treatment due to their abundant availability, biodegradability, low cost, easy disposal and low sludge volumes. In this study, the mucilage obtained from the peel of Opuntia ficus-indica [...] Read more.
Natural coagulants derived from by-products have gained popularity as sustainable alternatives to inorganic coagulants in water/wastewater treatment due to their abundant availability, biodegradability, low cost, easy disposal and low sludge volumes. In this study, the mucilage obtained from the peel of Opuntia ficus-indica fruit was evaluated as a biocoagulant for treating synthetic turbid water and compared with a traditional chemical coagulant (FeCl3). The effects of coagulant dosage and pH on the turbidity and color-removal efficiency of synthetic turbid water were analyzed. To estimate the coagulation mechanism, the flocs produced under optimal values were characterized structurally (FTIR and zeta potential) and morphologically (SEM). The optimal condition for the removal of turbidity and color was a coagulant dose of 12 mg/L at pH 13. For the optimal values, the biocoagulant and the FeCl3 presented a maximum removal of 82.7 ± 3.28% and 94.63 ± 0.98% for turbidity and 71.82 ± 2.72% and 79.94 ± 1.77% for color, respectively. The structure and morphology of the flocs revealed that the coagulation mechanism of the mucilage was adsorption and bridging, whereas that of FeCl3 was charge neutralization. The results obtained showed that the mucilage could be used as an alternative coagulant to replace FeCl3. Full article
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15 pages, 1169 KiB  
Article
Study on the Effectiveness of Two Biopolymer Coagulants on Turbidity and Chemical Oxygen Demand Removal in Urban Wastewater
by Miguel Mauricio Aguilera Flores, Gloria Itzel Valdivia Cabral, Nahum Andrés Medellín Castillo, Verónica Ávila Vázquez, Omar Sánchez Mata and Jésica García Torres
Polymers 2023, 15(1), 37; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15010037 - 22 Dec 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1983
Abstract
The present study investigated the effectiveness of two biopolymer coagulants on turbidity and chemical oxygen demand removal in urban wastewater. The biopolymers were produced from vegetal biomass using the mucilage extracted from Opuntia robusta cladodes, and Uncaria tomentosa leaves. Opuntia robusta is an [...] Read more.
The present study investigated the effectiveness of two biopolymer coagulants on turbidity and chemical oxygen demand removal in urban wastewater. The biopolymers were produced from vegetal biomass using the mucilage extracted from Opuntia robusta cladodes, and Uncaria tomentosa leaves. Opuntia robusta is an abundant species in Mexico, which is not edible. Uncaria tomentosa is an exotic invasive species in Mexico and other countries, which negatively affects the ecosystems where it is introduced. A combined experimental design of mixture–process was selected to evaluate the effectiveness of both biopolymer coagulants regarding aluminum sulfate (conventional chemical coagulant). Results showed turbidity and chemical oxygen demand removal efficiencies of 42.3% and 69.6% for Opuntia robusta and 17.2% and 39.4% for Uncaria tomentosa biopolymer coagulant, respectively, at a dose of 200 mg/L. Furthermore, optimum conditions from the experimental design to reach the maximum turbidity and chemical oxygen demand removal were obtained at an Opuntia robusta biopolymer coagulant concentration of 10 mg/L, showing removal efficiencies of 68.7 ± 1.7% and 86.1 ± 1.4%, respectively. These results support using Opuntia robusta as an alternative biopolymer coagulant in urban wastewater treatment. Full article
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Review

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22 pages, 4740 KiB  
Review
Research Progress on Up-Conversion Fluorescence Probe for Detection of Perfluorooctanoic Acid in Water Treatment
by Tan Mao, Xiaoting Shi, Liyuan Lin, Youliang Cheng, Xueke Luo and Changqing Fang
Polymers 2023, 15(3), 605; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15030605 - 24 Jan 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2122
Abstract
Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is a new type of organic pollutant in wastewater that is persistent, toxic, and accumulates in living organisms. The development of rapid and sensitive analytical methods to detect PFOA in environmental media is of great importance. Fluorescence detection has the [...] Read more.
Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is a new type of organic pollutant in wastewater that is persistent, toxic, and accumulates in living organisms. The development of rapid and sensitive analytical methods to detect PFOA in environmental media is of great importance. Fluorescence detection has the advantages of high efficiency and low cost, in which fluorescent probes have excellent fluorescence properties, excellent bio-solubility, and remarkable photostability. It is necessary to review the fluorescence detection routes for PFOA. In addition, the up-conversion of fluorescent materials (UCNPs), as fluorescent materials to prepare fluorescent probes with, has significant advantages and also attracts the attention of researchers, however, reviews related to their application in detecting PFOA and comparing them with other routes are rare. Furthermore, there are many strategies to improve the performance of up-conversion fluorescent probes including SiO2 modification and amino modification. These strategies can enhance the detection effect of PFOA. Thus, this work reviews the types of fluorescence detection, the design, and synthesis of UCNPs, their recognition mechanism, properties, and their application progress. Moreover, the development trend and prospects of these detection probes are given. Full article
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