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Sustainability
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Towards a Sustainable Management of Emerging Contaminants in Wastewater
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Towards a Sustainable Management of Emerging Contaminants in Wastewater

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Water Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2024) | Viewed by 7775

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Silvia Venditti

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine (FSTM), University of Luxembourg, 4365 Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
Interests: emerging contaminants; advanced treatment technologies; natural-based solutions; policy implementation for sustainable development and circularity
Prof. Dr. Stijn Van Hulle

E-Mail Website
Assistant Guest Editor
Laboratory for Industrial Water and Ecotechnology (LIWET), Department of Green Chemistry and Technology, Ghent University, B-8500 Kortrijk, Belgium
Interests: industrial water treatment; advanced oxidation; (electro)coagulation; scal-up
Dr. Paola Verlicchi

E-Mail Website
Assistant Guest Editor
Department of Engineering, University of Ferrara, Via Saragat 1, 44122 Ferrara, Italy
Interests: wastewater treatment and options for reuse; occurrence of contaminants of emerging concern in water environments; removal of pharmaceuticals from wastewater; hospital effluent management and treatment; polishing treatments’ constructed wetlands; disinfection
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Marie Launay

E-Mail Website
Assistant Guest Editor
Competence Center for Micropollutants, Baden Württemberg (KOMS), University of Stuttgart, ISWA, D-70569 Stuttgart, Germany
Interests: micropollutants; water treatment; policy implementation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The occurrence of emerging contaminants in surface water has been rising over the last decades as drawback of our wellbeing. The increased life expectation and the growing population in urban areas translated into more wastewater to be treated and more pollutants of anthropogenic origin to be assessed and eventually regulated. Despite the complexity of this topic, the scientific community has however made important advances: more is known about the fate of emerging contaminants, their occurrence and nature (physical and chemical properties) as their potential ecotoxicity. As result, experts generally agreed that upgrading conventional Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) not designed for the successful removal of emerging contaminants is the way to go. Nowadays, some EU member states have set more strict national discharge standards and already implemented a post-treatment step. Till now, the majority applied common technologies such as Activated Carbon Filtration and Ozone. However, a significant effort towards more sustainable solutions in water resource management is absolutely necessary.
Therefore, this special issue welcomes novel papers and reviews focusing on:

  • the latest knowledge on behavior of emerging contaminants;
  • modeling and simulation studies on emerging contaminants removal/degradation mechanism;
  • advancement in current treatment technologies and the need of further development;
  • applications of treatment technologies with reduced carbon emission and energy consumption;
  • life cycle assessment for environmental impacts of the treatment processes;
  • cost-benefit analysis and feasibility studies;
  • increase process understanding for more sustainable technologies;

Dr. Silvia Venditti
Prof. Dr. Stijn Van Hulle
Dr. Paola Verlicchi
Dr. Marie Launay
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. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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.

Keywords

  • emerging contaminants
  • treatment technologies
  • risk assessment
  • economical assessment
  • water governance

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 5302 KiB  
Article
Application of Calcium Carbonate in the Pharmaceutical Removal Process
by Izabela Zielińska, Daniel Polak, Aleksandra Jurkiewicz, Julia Osełkowska, Aleksandra Lorek, Michał Stor, Andrzej Krasiński, Paweł Gierycz and Maciej Szwast
Sustainability 2024, 16(9), 3794; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16093794 - 30 Apr 2024
Viewed by 745
Abstract
One way to reduce the negative impact of human activity on the natural environment is to use natural, easily available and relatively cheap to produce compounds in industrial processes. One such compound is naturally occurring calcium carbonate (CaCO3). This compound has [...] Read more.
One way to reduce the negative impact of human activity on the natural environment is to use natural, easily available and relatively cheap to produce compounds in industrial processes. One such compound is naturally occurring calcium carbonate (CaCO3). This compound has adsorption properties so that it can be an alternative to commonly used adsorbents. The aim of this work is to determine the possibility of using CaCO3 to remove pharmaceutical substances such as sulfadiazine and tetracycline from water. The CaCO3 used in this work was synthesised using our own method, which allows the production of CaCO3 particles with nanometric size. In the conducted research, calcium carbonate was used in the form of a suspension in purified solutions and as an inorganic filling of the developed membranes. The mass of pharmaceutical substances removed from their aqueous solutions was determined in the tests carried out. Based on the results obtained, it can be concluded that CaCO3 has the ability to adsorb both tetracycline and sulfadiazine. In suspension tests, the mass of the removed substances per unit mass of adsorbent was 1.52 mg/g and 6.85 mg/g, respectively. In turn, in the case of the integrated process using the developed membranes, the mass of the removed substances per unit mass of adsorbent was 109 mg/g and 97 mg/g. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Towards a Sustainable Management of Emerging Contaminants in Wastewater)
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24 pages, 10697 KiB  
Article
The Influence of SnO2 and Noble Metals on the Properties of TiO2 for Environmental Sustainability
by Evghenii Goncearenco, Iuliana P. Morjan, Claudiu Fleaca, Elena Dutu, Anca Criveanu, Cristian Viespe, Aurelian Catalin Galca, Adrian Valentin Maraloiu, Miruna S. Stan, Carmen Ioana Fort and Monica Scarisoreanu
Sustainability 2024, 16(7), 2904; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16072904 - 30 Mar 2024
Viewed by 894
Abstract
In order to find solutions to current worldwide environmental problems, it is crucial to develop sustainable nanomaterials, ideally with multifunctional properties. Considering this, novel TiO2-SnO2@NMs (noble metals: Au and Ag) composites, for use as sustainable nanomaterials, were successfully prepared [...] Read more.
In order to find solutions to current worldwide environmental problems, it is crucial to develop sustainable nanomaterials, ideally with multifunctional properties. Considering this, novel TiO2-SnO2@NMs (noble metals: Au and Ag) composites, for use as sustainable nanomaterials, were successfully prepared via a two-step synthesis process consisting of laser pyrolysis followed by the chemical impregnation of the collected materials with noble metals. The addition of SnO2 favors the transformation of TiO2 from a mixture with a majority Anatase phase to one with a Rutile phase majority. With consideration for their level of environmental toxicity, the features of the synthesized nanomaterials were structurally, morphologically, and optically described and assessed for environmental protection applications as gas sensors and photocatalysts. In the case of the Surface Acoustic Wave sensor, based on a pure TiO2 nanopowder, a notable difference in the frequency shift was detected in comparison to the other examined sensors. All sensors responded to the CH4 concentrations tested (0.02–0.1%). On the other hand, when methyl orange was photodegraded under visible light, the results obtained using NMs for decoration revealed that the photocatalytic activity of TiO2-SnO2@NMs was significantly improved compared to the TiO2-SnO2 binary composite, which already has an enhanced photocatalytic activity, compared to pure TiO2. Overall, this work produces nanoparticles that exhibit better sensory and photocatalytic features, as well as higher levels of biocompatibility with skin cells, for use as eco-friendly nanomaterials for a sustainable future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Towards a Sustainable Management of Emerging Contaminants in Wastewater)
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12 pages, 2394 KiB  
Article
Constructed Wetlands as Nature-Based Solutions for the Removal of Antibiotics: Performance, Microbial Response, and Emergence of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)
by Shaoyuan Bai, Xin Wang, Yang Zhang, Fang Liu, Lulu Shi, Yanli Ding, Mei Wang and Tao Lyu
Sustainability 2022, 14(22), 14989; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142214989 - 13 Nov 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2373
Abstract
Antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) have been regarded as emerging pollutants and pose significant threats to the aquatic environment and to human health. This study aimed to investigate the removal of nutrients, antibiotics, and the emergency of ARGs in domestic sewage by [...] Read more.
Antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) have been regarded as emerging pollutants and pose significant threats to the aquatic environment and to human health. This study aimed to investigate the removal of nutrients, antibiotics, and the emergency of ARGs in domestic sewage by means of constructed wetlands (CWs) filled with an electroconductive media, i.e., coke. In this study, the antibiotics removal efficiencies ranged from 13% to 100%, which were significantly higher in the system filled with coke compared with the CWs filled with common quartz sand (7~100%). Moreover, the presence of wetland plants could also significantly improve the removal of nutrients and tetracyclines. The results also demonstrated the importance of substrate selection and wetland plants in CWs on the alternation of microbial communities and structures, where the electroconductive media showed a promising effect on increasing the removal of antibiotics in CWs. In terms of the emergency of ARGs, the CWs filled with coke retained the most ARGs (10,690 copies/g) compare with the control groups (8576–7934 copies/g) in the substrate. As the accumulated ARGs could be released back to the watercourse due to the environmental/operation condition changes, the application of such an advanced substrate in CWs may pose a more significant potential threat to the environment. With these results, this study provided new insight into selection of the substrates and plants for wastewater treatment to achieve a sustainable and secure water future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Towards a Sustainable Management of Emerging Contaminants in Wastewater)
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16 pages, 2752 KiB  
Article
Bioremediation of 27 Micropollutants by Symbiotic Microorganisms of Wetland Macrophytes
by Hana Brunhoferova, Silvia Venditti, Cédric C. Laczny, Laura Lebrun and Joachim Hansen
Sustainability 2022, 14(7), 3944; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14073944 - 26 Mar 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2769
Abstract
Background: Micropollutants in bodies of water represent many challenges. We addressed these challenges by the application of constructed wetlands, which represent advanced treatment technology for the removal of micropollutants from water. However, which mechanisms specifically contribute to the removal efficiency often remains unclear. [...] Read more.
Background: Micropollutants in bodies of water represent many challenges. We addressed these challenges by the application of constructed wetlands, which represent advanced treatment technology for the removal of micropollutants from water. However, which mechanisms specifically contribute to the removal efficiency often remains unclear. Methods: Here, we focus on the removal of 27 micropollutants by bioremediation. For this, macrophytes Phragmites australis, Iris pseudacorus and Lythrum salicaria were taken from established wetlands, and a special experimental set-up was designed. In order to better understand the impact of the rhizosphere microbiome, we determined the microbial composition using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and investigated the role of identified genera in the micropollutant removal of micropollutants. Moreover, we studied the colonization of macrophyte roots by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, which are known for their symbiotic relationship with plants. This symbiosis could result in increased removal of present micropollutants. Results: We found Iris pseudacorus to be the most successful bioremediative system, as it removed 22 compounds, including persistent ones, with more than 80% efficiency. The most abundant genera that contributed to the removal of micropollutants were Pseudomonas, Flavobacterium, Variovorax, Methylotenera, Reyranella, Amaricoccus and Hydrogenophaga. Iris pseudacorus exhibited the highest colonization rate (56%). Conclusions: Our experiments demonstrate the positive impact of rhizosphere microorganisms on the removal of micropollutants. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Towards a Sustainable Management of Emerging Contaminants in Wastewater)
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