Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
6.7
4.6
Journals
Molecules
Special Issues
Smart Technologies for Energy & Environment
molecules-logo
Submit to Molecules Review for Molecules Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

► Journal Menu

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser
share announcement

Smart Technologies for Energy & Environment

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Green Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 October 2021) | Viewed by 14886

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Mu Naushad

grade E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Interests: wastewater treatment; bio-nanocomposite; biosorbent; adsorption
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Sunil Kumar

E-Mail
Guest Editor
National Environmental Engineering Research Institute Indiadisabled, Nagpur, India
Interests: bioreactor systems; waste degradation; municipal solid waste; wastewater treatment
Dr. Adel Al-Gheethi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Micro Pollutant Research Centre, Civil Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Batu Pahat, Malaysia
2. Camborne School of Mines, College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, University of Exeter, Penryn TR10 9FE, UK
Interests: microbiology; pharmaceutical; wastewater; phytoremediation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Energy, the environment, and the economy have been considered the fatal factors in industrial production. The shortage of resources and environmental pollution have become the social issues of world concern; they have seriously affected sustainable development. Modern industry aims at protecting and greening the environment, promoting and recycling economy, and saving and making full use of energy. This means that there are many challenges to be faced in the 21st century; one of them is energy, which plays an indescribable role in the rapid and steady development of a country. Energy promotes the development of various industries; at the same time, it also causes environmental pollution. To effectively deal with problems such as energy waste and environmental damage, an effective solution is needed to reuse resources, improve their utilization rate, reduce energy consumption and mitigate environmental pollution. This Special Issue will cover smart materials used for energy and environment applications, which is a hot topic of current research.

Prof. Dr. Mu Naushad
Prof. Dr. Sunil Kumar
Dr. Adel Al-Gheethi
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. Molecules 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 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

  • wastewater
  • adsorption
  • photocatalyst
  • supercapacitor
  • smart materials

Published Papers (5 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

16 pages, 4702 KiB  
Article
Purification of Chlorophenol Isomers by Stripping Crystallization Combining Melt Crystallization and Vaporization
by Lie-Ding Shiau
Molecules 2021, 26(21), 6524; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/molecules26216524 - 28 Oct 2021
Viewed by 1214
Abstract
Stripping crystallization (SC) was introduced in this work to purify p-chlorophenol from the p-chlorophenol-rich liquid mixture and to purify m-chlorophenol from the m-chlorophenol-rich liquid mixture, respectively. Essentially, SC combines melt crystallization and vaporization to produce the solid product and [...] Read more.
Stripping crystallization (SC) was introduced in this work to purify p-chlorophenol from the p-chlorophenol-rich liquid mixture and to purify m-chlorophenol from the m-chlorophenol-rich liquid mixture, respectively. Essentially, SC combines melt crystallization and vaporization to produce the solid product and the vapor from a liquid mixture via a series of three-phase transformations at reduced pressures during the cooling process. At the end of the SC, only the solid product remained while the liquid mixture was almost eliminated and the produced vapor was removed. A set of differential equations based on the mass and energy balances were proposed to determine the incremental variations of the amounts of remaining liquid, produced solid and produced vapor during the batch SC process. The experimental yield and product purity of the final product obtained from the batch SC experiments were compared with those predicted by the model. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Technologies for Energy & Environment)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

23 pages, 3240 KiB  
Article
Adsorption of Zn2+ from Synthetic Wastewater Using Dried Watermelon Rind (D-WMR): An Overview of Nonlinear and Linear Regression and Error Analysis
by Wahid Ali Hamood Altowayti, Norzila Othman, Adel Al-Gheethi, Nur Hasniza binti Mohd Dzahir, Syazwani Mohd Asharuddin, Abdullah Faisal Alshalif, Ibrahim Mohammed Nasser, Husnul Azan Tajarudin and Faris Ali Hamood AL-Towayti
Molecules 2021, 26(20), 6176; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/molecules26206176 - 13 Oct 2021
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2307
Abstract
Sustainable wastewater treatment is one of the biggest issues of the 21st century. Metals such as Zn2+ have been released into the environment due to rapid industrial development. In this study, dried watermelon rind (D-WMR) is used as a low-cost adsorption material [...] Read more.
Sustainable wastewater treatment is one of the biggest issues of the 21st century. Metals such as Zn2+ have been released into the environment due to rapid industrial development. In this study, dried watermelon rind (D-WMR) is used as a low-cost adsorption material to assess natural adsorbents’ ability to remove Zn2+ from synthetic wastewater. D-WMR was characterized using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF). According to the results of the analysis, the D-WMR has two colours, white and black, and a significant concentration of mesoporous silica (83.70%). Moreover, after three hours of contact time in a synthetic solution with 400 mg/L Zn2+ concentration at pH 8 and 30 to 40 °C, the highest adsorption capacity of Zn2+ onto 1.5 g D-WMR adsorbent dose with 150 μm particle size was 25 mg/g. The experimental equilibrium data of Zn2+ onto D-WMR was utilized to compare nonlinear and linear isotherm and kinetics models for parameter determination. The best models for fitting equilibrium data were nonlinear Langmuir and pseudo-second models with lower error functions. Consequently, the potential use of D-WMR as a natural adsorbent for Zn2+ removal was highlighted, and error analysis indicated that nonlinear models best explain the adsorption data. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Technologies for Energy & Environment)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 1821 KiB  
Article
Utilisation of Non-Edible Source (Pongamia pinnata Seeds Shells) for Producing Methyl Esters as Cleaner Fuel in the Presence of a Novel Heterogeneous Catalyst Synthesized from Waste Eggshells
by Ala’a H. Al-Muhtaseb
Molecules 2021, 26(19), 5772; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/molecules26195772 - 23 Sep 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1375
Abstract
Waste eggshells were considered for synthesising a precursor (CaO) for a heterogeneous catalyst, further impregnated by alkali caesium oxide (Cs2O). The following techniques were used to characterise the synthesised catalysts: X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), [...] Read more.
Waste eggshells were considered for synthesising a precursor (CaO) for a heterogeneous catalyst, further impregnated by alkali caesium oxide (Cs2O). The following techniques were used to characterise the synthesised catalysts: X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Temperature Programmed Desorption (CO2-TPD). The synthesised catalyst revealed its suitability for transesterification to produce biodiesel. The biodiesel production process was optimised, and it showed that the optimal biodiesel yield is 93.59%. The optimal set of process parameters is process temperature 80 °C, process time 90 min, methanol-to-oil molar ratio 8 and catalyst loading 3 wt.%. It has been found that the high basicity of the catalyst tends to give a high biodiesel yield at low methanol-to-oil ratio 8 when the reaction time is also less (90 min). The fuel properties of biodiesel also satisfied the standard limits defined by ASTM and the EN standards. Thus, the synthesised catalyst from waste eggshells is highly active, improved the biodiesel production conditions and PPSS oil is a potential nonedible source. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Technologies for Energy & Environment)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

20 pages, 4094 KiB  
Article
New Composite Sorbent for Removal of Sulfate Ions from Simulated and Real Groundwater in the Batch and Continuous Tests
by Waqed Hassan, Ayad Faisal, Enas Abed, Nadhir Al-Ansari and Bahaa Saleh
Molecules 2021, 26(14), 4356; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/molecules26144356 - 19 Jul 2021
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 1990
Abstract
The evaluation of groundwater quality in the Dammam formation, Faddak farm, Karbala Governorate, Iraq proved that the sulfate (SO42−) concentrations have high values; so, this water is not suitable for livestock, poultry and irrigation purposes. For reclamation of this water, [...] Read more.
The evaluation of groundwater quality in the Dammam formation, Faddak farm, Karbala Governorate, Iraq proved that the sulfate (SO42−) concentrations have high values; so, this water is not suitable for livestock, poultry and irrigation purposes. For reclamation of this water, manufacturing of new sorbent for permeable reactive barrier was required through precipitation of Mg and Fe hydroxides nanoparticles on the activated carbon (AC) surface with best Mg/Fe molar ratio of 7.5/2.5. Mixture of 50% coated AC and 50% scrap iron was applied to eliminate SO42− from contaminated water with efficiency of 59% and maximum capacity of adsorption equals to 9.5 mg/g for a time period of 1 h, sorbent dosage 40 g/L, and initial pH = 5 at 50 mg/L initial SO42− concentration and 200 rpm shaking speed. Characterization analyses certified that the plantation of Mg and Fe nanoparticles onto AC was achieved. Continuous tests showed that the longevity of composite sorbent is increased with thicker bed and lower influent concentration and flow rate. Computer solution (COMSOL) software was well simulated for continuous measurements. The reclamation of real contaminated groundwater was achieved in column set-up with efficiency of 70% when flow rate was 5 mL/min, bed depth was 50 cm and inlet SO42− concentration was 2301 mg/L. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Technologies for Energy & Environment)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

28 pages, 1046 KiB  
Review
A Comprehensive Review for Groundwater Contamination and Remediation: Occurrence, Migration and Adsorption Modelling
by Osamah Al-Hashimi, Khalid Hashim, Edward Loffill, Tina Marolt Čebašek, Ismini Nakouti, Ayad A. H. Faisal and Nadhir Al-Ansari
Molecules 2021, 26(19), 5913; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/molecules26195913 - 29 Sep 2021
Cited by 64 | Viewed by 6924
Abstract
The provision of safe water for people is a human right; historically, a major number of people depend on groundwater as a source of water for their needs, such as agricultural, industrial or human activities. Water resources have recently been affected by organic [...] Read more.
The provision of safe water for people is a human right; historically, a major number of people depend on groundwater as a source of water for their needs, such as agricultural, industrial or human activities. Water resources have recently been affected by organic and/or inorganic contaminants as a result of population growth and increased anthropogenic activity, soil leaching and pollution. Water resource remediation has become a serious environmental concern, since it has a direct impact on many aspects of people’s lives. For decades, the pump-and-treat method has been considered the predominant treatment process for the remediation of contaminated groundwater with organic and inorganic contaminants. On the other side, this technique missed sustainability and the new concept of using renewable energy. Permeable reactive barriers (PRBs) have been implemented as an alternative to conventional pump-and-treat systems for remediating polluted groundwater because of their effectiveness and ease of implementation. In this paper, a review of the importance of groundwater, contamination and biological, physical as well as chemical remediation techniques have been discussed. In this review, the principles of the permeable reactive barrier’s use as a remediation technique have been introduced along with commonly used reactive materials and the recent applications of the permeable reactive barrier in the remediation of different contaminants, such as heavy metals, chlorinated solvents and pesticides. This paper also discusses the characteristics of reactive media and contaminants’ uptake mechanisms. Finally, remediation isotherms, the breakthrough curves and kinetic sorption models are also being presented. It has been found that groundwater could be contaminated by different pollutants and must be remediated to fit human, agricultural and industrial needs. The PRB technique is an efficient treatment process that is an inexpensive alternative for the pump-and-treat procedure and represents a promising technique to treat groundwater pollution. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Technologies for Energy & Environment)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-5
Back to TopTop