Polymers

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Prof. Dr. Mohamd Bassyouni

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Guest Editor

Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Port Said University, 42511 Port Fouad, Egypt
Interests: polymer composites; membrane technology; biocomposites; nanotechnology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Marwa Elkady

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Guest Editor

Fuels and Combustion Engines Laboratory, Energy Resources Engineering Department, Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology (E-JUST), New Borg El-Arab City, Alexandria 21934, Egypt
Interests: water and wastewater treatment technologies; nano-technology and nano-materials; membrane technology; membrane desalination; reverse osmosis; water desalination; microwave processing; biosynthesis; bio-technology; biodiesel; bio-lubricants and bio-greases and micro-reactors
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Dr. Yasser Elhenawy

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Guest Editor

Department of Mechanical Power Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Port Said University, Port Said 42526, Egypt
Interests: membrane technology; desalination; sustainability of desalination processes; PV system and solar thermal system; power generation of renewable energy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Polymer composites are receiving significant attention in water treatment and desalination. They offer a unique avenue for addressing a wide variety of environmental challenges ranging from drinking water production, wastewater treatment, and pollution control to energy production and resource recovery. Polymer composite functions include contaminant sensing, self-disinfecting surfaces, and various liquids separation processes. In this Special Issue, we invite articles that illustrate the challenges of synthesis, characterization, fabrication, or processing of polymer composites in water treatment and desalination in efforts to improve environmental sustainability. While this Special Issue covers many fields related to polymer composites in water treatment, special attention will be given to the following:

polymer-based adsorbents for water treatment
polymer composite membranes: synthesis, structure, process design, and applications
polymer nanocomposites in fabrication of membrane distillation and other membrane contactors
new polymeric membranes and module designs
membrane fouling/scaling mechanisms, control, and prevention
process modeling and simulation of polymeric membranes
polymer membranes for environments and energy
isothermal adsorption properties of polymer composites
case studies

Both original research papers and comprehensive reviews are welcome. We look forward to your exciting contributions.

Prof. Dr. Mohamd Bassyouni
Prof. Dr. Marwa Farouk Elkady
Dr. Yasser Elhenawy
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. Polymers 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.

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 3228 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Enhanced Solar Photocatalytic Reduction of Cr(VI) Using a (ZnO/CuO) Nanocomposite Grafted onto a Polyester Membrane for Wastewater Treatment

by Ambreen Ashar, Ijaz Ahmad Bhatti, Asim Jilani, Muhammad Mohsin, Sadia Rasul, Javed Iqbal, Muhammad Bilal Shakoor, Abdullah G. Al-Sehemi, S. Wageh and Ahmed A. Al-Ghamdi

Polymers 2021, 13(22), 4047; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/polym13224047 - 22 Nov 2021

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 2130

Abstract

Among chemical water pollutants, Cr(VI) is a highly toxic heavy metal; solar photocatalysis is a cost-effective method to reduce Cr(VI) to innocuous Cr(III). In this research work, an efficient and economically feasible ZnO/CuO nanocomposite was grafted onto the polyester fabric ZnO/CuO/PF through the SILAR method. Characterization by SEM, EDX, XRD, and DRS confirmed the successful grafting of highly crystalline, solar active nanoflakes of ZnO/CuO nanocomposite onto the polyester fabric. The grafting of the ZnO/CuO nanocomposite was confirmed by FTIR analysis of the ZnO/CuO/PF membrane. A solar photocatalytic reduction reaction of Cr(VI) was carried out by ZnO/CuO/PF under natural sunlight (solar flux 5–6 kW h/m²). The response surface methodology was employed to determine the interactive effect of three reaction variables: initial concentration of Cr(VI), pH, and solar irradiation time. According to UV/Vis spectrophotometry, 97% of chromium was removed from wastewater in acidic conditions after four hours of sunlight irradiation. ZnO/CuO/PF demonstrated reusability for 11 batches of wastewater under natural sunlight. Evaluation of Cr(VI) reduction was also executed by complexation of Cr(VI) and Cr(III) with 1, 5-diphenylcarbazide. The total percentage removal of Cr after solar photocatalysis was carried out by AAS of the wastewater sample. The ZnO/CuO/PF enhanced the reduction of Cr(VI) metal from wastewater remarkably. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Composites for Water Treatment and Desalination)

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Graphical abstract

19 pages, 6913 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sustainability Assessment and Techno-Economic Analysis of Thermally Enhanced Polymer Tube for Multi-Effect Distillation (MED) Technology

by Furqan Tahir, Abdelnasser Mabrouk, Sami G. Al-Ghamdi, Igor Krupa, Tomas Sedlacek, Ahmed Abdala and Muammer Koc

Polymers 2021, 13(5), 681; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/polym13050681 - 24 Feb 2021

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 3708

Abstract

Metal-alloys tubes are used in the falling-film evaporator of the multi-effect distillation (MED) that is the dominant and efficient thermal seawater desalination process. However, the harsh seawater environment (high salinity and high temperature) causes scale precipitation and corrosion of MED evaporators’ metal tubes, presenting a serious technical challenge to the process. Therefore, the metal/metal alloys used as the material of the MED evaporators’ tubes are expensive and require high energy and costly tube fabrication process. On the other hand, polymers are low-cost, easy to fabricate into tubes, and highly corrosion-resistant, but have low thermal conductivity. Nevertheless, thermally conductive fillers can enhance the thermal conductivity of polymers. In this article, we carried out a feasibility-study-based techno-economic and socioeconomic analysis, as well as a life-cycle assessment (LCA), of a conventional MED desalination plant that uses titanium tubes and a plant that used thermally enhanced polymer composites (i.e., polyethylene (PE)-expanded graphite (EG) composite) as the tubes’ material. Two different polymer composites containing 30% and 40% filler (expanded graphite/graphene) are considered. Our results indicate that the MED plant based on polymer composite tubes has favored economic and carbon emission metrics with the potential to reduce the cost of the MED evaporator (shell and tubes) by 40% below the cost of the titanium evaporator. Moreover, the equivalent carbon emissions associated with the composite polymer tubes’ evaporator is 35% lower than titanium tubes. On the other hand, the ozone depletion, acidification, and fossil fuel depletion for the polymer composite tubes are comparable with that of the titanium tubes. The recycling of thermally enhanced polymers is not considered in this LCA analysis; however, after the end of life, reusing the polymer material into other products would lower the overall environmental impacts. Moreover, the polymer composite tubes can be produced locally, which will not only reduce the environmental impacts due to transportation but also create jobs for local manufacturing. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Composites for Water Treatment and Desalination)

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