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Processes
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Pollutant Removal and Separation Processes in Chemical Engineering
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Pollutant Removal and Separation Processes in Chemical Engineering

A special issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental and Green Processes".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 February 2023) | Viewed by 20917

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Taleb Ibrahim

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical Engineering, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah 26666, United Arab Emirates
Interests: wastewater treatment; interfacial phenomena/surface; colloidal science; materials science; corrosion inhibition using natural materials, separation processes, and thermodynamics; treatment of industrial wastewater; environmental issues; corrosion; have chaired several conferences, such as the International Conference on Water, Energy and Environment
Prof. Dr. Mustafa Khamis

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Sciences, American university of Sharjah, Sharjah 26666, UAE
Interests: wastewater treatment technologies; novel adsorbents for the removal of inorganic and organic pollutants from the environment; wastewater reuse in agriculture; physicochemical methods for analysis, chemical kinetics, and thermodynamics in solution phase
Prof. Dr. Isaac Wait

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering, Marshall University, Huntington, WV 25755, USA
Interests: watershed modeling; temporal variability of rainfall interception; stream scour hydraulics; pipe network optimization; drinking water pricing; engineering education
Prof. Dr. Valentin Nenov

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Water Treatment Technology, Burgas University, Burgas 8010, Bulgaria
Interests: surface and wastewater treatment; nutrient removal from sewage sludge and manure; phosphorus (P) recovery as struvite; BES; MFC; MEC; energy recovery; non-reagent pH elevation; P dissolution of FePO4 contained in waste sludge by microbial electrolysis; development of smart BOD and toxicity biosensors; have chaired several specialized meetings and conferences related to wastewater treatment, nutrients, and energy recovery from waste

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

According to the UN and WHO, about one fifth of the world population lives in regions with water scarcity. The challenge of water stress is not only caused by the increasing demand of water as a result of the rapid population growth. In many cases, water scarcity is also related to the lack of clean water due to contamination. In addition to “classic” contaminants, there has been a growing amount of attention in recent years on new groups of organic micropollutants, such as pharmaceutical residues. The appearance of these emerging pollutants is believed to pose a serious risk to human health and the environment. While the concern of water scarcity and emerging organic miropollutants is generally present, the problems present themselves differently from one region to the other.

This Special Issue on “Pollutant Removal and Separation Processes in Chemical Engineering” aims to explore innovative separation techniques such as sorbents, biofilters, ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis for improved pollutant treatment in different sources in the environment. Certain pharmaceuticals, day care products, disinfectants, pesticides, insecticides, and heavy metals are of special interest. Furthermore, several pollutants are not efficiently removed by conventional treatments such as flocculation, coagulation, sedimentation or biological treatment. This issue aims to promote the introduction of new highly effective and cost-efficient separation technologies for removal of these pollutants from the environment. Topics include but not limited to:

  • Novel adsorbents for removal of micropollutants from the environment;
  • Biofilms and filtration technologies for pollutants removal;
  • Advanced oxidation process for pollutant degradation;
  • Nanotechnology applications and process control in pollutants removal

Prof. Dr. Taleb Ibrahim
Prof. Dr. Mustafa Khamis
Prof. Dr. Isaac Wait
Prof. Dr. Valentin Nenov
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. Processes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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

  • novel adsorbents
  • microfiltration
  • nanofiltration
  • reverse osmosis
  • advanced oxidation processes
  • new emerging pollutants
  • heavy metals
  • pesticides
  • insecticides

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 2655 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Dithiocarbamate-Modified Silica for Cisplatin Removal from Water
by Rachel Lombana Fraguela, José Alejandro Ricardo Garcia, Margarita Edelia Villanueva Tagle, Mario Simeón Pomares Alfonso, Maria Cracchiolo, Anđela Kovačević, Marilena Tolazzi, Andrea Melchior and Martina Sanadar
Processes 2023, 11(2), 472; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/pr11020472 - 04 Feb 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1578
Abstract
Despite the globally increasing use of platinum-based cytostatic drugs in the treatment of several types of cancer, only limited attention has been paid to developing a treatment for contaminated liquid samples originating from hospitals, laboratories and manufacturing facilities before and after their administration. [...] Read more.
Despite the globally increasing use of platinum-based cytostatic drugs in the treatment of several types of cancer, only limited attention has been paid to developing a treatment for contaminated liquid samples originating from hospitals, laboratories and manufacturing facilities before and after their administration. In this work, we assess the efficiency of a low-cost adsorbent material, a dithiocarbamate-functionalized silica, in removing cisplatin from a solution containing it in the 0.5–150 mg L−1 concentration range. The advantage of having a surface-functionalized silica is that adsorption can occur by either non-covalent interaction or surface complexation. In the latter case platinum(II) is de-complexed and the original drug is no longer present. Adsorption occurs through a first rapid step, followed by a second slower process. This is likely due to the fact that in our operating conditions (0.9% w/v NaCl), only the original compound is present, for which ligand substitution is known to proceed slowly. The interesting performance, even at low metal concentration, and facile synthesis of the material mean it could be adapted for other applications where the recycling of platinum can be realized. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pollutant Removal and Separation Processes in Chemical Engineering)
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13 pages, 3773 KiB  
Article
Carbon Material-Based Flow-Electrode Capacitive Deionization for Continuous Water Desalination
by Khaled Alsaikhan, Abdullah Alsultan, Abdulrahman Alkhaldi, Abdulaziz Bentalib, Ahmed Abutalib, Dezhen Wu, Jialu Li, Rongxuan Xie and Zhenmeng Peng
Processes 2023, 11(1), 195; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/pr11010195 - 07 Jan 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2253
Abstract
Flow-electrode capacitive deionization (FCDI) offers an electrochemical, energy-efficient technique for water desalination. In this work, we report the study of carbon-based FCDI, which consists of one desalination chamber and one salination chamber and applies a carbon nanomaterials-based flow electrode that circulates between the [...] Read more.
Flow-electrode capacitive deionization (FCDI) offers an electrochemical, energy-efficient technique for water desalination. In this work, we report the study of carbon-based FCDI, which consists of one desalination chamber and one salination chamber and applies a carbon nanomaterials-based flow electrode that circulates between the cell anode and cathode, to achieve a fast, continuous desalination process. Five different carbon nanomaterials were used for preparing the flow electrode and were studied for the desalination performance, with properties including average salt removal rate (ASRR), salt removal efficiency (SRE), energy consumption (EC) and charge efficiency (CE) being quantitatively determined for comparation. Different FCDI parameters, including carbon concentration and flow rate of the flow electrode and cell voltage, were investigated to examine the influences on the desalination. Long-term operation of the carbon-based FCDI was evaluated using the optimal results found in the conditions of 1.5 M concentration, 1.5 V cell voltage, and 20 mL min−1 flow rate of electrode and water streams. The results showed an ASRR of 63.7 µg cm−2 min−1, EC of 162 kJ mol−1, and CE of 89.3%. The research findings validate a good efficiency of this new carbon-based FCDI technology in continuous water desalination and suggest its good potential for real, long-term application. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pollutant Removal and Separation Processes in Chemical Engineering)
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28 pages, 4097 KiB  
Article
Removal of Thallium from Aqueous Solutions by Adsorption onto Alumina Nanoparticles
by Ollé Rodrigue Kam, Corneille Bakouan, Inoussa Zongo and Boubié Guel
Processes 2022, 10(9), 1826; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/pr10091826 - 10 Sep 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1531
Abstract
Thallium (I) was removed from aqueous solution by using gamma-alumina nanoparticles (γANPs) materials as nano adsorbents. Varied experimental conditions such as adsorbent dose, agitation time, initial concentration, pH, and temperature effects were carried out in batch conditions in view of the optimization of [...] Read more.
Thallium (I) was removed from aqueous solution by using gamma-alumina nanoparticles (γANPs) materials as nano adsorbents. Varied experimental conditions such as adsorbent dose, agitation time, initial concentration, pH, and temperature effects were carried out in batch conditions in view of the optimization of thallium (I) adsorption and the identification of the adsorption mechanisms in the system γANPs-Tl. The pH effect indicated a remarkable increase in the quantity of Tl(I) removed for pH values ranging from 4 to 8, an almost constant magnitude for pH values between 8 and 10, and a decrease for pH values above 10. Considering an initial Tl(I) concentration of 20 µg/L and an adsorbent dose of 1 g/L at a pH value of 8.5, the removal was achieved at 95.12 ± 0.02% efficiency. The pseudo-second-order kinetics and the Freundlich isotherm perfectly described the adsorption mechanism. The process of thallium (I) adsorption reaction, as highlighted by thermodynamic investigations, was found to be spontaneous and exothermic with coexistence of physisorption and chemisorption with a dominance of physisorption. The diffusion model predicted multi-linearity, suggesting an involvement of surface spread and intraparticle diffusion in the sorption process. Thallium removal was effective by using γANPs as nano adsorbents. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pollutant Removal and Separation Processes in Chemical Engineering)
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19 pages, 3674 KiB  
Article
Amine-Based Deep Eutectic Solvents for Alizarin Extraction from Aqueous Media
by Nihal Yasir, Amir Sada Khan, Noor Akbar, Muhammad Faheem Hassan, Taleb H. Ibrahim, Mustafa Khamis, Ruqaiyyah Siddiqui, Naveed Ahmed Khan and Paul Nancarrow
Processes 2022, 10(4), 794; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/pr10040794 - 18 Apr 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2185
Abstract
Alizarin dye is toxic and has a negative influence on human life and the environment. Consequently, the scientific community faces a difficult issue in developing efficient approaches for removing alizarin from water streams. Six distinct deep eutectic solvents (DESs) containing different hydrogen bond [...] Read more.
Alizarin dye is toxic and has a negative influence on human life and the environment. Consequently, the scientific community faces a difficult issue in developing efficient approaches for removing alizarin from water streams. Six distinct deep eutectic solvents (DESs) containing different hydrogen bond acceptors (HBAs), namely trioctylphosphine, trioctylamine and trihexylamine, and two hydrogen bond donors (HBDs), namely salicylic acid and malonic acid, were used to rapidly remove alizarin from high concentration solutions up to 2000 mg/L at room temperature using the liquid–liquid micro-extraction method (LLE). DES-3 had the highest extraction efficiency for alizarin among the other synthesized DESs. The effect of process variables such pH, contact time, dye initial concentration, volume ratio, temperature and salt on alizarin extraction efficiency from water stream was explored, optimized and reported. Statistical analysis was conducted to ensure the accuracy of values for the optimized parameters. For a 1000 mg/L solution of alizarin with a DES/alizarin volume ratio of 1:10 at room temperature, the maximum elimination of 98.02 percent was achieved in 5 min. FTIR was used to analyze the structural properties of DES and the interaction between DES and alizarin. The thermal stability of DES-3 was determined using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and indicated that DES-3 has excellent thermal stability up to 320 °C. Human saline was used to test the toxicity of the synthesized DES in vitro. It was determined that synthesized DES is less harmful and more effective at removing alizarin. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pollutant Removal and Separation Processes in Chemical Engineering)
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22 pages, 4649 KiB  
Article
Low-Cost Synthesis of Alumina Nanoparticles and Their Usage for Bisphenol-A Removal from Aqueous Solutions
by Ollé Rodrigue Kam, Issaka Garikoe, Corneille Bakouan and Boubié Guel
Processes 2021, 9(10), 1709; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/pr9101709 - 24 Sep 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2430
Abstract
Gamma-alumina nanoparticles (γANPs) were obtained from a low-cost process by using natural bauxites. The γANPs materials were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) theory, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and were functionalized with N-cetyl-N, [...] Read more.
Gamma-alumina nanoparticles (γANPs) were obtained from a low-cost process by using natural bauxites. The γANPs materials were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) theory, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and were functionalized with N-cetyl-N, N, N, trimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), leading to CTAB modified γ-alumina nanoparticles (γANPs-CTAB). These novel functionalized γANPs-CTAB were characterized by XRPD, FTIR, and were used as an adsorbent for bisphenol-A (BPA) removal from water. Batch investigations were conducted under different experimental conditions (e.g., adsorbent dose, agitation time, initial concentration, and pH and surfactant loading) in order to optimize BPA adsorption and to identify the adsorption mechanisms in the system γANPs-CTAB-BPA. The effect of pH on the adsorption showed that the quantity of BPA removed increased remarkably until the pH value was 4, then remained almost constant until the pH value was up to 10, and then decreased for pH values greater than 10. For an initial BPA concentration of 20 mg/L and an adsorbent dose of 12.5 g/L at a pH value of 10, the removal efficiency achieved was 91.80 ± 0.21%. The adsorption mechanism was perfectly described by pseudo-second-order kinetics and the Langmuir isotherm. γANPs-CTAB materials were found to be effective adsorbents for BPA removal from water. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pollutant Removal and Separation Processes in Chemical Engineering)
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15 pages, 1393 KiB  
Article
Arsenic and Fluoride in Groundwater, Prevalence and Alternative Removal Approach
by Adriana Robledo-Peralta, Miriam López-Guzmán, Corazón G. Morales-Amaya and Liliana Reynoso-Cuevas
Processes 2021, 9(7), 1191; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/pr9071191 - 09 Jul 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2722
Abstract
Contamination of drinking water by arsenic and fluoride is a global problem, as more than 300 million people in more than 100 countries have been affected by their presence. These elements are considered the most serious contaminants in drinking water and their removal [...] Read more.
Contamination of drinking water by arsenic and fluoride is a global problem, as more than 300 million people in more than 100 countries have been affected by their presence. These elements are considered the most serious contaminants in drinking water and their removal is a worldwide concern. Therefore, the evaluation of three alternative approaches—electrocoagulation, adsorption by biomaterials, and adsorption by metal oxide magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs)—was performed for arsenic and fluoride removal from groundwater. Arsenic removal from synthetic and groundwater (well water) was accomplished with the three processes; meanwhile, fluoride removal from groundwater was only reported by two methods. The results indicate that an electrocoagulation process is a good option for As (>97%) and F (>90%) removal in co-occurrence; however, the operational conditions for the removal of both pollutants must be driven by those used for fluoride removal. As (80–83%) and F (>90%) removal with the biomaterials was also successful, even when the application objective was fluoride removal. Finally, MNPs (Co and Mn) were designed and applied only for arsenic removal and reached >95%. Factors such as the pH, the presence of interfering ions, and the initial concentration of the contaminants are decisive in the treatment process’s efficiency. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pollutant Removal and Separation Processes in Chemical Engineering)
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Review

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33 pages, 7016 KiB  
Review
Electrocoagulation Process: An Approach to Continuous Processes, Reactors Design, Pharmaceuticals Removal, and Hybrid Systems—A Review
by Miriam López-Guzmán, Manuel Alberto Flores-Hidalgo and Liliana Reynoso-Cuevas
Processes 2021, 9(10), 1831; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/pr9101831 - 15 Oct 2021
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 6848
Abstract
The electrocoagulation (EC) process has been widely studied in recent years to remove a wide range of contaminants present in different types of water: fluorides, arsenic, heavy metals, organic matter, colorants, oils, and recently, pharmaceutical compounds. However, most of the studies have been [...] Read more.
The electrocoagulation (EC) process has been widely studied in recent years to remove a wide range of contaminants present in different types of water: fluorides, arsenic, heavy metals, organic matter, colorants, oils, and recently, pharmaceutical compounds. However, most of the studies have been aimed at understanding the process factors that have the most significant effect on efficiency, and these studies have been mainly on a batch process. Therefore, this review is focused on elucidating the current state of development of this process and the challenges it involves transferring to continuous processes and the recent exploration of its potential use in the removal of pharmaceutical contaminants and its implementation with other technologies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pollutant Removal and Separation Processes in Chemical Engineering)
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