Dear Colleagues,

A new Special Issue titled “Frontiers in Biochar Utilization for Water and Wastewater Treatment and Reuse” is planned to be published in 2022.

This Special Issue intends to offer readers a view on the more recent and novel applications of biochar in the field of remediation of water and wastewater for their recovery and reuse.

Biochar represents a versatile material that has been shown to be feasible for a wide range of utilizations.

In the past, it has been diffusively used as an amendment, because of its ability to improve soil properties and to reduce the bioavailability of contaminants in the environment, with additional benefits of soil fertilization and assisting with the mitigation of climate change.

More recently, it has been proposed as a novel adsorbent for remediation purposes. This field of application fully complies with the concept of a circular economy: indeed, replacing commercial adsorbents with biochar avoids the environmental impact of the industrial production processes and, at the same time, provides a waste residue with a novel option of reuse in place of its ultimate disposal.

In this context, the present Special Issue aims to collect a series of papers presenting the most innovative utilizations of biochar produced from different feedstocks and different gasification and pyrolysis processes as an adsorbent for the removal of contaminants in water and wastewater, with special focus on the refractory compounds that are more difficult to remove. The final aim of the treatment should be the reuse of the treated water for different purposes, thus reducing the exploitation of new water sources. 

The effects of the chemical–physical properties of different types of raw and activated biochar on the removal processes will be of interest. Innovative technologies and applications using biochar and activated biochar for this purpose will be considered, with the related technical–economic issues. 

With respect to the available literature, this Special Issue will fill the gaps in the knowledge about the wide potentialities of biochar in this field and the activation processes with the aim to improve its performances. 

Prof. Dr. Agostina Chiavola
Guest Editor

Dr. Camilla Di Marcantonio
Co-Guest Editor

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• activation
• adsorption
• biochar
• circular economy
• emerging contaminants
• reuse
• water treatment
• wastewater treatment