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Biomaterials for Pollutants Removal: From Molecular Perspectives
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Biomaterials for Pollutants Removal: From Molecular Perspectives

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Materials Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2023) | Viewed by 6129

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Elżbieta Grządka

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, Institute of Chemical Sciences, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, M. Skłodowskiej - Curie 3 Sq., 20-031 Lublin, Poland
Interests: macromolecules; polysaccharides; adsorption; colloidal stability; polymer–surfactant interactions; clay minerals; nano-oxides; suspensions; electric double layer; radioecology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Industrialization and inappropriate agricultural practices have released a wide variety of pollutants into the environment. Their presence in the environment has significantly limited the availability of natural resources. Therefore, it is now necessary to develop new, effective, cheap and environmentally friendly materials for the removal of pollutants. Due to the high adsorption capacity of hazardous compounds, as well as biocompatibility, non-toxicity and the minimal impact they have on the immune system, biomaterials are one of the best options. This group includes natural and synthetic polymers, metals, ceramics, carbon and composite materials. Extensive research on the removal efficiency and adsorption capacity of heavy metals, industrial pollutants and pharmaceuticals on biomaterials has been carried out using the following methods: adsorption, ion exchange, flocculation and membrane filtration. All the above-mentioned methods lead to an effective reduction in pollutants in the environment. The main aim of this Special Issue, "Biomaterials for Pollutants Removal: From Molecular Perspectives", is to create an open forum where researchers can share their research and discoveries. Both original research and review article contributions to this Special Issue may cover all aspects of biomaterials for contamination removal. Studies with a multidisciplinary input, offering new methodologies or insights, are particularly welcome.

Dr. Elżbieta Grządka
Guest Editor

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. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. 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

  • biomaterials
  • bioadsorbents
  • composites
  • activated carbon
  • zeolites
  • industrial contaminants
  • wastes
  • heavy metals
  • pharmaceuticals
  • water treatment

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 3490 KiB  
Article
A Comprehensive Strategy for Stepwise Design of a Lab PROTOTYPE for the Removal of Emerging Contaminants in Water Using Cyclodextrin Polymers as Adsorbent Material
by Antonio Tomás Hernández Cegarra, Teresa Gómez-Morte, José Antonio Pellicer, Nuria Vela, María Isabel Rodríguez-López, Estrella Núñez-Delicado and José Antonio Gabaldón
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2024, 25(5), 2829; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25052829 - 29 Feb 2024
Viewed by 617
Abstract
The significant environmental issue of water pollution caused by emerging contaminants underscores the imperative for developing novel cleanup methods that are efficient, economically viable, and that are intended to operate at high capacity and under continuous flows at the industrial scale. This study [...] Read more.
The significant environmental issue of water pollution caused by emerging contaminants underscores the imperative for developing novel cleanup methods that are efficient, economically viable, and that are intended to operate at high capacity and under continuous flows at the industrial scale. This study shows the results of the operational design to build a prototype for the retention at lab scale of pollutant residues in water by using as adsorbent material, insoluble polymers prepared by β-cyclodextrin and epichlorohydrin as a cross-linking agent. Laboratory in-batch tests were run to find out the adsorbent performances against furosemide and hydrochlorothiazide as pollutant models. The initial evaluation concerning the dosage of adsorbent, pH levels, agitation, and concentration of pharmaceutical pollutants enabled us to identify the optimal conditions for conducting the subsequent experiments. The adsorption kinetic and the mechanisms involved were evaluated revealing that the experimental data perfectly fit the pseudo second-order model, with the adsorption process being mainly governed by chemisorption. With KF constant values of 0.044 (L/g) and 0.029 (L/g) for furosemide and hydrochlorothiazide, respectively, and the determination coefficient (R2) being higher than 0.9 for both compounds, Freundlich yielded the most favorable outcomes, suggesting that the adsorption process occurs on heterogeneous surfaces involving both chemisorption and physisorption processes. The maximum monolayer adsorption capacity (qmax) obtained by the Langmuir isotherm revealed a saturation of the β-CDs-EPI polymer surface 1.45 times higher for furosemide (qmax = 1.282 mg/g) than hydrochlorothiazide (qmax = 0.844 mg/g). Based on these results, the sizing design and building of a lab-scale model were carried out, which in turn will be used later to evaluate its performance working in continuous flow in a real scenario. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomaterials for Pollutants Removal: From Molecular Perspectives)
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17 pages, 4195 KiB  
Article
Adsorptive Removal of Direct Azo Dyes from Textile Wastewaters Using Weakly Basic Anion Exchange Resin
by Monika Wawrzkiewicz and Anna Kucharczyk
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(5), 4886; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24054886 - 3 Mar 2023
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2077
Abstract
Direct dyes are still widely used for coloring a variety of materials due to their ease of use and the wide range of colors available at a moderate cost of production. In the aquatic environment, some direct dyes, especially the azo type and [...] Read more.
Direct dyes are still widely used for coloring a variety of materials due to their ease of use and the wide range of colors available at a moderate cost of production. In the aquatic environment, some direct dyes, especially the azo type and their biotransformation products, are toxic, carcinogenic and mutagenic. Hence the need for their careful removal from industrial effluents. It was proposed adsorptive retention of C.I. Direct Red 23 (DR23), C.I. Direct Orange 26 (DO26) and C.I. Direct Black 22 (DB22) from effluents using anion exchange resin of tertiary amine functionalities Amberlyst A21 (A21). Applying the Langmuir isotherm model, the monolayer capacities were calculated as 285.6 mg/g for DO26 and 271.1 mg/g for DO23. The Freundlich isotherm model seems to be the better one for the description of DB22 uptake by A21, and the isotherm constant was found to be 0.609 mg1−1/n L1/n/g. The kinetic parameters revealed that the pseudo-second-order model could be used for the description of experimental data rather than the pseudo-first-order model or intraparticle diffusion model. The dye adsorption decreased in the presence of anionic and non-ionic surfactants, while their uptake was enhanced in the presence of Na2SO4 and Na2CO3. Regeneration of the A21 resin was difficult; a slight increase in its efficiency was observed using 1M HCl, 1 M NaOH and 1 M NaCl solutions in 50% v/v methanol. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomaterials for Pollutants Removal: From Molecular Perspectives)
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17 pages, 4571 KiB  
Article
Cationic Pullulan Derivatives Based Flocculants for Removal of Some Metal Oxides from Simulated Wastewater
by Luminita Ghimici, Maria Magdalena Nafureanu and Marieta Constantin
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(5), 4383; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24054383 - 23 Feb 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1342
Abstract
Modified polysaccharides have been increasingly used as flocculants in wastewater treatment due to their non-toxicity, low price, biodegradability, etc. However, the pullulan derivatives are less used in wastewater purification processes. Therefore, this article presents some data regarding FeO and TiO2 particle removal [...] Read more.
Modified polysaccharides have been increasingly used as flocculants in wastewater treatment due to their non-toxicity, low price, biodegradability, etc. However, the pullulan derivatives are less used in wastewater purification processes. Therefore, this article presents some data regarding FeO and TiO2 particle removal from model suspensions by some pullulan derivatives with pendant quaternary ammonium salt groups, trimethylammonium propyl carbamate chloride (TMAPx–P). The influence of the polymer ionic content, dose, and initial solution concentration as well as of the dispersion pH and composition (metal oxide content, salts, and kaolin) on the separation efficacy were considered. UV-Vis spectroscopy measurements have shown a very good removal efficacy of TMAPx–P for the FeO particles (around 95% and more), irrespective of the polymer and suspension characteristics; a lower clarification of the TiO2 particles suspension (removal efficiency between 68% and 75%) was noticed. Both the zeta potential and the particle aggregates size measurements revealed the charge patch as the main mechanism which governs the metal oxide removal process. The surface morphology analysis/EDX data provided supplementary evidence regarding the separation process. A good removal efficiency (90%) of the pullulan derivatives/FeO flocs for the Bordeaux mixture particles from simulated wastewater was found. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomaterials for Pollutants Removal: From Molecular Perspectives)
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21 pages, 8854 KiB  
Article
Bottom-Up Synthesis of De-Functionalized and Dispersible Carbon Spheres as Colloidal Adsorbent
by Maria Balda, Katrin Mackenzie, Silke Woszidlo, Hans Uhlig, Jens Möllmer, Frank-Dieter Kopinke, Gerrit Schüürmann and Anett Georgi
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2023, 24(4), 3831; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24043831 - 14 Feb 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1609
Abstract
Recent innovative adsorption technologies for water purification rely on micrometer-sized activated carbon (AC) for ultrafast adsorption or in situ remediation. In this study, the bottom-up synthesis of tailored activated carbon spheres (aCS) from sucrose as renewable feedstock is demonstrated. The synthesis is based [...] Read more.
Recent innovative adsorption technologies for water purification rely on micrometer-sized activated carbon (AC) for ultrafast adsorption or in situ remediation. In this study, the bottom-up synthesis of tailored activated carbon spheres (aCS) from sucrose as renewable feedstock is demonstrated. The synthesis is based on a hydrothermal carbonization step followed by a targeted thermal activation of the raw material. This preserves its excellent colloid properties, i.e., narrow particle size distribution around 1 µm, ideal spherical shape and excellent aqueous dispersibility. We investigated the ageing of the freshly synthesized, highly de-functionalized AC surface in air and aqueous media under conditions relevant to the practice. A slow but significant ageing due to hydrolysis and oxidation reactions was observed for all carbon samples, leading to an increase of the oxygen contents with storage time. In this study, a tailored aCS product was generated within a single pyrolysis step with 3 vol.-% H2O in N2 in order to obtain the desired pore diameters and surface properties. Adsorption characteristics, including sorption isotherms and kinetics, were investigated with monochlorobenzene (MCB) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) as adsorbates. The product showed high sorption affinities up to log (KD/[L/kg]) of 7.3 ± 0.1 for MCB and 6.2 ± 0.1 for PFOA, respectively. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biomaterials for Pollutants Removal: From Molecular Perspectives)
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