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Advanced Chemical Innovations for Sustainable Water and Wastewater Treatment

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 528

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Guest Editor

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Wastewater treatment has evolved as a critical pillar of environmental sustainability, driven by escalating industrial pollution, population growth, and stringent regulatory demands. Traditional methods often fall short in addressing complex contaminants such as pharmaceuticals, microplastics, and heavy metals, necessitating breakthroughs in chemical engineering and material science. Recent advances in catalysis, nanotechnology, and green chemistry have unlocked novel pathways to enhance treatment efficiency, reduce energy consumption, and enable resource recovery.

For this Special Issue entitled "Advanced Chemical Innovations for Sustainable Water and Wastewater Treatment", we welcome cutting-edge research and reviews on transformative chemical approaches. Topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

(1) advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) for persistent pollutant degradation;

(2) catalytic and photocatalytic systems for contaminant removal;

(3) functionalized nanomaterials and smart adsorbents;

(4) green solvents and ionic liquids for selective extraction;

(5) hybrid chemical–biological treatment synergies;

(6) computational modeling of reaction mechanisms; 

(7) scalability and lifecycle analysis of novel technologies.

Contributions should emphasize innovation, sustainability, and practical applicability to bridge laboratory discoveries with real-world implementation.

Dr. Mohammed J.K. Bashir
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. 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

  • advanced oxidation processes
  • catalytic degradation
  • nanomaterials
  • green chemistry
  • pollutant mineralization
  • ionic liquid applications
  • smart adsorbents

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

23 pages, 926 KB  
Review
Advances in the Application of Aerobic Granular Sludge for the Removal of Emerging Contaminants in Municipal and Industrial Wastewater
by Gobi Kanadasan, Choon Aun Ng, Vel Murugan Vadivelu and Mohammad J. K. Bashir
Molecules 2025, 30(17), 3522; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules30173522 - 28 Aug 2025
Viewed by 315
Abstract
Aerobic granules are dense three-dimensional microbial aggregates which are known for their excellent settling ability, high biomass retention, and simultaneous biological reaction due to their multilayered structure. All these features enable the aerobic granules to remove emerging contaminants, such as pharmaceutical and personal [...] Read more.
Aerobic granules are dense three-dimensional microbial aggregates which are known for their excellent settling ability, high biomass retention, and simultaneous biological reaction due to their multilayered structure. All these features enable the aerobic granules to remove emerging contaminants, such as pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs), endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs), microplastics, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in municipal and industrial wastewater. This review discusses the development and application of the aerobic granules, especially in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) with a height over diameter (H/D) ratio of 5 to 10. The mechanisms of EC removal in aerobic granules and the removal efficiency of the ECs by aerobic granules were also scrutinized, with the reported removal efficiency ranging from 10–100% for PPCPs, 84–94% for EDCs, 74–95% for microplastics, and more than 85% for PFAs. In spite of the huge potential of aerobic granular technology, its large-scale implementation is hampered by operational and scaling challenges. Future research should focus on optimizing the operational parameters and overcoming the scale-up barrier to fully leverage the potential of aerobic granules in removing ECs. Full article
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