Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
6.6
5.0
Journals
Polymers
Special Issues
Recent Advances in Functional Polymer Materials for Water Treatment
share announcement

Recent Advances in Functional Polymer Materials for Water Treatment

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Circular and Green Polymer Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 September 2024 | Viewed by 8060

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Zhiwei Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Guangxi Key Laboratory of Clean Pulp & Papermaking and Pollution Control, College of Light Industry and Food Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning, China
Interests: wastewater treatment; functional materials of microbial fuel cell electrode; bioaugmentation technique; polymers and the environment
Dr. Tongtong Wang

E-Mail Website1 Website2 Website3 Website4
Guest Editor
Institute for Interdisciplinary and Innovate Research, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an, China
Interests: water treatment; photocatalysis; adsorption; environmental functional materials; new pollutant removal; biochar and semiconductors; environmental engineering; mathematical models
Prof. Dr. Yanzhu Guo

E-Mail Website1 Website2 Website3 Website4
Co-Guest Editor
Liaoning Key Lab of Lignocellulose Chemistry and BioMaterials, Liaoning Collaborative Innovation Center for Lignocellulosic Biorefinery, College of Light Industry and Chemical Engineering, Dalian Polytechnic University, Dalian, China
Interests: flocculation; water treatment; biomass-based adsorbent; amphoteric polymers; lignin-based flocculants; quantum dots; sensors for wastewater analysis
Dr. Jian Zhang

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
College of Light Industry and Food Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China
Interests: water treatment; granulation; anaerobic digestion; environmental engineering; nutrient removal
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Water pollution has become one of the great threats to the ecological environment and human health. Polymer materials show great potential in wastewater treatment because of their unique physical and chemical properties, such as large molecular weight, controllable structure, large surface area and easy modification. With the rapid development of materials science, new polymer materials show excellent performance, such as new flocculants, scale inhibitors, functional filtration membranes, ion-exchange resins, selective adsorption materials, modified functional fibers, as well as nanocomposite materials and hybrid nanomaterials used in microbial fuel cell electrodes. Functional polymer materials have been widely used in the field of wastewater pollution control.

Based on the above information, we would like to publish a Special Issue (SI) pertaining to recent advances in functional polymer materials for water treatment. This SI aims to provide a platform for researchers to disseminate recent advances in the fundamentals, science and technology of polymeric materials for use in water treatment. High-quality original articles, review articles, case studies and short communications related to the following areas are encouraged:

  • Polymeric coagulant and adsorbent for water purification;
  • Polymeric separation membrane and ion-exchange resins for water treatment and reuse;
  • Polymeric materials for enhancing biological water treatment (filler, bioaugmentation agents, etc.);
  • Polymeric materials for use as water treatment equipment, anti-scale, scale removal, corrosion inhibition, and the suppression of bacteria and algae;
  • Fabrication, modification and characterization of polymeric materials for water treatment;
  • Other polymeric material-related applications for pollutant removal and detection in water (filtration, catalytic oxidation, electrode, sensors, etc.).

Dr. Zhiwei Wang
Dr. Tongtong Wang
Prof. Dr. Yanzhu Guo
Dr. Jian Zhang
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.

Keywords

  • functional polymer materials for water treatment
  • polymers and the environment
  • polymer adsorption material
  • polymer coagulant
  • polymer ion-exchange resin
  • membrane material for wastewater treatment
  • polymeric functional electrode material
  • polymeric anti-scale

Published Papers (6 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

16 pages, 9669 KiB  
Article
Coaxial Electrospun Porous Core–Shell Nanofibrous Membranes for Photodegradation of Organic Dyes
by Yaoyao Yang, Shengwei Zhou, Xianyang Cao, He Lv, Zhiyuan Liang, Rui Zhang, Fujia Ye and Dengguang Yu
Polymers 2024, 16(6), 754; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16060754 - 9 Mar 2024
Viewed by 702
Abstract
In this study, a series of AgCl/ZnO-loaded nanofibrous membranes were prepared using coaxial electrospinning. Their physical and chemical characteristics were evaluated by SEM, TEM, XRD, XPS, IR, PL, and UV–visible spectrometer, and the photocatalytic experiments using methylene blue (MB) as a model pollutant. [...] Read more.
In this study, a series of AgCl/ZnO-loaded nanofibrous membranes were prepared using coaxial electrospinning. Their physical and chemical characteristics were evaluated by SEM, TEM, XRD, XPS, IR, PL, and UV–visible spectrometer, and the photocatalytic experiments using methylene blue (MB) as a model pollutant. The formation of AgCl/ZnO heterojunction and the structure of core–shell nanofibers with porous shell layer were confirmed. AgCl/ZnO photocatalysts were also effectively loaded onto the surfaces of the porous core–shell nanofibers. The results of photocatalytic experiments revealed that the AgCl/ZnO (MAgCl:MZnO = 5:5)-loaded nanofibrous membrane achieved a degradation efficiency of 98% in just 70 min and maintained a photocatalytic efficiency exceeding 95% over the first five experimental cycles, which successfully addressed the issues of photocatalytic efficiency loss during the photodegradation of MB with AgCl/ZnO nanoparticles as photocatalyst. The photodegradation mechanism was also researched and proposed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Functional Polymer Materials for Water Treatment)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 4037 KiB  
Article
Preparation of Cationic Polyacrylamide Suspension and Its Application in Oilfield Wastewater Treatment
by Zhongjin Wei, Wenjun Long, Shaohua Li, Yu Zhao, Siting Yu and Fengshan Zhou
Polymers 2024, 16(1), 151; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16010151 - 3 Jan 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 965
Abstract
Cationic polyacrylamide (CPAM) solid particle is one of the most commonly used organic polymer flocculants in oilfield wastewater treatment, but it poses some problems, such as a slow dissolution rate and an easy formation into a “fish-eye” in the process of diluting into [...] Read more.
Cationic polyacrylamide (CPAM) solid particle is one of the most commonly used organic polymer flocculants in oilfield wastewater treatment, but it poses some problems, such as a slow dissolution rate and an easy formation into a “fish-eye” in the process of diluting into aqueous solution. However, the current liquid CPAM products also have some problems, such as low effective content, poor storage stability, degradation in a short time, and high preparation costs. In this paper, a CPAM suspension was successfully prepared with 50.00% CPAM fine powder, 46.87% oil phase solvent, 0.63% separating agent, 1.56% emulsifying and dispersing agent, and 0.94% rheology modifier. This suspension has an effective content of 50.00%. It also showed no separation in 7 days of storage at room temperature, no separation in 30 min of centrifugation at a speed of 2000 rpm, and diluted to a 0.40% solution in just 16.00 min. For 1000 NTU of diatomite-simulated wastewater, the optimal turbidity removal rate of the suspension was 99.50%, which was higher than the optimal turbidity removal rate of 98.40% for the inorganic flocculant polymeric aluminum chloride (PAC). For oilfield wastewater, the optimal turbidity removal rate of the CPAM suspension was 35.60%, which was higher than the optimal turbidity removal rate of 28.40% for solid particle CPAM. In a scale-up test, the CPAM suspension achieved a good application effect. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Functional Polymer Materials for Water Treatment)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

21 pages, 5305 KiB  
Article
Myrica esculenta Leaf Extract—Assisted Green Synthesis of Porous Magnetic Chitosan Composites for Fast Removal of Cd (II) from Water: Kinetics and Thermodynamics of Adsorption
by Anjali Yadav, Sapna Raghav, Nirmala Kumari Jangid, Anamika Srivastava, Sapana Jadoun, Manish Srivastava and Jaya Dwivedi
Polymers 2023, 15(21), 4339; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15214339 - 6 Nov 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1089
Abstract
Heavy metal contamination in water resources is a major issue worldwide. Metals released into the environment endanger human health, owing to their persistence and absorption into the food chain. Cadmium is a highly toxic heavy metal, which causes severe health hazards in human [...] Read more.
Heavy metal contamination in water resources is a major issue worldwide. Metals released into the environment endanger human health, owing to their persistence and absorption into the food chain. Cadmium is a highly toxic heavy metal, which causes severe health hazards in human beings as well as in animals. To overcome the issue, current research focused on cadmium ion removal from the polluted water by using porous magnetic chitosan composite produced from Kaphal (Myrica esculenta) leaves. The synthesized composite was characterized by BET, XRD, FT-IR, FE-SEM with EDX, and VSM to understand the structural, textural, surface functional, morphological-compositional, and magnetic properties, respectively, that contributed to the adsorption of Cd. The maximum Cd adsorption capacities observed for the Fe3O4 nanoparticles (MNPs) and porous magnetic chitosan (MCS) composite were 290 mg/g and 426 mg/g, respectively. Both the adsorption processes followed second-order kinetics. Batch adsorption studies were carried out to understand the optimum conditions for the fast adsorption process. Both the adsorbents could be regenerated for up to seven cycles without appreciable loss in adsorption capacity. The porous magnetic chitosan composite showed improved adsorption compared to MNPs. The mechanism for cadmium ion adsorption by MNPs and MCS has been postulated. Magnetic-modified chitosan-based composites that exhibit high adsorption efficiency, regeneration, and easy separation from a solution have broad development prospects in various industrial sewage and wastewater treatment fields. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Functional Polymer Materials for Water Treatment)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

33 pages, 7169 KiB  
Article
A Comparative Study of Cr(VI) Sorption by Aureobasidium pullulans AKW Biomass and Its Extracellular Melanin: Complementary Modeling with Equilibrium Isotherms, Kinetic Studies, and Decision Tree Modeling
by Hala Fakhry, Abeer A. Ghoniem, Fatimah O. Al-Otibi, Yosra A. Helmy, Mohammed S. El Hersh, Khaled M. Elattar, WesamEldin I. A. Saber and Ashraf Elsayed
Polymers 2023, 15(18), 3754; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15183754 - 14 Sep 2023
Viewed by 1147
Abstract
Melanin as a natural polymer is found in all living organisms, and plays an important role in protecting the body from harmful UV rays from the sun. The efficiency of fungal biomass (Aureobasidium pullulans) and its extracellular melanin as Cr(VI) biosorbents [...] Read more.
Melanin as a natural polymer is found in all living organisms, and plays an important role in protecting the body from harmful UV rays from the sun. The efficiency of fungal biomass (Aureobasidium pullulans) and its extracellular melanin as Cr(VI) biosorbents was comparatively considered. The efficiency of Cr(VI) biosorption by the two sorbents used was augmented up to 240 min. The maximum sorption capacities were 485.747 (fungus biomass) and 595.974 (melanin) mg/g. The practical data were merely fitted to both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. The kinetics of the biosorption process obeyed the pseudo-first-order. Melanin was superior in Cr(VI) sorption than fungal biomass. Furthermore, four independent variables (contact time, initial concentration of Cr(VI), biosorbent dosage, and pH,) were modeled by the two decision trees (DTs). Conversely, to equilibrium isotherms and kinetic studies, DT of fungal biomass had lower errors compared to DT of melanin. Lately, the DTs improved the efficacy of the Cr(VI) removal process, thus introducing complementary and alternative solutions to equilibrium isotherms and kinetic studies. The Cr(VI) biosorption onto the biosorbents was confirmed and elucidated through FTIR, SEM, and EDX investigations. Conclusively, this is the first report study attaining the biosorption of Cr(VI) by biomass of A. pullulans and its extracellular melanin among equilibrium isotherms, kinetic study, and algorithmic decision tree modeling. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Functional Polymer Materials for Water Treatment)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 5692 KiB  
Article
Application of Ionic Liquid Crosslinked Hydrogel for Removing Heavy Metal Ions from Water: Different Concentration Ranges with Different Adsorption Mechanisms
by Jian Sun, Ziqi Jin, Jiyang Wang, Hong Wang, Qian Zhang, Huajing Gao, Zhaohui Jin, Jianlin Zhang and Zhiwei Wang
Polymers 2023, 15(13), 2784; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15132784 - 22 Jun 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1303
Abstract
Heavy metal wastewater poses a significant environmental challenge due to its harmful effect on organisms and difficult biodegradation. To address this issue, hydrogel has been used as a promising solution for the adsorption of heavy metal ions in water, offering advantages such as [...] Read more.
Heavy metal wastewater poses a significant environmental challenge due to its harmful effect on organisms and difficult biodegradation. To address this issue, hydrogel has been used as a promising solution for the adsorption of heavy metal ions in water, offering advantages such as low cost, simple design, and environmental friendliness. In this study, we synthetized a novel poly-acrylamide/acrylic acid/vinyl imidazole bromide (PAM/AA/[Vim]Br2) hydrogel as an effective adsorbent for the removal of NiII, CuII, ZnII, and CrIII from water. The structure of the hydrogel was characterized by using techniques such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). By exploring various parameters such as monomer ratio, neutralization degree, crosslinking agent addition amount, and initiator addition amount, the highest swelling ratio of the PAM/AA/[Vim]Br2 hydrogel reached 40,012%. One of the notable aspects of this study lay in the investigation of the adsorption behavior of the hydrogel towards heavy metal ions at different concentrations. The adsorption isotherm calculations and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis revealed distinct adsorption mechanisms. At low concentrations, the hydrogel exhibits a multilayer physical adsorption mechanism, with heavy metal ion removal rates exceeding 80%; while at high concentrations, it demonstrates a monolayer chemical adsorption mechanism, with heavy metal ion removal rates above 90%. This dual mechanism approach distinguishes our study from previous reports on the removal of heavy metal ions using hydrogels and shows good ion adsorption efficiency at both high and low concentrations. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to explore the removal of heavy metal ions from water using hydrogels with such intriguing dual mechanisms. Overall, the utilization of the PAM/PAA/[Vim]Br2 hydrogel as an adsorbent for heavy metal ion removal presents a promising and innovative approach, contributing to the development of environmentally friendly solutions for heavy metal wastewater treatment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Functional Polymer Materials for Water Treatment)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

26 pages, 11536 KiB  
Review
Optimized Polymeric Membranes for Water Treatment: Fabrication, Morphology, and Performance
by Avneesh Kumar and Dong Wook Chang
Polymers 2024, 16(2), 271; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16020271 - 18 Jan 2024
Viewed by 1880
Abstract
Conventional polymers, endowed with specific functionalities, are extensively utilized for filtering and extracting a diverse set of chemicals, notably metals, from solutions. The main structure of a polymer is an integral part for designing an efficient separating system. However, its chemical functionality further [...] Read more.
Conventional polymers, endowed with specific functionalities, are extensively utilized for filtering and extracting a diverse set of chemicals, notably metals, from solutions. The main structure of a polymer is an integral part for designing an efficient separating system. However, its chemical functionality further contributes to the selectivity, fabrication process, and resulting product morphology. One example would be a membrane that can be employed to selectively remove a targeted metal ion or chemical from a solution, leaving behind the useful components of the solution. Such membranes or products are highly sought after for purifying polluted water contaminated with toxic and heavy metals. An efficient water-purifying membrane must fulfill several requirements, including a specific morphology attained by the material with a specific chemical functionality and facile fabrication for integration into a purifying module Therefore, the selection of an appropriate polymer and its functionalization become crucial and determining steps. This review highlights the attempts made in functionalizing various polymers (including natural ones) or copolymers with chemical groups decisive for membranes to act as water purifiers. Among these recently developed membrane systems, some of the materials incorporating other macromolecules, e.g., MOFs, COFs, and graphene, have displayed their competence for water treatment. Furthermore, it also summarizes the self-assembly and resulting morphology of the membrane materials as critical for driving the purification mechanism. This comprehensive overview aims to provide readers with a concise and conclusive understanding of these materials for water purification, as well as elucidating further perspectives and challenges. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Functional Polymer Materials for Water Treatment)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-6
Back to TopTop