Wastewater and Waste Treatment: Overview, Challenges and Current Trends (3rd Edition)

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2025 | Viewed by 622

Special Issue Editors


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Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, International Hellenic University (IHU), GR-57400 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: membrane filtration; integrated membrane processes; adsorption; phenolic compounds; coagulation; anaerobic digestion; life cycle assessment; technoeconomic analysis; agro-industrial waste
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Building on the foundations of Volumes I and II, which addressed the urgent challenges of climate change and resource scarcity through innovative wastewater and waste treatment methods, this third edition aims to push the boundaries of current research and its practical applications. With growing global pressures and rapidly evolving technological landscapes, this volume will focus on integrated systems, real-world implementation, and the exploration of emerging challenges and future technologies.

The aim of this Special Issue is to explore how innovative wastewater and waste treatment approaches can be harmonized into broader systems and industry practices, and also addresses upcoming environmental challenges. By expanding the scope to include system-level thinking and disruptive technologies, this volume seeks to offer a comprehensive vision for the future of waste management.

Topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  1. Integrated Systems:
    • Synergies between biological, advanced oxidation, and physicochemical treatment methods.
    • Development of hybrid systems for addressing complex or mixed waste streams.
    • Decentralized versus centralized waste treatment approaches: opportunities and challenges.
  2. Emerging Challenges in Waste Treatment:
    • Addressing novel pollutants, including microplastics, pharmaceuticals, and nanomaterials.
    • Treatment solutions for high-salinity or otherwise extreme waste streams.
    • Managing the secondary environmental impacts of treatment processes, such as greenhouse gas emissions or energy consumption.
  3. Future Horizons in Wastewater and Waste Management:
    • The role of AI, machine learning, and big data in optimizing waste treatment processes.
    • Nanotechnology applications in pollutant removal and resource recovery.
    • Speculative technologies and their potential to revolutionize waste management.
    • Expanding life cycle assessment frameworks to capture emerging environmental challenges.

This volume aspires to serve as a platform for cutting-edge research and discussions, fostering innovation and collaboration toward sustainable solutions. By combining the insights of Volumes I and II with new perspectives, this third edition seeks to deliver actionable strategies and visionary ideas for addressing the intertwined challenges of wastewater, waste treatment, and global sustainability.

Dr. Dimitris Zagklis
Dr. Georgios Bampos
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • integrated systems
  • wastewater treatment
  • resource recovery
  • life cycle assessment
  • technoeconomic analysis
  • emerging pollutants
  • policy implementation
  • hybrid technologies
  • nanotechnology
  • sustainable waste management

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 3199 KiB  
Article
Sustainable Hydrochar from Orange Peel and Bagasse: A Wet Pyrolysis Approach for Efficient Fe2+ and Mn2+ Removal from Water Using a Factorial Design
by Karina Sampaio da Silva, Marcela de Oliveira Brahim Cortez, Luísa Faria Monteiro Mazzini, Ueslei G. Favero, Leonarde do Nascimento Rodrigues, Renê Chagas da Silva, Maria C. Hespanhol and Renata Pereira Lopes Moreira
Processes 2025, 13(7), 2040; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr13072040 - 27 Jun 2025
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Abstract
Water pollution is a global concern, especially due to iron and manganese, which, at high concentrations, affect water quality by altering taste, odor, and color. This work explores the sustainable synthesis of hydrochar from orange peel and bagasse using hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) and [...] Read more.
Water pollution is a global concern, especially due to iron and manganese, which, at high concentrations, affect water quality by altering taste, odor, and color. This work explores the sustainable synthesis of hydrochar from orange peel and bagasse using hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) and a 23 factorial design to optimize Fe2+ and Mn2+ removal for water treatment polishing. HTC was performed by varying (1) temperature (100–200 °C), (2) residence time (8–14 h), and (3) activation agent (H3PO4 or NaOH), with a central point at 150 °C for 11 h without activation. Characterization was performed using FTIR, TGA, SEM, nitrogen adsorption (BET) for surface area determination, elemental analysis, Brønsted acidity measurements, and zeta potential analysis. The hydrochar synthesized at 100 °C for 14 h with NaOH (HC6) showed the best Fe2+ and Mn2+ removal performance. The equilibrium time was 400 min, with pseudo-first-order kinetics best fitting the Fe2+ adsorption data, while pseudo-second-order kinetics provided the best fit for Mn2+ adsorption. The adsorption process was best described by the Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms, with maximum adsorption capacities (qmax) of 21.44 and 33.67 mg g−1 for Fe2+ and Mn2+, respectively. It can be concluded that HTC-derived hydrochars offer a sustainable and efficient solution for Fe2+ and Mn2+ removal. This strategy presents a potentially valuable approach for sustainable water treatment, offering advantages for industrial application by operating at lower temperatures and eliminating the need for biomass drying, thereby reducing energy consumption and environmental impact. Full article
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14 pages, 2842 KiB  
Article
Enhancing the Removal Efficiency of Rhodamine B by Loading Pd onto In2O3/BiVO4 Under Visible Light Irradiation
by Yuanchen Zhu, Shivam Parekh, Shiqian Li, Xiangchao Meng and Zisheng Zhang
Processes 2025, 13(7), 1983; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr13071983 - 23 Jun 2025
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Abstract
A simple method for synthesizing novel Pd-In2O3/BiVO4 composites by using a hydrothermal technique is proposed. The synthesized samples showed a monoclinic phase and featured homogeneously dispersed Pd and BiVO4 dopants on In2O3, as [...] Read more.
A simple method for synthesizing novel Pd-In2O3/BiVO4 composites by using a hydrothermal technique is proposed. The synthesized samples showed a monoclinic phase and featured homogeneously dispersed Pd and BiVO4 dopants on In2O3, as confirmed by XRD, SEM, and XPS analyses. The Pd-In2O3/BiVO4 composite exhibited notable improvements, such as broadened visible-light absorption (up to 596.1 nm) and a narrowed band gap (2.08 eV vs. 2.82 eV for pure In2O3), a more compact and integrated morphology observed by SEM, which are expected to promote improved light harvesting and facilitate charge separation during photocatalysis. Under visible-light irradiation, the optimized 1 wt% Pd-In2O3/BiVO4 achieved 99% degradation of Rhodamine B (10 mg/L) within 40 min, while pure In2O3 showed less than 10% removal after 60 min—highlighting the strong synergistic effect of dual doping. Additionally, the composite demonstrated excellent stability and reusability over multiple cycles. A plausible photocatalytic mechanism for this process is proposed, providing insights into the design of efficient photocatalysts for wastewater treatment. Full article
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