Emerging Pollutants in the Environment: Sources, Effects, Monitoring and Governance

A Special Issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717) belonging to the section "Environmental and Green Processes".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 October 2026 | Viewed by 1055

Editors

School of Resources and Environment, Nanchang University, 999 Xuefu Road, Nanchang 330031, China
Interests: resource recovery; functional materials; environmental remediation; pollution control

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Engineering, Nanjing Agricultural University, 40 Dianjiangtai Road, Nanjing 210031, China
Interests: catalytic oxidation; hydrothermal liquefaction; carbon-based catalysts; resource recovery; environmental remediation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Environmental pollution from emerging pollutants is becoming increasingly serious, as rapid global development often prioritizes human needs over the health of the planet. Emerging pollutants are defined as chemicals that are not currently regulated but pose ecological or human health concerns. These emerging pollutants include endocrine-disrupting compounds, pharmaceutical and personal care products, disinfection byproducts, microplastics, and persistent organic chemicals, among others. A comprehensive understanding of these pollutants is crucial for developing effective strategies to mitigate their environmental impact. Therefore, it requires a thorough knowledge of the sources, toxins, ecological transformation processes, environmental impacts, environmental monitoring, and pollution control. This Special Issue addresses the global challenges posed by emerging pollutants in various environmental compartments, as well as the relevant engineering solutions. Topics include, but are not limited to:

  • Sources and toxics of emerging pollutants;
  • Environmental transformation processes;
  • Risk evaluation and management;
  • Biomass-based material for treating emerging pollutants;
  • Advanced oxidation technology;
  • Advanced reduction technology;
  • Anaerobic fermentation;
  • Recycling of emerging pollutants;
  • The challenges and future development.

Dr. Fengbo Yu
Dr. Yang Cao
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Processes 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 2400 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

  • endocrine-disrupting compounds
  • pharmaceutical and personal care products
  • disinfection byproducts
  • microplastics
  • persistent organic chemicals
  • PFOS and PFOA
  • advanced materials

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

33 pages, 7821 KB  
Article
Governance of Toxic Metal Pollution in China’s Farmland Soil: A Quadrilateral Evolutionary Game Analysis
by Xinpei Qiao, Mengyue Xu, Xiao Fan, Jingyuan Sun and Yuchao Li
Processes 2026, 14(14), 2260; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr14142260 - 10 Jul 2026
Viewed by 407
Abstract
Toxic metal pollution in farmland soils has become a critical environmental issue threatening land security and agricultural sustainability. This study develops an evolutionary game model involving the government, enterprises, the public, and environmental public-interest organizations to analyze the dynamic interactions underlying multi-actor governance. [...] Read more.
Toxic metal pollution in farmland soils has become a critical environmental issue threatening land security and agricultural sustainability. This study develops an evolutionary game model involving the government, enterprises, the public, and environmental public-interest organizations to analyze the dynamic interactions underlying multi-actor governance. By combining equilibrium analysis with numerical simulations, the study examines the conditions for collaborative governance and the effects of key parameters on the system’s evolution. The results reveal a stage-based trajectory: weak regulation and limited participation in the early stage lead to persistent illegal discharge; strengthened government intervention and rising social participation in the transitional stage promote more coordinated supervision, although enterprises may still behave non-compliantly; in the mature stage, favorable cost–benefit conditions induce enterprises to adopt compliant treatment, reducing reliance on continuous external oversight. Further analysis shows that effective incentive and deterrence mechanisms are essential for activating multi-actor responses, while enterprises’ strategies are mainly driven by pollution-control costs, expected returns, and potential losses, and social participation depends on monitoring costs, expected benefits, and government support. Initial strategy distributions have limited influence on long-term outcomes. These findings provide policy-relevant insights for improving institutional design and strengthening collaborative governance in the management of toxic metal pollution in China’s farmland soils. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop