Waste-Derived Materials for Separation Processes in Water and Wastewater Treatment

Dear Colleagues,

The widespread contamination of water resources by emerging and recalcitrant pollutants demands robust, low-cost, and sustainable treatment technologies. Applying circular economy principles, particularly waste valorization, offers a vital strategy for transforming environmental liabilities into valuable assets. This Special Issue invites original research and review articles exploring the development, characterization and application of materials from diverse waste sources for water and wastewater treatment. The focus is strictly on separation processes, which are fundamental to water purification and align with the journal's scope. We welcome submissions on topics including, but not limited to, the development of low-cost adsorbents from waste, the fabrication or modification of membranes using waste materials and the use of waste-derived natural or modified coagulants/flocculants. Further topics of interest include synthesizing low-cost ion exchangers from residual biomass, utilizing industrial waste for chemical precipitation, applying scrap metal in electrocoagulation and developing hybrid separation processes incorporating these waste-derived materials.

• Adsorption: Development and application of low-cost adsorbents derived from waste for the removal of organic and inorganic pollutants.
• Membrane Separation Processes: Fabrication, modification or functionalization of membranes using waste materials, composites or additives derived from waste for water and wastewater treatment.
• Coagulation and Flocculation: Waste-derived natural or modified coagulants and flocculants as a sustainable alternative for colloid destabilization and enhancement of solid–liquid separation.
• Ion Exchange: Low-cost ion exchangers from modified residual biomass for the selective separation of cations or anions.
• Chemical Precipitation: Utilization of alkaline or acidic industrial waste as low-cost precipitating agents for the removal of dissolved pollutants.
• Electrocoagulation: Application of scrap metal as low-cost sacrificial electrodes for the in situ generation of coagulants.
• Hybrid Processes: Combination of separation processes that utilize waste-derived materials.

Prof. Dr. Natália Ueda Yamaguchi
Prof. Dr. Karina Querne de Carvalho
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-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Separations is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2600 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.