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Special Issue "Carbon-Based Materials for Contaminant Removal"

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A special issue of Separations (ISSN 2297-8739). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Separations".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2023 | Viewed by 2904

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Yingjie Li

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650500, China
Interests: emerging contaminants; advanced oxidation process; photocatalysis; photodegradation; biochar carbon

Prof. Dr. Senlin Tian

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650500, China
Interests: catalytic materials; heavy metal; wastewater treatment; soil remediation; photocatalysis

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Environmental pollution has become a global challenge due to its adverse health effects. In recent years, the co-existence of regulated/unregulated contaminants (e.g., nitrogen phosphorus, heavy metal, pharmaceuticals and personal care products, endocrine disruptors, disinfection byproducts) has caused more complicated pollution problems, which urgently need new treatment technology. Carbon-based materials have an important role in removing environmental contaminants, and these materials are considered to be one of the newest methods for the removal of contaminants in pollution control and remediation. Considering the complexity of environmental matrices, a fundamental understanding of the roles of carbon-based materials in removing contaminants is pivotal to develop efficient eliminating technology for contaminants.

This Special Issue on “Carbon-Based Materials for Contaminant Removal” aims to present the latest findings in the development and application of carbon-based materials in pollution control in wastewater/air purification, soil remediation, as well as contaminants’ environmental fate mediated by natural carbon materials. We welcome submissions to this Special Issue in the form of original research papers and reviews that highlight promising recent research and novel trends on this topic, especially dedicated but not limited to new advances in the fields of modeling, synthesis, modification, characterization, and application of carbon-based materials for contaminant removal. Papers on quality assurance, including the environmental transformation of contaminants mediated by natural carbon materials, will also be welcome.

Dr. Yingjie Li
Prof. Dr. Senlin Tian
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. 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.

Keywords

carbon-based materials
emerging contaminants
heavy metal
contaminant removal
adsorption
water treatment
gas purification
soil remediation
advanced oxidation process
photodegradation/catalysis

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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Open AccessArticle

Removal of Pb(II) from Aqueous Solution and Adsorption Kinetics of Corn Stalk Biochar

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Separations 2023, 10(8), 438; https://doi.org/10.3390/separations10080438 - 02 Aug 2023

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Abstract

In this work, the Pb adsorption and removal ability of biochar from simulated Pb(II)-contaminated wastewater, adsorption isotherms, kinetics, and thermodynamics were studied. Adsorption characteristics of biochar on Pb(II) were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive spectrometer (SEM-EDS). The influence of the pH of the solution, the contact time, and the biochar dose on the removal of Pb(II) were investigated by single-factor design and response surface analysis. With the increase in biochar dose from 2 g/L to 4 g/L in wastewater, the Pb(II) amount adsorbed on biochar reduced from 21.3 mg/g to 17.5 mg/g. A weakly acidic environment was more conducive to the ligand exchange between Pb(II) ions and biochar. Pb(II) adsorption kinetics of biochar showed that the Pseudo-first-order model was more suitable than other employed models to describe the adsorption process. During the isothermal adsorption process, Langmuir and Freundlich’s isotherms fitted the adsorption data very well (R² > 96%). The Pb (II) adsorption onto biochar was spontaneous in the specified temperature range (298–318 K) and the process was exothermic. Simultaneously, the optimal conditions were a pH of 5, a contact time of 255 min, and a biochar dose of 3 g/L, under which the maximum predicted Pb(II) removal efficiency was 91.52%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Carbon-Based Materials for Contaminant Removal)

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Open AccessCommunication

Triplet-Excited Dissolved Organic Matter Efficiently Promoted Atmospheric Sulfate Production: Kinetics and Mechanisms

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Separations 2023, 10(6), 335; https://doi.org/10.3390/separations10060335 - 30 May 2023

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Abstract

Photochemical generation is an important pathway for atmospheric sulfate formation. However, the roles of atmospheric co-existing photosensitive dissolved organic matter (DOM) in sulfate formation are still unclear. The experimental results in this work provide evidence that atmospheric photosensitizers produce active intermediates to oxidize S(IV) into S(VI) under illumination. Quenching experiments of eight photosensitive model compounds (PS) demonstrate that their triplet-excited states (³PS*) dominate sulfate formation for the photosensitizing pathway with a contribution of over 90%, and ¹O₂ plays an important role in sulfate formation. The results using humic acid (HA) and water-soluble organic carbon in vehicle exhaust particles (WSOC) as representatives of atmospheric photosensitizers further verify that triplet-excited DOM (³DOM*) is the main reactive species for sulfate formation, which is consistent with the results of PS. Our findings provide new insights into the photochemical formation pathways of atmospheric sulfate. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Carbon-Based Materials for Contaminant Removal)

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Open AccessArticle

Hazard-Free Treatment of Electrolytic Manganese Residue and Recovery of High-Concentration SO₂ Using High-Temperature Reduction Roasting Process

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Separations 2023, 10(5), 288; https://doi.org/10.3390/separations10050288 - 04 May 2023

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Abstract

A combined preparation of SO₂ and recovery of solid products was investigated as a hazard-free method to use coke as a reducer to treat electrolytic manganese residue (EMR) at high temperature. In this study, the response surface prediction and thermodynamic analysis of the high-temperature calcination of EMR were evaluated. In addition, the effects of mole ratio of EMR to coke and temperature on the gas–solid phase and the feasibility of calcined solid products as cement raw materials were also studied. The results showed that the release of sulfur from EMR mainly depends on the mole ratio of EMR to coke and temperature. The best condition for preparing SO₂ was EMR calcined for 60 min at 1000 °C and the molar ratio of C:CaSO₄ = 0.78:1. At this time, the volume fraction of SO₂ reached 7.6%, which meets the requirements for preparing sulfuric acid with SO₂. Under this condition, the sulfur in desulfurization manganese residue (DMR) was reduced to 0.38%, and DMR was used as cement raw material to prepare cement. The cement prepared by adding 10% DMR meets the national standard GB175. The method realized the recovery of sulfur in EMR and calcined solid products and promoted the resource utilization of EMR. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Carbon-Based Materials for Contaminant Removal)

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Review

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Review of Photochemical Activity of Dissolved Black Carbon in Aquatic Environments: Primary Influencing Factors and Mechanisms

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Separations 2023, 10(7), 408; https://doi.org/10.3390/separations10070408 - 16 Jul 2023

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Abstract

Dissolved black carbon (DBC), the particular component of black carbon that can be dissolved in the water, which accounts for ~10% of the organic carbon cycle in the earth’s water body, is an essential member of the dissolved organic matter (DOM) pool. In contrast to DOM, DBC has a higher proportion of conjugated benzene rings, which can more efficiently encourage the degradation of organic micropollutants in the aquatic environment or more rapidly generate reactive oxygen species to photodegrade the organic micropollutants. Therefore, it is of great significance to study the changes and mechanisms of DBC photochemical activity affected by different factors in the water environment. Our work reviewed the main influencing factors and mechanisms of the photochemical activity of DBC. It focuses on the methodologies for the quantitative and qualitative investigation of the photochemical activity of DBC, the impact of the biomass source, the pyrolysis temperature of biochar, and the primary water environmental parameters on the photochemical activity of DBC and the indirect photodegradation of pollutants. Based on this, a potential future study of DBC photochemical activity has been prospected. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Carbon-Based Materials for Contaminant Removal)

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