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Separations
Special Issues
Advanced Treatment Technologies for Emerging Contaminant Control and Resource Utilization
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Advanced Treatment Technologies for Emerging Contaminant Control and Resource Utilization

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 555

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Rui Qin

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hainan University, Haikou 570100, China
Interests: advanced physical and chemical treatment processes; water reuse
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Ying Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China
Interests: advanced oxidation; wastewater treatment; environmental nanomaterials; nanomaterial toxicity
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The treatment of emerging contaminants from environmental matrices represents one of the most critical research areas in environmental science and engineering. A key perspective driving this field is the development of sustainable and innovative treatment processes that can simultaneously achieve pollutant removal and resource recovery. However, careful consideration must be given to selecting appropriate treatment technologies and operational conditions for maximizing removal efficiency while minimizing energy consumption and secondary pollution.

Current research focuses on developing novel treatment technologies such as advanced oxidation processes, membrane separation, adsorption, and biological treatment systems for emerging contaminant control. Additionally, resource recovery strategies are being explored to achieve water reuse or obtain valuable compounds from waste streams, including nutrients, metals, and energy-rich materials.

This research area encompasses innovative treatment process developments, mechanistic studies, analytical method optimizations, and resource recovery applications. The ultimate goal is to establish sustainable and economically viable technologies that can address both environmental protection and resource utilization challenges in an integrated manner.

Dr. Rui Qin
Dr. Ying 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. 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

  • emerging contaminants
  • advanced oxidation processes
  • membrane filtration
  • adsorption
  • biological treatment
  • resource recovery

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

22 pages, 3537 KB  
Article
Enhanced Treatment of Swine Farm Wastewater Using an O3/Fe2+/H2O2 Process: Optimization and Performance Evaluation via Response Surface Methodology
by Hang Yu, Kexin Tang, Jingqi Li, Linxi Dong, Zuo Tong How, Dongming Wu and Rui Qin
Separations 2025, 12(10), 277; https://doi.org/10.3390/separations12100277 - 10 Oct 2025
Viewed by 321
Abstract
Biologically treated swine farm wastewater still contains high levels of refractory organics, humic substances and antibiotic residues, posing environmental risks and limiting opportunities for water reuse. Wastewater treatment by ozonation alone suffers from low mass transfer efficiency and selective oxidation. To overcome these [...] Read more.
Biologically treated swine farm wastewater still contains high levels of refractory organics, humic substances and antibiotic residues, posing environmental risks and limiting opportunities for water reuse. Wastewater treatment by ozonation alone suffers from low mass transfer efficiency and selective oxidation. To overcome these limitations, a catalytic ozonation process (O3/Fe2+/H2O2) was applied and optimized using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) based on single-factor experiments and Central Composite Design (CCD) for advanced swine farm wastewater treatment. The optimal conditions ([O3] = 25.0 mg/L, [Fe2+] = 25.9 mg/L, [H2O2] = 41.1 mg/L) achieved a COD removal of 44.3%, which was 86.8% higher than that of ozonation alone, and increased TOC removal to 29.5%, indicating effective mineralization. Biodegradability (BOD5/COD) of swine farm wastewater effluent increased from 0.01 to 0.34 after the catalytic ozonation treatment. Humic-like and fulvic-like substances were removed by 93.7% and 95.4%, respectively, and antibiotic degradation was significantly accelerated and enhanced. The synergistic process improved ozone utilization efficiency by 33.1% and removed 53.95% of total phosphorus through Fe3+-mediated coprecipitation. These findings demonstrate that with catalytic ozone decomposition and production of hydroxyl radicals, the O3/Fe2+/H2O2 system effectively integrates enhanced ozone utilization efficiency, radical synergy, and simultaneous pollutant removal, providing a cost-effective and technically feasible strategy for advanced swine farm wastewater treatment and safe reuse. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Treatment Technologies for Emerging Contaminant Control and Resource Utilization)
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