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Separations
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Photocatalysis and Adsorption Techniques in Water and Wastewater Treatment
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Photocatalysis and Adsorption Techniques in Water and Wastewater Treatment

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2023) | Viewed by 12552

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Mohamed Nageeb Rashed

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Science, Aswan University, Aswan, Egypt
Interests: water and wastewater treatment; nanomaterials as adsorbents and catalysts; pollution monitoring; photocatalytic degradation of pollutants; trace elements in plants and human blood; heavy metal monitoring and treatment; green chemistry and environmental chemistry
Prof. Dr. Mohamed Farid Cheira

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Nuclear Materials Authority, Cairo, Egypt
Interests: adsorption; porous materials; applied chemistry; green chemistry technology; chemical application; analytical chemistry; inorganic chemistry; equilibrium; kinetics; chemical analysis; surface; uranium leaching; mesoporous materials; bet surface area measurement; reaction kinetics; mineralization; extraction; oxidation; ion exchange resins; kinetic modeling; solvent extraction; minerals; sorption

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Today, water pollution is a major problem globally, which has resulted from human activities, industrial effluents and growing utilization. This pollution has introduced toxic contaminants into our water bodies and in the wastewater, producing the  need for highly effective treatments.

Due to its toxic effects, organic , inorganic  and heavy metal pollution in water presents an important global environmental problem that may accumulate in the food chain and end up affecting the health of humans, animals and plants. Therefore, several scientific efforts are being made to solve this problem by finding an effective and  sustainable process for preventing pollution and  developing wastewater treatments. 

Various water and wastewater treatment techniques have been developed  to remove pollutants , which include  membrane techniques, electrolysis, ion exchange, adsorption,

electrodialysis, and photocatalysis. The adsorption technique is considered an effective, efficient, easy to use operation and is economic for water and wastewater treatments. This technique is also considered to be universal for water  and wastewater treatments as it can be applicable for the removal of organic, inorganic and biological pollutants which are soluble and insoluble in water.

Photocatalysis is now considered to be a greatly promising method for water and wastewater treatments.  Photocatalytic, advanced oxidation processes via heterogeneous catalysts have emerged as viable technologies that meet the objectives of sustainability.  It is better to apply the photocatalysis technique after adsorption on the catalyst to completely degrade organic pollutants. 

Most adsorbents and catalysts that are used for water and wastewater treatments include metals, metal oxides, activated carbon, carbon nanotubes, clay, zeolite, polymeric resin, mesoporous silica, and others, both in their natural form or in nanoparticles. Adsorption and photocatalysis techniques are the most popular methods applied for the removal of organic, inorganic and biological pollutants. 

Therefore, the present Special Issue entitled, “Photocatalysis and Adsorption Techniques in Water and Wastewater Treatment”, aims to publish original research or review papers concerning adsorption and photocatalytic technologies for the removal of  organic, inorganic and heavy metal pollutants from the water and wastewater by various techniques, and to provide more research information on the mechanism of adsorption and photocatalysis. The overall scope of this Special Issue includes up-to-date developments on the current state-of-the-art knowledge of various adsorption and photocatalysis techniques and their applications in the broader field of water and wastewater treatments. Specifically, the topics for this Special Issue include, but are not restricted to:

  • Adsorption techniques for water and wastewater.
  • Photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants from polluted water.
  • Nanomaterials for water and wastewater treatments.
  • Small-scale and large-scale treatment plants for water and wastewater.
  • Nanocomposites for water and wastewater treatments.
  • Adsorption and kinetic models.

Prof. Dr. Mohamed Nageeb Rashed
Prof. Dr. Mohamed Farid Cheira
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

  • adsorption
  • photocatalysis
  • nanomaterials
  • photodegrdation
  • pollution
  • wastewater treatment
  • pollution

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 4070 KiB  
Article
Photocatalytic Organic Contaminant Degradation of Green Synthesized ZrO2 NPs and Their Antibacterial Activities
by Parvathiraja Chelliah, Saikh Mohammad Wabaidur, Hari Prapan Sharma, Hasan Sh. Majdi, Drai Ahmed Smait, Mohammed Ayyed Najm, Amjad Iqbal and Wen-Cheng Lai
Separations 2023, 10(3), 156; https://doi.org/10.3390/separations10030156 - 24 Feb 2023
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 2780
Abstract
The green synthesis of metal oxide nanoparticles is an efficient, simple, and chemical-free method of producing nanoparticles. The present work reports the synthesis of Murraya koenigii-mediated ZrO2 nanoparticles (ZrO2 NPs) and their applications as a photocatalyst and antibacterial agent. Capping [...] Read more.
The green synthesis of metal oxide nanoparticles is an efficient, simple, and chemical-free method of producing nanoparticles. The present work reports the synthesis of Murraya koenigii-mediated ZrO2 nanoparticles (ZrO2 NPs) and their applications as a photocatalyst and antibacterial agent. Capping and stabilization of metal oxide nanoparticles were achieved by using Murraya koenigii leaf extract. The optical, structural, and morphological valance of the ZrO2 NPs were characterized using UV-DRS, FTIR, XRD, and FESEM with EDX, TEM, and XPS. An XRD analysis determined that ZrO2 NPs have a monoclinic structure and a crystallite size of 24 nm. TEM and FESEM morphological images confirm the spherical nature of ZrO2 NPs, and their distributions on surfaces show lower agglomerations. ZrO2 NPs showed high optical absorbance in the UV region and a wide bandgap indicating surface oxygen vacancies and charge carriers. The presence of Zr and O elements and their O=Zr=O bonds was categorized using EDX and FTIR spectroscopy. The plant molecules’ interface, bonding, binding energy, and their existence on the surface of ZrO2 NPs were established from XPS analysis. The photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue using ZrO2 NPs was examined under visible light irradiation. The 94% degradation of toxic MB dye was achieved within 20 min. The antibacterial inhibition of ZrO2 NPs was tested against S. aureus and E. coli pathogens. Applications of bio-synthesized ZrO2 NPs including organic substance removal, pathogenic inhibitor development, catalysis, optical, and biomedical development were explored. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photocatalysis and Adsorption Techniques in Water and Wastewater Treatment)
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28 pages, 4810 KiB  
Article
A New Partially Phosphorylated Polyvinyl Phosphate-PPVP Composite: Synthesis and Its Potentiality for Zr (IV) Extraction from an Acidic Medium
by Antoaneta Ene, Hesham M. H. Zakaly, Amany R. Salem, Ayman A. Gouda, Khalid Althumayri, Khaled F. Alshammari, Hamdi A. Awad, Shams A. M. Issa, Ahmad A. Alluhaybi, Salah A. Zaki, Hala A. Ibrahim, Mohamed A. Gado, Enass M. El-Sheikh and Bahig M. Atia
Separations 2022, 9(11), 382; https://doi.org/10.3390/separations9110382 - 21 Nov 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2317
Abstract
A newly synthesized partially phosphorylated polyvinyl phosphate derivative (PPVP) was functionalized to extract Zirconium (IV) from Egyptian zircon sand. The specifications for the PPVP composite were approved effectively via different techniques, namely, FT-IR, XPS, BET, EDX, TGA, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, GC-MS, XRD [...] Read more.
A newly synthesized partially phosphorylated polyvinyl phosphate derivative (PPVP) was functionalized to extract Zirconium (IV) from Egyptian zircon sand. The specifications for the PPVP composite were approved effectively via different techniques, namely, FT-IR, XPS, BET, EDX, TGA, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, GC-MS, XRD and ICP-OES analyses, which demonstrated a satisfactory synthesis of PPVP and zircon dissolution from Egyptian zircon sand. Factors controlling parameters, such as pH values, shaking time, initial zirconium concentration, PPVP dose, nitrate ions concentration, co-ions, temperature and eluting agents, have been optimized. At 25 °C, pH 0, 20 min shaking, 0.05 mol/L zirconium ions and 0.5 mol/L nitrate ions, PPVP has an exciting preservation potential of 195 mg/g, equivalent to 390 mg/L zirconium ions. From the extraction–distribution isotherm, the practical outcomes of Langmuir’s modeling are better than the Freundlich model. With a theoretical value of 196.07 mg/g, which is more in line with the experimental results of 195 mg/g. The zirconium ions adsorption onto the PPVP composite follows the pseudo-second-order kinetics with a theoretical capacity value of 204.08 mg/g. According to thermodynamic potential, the extraction process was expected to be an exothermic, spontaneous and beneficial extraction at low temperatures. The thermodynamic parameters ΔS (−0.03 kJ/mol), ΔH (−12.22 kJ/mol) and ΔG were also considered. As the temperature grows, ∆G values increase from −2.948 kJ/mol at 298 K to −1.941 kJ/mol at 338 K. Zirconium ions may be eluted from the working loaded PPVP by 0.025M HNO3, with a 99% efficiency rate. It was found that zirconium ions revealed good separation factors towards some co-ions such as Hf4+ (28.82), Fe3+ (10.64), Ti4+ (28.82), V5+ (86.46) and U6+ (68.17). A successful alkali fusion technique with NaOH flux followed by the extraction with PPVP is used to obtain a high-purity zirconia concentrate with a zircon content of 72.77 % and a purity of 98.29%. As a result of this, the improved factors could finally be used. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photocatalysis and Adsorption Techniques in Water and Wastewater Treatment)
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19 pages, 2891 KiB  
Article
Numerical Modeling and Analysis of Harvesting Atmospheric Water Using Porous Materials
by Sadeem S. Alkinani, Mohamed F. El-Amin and Tayeb Brahimi
Separations 2022, 9(11), 364; https://doi.org/10.3390/separations9110364 - 10 Nov 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2886
Abstract
Nowadays, harvesting water from the atmosphere is becoming a new alternative for generating fresh water. To the author’s best knowledge, no mathematical model has been established to describe the process of harvesting water from the atmosphere using porous materials. This research seeks to [...] Read more.
Nowadays, harvesting water from the atmosphere is becoming a new alternative for generating fresh water. To the author’s best knowledge, no mathematical model has been established to describe the process of harvesting water from the atmosphere using porous materials. This research seeks to develop a new mathematical model for water moisture absorption in porous materials to simulate and assess harvesting atmospheric water. The mathematical model consists of a set of governing partial differential equations, including mass conservation equation, momentum equation, associated parameterizations, and initial/boundary conditions. Moreover, the model represents a two-phase fluid flow that contains phase-change gas–liquid physics. A dataset has been collected from the literature containing five porous materials that have been experimentally used in water generation from the air. The five porous materials include copper chloride, copper sulfate, magnesium sulfate, manganese oxides, and crystallites of lithium bromide. A group of empirical models to relate the relative humidity and water content have been suggested and combined with the governing to close the mathematical system. The mathematical model has been solved numerically for different times, thicknesses, and other critical parameters. A comparison with experimental findings was made to demonstrate the validity of the simulation model. The results show that the proposed mathematical model precisely predicts the water content during the absorption process. In addition, the simulation results show that; during the absorption process, when the depth is smaller, the water content reaches a higher saturation point quickly and at a lower time, i.e., quick process. Finally, the highest average error of the harvesting atmospheric water model is around 1.9% compared to experimental data observed in manganese oxides. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photocatalysis and Adsorption Techniques in Water and Wastewater Treatment)
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24 pages, 4959 KiB  
Article
Appreciatively Efficient Sorption Achievement to U(VI) from the El Sela Area by ZrO2/Chitosan
by Sameh H. Negm, Mahmoud O. Abd El-Magied, Wael M. El Maadawy, Mostafa M. Abdel Aal, Samia M. Abd El Dayem, Mahmoud A. Taher, Khaled A. Abd El-Rahem, Mohamed N. Rashed and Mohamed F. Cheira
Separations 2022, 9(10), 311; https://doi.org/10.3390/separations9100311 - 14 Oct 2022
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 1839
Abstract
The need to get uranium out of leaching liquid is pushing scientists to come up with new sorbents. This study uses the wet technique to improve the U(VI) sorption properties of ZrO2/chitosan composite sorbent. To validate the synthesis of ZrO2 [...] Read more.
The need to get uranium out of leaching liquid is pushing scientists to come up with new sorbents. This study uses the wet technique to improve the U(VI) sorption properties of ZrO2/chitosan composite sorbent. To validate the synthesis of ZrO2/CS composite with Zirconyl-OH, -NH, and -NH2 for U(VI) binding, XRD, FTIR, SEM, EDX, and BET are used to describe the ZrO2/chitosan wholly formed. To get El Sela leaching liquid, it used 150 g/L H2SO4, 1:4 S:L ratio, 200 rpm agitation speed, four hours of leaching period, and particle size 149–100 µm. In a batch study, the sorption parameters are evaluated at pH 3.5, 50 min of sorbing time, 50 mL of leaching liquid (200 mg/L U(VI)), and 25 °C. The sorption capability is 175 mg/g. Reusing ZrO2/CS for seven cycles with a slight drop in performance is highly efficient, with U(VI) desorption using 0.8 M acid and 75 min of desorption time. The selective U(VI) recovery from El Sela leachate was made possible using ZrO2/CS. Sodium diuranate was precipitated and yielded a yellow cake with a purity level of 94.88%. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photocatalysis and Adsorption Techniques in Water and Wastewater Treatment)
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Review

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32 pages, 3605 KiB  
Review
Advancements in Clay Materials for Trace Level Determination and Remediation of Phenols from Wastewater: A Review
by Zakariyya Uba Zango, Muhammad Nur’Hafiz Rozaini, Noor Hana Hanif Abu Bakar, Muttaqa Uba Zango, Maje Alhaji Haruna, John Ojur Dennis, Ahmed Alsadig, Khalid Hassan Ibnaouf, Osamah A. Aldaghri and Ismael Abdalla Wadi
Separations 2023, 10(2), 125; https://doi.org/10.3390/separations10020125 - 10 Feb 2023
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1806
Abstract
The wide spread of phenols and their toxicity in the environment pose a severe threat to the existence and sustainability of living organisms. Rapid detection of these pollutants in wastewaters has attracted the attention of researchers from various fields of environmental science and [...] Read more.
The wide spread of phenols and their toxicity in the environment pose a severe threat to the existence and sustainability of living organisms. Rapid detection of these pollutants in wastewaters has attracted the attention of researchers from various fields of environmental science and engineering. Discoveries regarding materials and method developments are deemed necessary for the effective detection and remediation of wastewater. Although various advanced materials such as organic and inorganic materials have been developed, secondary pollution due to material leaching has become a major concern. Therefore, a natural-based material is preferable. Clay is one of the potential natural-based sorbents for the detection and remediation of phenols. It has a high porosity and polarity, good mechanical strength, moisture resistance, chemical and thermal stability, and cation exchange capacity, which will benefit the detection and adsorptive removal of phenols. Several attempts have been made to improve the capabilities of natural clay as sorbent. This manuscript will discuss the potential of clays as sorbents for the remediation of phenols. The activation, modification, and application of clays have been discussed. The achievements, challenges, and concluding remarks were provided. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photocatalysis and Adsorption Techniques in Water and Wastewater Treatment)
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