New Technologies for Sustainable Water and Wastewater Treatment

Dear Colleagues,

While there is no consensus on the definition of sustainability, what is clear is that it strives for the maintenance of economic well being, the protection of the environment, the prudent use of natural resources, and furthermore equitable social progress which recognizes the just needs of all individuals, communities, and the environment at large. Additionally, sustainability acknowledges the need to design human and industrial systems that ensure humankind’s use of natural resources and cycles do not lead to a diminished quality of life, whether due to loses in future economic opportunities or adverse impacts on social conditions, human health and the environment.

Wastewater collection systems (i.e., sewer networks) and centralized and decentralized treatment systems are designed and managed primarily to protect human and environmental health. Though their benefits are widely recognized, there are other aspects of this infrastructure and associated technologies that are not so obvious and hence less acknowledged, but which impact communities and the surrounding environment.

The sustainability of wastewater treatment systems can be assessed through different assessment tools such as exergy analysis, economic analysis, and life cycle assessment (LCA). For example, the use of a balanced set of indicators that provides a holistic assessment can be chosen for evaluating the sustainability of the different wastewater treatment technologies. These wastewater treatment technologies include mechanical systems, lagoons systems, and land treatment systems. Mechanical systems, such as activated sludge, utilize physical, chemical and biological mechanisms to remove nutrients, pathogens, metals and other toxic compounds. Lagoon systems primarily use physical and biological processes to treat wastewater, while land treatment systems utilize soil and plants, without significant need for reactors or operational labor, energy, and chemicals.

This Special Issue, entitled New Technologies for Sustainable Water and Wastewater Treatment, aims to discusses relevant articles pertaining to a nanoscale approach to water treatment and desalination, membrane-based technologies for water recovery and reuse, the energy and water nexus, the degradation of organic pollutants, nascent technologies, bio and bio-inspired materials for water reclamation and integrated systems, and an overview of wastewater treatment plants.

The targeted papers will be focused on:

• A comprehensive review of current and novel water and wastewater treatment technologies from a sustainability perspective;
• All the sustainable technologies, such as desalination, wastewater treatment, advanced oxidation processes, hydrodynamic cavitation, membrane-based technologies, sonosorption, and electrospun fibers;
• Discussion on reference materials for important research accomplishments in the area of water and environmental engineering;
• Theoretical aspects covering principles and instrumentation;
• A summary on sustainability, including life cycle assessment (LCA), energy balance and large-scale implementation of advanced techniques.

Prof. Dr. Jodeh Shehdeh
Dr. Ghadir Hanbali
Prof. Dr. Belkheir Hammouti
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. Sustainability 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.

• wastewater
• sustainability
• purification
• nanomaterials