Special Issue "Advances in Remediation of Environmental Pollutants for Sustainable Development"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Mohd Rafatullah
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Division of Environmental Technology, School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang 11800, Malaysia
Interests: environmental pollutants and their safe removal; preparation of various nano-materials to protect the environment; water and wastewater treatment; adsorption and ion exchange; adsorption potential of oil palm products and by-products; instrumental methods of analysis; thermodynamic and kinetic studies; activated carbons and their electrochemical properties
Dr. Masoom Raza Siddiqui
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Advanced Materials Research Chair, Chemistry Department, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Interests: environmental pollutants, their determination and removal; instrumental analysis of environmental and food samples; preparation of low-cost adsorbents and their application in the preparation of solid-phase extraction columns; waste water treatment and adsorption studies

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Environmental quality is crucial to our health, economy, lives, and for future generations. However, during the last few years we have been faced with several serious challenges which include but are not limited to climate change, unsustainable consumption and production, as well as various forms of pollution. These challenges are global concerns for the sustainable development of human beings.

This Special Issue is collecting research papers aimed at a wide range of environmental topics: water and wastewater treatment and management, soil degradation and conservation, pollution control, the environmental impact of technologies, air quality and the indoor environment, and advanced environmental materials. Analytical methods developed for the determination of environmental pollutants are also welcome. Papers dealing in the synthesis of adsorbents for the solid-phase extraction of environmental pollutants also fall within the scope of this Special Issue. Contributions describing novel and significant knowledge, scientific results, and advanced applications in the field of environmental sciences and technology are welcome. This Special Issue provides an integrated view of the trends in solving the problems associated with the achievement of sustainability in environmental technology.

The Special Issue will publish experimental and review papers, as well as short communications, discussing recent developments in the remediation of environmental pollutants through physical, chemical, and biological methods. The topics of the papers to be submitted to this Special Issue are defined by the keywords presented below.

Dr. Mohd Rafatullah
Dr. Masoom Raza Siddiqui
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 papers will be 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 1900 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

  • sustainability
  • dyes
  • heavy metals adsorption
  • hydrochar
  • environmental pollutants
  • composite materials
  • analytical methods
  • solid-phase extraction
  • organic pollutants
  • bioremediation
  • biomass
  • social-environmental system
  • phytoremediation
  • waste management
  • human behavior
  • river pollution
  • ecological sustainability
  • pollution prevention
  • air pollution
  • effluent treatment
  • cost–benefit analysis for sustainable development

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

Article
Image Processing of UAV Imagery for River Feature Recognition of Kerian River, Malaysia
Sustainability 2021, 13(17), 9568; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179568 - 25 Aug 2021
Viewed by 197
Abstract
The impact of floods is the most severe among the natural calamities occurring in Malaysia. The knock of floods is consistent and annually forces thousands of Malaysians to relocate. The lack of information from the Ministry of Environment and Water, Malaysia is the [...] Read more.
The impact of floods is the most severe among the natural calamities occurring in Malaysia. The knock of floods is consistent and annually forces thousands of Malaysians to relocate. The lack of information from the Ministry of Environment and Water, Malaysia is the foremost obstacle in upgrading the flood mapping. With the expeditious evolution of computer techniques, processing of satellite and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) images for river hydromorphological feature detection and flood management have gathered pace in the last two decades. Different image processing algorithms—structure from motion (SfM), multi-view stereo (MVS), gradient vector flow (GVF) snake algorithm, etc.—and artificial neural networks are implemented for the monitoring and classification of river features. This paper presents the application of the k-means algorithm along with image thresholding to quantify variation in river surface flow areas and vegetation growth along Kerian River, Malaysia. The river characteristic recognition directly or indirectly assists in studying river behavior and flood monitoring. Dice similarity coefficient and Jaccard index are numerated between thresholded images that are clustered using the k-means algorithm and manually segmented images. Based on quantitative evaluation, a dice similarity coefficient and Jaccard index of up to 97.86% and 94.36% were yielded for flow area and vegetation calculation. Thus, the present technique is functional in evaluating river characteristics with reduced errors. With minimum errors, the present technique can be utilized for quantifying agricultural areas and urban areas around the river basin. Full article
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Article
Membrane Filtration as Post-Treatment of Rotating Biological Contactor for Wastewater Treatment
Sustainability 2021, 13(13), 7287; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13137287 - 29 Jun 2021
Viewed by 536
Abstract
A rotating biological contactor (RBC) offers a low energy footprint but suffers from performance instability, making it less popular for domestic wastewater treatment. This paper presents a study on an RBC integrated with membrane technology in which membrane filtration was used as a [...] Read more.
A rotating biological contactor (RBC) offers a low energy footprint but suffers from performance instability, making it less popular for domestic wastewater treatment. This paper presents a study on an RBC integrated with membrane technology in which membrane filtration was used as a post-treatment step (RBC–ME) to achieve enhanced biological performance. The RBC and RBC–ME systems were operated under different hydraulic retention times (HRTs) of 12, 18, 24, and 48 h, and the effects of HRT on biological performance and effluent filterability were assessed. The results show that RBC–ME demonstrates superior biological performance than the standalone RBC. The RBC–ME bioreactor achieved 87.9 ± 3.2% of chemical oxygen demand (COD), 98.9 ± 1.1% ammonium, 45.2 ± 0.7% total nitrogen (TN), and 97.9 ± 0.1% turbidity removals. A comparison of the HRTs showed that COD and TN removal efficiency was the highest at 48 h, with 92.4 ± 2.4% and 48.6 ± 1.3% removal efficiencies, respectively. The longer HRTs also lead to better RBC effluent filterability. The steady-state permeability increased respectively by 2.4%, 9.5%, and 19.1% at HRTs of 18, 24, and 48 h, compared to 12 h. Our analysis of membrane fouling shows that fouling resistance decreased at higher HRTs. Overall, RBC–ME offered a promising alternative for traditional suspended growth processes with higher microbial activity and enhanced biological performance, which is in line with the requirements of sustainable development and environment-friendly treatment. Full article
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Article
Adsorption/Desorption Capability of Potassium-Type Zeolite Prepared from Coal Fly Ash for Removing of Hg2+
Sustainability 2021, 13(8), 4269; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13084269 - 12 Apr 2021
Viewed by 402
Abstract
The feasibility of using potassium-type zeolite (K-type zeolite) prepared from coal fly ash (CFA) for the removal of Hg2+ from aqueous media and the adsorption/desorption capabilities of various potassium-type zeolites were assessed in this study. Potassium-type zeolite samples were synthesized by hydrothermal [...] Read more.
The feasibility of using potassium-type zeolite (K-type zeolite) prepared from coal fly ash (CFA) for the removal of Hg2+ from aqueous media and the adsorption/desorption capabilities of various potassium-type zeolites were assessed in this study. Potassium-type zeolite samples were synthesized by hydrothermal treatment of CFA at different intervals (designated CFA, FA1, FA3, FA6, FA12, FA24, and FA48, based on the hours of treatment) using potassium hydroxide solution, and their physicochemical characteristics were evaluated. Additionally, the quantity of Hg2+ adsorbed was in the order CFA, FA1 < FA3 < FA6 < FA12 < FA24 < FA48, in the current experimental design. Therefore, the hydrothermal treatment time is important to enhance the adsorption capability of K-type zeolite. Moreover, the effects of pH, temperature, contact time, and coexistence on the adsorption of Hg2+ were elucidated. In addition, Hg2+ adsorption mechanism using FA48 was demonstrated. Our results indicated that Hg2+ was exchanged with K+ in the interlayer of FA48 (correlation coefficient = 0.946). Finally, adsorbed Hg2+ onto FA48 could be desorbed using a sodium hydroxide solution (desorption percentage was approximately 70%). Our results revealed that FA48 could be a potential adsorbent for the removal of Hg2+ from aqueous media. Full article
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