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Sustainable Wastewater Treatment and Carbon Emission Reduction

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Pollution Prevention, Mitigation and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 July 2026 | Viewed by 684

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
Interests: wastewater treatment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China
Interests: biological wastewater treatment

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Global economic expansion and population growth have driven energy demand and carbon dioxide emissions to unprecedented levels (37.4 billion tonnes in 2023), leading to climate impacts, such as ocean thermal expansion, intensified tropical cyclones, and accelerated species extinction. These underscore the urgency of implementing the Paris Agreement's 1.5–2 °C framework and China's dual-carbon roadmap (peak by 2030/neutrality by 2060) through systematic decarbonization strategies. It is noteworthy that wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), acting as both environmental protectors and climate impactors, currently account for approximately 1–2% of global societal carbon emissions through two pathways: direct biogenic greenhouse gas emissions (CO2: 0.5–2.2 kg/m3 [7,8], CH4: 2.4–11.4 g/m3, N2O: 0.5–1.8 g/m3) and indirect energy-related emissions (0.3–0.6 kWh/m3). Therefore, research on sustainable wastewater treatment and carbon emission reduction has become a key focus in the field of wastewater treatment.

 In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Low-carbon wastewater treatment;
  • Wastewater resource recovery;
  • Wastewater energy recovery;
  • Carbon emission reduction in wastewater treatment processes;
  • Application of AI technology in wastewater treatment processes.  

We look forward to receiving your contributions. 

 

Dr. Han Wang
Dr. Weigang Wang
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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.

Keywords

  • low carbon
  • wastewater treatment
  • sustainable development
  • carbon emission reduction
  • energy recovery

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

15 pages, 3349 KB  
Article
Sustainable Ozonation Using Natural Zeolite-Based Catalysts for Petrochemical Wastewater Treatment
by Yue Yuan, Fang Wang, Guoxin Ma, Zhikai Qin, Hongbo Xi, Yin Yu and Changyong Wu
Sustainability 2025, 17(20), 9110; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17209110 - 14 Oct 2025
Viewed by 574
Abstract
To promote sustainable wastewater treatment, this study developed an eco-friendly and low-cost ozone catalyst using natural zeolite for the advanced treatment of petrochemical wastewater. The Ca-Cu/zeolite catalyst (0.75 mol/kg Ca and 0.25 mol/kg Cu) demonstrated high efficiency in catalytic ozonation, achieving 55.52% TOC [...] Read more.
To promote sustainable wastewater treatment, this study developed an eco-friendly and low-cost ozone catalyst using natural zeolite for the advanced treatment of petrochemical wastewater. The Ca-Cu/zeolite catalyst (0.75 mol/kg Ca and 0.25 mol/kg Cu) demonstrated high efficiency in catalytic ozonation, achieving 55.52% TOC removal under optimized conditions (ozone dosage: 108.0 mg/(L·h), catalyst dosage: 406.0 g/L, reaction time: 90 min). Compared to ozonation alone, the catalyst enhanced oxidation rates by 10 times, promoting ozone decomposition into reactive oxygen species (e.g., OH and 1O2) while improving gas–liquid–solid mass transfer for efficient pollutant mineralization. Remarkably, the natural zeolite-based catalyst exhibited superior sustainability: compared to conventional alumina-based catalysts, its production cost (4000–4500 CNY/ton) is 44–53% lower, while its carbon footprint (533.7 kg CO2/ton) is reduced by 45.4%. This work presents a sustainable, low-carbon, and economically viable catalytic ozonation solution, contributing to the development of green and cost-effective industrial wastewater treatment technologies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Wastewater Treatment and Carbon Emission Reduction)
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