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Special Issue "Critical Issues in Sustainable Chemical Engineering and Technology"

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Chemical Engineering and Technology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2023) | Viewed by 9923

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Md. Shahinoor Islam

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Guest Editor

Department of Chemical Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh
Interests: nanomaterials synthesis; adsorption; resource recovery from waste; electrochemical treatment of wastewater; biological treatment of wastewater

Dr. Iftheker Ahmed Khan

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Guest Editor

Department of Chemical Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh
Interests: enviornmental nanotechnology; technology management; appropriate technology

Dr. Chanchal Kumar Roy

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Guest Editor

Department of Chemistry, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh
Interests: physical chemistry; electrochemistry
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Amongst the greatest challenges we face today are those of providing the sustainable supplies of raw materials for chemicals, commodities, life-saving drugs and infrastructure development, safe drinking water in rural areas and a continutous supply of affordable and clean energy across the globe. Thereby, the resource shrinkage, energy crisis and environmental issues being faced around the world are widely recognized as serious problems. The implementation of innovative engineering solutions is fundamental to addressing these challenges, and chemical technologists have a key role to play in delivering the solutions. Novel innovations and continuous efforts are the key to advancing science and technology. These will provide a foundation of sustainability in the development of chemical process and product systhesis and in their subsequent usage and environmentally friendly disposal.

Process intensification offers significant competitive advantages because it provides more efficient processes, leading to outstanding cost reduction, increased productivity and more environmentally friendly processes. The needed breakthroughs and incremental innovations in the field of water technology, ranging from water purification for safe drinking water purpose to industrial wastewater treatment for safe discharge back into the environment, are demanding issues, especially for regions where fresh water collection and further purification are challenging issues, coupled with unregulated industrial water pollution. Solar-assistasted photocatalysis, advanced oxidation processes and other separation technologies for wastewater treatment are beginning to emerge. The proper management of municipal and industrial solid waste, electrical waste and emerging battery waste resulting from electrical vehicles will look toward modular and architectural innovations to address environmental and health issues.

In recent years, due to the increasing use of petroleum and coal, CO₂ emissions have increased, and thus, sustainable energy production technologies must be developed to reduce these emissions. In addition, simulataneous innovations in CO₂ capture have to be introduced. Technology for clean fuel, for example, hydrogen fuel, can be used in cars, in houses, for portable power and in many more applications However, the sources of H₂ production are not always sustainable; thus, the search for a sustainable route for renewable H₂ production is important. Innovation in green solvents and functional materials is greatly needed to address these challenges in production.

The circular economy model of power generation from bio-waste and ensuring overall process safety are also critical research scopes from a technological and socio-economic viewpoint.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to present the critical issues in chemical engineering with possible solutions focusing on process and product synthesis, sustainable and clean energy generation, water purification and desalination technology, the management of waste and environmental pollution and process safety and control. We hope that, in the future, these sustainable, efficient and reliable technologies oriented towards a circular economy will bring about the sustainable development of our society.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Submissions on a variety of sustainable chemical-engineering-related topics will be considered. A list of research areas includes, but is not limited to, the following:

Process integration and intensification;
Sustainable H₂ production;
CO₂capture;
Green functional materials;
Biochemistry and bioengineering;
Water purification technology;
Industrial wastewater treatment technology;
Solid waste management and recycling;
Renewable energy;
Resource recovery from waste;
Separation processes;
Advanced oxidation processes;
Solar-assisted processes;
Biochar and bio-diesel production for a circular economy;
Innovation in Process Safety;
Cryogenic processes;
Membrane technology.

I look forward to receiving your contributions in this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Md. Shahinoor Islam
Dr. Iftheker Ahmed Khan
Dr. Chanchal Kumar Roy
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.

Keywords

sustainable technology
process intensification
waste to resource
renewable energy
clean H₂ production
wastewater treatment

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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Open AccessArticle

Characteristics of Tetracycline Adsorption on Commercial Biochar from Synthetic and Real Wastewater in Batch and Continuous Operations: Study of Removal Mechanisms, Isotherms, Kinetics, Thermodynamics, and Desorption

Basem M. Rizkallah

Mona M. Galal

and

Minerva E. Matta

Sustainability 2023, 15(10), 8249; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15108249 - 18 May 2023

Viewed by 742

Abstract

Tetracycline (TC) is an antibiotic commonly used to treat bacterial infections. It is detected in wastewater and is considered an emerging contaminant that must be removed before discharge to water bodies. This study examined its adsorption on commercial biochar, a low-cost and sustainable adsorbent produced from the agricultural waste of citrus trees, in both batch and continuous flow systems and from synthetic and real wastewater. The surface area of the biochar was determined using Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) analysis to be 364.903 m²/g. Batch experiments were conducted using biochar doses of 1.5–3.5 g/50 mL; initial TC concentrations of 30–90 mg/L; pH values of 4, 7, and 11; and temperatures of 20, 30, and 40 °C. The results show that TC was successfully removed from both synthetic and real wastewater at removal rates reaching 87% at pH = 4, an adsorbent dose of 3.5 g/50 mL, an initial adsorbate concentration of 90 mg/L, and a temperature of 20 °C in batch experiments for synthetic wastewater and at removal rates reaching 95% for real wastewater. Thermodynamic parameter estimation results revealed that the process is exothermic and spontaneous, while kinetic results showed that adsorption is a multi-step process. TC adsorption on biochar was found to be a physical process. In continuous-mode operation, removal reached 37% at a bed depth of 3 cm. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) morphologies and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy confirmed the occurrence of adsorption. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Critical Issues in Sustainable Chemical Engineering and Technology)

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Open AccessArticle

Synthesis, Characterization and Sorption Properties of Biochar, Chitosan and ZnO-Based Binary Composites towards a Cationic Dye

Hridoy Roy

Md. Shahinoor Islam

Mohammad Tanvir Arifin

and

Shakhawat H. Firoz

Sustainability 2022, 14(21), 14571; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142114571 - 05 Nov 2022

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 1790

Abstract

Industrial effluents contaminated with different types of organic dyes have become a major concern to environmentalists due to the carcinogenic nature of the dyes, which are harmful to human and aquatic life. In recent years, the treatment of contaminated effluents by natural resources has been proposed as the most sustainable solution for this problem. In this work, Moringa oleifera (M. oleifera) seed-derived biochar composites, e.g., Biochar-Chitosan (BC), Biochar-ZnO (BZ), and Chitosan-ZnO (CZ) were produced and characterized. The synthesized materials were then utilized to adsorb a cationic dye, methylene blue. Spectroscopic analysis of the biochar-based composites revealed that the modification of biochar by chitosan and ZnO introduced different functional and active groups in the biochar surface. Pore development in the structure of biochar nanocomposites was visible in surface morphological images. The derived biochar was fully amorphous and increased crystallinity by the ZnO modification. The obtained surface area varied from 0.90 ± 0.00 to 14.48 ± 1.13 m² g⁻¹ for prepared sorbents, where BZ corresponds to the highest and BC corresponds to the lowest surface area, respectively. The basic pH (9) was the most favorable condition for sorption. The sorption reached equilibrium at 90 min. Isotherm revealed the favorability of the Langmuir model over the Freundlich and Temkin models. The highest sorption capacity (~170 mg/g) was found for BC. The BC and BZ showed a 75% increase and 16% decrease in removal due to the chitosan and ZnO modification, respectively. Response surface methodology (RSM) optimization for BC showed similar results to the analytical experiments. The characterization and experimental results prefigure the chemical functionalities as the critical parameter over the surface area for the adsorption process. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Critical Issues in Sustainable Chemical Engineering and Technology)

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Review

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Open AccessReview

Advanced Applications of Carbonaceous Materials in Sustainable Water Treatment, Energy Storage, and CO₂ Capture: A Comprehensive Review

Kenzhebatyr Zh. Bekmyrza

and

Sustainability 2023, 15(11), 8815; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15118815 - 30 May 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1447

Abstract

The demand for energy has increased tremendously around the whole world due to rapid urbanization and booming industrialization. Energy is the major key to achieving an improved social life, but energy production and utilization processes are the main contributors to environmental pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Mitigation of the energy crisis and reduction in pollution (water and air) difficulties are the leading research topics nowadays. Carbonaceous materials offer some of the best solutions to minimize these problems in an easy and effective way. It is also advantageous that the sources of carbon-based materials are economical, the synthesis processes are comfortable, and the applications are environmentally friendly. Among carbonaceous materials, activated carbons, graphene, and carbon nanotubes have shown outstanding performance in mitigating the energy crisis and environmental pollution. These three carbonaceous materials exhibit unique adsorption properties for energy storage, water purification, and gas cleansing due to their outstanding electrical conductivity, large specific surface areas, and strong mechanical strength. This paper reviews the synthesis methods for activated carbons, carbon nanotubes, and graphene and their significant applications in energy storage, water treatment, and carbon dioxide gas capture to improve environmental sustainability. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Critical Issues in Sustainable Chemical Engineering and Technology)

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Open AccessReview

A Comprehensive Review on the Sustainable Treatment of Textile Wastewater: Zero Liquid Discharge and Resource Recovery Perspectives

Nusrat Jahan

Mohammed Tahmid

Afrina Zaman Shoronika

Hridoy Roy

and

Sustainability 2022, 14(22), 15398; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142215398 - 19 Nov 2022

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 5253

Abstract

Clothing, one of the basic needs, demands the growth of textile industries worldwide, resulting in higher consumption and pollution of water. Consequently, it requires extensive treatment of textile effluent for environmental protection as well as reuse purposes. Primary treatment, secondary treatment, and tertiary treatment are the three major phases of textile wastewater treatment. Secondary treatment under aerobic and anaerobic circumstances is carried out to decrease BOD, COD, phenol, residual oil, and color, whereas primary treatment is utilized to remove suspended particles, oil, grease, and gritty materials. However, biological treatment is not fully capable of treating water according to discharge/reuse standards. Hence, tertiary treatment is used to remove final contaminants from the wastewater. Adsorption is regarded as one of the most feasible processes for dye and metal removal in consideration of cost and variation in the adsorbent. Though membrane filtration is an efficient process, the cost of operation limits its application. It’s unfortunate that there isn’t a universally applicable treatment solution for textile effluents. Therefore, the only flexible strategy is to combine several therapy modalities. Treatment of complicated, high-strength textile wastewater depending on pollutant load will be more successful if physical, chemical, and biological approaches are used in tandem. Enforcement of stringent environmental regulation policies, increasing costs and demand for freshwater, and the rising costs and difficulties associated with wastewater disposal are accelerating efforts toward achieving ZLD. Additionally, research into methods for extracting useful materials from wastewater has blossomed in recent years. As such, the purpose of this analysis is to give a holistic overview of textile wastewater treatment systems, with a focus on zero liquid discharge (ZLD) and efficient resource recovery, both of which may hasten the transition to more sustainable water management. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Critical Issues in Sustainable Chemical Engineering and Technology)

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