Special Issue "Solid-Waste and Waste-Water Treatment Processes"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sustainability and Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2022.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Ombretta Paladino
E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Department of Civil, Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Genoa, 16145 Genova, Italy
Interests: waste-to-energy; sustainable processes; biofuels; risk assessment; industrial hazards
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Dr. Mahdi Seyedsalehi
E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
School of Environment, Tsinghua University, 100084 Beijing, China
Interests: wastewater treatment processes; green energy; biofuels

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

Despite the efforts made in recent years to reduce the production of solid waste and wastewater, including their recycle and reuse with a view to environmental sustainability, much can still be done in this field in terms of research and technological development. All the proposed treatment processes must operate while maintaining reduced risks for air, water and soil and prevent risks for the health of plants, animals and humans. Moreover, in light of sustainable development, treatment processes directly transforming solid and liquid waste into energy have to be promoted whenever waste and wastewater reuse and their transformation into fuels is not possible.

Solid waste treatment processes include how waste can be recovered, separated, recycled, reused and transformed, as well as where the final resulting waste can be sent for storage, final disposal, thermal or other industrial treatment. Interesting new processes are related to waste biomass coming from agro-food and the farming sector, and waste plastics.

Wastewater treatment processes have lately been approached from a total circular economy perspective, and recent technological research suggests the combination of new technologies for their reuse in integrated plants for biofuels production. Wastewater contributes to significant negative impacts not only on water bodies at a regional scale, but also on global energy, climate, and sustainability. In thinking holistically of water and wastewater management, energy recovery from wastewater becomes an appealing option to achieve greater resource recovery. The most common form of biofuels production from wastewater is anaerobic digestion; a wide range of anaerobic digestion technologies are converting livestock manure, municipal wastewater solids, food waste, high strength industrial wastewater and residuals, fats, oils and grease (FOG), and various other organic waste streams into biogas.

Although anaerobic digestion (AD) is a well-established process, the optimal design of anaerobic digesters for maximum methane production is still a challenge. Mathematical models are useful tools we can leverage to improve the design and efficiency of AD systems. It is generally accepted that well-developed models should describe the main aspects of a biological process, help to better understand the underlying phenomena and provide an accurate prediction of the AD performance as well as the optimization of operational parameters.

The aim of this Special Issue is to attract works in which new insights for solid-waste and wastewater treatment processes are proposed. This Special Issue invites you to submit innovative contributions in advanced treatment of plastics, micro- and nano-plastics, hazardous waste, emerging pollutants, high organic content wastewaters, and hospital waste. Works on biofuels production (methane, syngas, liquid biofuels) from waste are particularly welcome. Works related to combined treatment processes of municipal and industrial solid and liquid waste and to their environmental impact and human health risk assessment are also welcome. This Special Issue also seeks original contributions on monitoring, modeling and management of treatment plants. Our editorial process focuses on the robustness and validity of your research rather than making subjective decisions on your manuscripts.

Prof. Dr. Ombretta Paladino
Dr. Mahdi Seyedsalehi
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

  • Waste-to-energy
  • Biowaste to biofuels
  • Solid-waste thermal treatment processes (gasification, pyrolysis, incineration)
  • Anaerobic digestion
  • Manure and sewage treatment
  • Hazardous waste treatment
  • Wastewater containing PAH, heavy metals, pesticides, PCBs, emerging contaminants
  • &Microalgae for wastewater treatment
  • Landfills
  • Plastics and micro-plastics
  • Particulate
  • Sustainable utilization of waste materials
  • Modeling and simulation

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

Article
Statistical Modeling for Spatial Groundwater Potential Map Based on GIS Technique
Sustainability 2021, 13(7), 3788; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13073788 - 29 Mar 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 520
Abstract
In arid and semi-arid lands like Iran water is scarce, and not all the wastewater can be treated. Hence, groundwater remains the primary and the principal source of water supply for human consumption. Therefore, this study attempted to spatially assess the groundwater potential [...] Read more.
In arid and semi-arid lands like Iran water is scarce, and not all the wastewater can be treated. Hence, groundwater remains the primary and the principal source of water supply for human consumption. Therefore, this study attempted to spatially assess the groundwater potential in an aquifer in a semi-arid region of Iran using geographic information systems (GIS)-based statistical modeling. To this end, 75 agricultural wells across the Marvdasht Plain were sampled, and the water samples’ electrical conductivity (EC) was measured. To model the groundwater quality, multiple linear regression (MLR) and principal component regression (PCR) coupled with elven environmental parameters (soil-topographical parameters) were employed. The results showed that that soil EC (SEC) with Beta = 0.78 was selected as the most influential factor affecting groundwater EC (GEC). CaCO3 of soil samples and length-steepness (LS factor) were the second and third effective parameters. SEC with r = 0.89 and CaCO3 with r = 0.79 and LS factor with r = 0.69 were also characterized for PC1. According to performance criteria, the MLR model with R2 = 0.94, root mean square error (RMSE) = 450 µScm−1 and mean error (ME) = 125 µScm−1 provided better results in predicting the GEC. The GEC map indicated that 16% of the Marvdasht groundwater was not suitable for agriculture. It was concluded that GIS, combined with statistical methods, could predict groundwater quality in the semi-arid regions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Solid-Waste and Waste-Water Treatment Processes)
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Article
The Investigation of TiO2 NPs Effect as a Wastewater Treatment to Mitigate Cd Negative Impact on Bamboo Growth
Sustainability 2021, 13(6), 3200; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13063200 - 15 Mar 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 390
Abstract
The recent emerging evidence reveals that titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs) can be used as a wastewater treatment. This study provides new information about the possible detoxification role of TiO2 NPs as a wastewater treatment in plants under heavy metal stress, [...] Read more.
The recent emerging evidence reveals that titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs) can be used as a wastewater treatment. This study provides new information about the possible detoxification role of TiO2 NPs as a wastewater treatment in plants under heavy metal stress, with an emphasis on the mechanisms involved. Here, we investigated the effects of TiO2 NPs as one wastewater treatment on a bamboo species (Arundinaria pygmaea L.) under in vitro Cadmium (Cd) toxicity conditions. A factorial experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with four replications of four concentrations of Cd (50, 100, 200, and 300 µM) alone and in combination with 100 and 200 µM TiO2 NPs as two wastewater treatments, as well as a control treatment. The results indicated that TiO2 NPs concentrations enhanced enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant activities and proline accumulation as well as reducing hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), superoxide radical (O2•−), and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, which led to improved photosynthetic parameters with an eventual increase in plant biomass as compared to the control treatment. Therefore, TiO2 NPs improved the photosynthetic parameters of bamboo under Cd toxicity, which led to an increase in plant biomass. We concluded that the wastewater treatments of TiO2 NPs improved bamboo biomass through the scavenging of reactive oxygen species (ROS) compounds (H2O2 and O2•−), which was induced by the stimulation of the antioxidant capacity of the plant. TiO2 also protected cell membranes by reducing lipoperoxidation in bamboo under Cd toxicity. The concentration of 200 µM TiO2 NPs had the most impact in reducing Cd toxicity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Solid-Waste and Waste-Water Treatment Processes)
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