Multi-Media Environmental Pollution and Health Risks: Tracing, Effects, and Collaborative Governance

A special issue of Toxics (ISSN 2305-6304). This special issue belongs to the section "Toxicity Reduction and Environmental Remediation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 21 November 2025 | Viewed by 738

Special Issue Editors

Henan Engineering Research Center for Control & Remediation of Soil Heavy Metal Pollution, Henan University, Zhengzhou, China
Interests: heavy metal; risk assessment; remediation; soil/sediment; environmental modeling and management

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Guest Editor
College of South to North Water Diversion/College of Water Resources and Modern Agriculture, Nanyang Normal University, Nanyang 473061, China
Interests: PPCPs; POPs; AOPs; QSAR; ECOSAR

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Guest Editor
Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, China
Interests: aerosol; source apportionment ; new particle formation ; pollution control

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The accelerated industrialization and urbanization of modern society have escalated cross-media environmental pollution and its mitigation into pressing global challenges. Emerging contaminants – including heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants, and microplastics—exhibit complex transport mechanisms across aquatic systems, atmospheric compartments, terrestrial matrices, and sedimentary deposits, ultimately posing significant threats to both ecosystem integrity and public health. This Special Issue seeks to address these multifaceted challenges by compiling cutting-edge investigations into pollutant origin dynamics, environmental fate processes, ecotoxicological impacts, and human exposure pathways. By synthesizing interdisciplinary methodologies spanning environmental science, toxicology, and sustainable engineering, we aim to advance innovative pollution control paradigms and risk management frameworks to achieve health objectives worldwide.

This Special Issue focuses on the following research directions:

  • Tracing, migration, and transformation of pollutants in environmental media;
  • Ecological and environmental effects of pollutants and assessment of health risks;
  • Pollution control technologies and policy optimization based on multi-media synergy.

We invite scholars in the fields of environmental science, environmental geography, environmental health, and environmental management to submit original research articles or review papers. Building upon these pillars, this initiative synergistically advances the following:

  • Evidence-based decision support systems for SDG-aligned environmental management;
  • Transdisciplinary methodologies bridging contaminant science with socioecological resilience;
  • The implementation roadmaps for the "Beautiful China" initiative and global eco-civilization transition paradigms.

Dr. Dexin Liu
Dr. Jianbiao Peng
Dr. Lihong Ren
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • atmosphere
  • water
  • soil
  • sediment
  • pollutants
  • source apportionment
  • risk assessment
  • human exposure
  • pollution control
  • environmental pollution
  • health risks
  • heavy metal
  • environmental toxicology
  • ecotoxicology

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

23 pages, 5171 KiB  
Article
Investigation into the Enhancement Effects of Combined Bioremediation of Petroleum-Contaminated Soil Utilizing Immobilized Microbial Consortium and Sudan Grass
by Tie-Jun Wang, Zi-Yue Ding, Zi-Wei Hua, Zi-Wang Yuan, Qiu-Hong Niu and Hao Zhang
Toxics 2025, 13(7), 599; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics13070599 - 16 Jul 2025
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Abstract
Petroleum-contaminated soil is an increasingly severe environmental issue. The integration of phytoremediation and microbial remediation can effectively mitigate their individual limitations and enhance remediation efficiency. In this study, four newly isolated bacterial strains (including Cytobacillus and Rhodococcus) that exhibited preferential degradation of [...] Read more.
Petroleum-contaminated soil is an increasingly severe environmental issue. The integration of phytoremediation and microbial remediation can effectively mitigate their individual limitations and enhance remediation efficiency. In this study, four newly isolated bacterial strains (including Cytobacillus and Rhodococcus) that exhibited preferential degradation of distinct petroleum components were combined with the rhamnolipid-producing strain Pseudomonas aeruginosa SL-1. The immobilization of this petroleum-degrading microbial consortium was performed by biochar adsorption and sodium alginate embedding, subsequently optimized using response surface methodology (0.75 g·L−1 of biochar, 40 g·L−1 of sodium alginate, and 40 g·L−1 of calcium chloride). The results showed that the highest petroleum degradation rate (97.1%) of immobilized bacterial consortium was achieved at 72 h at a petroleum concentration of 5.0 g·L−1. When combined with Sudan grass for soil bioremediation, the degradation rate reached 72.8% after 120 d for soil containing 5.0 g·kg−1 of petroleum, higher than the results for the treatments with only immobilized bacterial consortium (53.0%) or Sudan grass (49.2%). Furthermore, significant improvements were observed for soil pH; nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium contents; and urease, dehydrogenase, and catalase activities. Composite treatment also significantly increased the diversity and richness of the soil bacterial community and regulated its structure, function, and network composition. This study offers theoretical insights and potential practical applications for the enhanced bioremediation of petroleum-contaminated soils. Full article
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21 pages, 2288 KiB  
Article
Life Cycle Emissions and Driving Forces of Air Pollutants and CO2 from Refractory Manufacturing Industry in China Based on LMDI Model
by Yan Wang, Yu Shangguan, Cheng Wang, Xinyue Zhou, Huanjia Liu, Yi Cao, Xiayu Liu, Yan Guo, Guangxuan Yan, Panru Kang and Ke Cheng
Toxics 2025, 13(7), 533; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics13070533 - 26 Jun 2025
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Abstract
China is the world’s largest supplier of raw materials and is a major consumer of refractories. The environmental damage that results from the use of refractories has drawn increasing attention. Life cycle emissions of air pollutants and CO2 associated with the refractory [...] Read more.
China is the world’s largest supplier of raw materials and is a major consumer of refractories. The environmental damage that results from the use of refractories has drawn increasing attention. Life cycle emissions of air pollutants and CO2 associated with the refractory manufacturing industry between 2009 and 2021 were quantified in this study. Particulate matter, SO2, and NOx emissions decreased by 7.1% (1515 t), 23.6% (2982 t), and 27.8% (3178 t), respectively, over the aforementioned period despite refractory output volumes being relatively stable. Advancements in manufacturing and purification technologies and internal modifications within the industry played a significant role in these decreases. To sustain output while significantly lowering emissions, the industry shifted toward the production of new minimally polluting refractories and monolithic refractories and away from the production of highly polluting clay bricks. CO2 emission was reduced by 1.36 million tons as a result of product modifications. A logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) model was used to quantify the driving forces of five factors (pollution production coefficient, control technology level, economic development level, economic structure, and consumption structure) affecting emissions. Three different emission reduction scenarios were simulated, and potential emission reductions of 23.1–77.7% by 2030 were projected. Full article
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