Advances in Remediation of Environmental Pollutants in Soil-Water System

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 January 2026 | Viewed by 133

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, 210094 Nanjing, China
Interests: fluorescent molecular probes and their detection for pollutants; soil and groundwater pollution control and remediation; photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants; solidification and stabilization of heavy metals; heavy metal phytoremediation

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Guest Editor
Key Laboratory of Drinking Water Science and Technology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
Interests: water remediation; environmental material R&D; adsorption; advance nitrogen/phosphorus removal

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Guest Editor Assistant
Fujian Engineering and Research Center of Rural Sewage Treatment and Water Safety, Xiamen University of Technology, Xiamen 361024, China
Interests: fate and transport of heavy metals in soil; solid waste treatment and resource utilization; solidification/stabilization of heavy metals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue aims to consolidate recent breakthroughs in methods and technologies addressing the removal and mitigation of contaminants within soil–water environments. The primary scope encompasses analytical, experimental, and theoretical research addressing critical contaminants such as heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants, pesticides, microplastics, and emerging environmental pollutants, with particular emphasis on their ecological risks and public health impacts. Contributors are encouraged to submit rigorous original studies, in-depth reviews, and novel methodological insights across chemical, biological, physical, and hybrid remediation strategies.

This Special Issue specifically highlights emerging remediation technologies, including advanced nanomaterial applications, bioremediation and phytoremediation techniques, electrochemical processes, and integrative remediation frameworks. Submissions should provide significant empirical validation, robust theoretical modeling, or comprehensive field studies that illustrate both the capabilities and limitations of novel remediation methodologies.

These studies will serve as a pivotal scholarly reference, advancing knowledge for researchers, environmental managers, policymakers, and practitioners working towards sustainable solutions to soil–water contamination challenges.

Prof. Dr. Fenghe Wang
Dr. Haotian Hao
Guest Editors

Dr. Jiahe Miao
Guest Editor Assistant

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. Toxics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2600 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

  • environmental remediation
  • persistent organic pollutants (POPs)
  • microplastics
  • emerging contaminants
  • heavy metals
  • phytoremediation
  • nanoremediation
  • electrochemical remediation
  • bioremediation
  • integrated remediation technologies.

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

15 pages, 1197 KiB  
Article
Biodegradation of Carbon Tetrachloride in Groundwater: Microbial Community Shifts and Functional Genes Involvement in Enhanced Reductive Dechlorination
by Zhengwei Liu, Mingbo Sun, Wei Wang, Shaolei Zhao, Yan Xie, Xiaoyu Lin, Jingru Liu and Shucai Zhang
Toxics 2025, 13(8), 704; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics13080704 - 21 Aug 2025
Abstract
Carbon tetrachloride (CT) is a toxic volatile chlorinated hydrocarbon, posing a serious hazard to ecosystem and human health. This study discussed the bioremediation possibility of groundwater contaminated by CT. Enhanced reductive dechlorination bioremediation (ERD) was used to promote the reductive dechlorination process of [...] Read more.
Carbon tetrachloride (CT) is a toxic volatile chlorinated hydrocarbon, posing a serious hazard to ecosystem and human health. This study discussed the bioremediation possibility of groundwater contaminated by CT. Enhanced reductive dechlorination bioremediation (ERD) was used to promote the reductive dechlorination process of CT by adding yeast extract as a supplementary electron donor. The microcosm samples of the Control and Experi group were setup in the experiment, and the CT degradation efficiency and microbial community structure changes over 150 days were monitored. The results showed that the Experi group achieved complete degradation of CT within 40 days, while the control group had no significant change. By analyzing the physical and chemical indexes such as VFAs, sulfate ions, oxidation–reduction potential, pH value and so on, the key changes in the degradation process of CT were revealed. Microbial community analysis showed that specific microorganisms such as Acinetobacter johnsonii, Aeromonas media and Enterobacter Mori played a significant role in the degradation of CT. They may produce hydrogen through fermentation to provide electron donors for the reductive dechlorination of CT. In addition, the genes of reductive dehalogenase synthase related to CT degradation were also identified, which provided molecular evidence for understanding the biodegradation mechanism of CT. The results deliver a scientific basis for optimizing the bioremediation strategy of CT-contaminated groundwater. Full article
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