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Emerging Materials, Concepts and Processes for Wastewater Treatment Sector for Sustainable Future

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A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Wastewater Treatment and Reuse".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 November 2022) | Viewed by 15086

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Muhammad Rizwan Azhar

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Guest Editor

School of Engineering, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, WA 6027, Australia
Interests: nanomaterials; composites; renewable energy; water–energy nexus; metal organic frameworks; perovskites

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Rapid industrialization to meet the needs of the ever-growing population is putting immense pressure on our water resources around the globe. To cope with the expanding population, efficient wastewater treatment processes are paramount to devising processes and methods to recycle and reuse treated wastewater, as well as to recover other useful resources, e.g., materials and energy recovery. Such methods and techniques will shift the paradigm from considering wastewater as a burden to a useful resource that can generate energy and produce/recover materials (rare earth metals, nutrients and beyond). Thus, a step closer to water resource and recovery facilities (WRRFs) will be realized instead of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs).

The aim of the current Special Issue is to explore materials, methods and processes in all aspects of wastewater treatment processes, covering primary, secondary and/or tertiary wastewater treatment processes. Topics of interest for the current Special Issue include but are not limited to:

Biologically-Enhanced Primary Treatment of Wastewater;
Adsorption of Conventional and Emerging Water Contaminants from Wastewater;
Advanced Oxidation Processes;
Functional Materials for Wastewater Treatment Processes;
Concept of 3Rs—Reduce, Recycle and Reuse—in Water Treatment Sector;
New Strategies for Integrated Wastewater Treatment Industry.

Dr. Muhammad Rizwan Azhar
Guest Editor

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. Water 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 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

wastewater treatment
biological-enhanced primary treatment
advanced oxidation
functional materials
nanomaterials
carbon structures
composites
hybrid materials
metal organic frameworks
resource recovery

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 3584 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Catalytic Ozonation Combined with Conventional Treatment Technologies for the Recycling of Automobile Service Station Wastewater

by Amir Ikhlaq, Umar Fiaz, Osama Shaheen Rizvi, Asia Akram, Umair Yaqub Qazi, Zafar Masood, Mobeen Irfan, Khaled A. Alawi Al-Sodani, Mamoona Kanwal, Sami M. Ibn Shamsah and Rahat Javaid

Water 2023, 15(1), 171; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15010171 - 31 Dec 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1901

Abstract

The ample increase in water scarcity and depletion of natural resources due to their overconsumption and the contamination of water sources becomes more challenging day by day. This challenging situation has pushed the scientific community to cope with it by providing alternative solutions. Therefore, it is indeed important to conduct a sustainable study on recycling wastewater for a particular purpose. Taking this into account, an effort was made to develop a novel hybrid treatment system that applied both conventional and advanced oxidation treatment processes. In this sustainable study, an integrated system was designed for the effective treatment followed by the recycling of automobile service station wastewater (ASSWW) which comprised sedimentation (sed), catalytic ozonation, adsorption, and filtration. In the current investigation, two catalysts/adsorbents, the granular activated carbon (GAC) and rice husk (RH) were employed individually and in combination for the first time in the studied hybrid process and their performance was compared and evaluated. The obtained results revealed that the hybrid system combination-I (Sed–O₃/GAC) was more efficient than combination-II (Sed–O₃/RH); the maximum removal efficiency of COD was 100% and 80%, respectively. In addition, the hybrid system combination-III (Sed–O₃/RH + GAC) was more economical and efficient than others by employing 35% of each absorbent in the adsorption column. Moreover, this efficient Sed–O₃/RH + GAC system has a maximum removal efficiency 99%, 100%, 99%, 100%, (89%, 99%, 100%) and 100% for turbidity, COD, BOD₅, fecal coliform, potentially toxic metals (Cd, Pb, As), oil and grease, respectively, at optimized conditions (O₃ = 82.5 mg/L; contact time = 18 min and catalyst dose of GAC and RH = 200 g each). Furthermore, the treated water sample complied with the WWF-recommended Irrigation Water Quality Guidelines (IWQGs) for class D. The increase in biodegradability (BOD₅/COD ratio) was observed from 0.41 to 0.83. Therefore, the proposed efficacious hybrid system may be employed for the recycling of ASSWW for irrigation purposes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Materials, Concepts and Processes for Wastewater Treatment Sector for Sustainable Future)

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10 pages, 2038 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Chemical-Free Biologically Enhanced Primary Treatment of Raw Wastewater for Improved Capture Carbon

by Muhammad Rizwan Azhar, Paul Nolan, Keith Cadee and Mehdi Khiadani

Water 2022, 14(23), 3825; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14233825 - 24 Nov 2022

Viewed by 1443

Abstract

Conventional wastewater treatment processes require extensive energy inputs for their operations. Biologically enhanced primary treatment (BEPT) is a promising technology to capture incoming organics that may be utilized to produce biogas and potentially hydrogen with further downstream processing. This study involved a biologically enhanced primary treatment (BEPT) of raw wastewater at bench and pilot-scale using activated sludge (AS) addition and dissolved air flotation (DAF) using raw wastewater at a municipal wastewater facility in Western Australia with average chemical oxygen demand of ~800 mg/L. The results of pilot-scale testing showed an improved removal performance for total chemical oxygen demand (COD-T), soluble chemical oxygen demand (COD-S), and total suspended solids (TSS) compared to conventional primary treatment (PT). Specifically, average COD-T, COD-S and TSS removals for BEPT were 33.3%, 13.5% and 45%, respectively which was 10%, 100% and 6% higher than PT. Moreover, the sludge produced from BEPT had a high solids content of 4.8 g/L, which might not need further thickening prior to anaerobic digestion. It is important to note that no chemicals were used during BEPT testing, which makes the process very cost-effective. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Materials, Concepts and Processes for Wastewater Treatment Sector for Sustainable Future)

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15 pages, 3162 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Novel Vertical Flow Wetland Filtration Combined with Co-Zeotype Material Based Catalytic Ozonation Process for the Treatment of Municipal Wastewater

by Umair Yaqub Qazi, Amir Ikhlaq, Asia Akram, Osama Shaheen Rizvi, Farhan Javed, Iftikhar Ul-Hasan, Amira Alazmi, Sami M. Ibn Shamsah and Rahat Javaid

Water 2022, 14(21), 3361; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14213361 - 23 Oct 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2169

Abstract

Municipal wastewater treatment to recycling level is an important means to conserve water resources. Untreated wastewater leads to a reduction in per capita availability of water and an increase in environmental pollution. Therefore, in the current study, a filtration process based on Typha Angustifolia planted vertical flow wetland and Rice husk (VFCW) in combination with catalytic ozonation based on Cobalt loaded zeotype catalyst was used for the first time to treat municipal wastewater. The results at optimized conditions show that about 89%, 93%, and 97% of BOD₅, COD, and TKN respectively were removed based on combined VFCW/Co-zeotype/O₃ processes. More than 90% elimination of heavy metals including Cr, Cu, Cd, Fe, Ni, and Zn was also observed. Hence, it is concluded that the VFCW/Co-zeotype/O₃ process has potential as an alternative to conventional treatment for municipal wastewater treatment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Materials, Concepts and Processes for Wastewater Treatment Sector for Sustainable Future)

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14 pages, 3850 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Synergistically Improved Catalytic Ozonation Process Using Iron-Loaded Activated Carbons for the Removal of Arsenic in Drinking Water

by Umair Yaqub Qazi, Rahat Javaid, Amir Ikhlaq, Khaled A. Alawi Al-Sodani, Osama Shaheen Rizvi, Amira Alazmi, Abdullah Mohamed Asiri and Sami M. Ibn Shamsah

Water 2022, 14(15), 2406; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14152406 - 03 Aug 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1827

Abstract

This research attempts to find a new approach for the removal of arsenic (As) from drinking water by developing a novel solution. To the author’s knowledge, iron-loaded activated carbons (Fe-AC) have not been previously applied for the removal of As in a synergistic process using ozonation and catalytic ozonation processes. The As was investigated using drinking water samples in different areas of Lahore, Pakistan, and the As removal was compared with and without using catalysts. The results also suggested that the catalytic ozonation process significantly removes As as compared with single ozonation and adsorption processes. Moreover, a feed ozone of 1.0 mg/min and catalyst dose of 10 g was found to maintain a maximum removal efficiency of 98.6% within 30 min. The results of the catalyst dose–effect suggested that the removal of As tends to increase with the increase in catalysts amount. Hence, it is concluded that the Fe-AC/O₃ process efficiently removes As in water. Moreover, it was established that the Fe-AC/O₃ process might be regarded as an effective method for removing As from drinking water compared to the single ozonation and adsorption processes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Materials, Concepts and Processes for Wastewater Treatment Sector for Sustainable Future)

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15 pages, 3710 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Water Purification from Heavy Metals Due to Electric Field Ion Drift

by Vasileios Bartzis, Georgios Ninos and Ioannis E. Sarris

Water 2022, 14(15), 2372; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14152372 - 31 Jul 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1569

Abstract

A water purification method using a static electric field that may drift the dissolved ions of heavy metals is proposed here. The electric field force drifts the positively charged metal ions of continuously flowing contaminated water to one sidewall, where the negative electrode is placed, leaving most of the area of the duct purified. The steady-state ion distributions, as well as the time evolution in the linear regime, are studied analytically and ion concentration distributions for various electric field magnitudes and widths of the duct are reported. The method performs well with a duct width less than 10⁻³ m and an electrode potential of 0.26 V or more. Moreover, a significant reduction of more than 90% in heavy metals concentration is accomplished in less than a second at a low cost. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Materials, Concepts and Processes for Wastewater Treatment Sector for Sustainable Future)

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Graphical abstract

15 pages, 2898 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Potable Water Treatment in a Batch Reactor Benefited by Combined Filtration and Catalytic Ozonation

by Amir Ikhlaq, Umair Yaqub Qazi, Asia Akram, Osama Shaheen Rizvi, Adeel Sultan, Rahat Javaid, Khaled A. Alawi Al-Sodani and Sami M. Ibn Shamsah

Water 2022, 14(15), 2357; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14152357 - 30 Jul 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1785

Abstract

Due to continuous contamination of groundwater by anthropogenic activities, potable water fetches numerous pollutants such as pathogens, pharmaceuticals, and heavy metals, with these being severe health hazards. The main aim of the current study was to develop a hybrid unit based on catalytic ozonation and the filtration process to effectively remove the contaminants in drinking water. To the best of our knowledge, in the current study, the Fe-Zeolite 4A (Fe-Z4A)/O₃ process followed by filtration involving rice husk and activated carbons were studied for the first time in order to treat drinking water. In the current investigation, fecal coliforms, arsenic, pharmaceuticals, turbidity, and TDS removal were investigated in a novel hybrid reactor. The results showed 100%, 45%, 40%, 70%, and 95% fecal coliform, arsenic, TDS, paracetamol, and turbidity removal efficiency, respectively. The results further indicated that all the studied drinking water samples followed WHO guidelines and NEQS for drinking water quality after the proposed treatment. Therefore, it is concluded that the proposed hybrid process implies a single unit is highly efficient for drinking water treatment. The designed novel hybrid reactor treatment can be scaled up in the future for household or commercial use. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Materials, Concepts and Processes for Wastewater Treatment Sector for Sustainable Future)

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Review

Jump to: Research

12 pages, 2316 KiB

Open AccessReview

Bacterial Laccases as Biocatalysts for the Remediation of Environmental Toxic Pollutants: A Green and Eco-Friendly Approach—A Review

by Neha Agarwal, Vijendra Singh Solanki, Amel Gacem, Mohd Abul Hasan, Brijesh Pare, Amrita Srivastava, Anupama Singh, Virendra Kumar Yadav, Krishna Kumar Yadav, Chaigoo Lee, Wonjae Lee, Sumate Chaiprapat and Byong-Hun Jeon

Water 2022, 14(24), 4068; https://doi.org/10.3390/w14244068 - 13 Dec 2022

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 3641

Abstract

Biological treatment methods for the biodegradation of anthropogenic toxic pollutants are eco-friendly in nature and are powered by a variety of microbial enzymes. Green chemistry and enzymes play a crucial role in catalyzing the biodegradation of organic and inorganic pollutants including azo dyes; polyaromatic hydrocarbons; lead; organic cyanides; aromatic amines; mono-, di-, and polyphenols; polymers; and mercury. Laccases form a prospective group of multifunctional oxidoreductase enzymes with great potential for oxidizing different categories of organic and inorganic pollutants and their diversified functions, such as pigment formation, lignin degradation, and detoxification of industrial wastes including xenobiotics mainly from the pharmaceutical, paper textile, and petrochemical industries. Therefore, it is very important to study laccases as green and environmentally friendly alternatives for the degradation of xenobiotics. This review article will cover comprehensive information about the functions and properties of bacterial laccases for a deep understanding of their scope and applications for effective bioremediation of recalcitrant xenobiotics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Emerging Materials, Concepts and Processes for Wastewater Treatment Sector for Sustainable Future)

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