Functional Polymeric Materials for Water and Wastewater Management

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2025 | Viewed by 1005

Special Issue Editors

School of Civil Engineering, Southeast University, Nan**g 210096, China
Interests: membrane-based separation processes; wastewater treatment and resource recovery; synthesis and appli-cation of water treatment materials
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Guest Editor
College of Safety and Environmental Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266590, China
Interests: purification of industrial wastewater; development and application of environmental advanced oxidation catalytic materials and high-performance adsorption materials
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Water is indispensable to the functioning of most known lifeforms, and good water quality is essential to human health, social and economic development, and ecosystem functioning. The careful management of water and wastewater is a big challenge and “hot” trend in recent research. Some indicative/typical methods include biological treatments, adsorption, flocculation, oxidation, membranes, and filtration. The application of polymers and polymeric materials in wastewater treatment is a research field that has seen significant development in recent times. Conventional and novel approaches have been carried out by researchers from different areas, who have demonstrated that polymers and polymeric materials may have an important role in the removal of pollutants of different origins and natures from wastewater, in the disposal of sludge, in the recycling of materials, in the improved efficiency and economy of wastewater, etc.

In view of the relevant contributions that polymers and polymeric materials may make in the conservation of the aquatic environment, namely, by their application in wastewater treatment, this Special Issue aims at the publication of original research or review papers within this area. Scientific contributions on any aspect related to the utilization of polymers and polymeric materials—either synthetic or natural—on the treatment or purification of wastewater are welcomed.

Dr. Ming Chen
Dr. **aoqiang Cao
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 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
  • organic contaminants
  • inorganic contaminants
  • pollutant removal
  • polymer applications

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 1695 KiB  
Article
Viability of Total Ammoniacal Nitrogen Recovery Using a Polymeric Thin-Film Composite Forward Osmosis Membrane: Determination of Ammonia Permeability Coefficient
by Shirin Shahgodari, Joan Llorens and Jordi Labanda
Polymers 2024, 16(13), 1834; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16131834 - 27 Jun 2024
Viewed by 265
Abstract
Total ammoniacal nitrogen (TAN) occurs in various wastewaters and its recovery is vital for environmental reasons. Forward osmosis (FO), an energy-efficient technology, extracts water from a feed solution (FS) and into a draw solution (DS). Asymmetric FO membranes consist of an active layer [...] Read more.
Total ammoniacal nitrogen (TAN) occurs in various wastewaters and its recovery is vital for environmental reasons. Forward osmosis (FO), an energy-efficient technology, extracts water from a feed solution (FS) and into a draw solution (DS). Asymmetric FO membranes consist of an active layer and a support layer, leading to internal concentration polarization (ICP). In this study, we assessed TAN recovery using a polymeric thin-film composite FO membrane by determining the permeability coefficients of NH4+ and NH3. Calculations employed the solution–diffusion model, Nernst–Planck equation, and film theory, applying the acid–base equilibrium for bulk concentration corrections. Initially, model parameters were estimated using sodium salt solutions as the DS and deionized water as the FS. The NH4+ permeability coefficient was 0.45 µm/s for NH4Cl and 0.013 µm/s for (NH4)2SO4 at pH < 7. Meanwhile, the NH3 permeability coefficient was 6.18 µm/s at pH > 9 for both ammonium salts. Polymeric FO membranes can simultaneously recover ammonia and water, achieving 15% and 35% recovery at pH 11.5, respectively. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Polymeric Materials for Water and Wastewater Management)
21 pages, 4660 KiB  
Article
Preparation and Performance Study of Boron Adsorbent from Plasma-Grafted Polypropylene Melt-Blown Fibers
by Yi Qin, Hui Jiang, Zhengwei Luo, Wenhua Geng and Jianliang Zhu
Polymers 2024, 16(11), 1460; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16111460 - 22 May 2024
Viewed by 490
Abstract
In this study, the plasma graft polymerization technique was used to graft glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) onto polypropylene (PP) melt-blown fibers, which were subsequently aminated with N-methyl-D-glucamine (NMDG) by a ring-opening reaction, resulting in the formation of a boron adsorbent denoted as PP-g-GMA-NMDG. The [...] Read more.
In this study, the plasma graft polymerization technique was used to graft glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) onto polypropylene (PP) melt-blown fibers, which were subsequently aminated with N-methyl-D-glucamine (NMDG) by a ring-opening reaction, resulting in the formation of a boron adsorbent denoted as PP-g-GMA-NMDG. The optimal conditions for GMA concentration, grafting time, grafting temperature, and the quantity of NMDG were determined using both single factor testing and orthogonal testing. These experiments determined the optimal process conditions to achieve a high boron adsorption capacity of PP-g-GMA-NMDG. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersion spectrum analysis (EDS), and water contact angle measurements were performed to characterize the prepared adsorbent. Boron adsorption experiments were carried out to investigate the effects of pH, time, temperature, and boron concentration on the boron adsorption capacity of PP-g-GMA-NMDG. The adsorption isotherms and kinetics of PP-g-GMA-NMDG for boron were also studied. The results demonstrated that the adsorption process followed a pseudo-second-order kinetic model and a Langmuir isothermal model. At a pH of 6, the maximum saturation adsorption capacity of PP-g-GMA-NMDG for boron was 18.03 ± 1 mg/g. In addition, PP-g-GMA-NMDG also showed excellent selectivity for the adsorption of boron in the presence of other cations, such as Na+, Mg2+, and Ca2+, PP-g-GMA-NMDG, and exhibited excellent selectivity towards boron adsorption. These results indicated that the technique of preparing PP-g-GMA-NMDG is both viable and environmentally benign. The PP-g-GMA-NMDG that was made has better qualities than other similar adsorbents. It has a high adsorption capacity, great selectivity, reliable repeatability, and easy recovery. These advantages indicated that the adsorbents have significant potential for widespread application in the separation of boron in water. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Polymeric Materials for Water and Wastewater Management)
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