Themed collection Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology Recent Review Articles

Aqueous geochemistry, access to end-users, and workforce availability are important to assess lithium extraction potential from produced brines.

Owing to their small size and stability, MPs have been found to be present in different media all over the world, even in the most remote regions such as the Arctic and Antarctic.

Managing drinking water-associated pathogens that can cause infections in immunocompromised individuals is a persistent challenge, particularly for healthcare facilities where occupant exposures carry a substantial health risk.

In this work, we exploit Langmuir adsorption isotherms to compare the performance of different materials (adsorbents) in removing contaminants (adsorbates) from water.

Recent research on antimicrobial resistance in the environment has emphasized targeted methods. Increased use of non-targeted methods is needed to determine how frequently novel resistance genes arise.

CFD modeling of fluidized bed bioreactors can identify desirable operational regimes and improve design.

Potential modeling framework of integrating mechanistic and data-driven models to address the microbiological composition and functions that are currently underrepresented in standalone models.

The superoxide radical (O₂˙⁻) is an important reactive oxygen species (ROS) in diverse natural aquatic systems and engineered water treatment processes.

Urban stormwater is a source of persistent, mobile and toxic substances, however the risk for water resources is unknown.

The potentials of AnMBR for resource recovery from municipal wastewater are discussed. The main aim is to provide key insights into overcoming key challenges for full-scale implementation from a technical, environmental and economic point of view.

Encapsulating microorganisms is promising to enhance biological nitrogen removal (BNR) in wastewater, with benefits of increased efficiency, reduced inhibition, and improved stability.

Closing the human nutrient cycle with decentralized urine separation would help to achieve progress in food security and water protection – especially in poor countries. For this, radical innovation is needed along the whole sanitation value chain.

This review identified 30 studies from 1992–2024 that performed quantitative microbial risk assessments on potable reuse and compared individual assumptions, summarized influential parameters, and analyzed results.

PI strategies industrial waste-treatment integrated with membranes, hybrid-mode for separation of L–G–V at early-stage research. Scalable, energy-efficient, minimal-toxicant usage of PI is an eco-friendly-greener and sustainable industrial practice.

The ion transportation process through a membrane was divided into 3 sequential stages, where the ion selectivity could be determined by the ion charge, hydration energy, channel size and surface chemistry.

A review of the most recent research on the environmental implications of pharmaceutical contaminants, conventional treatment techniques, and the application of CDs for the extraction and degradation of pharmaceutics in wastewater.

Wastewater in the mineral processing industry: treatment technologies and reuse potential.

Advanced oxidation processes have been extensively studied in degrading pollutants. This study summarises the previous research on iron-based materials and helps researchers to select and develop more effective iron-based catalysts suitable for different AOP systems.

This review describes the main characteristics of common antibiotics, their environmental and health effects, and also their fate in the environment, and furthermore provides insights into the adsorption of antibiotics onto CNTs as promising adsorbents.

This tutorial review synthesizes literature on sustainability analyses to introduce quantitative sustainable design (QSD) for technology research, development, and deployment.

Bismuth ferrite nanohybrids as efficient photocatalysts for wastewater remediation against toxic azo dyes pollutants.

Extensive water use leads to scarcity, adversely affecting human health, ecosystems, and resources. Life cycle assessment (LCA) evaluates these impacts via damage pathways, using characterization models to quantify effects.

This review explores biochar's potential for removing microplastics and nanoplastics from water, discussing various mechanisms and the benefits of combining biochar with other water treatment technologies.

Freshwater scarcity, caused by population growth and climate change, has boosted the demand for desalination technologies.

Ribavirin (RBV) and chloroquine phosphate (CQP) are widely used antiviral drugs, and have raised considerable concern due to their ubiquitous nature, persistence, bioaccumulation, and high toxicity.

Reviewed existing and emerging technologies for carbon recovery from WWTPs, best options investigated as case study for typical conventional plant.

The use of UV light to prevent or mitigate the development of biofilms is an area of emerging research that spans numerous industries.

The increasing demand for high-quality drinking water has made the elimination of taste and odor (T&O) substances from drinking water a matter of growing importance.

Access to clean and potable groundwater is paramount for sustaining human health and ecological balance.

CDI plays an important role in water desalination, water softening, removal of heavy metals, purification of industrial wastewater, and removal of nutrients, and CDI coupling technology is emphasized.

An integrated biorefinery platform for MSS valorization through pyrolysis is presented and comprehensively described here, from the choice of MSS to the desired applications of the value-added materials obtained.

Several pretreatment technologies for reducing ceramic ultrafiltration membrane fouling were reviewed, their advantages and disadvantages were analyzed, and the future development direction of the technology was discussed.

Treating PFAS-contaminated water is challenging due to the recalcitrant nature of PFAS. This review discusses advances in NF/RO membranes for separating PFAS from water and introduces a total management plan for handling the concentrated PFAS stream.

Rapid detection and epidemiological monitoring are critical for preventing the spread of Cryptosporidium spp. and minimising public health risks. Techniques to isolate, quantify and genotype cryptosporidium are reviewed, along with future directions.

This review discusses municipal wastewater treatment using anaerobic baffled reactors (ABRs) and modified ABRs to remove C, N, P and emerging contaminants.

This review presents some major developments and progress in using ion exchange selective separation for decontamination, desalination, and decarbonization.

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as promising candidates for high-performance separation processes due to their desirable porous structure and highly tunable properties.

Drinking water treatment residuals (DWTRs) show versatile adsorption properties for the removal of contaminants from wastewater and soil. Most adsorption studies are based on synthetic well-controlled solutions instead of real wastewater samples.

The desalination of saline water is of great importance in water-stressed areas.

Magnesium oxide (MgO) is widely applied in various water treatment applications due to its fascinating properties.

The fundamentals, sensing mechanisms, strategies for improving the performance and the representative discoveries of electrochemical biosensors for the monitoring of various targets are summarized.

Summarises the preparation, modification and use of polyaniline conductive membranes for water treatment and antifouling purposes.

Exploring material trends with reticular porous materials (MOFs, COFs) and electrospun nanofibers in hybrid membrane design for wastewater remediation.

This review emphasizes the potential of WEFE technologies in addressing challenges in African drylands, including water scarcity, energy access, and food shortages. It also delves into comprehensive research and approaches for enhancing community well-being and resource sustainability.

Green roof contributes to urban stormwater management.

The main aim of the blue-green city concept is the reduction of the adverse impacts of stormwater by recreating the natural water cycle with the aid of green infrastructure in major metropolitan areas worldwide.

Algal organic matter (AOM) is a major precursor of disinfection by-products (DBPs) during disinfection.

The review critically highlights the state-of-art techniques for selective membrane fabrication, action mechanism, and performance for groundwater contaminant removal.

Enzyme-coated biochar combines adsorption and biodegradation, offering an efficient approach to remove emerging aqueous contaminants.

This review highlights the pressing need for sustainable water management strategies within the water-energy-infrastructure-human nexus, and accentuates the critical roles of infrastructure and human engagement for sustainable water management.

This work reviews transition metal catalysts for heterogeneous electro-Fenton, applied as suspended catalyst or modified cathode. The pollutant degradation performance and mechanism for H₂O₂ generation and activation to active species are discussed.

Traditional stormwater infrastructure facilitates the transport of antibiotic resistance genes while green stormwater infrastructure may capture the genes and promote horizontal gene transfer.

This work presents the first bibliometric analysis of 258 papers on percarbonate from 2000 to 2022. The research hotspots and trends of percarbonate research were analyzed and the challenges and prospects of percarbonate research were put forward.

The contamination of the hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] in the aquatic ecosystem poses environmental concerns due to its portable and highly poisonous nature.

This review article focuses on metal–organic framework (MOF) composites and the impact of mixing MOFs with other materials, such as polymers, carbon-based materials, and magnetic particles, to increase their performance to remove metals from water.

Treating emerging pollutants from industrial effluent that cause inevitable damage to human wellness and the environment is paramount.

Individual resource recovery processes are monitored as health risk barriers.

Water pollution has become one of the most important global environmental pollution problems, wherein various toxic and persistent organic pollutants in water pose a major threat to the environment.

Proposed treatment steps to target the removal of short-chain PFAS from contaminated aqueous solutions.

The oxidation approaches for Cl(−I) removal from acidic industrial wastewater, classified as electrolysis, ultraviolet-induced and strong-oxidant-dominated methods according to the mechanisms, are reviewed in this article.

The history of photocatalysis of hydrogen peroxide in water is reviewed, and methodologies for developing high-performance photocatalysts are developed.

Removal of arsenite by oxidation and sorption via various iron particles (ZVI, bimetallic particles, iron (oxyhydr)oxides, bi- and tri-metal oxides, structural Fe(II) hydroxides and ferrate), and their respective removal methodologies are discussed.

A critical review of arsenic mitigation strategies, including technologies, practices, opportunities, and challenges, to bridge the knowledge gap between academic research and field applications.

The mechanism of natural zeolites for modification and the removal of anions.

Homogeneous photodriven advanced oxidation processes (HP-AOPs) have been increasingly investigated in past years as a possible alternative solution to conventional tertiary treatment methods of urban wastewater.

Insights into membrane design, reactor configurations, energy balance analysis and concerning challenges in AnMBR application for wastewater treatment.

We review the sunlight-induced photodegradation of micropollutants in water.

Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX) are commonly encountered as industrial contaminants.

Engineered osmosis (EO) holds a vast untapped potential to be commercially exploited for various applications, including water recovery, product concentration, and energy generation.

This review critically discusses the processes, mechanisms, and implications of indirect prevention and direct remediation of water eutrophication with biomass-based derivatives.