About this Research Topic
Global water consumption has increased by more than 600% over the past century. A significant fraction of this increase was attributed to the rapid growth in industrial developments. Nearly all water consumed in industries ends up as industrial wastewater (IWW). The release of IWW into the environment may adversely affect the environment and pose a health threat to humans and our ecosystem. Innovative solutions are therefore needed to provide adequate treatment of IWW to meet the increasingly stringent discharge standards and explore options to obtain adequate water to support industrial developments. Reclaiming treated industrial effluent can be an effective option to meet both challenges. To fulfill this vision, new knowledge such as novel technologies for the treatment and reclamation of different types of IWW, resource recovery from wastewater (e.g., energy generation, nutrients, and heavy metals recovery), etc need to be developed by the research community.
IWW is complex, carrying numerous inorganic and organic pollutants and exhibiting much greater variability in wastewater characteristics. As a result, employing state-of-the-art biological treatment technologies alone is often inadequate for meeting stringent discharge standards; not to mention the ability to meet water reclamation requirements. Other alternatives such as advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) and separation processes have also been used for treating recalcitrant organics. However, AOPs typically require high energy (e.g., ozone-generation and UV-radiation) and chemical (e.g. oxidants and catalysts) consumptions and therefore are expensive options. Separation processes (e.g., adsorption, filtration, and ion exchange), on the other hand, have been used for pollutants removal and resource recovery, but innovative strategies are still needed to reduce their costs. Thus, there is a need to develop innovative technologies and build upon our knowledge of existing technologies for IWW treatment and reclamation.
This Research Topic will focus on the novel technologies and effective regulations for IWW treatment for the purpose of resource reclamation, e.g. water reuse and nutrient recovery. This includes the dissemination of knowledge generated from studies regarding the development, optimization, and applications of advanced technologies aiming at the hazard evaluation, treatment, and reuse of IWW. It also aims to address an important aspect of sustainable water management with an emphasis on meeting the needs of the industrial sector from a global perspective. This collection will contribute significantly to the engineering community for managing IWW treatment and reclamation.
This Research Topic welcomes both original research and review papers in the following areas:
• Innovative technologies, e.g., AOPs, biological processes, membrane technologies, physio-chemical methods, biochemical methods, and their combinations, for pollutants removal from IWW.
• IWW reclamation towards the harvesting of resources, e.g., water, energy, nutrients, and metals.
• Advanced strategies for IWW management, e.g., the application of zero liquid discharge solutions.
• Case study on the successful application of advanced processes for IWW treatment and resource reclamation.
• Toxicity studies that examine the environmental and human health impacts of the discharged pollutants.
IWW is complex, carrying numerous inorganic and organic pollutants and exhibiting much greater variability in wastewater characteristics. As a result, employing state-of-the-art biological treatment technologies alone is often inadequate for meeting stringent discharge standards; not to mention the ability to meet water reclamation requirements. Other alternatives such as advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) and separation processes have also been used for treating recalcitrant organics. However, AOPs typically require high energy (e.g., ozone-generation and UV-radiation) and chemical (e.g. oxidants and catalysts) consumptions and therefore are expensive options. Separation processes (e.g., adsorption, filtration, and ion exchange), on the other hand, have been used for pollutants removal and resource recovery, but innovative strategies are still needed to reduce their costs. Thus, there is a need to develop innovative technologies and build upon our knowledge of existing technologies for IWW treatment and reclamation.
This Research Topic will focus on the novel technologies and effective regulations for IWW treatment for the purpose of resource reclamation, e.g. water reuse and nutrient recovery. This includes the dissemination of knowledge generated from studies regarding the development, optimization, and applications of advanced technologies aiming at the hazard evaluation, treatment, and reuse of IWW. It also aims to address an important aspect of sustainable water management with an emphasis on meeting the needs of the industrial sector from a global perspective. This collection will contribute significantly to the engineering community for managing IWW treatment and reclamation.
This Research Topic welcomes both original research and review papers in the following areas:
• Innovative technologies, e.g., AOPs, biological processes, membrane technologies, physio-chemical methods, biochemical methods, and their combinations, for pollutants removal from IWW.
• IWW reclamation towards the harvesting of resources, e.g., water, energy, nutrients, and metals.
• Advanced strategies for IWW management, e.g., the application of zero liquid discharge solutions.
• Case study on the successful application of advanced processes for IWW treatment and resource reclamation.
• Toxicity studies that examine the environmental and human health impacts of the discharged pollutants.
Keywords: Industrial wastewater, water reclamation, advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), biological processes, membrane processes, adsorption, filtration, catalysts, treatment, resource recovery
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
