Advanced Characterization of Dissolved Organic Matter in Natural Aquatic Environments and Water/Wastewater Treatment Processes

About this Research Topic

Background

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is of great significance in both natural aquatic environments and water/wastewater treatment processes. Consisting of aromatic and aliphatic moieties with various molecular structures and functionalities, DOM intimately mediates the interplay among organics, inorganics, and microbes in aquatic media. It is a water quality indicator and a participator in environmental water processes, contributing to carbon emission of similar magnitude to that of atmospheric CO₂ and global biomass. DOM also plays a part in water/wastewater treatment processes. It participates in physical, chemical, and biological processes, interacts with pollutants, and affects their migration and transformation, and is an indicator for the state of the process.

This Research Topic aims to promote specific studies on the advanced characterization of DOM in natural aquatic environments and water/wastewater treatment processes. Advanced characterization methods of DOM are urgently needed to explore its composition and fate, temporal and spatial distribution, dynamic variation processes, interactions with multiple media, and eco-environmental impact. These include comprehensive spectroscopic fingerprinting (e.g., ultraviolet absorption and fluorescence), high-precision techniques for chemical analysis (e.g., MS, IR, Raman, XPS, and NMR), online intelligent monitoring, computational chemistry tools (e.g., MD and QM/MM), advanced statistical analyses, and accurate mathematical modeling (e.g., neural networks and machine learning).

The scope of this Research Topic is intended to address specific investigations related to the advanced characterization of DOM, and potential applications of these methods in natural aquatic systems and water/wastewater treatment processes. Sub-themes include, but are not limited to:

• Newly developed or improved analytical methods for characterizing physical, chemical and/or biological properties of DOM with higher accuracy, wider detecting range and/or new information.
• Application of advanced methods to characterize DOM composition, temporal and spatial distributions, dynamic change processes, anthropogenic/natural traces in natural water systems (especially sensitive and fragile ecological environments), and in water/wastewater treatment processes (especially novel processes).
• Physical/chemical/biological treatments of DOM to regulate its impact on natural aquatic environments and water/wastewater processes.
• Insight into the role of DOM in multi-media interaction relationships, and its fate and eco-environmental impacts.

Suggested Editors
Water/wastewater treatment: Drs Kang Xiao, Xing Zheng, and Qing Ding
Natural aquatic environments: Drs Yingxun Du and Kang Xiao

Topic Editor Prof Xing Zheng received financial support from Winlife Group and Power China Northwest Engineering Corporation Limited. The other Topic Editors declare no competing interests with regard to the Research Topic subject.

Keywords: dissolved organic matter, DOM, aquatic environment, water treatment, wastewater treatment, chemical structure, chemical treatment, biological reaction, instrumental analysis, mathematical model, spectroscopy, temporal variation, spatial heterogeneity, statistical analysis

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