About this Research Topic
Environmental pollution from industrial processes has become a growing global concern. Nowadays, each of us breathes air that contains high levels of pollutants, and, at the same time, water resources are often critically polluted by inorganic and organic compounds. Consequently, air and water pollution remain a critical environmental and public health issue worldwide.
Heavy metals, for example, represent one of the most dangerous and abundant sources of contamination: even if their presence in small amounts is essential for the development of animals and plants, at higher concentrations they are toxic and can cause several adverse effects on human health. Organic pollutants also represent a broad class of contaminants, deriving from various industrial activities, and often having a long persistence time in the ecosphere. Once released in gaseous or liquid streams, such substances can undergo several chemical and/or physical transformations that further worsen their removal from the environment.
At present, the consolidated treatment technologies hardly meet the increasingly stringent quality requirements. Moreover, they can be energy or material intensive, or can still produce waste, even if not hazardous ones. This pushes the scientific community towards the development of novel materials and processes with higher efficiency and lower costs. In this frame, the possibility to produce functional materials for environmental remediation starting from industrial waste appears extremely interesting, together with the opportunity to recover the removed contaminants and reintroduce them in the supply chain, in line with the circular economy paradigm.
This Research Topic aims to explore and develop novel and advanced materials that can be applied to address the concerns of air and water pollution. The main objectives include synthesizing and characterizing new materials, developing innovative environmental remediation processes, and finding novel routes for the recovery and reuse of pollutants. Additionally, the research will test hypotheses related to the efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and environmental impact of these new materials and processes.
To gather further insights into the boundaries of novel materials for water and air remediation, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:
- Synthesis and characterization of novel materials for water and air remediation
- Novel environmental remediation processes
- Novel routes for the recovery and reuse of pollutants
- Life Cycle Assessment of functional materials for environmental remediation
Heavy metals, for example, represent one of the most dangerous and abundant sources of contamination: even if their presence in small amounts is essential for the development of animals and plants, at higher concentrations they are toxic and can cause several adverse effects on human health. Organic pollutants also represent a broad class of contaminants, deriving from various industrial activities, and often having a long persistence time in the ecosphere. Once released in gaseous or liquid streams, such substances can undergo several chemical and/or physical transformations that further worsen their removal from the environment.
At present, the consolidated treatment technologies hardly meet the increasingly stringent quality requirements. Moreover, they can be energy or material intensive, or can still produce waste, even if not hazardous ones. This pushes the scientific community towards the development of novel materials and processes with higher efficiency and lower costs. In this frame, the possibility to produce functional materials for environmental remediation starting from industrial waste appears extremely interesting, together with the opportunity to recover the removed contaminants and reintroduce them in the supply chain, in line with the circular economy paradigm.
This Research Topic aims to explore and develop novel and advanced materials that can be applied to address the concerns of air and water pollution. The main objectives include synthesizing and characterizing new materials, developing innovative environmental remediation processes, and finding novel routes for the recovery and reuse of pollutants. Additionally, the research will test hypotheses related to the efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and environmental impact of these new materials and processes.
To gather further insights into the boundaries of novel materials for water and air remediation, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:
- Synthesis and characterization of novel materials for water and air remediation
- Novel environmental remediation processes
- Novel routes for the recovery and reuse of pollutants
- Life Cycle Assessment of functional materials for environmental remediation
Keywords: Environmental pollution, Industrial processes, Air pollution, Water pollution, Heavy metals, Organic pollutants, Environmental remediation, Novel materials, Life Cycle Assessment
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.
