Recent advances in waste-derived functional materials for wastewater remediation

Water pollution is a major concern for public health and a sustainable future.It is urgent to purify wastewater with effective methods to ensure a clean water supply.Most wastewater remediation techniques rely heavily on functional materials,and cost-effective materials are thus highly favorable.Of great environmental and economic significance,developing waste-derived materials for wastewater remediation has undergone explosive growth recently.Herein,the applications of waste(e.g.,biowastes,electronic wastes,and industrial wastes)-derived materials for wastewater purification are comprehensively reviewed.Sophisticated strategies for turning wastes into functional materials are firstly summarized,including pyrolysis and combustion,hydrothermal synthesis,sol–gel method,co-precipitation,and ball milling.Moreover,critical experimental parameters within different design strategies are discussed.Afterward,recent applications of waste-derived functional materials in adsorption,photocatalytic degradation,electrochemical treatment,and advanced oxidation processes(AOPs)are analyzed.We mainly focus on the development of efficient functional materials via regulating the internal and external characteristics of waste-derived materials,and the material’s property-performance correlation is also emphasized.Finally,the key future perspectives in the field of waste-derived materials-driven water remediation are highlighted.

A review on treatment of disinfection byproduct precursors by biological activated carbon process

Disinfection by-products(DBPs)in water systems have attracted increasing attention due to their toxic effects.Removal of precursors(mainly natural organic matter(NOM))prior to the disinfection process has been recognized as the ideal strategy to control the DBP levels.Currently,biological activated carbon(BAC)process is a highly recommended and prevalent process for treatment of DBP precursors in advanced water treatment.This paper first introduces the fundamental knowledge of BAC process,including the history,basic principles,typical process flow,and basic operational parameters.Then,the selection of BAC process for treatment of DBP precursors is explained in detail based on the comparative analysis of dominant water treatment technologies from the aspects of mechanisms for NOM removal as well as the treatability of different groups of DBP precursors.Next,a thorough overview is presented to summarize the recent developments and breakthroughs in the removal of DBP precursors using BAC process,and the contents involved include effect of pre-BAC ozonation,removal performance of various DBP precursors,toxicity risk reduction,fractional analysis of NOM,effect of empty bed contact time(EBCT)and engineered biofiltration.Finally,some recommendations are made to strengthen current research and address the knowledge gaps,including the issues of microbial mechanisms,toxicity evaluation,degradation kinetics and microbial products.