Water-Energy-Environment Nexus – 3rd Volume

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2023) | Viewed by 2990

Special Issue Editor

Department of Biological Sciences, Nicolls State University, 114 Gouaux Hall, Thibodaux, LA 70310, USA
Interests: bioremediation of hazardous chemicals; biofuel; biological treatment of wastewater; antibiotics and nanoparticles in the environment; anaerobic digestion
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The water-energy-environment nexus (WEEN) represents important interstate connections of water, energy, and the environment, as security in water, energy, and the environment is associated with human, economic, and environmental sustainability. This interweaving is strengthening under aggregating natural resource scarcity and climate change. An understanding of the difficulties of these complex relationships is necessary to balance the needs of diverse stakeholders, local and international policy decisions, and to protect valuable resources regarding the management of water, energy, and the environment. Recently developed, highly efficient technologies for water, sustainable energy, and environmental interconnection, as well as future energy-efficient possibilities to save energy and protect the environment, are urgently needed to achieve sustainable development. Recognizing the critical need to focus on sustainability in WEEN, an appropriately themed Special Issue on the water, energy, and environment nexus and the related potential fields of biodeterioration and biodegradation would be of great interest to the community of modern engineering science.

This Special Issue intends to publish selected quality papers in water, energy, and the environment, as well as new methodologies aimed at improving the current state-of-the-art technologies in the fields of water, energy, environment, and the related potential fields of biodeterioration and biodegradation. All submitted articles suitable for the water-energy-environment nexus will be subjected to rigorous peer review to ensure the highest levels of quality, and the review process will be carried out as quickly as possible.

The topics include but are not limited to:

Water

  • Advanced membrane technologies and processes in drinking water, desalination, and wastewater treatment;
  • Watershed management strategies for green growth;
  • Water and wastewater treatment;
  • Seawater desalination;
  • Potable water treatment and ground water quality;
  • Water reuse;
  • Hybrid treatment systems;
  • Municipal and industrial effluent treatment;
  • Urban management in water use, infrastructure, planning, and reuse of water resources;
  • Advanced oxidation processes;
  • Emerging technologies for nutrient and carbon recovery from water and wastewater;
  • Emerging contaminants: pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), microplastics, and antibiotic resistance;
  • Environmental protection and pollution prevention from industrial effluent contaminants;
  • Nanotechnology for water, seawater desalination, and wastewater treatment.

Energy

  • Development of new alternative fuels, biofuels, and energy processing technologies;
  • New developments in microalgae for biofuels, value-added products, and energy production;
  • Improved physical and chemical properties of alternative fuels, energy, and renewable resources;
  • Development of bioreactors for waste-to-energy conversion technologies;
  • Novel feedstocks and pathways for biofuel and energy production;
  • Application of nanocatalysts and biochar for enhanced biofuel and energy production;
  • Conversion of gaseous pollutants to biofuels and energy;
  • Waste management: systems and processes for energy and material recovery;
  • Biomass processes and biofuels;
  • Nanotechnology for energy, fuel production, conversion, and storage;
  • Pathways towards integrated and sustainable biorefinery.

Environment

  • Risk assessment and environmental analysis: human and ecological risk assessment, environmental prediction and risk analysis/assessment strategies, life cycle analysis;
  • Environmental modeling and simulation;
  • Waste minimization: waste treatment and disposal;
  • Landfill and waste repository design, operation, and management;
  • Land remediation and recovery;
  • Tools, techniques, and technologies for air pollution prevention and treatment;
  • Environmental pollution, air pollutants, and human health impacts;
  • Bioremediation of contaminated lands, soil chemistry, and amendments;
  • Sustainable consumption and green practices;
  • Wetland ecosystems;
  • Greenhouse gases and management;
  • Biochar production: characterization and applications, pre- and post-processing, handling, storage, commercialization, and co-products (bio-oil and gas);
  • Fate and transport of emerging contaminants in soil;
  • Carbon dioxide capture and sequestration.

Prof. Dr. Ramaraj Boopathy
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • biofuel
  • wastewater treatment
  • bioremediation
  • anaerobic digestion
  • biodegradation

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 2003 KiB  
Article
Advanced Control by Reinforcement Learning for Wastewater Treatment Plants: A Comparison with Traditional Approaches
by Félix Hernández-del-Olmo, Elena Gaudioso, Natividad Duro, Raquel Dormido and Mikel Gorrotxategi
Appl. Sci. 2023, 13(8), 4752; https://doi.org/10.3390/app13084752 - 10 Apr 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1425
Abstract
Control mechanisms for biological treatment of wastewater treatment plants are mostly based on PIDS. However, their performance is far from optimal due to the high non-linearity of the biological and changing processes involved. Therefore, more advanced control techniques are proposed in the literature [...] Read more.
Control mechanisms for biological treatment of wastewater treatment plants are mostly based on PIDS. However, their performance is far from optimal due to the high non-linearity of the biological and changing processes involved. Therefore, more advanced control techniques are proposed in the literature (e.g., using artificial intelligence techniques). However, these new control techniques have not been compared to the traditional approaches that are actually being used in real plants. To this end, in this paper, we present a comparison of the PID control configurations currently applied to control the dissolved oxygen concentration (in the active sludge process) against a reinforcement learning agent. Our results show that it is possible to have a very competitive operating cost budget when these innovative techniques are applied. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water-Energy-Environment Nexus – 3rd Volume)
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15 pages, 9934 KiB  
Article
A Comparative Study of the Treatment Efficiency of Floating and Constructed Wetlands for the Bioremediation of Phenanthrene-Contaminated Water
by Iqra Asghar, Salman Younus, Ejazul Islam, Samina Iqbal, Muhammad Afzal, Ramaraj Boopathy, Mahwish Amin, Ebtihaj J. Jambi and Muhammad Aamer Mehmood
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(23), 12122; https://doi.org/10.3390/app122312122 - 27 Nov 2022
Viewed by 1205
Abstract
Employing floating treatment wetlands (FTWs) and constructed wetlands (CWs) is one of the most eco-friendly strategies for the bioremediation of water contaminants. Here, the efficiency of FTWs and CWs was compared for the degradation of phenanthrene-contaminated water for the first time. The FTWs [...] Read more.
Employing floating treatment wetlands (FTWs) and constructed wetlands (CWs) is one of the most eco-friendly strategies for the bioremediation of water contaminants. Here, the efficiency of FTWs and CWs was compared for the degradation of phenanthrene-contaminated water for the first time. The FTWs and CWs were established by vegetated Phragmites australis in phenanthrene (1000 mg L−1)-contaminated water. Both wetlands were augmented with a bacterial consortium of four bacterial strains: Burkholderia phytofirmans PsJN, Pseudomonas anguiliseptica ITRI53, Arthrobacter oxydans ITRH49, and Achromobacter xylosoxidans ITSI70. Overall, the wetlands removed 91–93% of the phenanthrene whilst the augmentation of the bacterial strains had a synergistic effect. In comparison, the CWs showed a better treatment efficiency, with a 93% reduction in phenanthrene, a 91.7% reduction in the chemical oxygen demand, an 89% reduction in the biochemical oxygen demand, and a 100% reduction in toxicity. The inoculated bacteria were found growing in the shoots, roots, and water of both wetlands, but were comparatively better adapted to the CWs when compared with the FTWs. Similarly, the plants vegetated in the CWs exhibited better growth than that observed in the FTWs. This study revealed that the FTWs and CWs vegetated with P. australis both had promising potential for the cost-effective bioremediation of phenanthrene-contaminated water. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water-Energy-Environment Nexus – 3rd Volume)
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