ijerph-logo

Journal Browser

Journal Browser

Green Functional Materials R&D and Ecological Risk Assessment in Environmental and Ecological Restoration: Opportunities and Challenges

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Science and Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (29 March 2023) | Viewed by 9061

Special Issue Editors

College of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310063, China
Interests: single-atom catalysts; CO2 conversion; CH4 partial oxidation; emission control
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
College of Resources, Environment and Materials, Guangxi University, 100 University Ave. E., Nanning 530004, China
Interests: construction of environmental-friendly materials and effective disposal of refractory pollutants

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This special issue intends to summarize the achievements and recent progress in Functional Materials, Ecological Risk Assessment are welcome, including but not limited to the following topics:

  • Recent progresses in the synthesis of single/dimeric atom catalysts for NOx reduction;
  • Recent progresses in the synthesis of three-way catalysts for low-temperature reduction of NOx;
  • Advances in the characterizations of catalysts and reaction mechanisms for deNOx reactions by using in-situ and operando approaches;
  • The recent investigations on the interface chemistry and synergetic effect of catalysts in NOx reduction;
  • Recent advances in computational research for NOx reduction research.
  • The passive NOx adsorption technology for low temperature reduction of NOx;
  • Studies on the decay and deactivation of catalytic activities in presence of sulfur and moisture;
  • Recent developments in the regeneration of catalysts for DeNOx;
  • Refractory pollutants removal;
  • Adsorption;
  • Advanced oxidation;
  • Biological treatment;
  • Construction of functional materials;
  • Removal mechanism and degradation pathway;
  • Separation and cyclic utilization.
  • Interactions of emerging contaminants and water ecosystem;
  • Ecological effects of pollutant source;
  • Future perspectives for health effects of pollutants;
  • Role of risk assessment in river basin management.

Dr. Pengfei Xie
Dr. Hanbing Zhang
Prof. Dr. Jin Wu
Guest Editors

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. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2500 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

  • refractory pollutants
  • functional materials
  • human health risk assessment
  • NOx elimination
  • selective catalytic reduction

Published Papers (6 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

11 pages, 3224 KiB  
Article
Analysis of the Degradation of OCPs Contaminated Soil by the BC/nZVI Combined with Indigenous Microorganisms
by Qun Li, Lei Zhang, Jinzhong Wan, Tingting Fan, Shaopo Deng, Yan Zhou and Yue He
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(5), 4314; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20054314 - 28 Feb 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1120
Abstract
Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) were typical persistent organic pollutants that posed great hazards and high risks in soil. In this study, a peanut shell biochar-loaded nano zero-valent iron (BC/nZVI) material was prepared in combination with soil indigenous microorganisms to enhance the degradation of α-hexachlorocyclohexane(α-HCH) [...] Read more.
Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) were typical persistent organic pollutants that posed great hazards and high risks in soil. In this study, a peanut shell biochar-loaded nano zero-valent iron (BC/nZVI) material was prepared in combination with soil indigenous microorganisms to enhance the degradation of α-hexachlorocyclohexane(α-HCH) and γ-hexachlorocyclohexane(γ-HCH) in water and soil. The effects of BC/nZVI on indigenous microorganisms in soil were investigated based on the changes in redox potential and dehydrogenase activity in the soil. The results showed as follows: (1) The specific surface area of peanut shell biochar loaded with nano-zero-valent iron was large, and the nano-zero-valent iron particles were evenly distributed on the peanut shell biochar; (2) peanut shell BC/nZVI had a good degradation effect on α-HCH and γ-HCH in water, with degradation rates of 64.18% for α-HCH and 91.87% for γ-HCH in 24 h; (3) peanut shell BC/nZVI also had a good degradation effect on α-HCH and γ-HCH in soil, and the degradation rates of α-HCH and γ-HCH in the 1% BC/nZVI reached 55.2% and 85.4%, second only to 1% zero-valent iron. The degradation rate was the fastest from 0 to 7 days, while the soil oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) increased sharply. (4) The addition of BC/nZVI to the soil resulted in a significant increase in dehydrogenase activity, which further promoted the degradation of HCHs; the amount of HCHs degradation was significantly negatively correlated with dehydrogenase activity. This study provides a remediation strategy for HCH-contaminated sites, reducing the human health risk of HCHs in the soil while helping to improve the soil and increase the activity of soil microorganisms. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

11 pages, 604 KiB  
Article
Study on Risk Assessment Methods and Zoning of Hazardous Chemicals Leaking into Seas
by Jiangyue Wu, Guodong Xu, Haoshuang Guo, Yao Zhang, Fang Xia and Gang Fang
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(22), 14713; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192214713 - 09 Nov 2022
Viewed by 1146
Abstract
In China, studies on the regional risk assessment of hazardous chemicals have been carried out for only a few years, and there are few studies on hazardous chemicals leaking into seas. Previous regional-risk-assessment methods considered a single risk factor for most assessment targets, [...] Read more.
In China, studies on the regional risk assessment of hazardous chemicals have been carried out for only a few years, and there are few studies on hazardous chemicals leaking into seas. Previous regional-risk-assessment methods considered a single risk factor for most assessment targets, and comprehensive considerations of risk sources and sensitive resources for a study area are not sufficiently included. Based on previous work, this study established a regional-risk-assessment method for hazardous chemicals leaking into seas. This method considered the hazards of hazardous chemicals and the tolerance of the regional environment by means of a case study in Tianjin. The results showed that the risk level of the enterprise was Grade I, classified as a high-risk source of hazardous chemicals; the main reasons were the strong toxicity and large quantity of hazardous chemicals. This method provides technical support for scientifically assessing marine-environmental-risk levels for hazardous-chemical-leakage areas and for carrying out risk-prevention and restoration assessments of hazardous chemicals leaking into seas. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

20 pages, 5566 KiB  
Article
Comprehensive Ecological Risk Assessment of Heavy Metals Based on Species Sensitivity Distribution in Aquatic of Coastal Areas in Hong Kong
by Shaowei Rong, Jin Wu, Xiaoyuan Cao and Yue Sun
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(20), 13376; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192013376 - 17 Oct 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 1646
Abstract
In recent decades, the ecological environment of some coastal areas in China has been seriously affected by terrestrial pollutants, and there is an urgent need for ecological risk assessment of China’s coastal environment. The assessment of heavy metal pollution in Hong Kong waters [...] Read more.
In recent decades, the ecological environment of some coastal areas in China has been seriously affected by terrestrial pollutants, and there is an urgent need for ecological risk assessment of China’s coastal environment. The assessment of heavy metal pollution in Hong Kong waters was carried out using different environmental and ecological indicators. The heavy metal contents (Cu, Pb, Zn, Cd, As, Cr, and Hg) in the near coast of Hong Kong were analyzed for two different seasons of the year 2018 (April—spring and September—autumn). We assessed the distribution and enrichment of heavy metals in the near coast of Hong Kong, and the potential biohazardous effects were assessed using the species sensitivity distribution method. The results showed that only Pb, Zn, and Hg in seawater exceeded the Class I standard. Pb, Zn, Cd, and As in organisms exceeded the standard, and no heavy metals exceeded the standard in sediments. The species sensitivity distribution method indicated that the biohazardous factor of heavy metals of the Hong Kong coast is higher in spring than in autumn, and the potential hazard ratio has the characteristics of high northwest and low southeast, which leads to its msPAF also having these characteristics. From the correlational analyses among heavy metals, we found that the pH change in seawater was related to the concentration of heavy metals, the concentration of heavy metals in seawater was proportional to the salinity of seawater, Pb and Cu were likely to have the same source, and Zn and Cd may not have the same emission sources as the other heavy metals. Overall, heavy metal contamination of seawater, sediments, and organisms near the Hong Kong coast was within acceptable limits, but the problem of heavy metal dispersion should be prevented. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

14 pages, 2528 KiB  
Article
Spatio-Temporal Variations of Zooplankton and Correlations with Environmental Parameters around Tiaowei Island, Fujian, China
by Zhi Zhang, Zhizhou Shi, Zefeng Yu, Konglin Zhou, Jing Lin, Jiangyue Wu and Jingli Mu
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(19), 12731; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191912731 - 05 Oct 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1315
Abstract
The present study illustrates zooplankton dynamics in relation to environmental factors from the surrounding area of Tiaowei Island based on ten seasonal sampling cruises over three years. A total of 116 species of zooplankton were collected with a predominance of Copepoda (mainly consisting [...] Read more.
The present study illustrates zooplankton dynamics in relation to environmental factors from the surrounding area of Tiaowei Island based on ten seasonal sampling cruises over three years. A total of 116 species of zooplankton were collected with a predominance of Copepoda (mainly consisting of Centropagidae, Oithonidae, Acartia, Labidocera and Paracalanus), accounting for 31.6 % of the total number of species. The diversity indices indicated a relatively high richness, abundance and evenness of zooplankton ranging from 2.794 to 4.012 on the Shannon–Wiener index for each cruise. More than 20 species of Cnidaria medusae are found as gelatinous organisms, which not only compete with fish but also potentially cause disasters. Significant seasonal variations were detected in both the zooplankton structure and environmental variables. NMDS illustrated a highly overlapping community structure in spring, autumn and winter, while the zooplankton composition in the summer was different from that of the other three seasons with a higher diversity index. Meanwhile, out of thirteen environmental parameters, eight varied significantly among seasons but there were no significant variations among stations. The biota–environmental relationship following a redundancy analysis revealed that water temperature, pH, salinity, dissolved oxygen and suspended particulate composition were the main environmental parameters, seasonally impacting the zooplankton communities. Planktonic larvae (such as nauplius larvae and branchyura zoea) and some zooplankton (including Corophium sinensis and Oithonasimilis) were significantly vulnerable to the dynamics of suspended particulate composition and water temperature. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

11 pages, 1605 KiB  
Article
Derivation of Water Quality Criteria for Carbamazepine and Ecological Risk Assessment in the Nansi Lake Basin
by Jiangyue Wu, Dianlong Shi, Sai Wang, Xi Yang, Hui Zhang, Ting Zhang, Lei Zheng and Yizhang Zhang
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(17), 10875; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191710875 - 31 Aug 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1467
Abstract
Carbamazepine, as one of several pharmaceutical and personal care products, has gained much attention in recent years because of its continuous discharge in natural waters and toxicity to aquatic ecosystems. However, it is difficult to evaluate and manage carbamazepine pollution because of the [...] Read more.
Carbamazepine, as one of several pharmaceutical and personal care products, has gained much attention in recent years because of its continuous discharge in natural waters and toxicity to aquatic ecosystems. However, it is difficult to evaluate and manage carbamazepine pollution because of the lack of a rational and scientific Water Quality Criteria (WQC) of carbamazepine. In this study, the carbamazepine toxicity data of thirty-five aquatic species from eight taxonomic groups were selected, and the species sensitivity distribution (SSD) method was applied to derive the WQC for carbamazepine based on the Log-logistic model, which was 18.4 ng/L. Meanwhile, the occurrence and distribution of carbamazepine in the Nansi Lake basin was studied. Results showed that concentrations of carbamazepine in 29 sampling sites were in the range of 3.3 to 128.2 ng/L, with the mean of 17.3 ng/L. In general, the levels of carbamazepine in tributaries were higher than those in the lakes. In addition, qualitative and quantitative ecological risk assessment methods were applied to assess the adverse effect of carbamazepine on aquatic systems. The hazard quotient (HQ) method showed that there were 24 and 5 sampling sites, in which risk levels were low and moderate, respectively. The joint probability curve (JPC) method indicated that ecological risks might exist in 1.4% and 1.0% of surface water, while a 5% threshold and 1% threshold were set up to protect aquatic species, respectively. Generally, carbamazepine posed a low risk to the aquatic organisms in the Nansi Lake basin. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

7 pages, 527 KiB  
Article
Use of Interspecies Correlation Estimation (ICE) Models to Derive Water Quality Criteria of Microplastics for Protecting Aquatic Organisms
by Jiangyue Wu, Xiaohui Zhao, Lin Gao, Yan Li and Dan Wang
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(16), 10307; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191610307 - 19 Aug 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1464
Abstract
Microplastics (MPs) in the water environment pose a potential threat to aquatic organisms. The Species Sensitivity Distribution (SSD) method was used to assess the ecological risks of microplastics on aquatic organisms in this study. However, the limited toxicity data of aquatic organisms made [...] Read more.
Microplastics (MPs) in the water environment pose a potential threat to aquatic organisms. The Species Sensitivity Distribution (SSD) method was used to assess the ecological risks of microplastics on aquatic organisms in this study. However, the limited toxicity data of aquatic organisms made it impossible to derive water quality criteria (WQC) for MPs and difficult to implement an accurately ecological risk assessment. To solve the data gaps, the USEPA established the interspecies correlation estimation (ICE) model, which could predict toxicity data to a wider range of aquatic organisms and could also be utilized to develop SSD and HC5 (hazardous concentration, 5th percentile). Herein, we collected the acute toxicity data of 11 aquatic species from 10 families in 5 phyla to fit the metrical-based SSDs, meanwhile generating the ICE-based-SSDs using three surrogate species (Oncorhynchus mykiss, Hyalella Azteca, and Daphnia magna), and finally compared the above SSDs, as well as the corresponding HC5. The results showed that the measured HC5 for acute MPs toxicity data was 112.3 μg/L, and ICE-based HC5 was 167.2 μg/L, which indicated there were no significant differences between HC5 derived from measured acute and ICE-based predicted values thus the ICE model was verified as a valid approach for generating SSDs with limited toxicity data and deriving WQC for MPs. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop