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Materials
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Waste-to-Resource in the Ecological Transition: Opportunities and Challenges
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Waste-to-Resource in the Ecological Transition: Opportunities and Challenges

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Advanced Composites".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 July 2024 | Viewed by 5032

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Francesco Todaro

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Guest Editor
Department of Civil, Environmental, Land, Building Engineering and Chemistry (DICATECh), Polytechnic University of Bari, Via E. Orabona n. 4, 70125 Bari, Italy
Interests: environmental technologies; sustainable materials for environmental remediation; waste and wastewater recovery and recycle; waste characterization and management; recycled waste in the building materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Andrea Petrella

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Guest Editor
Department of Civil, Environmental, Land, Building Engineering and Chemistry, Polytechnic University of Bari, Via E. Orabona, 4, 70125 Bari, Italy
Interests: material recycling; inorganic compounds; wastewater treatment; photocatalytic materials; biopersistent pollutants; nanocomposites
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Michele Notarnicola

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Guest Editor
Department of Civil, Environmental, Land, Building Engineering and Chemistry (DICATECh), Polytechnic University of Bari, Via E. Orabona n. 4, 70125 Bari, Italy
Interests: air monitoring; health and environmental risk analysis; innovative materials for environmental applications; remediation of contaminated sites; waste management; wastewater reuse
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The waste-to-resource approach is a key element of the ecological transition.

In terms of waste policy, the Sustainable Development Goals aim to contribute to the circular economy by extracting as much high-quality resources as possible from waste.

Resources are becoming scarcer and more expensive, and need to be used less and more efficiently. Moreover, the rapidly increasing quantities of waste generated are a primary environmental concern. In this context, many developed countries are looking for innovative and sustainable methods for producing novel materials from solid waste. Examples are cement-based composite materials produced using inexpensive and readily available materials from municipal, industrial and agricultural solid waste as secondary raw materials.

In this Special Issue, authors are actively invited to submit their papers covering high-quality and novel research, as well as review studies regarding the conversion of waste into resources with specific reference to the recycling and reuse of materials in the field of civil and environmental engineering. Possible topics include, but are not limited to, the following: a) lab-, pilot-, or full-scale applications for waste recycling; b) sustainable technologies for the conversion of solid waste into resources; c) the valorisation of wastes into green materials; and d) environmental analyses using the life cycle assessment for resource recovery processes from solid waste.

Dr. Francesco Todaro
Prof. Dr. Andrea Petrella
Prof. Dr. Michele Notarnicola
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. Materials 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 2600 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

  • recycled materials
  • waste management
  • sustainability
  • civil engineering
  • environmental engineering
  • life cycle assessment
  • green materials

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 3478 KiB  
Article
Recycling of Contaminated Marine Sediment and Industrial By-Products through Combined Stabilization/Solidification and Granulation Treatment
by Francesco Todaro, Francesco Colangelo, Sabino De Gisi, Ilenia Farina, Claudio Ferone, Claudia Labianca, Andrea Petrella, Raffaele Cioffi and Michele Notarnicola
Materials 2023, 16(6), 2399; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16062399 - 17 Mar 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1407
Abstract
Stabilization/solidification (S/S) is becoming increasingly important, as it allows the remediation of contaminated sediments and their recovery into materials for civil engineering. This research proposes a cement-free cold granulation process for manufactured low-cost aggregates from marine sediments contaminated with organic compounds and metals. [...] Read more.
Stabilization/solidification (S/S) is becoming increasingly important, as it allows the remediation of contaminated sediments and their recovery into materials for civil engineering. This research proposes a cement-free cold granulation process for manufactured low-cost aggregates from marine sediments contaminated with organic compounds and metals. After the chemo-physical characterization of the study materials, two mix designs were prepared in a rotary plate granulator by adding two industrial by-products as geopolymer precursors, coal fly ash (CFA) and Blast Furnace Slag (BFS), but also alkaline activation solutions, water, and a fluidizer. The results indicated that sediments treated with mix 1 (i.e., with a higher percentage of water and fluidifier) represent the optimal solution in terms of metal leachability. The metal leachability was strictly influenced by aggregates’ porosity, density, and microstructure. The technical performance (such as the aggregate impact value > 30%) suggested the use of granules as lightweight aggregates for pavement construction. The results indicated that cold granulation represents a sustainable solution to recycling contaminated marine sediments, CFA, and BFS into lightweight artificial aggregates. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Waste-to-Resource in the Ecological Transition: Opportunities and Challenges)
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12 pages, 8663 KiB  
Article
Environmental Sustainable Cement Mortars Based on Polyethylene Terephthalate from Recycling Operations
by Francesco Todaro, Andrea Petrella, Giusy Santomasi, Sabino De Gisi and Michele Notarnicola
Materials 2023, 16(5), 2111; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16052111 - 06 Mar 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1664
Abstract
The building and construction industry is a key sector behind the ecological transition in that it is one of the main responsible factors in the consumption of natural resources. Thus, in line with circular economy, the use of waste aggregates in mortars is [...] Read more.
The building and construction industry is a key sector behind the ecological transition in that it is one of the main responsible factors in the consumption of natural resources. Thus, in line with circular economy, the use of waste aggregates in mortars is a possible solution to increase the sustainability of cement materials. In the present paper, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) from bottle scraps (without chemical pretreatment) was used as aggregate in cement mortars to replace conventional sand aggregate (20%, 50% and 80% by weight). The fresh and hardened properties of the innovative mixtures proposed were evaluated through a multiscale physical-mechanical investigation. The main results of this study show the feasibility of the reuse of PET waste aggregates as substitutes for natural aggregates in mortars. The mixtures with bare PET resulted in less fluid than the specimens with sand; this was ascribed to the higher volume of the recycled aggregates with respect to sand. Moreover, PET mortars showed a high tensile strength and energy absorption capacity (with Rf = 1.9 ÷ 3.3 MPa, Rc = 6 ÷ 13 MPa); instead, sand samples were characterized by a brittle rupture. The lightweight specimens showed a thermal insulation increase ranging 65–84% with respect to the reference; the best results were obtained with 800 g of PET aggregate, characterized by a decrease in conductivity of approximately 86% concerning the control. The properties of these environmentally sustainable composite materials may be suitable for non-structural insulating artifacts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Waste-to-Resource in the Ecological Transition: Opportunities and Challenges)
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20 pages, 3614 KiB  
Article
Potential of Biochar from Wood Gasification to Retain Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals
by Claudia Carnimeo, Nicola Colatorti, Valeria D’Orazio, Pasquale Trotti and Elisabetta Loffredo
Materials 2023, 16(2), 569; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16020569 - 06 Jan 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1292
Abstract
In this study, a biochar obtained from poplar wood gasification at a temperature of 850 °C was used to adsorb the xenoestrogens 4-tert-octylphenol (OP) and bisphenol A (BPA) and the herbicide metribuzin from water. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDX) and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy [...] Read more.
In this study, a biochar obtained from poplar wood gasification at a temperature of 850 °C was used to adsorb the xenoestrogens 4-tert-octylphenol (OP) and bisphenol A (BPA) and the herbicide metribuzin from water. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDX) and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy were employed to investigate the surface micromorphology and functional groups composition of biochar, respectively. The study of sorption kinetics showed that all compounds achieved the steady state in less than 2 h, according to a pseudo-second order model, which denoted the formation of strong bonds (chemisorption) between biochar and the compounds. Adsorption isotherms data were described by the Henry, Freundlich, Langmuir and Temkin equations. At temperatures of 10 and 30 °C, the equilibrium data of the compounds were generally better described by the Freundlich model, although, in some cases, high correlation coefficients (r ≥ 0.98) were obtained for more than one model. Freundlich constants, KF, for OP, BPA and metribuzin were, respectively, 218, 138 and 4 L g−1 at 10 °C and 295, 243 and 225 L g−1 at 30 °C, indicating a general increase of adsorption at higher temperature. Desorption of all compounds, especially OP and BPA, from biochar was slow and very scarce, denoting an irreversible and hysteretic process. Comparing the results of this study with those reported in the literature, we can conclude that the present biochar has a surprising ability to retain organic compounds almost permanently, thus behaving as an excellent low-cost biosorbent. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Waste-to-Resource in the Ecological Transition: Opportunities and Challenges)
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