Introduction
Heavy metal and nutrient pollution remains a major environmental challenge affecting freshwater, coastal, marine, and wastewater systems worldwide. Excessive inputs of metals such as lead, cadmium, chromium, arsenic, mercury, copper, and zinc, as well as nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen, can degrade water quality, disrupt aquatic ecosystems, and pose serious risks to human health. In response, carbon-based materials have gained increasing attention as efficient, low-cost, and sustainable adsorbents for water and wastewater treatment.
This thematic issue aims to bring together recent advances in the development, modification, characterization, and application of carbon-based materials for the removal of heavy metals and nutrients from contaminated water systems. Particular attention will be given to biochar, activated carbon, carbon nanotubes, graphene-based materials, hydrochar, and other engineered carbonaceous adsorbents derived from agricultural, industrial, and biological wastes. The issue will also highlight adsorption mechanisms, regeneration potential, environmental safety, cost-effectiveness, life-cycle considerations, and practical applications at laboratory, pilot, and field scales.
By compiling original research articles, reviews, and case studies, this thematic issue will provide a platform for researchers to share innovative approaches for improving pollutant removal efficiency while promoting circular economy principles. The collection is expected to contribute to the advancement of sustainable water treatment technologies and support global efforts toward environmental protection, resource recovery, and safe water management.
Keywords
Nutrients, Carbon based materails, Graphene, Biochar, Activated carbon, Carbon nanotube, Adsorption, Coagulations, Catalysis, Membrane filteration, Heavy Metals
Sub-topics
- Biochar
and modified biochar for heavy metal, nutrient, pharmaceutical, and
emerging contaminant removal
- Activated
carbon, hydrochar, graphene-based materials, carbon nanotubes, and
engineered carbon materials for water and wastewater treatment
- Removal
of heavy metals and metalloids, including lead, cadmium, chromium,
arsenic, mercury, copper, zinc, nickel, cobalt, manganese, iron, aluminum,
selenium, antimony, vanadium, thallium, uranium, and other trace elements
- Removal
of nutrient pollutants, including phosphate, nitrate, nitrite, ammonium,
total nitrogen, and total phosphorus
- Removal
of pharmaceutical pollutants, including amoxicillin, ciprofloxacin,
tetracycline, sulfamethoxazole, erythromycin, trimethoprim, paracetamol,
ibuprofen, diclofenac, naproxen, carbamazepine, fluoxetine, sertraline,
venlafaxine, atenolol, propranolol, metoprolol, metformin, acyclovir,
triclosan, estrone, 17-estradiol, and 17-ethinylestradiol
- Removal
of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, dyes, phenols,
surfactants, petroleum hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons,
volatile organic compounds, endocrine-disrupting chemicals, PFAS,
microplastics, nanoplastics, cyanotoxins, and radionuclides
- Carbon-based
materials for pathogen removal, antibiotic-resistant bacteria control, and
antibiotic-resistance gene reduction
- Adsorption
kinetics, adsorption isotherms, thermodynamics, and mechanistic studies
- Surface
complexation, ion exchange, precipitation, electrostatic interaction,
redox transformation, catalytic degradation, and pore-filling mechanisms
- Surface
functionalization and chemical modification of carbon-based adsorbents
- Magnetic,
metal-doped, clay-modified, acid-treated, alkali-treated, steam-activated,
and chemically activated carbon materials
- Use
of agricultural, industrial, municipal, biological, aquatic, and forestry
wastes as precursor materials
- Carbon-based
materials from rice husk, rice straw, coconut shell, sawdust, corn cob,
palm kernel shell, banana peel, sugarcane bagasse, sewage sludge, manure,
algae, and other biomass wastes
- Integration
of carbon-based materials with adsorption, filtration,
coagulation-flocculation, precipitation, membrane separation,
electrochemical treatment, photocatalysis, and advanced oxidation
processes
- Hybrid
systems combining carbon materials with biological treatment, constructed
wetlands, phytoremediation, microbial remediation, and membrane
bioreactors
- Carbon-based
materials for industrial wastewater, municipal wastewater, hospital
wastewater, agricultural runoff, landfill leachate, mining wastewater,
stormwater, aquaculture wastewater, and drinking water treatment
- Regeneration,
reuse, desorption behavior, and long-term stability of carbon-based
adsorbents
- Toxicity
evaluation, environmental risk assessment, and secondary pollution
concerns
- Field-scale
and pilot-scale applications of carbon-based treatment systems
- Cost
analysis, techno-economic assessment, sustainability assessment, and
life-cycle evaluation
- Resource
recovery, nutrient recovery, water reuse, circular economy, and
waste-to-adsorbent approaches
- Modeling,
optimization, machine learning, and artificial intelligence applications
in carbon-based water and wastewater treatment
