Journal of water process engineering最新文献

{"title":"Thiophosphoryltriamide encapsulated into magnetic MCM-41-NH2 as a novel magnetically recoverable mesoporous adsorbent for Hg2+ removal in wastewater: Crystal structure and molecular calculations","authors":"Hadis Mohammadpour ,&nbsp;Niloufar Dorosti ,&nbsp;Harald Krautscheid ,&nbsp;Rahime Eshaghi Malekshah","doi":"10.1016/j.jwpe.2025.108722","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jwpe.2025.108722","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Water contaminants using heavy metal ions particularly Hg²⁺, due to harmful effects on human health and aquatic ecosystem, are challenging global environmental impact. Hence, the objective of this work is the synthesis of a new absorbent thiophosphoric triamide (PS) decorated on magnetic amine-functionalized mesoporous silica (MCM-41-NH₂) for Hg²⁺ removal. First, HgCl₂[P(S)(C₆H₁₁NH)₃]₂ (C) was synthesized by reaction of mercuric chloride and the thiophosphoric triamide ligand (PS). A distorted tetrahedral geometry surrounding the Hg²⁺ ion was revealed for the obtained complex. Nano-cubic structures of complex and its corresponding ligand (<strong>PS</strong>´ and <strong>Ć</strong>) were prepared with size between 60 and 80 nm at chloroform solvent as well. According to the strong interaction of PS to coordination with mercury (II), a newly thiophosphoryl functionalized magnetic mesoporous silica adsorbent, named Fe₃O₄@MCM-41-NH₂/PS, was synthesized with narrow pore size distribution, high specific surface area, and total pore volume, respectively, 7.726 nm, 93.353 m²/g, and 0.137 cm³/g. Initial concentration of Hg²⁺, adsorbent dosage, pH, temperature, and interfering ions were studied to eliminate Hg²⁺ from aqueous solution. Moreover, the material exhibited excellent recyclability owing to its magnetic properties, facilitating easy separation and reuse. The adsorption behavior of Hg²⁺ onto Fe₃O₄@MCM-41-NH₂/PS was best described by the Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetic models and the maximum adsorption capacity was determined to be 161.29 mg g⁻¹ at pH 8 and the temperature of 25 °C. Further, Monte Carlo simulations exhibited the decisive role of S, O, and NH groups for the elevated adsorption of mercury ions on Fe₃O₄@MCM-41-NH₂/PS in the presence of water.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17528,"journal":{"name":"Journal of water process engineering","volume":"78 ","pages":"Article 108722"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145097070","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Transforming electrolytic manganese residue into Mn₃O₄ via acid activation: Structural evolution and leaching kinetics","authors":"Yaoyu Yan ,&nbsp;Shuchen Sun ,&nbsp;Jing Wei ,&nbsp;A. Shubo ,&nbsp;Faxin Xiao ,&nbsp;Ganfeng Tu","doi":"10.1016/j.jwpe.2025.108768","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jwpe.2025.108768","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Electrolytic manganese residue (EMR), a hazardous solid waste from electrolytic manganese metal (EMM) production, poses serious environmental risks due to its complex mineralogy and heavy metal mobility. However, it also holds potential as a secondary resource. We establish an end-to-end waste-to-materials flowsheet—sulfuric-acid curing → water leaching → impurity removal → one-step conversion—that selectively recovers Mn from EMR and upgrades it to phase-pure, high-value Mn₃O₄ nanomaterials. The effects of curing temperature and acid dosage on the leaching behaviors of Mn, Fe, Al, and Si were systematically investigated. At 240 °C and an acid dosage of 2.5 times the stoichiometric requirement, Mn leaching efficiency reached 95.35 %, while Si leaching remained below 50 % due to silicate encapsulation and gelation. Kinetic modeling using the shrinking core model revealed that Mn dissolution was primarily controlled by product-layer diffusion, with an apparent activation energy of 14–18 kJ·mol⁻¹. FTIR, XRD, SEM–EDS, and BET analyses showed that acid curing disrupted the dense silicate matrix and increased surface area from 9.4 to 55.6 m²·g⁻¹. Mn²⁺ in the purified leachate was directly precipitated and oxidized using an NH₃·H₂O–H₂O₂–EDTA system, producing uniformly sized Mn₃O₄ nanoparticles. Rather than a stand-alone synthesis, the impurity-tolerant process with defined operating windows is the core contribution, with the Mn₃O₄ product validating this waste-to-value pathway. This integrated route offers a scalable framework for hazardous-waste valorization while clarifying sulfuric-acid-curing transformation and leaching kinetics, advancing sustainable metal recovery.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17528,"journal":{"name":"Journal of water process engineering","volume":"78 ","pages":"Article 108768"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145096700","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sustainable wastewater treatment via nitrogen/sulfur co-doped graphene composite: Mechanistic insights & process optimization","authors":"Humaira Seema ,&nbsp;Muhammad Arshad ,&nbsp;Arslan Maqbool ,&nbsp;Sumbal Zeb ,&nbsp;Ali Hamid ,&nbsp;Muhammad Umar ,&nbsp;Sajjad Hussain ,&nbsp;Hammad Khan","doi":"10.1016/j.jwpe.2025.108701","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jwpe.2025.108701","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The persistent discharge of dye-laden industrial effluents poses environmental and health risks due to the toxic, mutagenic, and carcinogenic nature of synthetic dyes. This study reports the synthesis of a nitrogen/sulfur co-doped three-dimensional graphene composite (NSGH) via a simple hydrothermal method for crystal violet (CV) dye removal from aqueous media. Characterization techniques (SEM, XRD, FTIR, EDX) confirmed successful heteroatom incorporation and a porous 3D structure with abundant active sites. Batch adsorption experiments were systematically designed using a Box–Behnken design to investigate the effects of pH, contact time, initial dye concentration, and adsorbent dosage on CV adsorption onto NSGH. Adsorption performance was evaluated using three key metrics: removal efficiency (RR), adsorption capacity (q), and effective adsorption capacity (EAC), a dimensionless parameter integrating both removal rate and capacity. Parametric modeling via response surface methodology (RSM) and artificial neural networks (ANN) revealed ANN's superior predictive accuracy (R² = 0.993) over RSM (R² = 0.975). Multi-objective optimization using the desirability function identified optimal conditions (pH: 7.0, 33.9 min, 39.9 mg L^-1, 0.019 g), achieving 90.84 % RR, 31.35 mg g⁻¹ q, and 1.08 EAC. Sensitivity analysis indicated initial dye concentration as the most influential variable across all metrics. Kinetic data were best fitted by the pseudo-first-order model, supporting diffusion-controlled physisorption, while statistical physics and thermodynamic analyses confirmed multilayer, spontaneous, and endothermic adsorption. DFT simulations reinforced experimental outcomes, showing strong π–π and electrostatic interactions on NSGH (−18.82 kcal mol⁻¹). Although a gradual decline in performance was observed over five adsorption–desorption cycles, NSGH demonstrated appreciable reusability, reinforcing its applicability as a high-efficiency adsorbent for dye-laden wastewater. By integrating dual doping, process modeling, and systematic evaluation, this work offers a practical framework for guiding the development of future water treatment materials.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17528,"journal":{"name":"Journal of water process engineering","volume":"78 ","pages":"Article 108701"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145096614","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Coagulation-flocculation process optimization for industrial wastewater treatment: a multi-objective computational solution","authors":"Kung-Jeng Wang,&nbsp;Pei-Shan Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.jwpe.2025.108703","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jwpe.2025.108703","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Coagulation-flocculation is widely applied in industrial wastewater treatment due to its effectiveness in removing heavy metals and ensuring water quality. However, traditional chemical dosage decisions rely on empirical methods or regression-based models that are time-consuming and not adaptive to real-time fluctuations. A hybrid computational framework is proposed that integrates Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to optimize the coagulation-flocculation process under multiple conflicting objectives. The ANN model is trained using three algorithms, namely Levenberg–Marquardt (LM), Resilient Backpropagation (RP), and Scaled Conjugate Gradient (SCG), to predict key performance indicators, including treatment cost (USD m⁻³), effluent copper concentration (mg L⁻¹), and sludge level (ordinal scale 1–5). These predicted outputs are subsequently used by NSGA-II to derive Pareto-optimal solutions that reflect trade-offs among the competing objectives. Experimental results show that the proposed GA-ANN model with LM achieved the highest accuracy and computational efficiency, reducing optimization time from 1400 s to as low as 133 s. Compared to existing models, this approach enables faster, more accurate, and adaptive decision-making, making it highly suitable for real-time industrial applications. The proposed framework provides a novel, data-driven strategy for multi-objective optimization in wastewater treatment, contributing to more sustainable and cost-effective operations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17528,"journal":{"name":"Journal of water process engineering","volume":"78 ","pages":"Article 108703"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145096660","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"High-efficiency simultaneous removal of Cr(VI) and As(V) by La-modified UiO-66: competition and synergy","authors":"Xixiang Liu ,&nbsp;Xiurong Chen ,&nbsp;Yongming Luo ,&nbsp;Caiyun Han ,&nbsp;SuFang He","doi":"10.1016/j.jwpe.2025.108713","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jwpe.2025.108713","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Much research has focused on the removal of individual contaminants such as As(V) or Cr(VI) from wastewater. However, limited efforts have been devoted to their simultaneous removal in binary systems. This is largely due to the complexity of wastewater matrices and the similar chemical characteristics of As(V) and Cr(VI). In this study, La-modified UiO-66 was synthesized by a one-pot method and employed as a multifunctional adsorbent to simultaneously remove As(V) and Cr(VI) via batch experiments. Characterization results demonstrated that La was successfully grafted onto UiO-66 through Zr-ligand (O)-La and Zr-ligand (O)-Zr linkages, while the <em>fcu</em> structural topology and microporous nature of UiO-66 were well remained. For simultaneous uptake of As(V) and Cr(VI), a synergistic effect of Cr(VI) was observed on As(V) removal, whereas As(V) exhibited an inhibitory effect on Cr(VI) adsorption. Compared with the single component system, the adsorption capacity of As(V) in the binary system increased by approximately 26 %, while the adsorption capacity of Cr(VI) decreased by about 20 %. The enhanced uptake of As(V) was attributed to the formation of a new Cr<img>As complex compound between adsorbed Cr(III) and As(V). In contrast, the inhibitory influence of As(V) on Cr(VI) adsorption was ascribed to the strong affinity of As(V) for the active adsorption sites. Overall, these results demonstrate that La-modified UiO-66 is a promising candidate for the simultaneous removal of As(V) and Cr(VI) in binary systems, particularly under conditions of elevated As(V) concentration.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17528,"journal":{"name":"Journal of water process engineering","volume":"78 ","pages":"Article 108713"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145096604","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Spontaneous sequential desalination as a promising strategy for biological salt removal and production of value-added compounds from microalgae","authors":"Reham Ebaid ,&nbsp;Joachim Henjes ,&nbsp;Dieter Hanelt ,&nbsp;Stephan Ende","doi":"10.1016/j.jwpe.2025.108758","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jwpe.2025.108758","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this study, the potential of microalgae for spontaneous desalination was evaluated by assessing growth patterns and cellular specific removal potential (CSRP). <em>Haematococcus</em> sp. showed the highest CSRP (1.99 ng salt cell⁻¹ in 15 min) and was selected for further optimization. Response surface methodology identified optimal conditions; initial salinity 28 ppt, culture volume 167.4 mL (1.37 g-biomass L⁻¹ saline), and desalination time 46 min. Under these conditions, CSRP increased to 3.59 ng salt cell⁻¹. Sequential desalination through three stages showed overall desalination efficiency of 18.9 %. Interestingly, astaxanthin content of <em>Haematococcus</em> sp. increased by 5.1 % after the third desalination stage. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy of algal biomass before and after desalination confirmed the active participation of surface functional groups in ion binding. Furthermore, the effect of sequential desalination on fatty acid profiles revealed an increase in the content of fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) up to 16.3 % across the three desalination stages, confirming the potential for bioenergy applications. Biodiesel characteristics after sequential desalination showed a stability between the three stages, and all parameters were within those recommended by international standard. This study highlights the potential of <em>Haematococcus</em> sp. for bioactive compounds and biodiesel production, coupled with desalination, thereby helping to address the water-energy nexus.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17528,"journal":{"name":"Journal of water process engineering","volume":"78 ","pages":"Article 108758"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145096608","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Rough set machine learning informed decision rules for effective adsorption of methylene blue and Congo red dyes by hydrochar","authors":"Paramasivan Balasubramanian ,&nbsp;Muhil Raj Prabhakar ,&nbsp;Bikash Chandra Maharaj ,&nbsp;Sivaraman Chandrasekaran ,&nbsp;Chong Liu ,&nbsp;Jingxian An","doi":"10.1016/j.jwpe.2025.108752","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jwpe.2025.108752","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The remediation of dye-contaminated wastewater has emerged as a critical challenge in environmental management, driving the need for sophisticated predictive approaches to optimize treatment processes. While machine learning applications in hydrochar-mediated dye removal have proliferated, existing studies have failed to establish universally applicable rules across diverse wastewater matrices. This research addresses this gap through the development of a rough set machine learning (RSML) framework that systematically generates interpretable IF-THEN decision rules for adsorption process optimization. Key attributes identified include solution pH, temperature, and the initial concentration ratio of hydrochar to dye, which are critical for accurate predictions of dye removal efficiency. The model's rule induction capability yielded 4 reducts comprising 52 deterministic rules for Congo red and 9 reducts with 75 rules for methylene blue systems, supplemented by 7 and 18 approximate rules, respectively, to handle boundary conditions. The RSML achieved over 80 % accuracy for both dyes, outperforming the existing 14 classifier models. These findings provide significant implications for establishing scientific rules in future dye removal research using hydrochar adsorption, bridging the gap between theoretical adsorption models and practical water treatment applications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17528,"journal":{"name":"Journal of water process engineering","volume":"78 ","pages":"Article 108752"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145096605","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Zinc oxide-modified glass-coated tin-doped indium oxide electrode for the electrocatalytic reduction of hydrogen peroxide in neutral media","authors":"Nadia Ait Ahmed ,&nbsp;Katia Hebbache ,&nbsp;Abderrezak Lahreche ,&nbsp;Samia Kerakra ,&nbsp;Katia Nasri ,&nbsp;Nabila Aliouane ,&nbsp;Carine Chassigneux ,&nbsp;Marielle Eyraud","doi":"10.1016/j.jwpe.2025.108748","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jwpe.2025.108748","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates the electrodeposition of nanostructured zinc oxide (ZnO) films on indium tin oxide (ITO)-coated glass substrates to develop an electrocatalytic sensor for hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) detection in neutral media. Optimal deposition conditions, −1.0 V versus SCE (saturated calomel electrode) for 10 min, produced ZnO/ITO glass electrodes with the highest H₂O₂ reduction activity. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses confirmed the formation of homogeneous, well-adhered wurtzite-structured ZnO films on the ITO substrate.</div><div>The performance of the modified electrode was strongly influenced by phosphate buffer solution (PBS), with 0.1 M at pH 7 providing the optimal response. Electrochemical tests demonstrated a linear response for H₂O₂ concentrations ranging from 0.0625 to 5.00 mM (R² = 0.9988), with a sensitivity of 44.7 μA·mM⁻¹·cm⁻² and a detection limit (LOD) of 14.8 μM.</div><div>Kinetic studies revealed an electron transfer coefficient (α) of 0.711 and a diffusion coefficient (D) of 3.8 × 10⁻⁷ cm²·s⁻¹. The sensor retained &gt;95 % of its initial current, showed excellent selectivity against ascorbic acid, glucose, uric acid, and nitrite, and accurately detected H₂O₂ in tap water and pharmaceutical samples. These findings position the ZnO/ITO glass platform as a cost-effective, reliable, and scalable solution for in situ H₂O₂ monitoring in water treatment and other neutral aqueous applications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17528,"journal":{"name":"Journal of water process engineering","volume":"78 ","pages":"Article 108748"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145096606","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Hybrid prediction model for multi-step wastewater influent quality using adaptive wavelet denoising and enhanced Informer","authors":"Lili Ma ,&nbsp;Danxia Li ,&nbsp;Jinrong He ,&nbsp;Zhirui Niu ,&nbsp;Zheng Liu ,&nbsp;Zhihua Feng ,&nbsp;Caiyan Lin","doi":"10.1016/j.jwpe.2025.108733","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jwpe.2025.108733","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Accurate multi-step influent quality forecasting is essential for ensuring the stable operation and regulatory compliance of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). However, existing models struggle with sensor noise suppression, temporal dependency modelling, and the simultaneous capture of global trends and local fluctuations, limiting their predictive accuracy and robustness. To address these challenges, we propose Dynamic Thresholding Wavelet Transform-enhanced Informer (DTWT-EInformer), a hybrid framework that integrates DTWT with an EInformer architecture. The DTWT adaptively filters non-stationary noise using level-aware thresholds while preserving key signal features. The EInformer incorporates positional and temporal encoding, ProbSparse self-attention, and Dilated Causal Convolution Distillation to jointly capture long-term dependencies and short-term fluctuations under temporal causality constraints. The model was trained and validated using influent water quality and meteorological datasets collected at 30-min resolution over a 1-year monitoring campaign from a full-scale WWTP in Yan’an, China. The target variables were chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonia nitrogen (NH<span><math><msub><mrow></mrow><mrow><mn>3</mn></mrow></msub></math></span>-N), with forecast horizons ranging from 5–45 steps ahead (2.5–22.5 h). The experimental results showed that DTWT-EInformer reduced the mean squared error (MSE) and root MSE (RMSE) by over 90% relative to baseline models, achieved <span><math><msup><mrow><mi>R</mi></mrow><mrow><mn>2</mn></mrow></msup></math></span> values of 0.9976 (COD) and 0.9986 (NH<span><math><msub><mrow></mrow><mrow><mn>3</mn></mrow></msub></math></span>-N), and maintained symmetric mean absolute percentage error (SMAPE) below 1%. The average inference time of 291–302 ms demonstrated its suitability for real-time deployment in WWTP operations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17528,"journal":{"name":"Journal of water process engineering","volume":"78 ","pages":"Article 108733"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145096607","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Converging waste streams: dual valorization of azeotropic effluents and bioplastic solids","authors":"Wenbin Lai ,&nbsp;Honghao Zheng ,&nbsp;Zixuan Tan ,&nbsp;Rongze Lin ,&nbsp;Shaoqu Xie","doi":"10.1016/j.jwpe.2025.108692","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jwpe.2025.108692","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The efficient valorization of industrial wastewater and plastic solid waste constitutes a major challenge in sustainable chemical manufacturing. This study presents an integrated strategy that concurrently tackles the separation of dioxane–ethanol–water ternary azeotropes and the upcycling of polylactic acid (PLA) waste. By employing potassium carbonate (K₂CO₃) as a bifunctional agent, we combine salting-out separation and base-catalyzed alcoholysis into a single process. K₂CO₃ not only facilitates phase separation, achieving &gt;99 % recovery of both dioxane and ethanol with a residual water content below 0.67 wt%, but also catalyzes the depolymerization of PLA within the organic-rich phase. The dehydrated extract serves as a reactive medium, efficiently converting PLA into ethyl lactate with a yield of 65.18 %. This approach establishes a novel reactive azeotrope-breaking pathway. The resulting ethyl lactate and dioxane can be separated via fractional distillation without requiring external solvents or further purification. This integrated methodology transforms two challenging waste streams, namely azeotropic solvent effluents and PLA plastics, into value-added products through a consolidated and solvent-minimized process. Our work provides a blueprint for coupling separation science with catalytic valorization in waste-intensive industries.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":17528,"journal":{"name":"Journal of water process engineering","volume":"78 ","pages":"Article 108692"},"PeriodicalIF":6.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145096609","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}