Chinese Journal of Applied Chemistry ›› 2024, Vol. 41 ›› Issue (2): 190-216.DOI: 10.19894/j.issn.1000-0518.230309

• Review • Previous Articles    

Recent Advances in Functional Materials for Pollutant Removal from Sewage Wastewater: Scaling Effects of Elemental Substances‑Synthetic Modification‑Process Engineering

Zi-Jun PANG, Zhi QIN, A-Cong CHEN, Xiang-Hong GUAN, Geng-Rui WEI, Ze-Min LI, Hua HUANG, Chao-Hai WEI()   

  1. School of Environment and Energy,South China University of Technology,Guangzhou 510006,China
  • Received:2023-10-09 Accepted:2023-12-26 Published:2024-02-01 Online:2024-03-05
  • Contact: Chao-Hai WEI
  • About author:cechwei@scut.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    the National Natural Science Foundation of China(51878290)

Abstract:

Organic pollutants, heavy metal ions, and viral microorganisms in sewage wastewater not only cause serious water pollution, but also pose a serious threat to human health and ecosystems. Effectively controlling the risks associated with sewage wastewater has become a crucial research direction for environmental protection and sustainable development. Environmental functional materials, as a category of auxiliary means with pollutant purification effects, have demonstrated tremendous technological potential in reducing water pollution risks. This study explores the current status and development in three scale aspects: selection of elemental substances, synthetic and modification strategies, and optimization of process engineering. The characteristics of new types of functional materials are introduced by taking carbon, silicon and metal elements as examples; the synthesis technologies are discussed in terms of solvothermal method, sol-gel method, co-precipitation method, chemical vapor deposition method, green synthesis method, and surface functionalization modification; regarding the application of process engineering, attention should be paid to the industrial generation/continuous operation of fixed bed-adsorption bed-fluidized bed, electric-light-magnetic, physics-chemistry-biology, recycling-regeneration-disposal, synergistic amplification effect; and evaluation is carried out in terms of performance, economy, environmental impact, and sustainability, emphasizing the goal of safety-stability-long-lasting-full loading-optimization for the application of process engineering technologies. The future development of environmental functional materials should focus on areas such as 3D printing materials in sewage and wastewater treatment, intelligent processes and smart management, crowdsourcing and information diagnosis, as well as quantum probes and field effects to provide new technological fields in terms of water quality improvement-material function excavation-sustainable recycling development.

Key words: Environmentally functional materials, Wastewater treatment, Selection of elemental substances, Synthesis and modification strategies, Process engineering applications, Sustainability evaluation

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