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Review papers help researchers understand the direction and flow of research and help beginners quickly acquire relevant knowledge. Therefore, the review paper should describe only accurate contents and should be written with only core and important matters. Recently, Othmani et al. (2022) reviewed more than 200 papers related to the adsorptive removal of three harmful pollutants: toxic organics (phenols), anionic heavy metal (Cr(VI)) and cationic heavy metal (Cd(II)) by agricultural waste materials. However, Cr(VI)-related section of this review is missing something important that should be provided to the readers of this journal. In fact, the removal mechanism of Cr(VI) by nonliving biomass including agricultural waste materials under acidic conditions is not a simple anion adsorption but a complex mechanism involving redox reaction called "adsorption-coupled reduction". Therefore, when interpreting the factors affecting Cr(VI) removal, it should be interpreted in terms of the redox reaction concept, not anion adsorption. • Reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III) by agricultural waste materials. • Complex mechanism called "adsorption-coupled reduction". • Interpretation of experimental data with reduction reaction concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Membrane distillation crystallization (MDC) is an emerging hybrid thermal membrane technology that synergizes membrane distillation (MD) and crystallization, which can achieve both freshwater and minerals recovery from high concentrated solutions. Due to the outstanding hydrophobic nature of the membranes, MDC has been widely used in numerous fields such as seawater desalination, valuable minerals recovery, industrial wastewater treatment and pharmaceutical applications, where the separation of dissolved solids is required. Despite the fact that MDC has shown great promise in producing both high-purity crystals and freshwater, most studies on MDC remain limited to laboratory scale, and industrializing MDC processes is currently impractical. This paper summarizes the current state of MDC research, focusing on the mechanisms of MDC, the controls for membrane distillation (MD), and the controls for crystallization. Additionally, this paper categorizes the obstacles hindering the industrialization of MDC into various aspects, including energy consumption, membrane wetting, flux reduction, crystal yield and purity, and crystallizer design. Furthermore, this study also indicates the direction for future development of the industrialization of MDC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental effects of the urban agglomeration planning policy (UAPP) are an exploration by rapidly developing China and a concern for countries seeking development and urban reform around the world. This paper takes the three regional urban agglomerations in the Yellow River Basin (YRB) as the research object and collects the panel data of 106 prefecture-level cities from 2006 to 2019 to study the reduction effects of UAPP on the industrial wastewater discharge (IWD). The empirical results from Difference-in-Differences models indicate that UAPP can significantly inhibit IWD. UAPP reduces IWD by promoting green innovation, and the development of service industries can strengthen this effect. UAPP shows a stronger IWD reduction effect in the northeast YRB than that in the southwest region. Compared to urban agglomerations with a single provincial jurisdiction, UAPP exerts stronger IWD reduction effects on urban agglomerations with multiple jurisdictions. Moreover, there exist spatial spillover effects of UAPP on IWD. These findings provide support and references for urban reform and the development of green cities in countries around the world, especially in developing countries. • Urban agglomeration planning policies can reduce industrial wastewater discharge. • Green innovation is the main intermediary factor. • Service industry development strengthens the discharge reduction effects. • The discharge reduction effects are stronger with multiple jurisdictions. • There exist spatial spillover effects of the discharge reduction effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research, the potential application of Pistacia soft shell (PSS) was investigated as a novel bio-based flocculant for pulp and paper wastewater (PPWW) treatment. In line with this, after characterization of the PSS, the removal efficiencies of chemical oxygen demand (COD), turbidity and heavy metals (Cu2+ and Pb2+) from PPWW were investigated with different dosage of PSS. The results were compared with alum as a reference flocculant. In addition, the effect of pH adjustment on the flocculation-adsorption performance of PSS was studied under acidic and alkaline condition. Zeta potential, BET, FTIR and SEM as well as kinetics and isotherm analyses were conducted for mechanistic understanding. According to the results, PSS treatment could remove COD, turbidity, Cu2+ and Pb2+ up to 67%, 87%, 70% and 74%, respectively which were better than alum: 56%, 85%, 31% and 35%. It was observed that, pH adjustment significantly improved the performance of PSS treatment. Maximum removal efficiencies of 92%, 95%, 97% and 98% were achieved for COD, turbidity, Cu2+ and Pb2+, respectively, under optimal condition of using 2 g/L PSS at pH 9. The mechanism analysis revealed that the high removal efficiency of PSS is related to the dual flocculation-adsorption of bridging and sweeping mechanisms. The results of this study suggested PSS as a promising, sustainable and eco-friendly bio-based flocculant and adsorbent for industrial wastewater treatment. [Display omitted] • Pistacia soft sell can be used as a natural flocculant for wastewater treatment. • A removal of 67% and 87% were achieved for COD and turbidity, respectively. • 74% and 70% removal efficiencies were achieved for Pb2+ and Cu2+, respectively. • PH adjustment showed a synergy effect on Pistacia soft sell performance. • Optimum conditions were determined as Pistacia soft sell dosage of 2 g/L and pH 9. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-healing concrete is an innovative construction material designed to repair its cracks autogenously or autonomously. The self-healing effect reduces the need for maintenance and increases the longevity of concrete structures, bringing environmental and economic benefits. However, the developed methods to improve self-healing performance, e.g., incorporating advanced techniques or expensive chemical healing agents, significantly increase the cost of concrete manufacture. There is worldwide interest in using waste materials to reduce the cost of self-healing concrete, and a significant amount of studies have been performed on this topic. A review of research on waste-derived self-healing concrete is presented in this paper. The wastes were used in both autogenous and autonomous self-healing approaches, such as mineral admixture, bacteria-based technology, and engineered cementitious composite; different environmental conditions may significantly influence self-healing efficiency due to different reaction mechanisms. In general, waste materials could be reused to manufacture self-healing concrete if adopting appropriate mix design and treatment methods. Self-healing concrete made with various industrial wastes is an efficient way to reduce the manufacturing cost and promote its application in practice. • Review the state-of-the-art application of industrial wastes in self-healing concrete. • Elaborate self-healing mechanisms of concrete incorporating wastes. • Introduce healing efficiency and evaluation methods for different technologies. • Provide future perspectives for wastes-derived self-healing concrete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The amount of industrial pollution entering the environment and its impact on living organisms is an ongoing concern. At the same time, due to an increasing awareness, new methods of wastewater treatment are being explored that are not only effective but also environmentally acceptable. Meeting environmental standards for permitted concentrations is a necessity, but investigating the effects of wastewater on living organisms is also an important issue. In this paper, the influence of metal ions (Fe(III), Cr(III), Ni(II), Cu(II)) in industrial wastewater from electropolishing of stainless steel on Daphnia magna has been investigated. Daphnids have been exposed to wastewater both before and after treatment (Ca(OH) 2 precipitation, sorption with peat). Immobilisation in a 48-h acute toxicity test and EC 50 has been determined. In the case of studied industrial wastewater, the organic content (expressed as total organic carbon) of the effluent has a positive impact in terms of the survival of D. magna and increases the range of heavy metal concentrations tolerated by them. The application of a two-stage process with Ca(OH) 2 neutralisation followed by sorption with peat allows for the removal of almost 100% of metal ions from the wastewater. The reduction obtained ensured a limited impact on D. magna and a decrease in immobilisation to less than 10%. Proper execution of the wastewater treatment process ensures a reduction of its negative impact on living organisms. • Influence of industrial electropolishing wastewater on D. magna has been investigated. • Ca(OH)2 treatment and sorption with peat from a health resort in Poland were used. • Two-stage treatment removed almost 100% of Fe, Cr, Ni and Cu ions from wastewater. • The reduction in concentration resulted in a decrease in D.magna immobilisation to <10%. • Reduced toxicity has mitigated the environmental impact of wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, removing pollutants from water sources is essential because of the population increase and the growing need for safe drinking water. Dyes are one of the most critical pollutants from industrial effluents such as paper and textile industries that profoundly affect the environment. There are several ways to remove environmental contaminants. Magnetic nanoparticles have a high ability to adsorb dyes. Of course, increasing the interaction between magnetic nanomaterials and pollutants is also essential, which can be done using porous materials such as dendrimers. In this work, the synthesis of CuFe 2 O 4 magnetite nanoparticles within the polyamidoamine dendrimers structure was used as an efficient sorbent to remove both alizarin reds (ARS) and brilliant green (BG) dyes. Moreover, various parameters for dyes removal were studied. The optimum removal conditions were obtained for ARS within 30 min at a sorbent dose of 2 mg per 5 mL for the initial dye concentration of 7.0 ppm in pH 6 at 25 °C, and for BG within 45 min at a sorbent dose of 5 mg per 5 mL for the initial dye concentration of 17.0 ppm in pH 8 at 25 °C. At the optimum values of the above parameters, both dyes' removal efficiency was more than 97%. Also, the obtained results showed that the adsorption isotherm follows the Langmuir model and Temkin model for ARS and BG, respectively. This method was successfully used for the removal of both dyes in water samples. • CuFe 2 O 4 /PAMAM nanocomposites as new adsorbent for removal of organic dyes. • Removal of alizarin reds and brilliant green dyes from wastewater samples. • A powerful strategy for waste water treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]