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Carbon materials have been used extensively in water treatment, and among them, biochar (BC) and hydrochar (HC) have been studied in recent decades as eco-friendly adsorbents in water treatment. Specific physicochemical characteristics of chars allow for the effective removal of a wide range of water contaminants, including emerging contaminants (e.g. pharmaceutically active compounds, agrochemicals, and endocrine disrupting compounds). BC and HC can be synthesized from different biomass sources, even from biowaste, which makes them low-cost materials. In fact, the application of waste biomass for char production can be designated as a promising way towards achieving sustainable development goals concerning solid waste management. The selection of feedstock material and optimization of the reaction conditions of the carbonization process (pyrolysis, hydrothermal carbonization, etc.) influence the performances of char-based materials leading to the products with desired characteristics suitable for the removal of a certain group of compounds. The objective of this review is to provide an overview of the current status of research regarding the use of BC and HC as adsorbents in the removal of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) from wastewater. The physicochemical properties of the substrates, types of synthesis, characterization techniques, as well as mechanism and influence of process parameters in the removal of selected CECs from wastewater, will also be addressed.

Water resources, such as rivers and other water bodies, are at great risk of becoming more contaminated by various pollutants, among which contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) attract a lot of attention from the scientific community and the general public due to their potential long-term adverse effects as well as degradation of the quality of water resources. This imposes the need to understand their occurrence, levels, and spatiotemporal distribution in water resources and to establish effective and efficient long-term surveillance of their presence in water systems. In this context, high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) offers full-spectrum acquisition and represents a promising and powerful technique for screening different classes of pharmaceuticals in water resources, enabling target, suspect, and unknown screening approaches. Based on the aforementioned, the main goal of this study was to provide insight into the occurrence and distribution of a broad set of pharmaceuticals in water samples of the Danube River from Serbia by applying advanced high-resolution mass spectrometry. The research is focused on the Danube River, as it is the second-largest river basin in Europe and is under the constant pressure of introduction the of different classes of pharmaceuticals, particularly in Serbia where the direct discharge of municipal wastewater occurs frequently as less than 10% of the population in Serbia is linked to wastewater treatment plants with the most frequently applied method of the secondary treatment. Thus, samples were collected at selected locations along almost the entire course of the Danube River through Serbia and prepared using homemade multilayer SPE cartridges. The obtained extracts were analyzed by reversed-phase ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to high resolution mass spectrometry (RP-UHPLC–HRMS), while collected HRMS data are under processing by the dedicated advanced software tool. The results obtained in this research will be compared with previous ones obtained and available for the Danube River Basin at different river stretches, indicating that surface water screening by RP-UHPLC–HRMS is a powerful approach for the rapid collection of comprehensive information on the pharmaceuticals presence in water resources. The information provided by the screening approach may contribute to the preservation of the good ecological status of water resources or may indicate the necessity of triggering mitigation measures.&nbsp

Poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) form an important group of synthetic chemicals that have found multiple industrial and domestic applications and are widely distributed on the world market. For these reasons, PFASs have a global distribution in the environment and affect ecosystems and human health. Moreover, PFASs have been detected in waste, surface, and ground waters, as well as in other environmental compartments such as soils, sediments, and biota. Literature data indicate that the dominant sources of PFASs into the environment are manufacturing facilities, followed by wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), which have been found to be ineffective in removing these compounds from wastewater influents. Previous investigations on PFASs were based on analytical methods for the determination of PFASs such as perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in various environmental matrices. Recent research is focused on the identification of other PFASs produced as alternatives for PFOS and PFOA and the development of methods that can cover a wide range of PFAS species. Accordingly, current knowledge suggests that progress in the identification of PFASs in environmental samples has been achieved through the successful application of high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) techniques. Although the presence of PFASs has been reported in surface waters throughout Europe, the need for their constant monitoring and fresh data is the motive for numerous ongoing studies. Within this context, the main aim of this study was to assess the occurrence and environmental fate of a wide range of PFASs in water samples taken at selected locations along the Danube River through Serbia. Water samples were successfully prepared with Oasis WAX cartridges, while ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry was employed for instrumental analysis. The results of this study will provide insight into trends and patterns in PFAS occurrence in the surface water of the Danube from the region with frequent discharges of untreated municipal wastewaters, which will be compared with those available in the literature, indicating potential risks that may be caused by these contaminants. &nbsp

The aim of this study was the development and validation of sample preparation and instrumental analysis method based on solid-phase extraction (SPE) and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) for simultaneous analysis of selected CECs (pharmaceuticals and pesticides) from water. Based on the obtained results, the developed method can be used for selected CECs determination in water matrices as the validation parameters were in the same range as the previously published results from similar studies., {"references":["1.\tSousa, J.C.G., Ribeiro, A.R., Barbosa, M.O., Fernando, M., Pereira, R., Silva, A.M.T. J. Hazard. Mater. 344 (2018) 146–162.","2.\tFarré, M., Kantiani, L., Petrović, M., Pérez, S., Barceló, D. J. Chromatogr. A 1259 (2012) 86–99.","3.\tPetrović, M., Škrbić, B., Živančev, J., Ferrando-Climent, L., Barcelo, D. Sci. Total Environ. 468–469 (2014) 415–428."]}

Главни циљ овог рада је био да се испита лигнин изолован из стабљике малине као адсорбент за уклањање изабраних емергентних контаминаната из воде. За експерименте су одабрана следећа једињења: фармацеутски активна једињења (фуросемид, пропранолол, еритромицин, пропиконазол, карбамазепин, лосартан, безафибрат) и пестициди (метидатион и линурон). Лигнин је из стабљике малине изолован диоксан методом [4], а за огледе адсорпције коришћена је моделнa смeшa зaгaђуjућих супстaнци припремљена спајковањем одабраних једињења у вoду висoкoг стeпeнa чистoћe у концентрацијама од 300ng/l. Огледи адсорпције су изведени у шаржним условима, мешањем 0,1g адсорбента са 100ml моделне смеше, а време контакта адсорбента и адсорбата износило је 24h. Након адсорпције адсорбент је од воде одвојен помоћу апаратуре за „glass fiber“ филтрацију, са мембранама пречника пора 0,45µm. Испитивaни aдсoрбeнт имa дoбрe aдсoрпциoнe кaрaктeристикe у односу на изабране контаминенте. Дaљa испитивaњa бићe усмeрeнa нa oглeдe сa aдсoрпциoним изoтeрмaмa и испитивaњe кинeтикe aдсoрпциje, кao и кaрaктeризaциjу испитивaнoг лигнинa.

Емергентне загађујуће супстанце (енг. contaminants of emerging concern, CECs) дужи низ година привлаче пажњу јавности због присуства у животној средини као и недостатка података о њиховој судбини и утицају на здравље људи.Конвенционалнa постројења за пречишћавање комуналних отпадних вода нису дизајнирана за уклањање оваквих органских једињења, па се због тога у обрађеној води могу наћи као хетерогене смеше. За њихово уклањање потребно је применити додатне напредне технике.Један од могућих поступака обраде воде је биосорпција која подразумева примену биолошких материјала као адсорбената.Због многобројних хидроксилних, карбоксилних, карбонилних, алдехидних и фенолних група присутних у структури, сува стабљика малине се показала као ефикасан биосорбент за уклањање јона шестовалентног хрома из воде, па је испитана могућност примене овог материјала за уклањање органских једињења који припадају групи емергентних загађујућих супстанци. Огледи су изведени у условима шаржне адсорпције, мешањем честица самлевене стабљике малине (224 – 400 µm) у концентрацији 1 g/L и моделне смеше 25 емергентних загађујућих супстанци током 24 h. Резултати су показали да честице суве стабљике малине као јефтин биосорбент имају потенцијал за уклањање појединих једињења из групе емергентних загађујућих супстанци, али је потребно спровести даља истраживања како би се утврдили оптимални услови процеса, капацитет адсорпције те могућност десорпције везаних супстанци.

Funding Information: This study was conducted under the TwiNSol-CECs project, which received funding from a Horizon Europe program under grant agreement No. 101059867. This research was funded by the European Union. However, the views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or EU executive agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) are chemicals or materials that are not under current regulation but there are increasing concerns about their possible occurrence in the environment because of their potential threat to human and environmental health, with wastewater perceived as their primary source. Although various techniques for their removal from water have been studied, it should be emphasized that the choice should also consider the use of resources and energy within the removal processes, which must be minimized to avoid additional carbon footprints and environmental impact. In this context, the use of biomass-based sorbents might represent a cost-effective and environmentally friendly approach for the removal of CECs from water because they are based on preferably local renewable resources with lower negative impacts on the global carbon cycle through greenhouse gas emissions than the conventional nonrenewable ones. This paper provides an overview of the studies dealing with the application of such so-called biosorbents for the removal of CECs from water and discusses the use of their different forms: sorbents after a minimal pretreatment of the original lignocellulosic biomass; sorbents extracted from lignocellulosic biomass and/or modified; and biochar-based sorbents obtained after thermochemical conversion of biomass. It explains possible modifications of biosorbents and discusses the efficiency of various biosorbents for the removal of selected emerging compounds that belong to the classes of pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and pesticides and compares the adsorption capacities, kinetic models, and mechanisms reported in the relevant literature. Biochar-based sorption has been studied more often if compared to other considered biosorbents. In some cases, removal efficiencies of contaminants greater than 90% were achieved, but nonetheless a wide range of efficiencies for different CECs indicates that for successful simultaneous multicompound removal, a combination of different processes seems to be a more appropriate approach than the stand-alone use of biosorbents. Finally, this review discusses the reasons behind the limited commercial application of the considered biosorbents and provides directions for possible further research, in particular the use of spent biosorbents from a perspective of circular systems. publishersversion published