Iron (Fe) and carbon (C) are two of the most common elements which exist in many industrial wastes and byproducts causing various environmental problems. Traditionally the Fe/C-rich wastes were recycled in most cases for Fe- and C-containing chemicals using chemical-biological processes or used as additives in smelting, building materials, and biomass fuels. However, there are a large number of Fe/C-rich wastes have been landfilled. Much research is needed to effectively and efficiently use the Fe/C-rich wastes and byproducts as a resource for products either as a unmodified or modified material.
Recent advances in modern chemistry have provided new solutions for utilization of Fe/C-rich wastes, especially in the field of environmental remediation and pollutants control. With advanced chemical treatments, the Fe/C-rich wastes can be converted to value-added materials and products, such as adsorbents, flocculants, catalysts, precipitants, demulsifying reagents, conditioning reagents, filter materials, and membranes. These materials and products have been extensively used in treating waste streams and mitigating the environmental impacts of spills and pollutants.
This Research Topic collected the state-of-art green chemistry in recycling Fe/C-rich wastes for materials and products that can be used in environmental remediation and pollutants. A total of five papers were included in this issue to cover a broad spectrum of advanced Fe/C-bearing materials, ranging from Fe-encapsulated biochar, carbon nanotube membranes, and Fe-oxides modified air stone, to K2FeO4 chemicals. These papers introduced the emerging method for surface modification, the new routes for Fe/C conversion, and the new insights into the interfacial electron transfer. The materials produced from the Fe/C-rich wastes using advanced green chemistry showed great potential in removal of organics and heavy metals through activated ozone and peroxodisulfate and in direct adsorption of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes from wastewater streams.
With the application of advanced green chemistry, there are three topic areas in the recycling of Fe/C-rich wastes deserve further studies: 1) The in-situ phase transition of Fe-bearing minerals in Fe/C-rich wastes and the induced interface catalytic reactions for enhanced removal of contaminants; 2) The high-value products regenerated from the Fe/C-rich wastes, and the related technologies, mechanisms, and applications; 3) the closed-loop utilization of energy and resources in the recycling of Fe/C-rich wastes to achieve near-zero release.
The advancement in green chemistry has bring made significant progress in utilization of Fe/C-rich wastes and it will continue to benefit our society by reducing waste discharges and the consumption of non-renewable resources. The recycling of Fe/C-rich wastes for environmental remediation and pollutants is an important part of “using wastes to treat wastes” and will make a significant contribution to the circular economy.
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Author contributions
Guest editors: ZS, FW, XX, and JT. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Publisher’s note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
Summary
Keywords
green chemistry, Fe/C-rich wastes, wastewater treatment, resource reusage, regeneratable materials
Citation
Suiyi Z, Wei F, Xinfeng X and Temuujin J (2023) Editorial: Green chemistry to recycle Fe/C-rich wastes for environmental pollution control. Front. Chem. 11:1178615. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2023.1178615
Received
03 March 2023
Accepted
31 March 2023
Published
13 April 2023
Volume
11 - 2023
Edited and reviewed by
James Clark, University of York, United Kingdom
Updates
Copyright
© 2023 Suiyi, Wei, Xinfeng and Temuujin.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Zhu Suiyi, papermanuscript@126.com; Fan Wei, fanw100@nenu.edu.cn; Xie Xinfeng, xinfengx@mtu.edu; Jadambaa Temuujin, jtemuujin@yahoo.com
This article was submitted to Green and Sustainable Chemistry, a section of the journal Frontiers in Chemistry
Disclaimer
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.