Resource Recovery, Waste Conversion, Pollutants Remediation and Carbon Neutralization

Highly toxic and emerging contaminants such as heavy metals, antibiotics, and microplastics are of significant global concern. Once these contaminants enter the environment, they undergo complex transport and conversion processes, making the evaluation of their environmental impact crucial. New approaches and novel techniques are necessary to ensure that the requirements of laws or regulations are met as prescribed. The main challenges for materials and technologies applied in the pollutant disposal process are cost-effectiveness and environmental-friendliness. One approach showing potential promise is contaminant removal with resource recovery and waste conversion, which can be applied in therapeutic processes via adsorption and biological processes.

This Research Topic aims to focus on the potential synergistic or antagonistic effects of various toxic or emerging contaminants, such as heavy metals, antibiotics, and microplastics. Contributions on contamination remediation technologies, including adsorption, bioremediation, phytoremediation, and biomineralization, with a focus on cost-effectiveness and environmental-friendliness, are desired. Research on resource recovery and waste conversion is desired too.

This Research Topic is to act as a platform for the sharing of scientific research pertaining to resource recovery, waste conversion, pollutants remediation, and eco-engineering. Themes of interest include, but are not limited to:
• Occurrences, characteristics, transport, conversion, and risks of contaminants such as heavy metals, antibiotics, and microplastics;
• Sustainable and eco-friendly techniques and applications, especially with the use of natural, recovered, or waste materials for remediation;
• Chemical speciation studies of contaminants in water, soil, and sediment, as well as interaction with environmental factors

Keywords: carbon neutralization, sustainable, assessment, bioremediation, sorption, applications

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.