Metals in the Environment: Chemical Approaches for Removal and Remediation

Anthropogenic activities enhance the metal content in various compartments of the environment causing long term contamination leading to health risks for all biota. Recent sources for this contamination include, amongst others, industrial waste, mining effluents, household waste waters and leachates from waste dumps. In addition to well known contaminants like lead, mercury or arsenic new ones have been added to the list: e.g. silver in form of nano particles or leachates from rare earth element mines add potential risks for the global environment. Cleaner methods of mining and metal production stand in contrast to the enormously risen demand and use of metals in our society challenging waste management and remediation of contaminated environmental compartments.

Chemistry is challenged by the growing demand for remediation and purification technologies. Separation of metals from difficult matrices and the possibly gree(ner) removal of metals from matrices and contaminated environmental compartments needs both, chemical and technical solutions. At the beginning precise analytical methods for trace and ultra trace elements should give information on the state of the respective compartment, leading to the development of novel and possibly green(er) compounds that allow the specific decontamination and remediation, without the threat of being harmful themselves.

We welcome Original Research, Review, Mini Review and Perspective articles on themes including, but not limited to:

• Development of adsorbents for metal removal from waste waters
• Synthesis of adsorbents from bio materials
• Novel, possibly green(er) chemicals for metal removal from (waste) waters and soils
• Methods for waste water treatment in regard of metal removal
• Chemical approaches for the separation of metals from mining effluents and waste dump leachates
• Novel chemicals and approaches for the separation and recycling of metals from electronic waste
• Development of analytical methods for trace and ultra-trace elements in complex environmental matrices

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: metal contamination; chemical remediation; ultra trace analyses; bio adsorbents

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.