Green Innovations: Transforming Ash Waste into Advanced Membrane Technology

The field of sustainable membrane technology stands at a pivotal crossroads as the urgent need for resource efficiency and environmental protection converges with growing interest in circular economy practices. Despite the widespread utilization of membranes for water purification, gas separation, and chemical processing, traditional fabrication methods often rely on virgin resources and energy-intensive workflows, exacerbating environmental burdens. Millions of tons of ash waste generated annually from industrial and biomass activities present both a significant environmental challenge and a vast, underutilized reservoir of potentially valuable materials. The advancement of green chemistry, nanotechnology, and innovative engineering has recently energized research into converting ash residues into high-performance materials for membrane fabrication. Recent studies suggest that ash-derived materials, when engineered into ceramic, carbon-based, or hybrid membranes, can confer remarkable mechanical strength, selectivity, and chemical resistance, with the incorporation of advanced nanocomposites such as graphene oxide or metal–organic frameworks further enhancing performance. However, practical pathways for large-scale, low-impact transformation of diverse ash streams into robust, durable membranes remain elusive. Life-cycle and techno-economic analyses are still scarce, and standardized protocols for validating environmental impacts are needed to drive real-world adoption.

This Research Topic aims to catalyze interdisciplinary advances that bridge waste valorization with next-generation membrane science. By inviting contributions from materials engineering, nanotechnology, environmental chemistry, and process design, the initiative seeks to illuminate how ash waste can become a sustainable, circular feedstock for advanced separation membranes. Key objectives include understanding the material science underlying ash-to-membrane transformations, quantifying performance improvements resulting from innovative nanocomposite doping, and establishing scalable, environmentally benign fabrication techniques. The Research Topic also encourages in-depth life-cycle assessments and techno-economic evaluations to inform future industrial adoption and policy development, aligning innovations with global sustainability targets.

The scope of this Research Topic is centered on practical, experimentally validated approaches for converting ash waste and its extracts into functional membranes and membrane-related materials, excluding studies unrelated to separation technologies or those lacking material demonstration. To gather further insights in sustainable membrane innovation using ash-derived materials, we welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:

Utilization of various ash types (fly ash, bottom ash, biomass ash, oil palm ash, rice husk ash) or ash-derived extracts as feedstocks for membrane fabrication

Design and performance optimization of ash-based ceramic, polymeric, or mixed-matrix membranes

Integration of novel nanostructured dopants, such as graphene oxide, carbon aerogels, or metal–organic frameworks, into ash-derived membranes

Deployment of low-impact, circular fabrication routes, including solvent-free processing, additive manufacturing, and bio-derived binders

Evaluation of ash-derived membranes in applications spanning water purification, desalination, gas separation, CO₂ capture, and energy storage

Comprehensive life-cycle and techno-economic analysis of ash-based membrane solutions for sustainable manufacturing

Article types and fees

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

• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Mini Review
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review

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:

• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• Mini Review
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review

Keywords: Ash valorization, Waste-to-resource, Sustainable membranes, Circular economy, Graphene oxide, Fly ash, Biomass ash, Ceramic membranes, Carbon-based membranes, CO₂ capture, Ash silica, Water purification, Desalination, Green nanomaterials, Zero-waste manuf

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.