ERI’s Dr Mark Taggart (Senior Research Fellow) and Dr Szabolcs Pap (Researcher – Water Technologist) will lead as guest editors for the special issue “Biochar for Removal of Contaminants from Soil and Water” in Toxics (ISSN 2305-6304) – an international, open-access journal by MDPI. This will be part of the section Engineering, Remediation and Restoration.
Details can be found at: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/toxics/special_issues/38C4YKLZT1
Submission closes: 15 June 2023
Biochar is a rapidly emerging material for environmental remediation, and has been shown to be an effective adsorbent for inorganic and organic pollutants in water and soil. Potential biochar applications include carbon sequestration, soil fertility and C stock improvement, soil pollution remediation, water treatment, nutrient recovery and agricultural by-product/waste recycling. Water and soil are critical natural resources, the contamination of which (with emerging micropollutants, excess nutrients, metalloids and heavy metals, plastics, etc.) is having a detrimental effect on environmental and human health.
This Special Issue invites contributions that explore ‘biochar’ as a potential solution to soil and water contamination. Contributions regarding the synthesis, functionalization and implementation of biochar in the real world (i.e., for soil remediation, water/wastewater treatment, nutrient recovery) are welcomed. Example topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
- The use of biochar(s) for the removal of contaminants (heavy metals, metalloids, pesticides, flame retardants, pharmaceuticals, etc.) from wastewater or freshwater;
- The development and application of functionalized biochars for the removal and recovery of chemical resources (i.e., metal or nutrient (phosphorus and nitrogen) recovery);
- Soil remediation and contaminant immobilization with biochar(s) in soil;
- The performance and potential ecotoxicity of engineered biochar(s) in soil systems (especially agricultural systems);
- Soil and/or water remediation with biochar(s) and their application within the principles of a more circular economy;
- Large-scale pilot testing and real-world (at-scale) applications of biochar technology for pollutant removal.
For more information contact Dr Mark Taggart at mark.taggart@uhi.ac.uk or Dr Szabolcs Pap at szabolcs.pap@uhi.ac.uk
