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Environmental Business Review | Wednesday, April 12, 2023
Sustainable development of the natural ecosystem depends on environmental engineering.
FREMONT, CA: A sustainable human society relies on environmental engineering as one of its most important domains. The success of environmental engineering depends on the combination of pollution reduction methodologies, nanotechnology, and engineering design.
There is an increasing demand for advanced theories, methods, materials, techniques, and facilities to solve current environmental problems. This type of research will be beneficial to create a healthy and sustainable world.
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Accurate identification of contaminants: Analyzing the degradation process and determining the pollution level requires accurate identification of contaminants in the environment. It is currently difficult to detect new pollutants in diverse environmental matrixes with varying concentrations, particularly emerging pollutants such as microplastics, viruses, pharmaceuticals, bacteria, pesticides, nanomaterials, surfactants, industrial additives, personal care products, and perfluorinated compounds) and their derivatives. Also, pollutants with similar physicochemical properties like density, shape, chemical structure, and molecular weight coexist in the environment, making it difficult to identify them individually. Therefore, identifying, confirming, and quantifying known and unknown pollutants requires high levels of sensitivity and selectivity.
Atomic, molecular, and genetic level understanding for mechanistic studies: The in-depth understanding of pollutant degradation mechanisms remains a big challenge, especially in complex environmental systems. Investigating degradation mechanisms at the atomic and molecular levels of chemistry-involved remediation processes is highly recommended using state-of-the-art experimental tools like microscopy, spectroscopy, and computational tools like molecular dynamics simulations and density functional theory computations. Additionally, in situ techniques offer valuable information about reaction intermediates, which can enhance our understanding of reaction pathways in processes sensitive to environmental conditions, such as thermocatalysis and electrocatalysis.
Integrated technologies: Multiple pollutants cannot be treated with an individual method due to the differences in their properties, including species, density, concentration, toxicity, and chemical resistance. Developing integrated technologies is therefore necessary for resolving most real environmental problems. Integrated strategies can enhance remediation results by combining different methods. Environmental remediation has successfully combined electrochemical, physical, biological, and other processes.
Closed-loop control for waste valorization: Recent achievements in converting solids, organic, and gaseous wastes into value-added materials, chemicals, and energy fuels have profoundly unleashed the inherent potential of waste. This "waste-to-wealth" approach helps create a closed-loop approach for valuing wastes and accelerates the circular economy while innovating conventional environmental management approaches. Thus, maximizing waste valorization and benefiting sustainable pollutant management requires combining environmental, technological, and economic factors.
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