Emerging Integrated Processes for Sustainable Water-Energy-Materials-Food Nexus

Integrated processes have become preferred choices in a number of important water treatment or usage applications. Integration of separation(s) with (bio)reaction(s) offers possibilities for achieving various goals. Exploring possible synergisms, benefiting from distinct process mechanisms often leads to the development of novel, more efficient, and sustainable technologies to be applied in a variety of domains, ranging from integrating the production of clean water for potable uses, agriculture and irrigation with energy generation and valuable resources recovery (e.g., via seawater mining, selective extraction of valuable elements from brines or appropriate industrial effluents, high added-value compounds from agro-food wastewater, etc.) to energy generation through salinity gradients and other water-based production ways. Therefore, this Special Issue of the journal Water seeks contributions to assess the current state-of-the-art and encourage future developments in the field of such integrated processes. Topics include but are not limited to emerging water treatment technologies, innovative process design, modeling and validation, life cycle analysis, and novel applications, especially such including membrane-assisted unit operations. Both original papers and reviews are welcome.