Active Learning-Based Guided Synthesis of Engineered Biochar for CO2 Capture.

Biomass waste-derived engineered biochar for CO2 capture presents a viable route for climate change mitigation and sustainable waste management. However, optimally synthesizing them for enhanced performance is time- and labor-intensive. To address these issues, we devise an active learning strategy to guide and expedite their synthesis with improved CO2 adsorption capacities. Our framework learns from experimental data and recommends optimal synthesis parameters, aiming to maximize the narrow micropore volume of engineered biochar, which exhibits a linear correlation with its CO2 adsorption capacity. We experimentally validate the active learning predictions, and these data are iteratively leveraged for subsequent model training and revalidation, thereby establishing a closed loop. Over three active learning cycles, we synthesized 16 property-specific engineered biochar samples such that the CO2 uptake nearly doubled by the final round. We demonstrate a data-driven workflow to accelerate the development of high-performance engineered biochar with enhanced CO2 uptake and broader applications as a functional material.

Vanadium in the Environment: Biogeochemistry and Bioremediation.

Vanadium(V) is a highly toxic multivalent, redox-sensitive element. It is widely distributed in the environment and employed in various industrial applications. Interactions between V and (micro)organisms have recently garnered considerable attention. This Review discusses the biogeochemical cycling of V and its corresponding bioremediation strategies. Anthropogenic activities have resulted in elevated environmental V concentrations compared to natural emissions. The global distributions of V in the atmosphere, soils, water bodies, and sediments are outlined here, with notable prevalence in Europe. Soluble V(V) predominantly exists in the environment and exhibits high mobility and chemical reactivity. The transport of V within environmental media and across food chains is also discussed. Microbially mediated V transformation is evaluated to shed light on the primary mechanisms underlying microbial V(V) reduction, namely electron transfer and enzymatic catalysis. Additionally, this Review highlights bioremediation strategies by exploring their geochemical influences and technical implementation methods. The identified knowledge gaps include the particulate speciation of V and its associated environmental behaviors as well as the biogeochemical processes of V in marine environments. Finally, challenges for future research are reported, including the screening of V hyperaccumulators and V(V)-reducing microbes and field tests for bioremediation approaches.

Photoaging of Typical Microplastics as Affected by Air Humidity: Mechanistic Insights into the Important Role of Water Molecules.

Recent studies showed that land is the most important sink for microplastics (MPs); however, limited information is available on the photoaging processes of land surface MPs that are exposed to the air. Herein, this study developed two in situ spectroscopic methods to systematically explore the effect of air humidity on MP photoaging using a microscope of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and a laser Raman microscope, which were equipped with a humidity control system. Polyethylene microplastics, polystyrene microplastics, and poly(vinyl chloride) microplastics (PVC-MPs) were used as model MPs. Our results showed that relative humidity (RH) could significantly influence the MP surface oxygen-containing moieties generated from photo-oxidation, especially for PVC-MPs. As the RH level varied from 10 to 90%, a decrease in the photogenerated carbonyl group and an increase in the hydroxyl group were observed. This could be attributed to the involvement of water molecules in the production of hydroxyl groups, which subsequently inhibited carbonyl generation. Moreover, the adsorption of coexisting contaminants (i.e., tetracycline) on photoaged MPs exhibited strong RH dependence, which could be assigned to the varied hydrogen bonding between tetracycline carbonyls and aged MP surface hydroxyls. This study reveals a ubiquitous but previously overlooked MP aging route, which may account for the changed MP surface physiochemical properties under solar irradiation.

Natural Solar Irradiation Produces Fluorescent and Biodegradable Nanoplastics.

Nanoplastics (NPs) have raised global concern owing to their potential health effects. Herein, after simulated and natural solar irradiation, polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, and poly(vinyl chloride) nanoplastics (PVC NPs) were observed to exhibit enhanced fluorescence, particularly PVC NPs. Furthermore, the role of photoaged NPs as a potential fluorescence indicator was evaluated by exposing a model aquatic organism Daphnia magna to these NPs. Our results revealed that photoaged NPs exhibited strong fluorescence owing to the generation of conjugated π bonds, which can achieve π-π* electron transition with low energy consumption. Photogenerated fluorescence also enabled the photoaged NPs to act as efficient fluorescent tracers, which can help track NP migration in various organisms. The results of two-photon laser confocal scanning microscopy revealed that the photoaged NPs could translocate across biological barriers and accumulate in extraintestinal tissues in addition to being ingested and excreted. Moreover, compared with pristine NPs, the photoaged NPs underwent biodegradation more easily, probably because of increased hydrophilicity due to photogenerated oxygen-containing moieties. Therefore, in addition to producing fluorescent NPs without the attachment of external fluorescent dyes, the natural photoaging process can promote the migration and degradation of photoaged NPs in food chains.

Environmental impact of metal halide perovskite solar cells and potential mitigation strategies: A critical review.

Metal halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have gained extensive attention in the field of solar photovoltaic technology over the past few years. Despite being a remarkable alternative to fossil fuels, solar cells may have detrimental effects on the environment and human health owing to the use of toxic materials during manufacturing. Although modern metal-halide-based PSCs are stable and have encapsulation to prevent the release of potentially toxic materials into the environment, their destruction due to strong winds, hail, snow, landslides, fires, or waste disposal can result in the exposure of these materials to the environment. This may lead to the contamination of soil and groundwater, and uptake of potentially toxic elements by plants, subsequently affecting humans and other living organisms via food chain contamination. Despite worldwide concern, the environmental and ecotoxicological impacts of metal-halide-based PSCs have not been comprehensively surveyed. This review summarizes and critically evaluates the current status of metal-halide-based PSC production and its impact on environmental sustainability, food security, and human health. Furthermore, safe handling and disposal methods for the waste generated from metal-halide-based PSCs are proposed, with a focus on recycling and reuse. Although some studies have suggested that the amount of lead released from metal halide PSCs is far below the maximum permissible levels in most soils, a clear conclusion cannot be reached until real contamination scenarios are assessed under field conditions. Precautions must be taken to minimize environmental contamination throughout the lifecycle of PSCs until nontoxic and similarly performing alternative solar photovoltaic products are developed.

Sustainable and Highly Efficient Recycling of Plastic Waste into Syngas via a Chemical Looping Scheme.

Converting plastic waste into valuable products (syngas) is a promising approach to achieve sustainable cities and communities. Here, we propose for the first time to convert plastic waste into syngas via the Fe2AlOx-based chemical looping technology in a two-zone reactor. The Fe2AlOx-based redox cycle was achieved with the pyrolysis of plastic waste in the upper zone, followed by the decomposition and thermal cracking of hydrocarbon vapors, and the oxidation and water splitting in the lower zone (850 °C) enabled a higher carbon conversion (81.03%) and syngas concentration (92.84%) when compared with the mixed feeding process. The iron species could provide lattice oxygen and meanwhile act as the catalyst for the deep decomposition of hydrocarbons into CO and the accumulation of deposited carbon in the reduction step. Meanwhile, the introduced water would be split by the reduced iron and deposited carbon to further produce H2 and CO in the following oxidation step. A high hydrogen yield of 85.82 mmol/g HDPE with a molar ratio of H2/CO of 2.03 was achieved from the deconstruction of plastic waste, which lasted for five cycles. This proof of concept demonstrated a sustainable and highly efficient pathway for the recycling of plastic waste into valuable chemicals.

Prediction of Soil Heavy Metal Immobilization by Biochar Using Machine Learning.

Biochar application is a promising strategy for the remediation of contaminated soil, while ensuring sustainable waste management. Biochar remediation of heavy metal (HM)-contaminated soil primarily depends on the properties of the soil, biochar, and HM. The optimum conditions for HM immobilization in biochar-amended soils are site-specific and vary among studies. Therefore, a generalized approach to predict HM immobilization efficiency in biochar-amended soils is required. This study employs machine learning (ML) approaches to predict the HM immobilization efficiency of biochar in biochar-amended soils. The nitrogen content in the biochar (0.3-25.9%) and biochar application rate (0.5-10%) were the two most significant features affecting HM immobilization. Causal analysis showed that the empirical categories for HM immobilization efficiency, in the order of importance, were biochar properties > experimental conditions > soil properties > HM properties. Therefore, this study presents new insights into the effects of biochar properties and soil properties on HM immobilization. This approach can help determine the optimum conditions for enhanced HM immobilization in biochar-amended soils.

When Bigger Is Not Greener: Ensuring the Sustainability of Power-to-Gas Hydrogen on a National Scale.

As the prices of photovoltaics and wind turbines continue to decrease, more renewable electricity-generating capacity is installed globally. While this is considered an integral part of a sustainable energy future by many nations, it also poses a significant strain on current electricity grids due to the inherent output variability of renewable electricity. This work addresses the challenge of renewable electricity surplus (RES) utilization with target-scaling of centralized power-to-gas (PtG) hydrogen production. Using the Republic of Korea as a case study, due to its ambitious plan of 2030 green hydrogen production capacity of 0.97 million tons year-1, we combine predictions of future, season-averaged RES with a detailed conceptual process simulation for green H2 production via polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolysis combined with a desalination plant in six distinct scale cases (0.5-8.5 GW). It is demonstrated that at scales of 0.5 to 1.75 GW the RES is optimally utilized, and PtG hydrogen can therefore outperform conventional hydrogen production both environmentally (650-2210 Mton CO2 not emitted per year) and economically (16-30% levelized cost reduction). Beyond these scales, the PtG benefits sharply drop, and thus it is answered how much of the planned green hydrogen target can realistically be "green" if produced domestically on an industrial scale.

Integrating Biochar, Bacteria, and Plants for Sustainable Remediation of Soils Contaminated with Organic Pollutants.

The contamination of soil with organic pollutants has been accelerated by agricultural and industrial development and poses a major threat to global ecosystems and human health. Various chemical and physical techniques have been developed to remediate soils contaminated with organic pollutants, but challenges related to cost, efficacy, and toxic byproducts often limit their sustainability. Fortunately, phytoremediation, achieved through the use of plants and associated microbiomes, has shown great promise for tackling environmental pollution; this technology has been tested both in the laboratory and in the field. Plant-microbe interactions further promote the efficacy of phytoremediation, with plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) often used to assist the remediation of organic pollutants. However, the efficiency of microbe-assisted phytoremediation can be impeded by (i) high concentrations of secondary toxins, (ii) the absence of a suitable sink for these toxins, (iii) nutrient limitations, (iv) the lack of continued release of microbial inocula, and (v) the lack of shelter or porous habitats for planktonic organisms. In this regard, biochar affords unparalleled positive attributes that make it a suitable bacterial carrier and soil health enhancer. We propose that several barriers can be overcome by integrating plants, PGPB, and biochar for the remediation of organic pollutants in soil. Here, we explore the mechanisms by which biochar and PGPB can assist plants in the remediation of organic pollutants in soils, and thereby improve soil health. We analyze the cost-effectiveness, feasibility, life cycle, and practicality of this integration for sustainable restoration and management of soil.

A remediation approach to chromium-contaminated water and soil using engineered biochar derived from peanut shell.

Hexavalent chromium (Cr[VI]) is one of the major environmental concerns due to its excessive discharge through effluents from the leather tanning industry. Peanut production leads to the generation of residual shells as waste calling for sustainable disposal. In this study, we employed an innovative approach of applying peanut-shell-derived pristine and engineered biochar for the remediation of Cr-contaminated wastewater and soil. The peanut shell waste was converted to biochar, which was further engineered with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB, a commonly used cationic surfactant). The biochars were then used for the adsorption and immobilization of Cr(VI) in water and soil, respectively. The adsorption experiments demonstrated high Cr(VI) removal efficiency for the engineered biochar (79.35%) compared with the pristine biochar (37.47%). The Langmuir model best described the Cr(VI) adsorption onto the biochars (R2 > 0.97), indicating monolayer adsorption. Meanwhile, the adsorption kinetics indicated that chemisorption was the dominant mechanism of interaction between the Cr(VI) and the biochars, as indicated by the best fitting to the pseudo-second-order model (R2 > 0.98). Adsorption through the fixed-bed column also presented higher Cr(VI) adsorption onto the engineered biochar (qeq = 22.93 mg g-1) than onto the pristine biochar (qeq = 18.54 mg g-1). In addition, the desorption rate was higher for the pristine biochar column (13.83 mg g-1) than the engineered biochar column (10.45 mg g-1), indicating that Cr(VI) was more strongly adsorbed onto the engineered biochar. A higher immobilization of Cr(VI) was observed in the soil with the engineered biochar than with the pristine biochar, as was confirmed by the significant decreases in the Cr(VI) bioavailability (92%), leachability (100%), and bioaccessibility (97%) compared with the control (soil without biochar). The CTAB-engineered biochar could thus potentially be used as an efficient adsorbent for the removal and the immobilization of Cr(VI) in water and soil, respectively.

Sustainable management of plastic wastes in COVID-19 pandemic: The biochar solution.

To prevent the COVID-19 transmission, personal protective equipment (PPE) and packaging materials have been extensively used but often managed inappropriately, generating huge amount of plastic waste. In this review, we comprehensively discussed the plastic products utilized and the types and amounts of plastic waste generated since the outbreak of COVID-19, and reviewed the potential treatments for these plastic wastes. Upcycling of plastic waste into biochar was addressed from the perspectives of both environmental protection and practical applications, which can be verified as promising materials for environmental protections and energy storages. Moreover, novel upcycling of plastic waste into biochar is beneficial to mitigate the ubiquitous plastic pollution, avoiding harmful impacts on human and ecosystem through direct and indirect micro-/nano-plastic transmission routes, and achieving the sustainable plastic waste management for value-added products, simultaneously. This suggests that the plastic waste could be treated as a valuable resource in an advanced and green manner.

Biochar alters chemical and microbial properties of microplastic-contaminated soil.

The occurrence of microplastics (MPs) in soils can negatively affect soil biodiversity and function. Soil amendments applied to MP-contaminated soil can alter the overall soil properties and enhance its functions and processes. However, little is known about how soil amendments improve the quality of MP-contaminated soils. Thus, the present study used a microcosm experiment to explore the potential effects of four types of biochar on the chemical and microbial properties of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) MP-contaminated soil under both drought and well-watered conditions. The results show that the biochars altered soil pH, electrical conductivity (EC), available phosphorous, and total exchangeable cations (TEC) with some variability depending on the biochar type. Oilseed rape straw (OSR)-derived biochars increased soil pH, EC, and TEC under both water conditions with the highest values of 7.94, 0.54 dS m-1 and 22.0 cmol(+) kg-1, respectively. Soil enzyme activities varied under all treatments; in particular, under drought conditions, the fluorescein diacetate activity increased in soils with high temperature (700 °C) biochar. The application of soft wood pellet biochar (700 °C) to MP-contaminated soil increased urease activity by 146% under well-watered conditions. OSR-derived biochars significantly reduced soil acid phosphatase activity under both water conditions. With biochar supplementation, the diversity indices of the bacterial community increased in well-watered soil but not in soil under drought conditions. The abundance of bacterial phyla, such as Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Dictyoglomi, and Gemmatimonadetes, was relatively high in all treatments. Biochar application resulted in negligible variations in bacterial communities under drought conditions but significant variations under well-watered conditions. The findings of this study imply that biochar can be used as a soil amendment to improve the overall soil quality of MP-contaminated soil, but its impact varies depending on the pyrolysis feedstock and temperature. Thus, selecting a suitable biochar is important for improving the soil quality in MP-contaminated soils.

Effects of microplastics on the terrestrial environment: A critical review.

Microplastics are emerging contaminants and there has been growing concern regarding their impacts on aquatic and terrestrial environments. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge regarding the sources, occurrences, fates, and risks associated with microplastic contamination in terrestrial environments. This contamination occurs via multiple sources, including primary microplastics (including synthetic materials) and secondary microplastics (derived from the breakdown of larger plastic particles). Microplastic contamination can have both beneficial and detrimental effects on soil properties. Additionally, microplastics have been shown to interact with a wide array of contaminants, including pesticides, persistent organic pollutants, heavy metals, and antibiotics, and may act as a vector for contaminant transfer in terrestrial environments. Microplastics and their associated chemicals can be transferred through food webs and may accumulate across multiple trophic levels, resulting in potential detrimental health effects for humans and other organisms. Although several studies have focused on the occurrence and impacts of microplastic contamination in marine environments, their sources, fate, transport, and effects in terrestrial environments are less studied and not well understood. Therefore, further research focusing on the fate, transport, and impacts of microplastics in relation to soil properties, polymer composition and forms, and land-use types is needed. The development of standardized and harmonized methods for analyzing microplastics in soil-plant ecosystems is essential. Future work should also consider the many interactions of microplastics with soil quality and ecotoxicological impacts on biota in the context of global environmental change.

Challenges and opportunities in sustainable management of microplastics and nanoplastics in the environment.

The accumulation of microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems has raised concerns because of their adverse effects on ecosystem functions and human health. Plastic waste management has become a universal problem in recent years. Hence, sustainable plastic waste management techniques are vital for achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Although many reviews have focused on the occurrence and impact of micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs), there has been limited focus on the management of MNPs. This review first summarizes the ecotoxicological impacts of plastic waste sources and issues related to the sustainable management of MNPs in the environment. This paper then critically evaluates possible approaches for incorporating plastics into the circular economy in order to cope with the problem of plastics. Pollution associated with MNPs can be tackled through source reduction, incorporation of plastics into the circular economy, and suitable waste management. Appropriate infrastructure development, waste valorization, and economically sound plastic waste management techniques and viable alternatives are essential for reducing MNPs in the environment. Policymakers must pay more attention to this critical issue and implement appropriate environmental regulations to achieve environmental sustainability.

Designer biochar with enhanced functionality for efficient removal of radioactive cesium and strontium from water.

Radioactive elements released into the environment by accidental discharge constitute serious health hazards to humans and other organisms. In this study, three gasified biochars prepared from feedstock mixtures of wood, chicken manure, and food waste, and a KOH-activated biochar (40% food waste + 60% wood biochar (WFWK)) were used to remove cesium (Cs+) and strontium (Sr2+) ions from water. The physicochemical properties of the biochars before and after adsorbing Cs+ and Sr2+ were determined using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, extended X-Ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and scanning electron microscopy-energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX). The WFWK exhibited the highest adsorption capacity for Cs+ (62.7 mg/g) and Sr2+ (43.0 mg/g) among the biochars tested herein. The removal of radioactive 137Cs and 90Sr exceeded 80% and 47%, respectively, in the presence of competing ions like Na+ and Ca2+. The functional groups present in biochar, including -OH, -NH2, and -COOH, facilitated the adsorption of Cs+ and Sr2+. The Cs K-edge EXAFS spectra revealed that a single coordination shell was assigned to the Cs-O bonding at 3.11 Å, corresponding to an outer-sphere complex formed between Cs and the biochar. The designer biochar WFWK may be used as an effective adsorbent to treat radioactive 137Cs- and 90Sr-contaminated water generated during the operation of nuclear power plants and/or unintentional release, owing to the enrichment effect of the functional groups in biochar via alkaline activation.

Recycling Polymeric Solid Wastes for Energy-Efficient Water Purification, Organic Distillation, and Oil Spill Cleanup.

Conventional approaches (e.g., pyrolysis) for managing waste polymer foams typically require highly technical skills and consume large amounts of energy resources. This paper presents an ultrafacile, cost-effective, and highly efficient alternative method for recycling waste packaging and cleaning foam (e.g., polymelamine-formaldehyde foam). The designed solar absorber, a polypyrrole-coated melamine foam (PMF), features a highly porous structure, excellent mechanical strength, low thermal conductivity, and rapid water transport capacity. These exceptional properties render the PMF suitable for multiple applications, including energy-efficient solar-powered water purification, ethanol distillation, and oil absorption. In water purification, the PMF yields a solar-thermal conversion efficiency as high as 87.7%, stability that is maintained for more than 35 operation cycles, and antifouling capabilities (when purifying different water types). In solar distillation, the PMF achieves a concentration increase up to 75 vol% when distilling a 10 vol% ethanol solution. In oil absorption, the PMF offers an oil-absorption capacity of ≈70 g g-1 with only a 7% loss in capacity after 100 absorbing-squeezing cycles. Thus, systems combining solar energy with various waste foams are highly promising as durable, renewable, and portable systems for water purification, organic distillation, and oil absorption, especially in remote regions or emergency situations.

Applied Machine Learning for Prediction of CO2 Adsorption on Biomass Waste-Derived Porous Carbons.

Biomass waste-derived porous carbons (BWDPCs) are a class of complex materials that are widely used in sustainable waste management and carbon capture. However, their diverse textural properties, the presence of various functional groups, and the varied temperatures and pressures to which they are subjected during CO2 adsorption make it challenging to understand the underlying mechanism of CO2 adsorption. Here, we compiled a data set including 527 data points collected from peer-reviewed publications and applied machine learning to systematically map CO2 adsorption as a function of the textural and compositional properties of BWDPCs and adsorption parameters. Various tree-based models were devised, where the gradient boosting decision trees (GBDTs) had the best predictive performance with R2 of 0.98 and 0.84 on the training and test data, respectively. Further, the BWDPCs in the compiled data set were classified into regular porous carbons (RPCs) and heteroatom-doped porous carbons (HDPCs), where again the GBDT model had R2 of 0.99 and 0.98 on the training and 0.86 and 0.79 on the test data for the RPCs and HDPCs, respectively. Feature importance revealed the significance of adsorption parameters, textural properties, and compositional properties in the order of precedence for BWDPC-based CO2 adsorption, effectively guiding the synthesis of porous carbons for CO2 adsorption applications.

Global Plastic Pollution Observation System to Aid Policy.

Plastic pollution has become one of the most pressing environmental challenges and has received commensurate widespread attention. Although it is a top priority for policymakers and scientists alike, the knowledge required to guide decisions, implement mitigation actions, and assess their outcomes remains inadequate. We argue that an integrated, global monitoring system for plastic pollution is needed to provide comprehensive, harmonized data for environmental, societal, and economic assessments. The initial focus on marine ecosystems has been expanded here to include atmospheric transport and terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. An earth-system-level plastic observation system is proposed as a hub for collecting and assessing the scale and impacts of plastic pollution across a wide array of particle sizes and ecosystems including air, land, water, and biota and to monitor progress toward ameliorating this problem. The proposed observation system strives to integrate new information and to identify pollution hotspots (i.e., production facilities, cities, roads, ports, etc.) and expands monitoring from marine environments to encompass all ecosystem types. Eventually, such a system will deliver knowledge to support public policy and corporate contributions to the relevant United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

New mechanistic insight into rapid adsorption of pharmaceuticals from water utilizing activated biochar.

The presence of emerging pollutants especially hazardous chemicals and pharmaceuticals in aquatic environments is a matter of grave concern to human health and the environment. In this study, coffee bean waste (CBW) was utilized to synthesize pristine (CBW550) and activated (CBW550HPO) biochars for the elimination of diclofenac (DF) and levofloxacin (LEV) from water. A facile two-step approach was used to synthesize CBW550HPO using chemical pretreatment and pyrolysis under N2 purging. BET results of CBW550HPO revealed that chemical pretreatment increased surface area by approximately 160 times compared to CBW550. The calculated ID/IG ratio from Raman spectra confirmed that CBW550HPO had a high functionalized surface. Different operational parameters such as contact time, pH, adsorbent dose, ionic strength, and adsorbate concentration were studied and optimized. Maximum Langmuir adsorption capacity of CBW550HPO was found to be 61.17 and 110.70 mg/g for DF and LVX, respectively. Experimental results demonstrated that presence of NaCl in solution enhanced DF removal efficiency due to the salting-out effect. Electrostatic attraction, π-π bonding, and hydrophobic interaction were prominently responsible mechanisms for the adsorption of DF and LVX. Furthermore, continuous-flow mode studies confirmed that CBW550HPO can be successfully utilized in large-scale treatment applications.

Carbon-based adsorbents for fluoroquinolone removal from water and wastewater: A critical review.

This review summarizes the adsorptive removal of Fluoroquinolones (FQ) from water and wastewater. The influence of different physicochemical parameters on the adsorptive removal of FQ-based compounds is detailed. Further, the mechanisms involved in the adsorption of FQ-based antibiotics on various adsorbents are succinctly described. As the first of its kind, this paper emphasizes the performance of each adsorbent for FQ-type antibiotic removal based on partition coefficients of the adsorbents that is a more sensitive parameter than adsorption capacity for comparing the performances of adsorbents under various adsorbate concentrations and heterogeneous environmental conditions. It was found that π-π electron donor-acceptor interactions, electrostatic interactions, and pore-filling were the most prominent mechanisms for FQ adsorption by carbon and clay-based adsorbents. Among all the categories of adsorbents reviewed, graphene showed the highest performance for the removal of FQ antibiotics from water and wastewater. Based on the current state of knowledge, this review fills the gap through methodolically understanding the mechanism for further improvement of FQ antibiotics adsorption performance from water and wastewater.