LAUSR

This special issue intends to give a brief overview of current scientific topics for sustainable environmental chemistry and technology. This issue includes eight articles accepted for publication after the normal peer review process. These articles were presented at the 22nd Panhellenic Chemistry Conference held in Thessaloniki, Greece, 1–4 December 2016. The conference was organized by the Association of Greek Chemists under the auspices of the Department of Chemistry of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The published articles cover scientific areas of environmental chemistry and environmental technology. The articles present the occurrence, temporal variation, and distribution of polar organic compounds in PM10 and PM2.5 in the coastal urban area of Thessaloniki City (Balla et al. 2017), the levels and chemical characterization of PM10 and their possible sources in the surrounding of lignite mine area (Samara et al. 2017), the occurrence and variation of natural radionuclides and minor and trace elements in water and lake sediments of a lignite mine area (Noli and Tsamos 2017), and the occurrence of various elements in deposited dust and human hair (Eqani et al. 2017). In the field of environmental technology, the articles present the effects of ozonation treatment on the organic matter (Stylianou et al. 2017a), the use of novel adsorbents for removal of heavy metals (Kokkinos et al. 2017), the use of reductive precipitation and membrane separation for chromate removal from groundwaters (Stylianou et al. 2017b), and the treatment of landfill leachate by membrane bioreactors (Gkotsis et al. 2017). In summary, this issue attempts to present various environmental issues regarding the presence and possible sources of organic pollutants, toxic elements, ionic constituents, and radionuclides in atmosphere and aquatic environment, as well as technological approaches for treatment of water and wastewater. We hope that these articles offer important insight in environmental problems and besides the scientific interest; they can also promote awareness to authorities regarding the intensification of research and possible solutions to these problems. This special issue was edited by the Assistant Professor, Dr. Ioannis A. Katsoyiannis, and the Full Professor, Dr. Dimitra Voutsa, both from the Department of Chemistry of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.