View in EDS HTML Full Text PDF Full Text

Critisism of the Scholastic Approach in Researching Novel Adsorbents for Water Purification.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Title: Critisism of the Scholastic Approach in Researching Novel Adsorbents for Water Purification.
Authors: Smolin, S. K.1 (AUTHOR) sks-new@ukr.net, Sinel'nikova, A. V.1 (AUTHOR)
Source: Journal of Water Chemistry & Technology. Feb2025, Vol. 47 Issue 1, p9-16. 8p.
Subjects: Scientific errors, Water purification, Activated carbon, Carbon-based materials, Physisorption
Abstract: Over the past two decades, many scientific journals have published a series of articles on environmental topics, which follow a similar pattern for studying adsorption on new materials. A review of more than 30 articles (as well as review practices), primarily focusing on the adsorption of synthetic organic compounds on new activated carbon materials, identifies the stages of scholarly research and highlights the main methodological and theoretical errors. These errors undermine the scientific value of these studies and reduce the experimental data presented within them to the status of scientific spam. The term "scholasticism" is used here in the sense of "pedantry," "unified" nonessential research tasks, and excessive pondering over known or trivial matters. These issues point to gaps in the theoretical and practical training of young researchers. A typical feature of the scholastic approach is identified: instead of determining the conventional universal adsorption isotherm, the focus is on studying the influence of initial concentration, adsorbent weight, particle size, and contact time on adsorption efficiency—trends that are already well known to specialists. The epistemological significance and necessity of the stage of modeling experimental isotherms using both classical (Langmuir and Freundlich) and modern equations are critically evaluated. The paper presents a unique perspective on the role and objectives of modeling. The scholastic approach in kinetics relies on a formal description of rate laws, which predominantly ignore the physical nature of the adsorption of organic, especially aromatic, compounds, the hydrodynamics of flow, the fractional state of the adsorbent, the multistep nature of the process, and its limiting stage. The typical and characteristic inaccuracy of thermodynamic calculations in works exhibiting features of scholarly pedantry is highlighted, with the cause identified as the incorrect determination of the adsorption equilibrium constant, Ke. The paper gives specific methodological recommendations for environmental researchers, for whom adsorption-based water purification presents a new challenge, to avoid scholastic errors in their experimental endeavors and preserve the scientific value of their future work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Journal of Water Chemistry & Technology is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Database: Engineering Source
Full text is not displayed to guests.
FullText Links:
  – Type: pdflink
Text:
  Availability: 1
Header DbId: egs
DbLabel: Engineering Source
An: 183972393
AccessLevel: 6
PubType: Academic Journal
PubTypeId: academicJournal
PreciseRelevancyScore: 0
IllustrationInfo
Items – Name: Title
  Label: Title
  Group: Ti
  Data: Critisism of the Scholastic Approach in Researching Novel Adsorbents for Water Purification.
– Name: Author
  Label: Authors
  Group: Au
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Smolin%2C+S%2E+K%2E%22">Smolin, S. K.</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> sks-new@ukr.net</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Sinel'nikova%2C+A%2E+V%2E%22">Sinel'nikova, A. V.</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)
– Name: TitleSource
  Label: Source
  Group: Src
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Journal+of+Water+Chemistry+%26+Technology%22">Journal of Water Chemistry & Technology</searchLink>. Feb2025, Vol. 47 Issue 1, p9-16. 8p.
– Name: Subject
  Label: Subjects
  Group: Su
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Scientific+errors%22">Scientific errors</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Water+purification%22">Water purification</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Activated+carbon%22">Activated carbon</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Carbon-based+materials%22">Carbon-based materials</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Physisorption%22">Physisorption</searchLink>
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: Over the past two decades, many scientific journals have published a series of articles on environmental topics, which follow a similar pattern for studying adsorption on new materials. A review of more than 30 articles (as well as review practices), primarily focusing on the adsorption of synthetic organic compounds on new activated carbon materials, identifies the stages of scholarly research and highlights the main methodological and theoretical errors. These errors undermine the scientific value of these studies and reduce the experimental data presented within them to the status of scientific spam. The term "scholasticism" is used here in the sense of "pedantry," "unified" nonessential research tasks, and excessive pondering over known or trivial matters. These issues point to gaps in the theoretical and practical training of young researchers. A typical feature of the scholastic approach is identified: instead of determining the conventional universal adsorption isotherm, the focus is on studying the influence of initial concentration, adsorbent weight, particle size, and contact time on adsorption efficiency—trends that are already well known to specialists. The epistemological significance and necessity of the stage of modeling experimental isotherms using both classical (Langmuir and Freundlich) and modern equations are critically evaluated. The paper presents a unique perspective on the role and objectives of modeling. The scholastic approach in kinetics relies on a formal description of rate laws, which predominantly ignore the physical nature of the adsorption of organic, especially aromatic, compounds, the hydrodynamics of flow, the fractional state of the adsorbent, the multistep nature of the process, and its limiting stage. The typical and characteristic inaccuracy of thermodynamic calculations in works exhibiting features of scholarly pedantry is highlighted, with the cause identified as the incorrect determination of the adsorption equilibrium constant, Ke. The paper gives specific methodological recommendations for environmental researchers, for whom adsorption-based water purification presents a new challenge, to avoid scholastic errors in their experimental endeavors and preserve the scientific value of their future work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
– Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright
  Label:
  Group: Ab
  Data: <i>Copyright of Journal of Water Chemistry & Technology is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
PLink https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=egs&AN=183972393
RecordInfo BibRecord:
  BibEntity:
    Identifiers:
      – Type: doi
        Value: 10.3103/S1063455X25010114
    Languages:
      – Code: eng
        Text: English
    PhysicalDescription:
      Pagination:
        PageCount: 8
        StartPage: 9
    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Scientific errors
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Water purification
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Activated carbon
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Carbon-based materials
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Physisorption
        Type: general
    Titles:
      – TitleFull: Critisism of the Scholastic Approach in Researching Novel Adsorbents for Water Purification.
        Type: main
  BibRelationships:
    HasContributorRelationships:
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Smolin, S. K.
      – PersonEntity:
          Name:
            NameFull: Sinel'nikova, A. V.
    IsPartOfRelationships:
      – BibEntity:
          Dates:
            – D: 01
              M: 02
              Text: Feb2025
              Type: published
              Y: 2025
          Identifiers:
            – Type: issn-print
              Value: 1063455X
          Numbering:
            – Type: volume
              Value: 47
            – Type: issue
              Value: 1
          Titles:
            – TitleFull: Journal of Water Chemistry & Technology
              Type: main
ResultId 1