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Biotechnological Innovations for Waste/Wastewater Treatment and Energy Generation: Challenges and Opportunities

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "B: Energy and Environment".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 5 June 2025 | Viewed by 867

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Environmental Biotechnology, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Słoneczna 45 G, 10-709 Olsztyn, Poland
Interests: environmental biotechnology; wastenvironmental biotechnology; waste and wastewater treatment; nutrient removal from municipal and industrial wastewater; aerobic granular sludge technology; bisphenol removal from wastewater; waste-to-energy technologies; microplastic; microbial fuel cells; molecular techniques; metagenome; metatranscriptome
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The management of waste and wastewater, as well as energy production, pose major challenges for the environment, health and the economy worldwide.

Biotechnologies offer innovative solutions that hold great promise for overcoming these challenges while creating opportunities for sustainable resource recovery, energy production and environment protection. The aim of this Special Issue of the international journal Energies (SCIE IF 3.2, CiteScore 5.5), entitled “Biotechnological Innovations for Waste/Wastewater Treatment and Energy Generation: Challenges and Opportunities”, is to address the challenges of waste and wastewater management and explore the opportunities presented by biotechnological advances, particularly in the field of energy generation. This Special Issue presents advanced biotechnologies covering a wide range of approaches, including waste-to-energy conversion, biogas and biohydrogen production or electricity generation in microbial fuel cells. These methods utilize the metabolic capabilities of microorganisms to degrade pollutants, including micropollutants, and to recover valuable resources from waste and wastewater streams. The topics of interest include studies on anaerobic digestion, the conversion of organic waste into biogas for energy production and the use of nutrient-rich wastewater for fertilization in agriculture. Papers can describe the applicability of feedstocks and energy yields and outline the next steps for the development of the technologies described. In addition, submissions are welcome that present bio-based materials and chemicals that can be synthesized from waste streams, reduce dependence on virgin resources and minimize the environmental impact.

We invite scientists to submit both original research and review articles. The selected contributions will undergo a peer-review process to ensure rapid and wide dissemination of the results.

We look forward to receiving your outstanding papers.

Prof. Dr. Agnieszka Cydzik-Kwiatkowska
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • waste-to-energy technologies
  • wastewater treatment
  • energy production
  • resource recovery
  • micropollutants
  • anaerobic digestion
  • environmental biotechnologies
  • microbiome
  • circular economy

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

21 pages, 4833 KiB  
Article
Biopolymer Production in a Full-Scale Activated Sludge Wastewater Treatment Plant: Seasonal Changes and Promising Bacterial Producers
by Agnieszka Cydzik-Kwiatkowska, Sławomir Ciesielski, Maciej Florczyk, Sylwia Pasieczna-Patkowska, Małgorzata Komorowska-Kaufman, Weronika Pomian, Kinga Jóźwiak and Piotr Oleskowicz-Popiel
Energies 2024, 17(24), 6231; https://doi.org/10.3390/en17246231 - 11 Dec 2024
Viewed by 502
Abstract
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) offer the possibility of recovering valuable substances produced by microorganisms, such as extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs). This study aimed to investigate the generation and properties of biopolymers and microbial communities of activated sludge from a large, full-scale WWTP. EPS [...] Read more.
Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) offer the possibility of recovering valuable substances produced by microorganisms, such as extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs). This study aimed to investigate the generation and properties of biopolymers and microbial communities of activated sludge from a large, full-scale WWTP. EPS composition in the activated sludge changed mostly during the transition period from winter to spring. Higher temperatures favored higher protein (PN) concentrations and a higher PN/PSs (polysaccharides) ratio in tightly-bound EPS, stimulating bacterial aggregation. In the sludge, filamentous Microthrix sp. were abundant (~6%) but the settling properties of the sludge improved with increasing PN content in the bound EPS fraction. The content of alginate (ALE)-like polymers averaged 55–60 mg/g Mixed Liquor Suspended Solids, and ALE content in sludge and characteristics were stable during the year. The abundance of Nitrospira sp. and the marine group NS9 in activated sludge correlated with the ALE content in the biomass, pointing to the importance of biopolymer production for nitrogen-transforming microorganisms. The most common EPS-producer was, Candidatus Competibacter (3–4%). The abundance of the Roseiflexaceae family significantly increased in summer, as did the abundance of Trichoccus sp. and Flavobacterium sp. in winter. The study shows that seasonal temperature fluctuations do not significantly affect the production of polymers, especially alginate, which favors commercial ALE recovery. The non-uniform composition of ALE-like polymers shows the possibility of their use in areas that do not require a specific polymer composition, e.g., as environmentally friendly coating materials or sorbents. The study contributes to biopolymer recovery and valorization of activated sludge. Full article
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