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Advanced Technologies and Sustainable Innovation in Wastewater Treatment

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Resources and Sustainable Utilization".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2024 | Viewed by 988

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Defense University Center, The Naval Military School of Spain, Thermal and Environmental Engineering Group (InTeam), Marín, Spain
Interests: water quality; water treatment; pollution; valorization of residue; corrosion treatment and valorization of industrial wastes; sustainable engineering

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Guest Editor
BiotecnIA Group, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Vigo, Vigo, Spain
Interests: advanced treatment processes for industrial effluents; treatment and valorization of industrial wastes; sustainable engineering
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Water contamination has an important impact on the environment, ecosystems, and public health. This impact can be absorbed by the amount and quality of water used in agriculture, industry, and human consumption. The wellbeing and economy of communities are affected by the quality of water. In this context, it is necessary to develop effective technologies and processes for the prevention of water contamination, treatment of wastewater, and reclamation of contaminated waterbodies and other polluted sites.

Conventional water treatment processes are less effective against emerging pollutants (pesticides, drugs, etc.) due to their persistence in effluents. This is why it is necessary to innovate in water management and treatment to achieve sustainable use without compromising public health, the economy, and recreational uses and while preserving natural resources for the future.

The water sector is experiencing rapid technological advancement, which opens up great opportunities to improve efficiency in water use. Up-to-date information on the most innovative technologies would enable solutions to meet regulatory requirements, user needs, efficiency, cost-effectiveness and circularity.

The aim of this Special Issue is to gather a range of new research studies to help to solve the above problems associated with the sustainable use of water.

Original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  1. Technologies for resource recovery from wastewater;
  2. Water reuse, recycling and conservation towards the Sustainable Development Goals;
  3. Nutrient recovery/removal;
  4. Environmental microbiology and population dynamics;
  5. Wastewater treatment processes for water reuse and resource recovery;
  6. Wastewater treatment plant design and optimisation;
  7. Water/wastewater treatment plants as part of the integrated urban water system.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Santiago Urréjola-Madriñán
Dr. Susana Gouveia
Guest Editors

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. Sustainability 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 2400 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

  • wastewater treatment
  • water contamination
  • water reuse

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

19 pages, 3003 KiB  
Article
Light Enables Partial Nitrification and Algal-Bacterial Consortium in Rotating Biological Contactors: Performance and Microbial Community
by Zichun Yan and Zhibin Pei
Sustainability 2024, 16(13), 5538; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16135538 - 28 Jun 2024
Viewed by 665
Abstract
Partial nitrification–anaerobic ammonia oxidation represents an innovative nitrogen removal technique, distinguished by its shortened nitrogen removal pathway and reduced energy demands. Currently, partial nitrification is mostly studied in sequential batch reactors, and some of the methods to realize partial nitrification in continuous flow [...] Read more.
Partial nitrification–anaerobic ammonia oxidation represents an innovative nitrogen removal technique, distinguished by its shortened nitrogen removal pathway and reduced energy demands. Currently, partial nitrification is mostly studied in sequential batch reactors, and some of the methods to realize partial nitrification in continuous flow reactors have problems such as complicated operation and management, and can be easily destabilized. This study introduces a novel system utilizing light to establish an algal-bacterial consortium within a partial nitrification framework, where oxygen is supplied by algae and a novel rotating biological contactor (RBC). This approach aims to simplify the control strategy and decrease the energy required for aeration. The results demonstrated that light at an intensity of 200 μmol/(m2·s) effectively inhibited nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB), swiftly stabilizing partial nitrification. In the absence of light, free ammonia (FA) and free nitric acid (FNA) inhibited NOB, with ammonium removal efficiency (ARE) and nitrite accumulation ratio (NAR) at 68.35% and 34.00%, respectively. By day 88, under light exposure, effluent NO2-N concentrations surged, with ARE and NAR at 64.21% and 69.45%, respectively. By day 98, NAR peaked at 80.28%. The specific oxygen uptake rate (SOUR) of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and NOB outside the disc was 3.24 mg O2/(g MLSS·h) and 0.75 mg O2/(g MLSS·h), respectively. Extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) content initially decreased, then increased, ultimately exceeding pre-light exposure levels. Microbial abundance significantly declined due to light exposure, with Nitrosomonas related-AOB decreasing by 91.88% from 1.6% to 0.13%, and Nitrospira related-NOB decreasing by 99.23% from 5.19% to 0.04%, respectively. The results indicated that both AOB and NOB were inhibited by light, especially NOB. It is a feasible strategy to achieve partial nitrification and algal-bacterial consortia by using light in a rotating biological contactor. Full article
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