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Sustainability
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Advances on Sustainable Treatments for Sewage Sludge and Wastewater
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Advances on Sustainable Treatments for Sewage Sludge and Wastewater

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (12 April 2024) | Viewed by 3565

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Huihui Chen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China
Interests: thermochemical and biochemical treatments of organic solid waste, such as sewage sludge, agricultural waste; biological treatment of hydrothermal wastewater; identification of environmental risk substances in solid waste, and the enhanced degradation technology
Dr. Muhammad Usman

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2R3, Canada
Interests: thermochemical treatments (hydrothermal liquefaction, pyrolysis, advanced wet oxidation and steam explosion) of biomass/biowaste; biological treatment of wastewater; biogas production; synthesis of carbon rich materials (hydrochar, biochar), organic and inorganic pollutant degradation, adsorption, DIET and microbial study
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Yan Shi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China
2. School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30318, USA
Interests: solid wastes disposal and reutilization
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Significant amount of wastewater and the byproducts sewage sludge are generated due to increasing population and rapid urbanization. Low carbon sustainable treatments have been developed to recover energy (biogas, carbon material, syngas, etc.) and nutrients (protein，phosphorus，organic acids，etc.) from this waste. However, additional options for the sustainable treatment of sludge and wastewater are required due to the significant amounts of them, high levels of nutrients (e.g., C, N, and P), unstable but great potential of contaminant risk constituents. For example, the combination of thermal and biological treatment of sludge has recently been recognized as a promising technology to reduce waste volume, efficiently recover bioenergy (e.g., biogas), destroy organic contaminants, and eliminate pathogens.

The aims of this special issue are to draw attention to sustainable development of sewage and wastewater, and offer insights into addressing these opportunities and barriers for efficient energy and resource recovery from sewage sludge and wastewater.

We proposed this virtual Special Issue to systematically cover (but are not limited to) the following major aspects.

(1) Biological treatments for high energy recovery from sewage sludge and wastewater;

(2) Thermal (hydrothermal and pyrolysis) treatments of sewage sludge and wastewater;

(3) Combination of two or more methods to treat sewage sludge and wastewater;

(4) Phosphorus recovery technologies from sewage sludge and wastewater;

(5) Other novel treatment technologies for the valorization of sewage sludge and wastewater

Dr. Huihui Chen
Dr. Muhammad Usman
Dr. Yan Shi
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

  • sewage sand wastewater
  • biological treatments
  • hydrothermal and pyrolysis
  • nutrient recovery
  • combined treatment technologies

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 3921 KiB  
Article
Performance Assessment of a New Flat Sepiolite Clay-Based Ultrafiltration Membrane for the Removal of Paracetamol and Indigo Blue Dyes from Two Synthetic Aqueous Solutions
by Mohamed Romdhani, Wala Aloulou, Hajer Aloulou, Joelle Duplay, Catherine Charcosset and Raja Ben Amar
Sustainability 2024, 16(5), 1860; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16051860 - 23 Feb 2024
Viewed by 723
Abstract
In the last decade, the development of a new generation of membranes based on low-cost materials has been widely studied. These membranes demonstrate significantly higher performance than the conventional ceramic membranes currently used in membrane separation technology. This work is focused on the [...] Read more.
In the last decade, the development of a new generation of membranes based on low-cost materials has been widely studied. These membranes demonstrate significantly higher performance than the conventional ceramic membranes currently used in membrane separation technology. This work is focused on the development of a low-cost flat UF ceramic membrane composed completely of sepiolite using a uniaxial pressing method with dimensions of 5.5 cm of diameter and 3 mm of thickness. The sintering temperatures used were from 650 to 800 °C. Several properties, such as morphology, porosity, permeability, mechanical strength, and chemical resistance, are investigated. The results show that the mean pore diameter is increased from 40 to 150 nm when the sintering temperature increases from 650 °C to 800 °C. At these temperatures, excellent mechanical strength of 18 MPa to 22 MPa and high chemical resistance were achieved. SEM results revealed a crack-free structure with a uniformly smooth surface. Permeability tests were conducted using dead-end filtration. The sepiolite membrane demonstrated an improvement in its water permeability from 18 to 41 L·m−2·h−1·bar−1 when the sintering temperature increased from 650 °C to 750 °C. The efficiency of the sepiolite membranes sintered at 650 °C and 700 °C were evaluated with the application of the removal of paracetamol (PCT) and indigo blue (IB) dye separately from two synthetic aqueous solutions representing the pharmaceutical and textile sectors. Excellent removal efficiency of almost 100% for both contaminants was observed at ambient temperature and a pressure of 3 bars. Membrane regeneration was achieved through simple rinsing with deionized water. According to this finding, the UF sepiolite membrane demonstrated reversible fouling, which is consistent with the fouling coefficient “FRR” value higher than 90%. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances on Sustainable Treatments for Sewage Sludge and Wastewater)
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18 pages, 2288 KiB  
Article
Decrease in Oxygen Concentration for the Fast Start-Up of Partial Nitritation/Anammox without Inoculum Addition
by Weronika Borowska, Monika Zubrowska-Sudol and Nina Doskocz
Sustainability 2024, 16(2), 622; https://doi.org/10.3390/su16020622 - 11 Jan 2024
Viewed by 769
Abstract
Initiating the partial nitritation and anammox (PN/A) process without inoculation poses a significant challenge. Thus, there is a notable amount of interest in devising a straightforward strategy for the start-up of PN/A. This study demonstrates the feasibility of achieving the rapid start-up of [...] Read more.
Initiating the partial nitritation and anammox (PN/A) process without inoculation poses a significant challenge. Thus, there is a notable amount of interest in devising a straightforward strategy for the start-up of PN/A. This study demonstrates the feasibility of achieving the rapid start-up of a one-stage PN/A process within a moving-bed sequencing batch biofilm reactor (MBSBBR) by reducing the oxygen concentrations: 3.0 mg O2/L (Stage I), 2.0 mg O2/L (Stage II), and 1.0 mg O2/L (Stage III). The anammox activity was observed 15 days after a gradual decrease in the oxygen concentration and confirmed using a specific anammox activity test (5.9 mg N/gVSS∙h). During Stage III, the average total inorganic nitrogen (TIN) removal efficiency was 60.6%. The relative abundance of planctomycetes, a typical phylum representing anammox microorganisms, increased almost three times from Stage I (2.8%) to Stage III (7.1%). These results demonstrate the potential of a decrease in oxygen concentration for the fast start-up of the one-stage partial nitritation and anammox process without inoculation. The implementation of the studied DO strategy has practical implications for wastewater treatment plant operators, particularly in the start-up of the PN/A processes. Additionally, batch assays allow for the rapid assessment of treatment plant performance, providing real-time insights into its functionality and, thereby, optimizing wastewater treatment practices. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances on Sustainable Treatments for Sewage Sludge and Wastewater)
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14 pages, 5375 KiB  
Article
Insights into the Effects of CeO2 Nanoparticles on Medium-Chain Carboxylates Production from Waste Activated Sludge
by Huanqing Sun, Chao Liu, Shanshan Ren, Kuijing Liang, Zhiqiang Zhang, Changqing Su, Sujian Pei and Muhammad Usman
Sustainability 2023, 15(8), 6855; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15086855 - 19 Apr 2023
Viewed by 1109
Abstract
The synthesis of medium-chain carboxylates (MCCs) from waste-activated sludge (WAS) upgrading has received considerable attention. However, limited research has been conducted on the effects of CeO2 nanoparticles (NPs) on this process. This study showed that 1 mg/g−TS of CeO2 NPs improved [...] Read more.
The synthesis of medium-chain carboxylates (MCCs) from waste-activated sludge (WAS) upgrading has received considerable attention. However, limited research has been conducted on the effects of CeO2 nanoparticles (NPs) on this process. This study showed that 1 mg/g−TS of CeO2 NPs improved the solubilization of WAS, resulting in higher production of MCCs. At 5 mg/g−TS, CeO2 NPs weakly inhibited 3 biological steps. Despite this, there was an enhancement in WAS solubilization, thus the overall production of MCCs was similar to the control. However, doses of CeO2 NPs ranging from 25–100 mg/g−TS were unable to offset biological inhibition, leading to a decrease in MCC production. The toxic mechanisms involved were not the generation of reactive oxygen species or Ce ions from CeO2 NPs to anaerobic sludge, but instead the decline of extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) and destruction of the cell membrane through physical penetration. Microbial community analysis confirmed that 1 mg/g−TS of CeO2 NPs increased the relative abundance of key bacteria involved in the anaerobic fermentation of WAS. The MCC microbe Clostridium sensu stricto was enriched in the control group, while the relative abundance of this genus was significantly reduced with 100 mg/g−TS CeO2 NPs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances on Sustainable Treatments for Sewage Sludge and Wastewater)
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