Advanced Biofilm Processes for Removal and Resource Recovery

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Wastewater Treatment and Reuse".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 May 2023) | Viewed by 3327

Special Issue Editors

PureBlue Water, 4565 ER Kapellebrug, The Netherlands
Interests: water and wastewater treatment; environmental biotechnology; biological wastewater treatment
1. Department of Civil Engineering, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada
2. Nexom, Winnipeg, MB R5T 0C9, Canada
Interests: water and wastewater treatment; solid waste management; environmental biotechnology
AECOM, Winnipeg, MB R3P 0Y7, Canada
Interests: water and wastewater treatment; environmental biotechnology; biological wastewater treatment

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue will cover the development, design, operation, and modelling of state-of-the-art biofilm processes for water resource recovery facilities. Topics will include the removal of compounds such as nitrogen, phosphorus, pharmaceuticals, micropollutants, and other emerging contaminants, as well as the recovery of resources using methods such as enhanced biological phosphorus removal and recovery, carbon re-direction, fermentation, and biogas and bioproduct production. Case studies and reviews of process intensification, such as moving bed biofilm reactors (MBBR) and integrated fixed-film activated sludge (IFAS) retrofits of existing activated sludge systems, or energy efficient treatments, such as membrane biofilm reactors (MBfR) and aerobic granular sludge (AGS) employing simultaneous nitrification and denitrification or partial nitritation anammox processes, are encouraged.

Dr. Alessandro di Biase
Dr. Tanner Ryan Devlin
Dr. Maciej Kowalski
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. Water 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

  • biofilm processes
  • nutrient removal
  • resource recovery
  • micropollutants and emerging contaminants
  • process intensification
  • energy efficiency

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 9872 KiB  
Article
Activity of Ammonium-Oxidizing Bacteria—An Essential Parameter for Model-Based N2O Mitigation Control Strategies for Biofilms
by Arne Freyschmidt and Maike Beier
Water 2023, 15(13), 2389; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15132389 - 28 Jun 2023
Viewed by 786
Abstract
The reduction in N2O emissions is an important task in the control of wastewater treatment plants. Since local operating conditions, especially inside biofilms, are usually not known, models are an important tool in the development and implementation of control strategies. For [...] Read more.
The reduction in N2O emissions is an important task in the control of wastewater treatment plants. Since local operating conditions, especially inside biofilms, are usually not known, models are an important tool in the development and implementation of control strategies. For a pilot-scale nitrifying biofilm reactor and an SBR, different operational strategies to reduce autotrophic nitrous oxide (N2O) formation were developed and tested by applying a combination of modeling and measurement. Both approaches highlighted the relevance of addressing the actual AOB activity as a sensitive control variable. The investigated strategies, therefore, focused on decreasing the AOB-related NH4 conversion rate, as autotrophic N2O formation is directly linked to AOB activity. The results showed that the biofilm system was more advantageous compared with suspended sludge systems. A higher AOB content resulted in a decrease in AOB activity, leading to fewer N2O emissions at the same reactor performance. The highest reduction in autotrophic N2O formation (SBR: 25%; Biofilm: 27%) was obtained by maximizing the aerated time per day and minimizing the number of aeration cycles (the suppression of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria still needed to be ensured). A higher biofilm thickness or a higher sludge mass in the SBR, however, did not have a noteworthy positive effect since no additional biomass could be kept in the system in the long term due to limited substrate availability. Besides nitritation, denitrification was also identified as a relevant source of N2O in both systems (biofilm: main source) due to the inhibition of N2O reduction by nitrous acid (elevated nitrite concentrations in combination with pH values < 7). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Biofilm Processes for Removal and Resource Recovery)
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16 pages, 1506 KiB  
Article
Biopolymer Recovery from Aerobic Granular Sludge and Conventional Flocculent Sludge in Treating Industrial Wastewater: Preliminary Analysis of Different Carbon Routes for Organic Carbon Utilization
by Francesco Traina, Santo Fabio Corsino, Michele Torregrossa and Gaspare Viviani
Water 2023, 15(1), 47; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15010047 - 23 Dec 2022
Viewed by 2041
Abstract
The recovery of biopolymers from sewage sludge could be a crucial step in implementing circular economy principles in wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). In this frame, the present study was aimed at evaluating the simultaneous production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) [...] Read more.
The recovery of biopolymers from sewage sludge could be a crucial step in implementing circular economy principles in wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). In this frame, the present study was aimed at evaluating the simultaneous production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) obtainable from the treatment of agro-industrial wastewater. Two biological enrichment systems, aerobic granular sludge (AGS) and a conventional activated sludge operating as a sequencing batch reactor (SBR), were monitored for 204 and 186 days, respectively. The maximum biopolymers accumulation capacity was close to 0.60 mgPHA-EPS gVSS−1 in the AGS when operating at 3 kgCODm−3d−1, whereas in the SBR, it was about half (0.35 mgPHA-EPS gVSS−1). Biopolymers extracted from the AGS were mainly constituted by EPS (>70%), whose percentage increased up to 95% with the OLR applied in the enrichment reactor. In contrast, SBR enabled obtaining a higher PHA production (50% of the biopolymers). Results suggested that organic carbon was mainly channeled toward metabolic pathways for extracellular storing in AGS, likely due to metabolic stressors (e.g., hydraulic selection pressure, shear forces) applied for promoting aerobic granulation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Biofilm Processes for Removal and Resource Recovery)
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