Innovative Water and Wastewater Treatment Technologies for Supporting Global Sustainability

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Chemical and Molecular Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2019) | Viewed by 49705

Special Issue Editors

Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, 71 Chou-Shan Rd., Taipei 10673, Taiwan
Interests: advanced oxidation processes; drinking water treatment; sustainable water infrastructure; water–energy nexus
College of the Environment & Ecology, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361102, China
Interests: urban ecological security; river ecology; coastal biogeochemical processes; impacts of climate change
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is estimated that the world population will reach 8.6 billion by mid-2030, and that approximately 60% will live in urban areas. Along with the population growth, it is expected that water and electricity demand will also increase by 30–50%. Accordingly, more wastewater will be generated and discharged, potentially contaminating water sources. In order to sustain the ever-growing global population and society, water should be properly purified before it is supplied, and contaminants in used water should be properly removed before the water is discharged into the environment. Especially, wastewater should be well-treated and discharged, since it can be a source of pollutants entering into drinking water systems.

Treating water and wastewater demands a significant quantity of energy input, placing a financial burden on society. Therefore, cost- and energy-efficient water and wastewater treatments have become an important topic for the scientific community. Innovation should be created in water or wastewater treatment technology to economically remove both macro- and micro-pollutants from water, produce pristine potable water, without any negative impact on the environment.

Therefore, we would like to call for papers for this Special Issue under the title “Innovative Water and Wastewater Technologies for Supporting Global Sustainability”. Potential topics for this Special Issue include, but are not restricted to:

  • Assessment of environmental and health risks caused by chemical pollutants in drinking water and wastewater.
  • Treatment of conventional and new organic/inorganic pollutants in water,
  • Fate of CECs in water and wastewater treatment processes,
  • Energy-efficient treatment technologies for nitrogen and/or phosphorus in wastewater
  • Automatic control of water and wastewater treatment processes for nitrogen and/phosphorus,
  • Economic analysis of water/wastewater infrastructure,
  • Strategy for improving sustainability of water/environment.

Prof. Dr. Hyunook Kim
Prof. Dr. Penchi Chiang
Prof. Dr. Wenzhi Cao
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • Water Treatment
  • Wastewater Treatment
  • Compounds of emerging concerns
  • Water-Energy Nexus
  • Sustainability

Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

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21 pages, 4772 KiB  
Article
Genomic and Microscopic Analysis of Ballast Water in the Great Lakes Region
by David A. Wright, Carys L. Mitchelmore, Allen Place, Ernest Williams and Celia Orano-Dawson
Appl. Sci. 2019, 9(12), 2441; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app9122441 - 14 Jun 2019
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2521
Abstract
Invasive aquatic species can have damaging effects on fisheries and aquaculture through significant, and irreversible, effects on biodiversity. Human health may also be affected. To combat this threat the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Convention for Ballast Water and Sediments (BWMC) came into force [...] Read more.
Invasive aquatic species can have damaging effects on fisheries and aquaculture through significant, and irreversible, effects on biodiversity. Human health may also be affected. To combat this threat the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Convention for Ballast Water and Sediments (BWMC) came into force in September 2017. U.S. Federal and IMO ballast water standards for discharged organisms stipulate discharge limits for different size classes of organisms. Several studies including recent trials aboard Great Lakes freighters have shown that many phytoplankton found in ballast water do not fall into the regulated 10–50 µM size class. Such issues illustrate the need for new methods of assessing microorganism populations that will supersede laborious microscopy requiring rare technical expertise. Recent progress has been made in the use of DNA (deoxyribose nucleic acid)-based methods as a means of identifying the appearance of invasive species in aquatic environments. A significant advance has been the development of high throughput sequencing (HTS), which has expanded DNA barcoding, relating to an individual organism, into second generation sequencing (metabarcoding), capable of mapping whole populations of organisms in an environmental sample. Several recent studies of HTS in ships’ ballast water, have shown that the technique has the capacity for detecting potentially harmful taxonomic groups and is capable of differentiating among water from different sources. The current study was undertaken to investigate the suitability (or otherwise) of HTS as a tool for ballast water management. Possible applications include improved risk assessment relating to invasive species. Feasibility for indicative testing for ballast water treatment efficacy was also addressed. However, pending analysis of treated samples, the current study was confined to a comparison of HTS and microscope counts in untreated samples. A correlation of visual and molecular taxonomic assignments of microorganisms found in the ballast water from different ports and during different seasons indicated that such a comparison was best conducted at Family level, although Principal Components Analysis showed that the two methods differed qualitatively among major taxonomic groups. Full article
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19 pages, 1663 KiB  
Article
Current Situation and Prospects for Aquifer Storage and Water Quality Enhancement (ASWQE) Projects in Korea: A Legal Perspective
by Young-Gyoo Shim and Jae-Ho Choi
Appl. Sci. 2019, 9(10), 1970; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app9101970 - 14 May 2019
Viewed by 2713
Abstract
The aquifer storage and water quality enhancement (ASWQE) method is a potential alternative to overcome the limitations of water resource policies that focus on surface water and act as an effective measure against water shortage caused by climate change. According to the physical/technical [...] Read more.
The aquifer storage and water quality enhancement (ASWQE) method is a potential alternative to overcome the limitations of water resource policies that focus on surface water and act as an effective measure against water shortage caused by climate change. According to the physical/technical characteristics and operational complexity of the ASQWE, there are various legal/institutional issues to be considered at every stage in the development and implementation of the project. However, in Korea, there is no legislation or legal basis directly related to the ASWQE projects, resulting in large gaps between the initiatives of ASWQE and the relevant laws and statutes. In this respect, this study, to introduce approaches for the establishment of a legal system in line with the requirements of ASWQE projects, mainly analyzes the gaps between the abovementioned principal legal/institutional issues/subjects and the indispensable elements at each phase of the project’s process in the existing Korean legal system concerning the ASWQE, particularly based on the issue tree approach. Through this comprehensive, systematic, and comparative case study, large gaps have been definitely identified between the initiatives surrounding ASWQE projects and the existing Korean legal system, and to conclude, legally multilateral approaches to fill and make up for the gaps have been presented. It is expected that the Korean government will continue to pursue the establishment of a comprehensive and integrated legal system in line with the requirements of ASWQE projects based on this research’s findings. When these attempts succeed, the expected legal achievement for the development and implementation of ASWQE projects could serve as an exemplary legal case for the entire world. Full article
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18 pages, 1671 KiB  
Article
Analysis of Causal Relationships for Nutrient Removal of Activated Sludge Process Based on Structural Equation Modeling Approaches
by Yejin Kim, Seulah Lee, Yeongdae Cho and Minsoo Kim
Appl. Sci. 2019, 9(7), 1398; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app9071398 - 03 Apr 2019
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 5029
Abstract
The removal process of activated sludge in sewage treatment plants is very nonlinear, and removal performance has a complex causal relationship depending on environmental factors, influent load, and operating factors. In this study, how causal relationships are expressed in collected data was identified [...] Read more.
The removal process of activated sludge in sewage treatment plants is very nonlinear, and removal performance has a complex causal relationship depending on environmental factors, influent load, and operating factors. In this study, how causal relationships are expressed in collected data was identified by structural equation modeling. First, path modeling was attempted as a preliminary step in structural equation model (SEM) construction and, as a result, the nutrient-removal mechanism could not be sufficiently represented as a direct causal relationship between measured variables. However, as a result of the deduced SEMs for effluent total nitrogen (T-N) and total phosphorus (T–P) concentrations, accompanied by exploratory factor analysis to extract latent variables, a causal network was formed that describes the direct or indirect effect of the latent factors and measured variables. Hereby, this study suggests that it is possible to construct an SEM explaining the nutrient-removal mechanism of the activated-sludge process with latent variables. Moreover, nonlinear features embedded in the mechanism could be represented by SEM, which is a model based on linearity, by including causal relations and variables that were not derived by path analysis. This attempt to model the direct and indirect causalities of the process could enhance the understanding of the process, and help decision making such as changing the driving conditions that would be required. Full article
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11 pages, 1183 KiB  
Article
Ecotoxicological Effect of Single and Combined Exposure of Carbamazepine and Cadmium on Female Danio rerio: A Multibiomarker Study
by Chunhong Shi, Yide He, Jiaxin Liu, Yue Lu, Yuting Fan, Yaling Liang and Yanhua Xu
Appl. Sci. 2019, 9(7), 1362; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app9071362 - 31 Mar 2019
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2800
Abstract
In aquatic environments, organisms are exposed to mixtures of pollutants which may change the toxicity profile of each contaminant, compared to its toxicity alone. Carbamazepine (CBZ) and cadmium (Cd) are among the pollutants that co-occur in aquatic environments. To date, most research about [...] Read more.
In aquatic environments, organisms are exposed to mixtures of pollutants which may change the toxicity profile of each contaminant, compared to its toxicity alone. Carbamazepine (CBZ) and cadmium (Cd) are among the pollutants that co-occur in aquatic environments. To date, most research about their toxicity towards aquatic vertebrates is based on single exposure experiments. The present study aims to evaluate single and combined effects of CBZ and Cd on biomarkers in female Danio rerio (zebrafish) by exposing them to environmentally relevant concentrations of these two pollutants for ten days. Four kinds of biomarkers involved in antioxidant systems, energy metabolism, nervous system, and endocrine disruption, respectively, were studied. Our research results coincided with those of former studies in single exposure experiments. However, the combined exposure of CBZ and Cd exerted different responses from other studies in which these two contaminants were examined alone in zebrafish. The present study evidenced the need to conduct more coexposure studies to enhance the environmental relevance of these experimental results. Full article
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11 pages, 2274 KiB  
Article
Comparison between OCl-Injection and In Situ Electrochlorination in the Formation of Chlorate and Perchlorate in Seawater
by Jongchan Yi, Yongtae Ahn, Moongi Hong, Gi-Hyeon Kim, Nisha Shabnam, Byongsueng Jeon, Byoung-In Sang and Hyunook Kim
Appl. Sci. 2019, 9(2), 229; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app9020229 - 10 Jan 2019
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3464
Abstract
To prevent biofouling from occurring in the cooling systems of coastal power plants, chlorine is often added to the cooling water. In this study, we have evaluated the fate of the total residual oxidants and the formation of inorganic chlorination byproducts including ClO [...] Read more.
To prevent biofouling from occurring in the cooling systems of coastal power plants, chlorine is often added to the cooling water. In this study, we have evaluated the fate of the total residual oxidants and the formation of inorganic chlorination byproducts including ClO3 and ClO4 during in situ electrochlorination with seawater. Then, the results were compared with those during direct OCl-injection to seawater. The in situ electrochlorination method based on Ti/RuO2 electrodes produced much less ClO3, while a similar level of total residual oxidants could be achieved with a reaction time of 5 min. Moreover, no ClO4 was observed, while the direct OCl-injection system could still result in the production of ClO4. The less or no production of ClO3 or ClO4 by the electrochlorination of seawater was mainly attributed to two reasons. First, during the electrolysis, the less amount of OCl is available for ClO3 formation. Secondly, the formation of ClO3 or ClO4 is affected by the electrode material. In other words, if the electrode material is carefully chosen, the production of harmful reaction byproducts can be prevented or minimized. In short, based on the results from our study, electrochlorination technology proves to be a marine environmentally friendly method for controlling biofouling in the pipes of the cooling system in a coastal power plant. Full article
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14 pages, 2671 KiB  
Article
Monitoring the Activated Sludge Activities Affected by Industrial Toxins via an Early-Warning System Based on the Relative Oxygen Uptake Rate (ROUR) Index
by Yu Du, Yasong Chen, Lina Zou, Songqiang Deng, Guanghe Li and Dayi Zhang
Appl. Sci. 2019, 9(1), 154; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app9010154 - 04 Jan 2019
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3510
Abstract
Shock load from industrial wastewater is known to harm the microbial activities of the activated sludge in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and disturb their performance. This study developed a system monitoring the activated sludge activities based on the relative oxygen uptake rate (ROUR) [...] Read more.
Shock load from industrial wastewater is known to harm the microbial activities of the activated sludge in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and disturb their performance. This study developed a system monitoring the activated sludge activities based on the relative oxygen uptake rate (ROUR) and explored the influential factors with wastewater and the activated sludge samples collected from a typical WWTP in the Taihu Lake of southern Jiangsu province, China. The ROUR was affected by the concentration of toxic substances, mixed liquid suspended solids (MLSS), hydraulic retention time (HRT) and pH. Higher toxin contents significantly decreased the ROUR and the EC50 value of Zn2+, Ni2+, Cr(VI), Cu2+, and Cd2+ was 13.40, 15.54, 97.56, 12.01, and 14.65 mg/L, respectively. The ROUR declined with the increasing HRT and MLSS above 2000 mg/L had buffering capacities for the impacts of toxic substances to some extent. The ROUR remained stable within a broad range pH (6–10), covering most of the operational pH in WWTPs and behaving as an appropriate indicator for monitoring the shock load. A toxicity model assessing and predicting the ROUR was developed and fitted well with experimental data. Coupling the ROUR monitoring system and toxicity model, an online early-warning system was assembled and successfully used for predicting the toxicity of different potential toxic metals. This study provides a new universal toxicity model and an online early-warning system for monitoring the shock load from industrial wastewater, which is useful for improving the performance of WWTPs. Full article
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15 pages, 4136 KiB  
Article
Degradation of Diallyl Phthalate (DAP) by Fenton Oxidation: Mechanistic and Kinetic Studies
by Sondos Dbira, Nasr Bensalah, Moustafa M. Zagho and Ahmed Bedoui
Appl. Sci. 2019, 9(1), 23; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app9010023 - 21 Dec 2018
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3676
Abstract
In this work, the degradation and mineralization of Diallyl Phthalate (DAP) in water by Fenton oxidation was investigated. The effects of different experimental parameters including the initial pH, the hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) dose, the catalyst (Fe2+) dose, [...] Read more.
In this work, the degradation and mineralization of Diallyl Phthalate (DAP) in water by Fenton oxidation was investigated. The effects of different experimental parameters including the initial pH, the hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) dose, the catalyst (Fe2+) dose, the iron source, and the DAP concentration on the rate and the yield of DAP degradation by Fenton oxidation were evaluated. DAP and its intermediates were quantified by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis and the measurement of total organic carbon (TOC) during Fenton oxidation. The results obtained confirmed that hydroxyl radicals (HO) generated from Fenton’s reaction were capable of completely eliminating DAP from water. Fenton oxidation of 100 mg/L DAP aqueous solution at pH = 3.2 required 1000 mg/L H2O2 and 50 mg/L Fe2+. Under these conditions, more than TOC removal exceeded 95% after 300 min Fenton oxidation. The competition kinetics method was used to determine an absolute rate constant of 7.26.109 M−1 s−1 for the reaction between DAP and HO radicals. HPLC analysis showed that phthalic acid, 1,2-dihydroxybenzene, 1,2,4-trihydroxybenzene, maleic acid, formic acid and oxalic acid were the main intermediates formed during DAP degradation. Accordingly, a simple DAP degradation mechanism by the Fenton reaction was proposed. These promising results proved the potential of Fenton oxidation as a cost-effective method for the decontamination of wastewaters containing phthalates. Full article
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19 pages, 2707 KiB  
Article
Comparison of Petroleum Hydrocarbons Degradation by Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa
by Zhaoyang You, Haiyang Xu, Shujuan Zhang, Hyunook Kim, Pen-Chi Chiang, Wenfei Yun, Li Zhang and Miao He
Appl. Sci. 2018, 8(12), 2551; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app8122551 - 09 Dec 2018
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 4508
Abstract
The aim of this work was to develop bacterial communities to effectively degrade petroleum hydrocarbons (PHs). We investigated the biotic and abiotic contributors to differences in PHs degradation efficacy between two bacterial strains, Klebsiella pneumoniae (Kp) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pa), screened out from [...] Read more.
The aim of this work was to develop bacterial communities to effectively degrade petroleum hydrocarbons (PHs). We investigated the biotic and abiotic contributors to differences in PHs degradation efficacy between two bacterial strains, Klebsiella pneumoniae (Kp) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pa), screened out from the activated sludge of a petroleum refinery. We characterized the temporal variations in degradation efficacy for diesel and its five major constituents as a sole carbon source and identified more constituents they degraded. The growth characteristics, surface tension, hydrophobicity and emulsifiability of these two strains were measured. We further estimated the relationships between their degradation efficacy and all the biotic and abiotic factors. Results showed that the Pa strain had higher diesel degradation efficacy (58% on Day 14) and utilized more diesel constituents (86%) compared to Kp. Additionally, the growth of the Pa strain in diesel medium was faster than that of the Kp strain. The Pa strain had a lower surface tension and higher hydrophobicity and emulsifiability than Kp, while the surfactant produced by Pa was identified as rhamnolipids. Degradation of PHs was positively related to bacterial growth, hydrophobicity and emulsification but negatively related to surface tension. Overall, differences in degrading capacity for diesel constituents, relative growth rate, and biosurfactant production contributed to the variation in the PHs degradation efficacy of these two bacterial strains. Full article
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15 pages, 2016 KiB  
Article
Removal of Algae, and Taste and Odor Compounds by a Combination of Plant-Mineral Composite (PMC) Coagulant with UV-AOPs: Laboratory and Pilot Scale Studies
by Yirga Weldu Abrha, Homin Kye, Minhwan Kwon, Doorae Lee, Kiho Kim, Youmi Jung, Yongtae Ahn and Joon-Wun Kang
Appl. Sci. 2018, 8(9), 1502; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app8091502 - 01 Sep 2018
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4186
Abstract
The seasonal occurrence of algae blooms in surface waters remains a common problem, such as taste and odor (T&Os), the risk of disinfection by-products (DBPs), and disturbance to water treatment systems. The coagulation efficiency of plant-mineral composite (PMC) coagulant followed by UV-based advanced [...] Read more.
The seasonal occurrence of algae blooms in surface waters remains a common problem, such as taste and odor (T&Os), the risk of disinfection by-products (DBPs), and disturbance to water treatment systems. The coagulation efficiency of plant-mineral composite (PMC) coagulant followed by UV-based advanced oxidation processes (UV-AOPs; UV/H2O2 and UV/Cl2) was evaluated for removal of algae, turbidity, dissolved organic matters, and taste and odor compounds in lab-scale and pilot-scale tests. In the lab-scale test, coagulation process with 20 mg/L of PMC shows high removal efficiency of turbidity (94%) and algae (99%) and moderate removal efficiency of UV254 (51%) and geosmin (46%). The pilot test results also show good removal efficiency of turbidity (64%), chlorophyll-a (96%). After PMC coagulation process, the major water factors, which affected the performance of UV-AOPs (i.e., UV transmittance (85–94%), and scavenging factor (64,998–28,516 s−1)), were notably improved, and further degradation of geosmin and 2-methylisoborneol (2-MIB) was achieved in both lab-and pilot-scale tests of the UV-AOPs. The UV/H2O2 process shows higher removal efficiency of geosmin and 2-MIB than the UV/Cl2 process because of the pH effect. The results confirmed that the PMC-based coagulation followed by UV/H2O2 process could be an effective process for the removal of algae, geosmin, and 2-MIB. Full article
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Review

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20 pages, 1763 KiB  
Review
A Review on the Use of Microalgae for Sustainable Aquaculture
by Pei Han, Qian Lu, Liangliang Fan and Wenguang Zhou
Appl. Sci. 2019, 9(11), 2377; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/app9112377 - 11 Jun 2019
Cited by 160 | Viewed by 16321
Abstract
Traditional aquaculture provides food for humans, but produces a large amount of wastewater, threatening global sustainability. The antibiotics abuse and the water replacement or treatment causes safety problems and increases the aquaculture cost. To overcome environmental and economic problems in the aquaculture industry, [...] Read more.
Traditional aquaculture provides food for humans, but produces a large amount of wastewater, threatening global sustainability. The antibiotics abuse and the water replacement or treatment causes safety problems and increases the aquaculture cost. To overcome environmental and economic problems in the aquaculture industry, a lot of efforts have been devoted into the application of microalgae for wastewater remediation, biomass production, and water quality control. In this review, the systematic description of the technologies required for microalgae-assisted aquaculture and the recent progress were discussed. It deeply reviews the problems caused by the discharge of aquaculture wastewater and introduces the principles of microalgae-assisted aquaculture. Some interesting aspects, including nutrients assimilation mechanisms, algae cultivation systems (raceway pond and revolving algal biofilm), wastewater pretreatment, algal-bacterial cooperation, harvesting technologies (fungi-assisted harvesting and flotation), selection of algal species, and exploitation of value-added microalgae as aquaculture feed, were reviewed in this work. In view of the limitations of recent studies, to further reduce the negative effects of aquaculture wastewater on global sustainability, the future directions of microalgae-assisted aquaculture for industrial applications were suggested. Full article
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