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Design and Development of Sustainable Wastewater and Sludge Treatment and Engineering Process

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Special Issue Information
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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Engineering and Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2022) | Viewed by 6309

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Simona Di Fraia

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Guest Editor

Department of Engineering, University of Napoli “Parthenope”, 80143 Napoli, Italy
Interests: wastewater treatment; sludge treatment; gasification; porous materials; residual biomass; gothermal energy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Viola Somogyi

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Guest Editor

Sustainability Solutions Research Lab, University of Pannonia, 8200 Veszprém, Hungary
Interests: water and resource reclamation; special wastewater treatment technologies; emerging pollutants; modelling biological treatment systems

Dr. Godvin Sharmila V

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Guest Editor

Department of Civil Engineering, Rohini College of Engineering and Technology, Palkulam, Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu 629401, India
Interests: sludge reduction; role of photocatalyst in waste water and sludge treatment; energytic and economic analysis of bioenergy generation from waste biomass; immobilisation of photocatalyst; disruption of extra cellular polymeric substances from sludge; biological treatment of waste water

Dr. Luca Pucci

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Guest Editor

Wastewater Process and Research Lab - GORI spa, 80056 Ercolano (NA), Italy
Interests: wwtp modeling; sewage sludge; energy and carbon footprint; water reuse; emerging contaminants

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Due to the high concern for fossil-fuel depletion, environmental pollution, water and other resources shortage, intensive efforts towards more sustainable treatment and utilization of wastewater and sludge are needed.

Most wastewater treatment plants operating today have been designed and built neglecting some aspects that affect their sustainability, such as the energy demand, investment and operating costs, as well as the need for material and energy recovery.

However, wastewater and sludge treatment can strongly contribute to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. Wastewater and sludge need to be identified as a valuable source of energy and resources rather than “waste” in a context of circular economy.

In light of this, the aim of this Special Issue of Sustainability is to collect outstanding research articles or reviews related to technical, economic, and environmental feasibility of various energy-efficient and resource-recovering solutions for wastewater and sludge.

Dr. Simona Di Fraia
Dr. Viola Somogyi
Dr. Godvin Sharmila V
Dr. Luca Pucci
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

innovative wastewater treatment technologies
sewage sludge management
water–energy nexus
energy efficiency
wastewater reuse
nutrient and/or resource recovery
natural based solutions for wastewater treatment
removal of emerging contaminants
monitoring, modelling and control
also based on big data processing and learning techniques
waste-to-energy
circular economy
lifecycle analysis
economic assessment

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 1895 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Red Mud as Adsorbent to Recover Phosphorous from Wastewater Streams

by Viola Somogyi, Viktória Pitás, Kinga M. Berta and Róbert Kurdi

Sustainability 2022, 14(20), 13202; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su142013202 - 14 Oct 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1421

Abstract

Background: Phosphorous (P) is an essential nutrient with finite and non-renewable resources; however, it can cause eutrophication in freshwater. The use or storage of red mud (RM), a by-product of alumina production with high iron and aluminium content, poses another environmental issue. Objective: This paper examines the possibility of P recovery from various wastewaters and landfill leachate with RM. Methods: Pulverized, on-site pre-treated red mud was used. Synthetic P solution, poultry wastewater effluent, the spiked effluent of a municipal wastewater treatment plant and landfill leachate were examined. Results and conclusions: Removal efficiencies of 0.41–1.24 mg P/mg RM for the wastewater effluents and 0.10–0.13 mg P/g RM for the leachate resulted in a decreased phosphorous concentration (0.02–0.57 mg P/L) for each liquid. Despite the doses being substantially higher than the stoichiometric value (103 mg P/g RM), the dosage increase did not result in a considerable cost increase. Further investigation is in progress to insert this solution into existing wastewater treatment technologies to facilitate excellent effluent quality and utilize the nutrient content of red mud. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Design and Development of Sustainable Wastewater and Sludge Treatment and Engineering Process)

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18 pages, 1953 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Energy Recovery from Waste Paper and Deinking Sludge to Support the Demand of the Paper Industry: A Numerical Analysis

by Simona Di Fraia and M. Rakib Uddin

Sustainability 2022, 14(8), 4669; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14084669 - 13 Apr 2022

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2072

Abstract

The recovery of fibres from waste paper (WP) and deinking sludge (DIS) reduces the stress on nature compared to the collection of virgin pulp for paper production. Moreover, if not recycled, WP and DIS are mainly landfilled and incinerated, being thus responsible for the release of greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere. In this context, energy recovery from WP and DIS would contribute to increasing energy independence and improving waste management in the pulp industry. From a broader perspective, it would increase renewable energy generation, supporting the paper industry in reducing fossil fuel consumption and GHGs emissions, in line with the goals of the European Union (EU) Green Deal 2021. For these reasons, in the present study, the combined heat and power generation potentiality of WP–DIS blends through gasification in combination with an internal combustion engine is numerically assessed for the first time. The air gasification process is simulated by applying a restricted chemical equilibrium approach to identify the optimum operating temperature (850 °C) and equivalence ratio (0.2). Electrical and thermal energy generation potentiality, considering WP and DIS production in the EU in 2019, is estimated to be in the ranges of 32,950–35,700 GWh and 52,190–56,100 GWh, respectively. Thus, it can support between 25 and 28% of the electrical and 44–48% of the thermal energy demand of the paper manufacturing sector, reducing the CO₂ emission in the range of 24.8–28.9 Gt. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Design and Development of Sustainable Wastewater and Sludge Treatment and Engineering Process)

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Review

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18 pages, 1803 KiB

Open AccessReview

Recent Advances and Perspectives of Nanotechnology in Anaerobic Digestion: A New Paradigm towards Sludge Biodegradability

by Rajesh Banu Jeyakumar and Godvin Sharmila Vincent

Sustainability 2022, 14(12), 7191; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14127191 - 12 Jun 2022

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 1962

Abstract

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is the strategy of producing environmentally sustainable bioenergy from waste-activated sludge (WAS), but its efficiency was hindered by low biodegradability. Hence, the usage of nanomaterials was found to be essential in enhancing the degradability of sludge due to its nanostructure with specific physiochemical properties. The application of nanomaterials in sludge digestion was thoroughly reviewed. This review focused on the impact of nanomaterials such as metallic nanoparticles, metal oxide nanoparticles, carbon-based nanomaterials, and nanocomposite materials in AD enhancement, along with the pros and cons. Most of the studies detailed that the addition of an adequate dosage of nanomaterial has a good effect on microbial activity. The environmental and economic impact of the AD enhancement process is also detailed, but there are still many existing challenges when it comes to designing an efficient, cost-effective AD digester. Hence, proper investigation is highly necessary to assess the potency of utilizing the nanomaterials in enhancing AD under various conditions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Design and Development of Sustainable Wastewater and Sludge Treatment and Engineering Process)

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