Sustainability

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Nikolaos Remmas

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Environmental Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace, 67100 Xanthi, Greece
Interests: wastewater treatment; microbial ecology; sludge biodiversity and ecology; bioindicators

Dr. Marina Papadelli

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Food Science and Technology, University of the Peloponnese, 24 100 Kalamata, Greece
Interests: wastewater treatment; valorization of wastes and by-products; microbial diversity and ecology

Prof. Dr. Georgios Sylaios

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Environmental Engineering, Democritus University of Thrace, 67100 Xanthi, Greece
Interests: water quality; oceanography; effluent quality; environmental stressors
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The increasing requirements of the growing human population has enhanced the use of water resources for domestic, agricultural and industrial purposes and has consequently resulted in the production of a broad spectrum of wastewaters, which pose serious environmental threats and require immediate and constant scientific attention. Alongside commonly applied techniques, including the implementation of physical, chemical and biological methods, or often, their combined use, the study of microbial ecology in such systems provides a holistic method towards tackling this challenging issue, as not only the removal of pollutants is accomplished, but additionally, compounds of economical importance are produced. Interestingly, according to Eurostat data obtained from 19 countries for 2019, from municipal wastewater treatment plants alone, the total production of sludge reached 3,700 thousand tonnes. This fact highlights the vast pool of microorganisms in existence and the possibility of their exploitation.

The mitigation of water scarcity is closely related with the efficiency of the applied treatments and the possibility of reusing the effluent when appropriate, while the presence of bioactive substances in all kinds of wastewaters and the enzymatic activity of microbial species provide a low-cost and environmentally friendly alternative solution for the biodegradation of pollutant nutrients and support the growing interest and research regarding multiple biotechnological applications of certain groups of microorganisms.

In this Special Issue, the investigation of bioindicators regarding the operation of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and their effluent quality is also included. Several pollutant stressors related to WWTP operation that affect receiving water bodies, including rivers and costal marine areas, are also welcome to be submitted to this Special Issue.

For this Special Issue of Sustainability, entitled “Ecological aspects and Βiotechnology Applications in Wastewater and Pollutant Treatments”, we welcome manuscripts focusing on:

Wastewater treatment technologies;
WWTP design considerations;
Advances in control technologies for wastewater treatment systems;
Wastewater treatment modeling (numerical and data-driven);
Sludge microbial ecology and bioindicators;
Removal of micropollutants;
Sludge treatment;
WWTP efficiency assessment;
Health status monitoring and modeling of receiving water bodies;
Wastewater reuse practices and legislation;
Biotechnological applications in pollutants’ removal.

Dr. Nikolaos Remmas
Dr. Marina Papadelli
Prof. Dr. Georgios Sylaios
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
activated sludge
microbial ecology
nutrients removal
environmental sustainability

Published Papers (1 paper)

Research

26 pages, 15699 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Production of CO₂ Hydrates in Aqueous Mixtures Having (NH₄)₂SO₄ at Different Concentrations; Definition of Consequences on the Process Evolution, Quantification of CO₂ Captured and Validation of Hydrates Production as Technique for Ammonium Removal from Waste Water

by Alberto Maria Gambelli, Xhino Rushani, Daniela Pezzolla, Federico Rossi and Giovanni Gigliotti

Sustainability 2023, 15(12), 9841; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su15129841 - 20 Jun 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1046

Abstract

Carbon dioxide hydrates were formed in fresh water and in aqueous mixtures containing ammonium sulfate, at concentrations equal to 1.9, 6.3, and 9.5 wt%. The moles of hydrates formed were compared, to define the inhibiting strength of the electrolyte solution and the dependence of inhibition from concentration. The addition of salt strongly inhibited the process and the number of hydrates produced passed from 0.204–0.256 moles, obtained in fresh water, to 0.108–0.198 moles, obtained at the lowest concentration tested. The further addition of salt still lowered the production of the hydrates; at the highest concentration tested, only 0.092–0.177 moles were obtained. The pressure-temperature evolutions of the hydrates were then discussed and compared with the ideal process and with the experimental results obtained in demineralised water. Finally, further samples of CO₂ hydrates, produced in the presence of 9.5 wt% salt in the aqueous phase (corresponding to 1.5 wt% NH₄⁺), were recovered and dissociated in a separated environment. The liquid phase, resulting from their dissociation, was subjected to spectrophotometric analyses. Its NH₄⁺ content was measured and compared with the initial concentration in water. Therefore, it was possible to quantify the capability of the system to remove the (NH₄)₂SO₄ from the water (involved in hydrate formation) and to concentrate it in the remaining liquid phase. Considering the portion of water involved in hydrates formation, the concentration of ammonium passed from 1.5 wt% to 0.38–0.449 wt%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Ecological Aspects and Biotechnology Applications in Wastewater and Pollutants Treatment)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Ecological Aspects and Biotechnology Applications in Wastewater and Pollutants Treatment

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Special Issue Information

Keywords

Published Papers (1 paper)

Research

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI