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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 (30 November 2021) | Viewed by 28215

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. José Luis Campos

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Engineering and Sciences, Universidad Adolfo Ibañez, Peñalolén, Chile
Interests: wastewater treatment; nutrient recovery; annamox

Prof. Dr. Anuska Mosquera Corral

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Guest Editor

Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, E-15782, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain
Interests: biological wastewater treatment processes: COD and nutrient removal from urban and industrial wastewater, aerobic granulation in sequential batch reactors, and anaerobic ammonia oxidation (Anammox) process; microscopy techniques: fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH)

Dr. Ángeles Val del Río

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Guest Editor

Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, E-15782 Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain
Interests: wastewater treatment; biological processes; aerobic granular sludge technology; partial nitritation and anammox processes for nitrogen removal; anaerobic digestion for sludge management; chemometric image analysis; disinfection by UV
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Alba Pedrouso Fuentes

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Guest Editor

Department of Chemical Engineering. School of Engineering, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, E-15782, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain
Interests: advanced wastewater treatment; biological processes; nitritation; anammox; autotrophic nitrogen removal; biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal; membrane filtration; granular biomass; organic matter valorization as VFA; decentralized wastewater systems

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Although the original goal of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) was to remove pollutants from human and industrial effluents to protect both human health and ecosystems, new challenges are under consideration today, oriented at assuring the sustainability of WWTPs in terms of both reducing their environmental impact and integrating them into the urban circular economy. For these reasons, on one hand, energy consumption and greenhouse gases emissions are among the aspects that should become key factors concerning the overall performance of WWTPs. On the other hand, wastewater should be considered a valuable resource from which energy, clean water, nutrients, and value-added products can be extracted or produced to close material cycles.

To achieve these future goals, not only the development of new technologies and processes is necessary, but also a paradigm shift in wastewater management. In this sense, separation of different domestic wastewater streams and decentralization of wastewater treatment are recognized as the most promising concepts to promote local recycling and reuse of resources contained in domestic wastewater.

This Special Issue of Sustainability aims to report the latest developments in sustainable wastewater management and treatment. For this reason, we invite authors to contribute original research articles as well as review articles that will show the recent advances in this field.

Prof. Dr. José Luis Campos
Prof. Dr. Anuska Mosquera Corral
Prof. Dr. Ángeles Val del Río
Dr. Alba Pedrouso Fuentes
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

circular approach
decentralized treatment systems
economic assessment
energy approach
greenhouse gas emissions
life cycle assessment
microbiology
micropollutants
municipal and industrial wastewater treatment
nutrient recovery
simulation and optimization
sludge management
source separation
value-added products
water reuse

Published Papers (11 papers)

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Editorial

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4 pages, 216 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Sustainable Wastewater Management and Treatment

by José Luis Campos, Anuska Mosquera-Corral, Ángeles Val del Rio and Alba Pedrouso

Sustainability 2022, 14(15), 9137; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14159137 - 26 Jul 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1383

Abstract

This Special Issue of Sustainability aims to report the recent developments in Sustainable Wastewater Management and Treatment, mainly those focused on improving the overall performance of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in terms of both reducing their environmental impact and integrating them into the [...] Read more.

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Wastewater Management and Treatment)

Research

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10 pages, 1134 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Capacity of Marine Microalga Tetraselmis suecica to Biodegrade Phenols in Aqueous Media

by Edna R. Meza-Escalante, Larissa Lepe-Martinié, Carlos Díaz-Quiroz, Denisse Serrano-Palacios, Luis H. Álvarez-Valencia, Ana Rentería-Mexía, Pablo Gortáres-Moroyoqui and Gabriela Ulloa-Mercado

Sustainability 2022, 14(11), 6674; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14116674 - 30 May 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1713

Abstract

Phenolic compounds are toxic and dangerous to the environment and human health. Although the removal of phenols and their derivatives is very difficult, it has been achieved by applying some biological processes. The capacity of microalga to remove phenolic compounds has been demonstrated; however, few reports of the removal of these compounds in a mixture have been published. The removal of phenol, p-cresol and o-cresol was performed by batch kinetics at 50 and 100 mg L⁻¹, and the simultaneous degradation of phenol, p-cresol and o-cresol was carried out in a mixture at 40 mg L⁻¹ using the marine microalga Tetraselmis suecica. The kinetic study was carried out for 192 h. For concentrations of 50 mg L⁻¹ and 100 mg L⁻¹, phenolic compound consumption efficiencies greater than 100% and 85%, respectively, were obtained, and up to 73.6% removal in the mixture. The results obtained indicate that the marine microalga carries out a process of the oxidation of organic matter and phenolic compounds, mineralizing up to 31.4% to CO2 in the mixture. Biological treatments using the marine microalga T. suecica can be considered feasible to treat effluents with concentrations similar to those of the present study. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Wastewater Management and Treatment)

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28 pages, 5509 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Application of Neural Networks and Regression Modelling to Enable Environmental Regulatory Compliance and Energy Optimisation in a Sequencing Batch Reactor

by Shane Fox, James McDermott, Edelle Doherty, Ronan Cooney and Eoghan Clifford

Sustainability 2022, 14(7), 4098; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14074098 - 30 Mar 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1626

Abstract

Real-time control of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) can have significant environmental and cost advantages. However, its application to small and decentralised WWTPs, which typically have highly varying influent characteristics, remains limited to date due to cost, reliability and technical restrictions. In this study, a methodology was developed using numerical models that can improve sustainability, in real time, by enhancing wastewater treatment whilst also optimising operational and energy efficiency. The methodology leverages neural network and regression modelling to determine a suitable soft sensor for the prediction of ammonium-nitrogen trends. This study is based on a case-study decentralised WWTP employing sequencing batch reactor (SBR) treatment and uses pH and oxidation-reduction potential sensors as proxies for ammonium-nitrogen sensors. In the proposed method, data were pre-processed into 15 input variables and analysed using multi-layer neural network (MLNN) and regression models, creating 176 soft sensors. Each soft sensor was then analysed and ranked to determine the most suitable soft sensor for the WWTP. It was determined that the most suitable soft sensor for this WWTP would achieve a 67% cycle-time saving and 51% electricity saving for each treatment cycle while meeting the criteria set for ammonium discharges. This proposed soft sensor selection methodology can be applied, in full or in part, to existing or new WWTPs, potentially increasing the adoption of real-time control technologies, thus enhancing their overall effluent quality and energy performance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Wastewater Management and Treatment)

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11 pages, 1685 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Biogas Production from Concentrated Municipal Sewage by Forward Osmosis, Micro and Ultrafiltration

by Juan Carlos Ortega-Bravo, Javier Pavez, Víctor Hidalgo, Isaac Reyes-Caniupán, Álvaro Torres-Aravena and David Jeison

Sustainability 2022, 14(5), 2629; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14052629 - 24 Feb 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1828

Abstract

Direct application of anaerobic digestion to sewage treatment is normally only possible under tropical weather conditions. This is the result of its diluted nature and temperatures far from those suitable for anaerobic conversion of organic matter. Then, direct application of anaerobic treatment to sewage would require changing temperature, concentration, or both. Modification of sewage temperature would require much more energy than contained in the organic matter. Then, the feasible alternative seems to be the application of a pre-concentration step that may be accomplished by membrane filtration. This research studied the pre-concentration of municipal sewage as a potential strategy to enable the direct anaerobic conversion of organic matter. Three different membrane processes were tested: microfiltration, ultrafiltration and forward osmosis. The methane potential of the concentrates was determined. Results show that biogas production from the FO-concentrate was higher, most likely because of a higher rejection. However, salt increase due to rejection and reverse flux of ions from the draw solution may affect anaerobic digestion performance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Wastewater Management and Treatment)

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12 pages, 7962 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Techno-Economic Evaluation of Ozone Application to Reduce Sludge Production in Small Urban WWTPs

by Dafne Crutchik, Oscar Franchi, David Jeison, Gladys Vidal, Alicia Pinto, Alba Pedrouso and José Luis Campos

Sustainability 2022, 14(5), 2480; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14052480 - 22 Feb 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1857

Abstract

In Chile, small wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) (treatment capacity of less than 4,800 m³/d) are normally not designed with consideration for the potential valorization of generated sludge. For this reason, they are generally operated at high solids residence times (SRT) (15 d) to promote the decay of biomass, promoting less sludge production and reducing the costs associated with biomass management. Operation at high SRT implies the need for a larger activated sludge system, increasing capital costs. The implementation of a sludge-disintegration unit by ozonation in future WWTPs could enable operation at an SRT of 3 d, with low sludge generation. In this work, we evaluate how the implementation of a sludge-ozonation system in small WWTPs (200–4000 m³/d) would affect treatment costs. Four scenarios were studied: (1) a current WWTP operated at an SRT of 15 d, without a sludge ozonation system; (2) a WWTP operated at an SRT of 15 d, with a sludge-ozonation system that would achieve zero sludge production; (3) a WWTP operated at an SRT of 3 d, with a sludge-ozonation system that would provide the same sludge production as scenario 1; (4) a WWTP operated at an SRT of 15 d, with a sludge-ozonation system that would achieve zero sludge production. Economic analysis shows that the treatment costs for scenarios 1 and 2 are similar, while a reduction in cost of up to 47% is obtained for scenarios 3 and 4. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Wastewater Management and Treatment)

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15 pages, 1301 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Polyhydroxyalkanoates Production by Mixed Microbial Culture under High Salinity

by João M. Carvalho, Bruno C. Marreiros and Maria A. M. Reis

Sustainability 2022, 14(3), 1346; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14031346 - 25 Jan 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2374

Abstract

The fishing industry produces vast amounts of saline organic side streams that require adequate treatment and disposal. The bioconversion of saline resources into value-added products, such as biodegradable polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), has not yet been fully explored. This study investigated PHA production by mixed microbial cultures under 30 g_NaCl/L, the highest NaCl concentration reported for the acclimatization of a PHA-accumulating mixed microbial culture (MMC). The operational conditions used during the culture-selection stage resulted in an enriched PHA-accumulating culture dominated by the Rhodobacteraceae family (95.2%) and capable of storing PHAs up to 84.1% wt. (volatile suspended solids (VSS) basis) for the highest organic loading rate (OLR) applied (120 Cmmol/(L.d)). This culture presented a higher preference for the consumption of valeric acid (0.23 ± 0.03 Cmol_HVal/(Cmol_X.h)), and the 3HV monomer polymerization (0.33 ± 0.04 Cmmol_HV/(Cmmol_X.h) was higher as well. As result, a P(3HB-co-3HV)) with high HV content (63% wt.) was produced in the accumulation tests conducted at higher OLRs and with 30 g_NaCl/L. A global volumetric PHA productivity of 0.77 gPHA/(L.h) and a specific PHA productivity of 0.21 gPHA/(gX.h) were achieved. These results suggested the significant potential of the bioconversion of saline resources into value-added products, such as PHAs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Wastewater Management and Treatment)

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16 pages, 3097 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Municipal Wastewater Reuse: Is it a Competitive Alternative to Seawater Desalination?

by Dafne Crutchik and José Luis Campos

Sustainability 2021, 13(12), 6815; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13126815 - 16 Jun 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2495

Abstract

Water scarcity is becoming a global challenge to attempts to narrow the water demand–supply gap. To overcome this problem, it is sensible to consider alternative technologies that can exploit non-conventional water resources. The choice of such technologies should be, however, carefully analyzed, because any choice might be unfeasible from an economic point of view. In this work, a methodology to select the most appropriate non-conventional water resource, out of municipal wastewater and seawater, was proposed. Specifically, we attempted to determine which alternative provides cheaper water supply and production costs for domestic uses, depending on the wastewater treatment system used and the water plant capacity. The production of water under three scenarios was analyzed: (i) a city that has a conventional wastewater treatment plant (WWTP); (ii) a city that uses primary treatment and submarine outfalls to treat municipal wastewater; (iii) seawater desalination. The proposed methodology was tested in Chilean cities that are located in areas where water is a scarce resource. The results showed that the reuse of municipal wastewater represents a cost-competitive alternative to seawater desalination, mainly when municipal wastewater is treated in a conventional WWTP and when water flow demand is higher than 1500 m³/d. In contrast, seawater desalination becomes more profitable than wastewater reuse when the treatment of municipal wastewater is based on the use of submarine outfalls. This study provides a useful economic tool for promoting municipal wastewater reuse as a non-conventional water source for supplying water to cities that suffer from water scarcity in Chile and in similar areas of the world. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Wastewater Management and Treatment)

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13 pages, 8171 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Wastewater Discharge through a Stream into a Mediterranean Ramsar Wetland: Evaluation and Proposal of a Nature-Based Treatment System

by Jesús de-los-Ríos-Mérida, Francisco Guerrero, Salvador Arijo, María Muñoz, Inmaculada Álvarez-Manzaneda, Jorge García-Márquez, Begoña Bautista, Manuel Rendón-Martos and Andreas Reul

Sustainability 2021, 13(6), 3540; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13063540 - 23 Mar 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2032

Abstract

Impacts on wetlands are becoming more pressing every day. Among them, habitat loss, overexploitation of aquifers and changes in land use are considered the most important. However, the impacts linked to wastewater discharges are increasing worldwide. In this context, this study analyses the impacts of input of wastewater to a Mediterranean Ramsar temporary wetland (Fuente de Piedra, south of Spain). To this end, systematic sampling was carried out in the Charcón stream which receives water from a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and discharges it into the wetland. The results showed a slight decrease in the nutrient concentrations, particularly for nitrogen compounds. Heterotrophic and fecal bacteria concentration, as well as phytoplankton and zooplankton abundance and biomass, all significantly decreased from the treatment plant to the wetland. When comparing the effect of this discharge with other similar occurring to the same wetland, it was evident that the Charcón stream was responsible for a greater impact. At this point, it is relevant to note that the main difference among both treated wastewater discharges lies in the different water retention time once the wastewater was released from the WWTP. In fact, we recommend an increase in the water retention time by building seminatural ponds, together with the use of biofilters, which will notably contribute to improve the processes of assimilation of nutrients and to decrease the impact generated in the wetland by this spill. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Wastewater Management and Treatment)

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16 pages, 2856 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Recovery of Polyhydroxyalkanoates from Cooked Mussel Processing Wastewater at High Salinity and Acidic Conditions

by Alba Pedrouso, Andrea Fra-Vazquez, Angeles Val del Rio and Anuska Mosquera-Corral

Sustainability 2020, 12(24), 10386; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su122410386 - 11 Dec 2020

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2043

Abstract

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are biodegradable polymers that can be intracellularly produced by microorganisms valorizing organic-rich wastes. In the present study, a PHA production system was fed with mussel cooker wastewater after acidogenic fermentation. Besides low pH (4.0 ± 0.3) and high salt (21.7 ± 2.9 g NaCl/L) concentrations, this wastewater also contained nitrogen concentrations (0.8 ± 0.1 g N/L), which were previously reported to be a challenge to the PHA accumulating bacteria enrichment. Bacteria with a PHA storage capacity were selected in an enrichment sequencing batch reactor (SBR) after 60 days of operation. The enriched mixed microbial culture (MMC) was mainly formed by microorganisms from phylum Bacteroidetes, and genera Azoarcus, Comamonas and Thauera from phylum Proteobacteria. The MMC was able to accumulate up to 25 wt% of PHA that was mainly limited by the wastewater nitrogen content, which promoted biomass growth instead of PHA accumulation. Indeed, when the presence of nutrient was limited, PHA stored in the accumulation reactor increased to up to 40.9 wt%. This work demonstrated the feasibility of the enrichment of a MMC with a PHA storage ability valorizing the fish-canning industrial wastewater at low pH, which is generally difficult to treat in wastewater treatment plants. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Wastewater Management and Treatment)

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26 pages, 4825 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Systematic Modeling of Municipal Wastewater Activated Sludge Process and Treatment Plant Capacity Analysis Using GPS-X

by Nuhu Dalhat Mu’azu, Omar Alagha and Ismail Anil

Sustainability 2020, 12(19), 8182; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12198182 - 04 Oct 2020

Cited by 28 | Viewed by 5285

Abstract

Mathematical modeling has become an indispensable tool for sustainable wastewater management, especially for the simulation of complex biochemical processes involved in the activated sludge process (ASP), which requires a substantial amount of data related to wastewater and sludge characteristics as well as process kinetics and stoichiometry. In this study, a systematic approach for calibration of the activated sludge model one (ASM1) model for a real municipal wastewater ASP was undertaken in GPS-X. The developed model was successfully validated while meeting the assumption of the model’s constant stoichiometry and kinetic coefficients for any plant influent compositions. The influences of vital ASP parameters on the treatment plant performance and capacity analysis for meeting local discharge limits were also investigated. Lower influent chemical oxygen demand in mgO₂/L (COD) could inhibit effective nitrification and denitrification, while beyond 250 mgO₂/L, there is a tendency for effluent quality to breach the regulatory limit. The plant performance can be satisfactory for handling even higher influent volumes up to 60,000 m³/d and organic loading when Total Suspended Solids/Volatile Suspended Solids (VSS/TSS) and particulate COD (X_COD)/VSS are maintained above 0.7 and 1, respectively. The wasted activated sludge (WAS) has more impact on the effluent quality compared to recycle activated sludge (RAS) with significant performance improvement when the WAS was increased from 3000 to 9000 m³/d. Hydraulic retention time (HRT) > 6 h and solids retention time (SRT) < 7 days resulted in better plant performance with the SRT having greater impact compared with HRT. The plant performance could be sustained for a quite appreciable range of COD/5-day Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD₅ in mgO₂/L) ratio, Mixed Liquor Suspended Solid (MLSS) of up to 6000 mg/L, and when BOD₅/total nitrogen (TN) and COD/TN are comparatively at higher values. This work demonstrated a systematic approach for estimation of the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) ASP parameters and the high modeling capabilities of ASM1 in GPS-X when respirometry tests data are lacking. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Wastewater Management and Treatment)

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Review

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21 pages, 471 KiB

Open AccessReview

Treatment Technologies for Cooling Water Blowdown: A Critical Review

by Mariam Soliman, Fadwa Eljack, Monzure-Khoda Kazi, Fares Almomani, Elalim Ahmed and Ziad El Jack

Sustainability 2022, 14(1), 376; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14010376 - 30 Dec 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3644

Abstract

Cooling water blowdown (CWBD) generated from different industries and district cooling facilities contains high concentrations of various chemicals (e.g., scale and corrosion inhibitors) and pollutants. These contaminants in CWBD streams deem them unsuitable for discharge into surface water and some wastewater treatment plants. The pollutants present in CWBD, their sources, and the corresponding impacts on the ecosystem are discussed. The international and regional (Gulf states) policies and regulations related to contaminated water discharge standards into water bodies are examined. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the existing and emerging water treatment technologies for the treatment of CWBD. The study presents a comparison between the membrane (membrane distillation (MD), reverse osmosis (RO), nanofiltration (NF), and vibratory shear enhanced membrane process (VSEP)) and nonmembrane-based (electrocoagulation (EC), ballasted sand flocculation (BSF), and electrodialysis (ED)) technologies on the basis of performance, cost, and limitations, along with other factors. Results from the literature revealed that EC and VSEP technologies generate high treatment performance (EC~99.54% reduction in terms of silica ions) compared to other processes (membrane UF with reduction of 65% of colloidal silica). However, the high energy demand of these processes (EC~0.18–3.05 kWh/m³ and VSEP~2.1 kWh/m³) limit their large-scale applications unless connected with renewable sources of energy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Wastewater Management and Treatment)

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