Microbial Communities Responding to Emerging Contaminants in Wastewater Treatment
A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Microbiology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2026 | Viewed by 840
Special Issue Editors
Interests: biodegradation; oil spill; plastics; emerging contaminants; marine ecology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: biological wastewater treatment; synthetic biology; resource recovery; biological conversion
Interests: wastewater treatment plant; microbial community; denitrification
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
At present, wastewater contains diverse emerging contaminants (e.g., plastics, antibiotics, flame retardants, and PFAS), and biological treatment still faces challenges in carbon and energy recovery. These make biological wastewater treatment pivot to a challenging position, that is, the biodegradation of emerging contaminants in a sustainable pathway. Microbial communities provide a micro-environment supporting microbial interactions for cooperation and/or competition to utilize these recalcitrant contaminants and accumulate carbon and energy resources (e.g., biomass and polymers).
In addition, environmental scenarios differing in global areas (e.g., fresh and high-saline wastewater in different temperatures) also shape microbial trajectories, complicating biological processes. The treatment processes may induce the bloom of virulent pathogens, disturbing the community stability for wastewater treatments.
This Special Issue aims to collect articles that provide current snapshots of the microbial communities in biological wastewater treatment. Original articles and reviews elucidating and addressing degradation mechanisms of emerging contaminants, the microbial communities’ responses in diverse environmental conditions, and the recovery of energy resources are welcome.
Prof. Dr. Yiqi Cao
Prof. Dr. Jiajie Xu
Dr. Qian Chen
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- biological wastewater treatment
- emerging contaminants
- environmental conditions
- microbial community
- community stability
- resource recovery
- sustainable development
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