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Wastewater Treatment Technology and Environmental Sustainability

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Water Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 September 2025 | Viewed by 697

Special Issue Editor

School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
Interests: low-carbon wastewater treatment and resource recovery; migration, transformation, and mathematical simulation of new pollutants; greenhouse gas emissions mechanism and reduction strategy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Facing the serious problems of water scarcity and water pollution, recycling and low carbonization of sewage treatment is an important pathway to recover energy and resources, treat conventional and emerging contaminants, reduce energy consumption, mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, and finally to achieve the balance between economic development and environmental protection. Therefore, it is necessary to follow the recent trends in low-carbon sewage treatment processes and the recycling of energy and resources from sewage. In this Special Issue, we aim to identify the interactions among recycling, low carbonization, and sewage treatment efficiencies. Papers addressing these topics are invited to contribute to this Special Issue, especially those combining a high academic standard coupled with a practical focus on recycling and the low carbonization of sewage treatment technologies.

Topics of this Special Issue include (but are not limited to):

  • Low-carbon sewage treatment processes;
  • Energy and nutrient recovery from sewage;
  • Greenhous gas emissions mechanisms and reduction strategies;
  • Emerging contaminants;
  • Mathematical modelling, systems analysis, and beneficial use of big data related to low-carbon sewage treatment.

I look forward to receiving your contributions. 

Dr. Yifeng Xu
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • low carbonization
  • recycling
  • sewage treatment
  • resource recovery
  • energy recovery
  • greenhouse gas
  • emerging contaminants
  • mathematical models

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

14 pages, 3022 KiB  
Article
Denitrification by Purple Phototrophic Bacteria: A Carbon-Neutral and Resource-Efficient Route for Nitrogen Removal
by Xiaoshuai Peng, Siwei Yu, Chuanzhou Liang, Yifeng Xu and Lai Peng
Sustainability 2025, 17(10), 4504; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17104504 - 15 May 2025
Viewed by 445
Abstract
Purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB) have great potential in treating nitrogen-contaminated wastewater. Unlike conventional heterotrophic denitrification, PPB-driven denitrification utilizes light-driven metabolism, concurrently improving nitrogen removal and carbon management efficiency. This work aimed to develop a PPB denitrification process for nitrogen removal, carbon emission mitigation, [...] Read more.
Purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB) have great potential in treating nitrogen-contaminated wastewater. Unlike conventional heterotrophic denitrification, PPB-driven denitrification utilizes light-driven metabolism, concurrently improving nitrogen removal and carbon management efficiency. This work aimed to develop a PPB denitrification process for nitrogen removal, carbon emission mitigation, and resource recovery. The PPB growth was first optimized and the most desirable light and carbon sources (i.e., incandescent light and sodium acetate) were pinpointed. PPB denitrification could reach a nitrate removal rate of 0.68 mg N/L/h, while no nitrite was detected during the process, regardless of the amount of external electron donors. This was attributed to the fact that the true reduction rate of nitrite (4.42 mg N/gVSS/h) was significantly higher than that of nitrate (1.51 mg N/gVSS/h). In the presence of a sufficient carbon source, PPB denitrification was found to be a low-carbon process, with only ~0.17% of converted nitrate being emitted as nitrous oxide. Meanwhile, PPB biomass for denitrification was rich in value-added products (e.g., protein and pigment), which potentially generated additional benefits over the biomass valued at USD 17 kg−1. These results provide a theoretical basis for implementing PPB denitrification for carbon-neutral and resource-efficient wastewater treatment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wastewater Treatment Technology and Environmental Sustainability)
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