Dear Colleagues,

Shrinking resources, degradation of the natural environment, and the progressing climate change encourage many countries to undertake measures aimed at a transition from the linear economy to the circular economy model. Municipal wastewater treatment plants can play a considerable role in this transition, becoming a source of renewable energy and resources.

Wastewater has still been recently perceived only as used water that should be subject to treatment to protect of the natural environment. Different treatment methods were primarily developed. Currently, wastewater is recognized as a source of many valuable resources and energy. The challenges faced in the scope include the search for innovative solutions for a reduction in the use of primary resources toward low-emission and zero-waste economy, with consideration of broadly defined economic and social aspects. A modern wastewater treatment plant is also expected to be self-sufficient in terms of energy and to implement technologies permitting removal from sewage of micropollutants such as pharmaceuticals, pesticides, or microplastic. The object can also provide valuable information on the spread of the pandemic and facilitate the decision-making system regarding the introduction of justified restrictions.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to present the wastewater treatment plant as a multiplatform sustainable biorefinery that recycles organics, recovers energy, heat, and valuable resources such as phosphorus, nitrogen, poly-β-hydroxybutyalkanates, alginates, rare earth elements, cellulose, or water, while undertaking measures aimed at minimizing the occurrence of contaminants of emerging concern in the recovered resources and treated wastewater, and using life cycle assessment (LCA) in the assessment of the undertaken measures. Special attention should also be paid to the economic and social aspects.

Prof. Dr. Monika Żubrowska-Sudoł
Dr. Beata Karolinczak
Guest Editors

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• Intensification of wastewater treatment processes
• Energy recovery
• Resources recovery
• Contaminants of emerging concern removal
• Life cycle assessment
• Circular economy in WWTPs