Ecosystems: Enhancing Biological Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue presents advances in sustainable environmental biotechnology, with a focus on low-carbon wastewater treatment and the resource recovery of nutrient elements and emerging contaminants through the enrichment of functional bacteria. 

The Issue highlights several key technologies. A significant focus is placed on aerobic granular sludge (AGS), including photo-granules that integrate microalgae and bacteria. These granular ecosystems can enhance nutrient and emerging contaminant removal, reduce energy consumption, and increase added value. Secondly, the Issue dedicates substantial attention to anaerobic ammonium oxidation (Anammox). Research on this area focuses on stabilizing these slow-growing bacteria within engineered communities to achieve robust, energy-efficient nitrogen removal, thereby overcoming a major bottleneck for mainstream implementation. Finally, microbial assembly technologies are examined as a strategy to enhance pollutant removal. Biological gel materials can selectively enrich and protect key functional microbes, thereby creating more resilient and efficient engineered ecosystems and biotechnology. 

Collectively, the research underscores the potential of biotechnology to enable low-carbon, efficient treatment of nutrients and emerging contaminants, thereby providing a potential direction for the development and application of advanced biotechnology. It also possesses functionality, stability, and resource recovery capabilities, moving us closer to truly sustainable water and waste management.

Dr. Wenli Huang
Guest Editor

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