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Sustainability
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Research on Sustainable Wastewater Treatment
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Research on Sustainable Wastewater Treatment

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 3995

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Longyi Lv

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300401, China
Interests: wastewater treatment and resource utilization; solid waste treatment and resource utilization
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Duoying Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Civil Engineering, Heilongjiang University, Harbin 150080, China
Interests: biological water; wastewater treatment
Dr. Wenfang Gao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Clean Energy and Pollution Control, School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300401, China
Interests: water and wastewater treatment; solid waste management; waste treatment; whole process pollution control; life-cycle assessment; substance flow analysis
Dr. Li Sun

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of the Energy and Environmental Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300401, China
Interests: wastewater treatment; algal-bacterial technology; membrane fouling

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the context of global energy scarcity and global warming, new requirements have been put forward for wastewater treatment. Wastewater treatment technology should shift from traditional treatment techniques aimed at pollutant removal to a trend of combining resource/energy recovery and carbon reduction. Therefore, we have launched a Special Issue on “Research on Sustainable Wastewater Treatment”, focusing on wastewater treatment technologies that integrate resource/energy recovery and carbon reduction. The scope of submission includes research on new wastewater resource recovery technologies, research on new wastewater energy recovery technologies, research on energy-saving and consumption-reducing wastewater treatment technologies, carbon reduction assessment of wastewater treatment processes, full life-cycle assessment based on wastewater treatment, etc. The purpose of this Special Issue is to provide technical reserves for the long-term development of wastewater treatment technology and contribute to mitigating energy shortages and carbon emissions. There is a lack of research on sustainable wastewater treatment in the existing literature, which focuses more on pollutant removal from water and lacks a full life-cycle assessment of treatment technologies. So this Special Issue is a timely supplement to the existing literature.

Dr. Longyi Lv
Prof. Dr. Duoying Zhang
Dr. Wenfang Gao
Dr. Li Sun
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

  • wastewater treatment
  • sustainable treatment
  • resource recovery
  • energy recovery
  • life-cycle assessment
  • carbon reduction

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 978 KiB  
Article
Bioprocess Integration of Candida ethanolica and Chlorella vulgaris for Sustainable Treatment of Organic Effluents in the Honey Industry
by Juan Gabriel Sánchez Novoa, Natalia Rodriguez, Tomás Debandi, Juana María Navarro Llorens, Laura Isabel de Cabo and Patricia Laura Marconi
Sustainability 2025, 17(15), 6809; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17156809 - 27 Jul 2025
Viewed by 213
Abstract
Honey processing is closely linked to water pollution due to the lack of a specific wastewater treatment. This study proposes a sustainable and innovative solution based on two sequential bioprocesses using a real effluent from an Argentine honey-exporting facility. In the initial stage, [...] Read more.
Honey processing is closely linked to water pollution due to the lack of a specific wastewater treatment. This study proposes a sustainable and innovative solution based on two sequential bioprocesses using a real effluent from an Argentine honey-exporting facility. In the initial stage, the honey wastewater was enriched with a non-Saccharomyces yeast (Candida ethanolica), isolated from the same effluent. Treatment with this yeast in a bioreactor nearly doubled the total sugar removal efficiency compared to the control (native flora). Subsequent clarification with diatomaceous earth reduced the optical density (91.6%) and COD (30.9%). In the second stage, secondary sewage effluent was added to the clarified effluent and inoculated with Chlorella vulgaris under different culture conditions. The best microalgae performance was observed under high light intensity and high inoculum concentration, achieving a fivefold increase in cell density, a specific growth rate of 0.752 d−1, and a doubling time of 0.921 d. Although total sugar removal in this stage remained below 28%, cumulative COD removal reached 90% after nine days under both lighting conditions. This study presents the first integrated treatment approach for honey industry effluents using a native yeast–microalgae system, incorporating in situ effluent recycling and the potential for dual waste valorization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on Sustainable Wastewater Treatment)
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28 pages, 2817 KiB  
Article
Sequencing Batch Reactor: A Sustainable Wastewater Treatment Option for the Canned Vegetable Industry
by Sedolfo Carrasquero-Ferrer, Jean Pino-Rodríguez and Altamira Díaz-Montiel
Sustainability 2025, 17(3), 818; https://doi.org/10.3390/su17030818 - 21 Jan 2025
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2547
Abstract
The treatment of wastewater from the food processing industry, such as canned soup production, presents challenges due to its high organic load and limited nutrient concentrations. This study evaluated the efficiency of a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) in the removal of organic matter, [...] Read more.
The treatment of wastewater from the food processing industry, such as canned soup production, presents challenges due to its high organic load and limited nutrient concentrations. This study evaluated the efficiency of a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) in the removal of organic matter, color, turbidity, and nutrients under different solid retention times (SRTs) and operational cycle times (OCTs). The reactor operated with SRTs of 15 and 25 days and an 8-h cycle, and parameters such as COD, BOD5, color, turbidity, nitrogen content, and phosphorus content, as well as COD fractionation were analyzed to assess biodegradability. The results showed high removal rates of organic matter, with 84.8% COD and >90% BOD5, revealing that 54.3% of the COD was readily biodegradable. Significant reductions in color (72.3%) and turbidity (83.3%) were achieved, improving the quality of the treated effluent. Nitrogen removal occurred primarily through assimilation due to the absence of anoxic conditions, while phosphorus was also removed via biomass assimilation. The addition of macronutrients did not significantly influence treatment efficiency, reducing the need for additional inputs and operational costs. This study demonstrates the flexibility and effectiveness of the SBR in treating wastewater with a high organic load and low nutrient concentrations, highlighting its ability to produce a high-quality effluent suitable for discharge or reuse. The novelty of this work lies in combining COD fractionation analysis, nutrient removal mechanisms, and water quality parameters, providing key insights for optimizing biological processes in industrial contexts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on Sustainable Wastewater Treatment)
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