Special Issue "Sustainable Wastewater Management and Treatment"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Engineering and Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. José Luis Campos
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Engineering and Sciences, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Avda. Padre Hurtado 750, Viña del Mar, Chile
Interests: nitrogen removal from wastewaters: nitrification/denitrification, partial nitrification, anammox, and autotrophic denitrification; aerobic granular biomass; resource recovery
Prof. Dr. Anuska Mosquera Corral
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, E-15782, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain
Interests: biological wastewater treatment processes: COD and nutrient removal from urban and industrial wastewater, aerobic granulation in sequential batch reactors, and anaerobic ammonia oxidation (Anammox) process; microscopy techniques: fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH)
Prof. Dr. Ángeles Val del Río
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Engineering, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, E-15782, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain
Interests: wastewater treatment; biological processes; aerobic granular sludge technology; partial nitritation and anammox processes for nitrogen removal; anaerobic digestion for sludge management; chemometric image analysis; disinfection by UV
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Dr. Alba Pedrouso Fuentes
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical Engineering. School of Engineering, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, E-15782, Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain
Interests: advanced wastewater treatment; biological processes; nitritation; anammox; autotrophic nitrogen removal; biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal; membrane filtration; granular biomass; organic matter valorization as VFA; decentralized wastewater systems

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Although the original goal of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) was to remove pollutants from human and industrial effluents to protect both human health and ecosystems, new challenges are under consideration today, oriented at assuring the sustainability of WWTPs in terms of both reducing their environmental impact and integrating them into the urban circular economy. For these reasons, on one hand, energy consumption and greenhouse gases emissions are among the aspects that should become key factors concerning the overall performance of WWTPs. On the other hand, wastewater should be considered a valuable resource from which energy, clean water, nutrients, and value-added products can be extracted or produced to close material cycles.

To achieve these future goals, not only the development of new technologies and processes is necessary, but also a paradigm shift in wastewater management. In this sense, separation of different domestic wastewater streams and decentralization of wastewater treatment are recognized as the most promising concepts to promote local recycling and reuse of resources contained in domestic wastewater.

This Special Issue of Sustainability aims to report the latest developments in sustainable wastewater management and treatment. For this reason, we invite authors to contribute original research articles as well as review articles that will show the recent advances in this field.

Prof. Dr. José Luis Campos
Prof. Dr. Anuska Mosquera Corral
Prof. Dr. Ángeles Val del Río
Dr. Alba Pedrouso Fuentes
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 papers will be 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 1900 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

  • circular approach
  • decentralized treatment systems
  • economic assessment
  • energy approach
  • greenhouse gas emissions
  • life cycle assessment
  • microbiology
  • micropollutants
  • municipal and industrial wastewater treatment
  • nutrient recovery
  • simulation and optimization
  • sludge management
  • source separation
  • value-added products
  • water reuse

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

Article
Municipal Wastewater Reuse: Is it a Competitive Alternative to Seawater Desalination?
Sustainability 2021, 13(12), 6815; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13126815 - 16 Jun 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 377
Abstract
Water scarcity is becoming a global challenge to attempts to narrow the water demand–supply gap. To overcome this problem, it is sensible to consider alternative technologies that can exploit non-conventional water resources. The choice of such technologies should be, however, carefully analyzed, because [...] Read more.
Water scarcity is becoming a global challenge to attempts to narrow the water demand–supply gap. To overcome this problem, it is sensible to consider alternative technologies that can exploit non-conventional water resources. The choice of such technologies should be, however, carefully analyzed, because any choice might be unfeasible from an economic point of view. In this work, a methodology to select the most appropriate non-conventional water resource, out of municipal wastewater and seawater, was proposed. Specifically, we attempted to determine which alternative provides cheaper water supply and production costs for domestic uses, depending on the wastewater treatment system used and the water plant capacity. The production of water under three scenarios was analyzed: (i) a city that has a conventional wastewater treatment plant (WWTP); (ii) a city that uses primary treatment and submarine outfalls to treat municipal wastewater; (iii) seawater desalination. The proposed methodology was tested in Chilean cities that are located in areas where water is a scarce resource. The results showed that the reuse of municipal wastewater represents a cost-competitive alternative to seawater desalination, mainly when municipal wastewater is treated in a conventional WWTP and when water flow demand is higher than 1500 m3/d. In contrast, seawater desalination becomes more profitable than wastewater reuse when the treatment of municipal wastewater is based on the use of submarine outfalls. This study provides a useful economic tool for promoting municipal wastewater reuse as a non-conventional water source for supplying water to cities that suffer from water scarcity in Chile and in similar areas of the world. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Wastewater Management and Treatment)
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Article
Wastewater Discharge through a Stream into a Mediterranean Ramsar Wetland: Evaluation and Proposal of a Nature-Based Treatment System
Sustainability 2021, 13(6), 3540; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13063540 - 23 Mar 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 591
Abstract
Impacts on wetlands are becoming more pressing every day. Among them, habitat loss, overexploitation of aquifers and changes in land use are considered the most important. However, the impacts linked to wastewater discharges are increasing worldwide. In this context, this study analyses the [...] Read more.
Impacts on wetlands are becoming more pressing every day. Among them, habitat loss, overexploitation of aquifers and changes in land use are considered the most important. However, the impacts linked to wastewater discharges are increasing worldwide. In this context, this study analyses the impacts of input of wastewater to a Mediterranean Ramsar temporary wetland (Fuente de Piedra, south of Spain). To this end, systematic sampling was carried out in the Charcón stream which receives water from a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) and discharges it into the wetland. The results showed a slight decrease in the nutrient concentrations, particularly for nitrogen compounds. Heterotrophic and fecal bacteria concentration, as well as phytoplankton and zooplankton abundance and biomass, all significantly decreased from the treatment plant to the wetland. When comparing the effect of this discharge with other similar occurring to the same wetland, it was evident that the Charcón stream was responsible for a greater impact. At this point, it is relevant to note that the main difference among both treated wastewater discharges lies in the different water retention time once the wastewater was released from the WWTP. In fact, we recommend an increase in the water retention time by building seminatural ponds, together with the use of biofilters, which will notably contribute to improve the processes of assimilation of nutrients and to decrease the impact generated in the wetland by this spill. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Wastewater Management and Treatment)
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Article
Recovery of Polyhydroxyalkanoates from Cooked Mussel Processing Wastewater at High Salinity and Acidic Conditions
Sustainability 2020, 12(24), 10386; https://doi.org/10.3390/su122410386 - 11 Dec 2020
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 453
Abstract
Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are biodegradable polymers that can be intracellularly produced by microorganisms valorizing organic-rich wastes. In the present study, a PHA production system was fed with mussel cooker wastewater after acidogenic fermentation. Besides low pH (4.0 ± 0.3) and high salt (21.7 ± [...] Read more.
Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are biodegradable polymers that can be intracellularly produced by microorganisms valorizing organic-rich wastes. In the present study, a PHA production system was fed with mussel cooker wastewater after acidogenic fermentation. Besides low pH (4.0 ± 0.3) and high salt (21.7 ± 2.9 g NaCl/L) concentrations, this wastewater also contained nitrogen concentrations (0.8 ± 0.1 g N/L), which were previously reported to be a challenge to the PHA accumulating bacteria enrichment. Bacteria with a PHA storage capacity were selected in an enrichment sequencing batch reactor (SBR) after 60 days of operation. The enriched mixed microbial culture (MMC) was mainly formed by microorganisms from phylum Bacteroidetes, and genera Azoarcus, Comamonas and Thauera from phylum Proteobacteria. The MMC was able to accumulate up to 25 wt% of PHA that was mainly limited by the wastewater nitrogen content, which promoted biomass growth instead of PHA accumulation. Indeed, when the presence of nutrient was limited, PHA stored in the accumulation reactor increased to up to 40.9 wt%. This work demonstrated the feasibility of the enrichment of a MMC with a PHA storage ability valorizing the fish-canning industrial wastewater at low pH, which is generally difficult to treat in wastewater treatment plants. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Wastewater Management and Treatment)
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Article
Systematic Modeling of Municipal Wastewater Activated Sludge Process and Treatment Plant Capacity Analysis Using GPS-X
Sustainability 2020, 12(19), 8182; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12198182 - 04 Oct 2020
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 717
Abstract
Mathematical modeling has become an indispensable tool for sustainable wastewater management, especially for the simulation of complex biochemical processes involved in the activated sludge process (ASP), which requires a substantial amount of data related to wastewater and sludge characteristics as well as process [...] Read more.
Mathematical modeling has become an indispensable tool for sustainable wastewater management, especially for the simulation of complex biochemical processes involved in the activated sludge process (ASP), which requires a substantial amount of data related to wastewater and sludge characteristics as well as process kinetics and stoichiometry. In this study, a systematic approach for calibration of the activated sludge model one (ASM1) model for a real municipal wastewater ASP was undertaken in GPS-X. The developed model was successfully validated while meeting the assumption of the model’s constant stoichiometry and kinetic coefficients for any plant influent compositions. The influences of vital ASP parameters on the treatment plant performance and capacity analysis for meeting local discharge limits were also investigated. Lower influent chemical oxygen demand in mgO2/L (COD) could inhibit effective nitrification and denitrification, while beyond 250 mgO2/L, there is a tendency for effluent quality to breach the regulatory limit. The plant performance can be satisfactory for handling even higher influent volumes up to 60,000 m3/d and organic loading when Total Suspended Solids/Volatile Suspended Solids (VSS/TSS) and particulate COD (XCOD)/VSS are maintained above 0.7 and 1, respectively. The wasted activated sludge (WAS) has more impact on the effluent quality compared to recycle activated sludge (RAS) with significant performance improvement when the WAS was increased from 3000 to 9000 m3/d. Hydraulic retention time (HRT) > 6 h and solids retention time (SRT) < 7 days resulted in better plant performance with the SRT having greater impact compared with HRT. The plant performance could be sustained for a quite appreciable range of COD/5-day Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD5 in mgO2/L) ratio, Mixed Liquor Suspended Solid (MLSS) of up to 6000 mg/L, and when BOD5/total nitrogen (TN) and COD/TN are comparatively at higher values. This work demonstrated a systematic approach for estimation of the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) ASP parameters and the high modeling capabilities of ASM1 in GPS-X when respirometry tests data are lacking. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Wastewater Management and Treatment)
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