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Wastewater Engineering: Wastewater Treatment Methods and Technologies

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A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Wastewater Treatment and Reuse".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 April 2024) | Viewed by 18528

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Chaojie Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
Interests: reductive degradation of organic pollutants; biological denitrification; wastewater treatment

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue, entitled “Wastewater Engineering: Wastewater Treatment Methods and Technologies”, focuses on recent advances and prospects of wastewater treatment studies including, but not limited to:

wastewater treatment processes, including municipal, agricultural, industrial, and on-site wastewater; the recovery of various water resources; the management of residues in water;
water environmental management and remediation, including surface water and groundwater;
and contaminants (chemical, microbial, and anthropogenic particles such as nanoparticles or microplastics) and related water quality sensing, monitoring, fate, and assessment.

We invite contributions from researchers involved in experimental and theoretical aspects linked to wastewater treatment methods and technologies, with application to wastewater treatment and resource recovery, water environment management and restoration, contaminant analysis and treatment, and related areas.

By presenting this integrative and multidisciplinary volume, we aim to transfer wastewater sources into products that are useful to society.

Prof. Dr. Chaojie Zhang
Guest Editor

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. Water 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 2600 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

water resource
environmental management
surface water
groundwater
remediation
water quality
assessment
water resources

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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21 pages, 5567 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Wastewater Treatment Using Poplar Plants: Processes

by Jonae Wood, Niroj Aryal and Kiran Subedi

Water 2023, 15(21), 3812; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15213812 - 31 Oct 2023

Viewed by 1255

Abstract

Phytoremediation is used to treat wastewater, wherein plants, microorganisms, and soil work together to remediate pollutants. We evaluated the plant processes that can affect metal mobilization during phytoremediation. The experimental columns were filled with silica sand and soil mixture spiked with redox-sensitive metal(loid)s—arsenic, manganese, and iron, and fitted with an ORP probe and oxygen sensors. Three columns were planted with poplars and three others were no-plant controls. Carbon-rich, synthetic food-processing wastewater was applied at 15.4 mm/day to the columns. Leachate water was analyzed every other week for water quality. Both soil and plant tissue samples were analyzed for metal concentrations, and soils were analyzed for microbial populations. Both treatments reduced 65–70% carbon. ORP ranged from −321 mV to 916 mV and affected metal mobilization. Oxic conditions in planted treatments yielded high ORP, oxygen concentration, and nitrates. Microbial communities were enhanced in both treatments, but the planted columns had more microbial abundance and evenness. Plants successfully accumulated metals in roots from soil with an accumulation factor of up to 40 for some metals and translocated to shoots from roots with a translocation factor of 10.62. The crop coefficient was 1.88, indicating accelerated loss of water in planted columns compared to control columns. The results demonstrated the benefits of plants in creating more oxic conditions, removing more wastewater from the rhizosphere, accumulating and translocating metals in the biomass, and enhancing rhizodegradation of pollutants by microbial population enhancement. Knowledge of the soil–plant–microbial processes is useful in designing engineered phytoremediation systems. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wastewater Engineering: Wastewater Treatment Methods and Technologies)

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16 pages, 10949 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Prediction of Wastewater Treatment Plant Effluent Water Quality Using Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) Models

by Praewa Wongburi and Jae K. Park

Water 2023, 15(19), 3325; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15193325 - 22 Sep 2023

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1730

Abstract

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has recently emerged as a powerful tool with versatile applications spanning various domains. AI replicates human intelligence processes through machinery and computer systems, finding utility in expert systems, image and speech recognition, machine vision, and natural language processing (NLP). One notable area with limited exploration pertains to using deep learning models, specifically Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs), for predicting water quality in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). RNNs are purpose-built for handling sequential data, featuring a feedback mechanism. However, standard RNNs may exhibit limitations in accommodating both short-term and long-term dependencies when addressing intricate time series problems. The solution to this challenge lies in adopting Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) cells, known for their inherent memory management through a ‘forget gate’ mechanism. In general, LSTM architecture demonstrates superior performance. WWTP data represent a historical series influenced by fluctuating environmental conditions. This study employs simple RNNs and LSTM architecture to construct prediction models for effluent parameters, systematically assessing their performance through various training data scenarios and model architectures. The primary objective was to determine the most suitable WWTP dataset model. The study revealed that an epoch setting of 50 and a batch size of 100 yielded the lowest training time and root mean square error (RMSE) values for both RNN and LSTM models. Furthermore, when these models are applied to predict effluent parameters, they exhibit precise RMSE values for all parameters. The study results can be applied to detect potential upsets in WWTP operations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wastewater Engineering: Wastewater Treatment Methods and Technologies)

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17 pages, 2459 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fixed-Bed Studies of Landfill Leachate Treatment Using Chitosan-Coated Carbon Composite

by Fatima Batool, Tonni Agustiono Kurniawan, Ayesha Mohyuddin, Mohd Hafiz Dzarfan Othman, Abdelkader Anouzla, Christia Meidiana, Hui Hwang Goh and Kit Wayne Chew

Water 2023, 15(12), 2263; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15122263 - 16 Jun 2023

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 1672

Abstract

The feasibility of a chitosan-coated coconut-shell (CS) carbon composite for landfill leachate treatment in a fixed-bed study was investigated in terms of COD and NH₃-N removal. The surface of the composite was characterized using SEM, FT-IR, and XRD to assess any changes before and after column operations. To enhance its cost-effectiveness, the saturated composite was regenerated using NaOH. The results showed that the composite had significantly better removal of both COD and NH₃-N, as compared to CS and/or chitosan (p ≤ 0.05; ANOVA test), respectively. The breakthrough curve obtained from the fixed-bed studies exhibited an ideal “S” shape. The breakthrough points for the adsorbents followed the order of CS at BV 76 < chitosan at 200 BV < composite at BV 305. It was also found that a low flow rate and deeper bed depth of the packed adsorbent were necessary for achieving optimal column operations. The composite achieved 96% regeneration in the first cycle. However, even with the enhanced adsorption of target pollutants by the composite through chitosan coating, the treated effluents still could not meet the required COD and NH₃-N effluent limits of less than 200 and 5 mg/L, respectively, as mandated by legislation. Nonetheless, the findings suggest that low-cost composites derived from unused resources can be employed as effective adsorbents for wastewater treatment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wastewater Engineering: Wastewater Treatment Methods and Technologies)

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Review

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19 pages, 1852 KiB

Open AccessReview

A Review of Rotating Biological Contactors for Wastewater Treatment

by Sharjeel Waqas, Noorfidza Yub Harun, Nonni Soraya Sambudi, Muhammad Roil Bilad, Kunmi Joshua Abioye, Abulhassan Ali and Aymn Abdulrahman

Water 2023, 15(10), 1913; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15101913 - 18 May 2023

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 13431

Abstract

A rotating biological contactor (RBC) is a type of attached-growth biological wastewater treatment system and a widely used biological wastewater treatment technology. It employs a series of rotating discs to support microbial growth and promote the removal of pollutants from wastewater. RBC is widely recognized for its simplicity of design, high reliability, and low energy consumption. It has been used in various applications, from small-scale decentralized systems to large municipal wastewater treatment plants. The current review provides an overview of RBC bioreactors, design parameters, and the factors that influence biological performance, such as hydraulic retention time, sludge retention time, organic loading rate, disc rotational speed, and temperature. The review also highlights the advantages and disadvantages of RBCs compared with other wastewater treatment technologies and discusses their role in sustainable environmental performance. The future prospects of RBC are also discussed, including integration with other technologies, such as membrane filtration and potential use in resource recovery. The review explores the application of RBC in decentralized wastewater treatment and the potential to provide sustainable solutions for wastewater management in rural and remote areas. Overall, RBC remains a promising option for effective and efficient wastewater treatment, particularly in situations where simplicity, reliability, and low energy consumption are desired. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wastewater Engineering: Wastewater Treatment Methods and Technologies)

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