Sustainable Application of a Novel Water Cycle Using Seawater for Toilet Flushing

Global water security is a severe issue that threatens human health and well-being. Finding sustainable alternative water resources has become a matter of great urgency. For coastal urban areas, desalinated seawater could serve as a freshwater supply. However, since 20%–30% of the water supply is used for flushing waste from the city,...

A review on recovery of extracellular biopolymers from flocculent and granular activated sludges: Cognition, key influencing factors, applications, and challenges

A reasonable recovery of excess sludge may shift the waste into wealth. Recently an increasing attention has been paid to the recycling of extracellular biopolymers from conventional and advanced biological wastewater treatment systems such as flocculent activated sludge (AS), bacterial aerobic granular sludge (AGS), and algal-bacterial AGS...

Enrichment and application of extracellular nonulosonic acids containing polymers of Accumulibacter

Abstract: Pseudaminic and legionaminic acids are a subgroup of nonulosonic acids (NulOs) unique to bacterial species. There is a lack of advances in the study of these NulOs due to their complex synthesis and production. Recently, it was seen that “Candidatus Accumulibacter” can produce Pse or Leg analogues as part of its extracellular...

Catabolism of sialic acids in an environmental microbial community

Sialic acids are a family of nine-carbon negatively charged carbohydrates. In animals, they are abundant on mucosa surfaces as terminal carbohydrates of mucin glycoproteins. Some commensal and pathogenic bacteria are able to release, take up and catabolize sialic acids. Recently, sialic acids have been discovered to be widespread among most...

Flushing Toilets and Cooling Spaces with Seawater Improve Water-Energy Securities and Achieve Carbon Mitigations in Coastal Cities

Exploring alternative water sources and improving the efficiency of energy uses are crucial approaches to strengthening the water-energy securities and achieving carbon mitigations in sub(tropical) coastal cities. Seawater use for toilet flushing and district cooling systems is reportedly practical for achieving multiaspect benefits in Hong...

Alterations of Glycan Composition in Aerobic Granular Sludge during the Adaptation to Seawater Conditions

Bacteria can synthesize a diverse array of glycans, being found attached to proteins and lipids or as loosely associated polysaccharides to the cells. The major challenge in glycan analysis in environmental samples lies in developing high-throughput and comprehensive characterization methodologies to elucidate the structure and monitor the...

Highly efficient carbon assimilation and nitrogen/phosphorus removal facilitated by photosynthetic O₂ from algal-bacterial aerobic granular sludge under controlled DO/pH operation

Reducing CO₂ emission and energy consumption is crucial for the sustainable management of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). In this study, an algal-bacterial aerobic granular sludge (AGS) system was developed for efficient carbon (C) assimilation and nitrogen (N)/phosphorus (P) removal without the need for mechanical aeration....

Toward a Universal Unit for Quantification of Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Environmental Samples

Surveillance of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) has been increasingly conducted in environmental sectors to complement the surveys in human and animal sectors under the "One-Health"framework. However, there are substantial challenges in comparing and synthesizing the results of multiple studies that employ different test methods and...

Sialylation and Sulfation of Anionic Glycoconjugates Are Common in the Extracellular Polymeric Substances of Both Aerobic and Anaerobic Granular Sludges

Anaerobic and aerobic granular sludge processes are widely applied in wastewater treatment. In these systems, microorganisms grow in dense aggregates due to the production of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). This study investigates the sialylation and sulfation of anionic glyconconjugates in anaerobic and aerobic granular sludges...

Anionic extracellular polymeric substances extracted from seawater-adapted aerobic granular sludge

Abstract: Anionic polymers, such as heparin, have been widely applied in the chemical and medical fields, particularly for binding proteins (e.g., fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF-2) and histones). However, the current animal-based production of heparin brings great risks, including resource shortages and product contamination. Recently,...

The water-soluble fraction of extracellular polymeric substances from a resource recovery demonstration plant: characterization and potential application as an adhesive

Currently, there is a growing interest in transforming wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) into resource recovery plants. Microorganisms in aerobic granular sludge produce extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), which are considered sustainable resources to be extracted and can be used in diverse applications. Exploring applications in other...