Techno-economic analysis of sidestream ammonia removal technologies: Biological options versus thermal stripping

Over the past twenty years, various commercial technologies have been deployed to remove ammonia (NH₄–N) from anaerobic digestion (AD) liquors. In recent years many anaerobic digesters have been upgraded to include a pre-treatment, such as the thermal hydrolysis process (THP), to produce more biogas, increasing NH₄–N...

Upgrading residues from wastewater and drinking water treatment plants as low-cost adsorbents to remove extracellular DNA and microorganisms carrying antibiotic resistance genes from treated effluents

Wastewater treatment is challenged by the continuous emergence of chemical and biological contaminants. Disinfection, advanced oxidation, and activated carbon technologies are accessible in high-income countries to suppress them. Low-cost, easily implementable, and scalable solutions are needed for sanitation across regions. We studied the...

Free-floating extracellular DNA: systematic profiling of mobile genetic elements and antibiotic resistance from wastewater

The free-floating extracellular DNA (exDNA) fraction of microbial ecosystems harbors antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and mobile genetic elements (MGEs). Natural transformation of these xenogenetic elements can generate microbial cells resistant to one or more antibiotics. Isolating and obtaining high yield exDNA is challenging due to its low...

A settling model for full-scale aerobic granular sludge

The settling behavior of aerobic granular sludge (AGS) in full-scale reactors is different from the settling of normal activated sludge. Current activated sludge models lack the features to describe the segregation of granules based on size during the settling process. This segregation plays an important role in the granulation process and...

Sulfate reducing bacteria applied to domestic wastewater

The application of sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) to treat municipal wastewater is seldom considered. For instance, due to low sludge yield it can reduce the amount of excess sludge produced significantly. Several studies, mainly at laboratory-scale, revealed that SRB can proliferate in artificial wastewater systems at temperatures of 20°C...