Kaumera are extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) extracted from excess aerobic granular sludge from Nereda® wastewater treatment plants. Kaumera exhibits significant market potential across diverse applications, fostering rapid research and business development. Furthermore, it will begin to be extracted from numerous installations worldwide. This calls for standard methods as analogue to (waste)water and sludge characterization. Due to lack of standardization, stakeholders are currently using different extraction and characterization protocols, impeding the development of a more uniform product and comparison of results across research studies. To address this, this report compiles the standard protocol for Kaumera extraction in the laboratory and for on-site and lab characterization to be used by researchers, the public Dutch water authorities, and the private industry. The procedures detailed in this document are in accordance with EPS research conducted at TU Delft and methodologies employed in Kaumera production facilities. This report aids in monitoring Kaumera characteristics worldwide and for optimizing the extraction process (including up and downstream processing). This will help maximize repeatability, interoperability, and quality and therefore accelerate business and research development, paving the way to develop a product that meets the needs of the endusers. Through the widespread adoption of this manual, our aim is to foster greater coordination and collaboration among stakeholders, thereby expediting the realization of Kaumera's full potential. ... Read more

The 1st edition of the textbook Biological Wastewater Treatment: Principles, Modelling and Design was published in 2008 and it went on to become IWA Publishing's bestseller to date. In 2020, the 2nd updated and extended edition of the textbook was published because, since 2008, the knowledge and understanding of wastewater treatment had advanced extensively and moved further away from empirically-based approaches to a fundamental first-principles approach based on chemistry, microbiology, physical and bioprocess engineering, mathematics and modelling. The updated edition has already been available for more than two years and the feedback from readers has been overwhelming - the textbook won the IWA Publishing Best Scientific Book Prize in 2022. This inspired the authors to embark on a new challenge - to prepare this complementary book Biological Wastewater Treatment: Examples and Exercises. This new book is an extension of the 2nd edition textbook; each chapter corresponds to a chapter in the textbook and is structured similarly around five sections, namely, Introduction, Learning objectives, Examples, and Exercises, with solutions provided in an annex. The overall objective of the book is to deepen, expand and test the knowledge of the reader through a set of worked out examples, followed up by exercises and questions with provided answers. Where applicable, the book is supplemented with MS Office Excel files. The book is open access and can be downloaded (together with supplements) at the publisher's website. The target readership of the book remains young water professionals, who will still be active in the field of protecting our precious water resources long after the aging professors who are leading some of these advances have retired. The authors are aware that cleaning dirty water has become more complex but also that it is even more urgent now than before, and offer this new book to help young water professionals engage with the scientific and bioprocess engineering principles of wastewater treatment science and technology with deeper insight, advanced knowledge and greater confidence built on stronger competence. ... Read more

Over the past twenty years, the knowledge and understanding of wastewater treatment has advanced extensively and moved away from empirically based approaches to a fundamentally-based first principles approach embracing chemistry, microbiology, and physical and bioprocess engineering, often involving experimental laboratory work and techniques. Many of these experimental methods and techniques have matured to the degree that they have been accepted as reliable tools in wastewater treatment research and practice. For sector professionals, especially a new generation of young scientists and engineers entering the wastewater treatment profession, the quantity, complexity and diversity of these new developments can be overwhelming, particularly in developing countries where access to advance... ... Read more