Production of struvite (MgNH4PO4·6H2O) from waste streams is increasingly implemented to recover phosphorus (P), which is listed as a critical raw material in the European Union (EU). To facilitate EU-wide trade of P-containing secondary raw materials such as struvite, the EU issued a revised fertilizer regulation in 2019. A comprehensive overview of the supply of struvite and its quality is presently missing. This study aimed: i) to determine the current EU struvite production volumes, ii) to evaluate all legislated physicochemical characteristics and pathogen content of European struvite against newly set regulatory limits, and iii) to compare not-regulated struvite characteristics. It is estimated that in 2020, between 990 and 1250 ton P are recovered as struvite in the EU. Struvite from 24 European production plants, accounting for 30% of the 80 struvite installations worldwide was sampled. Three samples failed the physicochemical legal limits; one had a P content of <7% and three exceeded the organic carbon content of 3% dry weight (DW). Mineralogical analysis revealed that six samples had a struvite content of 80–90% DW, and 13 samples a content of >90% DW. All samples showed a heavy metal content below the legal limits. Microbiological analyses indicated that struvite may exceed certain legal limits. Differences in morphology and particle size distribution were observed for struvite sourced from digestate (rod shaped; transparent; 82 mass% < 1 mm), dewatering liquor (spherical; opaque; 65 mass% 1–2 mm) and effluent from upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor processing potato wastewater (spherical; opaque; 51 mass% < 1 mm and 34 mass% > 2 mm). A uniform soil-plant P-availability pattern of 3.5–6.5 mg P/L soil/d over a 28 days sampling period was observed. No differences for plant biomass yield were observed. In conclusion, the results highlight the suitability of most struvite to enter the EU fertilizer market.

Water is an abundant resource worldwide, but fresh and clean water is scarce in many areas of the world. Increases in water consumption and climate change will affect global water security even further in the near future. With increasing numbers of people living in metropolitan areas, water, energy, and materials need to be used carefully, reused and renewed. Resource scarcity is the driver behind the circular economy. The recovery of materials and energy can add significant new value streams and improve cost recovery and water quality. In this paper, we present the creation of the Energy & Raw Materials Factory (ERMF) of the Dutch Water Authorities, also known as the Resource Factory, as one of the solutions to this global challenge of water in the circular economy. Resources like cellulose, bioplastics, phosphate, alginate-like exopolymers from aerobic granular sludge (bio-ALE), and biomass can be recovered. Bio-ALE is an alginate-like polymer of sugars and proteins and can be used in agriculture and horticulture, the paper industry, medical, and construction industries. The ERMF demands significant investments but the return on investment is high both from a financial and environmental perspective, provided that markets can be realized. Experiences in the Netherlands show that the concept of the ERMF is viable and adds to the creation of a circular economy. Achieving climate neutrality and production of new and promising resources like bio-ALE are possible. The ERMF can contribute to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the United Nations on water and sanitation, once fully operational.

Current practice of wastewater treatment does not recover the full potential of energy present in wastewater. The potential of using anammox bacteria for autotrophic nitrogen removal combined with a desire for energy optimization brings new attention to the A-stage technology for organic carbon harvesting from municipal wastewater. The goal of this research was to investigate operational conditions of four full-scale A-stage processes and gain insight in the optimal conditions to harvest the maximum amount of organics present in sewage as excess sludge from the A stage. Large differences in removal efficiencies and design aspects were found between the four operational A-stage processes in the Netherlands. Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) removal efficiencies vary between 40% and 80%, indicating that a good removal efficiency is possible, but that local conditions or design can be very influential. An optimal solid retention time (SRT) for maximal sludge production of 0.3 days was found; a longer SRT resulted in more mineralization of the chemical oxygen demand (COD). SRT control might be an important design aspect for the optimization of A-stage process. A short contact time with a minimum of 15 min and sufficient aeration were found to be optimal for soluble COD removal. Iron addition aided the removal of colloidal/suspended COD by coagulation/flocculation. Sludge flocs formed in the A-stage process are weak and sensitive to anaerobic conditions as well as shear due to, for example, pumping. Besides a good design of the A-stage itself, the further processing of the produced sludge also needs careful attention to optimize the sludge production and energy production.

Sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) can beneficially be applied to domestic wastewater treatment. In general, formed sulfide will stay in liquid phase, resulting in an elevated sulfide content, which might have inhibiting effects on the SRB. To study effects of environmental conditions on the SRB resistance against sulfide, two sequencing batch reactors fed with artificial domestic wastewater were operated at sulfate-reducing conditions. Required sulfide concentration within the reactor was achieved by adding 400 or 800 mg COD/L (acetate and propionate), the latter resulting in proportionally more sulfide production. Batch tests revealed that sulfide inhibited the rate of sulfate reduction by 50% at a concentration of 200 mg/L sulfide for biomass from the reactor fed with 400 mg COD/L. After adaptation to a feed of 800 mg COD/L, resulting in higher sulfide exposures, sulfide was less inhibitive to SRB. Complete COD removal was achieved in the reactor fed with 800 mg COD/L, and the SRB population changed from one (Desulfotalea arctica) to two (Desulfobacter postgatei and Desulfocapsa sulfexigens) dominant species. Results indicate that SRB are capable of adapting to higher sulfide exposure. Therefore, the SRB can also be applied to treat wastewater with higher COD levels, blackwater for instance.

As a result of seawater intrusion in sewer systems or due to seawater toilet flushing, domestic wastewater may contain significant amounts of sulfate, which might lead to sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) activity. Because of the low biomass sludge-yield of SRB, application of SRB is beneficial for reduction of sludge treatment costs. Moreover, the produced sulfide helps to remove heavy metals from treated water. In this study, short-term (6h) effect on sulfate reduction rate of chemical oxygen demand (COD), N, P, SO42-, and salinity variations, far beyond (10-fold) the regular concentrations in municipal wastewater, was investigated. Increased propionate levels (>1,000mg COD/L) have shown to reduce sulfate reduction rate, while acetate up to 4,000mg COD/L did not. Nitrate became inhibitory at levels higher than 500mg N/L, due to formation of nitrite (<10mg N/L). Higher concentrations of ammonium and phosphate did not lead to a change in the sulfate reduction rate. Increased salinity decreased sulfate reduction rate by 41%. Batch tests with separate sulfate or NaCl elevation demonstrated that the inhibition of increased seawater portion of the sewage was mainly caused by increase of NaCl. The inhibitory effect of salinity on the sulfate reduction rate reduced after an adaptation period (months) of the biomass to higher salinity. Assuming the minor effect of COD (400mg/L), N (100mg/L), and P (10mg/L) in ranges typical for domestic wastewater, and adaptation to higher salinities, SRB can be applied successfully for the treatment of saline wastewater.

In sulfate-rich saline wastewater, biological sulfate reduction can occur spontaneously or applied beneficially for its treatment. Although application of sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) on saline domestic wastewater, obtained by seawater-based toilet flushing for instance has been suggested repeatedly, no study on the effect of applicability in the complete range of seawater concentration has been performed (salinity range of 0-3.5% and sulfate concentration of 0-2500mg/L). The present article examines the long-term effect of seawater on biological sulfate reduction using three sequencing batch reactors fed with different volumetric fractions of seawater and freshwater. To evaluate this effect, the effluent quality, sulfate reduction rate, and microbial population in the reactors were investigated. The biomass-specific biological sulfate reduction rate decreased significantly (approximate to 45%) when salinity increased from 0.7% to 3.5%, while total organics removal remained unaffected. Differences in microbial population were observed for sludge adapted to 0.7% or 3.5% salinity. Even at high salinity (3.5%) and moderate temperature (20 degrees C), biological sulfate reduction occurs and organics are removed sufficiently (>97%) by SRB. Therefore, biological sulfate reduction can be considered as a feasible process in treatment of saline- (3.5%) and sulfate (2500mg/L)-rich wastewater.

The draw solution is the driving force in forward osmosis (FO) processes. The reverse solute leakage of the draw solution is however a major constraint due to cost and energy requirements when reconcentrating the solutes subsequent to the FO process. Several zwitterions as draw solutions (π≈24bar and 7bar) were systematically investigated to enhance the FO performance and minimise the solute loss. The highly soluble zwitterions: glycine, l-proline and glycine betaine demonstrated comparable water fluxes to NaCl (~5L/m2h), but with significantly lower solute loss (Js: 2.13±0.54g/m2h; 1.37±0.09g/m2h, 0.96±0.4g/m2h respectively and JsNaCl: 3.26±0.53g/m2h), which is advantageous for cost reduction. The physico-chemical properties, charge and size played a dominant role in the flux efficiencies. The Js/Jv ratios decreased with (i) a decrease in hydrophobicity and (ii) an increase in size. The FO mass transfer model verified the experimental investigations of the solute transport through the membrane.

This paper presents a comprehensive evaluation of the current status of dynamic membrane (DM) technology as an alternative to membrane bioreactor (MBR) systems. DM filtration makes use of a physical barrier (e.g. cloth or mesh) on which a cake layer is formed. It is already used in traditional filtration systems, but applications in biological wastewater treatment are still at its infancy. Dynamic filtration of sludge has lower risk of fouling and requires less energy and lower capital costs compared to MBR. A review of the state-of-art in both DM materials and configurations is presented. Factors affecting DM performance are discussed in order to determine the optimum and critical approaches for membrane operation. Future perspectives to enhance the applicability and functionality of the technology regarding the treatment and membrane performance are presented.

This research is part of the Sewer Mining project aimed at developing a new technological concept by extracting water from sewage by means of forward osmosis (FO). FO, in combination with a reconcentration system, e.g. reverse osmosis (RO) is used to recover high-quality water. Furthermore, the subsequent concentrated sewage (containing an inherent energy content) can be converted into a renewable energy (RE) source (i.e. biogas). The effectiveness of FO membranes in the recovery of water from sewage has been evaluated. Stable FO water flux values (>4.3 LMH) were obtained with primary effluent (screened, not treated) used as the feed solution. Fouling of the membrane was also induced and further investigated. Accumulated fouling was found to be apparent, but not irreversible. Sewer Mining could lead to a more economical and sustainable treatment of wastewater, facilitating the extraction of water and energy from sewage and changing the way it is perceived: not as waste, but as a resource.