Emerging contaminants in polluted waters: Harnessing Biochar's potential for effective treatment.

Biochar is a carbon-rich, sponge-like material with intricate functionalities, making it suitable for various environmental remediation applications, including water treatment, soil amendment and, additives in construction materials, anaerobic digesters, and electrodes, among others. Its easy adaptability and low cost make it particularly attractive. This review highlights a range of biochar and surface-modified biochar exhibiting high uptake and degradation efficiencies for a broad spectrum of contaminants, including humic acid, disinfection by-products (DBPs), radioactive materials, dyes, heavy metals, antibiotics, microplastics, pathogens, Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and cytotoxins.

Role of intracellular storage polymers in simultaneous biological nutrient removal and resources recovery.

Simultaneous biological nutrient removal (SBNR) using an anaerobic-anoxic-oxic phase is the key feature of advanced wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Removing ammonia, total nitrogen, and phosphorus concurrently with organic matter and suspended solids from wastewater is essential to meeting stringent effluent discharge standards via SBNR in WWTPs. More insight into the mechanisms of SBNR, i.

Advanced anaerobic co-digestion of hydrothermally pretreated wheat straw: Process performance, techno-economic and life cycle assessment.

Hydrothermal and thermal-alkali pretreatment potential was investigated to enhance agro-wastes' anaerobic co-digestion (AcoD). The techno-economic (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) of biogas upgrading (BioCNG) and energy generation via combined heat and power (CHP) processes for energy utilization were carried out to realize the environmental impacts and cost-effectiveness of the studied processes. Three AcoD conditions of untreated, hydrothermally (150 °C, 60 min) and thermal-alkali pretreated (1% NaOH, 150 °C- 60 min) wheat straw (WS) with food waste and cow manure were studied in semi-continuous mode for 340 days under variable organic loading rates (OLR, 1.

Rice mill wastewater management in the era of circular economy.

Several nations around the world use rice as their primary food staple because of its tremendous nutritional value. India's expanding population has sparked a proliferation of rice mills as a result of the country's growing rice demand. However, small and medium-scale industries lack adequate facilities for processing effluents and other waste generated.

Advanced steam-explosion pretreatment mediated anaerobic digestion of municipal sludge: Effects on methane yield, emerging contaminants removal, and microbial community.

Advanced steam explosion pretreatment, i.e., the Thermal hydrolysis process (THP) is applied mainly to improve the sludge solubilization and subsequent methane yield in the downstream anaerobic digestion (AD) process.

Semi-continuous anaerobic co-digestion of thermal and thermal-alkali processed organic fraction of municipal solid waste: Methane yield, energy analysis, anaerobic microbiome.

The semi-continuous anaerobic co-digestion (AcoD) of thermal and thermal-alkali pretreated organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) and sewage sludge (SS) was studied under varying hydraulic retention times (HRT) and organic loading rates (OLR Three semi-continuous digesters were operated under control (non-pre-treated), thermally pretreated (125 °C), and thermal-alkali pretreated (125°C-3g/L NaOH) conditions at variable OLRs at 2.5, 4.0, 5.

Prevalence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products, microplastics and co-infecting microbes in the post-COVID-19 era and its implications on antimicrobial resistance and potential endocrine disruptive effects.

The COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic's steady condition coupled with predominance of emerging contaminants in the environment and its synergistic implications in recent times has stoked interest in combating medical emergencies in this dynamic environment. In this context, high concentrations of pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs), microplastics (MPs), antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and soaring coinfecting microbes, tied with potential endocrine disruptive (ED) are critical environmental concerns that requires a detailed documentation and analysis. During the pandemic, the identification, enumeration, and assessment of potential hazards of PPCPs and MPs and (used as anti-COVID-19 agents/applications) in aquatic habitats have been attempted globally.

Microplastics in landfill leachate: Occurrence, health concerns, and removal strategies.

Landfills are commonly used to manage solid waste, but they can contribute to microplastic (MPs) pollution. As plastic waste degrades in landfills, MPs are released into the surrounding environment, contaminating soil, groundwater, and surface water. This poses a threat to human health and the environment, as MPs can adsorb toxic substances.

Microplastics as emergent contaminants in landfill leachate: Source, potential impact and remediation technologies.

A significant amount of plastic waste is generated each year on a global scale, in which the maximum quantity of plastic waste is typically dumped in landfills in various parts of the world. Moreover, dumping plastic waste in landfills cannot address the issue of proper disposal; it simply delays the process. Exploiting waste resources entails environmental hazards because plastic wastes buried in landfills gradually break down into Microplastics (MPs) due to physical, chemical, and biological effects.

Combined sodium citrate and ultrasonic pretreatment of waste activated sludge for cost effective production of biogas.

This study aimed to pretreat the waste activated sludge (WAS) by ultrasonication in an energy efficient way by combining sodium citrate with ultrasonic pretreatment at 0.03 g/g suspended solids (SS) of dosage. The ultrasonic pretreatment was done at various (20-200 W) power levels, sludge concentration (7 to 30 g/L), sodium citrate dosages (0.

Global distribution of pesticides in freshwater resources and their remediation approaches.

The role of pesticides in enhancing global agricultural production is magnificent. However, their unmanaged use threatens water resources and individual health. A significant pesticide concentration leaches to groundwater or reaches surface waters through runoff.

Resolution of conflict of reduced sludge production with EBPR by coupling OSA to A/O process in a pilot scale SBR.

The pinnacle of all the efforts of nutrient removal is practically put-down the moment biological cells are lysed, hydrolyzed or digested causing subsequent reappearance of assimilated nitrogen and phosphorus in any biological process. While sludge reduction requires high SRT, the enhanced phosphorus assimilative uptake demands low SRT. A novel reactor configuration for enhanced sludge and phosphorus removal was put to test by incorporating a side stream anaerobic reactor to an Anaerobic-Anoxic-Aerobic (AO) SBR with a pre-anoxic chamber and an influent receiving inlet anaerobic reactor.

Evaluation of sludge quality in Indian sewage treatment plants to develop quality control indices.

Dewatered sludges from twenty-two sewage treatment facilities were characterized to develop the quality control indices in India. This study used fertilizer index (FI) and clean index (CI) as a tool for categorizing sludge utilization into different classes (A, B, C and limited use classes LU-1, LU-2, LU-3) by their fertilizing potential, toxicity level, pathogen presence, and vector attraction reduction criteria. The findings revealed that total P (as PO), total N, and K (as KO) in the sludge samples ranged from 0.

Hydrothermal and thermal-alkali pretreatments of wheat straw: Co-digestion, substrate solubilization, biogas yield and kinetic study.

Agro-waste having lignocellulosic biomass is considered most effective (heating value 16 MJ/kg) for energy production through anaerobic digestion (AD). However, recalcitrant lignocellulosic fraction in agro-waste obstructs its biotransformation and is a rate-limiting step of the process. This study investigated the effects of hydrothermal and thermal-alkaline pretreatment on anaerobic co-digestion of wheat straw (WS).

Principles and potential of thermal hydrolysis of sewage sludge to enhance anaerobic digestion.

Sewage sludge is rich source of carbon, nutrients, and trace elements and can be subjected to proper treatment before disposal to fulfill government legislation and protect receiving environments. Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a well-adopted technology for stabilizing sewage sludge and recovering energy-rich biogas and nutrient-rich digestate. However, a slow hydrolysis rate limits the biodegradability of sludge.

Technological advancements in valorization of second generation (2G) feedstocks for bio-based succinic acid production.

Succinic acid (SA) is used as a commodity chemical and as a precursor in chemical industry to produce other derivatives such as 1,4-butaneidol, tetrahydrofuran, fumaric acid, and bio-polyesters. The production of bio-based SA from renewable feedstocks has always been in the limelight owing to the advantages of renewability, abundance and reducing climate change by CO capture. Considering this, the current review focuses on various 2G feedstocks such as lignocellulosic biomass, crude glycerol, and food waste for cost-effective SA production.

Energy feasibility and life cycle assessment of sludge pretreatment methods for advanced anaerobic digestion.

Energy sustainability is one of the critical parameters to be studied for the successful application of pretreatment processes. This study critically analyzes the energy efficiency of different energy-demanding sludge pretreatment techniques. Conventional thermal pretreatment of sludge (∼5% total solids, TS) produced 244 mL CH/gTS, which could result in a positive energy balance of 2.

Critical insights into anaerobic co-digestion of wheat straw with food waste and cattle manure: Synergistic effects on biogas yield and kinetic modeling.

In this study, four batch assays were performed to ensure the synergic effects of co-digestion and find out the best inoculums to substrate ratio (ISR), carbon to nitrogen ratio (C:N), and total solid (TS) percentage in sequence. The co-digestion of three feedstocks had a 20% higher biogas yield (416 mL/gVS added) than mono-digestion with 21% volatile solids (VS) degradation. The ISR of 2 leads to the highest biogas yield (431 mL/gVS added) and VS removal (30.

Biohydrogen production from waste activated sludge through thermochemical mechanical pretreatment.

Generation of excess sludge in large quantities from wastewater treatment plant face huge problem in terms of handling and management, whereas it possess higher organic and inorganic constituents and thus it can be used as a feedstock for the generation of biofuel with proper disintegration techniques.In this regard, an effort has been made in this study to combine thermo-chemo-disperser pretreatment for the disintegration of paper mill waste activated sludge for the production of biohydrogen in an energy efficient way. These combinations of thermo-chemo-disperser (TCD) tend to be effective in disintegration and possess 24.

Novel insight on ferric ions addition to mitigate recalcitrant formation during thermal-alkali hydrolysis to enhance biomethanation.

Thermal-chemical pre-treatment has proven to facilitate the solubilization of organics and improvement in biogas generation from the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW). However, the production of recalcitrant is inevitable when OFMSW is pretreated at high temperatures and alkali dosage. This study develops a strategy to use Fe to reduce the formation of recalcitrant compounds, i.

Progress in microalgal mediated bioremediation systems for the removal of antibiotics and pharmaceuticals from wastewater.

Worldwide demand for antibiotics and pharmaceutical products is continuously increasing for the control of disease and improvement of human health. Poor management and partial metabolism of these compounds result in the pollution of aquatic systems, leading to hazardous effects on flora, fauna, and ecosystems. In the past decade, the importance of microalgae in micropollutant removal has been widely reported.

Breakthrough in hydrolysis of waste biomass by physico-chemical pretreatment processes for efficient anaerobic digestion.

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is the most comprehended process to stabilise the waste biomass efficiently and to obtain bioenergy. The AD starts with the hydrolysis process, where the major liability is the action of inhibitors during the hydrolysis process. The biomass pretreatment preceding anaerobic digestion is obligatory to improve feedstock biodegradability for enhanced biogas generation.

Recalcitrant compounds formation, their toxicity, and mitigation: Key issues in biomass pretreatment and anaerobic digestion.

Increasing energy demands and environmental issues have stressed the importance of sustainable methods of energy production. Anaerobic digestion (AD) of the biodegradable waste, i.e.

Polyhydroxyalkanoates synthesis using acidogenic fermentative effluents.

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are natural polyesters synthesized by microbes which consume excess amount of carbon and less amount of nutrients. It is biodegradable in nature, and it synthesized from renewable resources. It is considered as a future polymer, which act as an attractive replacement to petrochemical based polymers.

Carbon based conductive materials mediated recalcitrant toxicity mitigation during anaerobic digestion of thermo-chemically pre-treated organic fraction of municipal solid waste.

High-temperature thermal pretreatment alone or in conjugation with chemical pretreatment (highly acidic or alkaline) produced recalcitrant compounds, which inhibits the anaerobic digestion (AD) process performance. This study aims to develop a strategy to use carbon-based conductive materials to mitigate the recalcitrant toxicity and enhance the methane generation in the downstream AD. The formation of recalcitrant compounds, mainly the furan derivatives, i.