Themed collection Best Papers 2018 – Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology

The Editors-in-Chief of the Environmental Science journals introduce the Best Papers of 2018.

Anaerobic co-digestion (AcoD) has the potential to utilise spare digestion capacity at existing wastewater treatment plants to simultaneously enhance biogas production by digesting organic rich industrial waste and achieve sustainable organic waste management.

This review identifies challenges and opportunities facing the electricity generation sector in treating flue gas desulfurization wastewater.

Bioretention vegetation contributes to both the hydrologic and pollutant removal functions of bioretention.

This article presents the challenges and opportunities of electrokinetic desalination for brackish water and its recent development and prospective.

This study critically reviews literature and provides material flows of nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon to determine the ability of existing sanitation technologies and strategies that can be deployed to safely recover resources and thus achieve multiple sustainable development goals.

Aerobic granules were discovered around 20 years back.

Ultraviolet-driven advanced oxidation processes (UV/AOPs) are integral steps in water reuse treatment trains.

This study demonstrates that capacitive deionization can be effectively used for the removal and recovery of dominant nitrogen (ammonium) and phosphorus (phosphate salts) species present in wastewater.

Bacterial pathogens and pathogen indicators suspended in stormwater are removed to a greater extent in biochar-augmented sand biofilters than sand biofilters; the processes governing the removal are distinct.

Biosolids carry a substantial portion of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) leaving wastewater treatment plants. Pyrolysis substantially reduces ARGs in biosolids.

Energy in urine was extracted to synergize the in situ urine purification and nutrient recovery with net electricity production via a microbial electrochemical system named U-Power.

Produced water from the oil and gas industry often contains stable crude oil-in-water emulsions that are typically difficult to treat with conventional separation methods.

Trace micropollutants should be removed during drinking water production without increasing the disinfection-by-product formation potential or energy demand of the treatment process.

The findings have important implications for the control of preformed DBPs by subsequent UV-AOPs for potable water reuse.

LP-UV/H₂O₂ treatment of NOM-containing synthetic waters led to nitrite, nitrophenol and measurable but not mutagenic Ames responses in the presence of nitrate, where the NOM type affected the response levels.

Dechlorination in GAC biofilters leads to greater bioactivity and growth of a diverse microbial community.

A microfluidic chip for differentiating live versus dead cells was designed and tested experimentally with lab and environmental samples.

A continuously fed bubble column granular sludge anammox reactor was operated for 405 days to investigate the effect of organic matter on the reactor performance and N₂O emission.

1,3,5-Trimethoxybenzene can be used to quench residual chlorine and bromine without altering disinfection byproducts that are reactive toward traditional quenchers.

Polyphosphates may increase lead solubility via complexation, but the risk is not well characterized. Size-exclusion chromatography with multi-element detection could help determine the prevalence of lead-polyphosphate complexes in drinking water.

There is a trend of increasing natural organic matter (NOM) in raw drinking waters of Nordic countries due to climate change.

Long-term operation of wastewater-fed, microbial fuel cells (MFCs) with cathodes made of activated carbon and stainless steel (SS) current collectors can result in decreased performance due to cathode fouling.

Rates and selectivity of salicylic acid halogenation can be influenced by highly electrophilic species such as Cl₂, BrCl, and BrOCl.

The molar ratio of NO₃⁻ and SO₄²⁻ to SeO₄²⁻ is a key factor in SeO₄²⁻ removal. A UASB reactor showed no inhibition of SeO₄²⁻ at high NO₃⁻ and SO₄²⁻ concentrations achieving 100% NO₃⁻, 30% SO₄²⁻ and 80% total Se removal efficiencies.

Mounds of salt recovered during treatment of wastewaters from hydraulic fracturing in the USA.

The effluents of mainstream anaerobic treatment processes such as anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBRs) contain dissolved methane that represents a large fraction of the available energy (approximately 50% at 15 °C) and a significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emission if released to the atmosphere.