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Abstract

The concept of water reuse was proposed more than two decades ago in regions that suffered from water scarcity or relied on unpredictable water supplies. Since then, climate change, a rapidly growing global urban population, and environmental pollution have impacted sustainable water resources, driving a rise in demand for efficient wastewater reclamation technologies. According to the new Circular Economy Action Plan established by the EU, most activities that are undertaken as part of the wastewater treatment process should primarily concern the search for new technologies that use wastewater as a source of water and nutrients. This article proposes a new approach of secondary effluent (SE) management to recover the valuable components of wastewater for a variety of purposes, beginning with the water itself and followed by nutrients. With this objective in mind, we reclaimed SE in an integrated 3-stage pilot-scale membrane process (micro/ultrafiltration, nanofiltration and reverse osmosis). The effect of the process inlet pressure and flow configuration (cross-flow and dead-end filtration), as well as the type of membrane, on the efficiency of the process and water composition was investigated. In this study, microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF), and nanofiltration (NF) are not only pre-treatment processes reverse osmosis (RO) but also produce water for various purposes. This technology allowed the production of water for several types of applications. These uses include (a) industrial processes as a cooling medium, (b) urban non-potable applications (e.g., irrigation with reclaimed water and microelements), (c) potable water supplies, and (d) groundwater remediation. The classification of proper use was made based on standards, regulations, and the available literature. The conducted research demonstrated the versatility of the proposed technology with regard to water reclamation for various non-exclusive applications. Additionally, the cost-effectiveness of the implementation of the presented 3-stage-membrane technology was calculated.

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... Additionally, global water scarcity is already being observed, leading to the search for new water reuse technologies, fostering the so-called circular economy. However, this endeavor remains predominantly led by the private sector, with limited public action (Akshitha et al., 2023;Czuba et al., 2021;Nyambar & Mohan Viswanathan, 2023;Taye et al., 2022;Wadkar et al., 2021). ...
... They encompass a set of mathematical mechanisms that, by assessing the supply and demand of the resource, establish the economic retribution to be charged to users for the supply service. Moreover, they define the duties and rights of users and the public authority to guarantee the provision of safe potable water as a fundamental and justifiable public service in terms of both quantity and quality (Czuba et al., 2021;Fernández & Galarza, 2023;Guo et al., 2022;Plantak et al., 2022). ...
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Purpose: The management of public resources represents one of the functions of the state apparatus, seeking to safeguard the well-being of the population, particularly in essential resources like potable water. Theoretical framework: The regulatory or normative framework, based on standards and the action of the public health department for potable water care and use, is too extensive and confusing for users, showing weaknesses in its formulation. Method: This review article aims to analyze the models of quality management in the provision of urban potable water, employing a qualitative approach and utilizing the PRISMA methodology. Results and Conclusion:The findings encompass a total of 50 included articles, subjected to eligibility criteria, comprising 76% from the Scopus database, 20% from Proquest, and 4% from Scielo. Consequently, it is concluded that in recent years, the role of the state apparatus in providing urban public potable water services, focusing on quality, has adhered to five management models: direct public management, corporate service enterprise, contracted private management, directly operated private management, and public enterprise. Research implications: The management models ultimately aim to provide quality in the provision of public services, seeking suitability, responsiveness, system assurance, and compensation for the supply and distribution of one of the fundamental resources for human life. Originality/value: This evolution demonstrates that the public role has allied significantly with the private sector, a relationship that has remained, and has yielded positive results in some cases.
... Membrane technologies have archived the maturity to accelerate the transition toward the circular blue economy, offering a wide portfolio of energy-saving and sustainable processes able to produce freshwater from effluents [253]. Seawater desalination, considered the most reliable solution to face the freshwater scarcity problem (being the sea an unlimited and renewable water body), is today dominated by SWRO. ...
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Water and energy are two strategic drivers of sustainable development, intimately interlaced and vital for a secure future of humanity. Given that water resources are limited, whereas global population and energy demand are exponentially growing, the competitive balance between these resources, referred to as the water-energy nexus, is receiving renewed focus. The desalination industry alleviates water stress by producing freshwater from saline sources, such as seawater, brackish or groundwater. Since the last decade, the market has been dominated by membrane desalination technology, offering significant advantages over thermal processes, such as lower energy demand, easy process control and scale-up, modularity for flexible productivity, and feasibility of synergic integration of different membrane operations. Although seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) accounts for more than 70% of the global desalination capacity, it is circumscribed by some significant technological limitations, such as: (i) the relatively low water recovery factor (around 50%) due to the negative impact of osmotic and polarization phenomena; (ii) an energy consumption in the range of 3–5 kWh m⁻³, still far from the theoretical energy demand (1.1 kWh m⁻³) to produce potable water from seawater (at 50% water recovery factor). Ultimately, desalination is an energy intensive practice and research efforts are oriented toward the development of alternative and more energy-efficient approaches in order to enhance freshwater resources without placing excessive strain on limited energy supplies. Recent years have seen a relevant surge of interest in membrane distillation (MD), a thermally driven membrane desalination technology having the potential to complement SWRO in the logic of Process Intensification and Zero Liquid Discharge paradigm. Due to its peculiar transport mechanism and negligibility of osmotic phenomena, MD allows high-quality distillate production (theoretically, non-volatile species are completely rejected) with a recovery factor of up to 80% at a relatively low operative temperature (typically 60 °C–80 °C). Although low operative temperatures make MD technology attractive for renewable power applications (e.g. solar thermal, wind or geothermal energy sources) or for efficient exploitation of low-grade or waste heat streams, the low energy efficiency intrinsically due to heat losses—and specifically to temperature polarization—has so far hindered the application at industrial scale. Nowadays, photothermal materials able to absorb and convert natural or artificial irradiation into heat have gained great attention, demonstrating the potential to mitigate the ‘anthropic’ energy input to MD and to mitigate the impact of thermal inefficiencies. On this road, a step-change improvement in light-to-heat conversion is expected through high-throughput computational screening over thermoplasmonic materials based on electronic and optical properties of advanced materials including novel topological phases of matter used as nanofillers in polymeric membranes. Coherently with the concept of Circular Economy, waste hypersaline solutions rejected from desalination process (referred as ‘brine’) are now the subject of valorization activities along two main exploitation routes: (1) recovery of valuable minor and trace metals and minerals, with special focus on critical raw materials (including, among others, Mg, Na, Ca, K, Sr, Li, Br, B, and Rb); (2) production of salinity gradient power (SGP) renewable energy resulting from the recovery of the Gibbs energy of mixing (mainly represented by the entropic contribution) of two solutions having different ionic concentration. The exciting new frontier of sustainable mining of seawater concentrates is accelerating the appearance of a plethora of innovative membrane materials and methods for brine dehydration and selective extraction of trace ions, although under the sword of Damocles represented by cost feasibility for reliable commercial application. On the other hand, among several emerging technologies, reverse electrodialysis (SGP-RED) was already proven capable—at least at the kW scale–of turning the chemical potential difference between river water, brackish water, and seawater into electrical energy. Efforts to develop a next generation of ion exchange membranes exhibiting high perm-selectivity (especially toward monovalent ions) and low electrical resistance, to improve system engineering and to optimize operational conditions, pursue the goal of enhancing the low power density so far achievable (in the order of a few W per m²). This Roadmap takes the form of a series of short contributions written independently by worldwide experts in the topic. Collectively, such contributions provide a comprehensive picture of the current state of the art in membrane science and technology at the water-energy nexus, and how it is expected to develop in the future. In addition, this Roadmap acknowledges the challenges and advances in membrane systems, particularly emphasizing the interplay of material innovation and system optimization, which collectively contribute to advancing the desalination field within the water-energy nexus framework.
... They can increase salt concentrations by a factor of up to 7 while requiring only a fraction of the energy input for complete desalination (Lin, 2020;Nassrullah et al., 2020;Xie et al., 2016). The application of these membrane processes for nutrient recovery from municipal wastewater and other waste streams has been extensively investigated (Robles et al., 2020;Xie et al., 2016;Yan et al., 2018), including as part of process configurations with the potential for recovering liquid fertilizers (Czuba et al., 2021;Qiu et al., 2015;Tampio et al., 2016;Ward et al., 2018). ...
Article
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Nutrient recovery from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) for hydroponic cultivation holds promise for closing the nutrient loop and meeting rising food demands. However, most studies focus on solid products for soil-based agriculture, thus raising questions about their suitability for hydroponics. In this study, we address these questions by performing the first in-depth assessment of the extent to which state-of-the-art nutrient recovery processes can generate useful products for hydroponic application. Our results indicate that less than 11.5% of the required nutrients for crops grown hydroponically can currently be recovered. Potassium nitrate (KNO3), calcium nitrate (Ca(NO3)2), and magnesium sulfate (MgSO4), constituting over 75% of the total nutrient demand for hydroponics, cannot be recovered in appropriate form due to their high solubility, hindering their separated recovery from wastewater. To overcome this challenge, we outline a novel nutrient recovery approach that emphasizes the generation of multi-nutrient concentrates specifically designed to meet the requirements of hydroponic cultivation. Based on a theoretical assessment of nutrient and contaminant flows in a typical municipal WWTP, utilizing a steady-state model, we estimated that this novel approach could potentially supply up to 56% of the nutrient requirements of hydroponic systems. inally, we outline fundamental design requirements for nutrient recovery systems based on this new approach. Achieving these nutrient recovery potentials could be technically feasible through a combination of activated sludge processes for nitrification, membrane-based desalination processes, and selective removal of interfering NaCl. However, given the limited investigation into such treatment trains, further research is essential to explore viable system designs for effective nutrient recovery for hydroponics.
... Ambas as classes consideram determinadas restrições para a aplicação (Brasil, 2020) Como referido anteriormente, a disposição do lodo no solo agrícola, dentre todas as opções, representa o cenário de maior aplicação em todo o mundo, tratando-se de alternativa competitiva no que diz respeito a sua viabilidade econômica e ambiental, reduzindo a necessidade do uso de fertilizantes químicos (Amorim Júnior et al., 2021;Sharma et al., 2021). Observou-se também que a recuperação de nutrientes como o fósforo e nitrogênio em decorrência da sua escassez mundial é cada vez mais estudada e se apresenta como eficiente, tanto a partir do lodo quanto de efluentes líquidos (Czuba et al., 2021;Moraes et al., 2022) Para o biogás, formado a partir da atividade de microrganismos anaeróbios na degradação da matéria orgânica, observa-se de forma proeminente nos estudo selecionados a geração de eletricidade para uso na própria ETE ou em áreas vizinhas, inclusive pela sua utilização em transportes públicosexemplo encontrado em um dos estudos selecionados, aplicado na Suécia (Ammenberg et al., 2018) De forma complementar, foi elaborado um quadro (ver Apêndice B, Quadro 1) que classifica as práticas de circularidade em ETEs segundo determinadas características, como localidade, porte, tipo de tratamento, estratégia de circularidade, dentre outras. Os dados podem servir de base para pesquisas futuras. ...
... Advanced separation technologies, such as membranes, are key processes in the new Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP II) which is one of the main building blocks of the European Green Deal. According to this plan, most activities pertaining to the wastewater treatment process should search for new technologies that can use wastewater as a source of water and nutrients [16]. Membrane operations are characterized by a high selectivity; therefore high-purity and concentrated products can be expected. ...
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Our current industrial ammonia cycle is far from being sustainable – while intense energy is required to produce ammonia– almost half of it ends up in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) where is finally transformed and lost. This work shows the application of flat sheet membrane distillation (MD) commercial modules for the ammonia recovery from WWTPs. First, optimized operating conditions – in terms of ammonia flux, specific thermal energy (STEC) and chemical demand – were investigated in the laboratory with a 2.3 m² MD module. Second, optimized conditions were demonstrated in a pilot installation on site operating a 14.5 m² MD module continuously (24/7) for three months. Results showed that MD is a robust, low-maintenance technology that can be operated at low temperature and corresponding STEC (i.e. 38 °C and 13.6 kWhth per kg¹ NH3, respectively) and low pH (i.e. 8.7) for the recovery of 90% of the water-bound ammonia as an ammonium sulfate (AS) solution. The AS product reached a concentration of 5 g l⁻¹ N–NH4, lower than conventional fertilizers, however given its high quality and volume reduction factor, it constitutes a potential fertilizer solution for local needs. The maximum AS permeate concentration was limited by the increasing water vapor flux due to a higher osmotic distillation effect and a minor ammonia flux decrease with increasing permeate concentration. Further research will focus on optimizing the module configuration to minimize water flux and overall system operation for increased heat recovery and open-loop operation.
... The reuse of water is especially crucial for water-scarce regions and various reuse applications are conceivable to minimize water stress. For example, Czuba et al. (2021) suggest, depending on the secondary effluent treatment, the reuse of treated wastewater for groundwater recharge, agricultural irrigation, as a cooling medium, as potable water or as industrial water. ...
Article
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Dissemination of multiresistant bacteria and high concentrations of micropollutants by hospitals and other medical facilities can be significantly reduced by a wide variety of on-site treatment approaches. Membrane filtration technologies, ranging from microfiltration to reverse osmosis, have been adapted in many studies and offer multiple purposes in advanced wastewater treatment configurations. While the direct rejection of pharmaceutical compounds and pathogens can only be achieved with nanofiltration and reverse osmosis processes, porous membranes are known for their pathogen removal capabilities and can be used in combination with other advanced treatment approaches, such as oxidation and adsorption processes. This review was conducted to systematically assess studies with membrane filtration technologies that are used as either stand-alone or hybrid systems for the treatment of hospital wastewater. In this review, four different databases were screened with a pre-set of search strings to thoroughly investigate the application of membrane filtration technology in hospital wastewater treatment. Hybrid systems that combine multiple treatment technologies seem to be the most promising way of consistently removing micropollutants and pathogens from hospital wastewater, but additional economic assessments are needed for an extensive evaluation. HIGHLIGHTS Applications of membrane filtration in hospital wastewater treatment are introduced.; Elimination rates of micropollutants/pathogens in hybrid and stand-alone processes are presented and discussed.; Full scale plants for hospital wastewater treatment are mostly operated with multiple subsequent treatment steps involving different removal mechanisms.; Advantages and disadvantages of various process combinations are summarized.;
... Closing the loops and digitization have driven CE technologies in the reported literature. Technologies such as refurbishment in the construction sector, disassembly in the electronics sector, battery reuse in the automotive and residential sectors, and wastewater treatment in the water system have been piloted in reported studies with positive results [91][92][93][94][95]. Recognizing that technology needs to be sustainable, especially with socioeconomic agents, [91] investigated eight different technological solutions and concluded that the autonomous disassembly for electronics was compatible with the attainment of social sustainability in implementing the CE. ...
Article
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Achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 will require tackling both energy-related and non-energy-related GHG emissions, which can be achieved through the transition to a circular economy (CE). The focus of climate change crisis reversal has been on the energy-related continuum over the years through promoting renewable energy uptake and efficiency in energy use. Clean energy transition and efficiency gains in energy use alone will not be sufficient to achieve net-zero emissions in 2050 without paying attention to non-energy-related CO2 emissions. This study systematically reviews the CE literature across different themes, sectors, approaches, and tools to identify accelerators in transitioning to a CE. The study aims to understand and explore how technology, finance, ecosystem, and behavioral studies in the CE paradigm can be integrated as a decision-making tool for CE transition. The material analysis was carried out by identifying the main characteristics of the literature on CE implementation in the agriculture, industry, energy, water, and tourism sectors. Results of the literature survey are synthesized to engender clarity in the literature and identify research gaps to inform future research. Findings show that many studies focused on technology as an accelerator for CE transition, and more studies are needed regarding the CE ecosystem, financing, and behavioral aspects. Also, results show that CE principles are applied at the micro-, meso-, and macro- (national, regional, and global) levels across sectors with the dominance of the industrial sector. The agriculture, water, and energy sectors are at the initial stages of implementation. Additionally, the use of carbon capture and utilization or storage, conceptualized as a circular carbon economy, needs attention in tackling CE implementation in the energy sector, especially in hydrocarbon-endowed economies. The major implication of these findings is that for CE to contribute to accelerated net-zero emission by 2050, coordinated policies should be promoted to influence the amount of financing available to innovative circular businesses and technologies within an ecosystem that engenders behavioral change towards circularity.
... Groundwater significantly affects people's health, socioeconomic development, and especially the condition of the earth's ecosystem (Urrutia et al., 2019). In addition, groundwater has several uses in a variety of sectors, including the municipal, corporate, and to functioning various industries and associated industrial development (Czuba et al., 2021;Zhang et al., 2021aZhang et al., , 2021b. In this regard, groundwater's contribution in daily livelihood and to achieve the "United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)" is said to be very crucial (Mukherjee et al., 2019). ...
Article
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One of the fundamental sustainable development goals has been recognized as having access to clean water for drinking purposes. In the Anthropocene era, rapid urbanization put further stress on water resources, and associated groundwater contamination expanded into a significant global environmental issue. Natural arsenic and related water pollution have already caused a burden issue on “groundwater vulnerability” and corresponding “health hazard” in and around the Ganges delta. A field based hydrogeochemical analysis has been carried out in the elevated arsenic prone areas of moribund Ganges delta, West Bengal, a part of western Ganga- Brahmaputra delta (GBD). New data driven heuristic algorithms are rarely used in groundwater vulnerability studies, specifically not yet used in the elevated arsenic prone areas of Ganges delta, India. Therefore, in the current study, emphasis has been given on integration of heuristic algorithms and random forest (RF) i.e., “RF-particle swarm optimization (PSO)”, “RF-grey wolf optimizer (GWO)” and “RF-grasshopper optimization algorithm (GOA)”, to identify groundwater vulnerable zones on the basis of field based hydrogeochemical parameters. In addition, correspondence “health hazard” of this area was assessed through “human health hazard index”. The spatial distribution of groundwater vulnerability revealed that middle-eastern and north-western part of the study area covered by very high and high, whereas central, western and south-western part are covered by very low and low vulnerability zones in outcomes of all the applied models. The evaluation result indicates that RF-GOA (AUC = 0.911) model performed the best considering testing dataset, and thereafter RF-GWO, RF-PSO and RF with AUC value is 0.901, 0.892 and 0.812 respectively. Findings also revealed the groundwater in this study region is quite unfavorable for drinking and irrigation purposes. The suggested models demonstrate their usefulness in foretelling sustainable groundwater resource management in various deltaic regions of the world through taking appropriate measures by policy-makers.
... Dos Santos et al. [19] treated cassava starch wastewater by coagulation/flocculation-MF (C/F-MF), improving the final quality of the treated water. Czuba et al. [20] used an integrated process involving MF-UF-NF-RO to recover nutrients and water for use in several applications. ...
Article
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An integrated membrane process for treatment of effluents from food additive manufacturing was designed and evaluated on a laboratory scale. The principal focus was water recovery with the possibility of its reuse as potable water. The industrial effluent presented high content of dyes and salts. It was red in color and presented brine characteristics. The whole effluent was fed into the integrated process in continuous flow. The steps of the process are as follows: sedimentation (S), adsorption by activated carbon (AC), ion exchange using resins (IEXR), and reverse osmosis (RO) (S–AC–IEXR–RO). The effect of previous operations was evaluated by stress-rupture curves in packaged columns of AC and IEXR, membrane flux, and fouling dominance in RO. Fouling was evaluated by way of the Silt Density Index and membrane resistance examination during effluent treatment. The integrated membrane process provided reclaimed water with sufficiently high standards of quality for reuse as potable water. AC showed a high efficiency for color elimination, reaching its rupture point at 20 h and after 5L of effluent treatment. IEXR showed capacity for salt removal, providing 2.2–2.5 L of effluent treatment, reaching its rupture point at 11–15 h. As a result of these previous operations and operating conditions, the fouling of the RO membrane was alleviated, displaying high flux of water: 20–18 L/h/m2 and maintaining reversible fouling dominance at a feed flow rate of 0.5–0.7 L/h. The characteristics of the reclaimed water showed drinking water standards
... Therefore, biodegradable materials are used successfully in road construction, embankment reinforcement, water reservoir banks, strengthening high-earthen walls, landfill construction, and drainage of roads and squares (Cao et al., 2020;Sarsby, 2007;Subaida et al., 2009;Venkateswarlu et al., 2018). Additionally, the use of waste resources matches the objectives of a circular economy and offers the possibility of pursuing the goals of sustainable development, which assumes reductions in the volume of generated waste, improvements in resource use efficiency, and strengthened environmental protections (Czuba et al., 2021;Ogunmakinde et al., 2022). ...
Article
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Human activity is accompanied by the introduction of excessive amounts of artificial materials, including geosynthetics, into the environment, causing global environmental pollution. Moreover, climate change continues to negatively affect global water resources. With the intensification of environmental problems, material reusability and water consumption limitations have been proposed. This study replaced synthetic soil additives with biodegradable materials and analysed the potential and sustainable processing of natural fibrous materials, which form problematic waste. Waste fibres are the basis of innovative soil water storage technologies in the form of biodegradable and water-absorbing geocomposites (BioWAG). We analysed the influence of BioWAGs on plant vegetation and the environment through a three-year field experiment. Furthermore, biomass increases, drought effect reductions, and biodegradation mechanisms were analysed. Natural waste fibres had a positive influence, as they released easily accessible nutrients into the soil during biodegradation. BioWAGs had a positive influence on the biometric parameters of grass, increasing biomass growth by 430 %. Our results indicated that this is an effective method of waste fibre management that offers the possibility to manufacture innovative, environmentally friendly materials in compliance with the objectives of circular economy and the expectations of users.
... This reclaimed treated wastewater reuse can go from agricultural harness to direct potable use (Lazarova et al., 2013). Regardless of the final use of the reclaimed water, most of the advance or tertiary treatment that has been implemented in the reclaimed water facilities is composed of filtration units such as sand filters (De Souza et al., 2021), microfiltration (MF) (Anis et al., 2019), ultrafiltration (UF) (Al Aani et al., 2020), nanofiltration (NF) (Oatley-Radcliffe et al., 2017) and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes filtration (Czuba et al., 2021;Holloway et al., 2016). ...
Article
The recycling of discarded membranes (end-of-life) represents a relevant alternative for sustainability of reverse osmosis (RO) desalination plants in the context of circular economy. This work evaluated the feasibility of using discarded commercial RO membranes in the treatment of domestic secondary wastewater to obtain water with a certain standard quality. Crossflow filtration tests were conducted to evaluate desalination and wastewater filtration performance at different operating pressures on RO membranes discarded from desalination plans at different working positions (primary M1; secondary M2). The standard manufacturer desalination tests showed a superior performance on M1 membranes, in terms of rejection (∼25 LMH, 97%), compared to M2 (∼33 LMH, 50%); both having a lower performance than a standard membrane (38 LMH ± 15%; 99.6%). The failure is sufficient for discarding due to loss of lifespan. Moreover, in wastewater filtration tests using the secondary clarifier outlet effluent from a WWTP at different working pressures, both types of membranes were shown to be effective, with degrees of performance highly dependent on the working pressure. Thus, the operating values of permeate flux/salt rejection were between 56-59 LMH/ 96-97% for 600-psi: 33-34 LMH/ 94-96% for 300-psi and in the range of 10-11 LMH/ 90-94% for 80-psi test. Surface characterization of the membrane showed a pressure-related increase in fouling and bacterial adhesion post-filtration. Finally, the operating performance was verified in M1 wastewater filtration at 300 psi over long times (14 h), yielding stable and promising values (∼27 LMH; 96%). The permeate obtained has a low concentration of fecal coliforms (<2 MPN/100 mL, 99.99% removal) and meets local standards for irrigation and drinking water in terms of conductivity, phosphorus and nitrogen concentration in treated water.
... As shown in Fig. 4, the removal rate of chloride by RO generally exceeds 90% and the effluent chloride level is < 100 mg/L. However, the operational expenditure of RO is admittedly expensive (Czuba et al., 2021). It has been reported that the operational cost of RO unit is about 2.3 CNY/m 3 (0.36 USD/m 3 ), which is three times that of ultrafiltration (Kehrein et al., 2021). ...
Article
Chloride ions (Cl⁻), which are omnipresent in reclaimed water, can cause various problems in water reuse systems, especially during water transmission and at end use sites. Although reverse osmosis (RO) is considered as an effective technology to reduce chloride, its high investment and complex maintenance requirements hinder its application in many water reclamation plants (WRPs). Recently, several technologies bringing new options to better deal with chloride have gained increased attention. This review provides detailed information on the harmful effects, concentration levels, and sources of chloride in reclaimed water and summarizes and discusses various chloride removal technologies, including non-selective methods (e.g., membrane filtration, adsorption and ion exchange, oxidation, and electrochemical methods) and selective methods (e.g. precipitation and specially designed electrochemical methods). Among these, Friedel's salt precipitation and capacitive deionization showed attractive development potential. This review also proposes a holistic framework for chloride control from aspects of “Fit-for-Purpose” planning, technical system development, and whole process optimization, which could facilitate the planning and operation of long-term sustainable water reuse practices.
... Other's efforts include the building and construction sector, highlighting evidence of the development and use of alternative construction materials and the advancement of circular business models and smart cities and their relations with the CE [66]. Other reports showed urban mining in buildings in Singapore, demonstrating the feasibility of reuse-driven urban mining and subsequent significant prospects for embodied carbon savings [67], evaluated advances in the technological control of greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater [68], and a description of membrane technology for the recovery of water, nutrients from a secondary effluent [69], and examined macrophytes as wastewater treatment agents [70]. ...
Article
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The circular economy can contribute to the eco-efficient use of resources. Firms can obtain relevant benefits if they implement a circular economy. In Peru, the circular economy would create benefits, but it is not fully clear what factors explain the acceptance of firms of implementing a circular economy. Following the theory of planned behavior, the current research assesses the influence of attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral norms, intentions, and pressures on behaviors towards the circular economy. A total of 71 medium-size firms based in Peru participated in an online survey. Six questions were focused on general information, and forty-seven questions evaluated the circular economy behavior of firms. A partial least square structural equation modeling technical analysis was used. It was found that attitudes (0.144), subjective norms (0.133), and perceived behavioral control (0.578) had a positive influence on intentions; also, perceived behavioral control (0.461) had a positive influence on behaviors towards the circular economy. Finally, pressures had a positive influence (0.162) on behaviors towards the circular economy. The model explained 64.3% of the behaviors towards the circular economy. The outcomes of the bootstrapping test were used to evaluate if the path coefficients are significant. This study showed that attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral norms, intentions, and pressures explained circular economy behaviors. This information can help firms develop strategies to move forward a circular economy and provide governments information about the current situation of circular economy implementation to generate new norms and strategies for more implementation of circular economy measures in enterprises. The novelty is based on using the PLS-SEM technique.
Article
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Paper’s objective was to provide a critical overview of the current state of wastewater generation in different processes around the world and their use in irrigation. As a follow-up, a brief overview of the classification of wastewater and its potential for end use is presented. Furthermore, a specific overview of irrigation using wastewater is presented, together with the relevant scientific papers in which the research on waste- water irrigation impacts on the plants, soil, humans, and the environment are studied. Finally, a special reference was given to the guidelines and policies proposed by the EU stakeholders regarding the integration of wastewater reuse into water planning and management in the context of circular economy, with special emphasis put on novel technologies.
Chapter
For more than a decade, circular economy (CE) has been presented as a sustainable economic development model through actions focused on the revalorization and limitation of resource consumption that reduce environmental pollution. Even further, CE offers a regenerative framework encouraging the incorporation of innovations that facilitate the redesign of production and organizational processes. However, those innovations often shed light upon knowledge gaps that might diminish their chances of successful application in contexts where circularity is sought. The present work synthesizes the production of scientific publications issued on this subject from a bibliometric and systematic literature analysis. These analyses allow the authors to identify both limitations and future trends of research in relation to the contributions of innovations to CE. Among the results generated from this study, some of them clearly show an increase in articles centered on this subject with a dominant number of publications from European countries. The fundamental role of the European political-regulatory framework may explain these findings as European regulations have encouraged the introduction of innovations in the production processes to implement the CE principles. Hence, the need for future research broadening the scope to non-European countries was put forward. Another relevant finding was the dominancy of pilot scales description in the reviewed articles, namely the elaboration upon larger scale cases, which was also regarded as gap in this CE literature revision. Additionally, methodologies with more refined optimizations to further achieve the implementation of CE tenets were missing.KeywordsCircular economyInnovationTechnologyClosing resource loopsSustainability
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A comparison of effectiveness of two advanced oxidation processes, photocatalysis and ultraviolet (UV) irradiation enhanced with H2O2 addition, coupled with ultrafiltration (UF) for treatment of secondary effluent (SE) from a municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) is presented. The results were compared with photolysis - UF system. The concentration of H2O2 in the UV/H2O2 - UF mode ranged from 0.03 to 0.3g/L, the photocatalyst TiO2 P25 loading was changed from 0.5 to 2g/L. A ceramic membrane with ZrO2 separation layer was used. No significant influence of photocatalyst or H2O2 concentration on permeate flux was observed, however, both PMR (photocatalytic membrane reactor) and UV/H2O2 - UF systems were less prone to fouling than the photolysis - UF one. Adsorption was found to be an important stage of total organic carbon (TOC) removal in PMR, while UF contributed mainly to photocatalyst rejection with minor effect on the overall treatment efficiency. The highest TOC removal of organic contaminants after 5h of operation was found at 1.5 gTiO2/L in PMR (61%) and 0.15 gH2O2/L in UV/H2O2 - UF process (65%). The quality of permeate obtained in both systems was comparable, the product of the latter one exhibited lower ecotoxicity towards crustaceans Thamnocephalus platyurus than the PMR permeate.
Article
In this work, domestic laundry wastewater was treated through a membrane process using a mixed cellulose ester (MCE) microfiltration membrane with 0.22 μm pore size. A cross flow filtration was used and the effect of operating parameters such as trans-membrane pressure (TMP) and feed flow rate on permeate flux and rejection characteristics have been studied. A detailed analysis of the membrane fouling and the formed resistances against permeation which caused flux decline including membrane, cake layer, reversible and irreversible resistances have been offered and the effect of trans-membrane pressure and flow rate on each of the mentioned resistances was examined. Finally, the removal efficiencies for BOD, COD, TSS and turbidity at different trans-membrane pressures and feed flow rates are determined. It was observed that an increase of TMP and feed flow rate has positive effects on the permeate flux and membrane rejection performance. Moreover, the overall resistance increases with an increase in TMP and decreases with an increase in feed flow rate. The highest removal efficiency for BOD, COD, TSS and turbidity was obtained as 93.9, 90.8 and 98.7 percent, respectively which was obtained at a TMP of 1 bar and feed flow rate of 44 L/h. Modeling of the microfiltration system by the Hermia models revealed that the cake formation model (CFM) has the best agreement with the experimental results and it could be concluded that the cake layer formation on the membrane surface is the main mechanism for membrane fouling and flux decline. The results of this study showed that the microfiltration is a reliable and simple operation for recycling and reuse of domestic laundry wastewater in mixture with fresh water for use in washing machines, toilets and irrigation.
Article
Water initiatives for business and in business have ballooned in the 2010s because of concerns over increased uncertainty surrounding water supplies as well as competing demands. The challenge is how to improve accounting given the lack of available granular data on which companies can base their business decisions about water scarcity, water surpluses and water management opportunities. Corporate Water Management Accounting is a recently proposed extension to Environmental Management Accounting designed to support corporate management decisions and improve both economic and environmental water-related business outcomes. The paper identifies relevant water accounting information for decision making is lacking in current literature and water initiatives, which focus on external water reporting. In the light of the finding strengths and weaknesses of water initiatives are assessed and a new framework developed for Water Management Accounting. Based on both the literature and gaps in current water initiatives, the paper concludes with a set of specific research issues in corporate water accounting settings along with ways in which water accounting researchers can contribute to the future management of water by businesses.
Article
This study determined the effectiveness of pilot-scale tertiary sedimentation and filtration systems on lowering phosphorus, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), and pharmaceutical levels in municipal secondary wastewater effluent. Secondary effluent was diverted into five pilot-scale tertiary treatment systems. The systems used alum and a polymer during coagulation and flocculation, after which sedimentation was used to remove settleable solids, and filtration was used to remove nonsettleable solids. The filtration units following sedimentation were (1) continuous backwash upflow sand filtration following conventional sedimentation, (2) dual-media granular filtration following microsand ballasted sedimentation, (3) dual-media granular filtration following magnetite ballasted sedimentation, (4) ultrafiltration following microsand ballasted sedimentation, and (5) ultrafiltration following magentite ballasted sedimentation. Total phosphorus was 1.11 mg/L in the secondary effluent and decreased to 0.015 mg/L after sedimentation and ultrafiltration. BOD was 9.9 mg/L in the secondary effluent and decreased to <1 mg/L after the five systems. The pharmaceutical concentrations found in the secondary effluent were 211 ng/L trimethoprim, 323 ng/L carbamazepine, and 901 ng/L sulfamethoxazole. The range of concentrations following tertiary treatment were 160–255 ng/L trimethoprim, 302–335 ng/L carbamazepine, and 482–792 ng/L sulfamethoxazole. Overall, the tertiary sedimentation and filtration systems did not provide enhanced pharmaceutical removal. The results from this study corroborate other research findings, suggesting that rapid rate sand filtration and ultrafiltration may be inadequate for removing trace concentrations of water soluble pharmaceuticals, although phosphorus and BOD removal was >96% and >91%, respectively, comparing secondary and tertiary effluent.
Article
Six commercial ultrafiltration membranes made of polyethersulfone from Microdyn Nadir, Koch Membrane Systems and GE Osmonics were exposed to 0.01, 0.1 and 1.0M nitric acid (HNO3) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solutions at 50°C for 150 days. Water permeability, molecular weight cut-off curves, ATR-FTIR, SEM-EDS, AFM and contact angle measurements were employed to evaluate membrane ageing.All membranes showed a high resistance to acidic solutions keeping their chemical and morphological properties almost invariant. The alkaline ageing did not induce any substantial change in the Nadir membranes but, the stability of Koch and GE Osmonics support layers was compromised at high NaOH concentrations, leading to even the complete degradation of these supports in some cases. This was confirmed by ATR-FTIR, SEM and GC-MS analysis. The Nadir membrane resistance to alkaline conditions was found to be in the support layer material composition (mixture of polyethylene and polypropylene). Koch and GE Osmonics membranes support material (polyethylene terephthalate) broke down into its monomers under strong alkaline conditions via hydrolysis reaction.Almost all membranes showed changes in membrane performance which were attributed to their conditioning or their degradation. Regardless of the cause, those changes took place mainly in the first 10 days of exposure.The influence of temperature on the ageing was also studied under the strongest alkaline condition. Its effect on chemically stable membranes were negligible whereas for the others, higher temperatures led to faster support layer degradation.
Article
The primary objective of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of a magnetic ion exchange process (MIEX) in removing inorganic anions from municipal secondary effluent. Municipal secondary effluent drew from Gaobeidian wastewater treatment plant treating about 800,000 m3/day domestic wastewater. In the pilot experiment, MIEX resin removed 37.01% phosphorus, 31.62% nitrate, 36.06% ammonium and 64.34% sulphate from municipal secondary effluent. Phosphorus concentration in resin influent influenced reclaimed water treatment efficiency. Phosphorus removal rate was positively correlated with the concentration in influent. If phosphorus concentration in influent was >0.82mg/L, phosphorus removal of >52% was achieved. Nitrate and sulphate removal had same variation laws. 18.92% average removal rate of nitrate in middle period was lower than 35.06% and 39.25% average removal rates in earlier and latter periods respectively. The average removal rates of ammonium in three periods were 83.03%, 43.51% and 84.29% respectively. Removed ammonium of each sample was about 0.250mg/L, average removal rate was 36.06%. Lower ammonium concentration in influent could cause higher removal rate. Otherwise, magnetic ion exchange process could increase turbidity and could not disinfect, the resin effluent will be treated with coagulation-sedimentation and ozonation for groundwater recharge research with reclaimed water.
Article
The removal of dissolved oxygen (DO) from water is an essential and important step in many industrial applications. The membrane technique offers much potential superiority over conventional physical and chemical processes. The development of a high-performance membrane is the core of the membrane separation technique. In this study, a crosslinked matrix composed of a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membrane with incorporated silica networks by the sol–gel method was manufactured. The application of the membrane method for the removal of DO from water on the laboratory scale was studied. The membrane properties and morphological structure were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, crosslinking density, and mechanical measurements. The PDMS hybrid membranes on the deoxygenation experiment by a vacuum degassing process were investigated. The results show that the crosslinked PDMS hybrid membranes effectively improved the oxygen-removal efficiency with increasing tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) content, and the best performance was obtained when the weight ratio of PDMS–TEOS concentrations was 10:5. The optimal conditions for the deoxygenation performance were also investigated, and the results indicate that the degassing performances were related to the operating temperature, vacuum level, and feed flow rate. The PDMS nonporous composite membranes showed superior performances and have good potential for applications in industry for the removal of DO from water. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 41350.
Article
Electrodeionization (EDI), also known as continuous deionization (CDI), is a hybrid separation process combining ion-exchange resins with ion-exchange membranes. The EDI gained increasing attention for removal/recovery of ions from water. There are different types of applications for the EDI on the removal and concentration of various species from effluent streams. The aim of this paper is to give a brief overview of those studies. The presented examples of applications have shown that EDI process is very efficient in environmental protection, production of ultra pure water, and for the recovery of some valuable species. Normally, weakly-ionized species, such as carbon dioxide and boron are difficult to remove via such membrane processes as reverse osmosis and electrodialysis reversal (EDR). The EDI offers the benefit of continuous removal of these species to a very high degree. The main technological parameters determining the efficiency of an EDI module are the current strength, flow velocity in the dilute and concentrate compartments, temperature, and TDS (in both initial and purified water).
Article
A humic acid (HA) isolated from a volcanic soil was separated in three fractions of decreasing molecular size (I, II and III) by preparative high performance size exclusion chromatography (HPSEC). The molecular content of the bulk soil HA and its size fractions was characterized by pyrolysis-GC-MS (thermochemolysis with tetramethylammonium hydroxide) and NMR spectroscopy. All soil humic materials were used to evaluate their effects on the enzymatic activities involved in glycolytic and respiratory processes of Zea mays (L.) seedlings. The elementary analyses and NMR spectra of the humic fractions indicated that the content of polar carbons (mainly carbohydrates) increased with decreasing molecular size of separated fractions. The products evolved by on-line thermochemolysis showed that the smallest size fraction (Fraction III) with the least rigid molecular conformation among the humic samples had the lowest content of lignin moieties and the largest amount of other non-lignin aromatic compounds. The bulk HA and the three humic fractions affected the enzyme activities related to glycolysis and tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA) in different ways depending on molecular size, molecular characteristics and concentrations. The overall effectiveness of the four fractions in promoting the metabolic pathways was in the order: III>HA>II>I. The largest effect of Fraction III, either alone or incorporated into the bulk HA, was attributed to a flexible conformational structure that promoted a more efficient diffusion of bioactive humic components to maize cells. A better knowledge of the relationship between molecular structure of soil humic matter and plant activity may be of practical interest in increasing carbon fixation in plants and redirect atmospheric CO2 into bio-fuel resources.
Article
The process of continuous electrodeionization (CEDI) has now been in commercial use for over twenty years and has gained widespread acceptance in the production of ultrapure process water for industrial use. Likely the chief reason for its commercial success is that CEDI is a green process. It substitutes electricity for the hazardous chemicals normally used to regenerate ion exchange resins, and thereby eliminates the waste stream associated with resin regeneration. This paper describes the mechanisms of operation, types of device construction, and principal industrial applications of this relatively new water purification technology.
Article
Relatively hydrophobic polyamide (PA) membranes exhibit lower flux rates during aqueous separations but can accommodate different solvents for various separation applications. Since most of the information on commercial reverse osmosis (RO) membranes is proprietary, further investigation on their structure would be beneficial for selection of the proper membranes especially for processes involving different solvents. Four commercially available RO membranes, AK, AG, SE and SG, were characterized using contact angle, XPS, ATR-FTIR, FE-SEM and AFM measurements. All membranes were found to be relatively hydrophobic with contact angles greater than 60°. The findings suggest that hydrophobicity of AK and AG were due to close intermolecular chain distances providing intermolecular hydrogen bonds while hindering water–polymer interactions. In the case of SE and SG membranes, an additional polymer, PVA, was probably involved during polymerization forming a polyesteramide structure resulting in reduced number of sites for water to interact with. Understanding the chemical structure associated with the hydrophobic network of the PA membranes is necessary to achieve the targeted separation without sacrificing membrane efficiency.
Article
Micro filtration (MF) unit has been tested in Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research to treat the secondary wastewater effeulant from Riqqa wastewater treatment plant. This test shows that the MF unit is reliable and very effective in removing wastewater impurities. Chemical analysis result revealed that the MF system has significantly improved the quality of the effluent. There was a consistent reduction in biological oxygen demand (BOD), Chemical oxygen demand (COD), Total bacterial count (TBC) and total suspended solid (TSS). This paper study the suitability of the filtrate water from MF unit for irrigation purpose, compare the quality of MF product water with the standards for irrigation in Kuwait and other organization. The comparison is based on calculation sodium absorption ratio (SAR), residual sodium carbonate (RSC), adjusted SAR, sodium hazards (SSP), and measured parameters such as the electrical conductivity (EC), chloride, calcium and potassium concentration, total suspended solids, sodium, trace metal analysis and other parameters of health significance. The result of the study revealed that the quality of the wastewater treated by MF unit was suitable for irrigation with low potential problems.
Article
Water-related conflicts in urban areas have a long history. Recently, the rapidly growing portion of the global population living in urban areas outnumbered the rural population, with consequences in the massive concentration of freshwater demands and of wastewater generation, lumped over land areas covered by the urban fabric. Water-related conflicts in urban areas may come about in relation to three categories of water problem: having too little water, too much water, or seriously polluted water. Conflict, controversies and tensions over water occur between urban and rural populations, between upstream and downstream riparians, and between different water uses (such as agricultural irrigation, municipal demands, industry and energy production). This study reviews the characteristics and mechanisms of water-related conflicts in urban areas in Poland. Diffuse water pollution in upstream land areas influences water quality (and water treatment) in downstream urban areas. In contrast, point-source water pollution via urban pollution load (e.g. raw, untreated municipal and industrial sewage) contaminates river water over a long distance downstream of a town. Levees protecting agricultural and rural areas upstream of a large town eliminate natural storage areas, whose presence would be beneficial for weakening the impetus of a flood wave in a large conurbation. During the dramatic River Odra flood in Poland in July 1997, breaching of levees upstream of a large town was considered as a lesser evil, but not implemented, due to strong resistance. Environmental legislation, such as directives of the European Union, generates another type of water-related conflict in Poland, which is also reviewed.Citation Kowalczak, P. & Kundzewicz, Z. W. (2011) Water-related conflicts in urban areas in Poland. Hydrol. Sci. J.56(4), 588–596.
Article
The aim of this study was to investigate the performance of a tertiary treatment system for irrigation reuse of secondary urban effluents. The tertiary treatment units (including coagulation-flocculation-disinfection) were evaluated using a pilot-scale plant (0.24 m3 h− 1 of capacity) located in the wastewater treatment plant of Bursa in Turkey. The results showed that the highest removal efficiencies using coagulation, flocculation and disinfection of suspended solids, chemical oxygen demand, turbidity and total coliform were determined to be 64%, 39%, 81% and 5-log reduction, respectively. Additionally, the concentration of heavy metals was below the national and international standards. The results from the tertiary treatment of urban effluent suggest that it can be used as a viable water resource for irrigation.Highlights► Various methods for wastewater treatment have been used over the past decades. ► Treatment processes are divided into primary, secondary and tertiary processes. ► The performance of a tertiary treatment system for irrigation reuse of secondary urban effluents. ► The average tertiary treatment effluent values meet irrigation standards according to both national and international guidelines.
Article
During the past few years, Kuwait has been encouraging the development of alternative water resources. This stems from the fact that the available natural water resources are scarce, and water demands are growing due to increasing population growth. A potential alternative water resource which may replace existing water resources for non-potable use is renovated wastewater. Currently, a huge amount of municipal wastewater is conventionally treated in Kuwaiti sewage treatment plants, and a major portion of this treated effluent is discharged to the Gulf. Advanced treatment of treated wastewater would yield a better quality effluent which can be used as an alternative water resource and therefore reduces the demand on fresh and brackish water supplies. The potential for using advanced treated wastewater in meeting the growing water demands in the State of Kuwait was explored.
Article
With the increase in water quality regulations and decrease in available fresh water supplies in the US, pressure-driven membrane processes are playing an increasingly important role in drinking water treatment. They are being employed to remove a wide range of contaminants, and depending on their use, can be operated with minimal or no chemical pretreatment that forms deleterious by-products. The major uses of membrane processes in the US include desalting, disinfection by-product control, disinfection, clarification and removal of synthetic and inorganic chemicals. Membranes are also furthering capabilities to purify wastewater for indirect potable reuse.
Minimum quality requirements for water reuse in agricultural irrigation and aquifer recharge. JRC Science for Policy Report. Publications Office of the European Union
  • L Alcalde-Sanz
  • B M Gawlik
Alcalde-Sanz, L., Gawlik, B.M., 2017. Minimum quality requirements for water reuse in agricultural irrigation and aquifer recharge. JRC Science for Policy Report. Publications Office of the European Union. ISBN: 978-92-79-77175-0.
Introduction. Membranes for Industrial Wastewater Recovery and Re
  • S Judd
Judd, S., 2003. Introduction. Membranes for Industrial Wastewater Recovery and Re-use https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-1-85617-389-6.50002-3.