A recent perspective paper on wastewater treatment will please many readers while ruffling a few feathers for some others.
The paper notes that over the last century wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) have essentially evolved in a piecemeal way to address a number of issues, rather than adopting holistic design approaches focused on energy and resource recovery and water reuse. In particular, processes for microbial nitrogen removal were incorporated and heralded as a positive environmental outcome, despite their relatively high energy demand and substantial nitrous oxide production. The paper aims to examine so-called âlock-inâ –Â historical, technological, and microbiological – in todayâs WWTPs, as a basis to develop more coherent integrated systems. Some disruptive strategies are outlined, and a categorisation of processes in terms of their future potential is proposed.
The paper, which has a rollcall of distinguished international authors, was coordinated by Dr Miao Guo of Kings College, London. It highlights several key themes that are often discussed within EBNet, and recommends approaches that are strongly supported by many of our members. It also makes a valuable contribution to the debate on the potential and limitations of microbial communities and processes.
Prof James Chong, co-author on the paper and leader of EBNetâs Bioinformatics WG, said: âFor me the key point is to think about how we can leverage AD microbiomes to work in concert with the engineering processes, and get what we want out of the process rather than leaving it to nature!â
The paper is in a special issue of Environmental Science & Technology on âAdvancing a Circular Economyâ. Our congratulations and thanks to the authors for this useful and thought-provoking piece.
Verstraete, W., Strubbe, L., Pikaar, I., Vinestock, T.W., Lee, P.H., Matassa, S., Chong, J., Zhou, J., Daigger, G.T. and Guo, M., 2025. Environmental science & technology, 59(29), pp.14862-14869.