Advances in Municipal Wastewater Treatment

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The overall and eternal challenge for designers, operators and owners of municipal wastewater treatment plants is to do more, for less. At the present time, the "more" includes (i) the removal of conventional pollutants along with trace or emerging contaminants (pharmaceuticals and personal care products) and (ii) the recovery of energy and materials from wastewater. The "less" focuses on the minimization of capital and operating costs without compromising the performance of treatment systems that are subject to challenging design and operating conditions. One of our long term objectives is to simply reduce the cost of municipal wastewater treatment by reducing the high levels of energy consumed by treatment systems. Another long-term objective is to develop a specific new sludge minimization technology that will reduce sludge treatment costs, while assisting in the management of emerging contaminants that are important today and in the future. Finally, we wish to undertake highly novel research that will improve our knowledge of the vulnerability of municipal wastewater treatment systems to conditions associated with widespread elevated anti-microbial use, such as might occur during a disease pandemic. For the short-term, this proposal describes research that will be undertaken in three theme areas that will result in practical, achievable contributions that will address the overall challenge. The short-term theme topics include (1) anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) biotreatment systems to reduce energy consumption and treatment cost, (2) a hybrid physical-chemical technology that can assist with sludge minimization technology to reduce biosolids disposal costs and facilitate energy recovery, (3) to ensure adequate control of emerging contaminants, and to assess the generation and risks of antibiotic resistance in wastewater treatment plants.