Photosynthetically-enhanced eco-engineered treatment systems

在寒冷气候地区对受污染污水进行生物处理是环境工程师面临的最大挑战之一，因为这些系统虽然被认为是可靠的，但可能会受到污染物负荷以及环境气候条件的显著波动，这最终可能会影响其性能。在使用常规处理系统在后勤或经济上不可行的小、偏远和农村地区，这些因素更加复杂，被动、半被动或归化的处理系统是最合适的替代方案，因为它们易于操作、能量投入最少、维护要求较低。在接下来的十年中，将要求设计成在温带条件下运行的日益高效的处理系统满足日益严格的污水排放准则，并将对接收环境的有害影响降至最低。尽管这些系统被广泛使用，但与传统但不可持续的处理系统相比，人们对这些系统的长期性能和功能可靠性提出了担忧。然而，通过在生态工程系统中实施精心设计和集成的生物过程，这些挑战可能在很大程度上得到解决。 拟议的研究计划旨在解决以下问题：光合作用生物是否可以用于位于小型、偏远或孤立地区的集成生态工程处理系统，以减少持久性有机(主题A)或金属(主题B)污染物。更具体地说，这项研究的目的是1)研究藻类在促进持久性有机污染物(POCs)的光生物降解方面的作用；2)利用悬浮和附着生长的藻类系统加强POCs的去除；3)利用固氮蓝藻加强对富金属废水的缓解；4)加强微生物诱导的方解石沉淀(MICP)以稳定尾矿中的金属；5)整合固氮蓝藻与MICP和硫酸盐还原细菌(SRB)以减轻矿山排水。该项目将培养5名博士、2名硕士和6名UG。 限制广泛采用生态工程处理技术的关键因素是缺乏对温度和水化学对这些系统中的处理过程机制的影响的标准化了解，以及缺乏系统内和系统之间随着时间的演变而进行比较的更可靠的基础。因此，将把重点放在更好地了解影响业绩的动态相互作用上，从而能够开发一个工具包，从而产生遵循循证办法的更有力的设计准则。这对加拿大采矿业和石油和天然气行业可能是一个巨大的好处，这些行业通常位于偏远或与世隔绝的地点，产生大量加工废水，需要在水重复使用或排放到接收环境之前进行后续处理。

The biological treatment of contaminated effluents in cold climate regions is one of the greatest challenges for environmental engineers, as these systems, although considered robust, can be subject to significant fluctuations in contaminant loadings, as well as ambient climate conditions, which can ultimately affect their performance. These factors are compounded in small, remote and rural areas where the use of conventional treatment systems is not logistically or economically feasible, and passive, semi-passive or naturalized treatment systems are the most suitable alternative by virtue of their ease of operation, minimal energy input, reduced maintenance requirements. In the next decade, increasingly efficient treatment systems, designed to operate under temperate conditions, will be required to meet increasingly stringent effluent discharge guidelines and minimize detrimental effects on receiving environments. Although used extensively, concerns associated with the long-term performance and functional reliability of these systems compared to conventional, but less sustainable, treatment systems have been raised. However, these challenges may be largely addressed by the implementation of carefully designed and integrated biological processes in eco-engineered systems. The proposed research program aims to address the following question: can photosynthetic organisms be employed in integrated eco-engineered treatment systems located in small, remote or isolated areas to mitigate persistent organic (Theme A) or metal (Theme B) contaminants. More specifically, the research aims to 1) examine the role of algae in enhancing photobiological degradation of persistent organic contaminants (POCs); 2) enhance the removal of POCs using suspended and attached growth algal systems; 3) enhance the mitigation of metal-rich wastewaters using N-fixing cyanobacteria; 4) enhance microbially-induced calcite precipitation (MICP) to stabilize metals in tailings; 5) integrate N-fixing cyanobacteria with MICP and sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) to mitigate mine drainage. This program will train 5 PhD, 2 MSc and 6 UG. Critical factors limiting the widespread adoption of eco-engineered treatment technologies have been the lack of a standardized understanding of temperature and water chemistry effects on treatment process mechanisms within these systems, and a more robust basis of comparison within and between systems as they evolve with time. Hence, a focus will be placed on better understanding the dynamic interactions influencing the performance, enabling the development of a toolkit which would lead to more robust design guidelines that follow an evidence-based approach. This could be a great benefit to the Canadian mining and oil and gas industry who are often located in remote or isolated sites, and produce large volumes of processing effluents which require subsequent treatment prior to water reuse or discharge to receiving environments.