Photosynthetically-enhanced eco-engineered treatment systems

寒冷气候地区受污染废水的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稳健的，但可能会受到污染物负荷以及环境气候条件的显著波动的影响，这最终会影响其性能。这些因素在小型、偏远和农村地区更为复杂，在这些地区，使用传统的处理系统在后勤上或经济上都不可行，被动、半被动或自然化处理系统因其操作简便、能源投入最少、维护要求降低而成为最合适的替代办法。在今后十年中，将需要设计在温和条件下运行的效率越来越高的处理系统，以满足日益严格的污水排放准则，并尽量减少对接收环境的有害影响。虽然被广泛使用，但与传统的、但不太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，这些挑战可能会在很大程度上解决的生态工程系统中精心设计和综合的生物过程的实施。 拟议的研究计划旨在解决以下问题：光合生物可用于位于小，偏远或孤立地区的综合生态工程处理系统，以减轻持久性有机（主题A）或金属（主题B）污染物。更具体地说，该研究的目的是1）检查藻类在增强持久性有机污染物（POC）的光生物降解中的作用; 2）使用悬浮和附着生长藻类系统增强POC的去除; 3）使用固氮蓝藻增强富金属废水的缓解; 4）增强微生物诱导的方解石沉淀（MICP）以稳定尾矿中的金属; 5）将固氮蓝藻与MICP和硫酸盐还原菌（SRB）结合起来，缓解矿井排水。该计划将培养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这些系统内处理过程机制的温度和水化学影响的标准化理解，以及随着时间的推移，系统内和系统之间的比较缺乏更可靠的基础。因此，重点将放在更好地了解影响性能的动态相互作用，使开发一个工具包，这将导致更强大的设计准则，遵循循证方法。这对加拿大的采矿和石油天然气工业来说是一个巨大的好处，因为这些工业往往位于偏远或孤立的地点，并产生大量的加工废水，这些废水需要在水再利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.