Understanding how microbial communities respond to design and process engineering in wastewater treatment

全球人类活动每年产生1050亿吨有机废物。有机废物来源包括食物废物、作物和动物残留物（包括粪便）以及废水中的污泥。这种材料的无监督分解导致大量温室气体（GHG）释放到大气中。据估计，广泛部署现有的厌氧消化（AD）技术用于有机废物的生物处理，到2030年可将全球温室气体排放量减少10%，并产生10，100至14，000太瓦时的能源。也就是说，全球电力消耗的16-22%，或天然气使用量的26-37%。因此，AD可以在全球实现净零的努力中发挥关键作用。AD是一种基于生物的技术，它使用数百种不同种类的微生物来从废物中回收资源。厌氧消化器中发现的微生物促进有机材料分解成沼气，沼气是二氧化碳（CO2）和甲烷的混合物，这两种温室气体导致气候变化。与这些气体的化石来源相反，AD释放的碳来自最近被植物从大气中固定的CO2。通过循环从大气中固定的二氧化碳，而不是从化石燃料中添加二氧化碳，AD可以被认为是一种净碳零技术。AD产生的沼气通常在燃烧之前被捕获，以产生热量，电力和净零二氧化碳，或升级为生物甲烷，有时被称为可再生天然气，可以作为天然气的净零替代品注入电网。甲烷可以作为一系列重要化学品的组成部分，包括塑料，因此AD可能有助于取代化石燃料，用于塑料和目前以石油为基础的其他产品。厌氧消化是英国政府每年处理950万吨家庭食物垃圾的首选途径。英国将于今年（2023年）推出食物垃圾分类收集立法，以便更容易地从垃圾中回收更多资源。此外，英国水务公司于2021年处理801，721吨污水污泥，脱碳节省563，200吨二氧化碳当量。我们建议与约克郡水务公司合作开展的工作有许多好处，其目标是到2030年实现净零排放，主要影响包括：-可以在2025年之前部署的近期解决方案;- 提供中期选择，可计划在2025年起的五年资产管理期内实施（称为AMP 8或PR 24-Ofwat 2024价格审查，将考虑水务公司是否按预期执行）;-对AD提供的机会进行长期考虑，包括但不限于：- 从污水污泥中回收挥发性脂肪酸（结构单元分子）用于生产生物塑料; -微塑料的处理; -废水处理的未来，例如对生物进行基因操作，使10年内实现零曝气（低能耗）废水处理，废水处理实现碳捕获，并成为生物精炼的典范。

Global human activity is responsible for the production of 105 billion tonnes of organic wastes per year. Organic waste sources include food waste, crop and animal residues (including manures) and sewage sludges from wastewater. The unsupervised decomposition of this material results in the release of substantial greenhouse gases (GHG) to the atmosphere. It has been estimated that extensive deployment of existing anaerobic digestion (AD) technologies for the biological treatment of organic wastes could reduce global GHG emissions by 10% by 2030 and produce 10,100 to 14,000 terawatt hours of energy. That is, 16-22% of global electricity consumption, or 26-37% of natural gas usage. Thus, AD could play a critical part in global efforts to reach Net Zero. AD is a bio-based technology that uses communities of hundreds of different species of microbes to recover resources from waste. The microbes found in anaerobic digesters facilitate the decomposition of organic materials into biogas, a mixture of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane, two greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. In contrast to fossil sources of these gases, the carbon liberated by AD comes from CO2 that has been recently fixed from the atmosphere by plants. By cycling CO2 fixed from the atmosphere rather than adding CO2 from fossil fuels, AD can be considered a Net Carbon Zero technology. The biogas generated by AD is usually captured before being burned to generate heat, electricity and Net Zero CO2, or upgraded to biomethane, sometimes referred to as Renewable Natural Gas, which can be injected into the grid as a Net Zero drop-in replacement for natural gas. Methane can be used as a building block for a range of important chemicals, including plastics, and so AD could potentially contribute to the displacement of fossil fuels for plastics and other products that are currently petroleum-based.Anaerobic digestion is the UK government's preferred disposal route for the 9.5 million tonnes per annum of domestic food waste. Segregated food waste collection legislation is due to be rolled out in the UK this year (2023) so that more resources can be recovered from waste more easily. In addition, UK water companies treated 801,721 tonnes of sewage sludge in 2021, a decarbonisation saving of 563,200 tonnes CO2 equivalent. There are numerous benefits to the work we propose to carry out with Yorkshire Water, which aims to reach Net Zero by 2030, with the primary impacts including:- Near-term solutions that can be deployed before 2025;- Providing medium-term options that can be planned for implementation over the five year Asset Management Period from 2025 (known as AMP8 or PR24 - the Ofwat 2024 Price Review that will consider whether Water Companies are performing as expected);- A long-term consideration of the opportunities offered by AD, including but not limited to: - recovery of volatile fatty acids (building block molecules) from sewage sludge for the production of bioplastics; - treatment of microplastics; - the future of wastewater treatment eg. genetic manipulation of biology to enable zero aeration (low energy) wastewater treatment in 10 years, wastewater treatment for carbon capture, and as an exemplar for biorefining.