Advances in Municipal Wastewater Treatment

城市污水处理厂的设计者、运营商和业主面临的总体和永恒的挑战是少花钱多办事。目前，“多办事”包括（i）去除传统污染物沿着痕量或新出现的污染物（药品和个人护理产品）和（ii）从废水中回收能源和材料。 “较少”侧重于最大限度地降低资本和运营成本，同时不影响设计和运营条件具有挑战性的处理系统的性能。 我们的长期目标之一是通过降低处理系统的高能耗来降低城市污水处理的成本。 另一个长期目标是开发一种具体的新的污泥最小化技术，该技术将降低污泥处理成本，同时协助管理当今和未来重要的新兴污染物。 最后，我们希望进行高度新颖的研究，这将提高我们对城市污水处理系统的脆弱性的认识，以适应与广泛使用抗微生物药物相关的条件，例如疾病大流行期间可能发生的情况。 就短期而言，本提案介绍了将在三个主题领域开展的研究，这些研究将为应对总体挑战作出切实可行的贡献。 短期主题包括：（1）厌氧膜生物反应器（AnMBR）生物处理系统，以减少能源消耗和处理成本;（2）混合物理化学技术，可协助污泥最小化技术，以减少生物固体处置成本并促进能源回收;（3）确保充分控制新出现的污染物;并评估废水处理厂抗生素耐药性的产生和风险。

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.