Advances in Municipal Wastewater Treatment

城市污水处理厂的设计者、经营者和业主面临的总体和永恒的挑战是少花钱多办事。目前，“更多”包括(i)去除传统污染物以及微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。“less”侧重于在不影响处理系统性能的情况下最大限度地减少资本和运营成本，这些处理系统受到具有挑战性的设计和操作条件的影响。我们的长期目标之一是通过减少处理系统消耗的高水平能源来降低城市污水处理的成本。另一个长期目标是开发一种特定的新的污泥最小化技术，以降低污泥处理成本，同时协助管理当今和未来重要的新出现的污染物。最后，我们希望进行高度新颖的研究，以提高我们对城市污水处理系统对与广泛增加抗微生物剂使用相关的条件的脆弱性的认识，例如在疾病大流行期间可能发生的情况。就短期而言，本提案描述了将在三个主题领域进行的研究，这些研究将产生实际的、可实现的贡献，以应对总体挑战。短期主题包括(1)减少能源消耗和处理成本的厌氧膜生物反应器（AnMBR）生物处理系统，(2)可辅助污泥最小化技术的混合物理化学技术，以降低生物固体处理成本并促进能源回收，(3)确保对新出现的污染物进行充分控制，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.