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Effects of typical emerging pollutants on biological treatment systems: processes, mechanisms, and recovery strategies
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This review paper summarizes existing research on how nanomaterials, microplastics, and certain fluorinated chemicals affect wastewater treatment systems that rely on microorganisms. It covers how these pollutants move through such systems, how they affect microbial communities and activity, and strategies for helping systems recover.
With the rapid advancement of industrialization and urbanization, human activities have released large quantities of persistent emerging contaminants into the environment. Among these, nanomaterials, microplastics, and perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances have emerged as research hotspots due to their widespread applications and increasingly significant environmental risks. These contaminants exhibit strong environmental persistence in aquatic environments and significantly affect the stability and treatment efficiency of conventional biological treatment systems, posing new challenges to the normal operation and pollutant removal. This article reviews the migration and transformation behavior of these emerging contaminants in biological treatment systems, the processes and mechanisms underlying their impacts on microbial communities and metabolic activities, as well as recovery strategies. By summarizing existing research results, this article aims to provide a scientific basis and technical support for the process optimization and the development of pollutant reduction technologies in wastewater treatment systems.
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This review examines how conventional wastewater treatment plants remove micro- and nanoplastics, and evaluates advanced technologies like membrane filtration and electrocoagulation that could improve removal rates. While existing treatment plants can capture most microplastics, they still release significant quantities into waterways through their enormous discharge volumes. The study highlights that biological treatment steps may also transform microplastics in potentially harmful ways that need further investigation.
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Research digests by email
When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.