Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Thermal hydrolysis alleviates polyethylene microplastic-induced stress in anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge

Scientists found that pretreating waste sludge with heat before anaerobic digestion reduced the negative effects that polyethylene microplastics have on the process. The thermal treatment improved methane production and helped maintain healthy microbial communities even in the presence of microplastics. The study suggests that thermal hydrolysis could be a practical strategy for wastewater treatment plants dealing with microplastic-contaminated sludge.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials 28 citations
Article Tier 2

MicroplasticDegradation through Thermal Hydrolysisin Sewage Sludge and Its Impact on the Anaerobic Process

Researchers investigated the fate of microplastics in sewage sludge during thermal hydrolysis pretreatment and found that temperatures of 140-180°C significantly degraded microplastics while also affecting subsequent anaerobic biogas production from the treated sludge.

2025 Figshare
Article Tier 2

Microplastic Degradation through Thermal Hydrolysis in Sewage Sludge and Its Impact on the Anaerobic Process

Researchers found that thermal hydrolysis pretreatment of sewage sludge reduced microplastic concentrations from 206 particles/g to lower levels, with approximately 54% of microplastics initially in solid phase, and examined the implications for sludge management and microplastic fate.

2025 ACS ES&T Water
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in sewage sludge destined to anaerobic digestion: The potential role of thermal pretreatment

Researchers found that thermal pretreatment of sewage sludge at 120°C did not degrade conventional PET microplastics but did alter biodegradable microplastics, which also boosted methane production during anaerobic digestion, raising concerns about how different microplastic types behave in sludge treatment.

2022 Chemosphere 27 citations
Article Tier 2

Influência da temperatura no sistema de tratamento de efluentes por lodos ativados

A literature review examined how temperature influences activated sludge wastewater treatment systems, finding temperature significantly affects microbial activity, organic matter degradation, and nutrient removal efficiency in these widely used treatment processes.

2024 Environmental Scientiae 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic Degradation during Wet Air Oxidation Treatment

This review examines wet air oxidation (WAO) — a process that uses high temperatures and pressures to break down waste — as a potential method for destroying microplastics in wastewater sludge. WAO shows promising results in degrading plastic particles that survive conventional treatment, potentially preventing them from being spread on agricultural land or released into waterways. The authors outline both the advantages of the technology and the challenges that remain before it can be widely deployed. This is a useful addition to the toolkit for managing microplastics that concentrate in sewage sludge.

2025 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Impediments to bioaccessibility in the anaerobic digestion of waste activated Sludge: An in-depth review of challenges and influencing factors

This review examined the factors that limit the efficiency of anaerobic digestion, a key method for processing waste-activated sludge from wastewater treatment plants. Researchers identified how the physical and chemical properties of sludge, including the presence of contaminants like microplastics, can hinder the breakdown process. The study highlights that emerging pollutants in sludge are an increasingly important barrier to effective waste treatment and resource recovery.

2025 Energy & Environmental Sustainability 18 citations
Article Tier 2

Remediation and Management of Sewage Sludge

This review covers technologies for treating and managing municipal sewage sludge, including anaerobic digestion, composting, and thermal methods. Sewage sludge is one of the main pathways through which microplastics in wastewater become concentrated and then spread to agricultural land when sludge is used as fertilizer.

2023 Sustainable development 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Fate of microplastics during conventional and hydrothermal treatments of sewage sludge: a short review

This review examines the fate of microplastics during conventional and hydrothermal treatment of sewage sludge, noting that approximately 90% of microplastics entering wastewater treatment plants are retained in sludge. Researchers found that while conventional disposal routes concentrate microplastics in sludge destined for land application, hydrothermal treatments offer potential pathways to degrade or transform microplastics, though the efficiency and byproducts of these processes require further investigation.

2025 IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science
Article Tier 2

Characteristics and aging of microplastics in waste activated sludge under persulfate and hydrothermal co-treatment: Impact of solid content and temperature

Researchers investigated how persulfate-assisted hydrothermal treatment of waste activated sludge affects microplastic behavior, finding that at higher temperatures the treatment causes sludge floc disruption and melting deformation of plastic particles. Solid content and temperature significantly influenced microplastic migration and aging outcomes.

2024 Environmental Pollution 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Effect of Thermal Drying and Chemical Treatments with Wastes on Microbiological Contamination Indicators in Sewage Sludge

This study evaluated thermal drying and chemical treatments for reducing bacterial contamination in sewage sludge from Portuguese wastewater treatment plants. Sewage sludge is a major pathway by which microplastics from wastewater reach agricultural soils when used as fertilizer.

2020 Microorganisms 25 citations
Article Tier 2

A perspective on hydrothermal processing of sewage sludge

Researchers reviewed hydrothermal processing as a strategy for treating sewage sludge, finding it can recover eleven times more energy than landfilling and, when integrated with anaerobic digestion, offers a scalable approach to converting the 79 million dry tons of liquid organic waste the US generates annually.

2020 Current Opinion in Environmental Science & Health 107 citations
Article Tier 2

Efficacité des couplages digestion anaérobie mésophile- réacteur thermophile pour la réduction de la production de boues, la production de biogaz et l’élimination des micropolluants

This study evaluated a mesophilic–thermophilic anaerobic digestion configuration for sewage sludge treatment, finding it improved sludge volume reduction and biogas production while offering potential for micropollutant elimination compared to conventional digestion.

2024 SPIRE - Sciences Po Institutional REpository
Article Tier 2

Evaluating the Effects of Different Pretreatments on Anaerobic Digestion of Waste Activated Sludge Containing Polystyrene Microplastics

Researchers found that thermal and chemical pretreatments improved methane yields by 17-20% during anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge containing polystyrene microplastics, though chemical methods caused greater leaching of additives from the plastic particles.

2021 ACS ES&T Water 40 citations
Article Tier 2

A review on the recent advances in electrochemical treatment technologies for sludge dewatering and alternative uses

This review examined recent advances in electrochemical treatment technologies for sludge dewatering and alternative uses, highlighting how these methods can address challenges including pathogen removal and microplastic contamination in municipal wastewater sludge.

2023 Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances 31 citations
Article Tier 2

Recent Advances in Hydrothermal Oxidation Technology for Sludge Treatment

This review examines hydrothermal oxidation (HTO) technology for sludge treatment, detailing its mechanisms for organic pollutant removal, nitrogen transformation, and phosphorus recovery, while analyzing the influence of operational parameters including temperature, pressure, reaction time, and pH, and discussing challenges in scaling up the technology and innovations in catalyst design.

2024 Applied Sciences 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Current understanding on the fate of contaminants during hydrothermal treatment of sewage sludge

This review examines how hydrothermal treatment of sewage sludge handles various contaminants including microplastics, heavy metals, and pharmaceuticals. While the high-temperature water treatment can break down many pollutants, its effectiveness against microplastics specifically is still being studied. Since sewage sludge is often spread on farmland, understanding how well treatment destroys microplastics is important for preventing them from entering the food supply.

2024 Current Opinion in Green and Sustainable Chemistry 10 citations
Article Tier 2

Heat and Bleach: A Cost-Efficient Method for Extracting Microplastics from Return Activated Sludge

Researchers developed a cost-efficient heat and bleach method for extracting microplastics from sewage sludge, offering a faster and less expensive alternative to existing density separation and oxidative digestion procedures for processing this complex, highly organic matrix.

2017 Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 126 citations
Article Tier 2

Integral analysis of hydrodynamic cavitation effects on waste activated sludge characteristics, potentially toxic metals, microorganisms and identification of microplastics

Researchers investigated hydrodynamic cavitation as a pretreatment for waste activated sludge, analyzing its effects on sludge characteristics, toxic metals, microorganisms, and identifying microplastics present in the sludge to improve anaerobic digestion efficiency.

2021 The Science of The Total Environment 47 citations
Article Tier 2

Biological Approaches Integrating Algae and Bacteria for the Degradation of Wastewater Contaminants—A Review

This review examined integrated algae-bacteria approaches for wastewater treatment, highlighting how these biological systems can degrade organic contaminants more sustainably than conventional methods while producing less sludge and requiring less energy.

2022 Frontiers in Microbiology 103 citations
Article Tier 2

The use of hydrodynamic cavitation for waste-to-energy approach to enhance methane production from waste activated sludge

Four hydrodynamic cavitation pre-treatment regimes for waste activated sludge were compared using a lab-scale generator, finding that cavitation pre-treatment improves sludge disintegration and enhances methane production in subsequent anaerobic digestion.

2023 Journal of Environmental Management 24 citations
Article Tier 2

Fate of microplastic during pyrolysis of sewage sludge

Researchers examined how pyrolysis as a sewage sludge treatment method affects the fate of embedded microplastics, finding that thermal treatment largely destroys plastic particles. However, some polymer-derived volatile compounds transferred to pyrolysis gases and oils, suggesting that microplastic destruction does not eliminate all associated chemical risks.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Opportunities regarding the use of technologies of energy recovery from sewage sludge

This review evaluated pyrolysis, gasification, and incineration as energy recovery technologies for sewage sludge management, finding pyrolysis advantageous due to low emissions, reduced heavy metal mobility, and useful by-products including bio-gas, bio-oil, and bio-char adsorbents.

2021 SN Applied Sciences 34 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics Removal from Municipal Wastewater Through Oxide-Biological Processes. Phase 1: Preliminary Fragmentation of Microplastics from Wastewater and Aerobic Pre-conditioning of Wastewater with Activated Sludge

Researchers tested a combined treatment approach for removing microplastics from municipal wastewater, involving mechanical fragmentation followed by biological treatment with activated sludge. The preliminary results suggest that oxidative pre-treatment can reduce microplastic particle size, potentially making them more amenable to biological breakdown in wastewater systems.

2023 E3S Web of Conferences 1 citations