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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to A systematic overview of current advancements for chemical, material, and energy production using sewage sludge for industrial ecology and sustainability transition
ClearWastewater and sludge valorisation: a novel approach for treatment and resource recovery to achieve circular economy concept
This review highlights novel approaches for wastewater and sludge valorisation within a circular economy framework, focusing on recovering value-added products including biopolymers, nutrients, and energy to achieve sustainable development goals and combat water scarcity.
Assessing emerging and priority micropollutants in sewage sludge: environmental insights and analytical approaches
Researchers reviewed the presence of emerging pollutants, including microplastics, pharmaceuticals, and industrial chemicals, in sewage sludge that is commonly applied to agricultural land. They found that current analytical methods are improving but still face challenges in detecting these contaminants at low concentrations in complex sludge samples. The study highlights the environmental risks of spreading pollutant-laden sludge on farmland and calls for better monitoring standards.
Emerging organic contaminants in sewage sludge: Current status, technological challenges and regulatory perspectives
This review examines how sewage sludge accumulates harmful organic pollutants including microplastics, hormone-disrupting chemicals, and pharmaceutical residues that threaten the environment and human health. Current treatment methods struggle to fully break down these contaminants, and the byproducts of treatment may carry their own ecological risks, highlighting the need for better technology and stronger regulations.
The presence of microplastics in waste sludges
This Croatian review examines the presence of microplastics in sewage sludge from wastewater treatment plants and their pathways into terrestrial and aquatic environments. The authors discuss alternative sustainable sludge management approaches aligned with circular economy principles.
Recovery of Cellulose, Extracellular Polymeric Substances and Microplastics from Sewage Sludge: A Review
This review examines the technical feasibility and circular economy potential of recovering cellulose, extracellular polymeric substances, and microplastics from sewage sludge, finding that while biopolymer recovery offers significant value, microplastics remain a persistent polymeric pollutant whose removal and valorization pathways are underexplored compared to nutrient recovery.
Assessing metal contamination and speciation in sewage sludge: implications for soil application and environmental risk
This systematic review estimated that global sewage sludge production could triple to 160 million tons if all wastewater were treated to EU standards, and found that metals in sludge applied to farmland are predominantly in less bioavailable forms. The research is relevant to microplastics because sewage sludge is a major pathway for microplastic contamination of agricultural soils, carrying both metal and plastic pollutants to farmland.
Sewage sludge as a sustainable fertilizer: Promise, pitfalls, and future directions
This review examines both the promise and pitfalls of using sewage sludge as a fertilizer, finding that while it reduces agrochemical costs and provides nutrients for crops, it also introduces microplastics, pathogens, and heavy metals into agricultural soils with implications for food safety and public health.
Microplastics in sewage sludge: Distribution, toxicity, identification methods, and engineered technologies
This review examines how microplastics accumulate in sewage sludge from wastewater treatment plants, which then becomes a major pathway for spreading these particles into the environment. Researchers found that sludge can contain extremely high concentrations of microplastics, ranging from thousands to hundreds of thousands of particles per kilogram. The study evaluates current detection methods and emerging technologies for removing microplastics from sludge before it is applied to agricultural land or disposed of.
Biorefinery of Sewage Sludge: Overview of Possible Value-Added Products and Applicable Process Technologies
This review examined biorefinery approaches for sewage sludge, evaluating value-added products and applicable process technologies as sustainable alternatives to traditional disposal methods like landfill and incineration.
Contemporary Drift in Emerging Micro(nano)plastics Removal and Upcycling Technologies from Municipal Wastewater Sludge: Strategic Innovations and Prospects
This review evaluates both conventional and advanced methods for removing microplastics from sewage sludge before it is applied to farmland as fertilizer. Current treatment processes like anaerobic digestion and composting reduce but do not eliminate microplastics, and some methods can actually fragment larger plastics into more numerous smaller pieces. The authors identify emerging technologies and upcycling strategies that could better address this pathway of microplastic contamination in agricultural soils.
Combined application of analytical techniques for microplastic determination to achieve comprehensive results for sewage sludge samples
Researchers combined multiple analytical techniques for comprehensive microplastic determination in sewage sludge samples, addressing the challenge that more than 90% of microplastics entering wastewater treatment plants are retained in sludge and require robust multi-method characterization.
Hydrothermal liquefaction of sewage sludge for circular bioeconomy: Focus on lignocellulose wastes, microplastics, and pharmaceuticals
Researchers reviewed how a high-heat water process called hydrothermal liquefaction can convert sewage sludge — which is loaded with microplastics, pharmaceutical residues, and plant waste — into usable biofuel while neutralizing many of these contaminants. This approach offers a promising way to tackle the growing problem of sewage sludge disposal while recovering energy, though challenges remain in scaling it up economically.
Revolutionizing Wastewater Reuse: A Critical Review of Innovative Treatment Technologies for a Sustainable Energy-Water Nexus
This review critically examines innovative wastewater treatment technologies for sustainable reuse, covering advances in membrane filtration, electrochemical processes, advanced oxidation, and emerging contaminant removal including microplastics, in the context of addressing global water scarcity.
Optimization of a method used for extracting microplastics from an organic matter-rich matrix and isolated particles assessment
Researchers optimized a method for extracting microplastics from sewage sludge — a challenging organic-rich matrix — by combining density separation and chemical digestion steps, improving recovery rates and enabling more accurate characterization of sludge-associated microplastics.
A method for the characterisation of microplastics in sludge
Researchers developed a method for detecting and characterizing microplastics in sewage sludge, which concentrates the majority of microplastics removed during wastewater treatment. This method is important because sludge is widely spread on agricultural land, making it a key pathway for microplastics entering soils.
Effects of microplastics on the properties of different types of sewage sludge and strategies to overcome the inhibition: A review
This review examined how microplastics trapped in sewage sludge during wastewater treatment affect sludge properties, microbial communities, and treatment efficiency, while discussing strategies to overcome microplastic-induced inhibition of sludge processing.
Integrating Pyrolysis or Combustion with Scrubbing to Maximize the Nutrient and Energy Recovery from Municipal Sewage Sludge
This study modeled how combining pyrolysis or combustion with gas scrubbing could recover heat and nutrients from municipal sewage sludge at wastewater treatment plants. Since sewage sludge is a major sink for microplastics, improved sludge management is relevant to reducing the spread of microplastics through biosolid land application.
Emerging contaminants in municipal sewage/sludge: occurrence, risk assessment, and treatment technologies
This review documents the occurrence of emerging contaminants — including pharmaceuticals, microplastics, and endocrine disruptors — in municipal sewage and sludge, assessing their environmental risks and current removal efficiencies. The authors highlight that many contaminants persist through conventional treatment, entering soils via biosolid application and waterways via effluent discharge.
Sustainable analytical approaches for microplastics in wastewater, sludge, and landfills: Challenges, fate, and green chemistry perspectives
Researchers reviewed how microplastics travel through wastewater, sewage sludge, and landfills into soils and food crops, where they accumulate alongside heavy metals and pharmaceuticals, raising food safety concerns. The study calls for greener analytical methods and standardized reporting to better track and compare microplastic contamination across studies.
Microplastic contamination in sewage sludge: Abundance, characteristics, and impacts on the environment and human health
This review focuses on microplastics found in sewage sludge, which is often spread on agricultural land as fertilizer. The practice introduces microplastics directly into farm soil, where they can be taken up by crops or leach into groundwater. This creates a pathway for microplastics to reach human food and drinking water, raising concerns about the safety of using sewage sludge in agriculture.
Sludge-derived biochar: Physicochemical characteristics for environmental remediation
This review examines how sewage sludge can be converted into biochar, a carbon-rich material useful for cleaning up environmental contaminants including microplastics and heavy metals from water and soil. The process turns a waste product into an effective pollution filter while reducing the volume of sludge that needs disposal. This approach is relevant to microplastics research because biochar could help remove plastic particles from contaminated water and agricultural land.
Optimised reduction of total solids and organic matter of sewage sludge matrix for an improved extraction of microplastics
Researchers optimized chemical digestion protocols for extracting microplastics from sewage sludge, finding that maximizing reduction of total solids and organic carbon content significantly improved the reliability and efficiency of subsequent density-based microplastic separation.
Microplastics in Sewage Sludge: A Known but Underrated Pathway in Wastewater Treatment Plants
This review finds that wastewater treatment plants effectively transfer microplastics from effluent into sewage sludge, creating a significant but underrated pathway for MP contamination when sludge is applied to agricultural soils.
Sustainable energy from waste organic matters via efficient microbial processes
This review examined the potential for converting waste organic matter, including microplastics, from water and soil sources into sustainable energy through microbial processes. Researchers discussed how anaerobic digestion and other wastewater treatment technologies can help address the environmental challenge of organic waste while producing useful bioenergy and other primary metabolites.