Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Wastewater 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.

2023 Frontiers in Chemical Engineering 48 citations
Article Tier 2

Wastewater Valorization: Practice around the World at Pilot- and Full-Scale

This review summarizes pilot- and full-scale wastewater valorization practices globally, focusing on how water resource recovery facilities recover nutrients, energy, and bio-based materials from sewage and sludge to contribute to a circular economy. The authors identify effective technological strategies that are being implemented or scaled up worldwide.

2021 International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 33 citations
Article Tier 2

Circular Economy in Wastewater Treatment Plants—Potential Opportunities for Biogenic Elements Recovery

This paper modeled carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycling through a wastewater treatment plant serving 70,000 people and evaluated potential circular economy strategies for recovering these biogenic elements as biogas, fertilizer, and soil amendments.

2023 Water 17 citations
Article Tier 2

Water reuse: a pillar of the circular water economy

This review argues that water reuse is a foundational pillar of the circular water economy, shifting the paradigm from dissipative pollutant removal toward resource recovery and closed-loop water management. The authors examine how conventional wastewater treatment approaches must be reimagined to enable sustainable water circularity.

2022 IWA Publishing eBooks 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Removal of microplastics from wastewater: available techniques and way forward

This review surveys available techniques for removing microplastics from wastewater within a circular economy framework, discussing innovative treatment technologies, integrated risk-based approaches, and regulatory and economic guidelines needed to advance water resource recovery facilities beyond conventional pollutant removal.

2023 IWA Publishing eBooks 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Redefining Water Treatment: Identification of WWTPs as an Earth System Problem and Circular Economic Eco-Bog System to Challenge It

This paper argues that wastewater treatment plants should be reconceptualized as Earth system problems rather than isolated infrastructure, because the daily discharge of microplastics and other contaminants creates complex, poorly understood ecological effects at a planetary scale.

2021 European Journal of Environment and Earth Sciences 1 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2022 Energies 16 citations
Article Tier 2

Potential Nutrient Conversion Using Nature-Based Solutions in Cities and Utilization Concepts to Create Circular Urban Food Systems

This review examines how nature-based solutions in cities—like constructed wetlands and green infrastructure—can help recover nutrients from wastewater for reuse in agriculture. These systems can also help filter out microplastics and other contaminants before they reach waterways.

2021 Circular Economy and Sustainability 18 citations
Commentary Tier 3

Editorial: Emerging approaches for sustainable management for wastewater

This editorial introduces a research collection on emerging approaches for sustainable wastewater management, highlighting advances in nutrient recovery, contaminant removal, and resource valorisation within circular economy frameworks.

2023 Frontiers in Environmental Science 18 citations
Article Tier 2

Biopolymers in Aerobic Granular Sludge—Their Role in Wastewater Treatment and Possibilities of Re-Use in Line with Circular Economy

This review examines the composition and role of extracellular polymeric substances in aerobic granular sludge, finding that the high alginate content of granules not only improves wastewater treatment performance but also presents opportunities for polymer recovery aligned with circular economy principles.

2021 Energies 27 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2025
Article Tier 2

AI Applied to the Circular Economy: An Approach in the Wastewater Sector

This review explored how artificial intelligence can be applied to circular economy objectives in the wastewater sector, examining AI-driven approaches for optimizing water treatment, resource recovery, and system efficiency. The paper identified opportunities and challenges for integrating machine learning into water utility operations within an ecological transition framework.

2024 Sustainability 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics pollution from wastewater treatment plants: A critical review on challenges, detection, sustainable removal techniques and circular economy

This review critically examines the challenges of detecting and removing microplastics from wastewater treatment plants, evaluating sustainable removal technologies and circular economy approaches to address this persistent source of aquatic microplastic pollution.

2022 Environmental Technology & Innovation 134 citations
Article Tier 2

Microbial Granule Technology—Prospects for Wastewater Treatment and Energy Production

This review covers microbial granule technology for wastewater treatment, highlighting how these dense bacterial clusters can improve treatment efficiency, reduce costs, and align with circular economy principles for resource recovery.

2022 Energies 6 citations
Article Tier 2

A nanotechnology roadmap for circular wastewater management

This review paper summarizes research on using tiny particles called nanoparticles to make wastewater treatment more efficient and environmentally friendly. The technology could help clean water while also recovering valuable materials like nutrients and energy, but scientists still need to solve problems like how to use it safely on a large scale. Better wastewater treatment matters for human health because it helps ensure our water supply stays clean and reduces pollution in the environment.

2026 Frontiers in Environmental Engineering
Article Tier 2

Sewage Sludge Quality and Management for Circular Economy Opportunities in Lombardy

Researchers analyzed sewage sludge production and management in Lombardy, Italy, finding that most sludge met quality thresholds for agricultural recovery after stabilization but had low energy value, with circular economy opportunities depending heavily on sludge composition and regional treatment capacity.

2022 Applied Sciences 36 citations
Article Tier 2

Nature-Based Units as Building Blocks for Resource Recovery Systems in Cities

This review characterizes how nature-based solutions such as constructed wetlands and algal systems can be integrated as building blocks in urban resource recovery networks, examining existing cases for recovery of water, nutrients, metals, energy, and organic matter from city waste streams.

2021 Water 26 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic Identification in Domestic Wastewater-Treating Constructed Wetlands and Its Potential Usage in a Circular Economy

Researchers identified and characterized microplastics in constructed wetlands used for treating domestic wastewater, finding MP accumulation in the substrate and plants and assessing how well these nature-based treatment systems retain plastic particles before effluent is discharged.

2025 Processes
Article Tier 2

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.

2023 Repository of Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology University of Zagreb
Article Tier 2

AI-based wastewater treatment for a circular economy and sustainable management of PFAS, heavy metals, microplastics, and antibiotics

This review examined how artificial intelligence can be integrated into wastewater treatment systems to improve removal of emerging contaminants including PFAS, heavy metals, microplastics, and antibiotics. The authors conclude that AI-driven optimization offers significant potential for a circular economy approach to water treatment.

2025 Cleaner Water
Article Tier 2

Approaching the environmental problem of microplastics: Importance of WWTP treatments

This review examines the role of wastewater treatment plants as sources and sinks of microplastics, noting that while treatment removes significant quantities, remaining particles concentrate in sewage sludge which is then applied to agricultural land as fertilizer. The authors survey available technologies for improving microplastic removal and call for better policy to address this gap.

2020 The Science of The Total Environment 262 citations
Article Tier 2

Parametric study of coagulant recovery from water treatment sludge towards water circular economy

Researchers investigated coagulant recovery from water treatment sludge at two treatment plants using sulfuric acid acidification at variable normalities, characterizing recovered coagulants by SEM and FTIR and testing their turbidity removal performance. The study aimed to establish optimal acidification conditions for a circular economy approach to coagulant reuse in surface water treatment.

2023 Water Science & Technology 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Emerging Pollutants in Wastewater: A Challenge for Water Reuse

This review examines emerging pollutants in wastewater as a central challenge for water reuse strategies, covering contaminants present at both domestic and industrial scales. It evaluates the sustainability benefits and treatment hurdles associated with recycling wastewater to address global water scarcity.

2025 Advances in water security
Article Tier 2

Modern Wastewater Treatment Technologies: Trends, Problems, and Prospects

This review examines modern wastewater treatment technologies including mechanical, biological, and physicochemical methods, highlighting that conventional systems inadequately remove emerging micropollutants such as pharmaceuticals, pesticides, microplastics, and nanoparticles. The authors identify key barriers to progress including high costs, aging infrastructure, and weak governance, and advocate for integrated approaches combining membrane technologies, nanomaterials, and circular economy principles.

2025 SERIES CHEMISTRY AND TECHNOLOGY