With the fast-evolving global climate change, increasing efforts have been devoted to the mitigation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emission from municipal wastewater treatment plants where, in fact, they have been found to be an important source of GHGs. It should be aware that the carbon taxing and trading schemes have been gradually implemented worldwide, implying an inevitably increase in future operating costs of wastewater treatment due to the charge of GHGs emission. Therefore, great attention has been paid to carbon-neutral municipal wastewater treatment technologies. As microalgae can grow upon CO2, algae and microalgae-bacteria consortia are believed to serve as a carbon sink for wastewater treatment. Moreover, the circular economy is game-changing wastewater management with the aim to maximize water reuse, energy generation and resource recovery from wastewater (e.g., biomethane, biofertilizer, biodiesel, single-cell proteins, natural pigments, etc.).
Given such a situation, this Research Topic will focus on algae and microalgae-bacteria based technologies for carbon-neutral wastewater treatment, meanwhile highlighting the latest technology advancements. This topic welcomes the high-quality research articles and the state-of the-art critical reviews including, but not limited to the following areas:
• Emerging algae and microalgae-bacteria based technology
• Microbial structures and metabolisms of algae and microalgae-bacteria
• Microalgal-bacterial granular sludge and consortia
• Circular economy-driven algae and microalgae-bacteria based technologies towards carbon neutrality of wastewater treatment
• Recovery of value-added products from algal and microalgal-bacterial biomasses
With the fast-evolving global climate change, increasing efforts have been devoted to the mitigation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emission from municipal wastewater treatment plants where, in fact, they have been found to be an important source of GHGs. It should be aware that the carbon taxing and trading schemes have been gradually implemented worldwide, implying an inevitably increase in future operating costs of wastewater treatment due to the charge of GHGs emission. Therefore, great attention has been paid to carbon-neutral municipal wastewater treatment technologies. As microalgae can grow upon CO2, algae and microalgae-bacteria consortia are believed to serve as a carbon sink for wastewater treatment. Moreover, the circular economy is game-changing wastewater management with the aim to maximize water reuse, energy generation and resource recovery from wastewater (e.g., biomethane, biofertilizer, biodiesel, single-cell proteins, natural pigments, etc.).
Given such a situation, this Research Topic will focus on algae and microalgae-bacteria based technologies for carbon-neutral wastewater treatment, meanwhile highlighting the latest technology advancements. This topic welcomes the high-quality research articles and the state-of the-art critical reviews including, but not limited to the following areas:
• Emerging algae and microalgae-bacteria based technology
• Microbial structures and metabolisms of algae and microalgae-bacteria
• Microalgal-bacterial granular sludge and consortia
• Circular economy-driven algae and microalgae-bacteria based technologies towards carbon neutrality of wastewater treatment
• Recovery of value-added products from algal and microalgal-bacterial biomasses
