Science of the Total Environment 896 (2023) 165201

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Science of the Total Environment

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv

Critical analysis on the transformation and upgrading strategy of Chinese

municipal wastewater treatment plants: Towards sustainable water
remediation and zero carbon emissions
⁎
Chunhui Zhang a, , Guifeng Zhao a, Yanan Jiao a, Bingxu Quan a, Wenjing Lu a, Peidong Su a, , Yuanhui Tang a,
⁎
Jianbing Wang a, Mengmeng Wu b, Nan Xiao b, Yizhen Zhang b, Jinghua Tong b
a
College of Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology-Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
b
Zhongguancun Summit Enviro-Protection Co., Ltd., Beijing 100081, China

H I G H L I G H T S G R A P H I C A L A B S T R A C T

• Critically analysis on the transformation

and upgrading strategy in Chinese
WWTPs.
• Discuss the implementation process of sus-
tainable wastewater treatment technology
in detail.
• Explored the construction of "Zero carbon"
WWTPs from a new perspective.

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Editor: Huu Hao Ngo In the light of circular economy aspects, processing of large-scale municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs)
needs reconsideration to limit the overuse of energy, implement of non-green technologies and emit abundant green-
Keywords: house gas. Along with the huge increase in the worldwide population and agro-industrial activities, global environ-
Chinese WWTPs mental organizations have issued several recent roles to boost scientific and industrial communities towards
Sustainable development
sustainable development. Over recent years, China has imposed national and regional standards to control and manage
Carbon neutrality
Process optimization
the discharged liquid and solid waste, as well as to achieve carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. The aim of this re-
Circular economy port is to analyze the current state of Chinese WWTPs routing and related issues such as climate change and air pollu-
energy saving and material recovery tion. The used strategies in Chinese WWTPs and upgrading trends were critically discussed. Several points were
addressed including the performance, environmental impact, and energy demand of bio-enhanced technologies, in-
cluding hydrolytic acidification pretreatment, efficient (toxic) strain treatment, and anaerobic ammonia oxidation de-
nitrification technology, as well as advanced treatment technologies composed of physical and chemical treatment
technologies, biological treatment technology and combined treatment technology. Discussion and critical analysis
based on the current data and national policies were provided and employed to develop the future development
trend of municipal WWTPs in China from the construction of sustainable and “Zero carbon” WWTPs.

⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: [email protected] (C. Zhang), [email protected] (P. Su).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165201
Received 26 March 2023; Received in revised form 13 June 2023; Accepted 27 June 2023
Available online 3 July 2023
0048-9697/© 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
C. Zhang et al. Science of the Total Environment 896 (2023) 165201

Contents

1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Enhancement technology of municipal WWTPs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.1. Bioaugmentation technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.1.1. Hydrolysis-acidification pretreatment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.1.2. Used high-efficient (toxicity-resistance) strain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.1.3. Anammox denitrogenated technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2. Advanced treatment technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3. Future technology development trend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.1. Sustainable wastewater treatment technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.1.1. Utilize the organic matter as an energy resource . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.1.2. Cost-effective treatment technology for nitrogen and phosphorus removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.1.3. Sludge reduction treatment technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.1.4. Developing reactors with small footprint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.1.5. Construct the smart municipal WWTPs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.2. “Zero carbon” WWTPs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.2.1. Energy sources recovery and utilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.2.2. Low-carbon wastewater treatment process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.2.3. Improving equipment efficiency and optimizing parameter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.2.4. Experience with wastewater treatment conceptual plants in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.3. Future technology development discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
CRediT authorship contribution statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Data availability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Declaration of competing interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

1. Introduction wastewater treatment rate increased from 14.86 % in 1991 to 97.89 % in

2021. All these indicate that municipal sewage treatment in China is devel-
WWTPs are built to protect water resources and human health by reduc- oping rapidly (Fig. 1 and Fig. 2). Consequently, a large quantity of energy
ing the amount of carbon, nutrients, heavy metals, and pathogens being like electricity is consumed during the operation of the municipal WWTPs
discharged into the environment (Puig et al., 2010; Zhang et al., 2023b). (Qu et al., 2019). According to the statistics, when municipal WWTPs are
With the increase in worldwide population, industrialization, and increased carried out using the standard Grade I-A regulation or slightly above the
urbanization, the pressure on water resources has significantly increased. Grade I-A regulation, the average power consumption is 0.4047 kW·h per
To make full use of the water resources, more stringent discharge standards ton, on the contrary, the average power consumption is 0.3754 kW·h per
have been imposed for municipal WWTPs by the different governments. In ton. According to the treatment scale, 87.63 % of sewage treatment in
China, for instance, the State Council in 2015 issued the “water pollution China needs to implement Grade I-A Discharge Standard. Therefore, by
prevention and control action plan”, and it is required to comprehensively 2022, the total power consumption of municipal WWTPs in China reached
control pollutants release. In recent years, new discharge standards have 3.14 × 1010 kW·h, accounting for 0.36 % of total social electricity con-
been issued to control and manage waste. Some provinces in China such sumption of 8.64 × 1012 billion kW·h (National Energy Administration,
as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and other cities have implemented higher effluent dis- 2023; Song et al., 2022a). The process of wastewater treatment does not
charge standards than the “Discharge Standard of Pollutants for municipal only consumed a large amount of energy, but also produces large quantities
WWTPs (GB18918-2002)”, in which the effluent quality was required to of carbon dioxide. Close to about 0.23 kg CO2 will be emitted for each ton of
pass the Grade I-A Discharge Standard (Chang et al., 2022). In addition, wastewater treated (Gu et al., 2016). According to a United Nations data,
at the 75th Joint Conference in September 2020, China made a solemn the carbon emissions of water treatment industries such as sewage treat-
commitment to deal with global climate change. It was proposed to strive ment in the world account for about 2 % of global carbon emissions. During
to reach the target of carbon emissions peak in 2030 and becoming actual- the process of sewage treatment, a large amount of carbon dioxide is
ized carbon neutral in 2060 finally (Song et al., 2022b). Carbon emissions discharged. Although sewage treatment can achieve standard discharge
in the wastewater treatment industry cannot be ignored. Low carbon devel- quality through energy consumption, it may not be able to complete the
opment and carbon emission reduction in municipal WWTPs play an im- dual carbon goals (Chen et al., 2023a). Therefore, transforming the sewage
portant role in the realization of the goal of carbon peak and carbon treatment industry towards low-carbon emissions is a key problem that
neutrality. needs to be solved urgently.
According to the available data from the Ministry of Ecology and At present, regional developments are primarily imbalanced. WWTPs
Environment of the People's Republic of China (2023) and the Ministry of are mainly distributed in the southeast areas, which is consistent with the
Housing and Urban-rural Development of the People's Republic of China economic development level of China (Tang et al., 2019). At the same
(2022), the total amount of wastewater discharged from China in 2021 is time, by the end of 2021, China still had 12.37 % of its urban sewage treat-
6.25 × 1010 m3. It is 9.4 % higher than in 2020. Although the latest values ment capacity, which cannot meet the requirements of the Grade I-A Stan-
for 2022 have not yet been released, we still anticipate it will likely ap- dard. In addition, the sewage pipe network construction is seriously
proach about 66 billion cubic meters. Therefore, as the amount of wastewa- lagging, the sludge treatment and disposal level are seriously lagging be-
ter generated increases, the urban sewage treatment capacity will also hind the sewage treatment, and the utilization level of sewage resources
improve gradually. In 2021, the number of municipal WWTPs in China is low (Ministry of ecology and environment of the people's republic of
has increased to 2827, and the treatment capacity reached China, 2023). Generally, wastewater treatment consists of primary, second-
2.08 × 108 m3/d. The annual treatment capacity increased from ary, and advanced treatment units with different biological, physical, and
4.45 × 109 m3 in 1991 to 6.12 × 1011 m3 in 2021. Meanwhile, the chemical technologies. All kinds of wastewater treatment processes can

2
C. Zhang et al. Science of the Total Environment 896 (2023) 165201

a b

Annual quantity of wastewater discharged (108 m3)

650 100
3000 Number 20000 Annual quantity of wastewater discharged
Treatment capacity Wastewater treatment rate

Treatment capacity (108 m3/day)

Wastewater treatment rate (%)

18000 600 90
2500
16000
550 80
Number (unit)

2000 14000
500 70
12000

1500 10000 450 60

8000
400 50
1000
6000
350 40
500 4000

2000 300 30
2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020
Year Year

Fig. 1. The conditions of China's urban sewage treatment from 2001 to 2021: (a) the number of municipal WWTPs and treatment capacity; (b) the annual quantity of waste-
water discharged and wastewater treatment rate.

be found in China, whether a popular technology or a new process under such as membrane processes, membrane bioreactors, ultrasonic irradiation,
pilot test. Among them, biological treatment methods are the predominant and zerovalent iron, have become critical approaches used in WWTPs.
technologies, such as; conventional activated sludge treatment, anaerobic- However, these advanced treatment methods are either inefficient or
anoxic-oxic (A2/O), anaerobic-oxic (A/O), and oxidation ditch (Guven highly costly (Yang et al., 2017). Recently, the problems of fossil fuel deple-
et al., 2023; Zhang et al., 2021). Overall, the focus of traditional WWTPs tion, environmental pollution, water shortages, and climate change have
has been built to meet the discharge or reuse standards for effluent. In re- persisted worldwide. Due to the above reasons, the current design and op-
cent years, China's wastewater discharge or reuse standards of WWTPs eration of WWTPs are shifting from pollutant removal to resource recovery
are becoming stricter than before. However, compared with Western devel- while minimizing energy consumption and maximizing energy recovery
oped countries, China's wastewater reuse rate is still very low, and the reuse (Qu et al., 2022). Moreover, with the rapid progress of carbon emission re-
water is mainly used for landscape and irrigation (Yang et al., 2015). duction in China, scientists and engineering practitioners are trying to
Consequently, enhancing treated effluent quality from WWTPs for reuse make WWTPs “zero carbon” or even “negative carbon” (Jafarinejad,
or recycling has become increasingly important. Some advanced methods, 2020; Smol, 2023).

Heilongjiang

Jilin
Liaoning
Beijing
Xinjiang
Inner Mongolia Tianjin

Hebei
Shanxi
Ningxia
Qinghai Shandong
Gansu
Shanxi Jiangsu
Henan
Tibet
Anhui
Sichuan Shanghai
Hubei
Chongqing
Hunan Zhejiang
Jiangxi
Fujian
Total quantity of wastewater
treated (10⁸ m³) Guizhou
Number of wastewater Yunnan
100
treatment plant (unit) Taiwan
80 Guangxi
60 300 Guangdong
40 200
20 100
Hainan
0 0

Fig. 2. Distribution of the total quantity of wastewater treated and the number of municipal WWTPs by provinces and cities in China in 2021.

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C. Zhang et al. Science of the Total Environment 896 (2023) 165201

Focusing on the above issues, based on the national and local require- problem to a certain extent. In China, the widely used bioaugmentation tech-
ments for water quality improvement and the goal of carbon peaking and nologies mainly include hydrolysis acidification pretreatment, highly effi-
carbon neutrality in the sewage treatment industry, combined with the cient (toxicity-resistance) strain technology and anammox denitrogenated
Sewage treatment process, scale, and sewage quality characteristics in technology.
China, this paper describes the current situation of water quality improve-
ment in urban sewage plants from the critical technologies of biological 2.1.1. Hydrolysis-acidification pretreatment
enhancement and deep treatment. This report aims to construct a sustain- With the development of society and the improvement of people's living
able ‘zero-carbon’ municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in standards, there are more and more macromolecular or non-biodegradable
China while concurrently emphasizing the recovery and utilization of or- substances in urban sewage, which has a great impact on traditional waste-
ganic energy, mainly organic matter. Additionally, it highlights the devel- water biological disposal technology (Su et al., 2020b). The hydrolysis-
opment of water treatment equipment that is both more efficient and acidification process can be used for pretreatment, which can convert
low-consumption, along with the optimization of relevant parameters. these substances into simple organic substances or soluble substances
This will provide technical support for upgrading China's sewage treatment with small molecules (Jiang et al., 2020), and then convert them into or-
industry and the dual carbon target. ganic nitrogen, to provide a carbon source for subsequent denitrification.
The hydrolytic-acidification process, as the early stage of anaerobic treat-
2. Enhancement technology of municipal WWTPs ment, first appeared in the 1980s. It does not have the methane fermenta-
tion stage with strict requirements for environmental conditions during
2.1. Bioaugmentation technology anaerobic digestion and slow degradation speed. The principle of the
hydrolysis-acidification process is to promote the biocatalytic reaction of
Nowadays, there are many synthetic compounds in the water environ- macromolecular substances that are difficult to biodegrade in water
ment. Due to its complex structure, it could poison or inhibit microorgan- through enzymes released by hydrolysis bacteria and acid-producing bacte-
isms in water. Therefore, conventional microorganisms cannot play a ria, specifically manifested as chain breakage and water solubility. Microor-
good role in water treatment. As early as the mid-1970s, Cheng et al. ganisms use water-soluble substrates to complete intracellular biochemical
(2021) first treated WWTPs by adding highly efficient bacteria, which led reactions and simultaneously discharge various organic acids. The
to the emergence of bioaugmentation technology. Bioaugmentation is de- hydrolytic-acidification process has the following advantages: simple unit
fined as a technology that enhances the degradation ability of contami- structure; not controlling aerobic or anaerobic conditions strictly; no addi-
nated soil and water by adding specific strains or microbial communities tional dosing, and less excess sludge generated. Therefore, the hydrolytic-
(Nwankwegu et al., 2022). It focuses on strengthening the removal of acidification process has been widely applied in the pre-treatment of
organic matter, nitrogen, and phosphorus, as well as strengthening the re- urban and industrial wastewater in China. With increasingly strict require-
moval of toxic and harmful substances (Castro-Gutierrez et al., 2022; ments for urban sewage discharge, conventional hydrolysis acidification
Yang et al., 2022b). Three major processes, such as the anaerobic-anoxic- pretreatment can no longer meet the requirements. Therefore, it is becom-
oxic process (A2O), oxidation ditch (OD), and sequencing batch reactor ing increasingly important to change or improve the hydrolysis and acidifi-
(SBR) occupied 65 % of WWTPs amounts and 54 % of treatment volumes cation capacity through reasonable measures to improve the effluent
in China (Qiu et al., 2010). In recent years, biological treatment technology quality of WWTPs (Zhang et al., 2023d).
is still widely used due to its low cost. Traditional activated sludge and im- In municipal wastewater treatment, the primary purpose of hydrolysis
proved processes, such as SBR and A2O, have significantly matured over the acidification treatment is to obtain efficient hydrolysis acidification bacte-
years (Chen et al., 2015). However, due to the increasingly strict standards ria. It is found that one of the main bacteria in hydrolysis acidification
for wastewater discharge or reuse in China, higher requirements have been tanks that can produce acid and reduce sludge is Clostridium, while the spe-
put forward for nitrogen and phosphorus removal in the biological treat- cific hydrolysis acidification bacteria are Lactobacillus. In addition, Bacillus
ment stage. Therefore, biological augmentation technology is gradually ap- also has an acid-production function, and Acinetobacter and Lampropedia
plied as an environmental pollution control technique. By comparing can survive and reproduce stably (Shao et al., 2022). In addition, control-
nitrogen and phosphorus emission/reuse standards with developed West- ling the stability and efficiency of the anaerobic process is vital to achieving
ern countries, it can be seen that Chinese standards have the strictest re- high emission standards for organic matter and total nitrogen. When
quirements for nitrogen and phosphorus (Table 1). skeleton-less fillers were added to the hydrolysis acidification tank, the hy-
In addition, as new pollutants enter urban water bodies, such as drugs drolysis acidification performance is stronger, and the level of residual or-
and personal care products (PPCPs), estrogen/androgen (endocrine disor- ganic nitrogen in the effluent is lower, only 0.3–0.5 mg/L (Liu et al.,
der substances), disinfection by-products (DBPs), tetracyclines, bezafibrate, 2021). The hydrolysis acidification process can also be combined with
caffeine, steroid estrogens, nitroso dimethylamine (NDMA), Microplastics other technologies to enhance the removal ability of pollutants, and even
(MPs), as well as heavy metals (mercury, chromium, arsenic, lead, copper, have detoxification capabilities. It is found that the combination of hydro-
cadmium, molybdenum, nickel) and other inorganic pollutants, traditional lytic acidification and biosorption is considered to be an effective carbon
biological treatment methods have been difficult to deal with these pollut- capture and conversion method, which is conducive to the conversion of ni-
  3    
ants (NHþ 
4 , NO3 , NO2 , Hn POn2 , CIO2 , CIO3 , BrO3 , Br ) (Djellabi trate to nitrite (Shi et al., 2021). Three processes are formed by combining
et al., 2020; Faria et al., 2022; Kosek et al., 2020; Lofty et al., 2022; Su et al., the hydrolytic acidification process with constructed wetland microbial
2020a; Syed et al., 2021). Yet bioaugmentation technology can solve this fuel cell, including constructed wetland microbial fuel cell, hydrolytic

Table 1
List of national and regional nitrogen and phosphorus standards.
Item GB 18918-2002 DB11/890-2012 GB3838-2002 Reno-Sparks River Oaks EU water framework directive Japan water pollution control act
Florida, USA Florida, USA
Grade I-A Grade A Grade IV Grade III

NH3-N 5 (8) 1.0 (1.5) 1.5 1.0 – – – –

TN 15 10 1.5 1.0 5 1.2 15a/10b 120 (the daily average is 60)
TP 0.5 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.4 0.4 2a/1b 16 (the daily average is 8)

Remarks.
a
The population equivalent is between 10,000 and 100,000.
b
Population equivalent >100,000.

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C. Zhang et al. Science of the Total Environment 896 (2023) 165201

sludge acidification coupling with constructed wetland microbial fuel cell, application of bioaugmentation technology is to select efficient strains with
and hydrolytic filler acidification coupling with constructed wetland micro- excellent performance (Cheng et al., 2021; Raper et al., 2018). At present,
bial fuel cell. They can remove >90 % of chemical oxygen demand (COD), efficient strains are mainly selected through degradation, which can also
total organic carbon (TOC), total phosphorus (TP), ammonia nitrogen be achieved through genetic engineering, but this method is still in the lab-
(NH3-N), and nitrate nitrogen (NO3-N). At the same time, they can also gen- oratory research stage. To obtain strains with certain excellent characteris-
erate clean energy. The power generation of the three processes can reach tics, it is necessary to select from a variety of microorganisms. The progress
0.36 W/m2, 0.40 W/m2, and 0.43 W/m2 respectively. The removal effi- of sequencing technology and molecular technology enables us to deter-
ciency is so good mainly because of Firmicutes which play an important mine the number of cells and related genes through gene sequencing, iso-
role in the system (Han et al., 2021). Introducing other substances during tope detection, and tracking from macro research to micro research
hydrolysis acidification can enhance hydrolysis acidification bacteria's effi- (Dueholm et al., 2015; Garner et al., 2021; Stoeck et al., 2018).
ciency. For example, introducing zero-valent iron is beneficial for enhanc- There are many types of research on the bioaugmentation of highly ef-
ing hydrolysis acidification technology and effectively degrading the fective strains. Li et al. (2021a) used the highly effective degradation bacte-
toxicity of chloral (C2H3ClO). The main mechanism is the introduction of rium Rhodococcus sp. KDPy1 to strengthen the A2/O process for coking
zero-valent iron, which can dechlorinate C2H3ClO to acetaldehyde, thereby wastewater treatment. They reported that compared with the control
reducing the toxicity of C2H3ClO to microorganisms (Tian et al., 2020). group, the removal rates of COD, quinoline, and pyridine in the O1 pool in-
WWTPs in various regions have carried out standard upgrading and re- creased by 11.4 %, 17.3 %, and 14.0 %, respectively, after adding the
construction projects to meet the increasing requirements of urban sewage Rhodococcus sp. Cayetano et al. (2021) introduced the Bacteroides uniformis
treatment. For example, the Gaobeidian WWTP has carried out a standard (ATCC 8492) and Clostridium sp. (ATCC 29733) in the anaerobic digestion
upgrading and reconstruction project to make nitrogen and phosphorus of waste-activated sludge. They found that under the best conditions, when
meet the Class I-A standard, in which hydrolysis acidification is used to 1000 CFU/mL of bacteria (B/F = 1:9) was added, the methane production
transform the primary clarifier, to improve the carbon‑nitrogen ratio and could be increased by 49 % and the methane conversion rate could reach up
achieve simultaneous removal of nitrogen and phosphorus in the subse- to 84 %. After introducing the aerobic settling anoxic process and the ultra-
quent bioreactors without adding external carbon sources and other sonic process into the return sludge production line, the sludge produced in
chemicals (Zhang et al., 2015b). To solve the problem of poor biodegrad- the biological oxidation process is reduced by 50 %. At the same time, the
ability and substandard effluent caused by the introduction of industrial total nitrogen removal rate increased by 14.5 % (Amin et al., 2020). Bioaug-
wastewater, a WWTP in Xingtai City added a hydrolysis acidification pro- mentation of a two-stage activated sludge system with aged sludge can in-
cess to the original Cyclic Activated Sludge System (CASS) and advanced crease the diversity and abundance of HB, HNB, and nitrifying bacteria
treatment process during the reformation, making the effluent quality bet- (NB), thus enhancing the biodegradation efficiency of toxic organic com-
ter than Grade I-A Discharge Standard (Han et al., 2018). In addition, aero- pounds (Boonnorat et al., 2018). For domestic sewage with a low C/N
bic granular sludge (AGS) is a better alternative to activated sludge and a ratio, aerobic granular sludge (AGS), iron-based materials, and up-flow an-
biological treatment technology for urban and industrial wastewater to aerobic sludge bed (UASB) have significant effects on improving nitrogen
overcome the problem of sludge water separation (Han et al., 2022). removal efficiency (Campo et al., 2020; Peng et al., 2021; Wang et al.,
Yuan et al. (2018) found that hydrolytic acidification benefits the formation 2020c). Iannacone et al. (2021) studied the simultaneous partial nitrifica-
of aerobic granular sludge, and the removal of nitrogen and phosphorus can tion and denitrification (SPND) and biological phosphorus removal in con-
be increased by 32 % and 21 %, respectively. However, the longer starting tinuous intermittent aeration moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR), and this
time of AGS is a factor restricting its development (Nancharaiah and system achieved the average removal of C, N, and P of >80 %. Wang et al.
Sarvajith, 2019). (2020b) isolated a petroleum-degrading bacteria from the petroleum
sludge of domestic WWTP. By studying the biodegradation potential of
2.1.2. Used high-efficient (toxicity-resistance) strain this system, it was found that under the optimized conditions, the degrada-
By adding highly effective strains produced by superior strains with spe- tion rates of petroleum and CODCr in actual sewage were 40.50 % and
cial functions to the natural flora, the biomass can be enhanced to remove 45.83 %, respectively, showing good treatment efficiencies. Bioaugmenta-
one or a class of harmful substances. Bioaugmentation technology can ef- tion strains used in sewage treatment are shown in Table 2.
fectively improve the removal efficiency of target pollutants, improve Bioaugmentation bacteria have shown promising results in upgrading
sludge performance, and enhance the impact resistance and stability of municipal WWTPs and treating refractory industrial wastewater. The per-
the system (Singh et al., 2022). Therefore, the improved technology has formance of activated sludge can be improved by adding a high-efficiency
been widely used in environmental pollution control and has been widely compound microbial agent to degrade protein, fat, and aniline in the aera-
adopted by scholars at home and abroad. However, the key to the successful tion tank of the WWTP containing food wastewater. The TN removal rate of

Table 2
Bioaugmentation strains used in sewage treatment.
Strain/species Type of wastewater Treatment effect Reference

Rhodococcus sp. KDPy1 Coking wastewater Increased the removal rate of COD, quinoline, and (Li et al., 2021a)
pyridine by 11.4 %, 17.3 %, and 14.0 %
Pseudomonas aeruginosa Oil and grease wastewater Degradation rates on the oil and CODCr were 40.50 % (Wang et al., 2020b)
and 45.83 % respectively in the optimal conditions
Delftia sp. Bacillus cereus. Bacillus sp. Comamonas sp. Food wastewater The good removal rate of ammonia nitrogen, TN, (Wang et al., 2019)
Bacillus megaterium. Bacillus amyloliquefaciens. CODCr, TP, and aniline
Bacteroidetes uniformis Clostridium sp. Anaerobic digestion of wastewater-activated sludge 85.2 % COD conversion efficiency (Cayetano et al., 2021)
Pseudomonas monteilii SB3078. Degradation of aromatic hydrocarbons in activated / (Dueholm et al., 2015)
sludge
Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus licheniformis, Bacillus Domestic waste-water in a plug flow system The optimal concentration of the consortium was (Fontalvo et al.,
megaterium, Bacillus cereus, Arthrobacter sp., 30 mg/L, with a removal of 92 % of nitrate at the 2022)
Acinetobacter paraffineus, Corynebacterium sp., and laboratory and 62 % outdoor
Streptomyces globisporus
Rhodoblastus sp. TH20 Nitrate-containing wastewater Assimilation efficiency of 58 %, Nitrogen loss (Chen et al., 2022)
through aerobic denitrification was only
approximately 42 % of total nitrogen

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C. Zhang et al. Science of the Total Environment 896 (2023) 165201

Influent NH2OH under the action of nitrite reductase (NIR), then NH2OH reacts
Pure oxygen aeration Clarifier Effluent
with NH+ 4 to produce hydrazine (N2H4) under the action of hydrazine hy-
drolase (HH). Among the four generated electrons, NIR receives three elec-
trons, and HH receives one. During electron transfer, protons synthesize
Ruturned activated sludge
cellular ATP (Guo and Peng, 2008).
For the urban sewage treatment process with a low C/N ratio, Liang
Decanted Waste activated sludge et al. (2014) used the partial nitrification anammox denitrification
supernatant Excess sludge (SNAD) synchronous method to find five different denitrifying species
through 16S rRNA sequencing, achieving high nitrogen removal efficiency.
Nitrifiers Ammonia stock solution The nitrogen removal rate reached 3.26 kg/(m3·d), and the COD removal
bioaugmentation rate reached 81 %. In addition, the mainstream treatment technology com-
system Alkalinity
bining endogenous partial denitrification with anaerobic can also achieve
advanced nitrogen removal with low C/N wastewater (Du et al., 2015; Ji
Fig. 3. M2T InNitri™ Sidestream Bioenhanced Wastewater Treatment Plant. et al., 2018; Miao et al., 2018). Under low-temperature environments,
anammox still has a good treatment effect. Pilot studies have shown that
a single-stage partial nitrification anaerobic ammonium oxidation particle
the effluent from the secondary sedimentation tank is increased by 70 % on reactor (600 L) is used to treat the initial sedimentation wastewater of
the original basis, and the nitrogen removal rate is increased by 60 % urban sewage treatment plants. When the total nitrogen concentration in
(Wang et al., 2019). Fig. 3 shows the schematic diagrams of the biological the wastewater is 6–25 mg TN/L, the system operates under optimal condi-
treatment processes of the municipal WWTP: M2T InNitri™ Sidestream tions, and the total nitrogen removal efficiency can reach 50 % (Pedrouso
Bioenhanced Wastewater Treatment Plant (Mixing & Mass Transfer Tech- et al., 2018). It should be noted that pH control is essential in a low-
nologies LLC, State College, Pennsylvania, USA). It has an excellent effect temperature environment.
on water treatment through biological enhancement. Furthermore, within Tomaszewski et al. (2017) used statistical methods to study the personal
municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), it has been observed effects and interaction effects of pH and low temperature on anammox ac-
that, in conjunction with a low pH level of 6.5, the utilization of an inte- tivity. They found that the optimal pH values were between 7.0 and 7.5, but
grated side stream nitrifiers bioaugmentation process involving a 6 % intro- there was no significant interaction between pH and temperature. Related
duction of bioaugmentation bacteria can lead to a noteworthy research using cross-impact studies on the temperature, pH, and organic
enhancement in both the nitrification efficiency and the rate of removal matter concentration of urban sewage found that pH, temperature, and
for ammonia nitrogen, resulting in a 1.5-fold increase. This provides a their interactions significantly impact specific anammox activity. In con-
new idea for transforming municipal WWTPs with poor nitrification (Li trast, TOC concentration does not significantly impact specific anammox
et al., 2023b; Tang and Chen, 2015). activity (Pedrouso et al., 2021). In addition, deep denitrification was car-
ried out on high-concentration wastewater combined with anammox and
2.1.3. Anammox denitrogenated technology partial denitrification processes. It was found that when the total nitrogen
The treatment of refractory organic wastewater is one of the research of the surface influent was 820 mg/L, the removal rate of total nitrogen
hotspots in bioaugmentation technology (Cheng et al., 2021; Daverey could reach 97.8 %, and the total nitrogen of effluent was <20 mg/L (Cao
et al., 2014). Biological nitrogen removal technologies are widely used to et al., 2016).
remove nitrogen from wastewater and protect natural water quality (Ma In early 2015, China collected the presence of anammox bacteria from
et al., 2016). Anammox technology uses ammonia nitrogen (NH+ 4 -N) and 12 treatment units in five municipal WWTPs (Wang et al., 2015). After dis-
nitrite nitrogen (NO2-N) as substrates for autotrophic nitrogen removal re- covering anammox bacteria, anammox denitrification does not require ad-
actions, which do not consume organic carbon sources and are suitable for ditional carbon sources while maximizing the conversion of organic
treating low C/N wastewater (Sonthiphand et al., 2014; Wang et al., 2021). material into energy materials, reducing oxygen consumption, and saving
Anaerobic ammonia-oxidizing (anammox) bacteria can oxidize ammonia significant amounts of electricity. China has moved from initial laboratory
and reduce nitrite to produce N2 gas (Sonthiphand et al., 2014). Compared research to actual municipal sewage treatment. A wastewater treatment
with traditional nitrification-denitrification, the anammox process has ap- plant in Beijing has adopted a new technology for urban wastewater treat-
parent advantages (Wu et al., 2021). The main points are: 1) Anammox is ment based on anammox. The technological process is shown in Fig. 4
carried out under anoxic conditions without oxygen supply by an aeration through a project verification from July 2018 to June 2021 in the municipal
device, which can reduce energy consumption. 2) Anammox uses CO2 as sewage treatment demonstration project with a treatment capacity of 7200
the carbon source and does not require additional carbon sources to reduce m3/d. Under the condition of no external carbon source and chemical phos-
carbon consumption. 3) The growth of AAOB is slow, with low sludge pro- phorus removal agent, the nitrogen removal load is 0.06–0.12 kgN/(m3/d),
duction, reduced excess sludge, and low sludge treatment costs. 4) High the effluent TN can be stable below 15 mg/L, COD<30 mg/L, and
AAOB removal load. The nitrogen load can reach 9.5 kg/(m3·d). Currently, TP < 0.3 mg/L. At the same time, short-cut nitrification was achieved and
the anammox process has been recognized as the most cost-effective biolog- maintained stably for the first time in the low ammonia nitrogen sewage
ical denitrification process (Grismer and Collison, 2017; Siegrist et al., treatment practice project, and the nitrite accumulation rate reached
2008). 80 % ~ 98 %. This technology can achieve stable short-cut nitrification of
The principle of the anammox process is that under anaerobic condi- municipal sewage, in which the nitrite accumulation rate is stable in the
tions, ammonia is used as the electron donor and nitrate or nitrite as the range of 80 % to 98 %, and can provide a stable substrate source for
electron acceptor to oxidize ammonia into nitrogen, which saves >60 % anammox reaction (Sheng et al., 2020).
of the oxygen supply compared with the whole process of nitrification (am-
monia oxidation to nitrate) (Huang et al., 2023a). Using ammonia as the 2.2. Advanced treatment technology
electron donor can also save the carbon source required in the traditional
biological nitrogen removal process. At the same time, because the cell Nowadays, the requirements for sewage treatment and reuse are higher
yield of the anammox is far lower than that of denitrifying bacteria, the and higher, and the corresponding urban sewage treatment standards have
sludge yield of the anammox process is only about 15 % of that of the tra- also been gradually improved. The Class A standard in Discharge Standard
ditional biological denitrification process (Ma et al., 2016). The theoretical of Pollutants for Municipal WWTPs (GB18918-2002) is the most widely
principle of hydroxylamine (NH2OH) intermediate of anammox technology implemented discharge standard in China's sewage treatment industry. By
was first studied by van de Graaf et al. (1995): NO2-N is first reduced to the end of 2019, WWTPs implementing the standard accounted for 53 %

6
C. Zhang et al. Science of the Total Environment 896 (2023) 165201

Sewage Fine grid Lift pump Aerated grit chambers Primary sedimentation tank

Effluent Secondary sedimentation tank ANAMMOX tank Aerobic tank Anaerobic tank

Surplus sludge
AOB
External reflux
backflow

Sludge dewatering room Bioaugmentation pool

Selective inhibitors

Fig. 4. Process flow chart of anammox of municipal WWTPs.

of China's total WWTPs (Li et al., 2020; Sun et al., 2018; Zeng et al., There are also some problems with the advanced treatment technology
2021). Some areas require effluent close to the surface Class III criteria routes adopted by some municipal WWTPs: phosphorus removal in the
of surface water (TN ≤ 10 mg/L). For example, Beijing (DB11/307- high-efficiency sedimentation tank will lead to phosphorus deficiency in
2013), Sichuan (DB51/2311-2016), Anhui (DB34/2710-2016), and other the denitrification filter tank; The BOD5 in the water after ozonation is
regions have issued stricter wastewater discharge standards (Table 3). The low after adopting the process of denitrification filter + ozonation + aer-
difficulty and bottleneck of upgrading WWTPs under higher standards are ated biological filter, which results in the aeration biofilter having only a
the COD, TN, NH3-N, and TP removals, which depend on advanced treat- small carbon source. Although the effect of activated carbon treatment is
ment technology. Therefore, This section mainly discusses the upgrading good, the cost of regeneration of activated carbon is high. After adopting
technology of WWTPs in higher discharge standards through engineering the MBR + denitrifying filter, the SS and organic matter content in MBR ef-
examples. fluent is significantly reduced, and the culture period of the denitrifying fil-
Traditional advanced treatment technologies, such as flocculation sedi- ter is long also. If the process of high-efficiency sedimentation + filter cloth
mentation, sand filtration, and activated carbon adsorption (Su et al., filter tank is adopted, excessive PAM will be added to the high-efficiency
2021), etc., have poor removal effects on pollutants in wastewater; Fenton sedimentation tank. During long-term operation, viscous PAM will accumu-
technology requires additional dosing of chemicals and adjustment of the late on the surface of the filter cloth, causing the filter cloth to be blocked,
pH value of water quality which requires careful operation and high cost; the differential pressure will rise, backwashing will be frequent, and the
the double membrane method has high energy consumption, and high in- flow rate will drop. Therefore, in order to overcome the shortcomings of
vestment, and the membrane needs to be maintained, resulting in slightly various technical routs for upgrading the municipal WWTPs, a recom-
higher replacement costs; Electrochemical oxidation technology and Mem- mended AAAOAO process for biological treatment units has been proposed
brane Bio-Reactor (MBR) also have problems with high energy consump- in Fig. 5 (Li et al., 2020).
tion and high maintenance cost (Zhang et al., 2015a); Therefore, Since the upgrading of municipal WWTPs in 2007, the transformation
conventional advanced treatment method can no longer meet the current technology for various discharge standards has gradually matured and
requirements of urban sewage treatment and discharge. It is necessary to been applied on a large scale from a technical point of view. Based on the
continuously optimize/strengthen advanced water treatment technology experience gained from a large number of engineering cases, in the context
to further improve the effluent index of wastewater (Tang et al., 2020; of the widespread implementation of A-level and higher emission standards
Zhang et al., 2023c). Table 4 lists some cases of standard discharge of mu- in municipal WWTPs, in order to stably meet the high nitrogen and phos-
nicipal WWTPs process upgrading. phorus emission standards of municipal WWTPs, it is necessary to follow

Table 3
Executive standards for the effluent of some municipal WWTPs in China.
Province Standard Pollutant indexes (mg/L)

Chroma SS COD BOD5 NH3-N TN TP

National GB8978-1996 Grade I 50 20 60 20 15 – –

GB 18918-2002 Grade I-A 30 10 50 10 5 (8) 15 0.5
GB3838-2002 Category III – – 30 6 1.5 1.5 0.3
GB3838-2002 Category IV – – 40 10 2.0 2.0 0.4
Beijing DB11/890-2012 Grade A 10 5 20 4 1.0 10 0.2
DB11/307-2013 Grade A 10 5 20 4 1.0 10 0.2
Sichuan DB51/2311-2016 – – 30 6 1.5 (3) 10 0.3
Anhui DB34/2710-2016 Grade I – – 40 – 2.0 (3.0) 10 (12) 0.3
Tianjin DB 12/599-2015 15 5 30 6 1.5 10 0.3
DB12/356-2018 Grade I 20 10 30 6 1.0 (3.0) 10 0.3
Zhejiang DB33/2169-2018 – – 30 – 1.5 10 0.3
Yunnan DB5301/T 43-2020 Grade A – – 20 4 1.0 (1.5) 5 (10) 0.05
Henan DB41/908-2014 15 5 30 6 1.5 (2.5) 15 0.3
Jiangsu DB32/1072-2007 – – 40 – 3 (5) 10 (12) 0.3
Guangdong DB44/26-2001 Grade I 50 20 40 20 10 – 0.1

Remarks: When the water temperature is >12 °C, the values outside the parentheses are the control indicators. When the water temperature is ≤12 °C, the values inside the
box are the control indicators.

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C. Zhang et al. Science of the Total Environment 896 (2023) 165201

Table 4
Summary of advanced treatment technical routes applied in upgraded municipal WWTPs.
Name of water plant Water treatment Core treatment process Cost Effluent Reference
capacity (m3/d) (RMB/m3) quality/standard

A town WWTP in Fujian 2.4 × 105 Biological aerated filter-High efficiency sedimentation 0.576 GB3838-2002 Quasi Category IV (Yan, 2020)
tank-Denitrification deep bed filter-Disinfection pool
A WWTP in Zhejiang 1.6 × 10 5
Bardenpho-MBBR – GB3838-2002 Quasi Category IV (Teng et al., 2019)
Heyuan Yuancheng WWTP 2.0 × 104 BAF + flocculent settling+UF 0.205 GB3838-2002 Category III (Han, 2017)
A WWTP in Wuhan 8.0 × 104 Denitrification deep bed filter process + ozone contact 0.75 GB 18918-2002 Grade I-A (Zeng et al., 2021)
oxidation process
Tianjin Jingu WWTP 6.0 × 105 Improved multi-stage A/O tank + high-efficiency – DB 12/599-2015 Grade A (Zhang et al., 2019)
sedimentation tank + denitrification deep bed
filter + ozone contact oxidation tank
Changsha ganshengyuan 1.0 × 105 Bardenpho biological tank + biological adsorption falling – GB3838-2002 Category IV (Sun and Cui, 2018)
WWTP tank + denitrification deep bed filter
Beijing Mentougou's second 8.0 × 10 4
A2-AO/MBR + ozone catalytic oxidation – DB11/890-2012 Grade A (Liu et al., 2018)
reclaimed water plant
A WWTP in Dongguan 5 × 104 Oxidation ditch + upflow denitrification filter 0.10 DB44/26-2001 Grade I (Lu et al., 2022b)
Tuojiang reclaimed water 8 × 104 Hydrolysis acidification tank + improved A2/O + secondary – GB3838-2002 Category IV (Yang et al., 2022)
plant sedimentation tank+high-speed air flotation tank + activated
carbon sand filter
Tuandao WWTP 10 × 104 Biofilm + activated sludge – GB 18918-2002 Grade I-A (Han et al., 2014)
A WWTP in Xinjiang – Two-segment A/O tank with a relatively independent anoxic 0.204 GB 18918-2002 Grade I-A (Xiao et al., 2019)
suspended carrier zone and aerobic suspended carrier zone
A WWTP in Zhejiang 10 × 104 MBBR + magnetic coagulation process – GB 18918-2002 Grade I-A (Zheng et al., 2020)
A WWTP in Henan 6 × 104 Enhanced clarification and regulation pool + micro-aeration – GB3838-2002 Category IV (Wang et al., 2020a)
vertical flow constructed wetland + horizontal flow constructed
wetland + surface flow constructed wetland + oxidation pond
A WWTP in Shenzhen 10 × 104 Vertical flow constructed wetland + ecological oxidation tank – GB3838-2002 Category IV (Liao and Lin, 2013)
A WWTP in Yixing 5000 The composite-constructed wetland system – GB 18918-2002 Grade I-A (Du et al., 2020)

the standard upgrade and transformation route of “enhanced pre- (Chen, 2022; Kiliç et al., 2023). From the perspective of energy conversion,
treatment + enhanced main process + deep treatment” in the new traditional sewage treatment ultimately trades energy consumption for
round of standard upgrading and transformation (Song et al., 2022a). In ad- water quality. When the final effluent quality reaches the standard, the en-
dition, considering the characteristics of municipal sewage quality and ergy in the water is also removed to varying degrees (Zhang et al., 2016).
treatment status in China, the operation of municipal WWTPs must adhere The energy consumption of WWTPs with different scales, discharge
to the concepts of sustainable development and low-carbon operation while standards, processes, and treatment units also varies (He et al., 2019b). At
meeting future emission standards (Jin et al., 2014). present, the energy consumption of WWTPs accounts for about 1 % of the
national electricity consumption, and the annual consumption of various
3. Future technology development trend chemicals can reach 100,000 tons, which is a considerable energy con-
sumption (Zhang et al., 2021). From the sustainability perspective, energy
3.1. Sustainable wastewater treatment technology and water are closely related in the urban industrial system (Lu and Chen,
2016). Wastewater is a resource of energy, precious materials, and clean
The concept of sustainable development was put forward for the first water (Jiao et al., 2023). For example, the organic pollutants in sewage
time in 1987 from the report entitled “Our Common Future” by the have a large amount of biomass energy. Therefore, urban sewage is a valu-
World Commission on Environment and Development submitted to the able resource and a potential energy factory (Li et al., 2018; Lu and Chen,
United Nations General Assembly. The report defined sustainable develop- 2016). The ultimate goal of sustainable sewage treatment is to realize ma-
ment as “the development that can meet the needs of contemporary people terial returns and promote efficient treatment and recycling of water re-
without harming the ability of future generations to meet their needs” sources.

Mixed liquid reflux (100%~300%)

Carbon source Carbon source

Sewage Effluent

Sludge return (50%~100%)

Excess sludge
Oxygen Post Post
hypoxic Anaerobic Anoxic Aerobic
elimination anoxic aerobic Secondary sedimentation tank
zone zone zone zone
area zone zone

Fig. 5. AAAOAO flow chart of biological process.

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C. Zhang et al. Science of the Total Environment 896 (2023) 165201

Traditional sewage treatment achieves quality standards by consuming future (Valenti and Toscano, 2021). (3) By controlling the reaction condi-
energy such as electricity, implying that the energy substances in the water tions to produce hydrogen, its conversion rate does not exceed 30 %, and
have been disposed of. Hence, shifting sustainable sewage treatment from hydrogen production also produces carbon dioxide, which is not a clean en-
traditional “treatment” to “recycling” is critically needed (Rufi-Salis et al., ergy source.
2022; Sheikh et al., 2023). In addition, the technologies used for sustain-
able sewage treatment should also have the characteristics of low energy 3.1.2. Cost-effective treatment technology for nitrogen and phosphorus removal
and resource consumption, and also significantly reduce or avoid the ad- Nitrogen is one of the basic nutrients of all living organisms and plays an
verse effects of by-products (such as NH3, CO2) or land (such as excess essential role in the evolution of life. Nitrogen exists in various oxidative
sludge) on the atmosphere (Zhang et al., 2017). In today's scarce land re- states and chemical forms in nature (Guo and Peng, 2008). In the denitrifi-
sources, the water treatment structure should occupy a small area and pref- cation process of traditional sewage treatment, organic matter will first be
erably develop in a spatial direction. Only in this way can sewage treatment oxidized by carbon, which hinders the denitrification process due to a
be coordinated with the current ecological and environmental benefits, and lack of carbon sources. In order to address this issue, the addition of carbon
move towards a healthy track of sustainable development. sources, such as methanol, to the water becomes imperative, albeit at the
cost of significant resource consumption (Huang et al., 2023a). The nitrifi-
3.1.1. Utilize the organic matter as an energy resource cation with nitrite nitrogen as the endpoint can save 25 % oxygen com-
The construction of zero-carbon WWTP must consider both waste- pared with complete nitrification, and the denitrification with nitrite
water and energy (Borzooei et al., 2019). Niu et al. (2019) established nitrogen as the center can keep 40 % organic carbon source compared
an energy consumption model through China's WWTP and found that with traditional denitrification (starting from nitrate-nitrogen).
the total energy consumption of sewage treatment can be reduced by In terms of nitrogen removal, compared with the traditional A2O
20 % after energy-saving treatment as long as the COD of influent water processes, the Single reactor for High activity Ammonia Removal Over Ni-
is >500 mg/L. The organic matter in the traditional sewage treatment pro- trite (SHARON) with low energy consumption and low carbon source con-
cess is biodegradable, capable of producing stable greenhouse gas carbon sumption can save 25 % of energy consumption and 40 % of carbon source
dioxide emissions into the air, and ultimately evolving from water pollution consumption, while the ANNAMOX process can save 60 % energy con-
to air pollution, which is a process of energy dissipation and pollution trans- sumption and 90 % carbon source consumption (Huang et al., 2023a).
fer (Yang et al., 2023). The organic pollutant COD in sewage contains a lot SHARON and ANNAMOX are matured technologies for treating high-
of chemical energy, which can produce about 1.4 × 107 J of metabolic heat concentration ammonia nitrogen wastewater. Although the ANNAMOX
per kilogram of COD. In addition to meeting the energy requirements for process has progressed in treating typical urban sewage, there is still a
decarburization and phosphorus removal, the excess organic matter can gap in achieving actual application. The traditional nitrogen removal
 
completely form other energetic substances, such as CH4, H2, etc. These route (NHþ 4 →NO2 →NO3 →N2 ) not only has high energy consumption
substances can be stabilized into CO2 after using chemical energy, greatly for aeration and a large amount of excess sludge, but also releases a large
reducing carbon dioxide emissions and avoiding the problem of pollution amount of N2O, CO2, and other greenhouse gases during operation. If nitri-
transfer to the maximum extent (Koutsou et al., 2018). Therefore, the re- fication is controlled at the stage of generating NO2 , and then denitrifica-
covery and reuse of potential energy in sewage are of great practical signif- tion starts, the oxygen consumption and carbon consumption can be
icance for sustainable development strategy. reduced by about 25 % and 40 % respectively, which can realize a double
After treatment, most energy substances in sewage are stored in sludge. saving of O2 and COD consumption (Yang et al., 2022a). Based on the
There are three main ways to convert sludge into energy (Ahmad and short-cut nitrification process, further coupling with anammox can theoret-
Senaidi, 2023; Li et al., 2023a; Scrinzi et al., 2022; Wang et al., 2023): ically save 50 % aeration and 80 % carbon source, and reduce sludge pro-
(1) Direct incineration for power generation has an energy conversion duction and greenhouse gas emissions (Chen et al., 2021a). Fig. 6 shows
rate of about 80 %, which requires sufficient drying of sludge during the en- the comparison between short-cut denitrification coupled with anammox
ergy conversion. Hence, the investment is relatively high, and the current and traditional nitrification/denitrification.
application is relatively small. (2) Sludge can also be converted to methane To prevent the eutrophication of water bodies, phosphorus should be
energy by anaerobic digestion. The conversion efficiency of methane for removed from wastewater. However, phosphorus resources are becoming
power generation is 50 %–60 %. This equipment is relatively simple and increasingly scarce and are an important resource that is difficult to
can be engineered. This method has been an important way of converting renew. The principle of denitrification phosphorus removal technology is
sludge into energy in the past, present, and will still be important in the to use facultative denitrification phosphorus removal bacteria (DPB) to

2O2 2 e- 3 e-
1 NO -N +
4
1 NO--N 3
1 NO--N 2 0.5 N2
(COD) (COD)
VS
Traditional nitrification / denitrification
Short-cut denitrification coupled withAnammox
Anammox 0.5 N2
e-
0.5 NH -N +
4
0.5 NO--N 3
(COD)
Save 80% carbon
Short-cut denitrification 0.5 NH+4 -N source and 50% COD

Fig. 6. Short-cut denitrification coupled with anammox and traditional nitrification/denitrification.

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C. Zhang et al. Science of the Total Environment 896 (2023) 165201

organically combine the traditional independent nitrogen and phosphorus Table 6

removal process to achieve simultaneous nitrogen and phosphorus re- Industrial land prices in six major regions of China in 2022.
moval. Compared with the traditional nitrogen and phosphorus removal Different regions Industrial land price
methods, the denitrification phosphorus removal process can save about (million
50 % COD and 30 % O2, and correspondingly reduce 50 % excess sludge RMB/hectare)
(Yang et al., 2022a). Hao et al. (2009) conducted an experimental study East China region (Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, Shanghai, 14.4
to enhance biological phosphorus removal as early as 2009, and there are Zhejiang, Fujian)
North China region (Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi, Inner 12.6
currently many studies on phosphorus after the wastewater is discharged.
Mongolia)
Zhu et al. (2018) developed a novel (Anaerobic-Anoxic-Oxic/Sequencing Zhongnan District (Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, 12.975
Batch Sidestream Phosphorus Recovery (AAO-SBSPR)) process that can re- Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan)
cover up to 65 % of influent phosphorus from urban wastewater, with a Northwest region (Ningxia, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Shaanxi, 7.05
phosphate removal rate of 99.1 %. In addition, research has shown that Gansu)
Southwest region (Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Tibet, 6.3
struvite is a very promising pathway for phosphorus recovery, with a rela- Chongqing)
tively simple recovery method and the solid phosphorus produced can be Northeast region (Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang) 5.775
used as fertilizer (Bashar et al., 2018). National average level 7.95

3.1.3. Sludge reduction treatment technology

The excess sludge generated from wastewater treatment is a common This technology has been used in some pools in China. Which meets the
phenomenon worldwide. The principle of sludge treatment is “reduction, needs of green, low-carbon, and sustainable sewage treatment develop-
harmlessness, stabilization, and resource utilization” (Guo et al., 2020; ment.
Zhang et al., 2023a). Currently, the main disposal methods for sludge in At present, relying on a single process is difficult to meet the require-
European countries are agriculture, landfill, and incineration. The main dis- ments for sludge treatment and disposal. It is an ideal choice to cleverly
posal method of sludge in the United States is recycling, and the proportion combine multiple processes for different regions and sludge types, taking
of sludge landfilling is gradually decreasing. Many regions in the United into account climate, regional characteristics, and construction site condi-
States have even banned sludge land landfilling. Some sanitary landfill op- tions, in order to achieve the best results.
erations related to sludge treatment are relatively simple, with low invest-
ment costs, low treatment costs, and strong adaptability. However, the 3.1.4. Developing reactors with small footprint
land encroachment is serious. If the anti-seepage technology is not enough, The traditional activated sludge method occupies a large area, and al-
it will lead to potential soil and Groundwater pollution (Zhang et al., though its construction cost is not high, the site price will be a considerable
2023a). The capital investment, operation costs, advantages, and draw- expense (Guven et al., 2023). Promoting this technology in cities with
backs of some technologies to reduce sludge are compared in Table 5. scarce land, such as Beijing, is difficult (Table 6). Therefore, developing
Due to its efficient pollutant removal effect, the traditional activated sludge land-saving reactors from “the ground” to “space” is an important research
method has always been the mainstream technology for wastewater biolog- direction in the future water treatment field (Zhang et al., 2023b). In this
ical treatment both domestically and internationally. However, traditional regard, biofilm technology and granular sludge reactor technology deserve
activated sludge methods generate a large amount of excess sludge, ac- further research and development. A sewage treatment plant in Italy has
counting for 1 %–2 % of the treated water (Mannina et al., 2022), and the changed its traditional biological treatment process to an innovative se-
primary treatment methods for it are thickening, digestion, dehydration, quencing batch biofilter particle reactor (SBBGR) and removed the second-
and final disposal (Yan et al., 2013). The problem of high investment and ary sedimentation tank and sludge stabilization device, which significantly
cost in sludge treatment has become a bottleneck in developing these tech- reduces the land area. At the same time, sludge production has decreased,
nologies. Reducing sludge without consuming energy and chemicals aligns and the dry matter content of sludge after dehydration reaches 28 %. All ef-
with sustainable sewage treatment. Yan et al. (2019) found that when NOx fluent indicators except for phosphorus have been improved. However,
is used as an electron acceptor, 15.4 % sludge reduction efficiency can be there is also a problem of high mixed power consumption (approximately
obtained without additional energy and resource consumption in the mi- 25 % higher than traditional processing), which is mainly related to the cy-
crobial population structure of activated sludge under low dissolved oxy- clic flow in the SBBGR system. It will be a good water treatment technology
gen. Hao et al. (2020) found that direct incineration of dried sludge if we can solve the energy consumption problem and improve the phospho-
without anaerobic digestion is cheaper but has a small treatment capacity. rus removal rate (Di Iaconi et al., 2017). Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor

Table 5
The capital investment, operation costs, advantages, and drawbacks of some technologies to reduce sludge.
Sludge reduction Capital investment Operation costs Advantages Drawbacks
technology (million RMB/t) (RMB/t)

Anaerobic fermentation 2–4 60–120 Can generate methane as a fuel for power generation, boiler Large investment and high operating costs.
of sludge burning, and driving machinery. The digested sludge will no Produce a large amount of biogas residue that
longer emit a foul odor. The sludge has stable properties and can needs to be treated again
kill most pathogenic bacteria and other harmful microorganisms
Aerobic composting of 2.5–4.5 120–160 Product stability. Can kill pathogenic bacteria and weed seeds in The composting process produces a large
sludge sludge, achieving harmless treatment amount of odor, polluting the surrounding
environment. Large footprint
Sludge incineration for 2–4 170–400 The speed of sludge treatment through incineration is fast and It has a significant impact on exhaust emissions
power generation does not require long-term storage. Sludge can be incinerated and is prone to producing harmful gases such as
on-site without the need for long-distance transportation dioxins. Large investment. Severe corrosion of
boilers. High maintenance costs
Plate and frame filter 0.2–1 180 High degree of mechanization. Small footprint. Relatively small The limitation of sludge reuse has increased. The
press secondary maintenance volume efficiency of compression is not high
pressure filtration
Stabilizing treatment 0.2–1 130–150 The sludge solidification technology has the advantages of high Sludge cannot be reused and can only be
through curing agent treatment efficiency, low treatment cost, and good solid stability landfilled
after treatment

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C. Zhang et al. Science of the Total Environment 896 (2023) 165201

(AnMBR) is a research hotspot in the anaerobic treatment of urban waste- operational performance. Smart WWTPs will be a vital component of the
water. Compared with traditional anaerobic processes, it can significantly construction of future municipal WWTPs and also an element of future
reduce land occupation, but there is still a gap between technological matu- smart cities.
rity and production application (Zhang et al., 2022b).
3.2. “Zero carbon” WWTPs
3.1.5. Construct the smart municipal WWTPs
As early as 2014, the State Council issued the “National New Urbaniza- In recent years, there have been significant CO2 emissions and natural
tion Plan (2014–2020)”, which proposed the development of intelligent resource consumption in China's industrialization and urbanization pro-
water supply services and the construction of intelligent water supply and cesses (Chen et al., 2023b; Zeng et al., 2017). To deal with the problem of
drainage and sewage treatment systems that cover the entire water supply global warming, on December 12, 2020, at the Climate Ambition Summit
process, ensure water supply quality and safety (Zhang et al., 2023b). to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the signing of the Paris Agree-
The rapid development of advanced technologies such as artificial intel- ment, China delivered an important speech on “Forward-looking into the
ligence, the Internet of Things, and cloud computing plays an essential role future, starting a new journey of the global response to climate change”,
in promoting the construction of intelligent systems in the water treatment promising that by 2030, China has promised to reduce carbon dioxide emis-
industry. The construction of intelligent sewage treatment plants should in- sions per unit of GDP by >65 % by 2030 compared with 2005 and strive to
clude intelligent production control systems, intelligent operation systems, achieve “carbon neutrality” by 2060. Under the “double carbon” strategic
and smart management systems (Qu et al., 2022; Wang and Liu, 2021). In goal, China's sewage treatment industry must practice the low-carbon
intelligent control, it is necessary to consider both direct and indirect car- development path.
bon emissions to achieve a new design framework for optimal control/op- Wastewater treatment does not only consume high energy but also gen-
eration of sustainable WWTP (Lu et al., 2022a, 2022b). In addition, Chen erates a lot of carbon dioxide (Xi et al., 2023). The carbon emission of
et al. (2021b) used a new technique, multi-agent deep information learning WWTPs depends on the combination of electricity and fuel, wastewater
(MADRL), to similarly optimize dissolved oxygen (DO) and chemical dos- treatment technology, treatment capacity, and the quality of inlet and out-
age in a WWTP. The cost-oriented control strategy exhibits comparable let water. China's unit carbon emissions are much higher than those of other
overall performance to the LCA-driven strategy since it sacrifices environ- countries (Chen et al., 2023a; Wang et al., 2016). It is roughly estimated
mental benefits but costs less. The framework system of the smart that the greenhouse gas emission of the whole sewage treatment industry
WWTPs is shown in Fig. 7. in China will reach 2.95 % of the national greenhouse gas emission in
The development of intelligent water will help strengthen the supervi- 2030. Although the result of sewage treatment can achieve “clear water”,
sion of water resources. For the operation and management of smart it is often not guaranteed that a “blue sky” will appear at the same time
WWTPs in China, it is urgent to establish a scientific and complete compre- due to a large number of CO2 emissions (Huang et al., 2023b). Therefore,
hensive performance evaluation standard system for WWTPs (Su et al., promoting the low-carbon development of the sewage treatment industry
2022). Wang et al. (2016) simulated the operation status of a WWTP in has important practical significance for the construction of “zero carbon”
Tianjin using the WEST 2012 software. sewage plants.
By evaluating the effluent quality, equipment progressiveness, energy Despite significant progress in China's sewage treatment industry in re-
consumption, water consumption, chemical consumption, and other indi- cent years, government led development has left many problems. Signifi-
cators, the problems existing in the operation of the WWTPs can be ana- cantly, there is still a significant gap in treatment facilities' design
lyzed and solved to a certain extent; it will also help to improve the principles and operational performance compared to developed countries.

Fig. 7. Framework system of smart WWTPs.

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C. Zhang et al. Science of the Total Environment 896 (2023) 165201

AB method
108% energy
self-sufficiency rate
Heat

Electricity
Excess
activated
sludge

Kitchen
CH4 CH4
waste

CH4 200% energy

Combined heat an power generation self-sufficiency rate

Fig. 8. The process of energy production in Strass WWTP.

At present, there are generally the following problems in China's sewage of a carbon-neutral operation. In addition, Amersfoort WWTP and
treatment plants (Maziotis et al., 2023; Qu et al., 2019; Sarpong et al., Wolfgangsee Ischl TP WWTP have achieved more energy generation
2019; Shen, 2021; Zhang et al., 2021): (1) The design and operation of through energy recovery and reduced energy consumption (Nowak et al.,
WWTPs do not meet the requirements of sustainable development. To 2011; Zhu et al., 2021) (Fig. 8). Dong et al. (2017) conducted an ecological
meet the level I-A standard, most WWTPs have canceled the Class I sedi- assessment of 736 municipal WWTPs in China in terms of economic cost, en-
mentation tank, extended the time of Oxic stage aeration, and added ad- ergy consumption, pollutant removal, and global warming effect, and found
vanced treatment measures such as a biofilter at the rear end to improve that only three municipal WWTPs are stable and efficient. Statistics show
the nitrogen removal rate. This process will increase energy and chemical that China's WWTPs have great potential for energy conservation and re-
consumption, making WWTPs indirectly become a non-negligible source source recovery (Xu et al., 2018). In actual operation, carbon neutrality is
of greenhouse gas emissions; (2) Energy recovery is not considered. not limited to the recovery of organic energy from excess sludge. It should
According to statistics, <3 % of WWTPs in China are equipped with anaer- also be related to symbiotic substrate digestion, water source heat pumps,
obic digestion facilities, and quite a few are not operating well. Therefore, solar energy, wind energy, and biomass incineration. It even includes the uti-
the number of WWTP in China with energy recycling is very small; (3) No lization of resources (sewage, sludge, nutrients) and the proportion of
material recovery is considered. In traditional treatment methods, how to chemicals (Hao et al., 2015b). While recycling organic energy, we also
remove pollutants to meet the emission requirements is considered. At need to conduct carbon assessment and analysis to prevent adverse impacts
the same time, the recovery of substances such as metal ions, carbon, nitro- on the environment (Bordon et al., 2018). The energy recovery and utiliza-
gen, and phosphorus is always overlooked. Therefore, there is no material tion of municipal WWTPs can be considered from the following perspectives.
recovery in China's WWTP.
The narrow goal of carbon neutralization in sewage treatment is to (1) Organic energy recovery. Organic matter is a common pollutant in sew-
achieve self-sufficiency in energy use, recover organic energy from excess age, but organic matter contains a lot of chemical energy; for example,
sludge, and obtain energy from ordinary substrate digestion, heat recovery, it can be converted into energy gases through anaerobic digestion. To
solar energy, wind power generation, and biomass incineration. The broad fundamentally solve the problem of green and low-carbon develop-
goals include resource utilization (wastewater, sludge, nutrients), chemical ment is to achieve energy self-sufficiency. It is estimated that the en-
dosing, and others (Hao et al., 2015a). Achieving zero carbon sewage treat- ergy contained in sewage is much higher than that consumed by
ment of wastewater refers to achieving zero greenhouse gas emissions sewage treatment. Research studies reported that the organic chemical
throughout the entire life cycle of the WWTP. The design and operation energy contained in sewage is about 5 times the energy consumption of
of zero carbon WWTP need to be considered from two aspects: “open traditional municipal WWTPs (Sancho et al., 2019; Xu, 2022). After
source” and “throttling”. “Open source” refers to the development of or- sewage treatment, most of the energy is transferred to sludge
ganic energy in sewage/sludge and the rational utilization of solar energy, (Vaithyanathan and Cabana, 2021). However, its energy is mainly con-
wind energy, and other pooled energy (Guo et al., 2023; Siddiqui et al., centrated in the anaerobic direction. Sludge anaerobic energy includes
2023). “Throttling” refers to selecting a low carbon potential process with three technological paths: ethanol production by anaerobic fermenta-
process optimization, technology improvement, and intelligent control to tion, hydrogen production by anaerobic fermentation, and methane
reduce energy consumption and improve the comprehensive efficiency of production by anaerobic digestion. At present, the most important
equipment (Lorenzo-Toja et al., 2016; Panepinto et al., 2016). way to recover organic energy is to produce biogas through anaerobic
fermentation, with a conversion rate of generally 50 %–60 % (Zhang
3.2.1. Energy sources recovery and utilization et al., 2022a). On the technical level of anaerobic digestion, the prob-
In recent years, many countries and regions have put the carbon-neutral lem of bacterial cell decomposition of excess sludge is the bottleneck
operation of municipal WWTPs on the agenda to reduce carbon emissions restricting energy conversion efficiency. In addition, we should also
in the sewage treatment sector (Smol, 2023)c. For example, Strass Sewage pay attention to the production of N2O in anaerobic fermentation, as
Treatment Plant in Innsbruck, Austria, uses the adsorption biodegradation the greenhouse effect of N2O is 300 times stronger than the CO2
process (AB) for the biological treatment of sewage, and the surplus sludge (Flores-Alsina et al., 2014; Michalovicz and Bilotta, 2022). In addition,
generated is used for anaerobic digestion to produce CH4. The generated a large amount of organic energy can also be intercepted by strengthen-
CH4 is effectively used for reactor and building heating. As early as 2005, ing the primary treatment technology, for example, >40 % of organic
the plant achieved a self-sufficiency rate of 108 %, fully realizing the goal matter can be intercepted by CEPT process, HRAS process and

12
C. Zhang et al. Science of the Total Environment 896 (2023) 165201

AnMBR (Xu, 2022). For the high-rate activated sludge process (HRAS) designed for a sewage plant in China by using the top of the circulating
and chemically enhanced primary treatment process, “carbon capture” activated sludge process (CAST) reaction tank and the roof of the office
technology can be used to capture COD in influent water into sludge building. In addition, China has installed different quantities of solar
and generate energy through anaerobic digestion of sludge (Tang power modules in Tangwang WWTP and Liuwei WWTP, which can
et al., 2022). compensate for >20 % of the power consumption in the plant area
(2) Phosphorus recovery from sludge. In addition to containing a large (Fang et al., 2019; Liu et al., 2015). The construction of distributed pho-
amount of recyclable energy, sewage also contains rich phosphorus re- tovoltaic power stations can not only meet the power supply of the mu-
sources. The scale of municipal WWTP is generally large, which means nicipal WWTPs during peak hours but also control the evaporation and
that the total phosphorus contained in them is high. Recycling phos- temperature of sewage pools to a certain extent.
phorus from sewage can produce economic benefits and delay the de- (5) Microbial fuel cell (MFC). The MFC is a device that employs microor-
pletion of phosphorus resources. Common sludge phosphorus release ganisms to directly convert the chemical energy derived from organic
technologies mainly include microwave pretreatment, acid/alkali pre- matter into electrical energy. Krieg et al. (2019) tested the MFC system
treatment, EDTA treatment, alkali fermentation, sulfide addition, and in four municipal WWTPs using different operation modes and found
anaerobic fermentation combined with sulfate reduction technology that at low solid-liquid concentrations, activated sludge needs a lot of
(Xu, 2022). 2010 STOWA proposed a sewage treatment framework energy from the substrate to maintain metabolism, resulting in very
for nutrient, energy, and water factories. By 2030, the Netherlands low MFC current density. When the solid-liquid ratio is high, more
WWTP will be built into the “nutrition factory” Amersfoort WWTP, energy can be transferred from the activated sludge to the electrode, re-
which will achieve phosphorus recovery by introducing Wasstrip and sulting in a higher current.
Pearl technology. Before digestion, strip technology could separate
phosphorus from excess sludge to form phosphorus-rich supernatant. 3.2.2. Low-carbon wastewater treatment process
Pearl technology treats the supernatant of dehydrated sludge with a The internal reason for developing new processes and technologies for
high concentration of phosphorus and ammonia nitrogen and can re- municipal wastewater treatment is the practice result of people's constant
cover >90 % of phosphorus in the supernatant (Zhu et al., 2021). pursuit of high efficiency, low energy consumption, low cost, low floor
(Fig. 9) area, low carbon emissions, and other high-performance indicators,
(3) Utilizing the thermal energy in sewage. Sewage also contains enormous which is also the practical requirement for achieving “carbon neutrality”
waste heat, about 4 times the chemical energy in sewage (Yang et al., and “carbon peak” in the current social environment. Building low-
2022a). The municipal WWTP mainly recovers heat energy through carbon municipal WWTP, especially those with a scale of 1 × 104 m3/
the combination of water-source heat pumps and heat exchangers. d ~ 5 × The 104 m3/d, requires the establishment of a reasonable pollutant
For example, a sewage treatment plant in Qingdao realizes its heating removal sequence and appropriate process flow from the perspective of
demand through water source heat pumps and heat exchangers and comprehensive removal of various pollutants (Zhang et al., 2016). In this
meets the heating demand of the surrounding 20 × 104 m2 area way, pollutants can be used as an electron acceptor/donor and reactant as
(Tang et al., 2022; Zheng, 2022). A town in Austria uses industrial much as possible to avoid the phenomenon of “acting independently”.
cooling water to replace urban sewage for district heating through In recent years, many studies have been on low-carbon wastewater
heat pumps, saving >40 % of electric energy (Kollmann et al., 2017; treatment processes, such as traditional biological treatment processes
Nowak et al., 2015). Hao et al. (2019) found the potential for thermal that generate a large amount of carbon dioxide. The total carbon dioxide
energy (90 % recovery from wastewater) is much higher than for chem- emissions from the SBR process are twice that of A2O, with 10 % being di-
ical energy (COD, 10 % recovery). rect carbon dioxide (Nguyen et al., 2019). Compared with A2O and CASS
(4) Utilization of solar energy and wind energy. Besides the energy of sew- processes, the A/O process consumes less energy (Li et al., 2021b). The
age itself, we can fully utilize solar and wind energy. Large municipal high-speed activated sludge (HRAS) process can effectively separate or-
WWTPs generally cover a wide area and have a large surface area of ganic matter from wastewater, and compared with the traditional activated
various structures, which provides a basic condition for the layout of sludge process, this process can reduce aeration by 60 % (Hao et al.,
rooftop photovoltaic power generation technology. Therefore, the ap- 2015a). Collison and Grismer (2018) used the zeolite anammox system to
propriate number of luminescent boards should be laid at appropriate remove ammonia and nitrate from the secondary treatment wastewater
locations based on geographical location, era, lighting, and so on. stage. Under no additional energy input, temperature fluctuation
European and American have installed solar panels on aeration tanks (12–30 °C), and low ammonia content in the influent (~35 NH3-N mg/L),
to collect solar energy. It not only uses solar energy but also serves as the NH3-N emission concentration was always lower than 1 mg/L. Bacteria
a seal, insulation, and collection of toxic and harmful gases for central- are key denitrification bacteria in the nitrate reduction process. The 15 N
ized treatment. A 300kWp photovoltaic power generation system was labeled nitrate test shows that removed NH3-N is assimilated into organic

Phosphorus-rich
supernatant
Wasstrip process

Waste activated sludge

(before anaerobic digestion)
Pearl technology
Phosphorus
High-grade fertilizers

Fig. 9. The process of nutrient recovery in Amersfoort WWTP.

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C. Zhang et al. Science of the Total Environment 896 (2023) 165201

nitrogen, with an assimilation efficiency of 58 %. The nitrogen loss through optimize the pump and make more precise equipment choices to re-
aerobic denitrification is only about 42 % of the total nitrogen (Chen et al., duce the pump's energy consumption in the water treatment process.
2022). The location of wall-mounted mechanical mixers also has a specific
Overall, Canada's municipal WWTPs emphasize the whole plant con- impact on energy consumption. It can be analyzed using three-
trol, and the indicators and requirements for municipal WWTPs in the US dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling to deter-
are relatively detailed, while those in China are relatively extensive. Before mine the optimal configuration (Elshaw et al., 2018). In addition, we
process design, we need to conduct scientific analysis and use models to as- also need to optimize the water delivery performance of the drainage
sist simulation, in order to avoid inconsistencies between design indicators pipe network, strengthen sludge treatment and management, and con-
and actual indicators. In this way, detailed process design can be used to sider optimizing the design of some equipment or modular devices
achieve the ultimate reduction of energy consumption (Collivignarelli with high efficiency and low energy consumption to provide equip-
et al., 2022; Eseoglu et al., 2022; Zhang et al., 2021; Zhang et al., 2020). ment support for zero carbon WWTP, such as the pilot microbial elec-
trochemical system (MES) and modularized MFC system with 1000 L
3.2.3. Improving equipment efficiency and optimizing parameter modular (Ali et al., 2022; Barona et al., 2021; He et al., 2019a; Liang
We can obtain the optimal solution through simulation calculations of et al., 2018; Lu et al., 2019).
relevant processes to guide engineering design and on-site construction, ul- (4) Refined operational management control. The delicate operation and
timately matching low-energy equipment (Sweetapple et al., 2014b). The management of urban sewage treatment plants require Connecting
computer adjusts the process conditions based on the dynamic changes in with Reality, Suiting Measures to Local Conditions, and conducting re-
water volume and quality at different periods/stages of the municipal fined management from processes, equipment, personnel, and other as-
WWTPs, thereby achieving precise control of the equipment. At the same pects. With technological advancement and new equipment and
time, we should learn advanced methods from other countries to help techniques, sewage treatment plants are gradually moving towards
China build zero-carbon municipal WWTPs. informatization and intelligence. How to carry out refined manage-
ment during the renovation process of sewage treatment plants is a
(1) Perform carbon emission calculation. Relevant studies have shown that problem that operation and management personnel must consider
deep dehydration agents and sludge landfill gas were the primary (Xu et al., 2022).
sources of carbon emissions during sludge treatment and disposal. To
achieve carbon emission reduction, we should conduct carbon assess- 3.2.4. Experience with wastewater treatment conceptual plants in China
ment, quantitative calculation of carbon emissions, analysis of emission As early as January 2014, Qu Jiuhui, an academician of the Chinese
characteristics, and sensitivity analysis (Chu et al., 2022; Lin et al., Academy of Engineering (CAE) member, and six other experts jointly pro-
2017; Sweetapple et al., 2014a; Zhang et al., 2015b). During the oper- posed the idea of “Building a Future-oriented Conceptual Wastewater
ation of the municipal WWTPs, dynamic change in carbon emissions Treatment Plant in China”, which has attracted extensive attention from
can also be analyzed based on conditions such as water quality, water the industry and society (Industry Information, 2014; SUP Atelier of
volume, and working conditions to establish the dynamic change in THAD, 2020). Then in 2018, the Third Sewage Treatment Plant in Sui
carbon emissions and provide the scientific basis for carbon reduction County, Shangqiu, Henan Province, was constructed. In this project,
(Song et al., 2015). For example, carbon footprint and energy footprint various materials such as straw and livestock manure are used for anaerobic
models can be used to quantify the relationship between different influ- digestion using the DANAS dry anaerobic fermentation technology, and the
ent water qualities and the final carbon dioxide production of munici- biogas generated is used for power generation. The effluent of the WWTP is
pal WWTPs. The combination of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and operated with low consumption on the premise that the water quality
Life Cycle cost (LCC) can also be used to evaluate the ecological effi- reaches Class IV of surface water, and the energy self-sufficiency rate of
ciency of Spanish WWTP (Corominas et al., 2020; Khiewwijit et al., the WWTP is 20 % ~ 30 % (CSD Water Service, 2019a, 2019b, 2020;
2015; Mannina et al., 2019; Zeng et al., 2021; Zhang et al., 2019). Tang et al., 2022). Wang (2021) conducted the sustainable evaluation
(2) Reduce energy input. Wastewater treatment requires a lot of fuel and research of the Suixian No.3 WWTP from five dimensions of economy,
chemicals and indirectly releases large quantities of greenhouse society, environment, engineering, and project management, improved
gases. Therefore, reducing carbon sources and chemical inputs will the relevant theories of project sustainability research, and laid the
help reduce energy consumption. So we must use as little or no addi- foundation for accurately evaluating the sustainability of the new
tional energy as possible. For example, Carvalho et al. (2021) proposed concept plant. The process flow diagram of Suixian No. 3 WWTP is shown
a new phosphorus and nitrogen removal system based on microalgae in Fig. 10.
bacteria. The phosphorus removal capacity of the system exceeds the The construction of the Jiangsu Yixing Urban Water Resources Concept
phosphorus removal level of typical domestic sewage, and the system Plant was started in April 2020 and was officially completed and put into
does not require mechanical aeration or carbon source supplement. operation 18 months later (Yixing Environmental Science Park, 2018).
This process has become a low-energy alternative to conventional ni- The project is the first municipal WWTP that fully follows the concept of
trogen and phosphorus treatment of domestic sewage, with broad ap- a conceptual factory and the first municipal WWTP with a leading demon-
plication prospects (Chojnacka et al., 2023). stration effect in China. In addition to reducing pollutants, the project has
(3) Use high-performance equipment and optimize control strategies. Data new functions, such as urban energy plants, water source plants, and fertil-
shows that the electricity power consumption of municipal WWTPs in izer plants, which will further develop into a new environmental infrastruc-
China is approximately 0.15–0.28 kW·h/m3. The power consumption ture with comprehensive urban-rural integration and mutual benefit. After
of the aeration blower accounts for 56.2 %, and the aeration system the completion of the project, if it can continue to operate stably, it will pro-
is the main power consumption equipment in the biological treatment foundly impact the green and low-carbon development and industrial
process. (Ontiveros and Campanella, 2013). Therefore, upgrading the upgrading of China's sewage treatment industry (CSD Water Service, 2022).
aeration system and accurately controlling the aeration rate is very im- In the future, the development trend of China's municipal WWTPs will
portant, which requires optimizing the blower to improve the stability, continue to move closer to “carbon neutrality” or even “carbon negative”
reliability, and accuracy of the control and monitoring system. At the technology and eventually realize the construction of “zero carbon”
same time, it needs to be combined with mathematical simulation tech- WWTPs, to alleviate global problems such as climate warming and resource
nology to improve the aeration equipment's power and oxygen transfer shortage. The proposal and practice of the sewage treatment concept
efficiency. In addition, improving pumps is also one of the primary en- factory have taken a crucial step. We have a reason to believe that China's
ergy sources in municipal wastewater treatment, with pumps account- sewage treatment industry will soon contribute positively to the carbon
ing for 10 % of the energy consumption of all water facilities. We can neutrality strategy.

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C. Zhang et al. Science of the Total Environment 896 (2023) 165201

Coarse Fine screen Primary

Anaerobic Secondary
Sewage screen and and aerated sedimentation Denitrifying Discharge
tank+multistage sedimentation Ozone
lifting pump grit chamber fermentation filter to river
room tank A/O tank

Phosphorus removal by chemical method

Biogas flare
Sludge Disc
storage tank decanter
Gasometer Drying desulfation Hot-water boiler

Animal Alternator
excrement Digestive liquid reflux

Feeding Anaerobic Plunger Solid liquid Materialstorage Product

Aquatic plants Mixed silo
machine sludge pump separator room export

Flushing water The moisture content

Straw plate-and-frame
of the sludge is 60%
Dehydrating agent type filter

Fig. 10. The process flow diagram of Suixian No.3 WWTP.

3.3. Future technology development discussion 4. Conclusions

With the gradual development of social and technological progress, This manuscript mainly discusses the technologies for strengthening
sewage treatment technology is moving towards a low-carbon and green di- municipal WWTPs and the future technology development trend of the
rection, a revolutionary transformation from “energy consumption” of urban sewage treatment plant. The important role of advanced treatment
treatment technology to “energy conservation”. From the energy utilization technologies such as hydrolysis assimilation pretreatment, high efficiency
perspective, energy self-sufficiency can be achieved in the sewage treat- (toxicity resistant) chain pretreatment, and anaerobic ammonia oxidation
ment process; From the perspective of resource recovery, resource recovery inhibition technology in urban sewage treatment plants were analyzed in
is mainly achieved by reducing energy consumption, drug consumption, or detail. In addition, the content of the sustainable waste treatment technol-
excavating energy from wastewater. We need to change the traditional mu- ogy system was discussed from multiple perspectives, and the future tech-
nicipal sewage treatment model, transform from “high consumption” sew- nology development trend was discussed with the goal of “zero carbon”
age treatment plants to “future-oriented” low environmental impact WWTP in combination with the national carbon peak and carbon neutral
sewage treatment plants, and establish a future-oriented sewage treatment goals. The relevant technical contents and methods mentioned in this
technology system suitable for China's national conditions. paper can provide useful implications in guiding the upgrading and recon-
The wastewater treatment technology is integrated from the sustain- struction of “zero carbon” sewage plants with higher treatment standards in
ability and carbon neutrality perspective, and the integrated wastewater the future. The main conclusions are summarized as follows:
and sludge treatment process of future urban wastewater treatment plants
is proposed. This process can achieve water, Recovery of organic matter, (1) With China's increasingly strict emission standards in China, we need
phosphorus, and energy, and denitrification through short-term denitrifica- to upgrade municipal WWTPs through certain treatment technologies
tion combined with anaerobic ammonia oxidation; Full utilization of solar to meet high discharge standards. Optimized technologies such as bio-
and wind energy; Sludge fermentation produces methane and obtains en- augmentation, highly efficient bacteria, and anaerobic ammonia oxida-
ergy. The process is shown in Fig. 11. tion have important reference significance in wastewater treatment. In

Fig. 11. Process route of municipal WWTPs for carbon neutral.

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C. Zhang et al. Science of the Total Environment 896 (2023) 165201

addition, optimizing and combining multiple advanced treatment tech- Campo, R., Sguanci, S., Caffaz, S., Mazzoli, L., Ramazzotti, M., Lubello, C., Lotti, T., 2020.
Efficient carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus removal from low C/N real domestic wastewa-
nologies is also conducive to achieving high sewage discharge stan- ter with aerobic granular sludge. Bioresour. Technol. 305, 122961.
dards. Cao, S., Du, R., Niu, M., Li, B., Ren, N., Peng, Y., 2016. Integrated anaerobic ammonium
(2) In sewage discharge up to the required effluent standard, the sustain- oxidization with partial denitrification process for advanced nitrogen removal from
high-strength wastewater. Bioresour. Technol. 221, 37–46.
able development of sewage treatment should be considered. That is Carvalho, V.C.F., Kessler, M., Fradinho, J.C., Oehmen, A., Reis, M.A.M., 2021. Achieving ni-
to say, while effectively removing nutrients such as nitrogen and phos- trogen and phosphorus removal at low C/N ratios without aeration through a novel
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Cheng, L., Li, J., Wang, L., Du, J., Zeng, P., Zhao, X., Wang, C., 2021. Development trend anal-
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This work was financially supported by the Major Projects of Erdos Collivignarelli, M.C., Todeschini, S., Abba, A., Ricciardi, P., Carnevale Miino, M., Torretta, V.,
Science and Technology (2022EEDSKJZDZX015), the National Natural Rada, E.C., Conti, F., Cillari, G., Calatroni, S., Lumia, G., Bertanza, G., 2022. The perfor-
mance evaluation of wastewater service: a protocol based on performance indicators ap-
Science Foundation of China (No. 52170096), and the Major Projects of
plied to sewer systems and wastewater treatment plants. Environ. Technol. 43 (22),
Erdos Science and Technology (2021EEDSCXQDFZ006). 3426–3443.
Corominas, L., Byrne, D.M., Guest, J.S., Hospido, A., Roux, P., Shaw, A., Short, M.D., 2020.
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