Publications related to Agricultural wastewater treatment

Role of Carbonyl Compounds for N-Nitrosamine Formation during Nitrosation: Kinetics and Mechanisms

Urs von Gunten, Florian Frédéric Vincent Breider, Yishuai Pan

N-Nitrosamines are potential human carcinogens frequently detected in natural and engineered aquatic systems. This study sheds light on the role of carbonyl compounds in the formation of N-nitrosamines by nitrosation of five secondary amines via different ...

2024

Monitoring an Emergent Pathogen at Low Incidence in Wastewater Using qPCR: Mpox in Switzerland

Tamar Kohn, Timothy R. Julian

Wastewater-based epidemiology offers a complementary approach to clinical case-based surveillance of emergent diseases and can help identify regions with infected people to prioritize clinical surveillance strategies. However, tracking emergent diseases in ...

2024

Microbial genome collection of aerobic granular sludge cultivated in sequencing batch reactors using different carbon source mixtures

Christof Holliger, Aline Sondra Adler, Laetitia Janine Andrée Cardona, Jaspreet Singh Saini, Pilar Natalia Rodilla Ramírez, Ruizhe Pei

Aerobic granular sludge (AGS) consists of a microbial consortium that has an important role in wastewater treatment. This study investigates AGS microorganisms cultivated in a laboratory-scale sequencing batch reactor. Metagenomic sequencing was conducted ...

Amer Soc Microbiology2024

In Situ Synthesis of CuxO/N Doped Graphdiyne with Pyridine N Configuration for Ammonia Production via Nitrate Reduction

Sophia Haussener, Roberto Valenza, Jian Li

Electroreduction of nitrate to ammonia provides an interesting pathway for wastewater treatment and valorization. Cu-based catalysts are active for the conversion of NO3− to NO2− but suffer from an inefficient hydrogenation process of NO2−. Herein, CuxO/N- ...

2024

Oxidation processes and me

Urs von Gunten

This publication summarizes my journey in the field of chemical oxidation processes for water treatment over the last 30+ years. Initially, the efficiency of the application of chemical oxidants for micropollutant abatement was assessed by the abatement of ...

Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd2024

Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Flow and Hydrochemistry in Drainage Networks

Izabela Bujak-Ozga

Despite their high ecological value, non-perennial streams have received less attention than their perennial counterparts. This doctoral thesis addresses this disparity by advancing knowledge on the dynamics of the drainage density and hydrologic processes ...

EPFL2024

Selectively permeable microcapsules

Chuen-Ru Li

Microcapsules are appealing containers for delivering active ingredients, such as drugs and cosmetics, or conducting chemical and biological reactions on a small scale. To control the timing and location of release of these encapsulants, the shells of micr ...

EPFL2023

Mechanistic insights on interactions of dissolved organic matter with chemical oxidants: quantification of reactive sites and identification of oxidation byproducts

Joanna Maria Houska

Chemical oxidants including ozone (O3), chlorine (HOCl/OCl-) and chlorine dioxide (ClO2) are applied for disinfection of drinking water. To cope with water scarcity and the increased risks associated with the presence of micropollutants, water treatment sy ...

EPFL2023

Periodate activation with copper oxide nanomaterials for the degradation of ciprofloxacin- A new insight into the efficiency and mechanisms

Shaoxian Li, Xi Zhang

In this study, CuO was synthesized using a facile precipitation method and was characterized using various techniques for the efficient activation of periodate (PI). Compared to systems consisting of PI alone (0.5 mM) and CuO alone (0.5 g/L), the CuO (0.5 ...

ELSEVIER SCI LTD2023

Advances in polymer-based nanocomposite membranes for water remediation: Preparation methods, critical issues and mechanisms

Sami Rtimi

Membrane technology is a growing tool for contaminants removal from polluted water. Although various types of polymeric membranes have been developed for water remediation, the common drawbacks like fouling, hydrophobicity and low mechanical strength are y ...

Elsevier Sci Ltd2023

Functional and structural characterization of polyphosphate-accumulating organisms in aerobic granular biofilms

Arnaud Michel Gelb

The "Aerobic Granular Sludge" (AGS) technology for wastewater treatment is based on dense microbial biofilm in the form of granular aggregates that have an excellent settling property allowing high biomass concentrations in bioreactors. This promising biol ...

EPFL2023

A Survey of Industrial N-nitrosamine Discharges in Switzerland

Urs von Gunten, Florian Frédéric Vincent Breider, Caroline Gachet Aquillon

N-nitrosamines are formed during different industrial processes and are of significant concern due to their carcinogenic and mutagenic properties. This study reports concentrations of N-nitrosamines in eight different industrial wastewater treatment plants ...

2023

Critical Review on Bromate Formation during Ozonation and Control Options for Its Minimization

Urs von Gunten

Ozone is a commonly applied disinfectant and oxidantin drinkingwater and has more recently been implemented for enhanced municipalwastewater treatment for potable reuse and ecosystem protection. Onedrawback is the potential formation of bromate, a possible ...

AMER CHEMICAL SOC2023

Wastewater microorganisms impact microbial diversity and important ecological functions of stream periphyton

Kristin Schirmer, Ahmed Tlili

Effluents of wastewater treatment plants can impact microbial communities in the receiving streams. However, little is known about the role of microorganisms in wastewater as opposed to other wastewater constituents, such as nutrients and micropollutants. ...

Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd2022

Ozonation of organic compounds in water and wastewater: A critical review

Urs von Gunten, Sung Eun Lim

Ozonation has been applied in water treatment for more than a century, first for disinfection, later for oxidation of inorganic and organic pollutants. In recent years, ozone has been increasingly applied for enhanced municipal wastewater treatment for eco ...

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD2022

Advancements in heavy metals removal from effluents employing nano-adsorbents: Way towards cleaner production

Edgard Gnansounou, Baskar Gurunathan

Due to the development in science field which gives not only benefit but also introducesundesirable pollution to the environment. This pollution is due to poor discharge activities of industrial effluents into the soil and water bodies, surface run off fro ...

ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE2022

Effect of cetyltrimethylammonium chloride on various Escherichia coli strains and their inactivation kinetics by ozone and monochloramine

Urs von Gunten, Florian Frédéric Vincent Breider, Margaux Océane Voumard

Cethyltrimethylammonium chloride (CTMA) is one of the most used quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) in consumer products. CTMA and other QACs are only partially eliminated in municipal wastewater treatment and they can interact with bacteria in biological ...

2022

Applicability of the landscape evolution model in the absence of rills

David Andrew Barry, Andrea Rinaldo, Paolo Perona, Seifeddine Jomaa, Mohsen Cheraghi, Andrea Cimatoribus

Despite numerous applications of physically-based models for incised landscapes, their applicability for overland flow on unchanneled surfaces is not known. This work challenges a widely used landscape evolution model for the case of non-uniform rainfall a ...

2022

Disentangle genus microdiversity within a complex microbial community by using a multi-distance long-read binning method: example of Candidatus Accumulibacter

Christof Holliger, Julien Maillard, Aline Sondra Adler, Marco Pagni, Simon Marius Jean Poirier

Complete genomes can be recovered from metagenomes by assembling and binning DNA sequences into metagenome assembled genomes (MAGs). Yet, the presence of microdiversity can hamper the assembly and binning processes, possibly yielding chimeric, highly fragm ...

WILEY2022

Nanoplastics removal during drinking water treatment: Laboratory- and pilot-scale experiments and modeling

Urs von Gunten

Microplastics detected in potable water sources and tap water have led to concerns about the efficacy of current drinking water treatment processes to remove these contaminants. It is hypothesized that drinking water resources contain nanoplastics (NPs), b ...

ELSEVIER2022