Publications related to Wastewater treatment

Optimal regimes for algorithm-assisted human decision-making

We consider optimal regimes for algorithm-assisted human decision-making. Such regimes are decision functions of measured pre-treatment variables and, by leveraging natural treatment values, enjoy a superoptimality property whereby they are guaranteed to o ...

2024

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

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

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

The Mn(VII)-H2O2 oxidation process: Abatement of electron-deficient N-containing organic compounds

Urs von Gunten, Ke Xu

Chemical oxidants applied in water treatment are electrophiles, which preferentially attack sites with higher electron density. This typically results in less efficient oxidative abatement of organic compounds with electronwithdrawing substituents. In this ...

Elsevier Science Sa2024

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

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

MRI characterization of in vitro clots at 3T and 7T: A technical note

Lijing Xin, François Lazeyras

In acute ischemic stroke, the composition of the occlusive clot can be associated with the underlying pathophysiology and the response to treatment. For these reasons, it is important to characterize the clot composition from clinical scans. We examine the ...

Masson Editeur2024

Characterization of a flexible a-Si:H detector for in vivo dosimetry in therapeutic x-ray beams

Sylvain Dunand, Nicolas Würsch, Luca Massimiliano Antognini, Jonathan Emanuel Thomet, Matthew James Large

BackgroundThe increasing use of complex and high dose-rate treatments in radiation therapy necessitates advanced detectors to provide accurate dosimetry. Rather than relying on pre-treatment quality assurance (QA) measurements alone, many countries are now ...

Wiley2024

Characterization of low-temperature plasmas generated by dielectric barrier discharges for bacterial inactivation

Lorenzo Ibba

Low-temperature plasmas (LTPs) at atmospheric pressure hold great promise for disinfection and sterilization applications. When compared to traditional sterilization technologies like autoclaving, LTPs may offer several benefits, including reduced energy c ...

EPFL2024

Estrogenic, Genotoxic, and Antibacterial Effects of Chemicals from Cryogenically Milled Tire Tread

Kristin Schirmer, Florian Frédéric Vincent Breider, Benoît Jean Dominique Ferrari, Thibault Béranger Masset

Tire and road wear particles (TRWP) contain complex mixtures of chemicals and release them to the environment,and potential toxic effects of these chemicals still need to be characterized. We used a standardized surrogate for TRWP,cryogenically milled tire ...

2024

Antiviral compounds, compositions and uses thereof

Francesco Stellacci, Matteo Gasbarri, Yong Zhu

Compounds, compositions and methods that can be used for the treatment of viral diseases are provided. ...

2023

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

Oxidative Water Treatment: The Track Ahead

Urs von Gunten, Yun Ho Lee

Chemical oxidation has been applied in municipal water treatment for more than a century, initially for disinfection. In the early decades, chlorine disinfection was adopted in the fight against waterborne disease. However, the oxidative properties of chlo ...

2023

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

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

Predicting Transformation Products during Aqueous Oxidation Processes: Current State and Outlook

Urs von Gunten

Water quality and its impacts on human and ecosystem health presents tremendous global challenges. While oxidative water treatment can solve many of these problems related to hygiene and micropollutants, identifying and predicting transformation products f ...

2023

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

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