Pub Date : 2024-11-18DOI: 10.1038/s44221-024-00341-3
Vasilis Fthenakis, Zhuoran Zhang
Challenges with brine management often result in the abandonment of desalination project plans. Minimizing or eliminating brine discharges from desalination plants can enable a wider adoption of a technology that is needed as climate change stretches fresh water supplies.
{"title":"Making production of water with desalination more sustainable","authors":"Vasilis Fthenakis, Zhuoran Zhang","doi":"10.1038/s44221-024-00341-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-024-00341-3","url":null,"abstract":"Challenges with brine management often result in the abandonment of desalination project plans. Minimizing or eliminating brine discharges from desalination plants can enable a wider adoption of a technology that is needed as climate change stretches fresh water supplies.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"2 11","pages":"1057-1058"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142672795","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-18DOI: 10.1038/s44221-024-00350-2
A range of co-existing and integrated sanitation systems, from onsite to sewered and centralized to decentralized, is needed to improve sanitation access in rapidly expanding cities around the globe.
要改善全球迅速扩张的城市的卫生条件，需要一系列并存的综合卫生系统，从现场到下水道，从集中到分散。
{"title":"Co-existing sanitation systems in dense urban areas","authors":"","doi":"10.1038/s44221-024-00350-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-024-00350-2","url":null,"abstract":"A range of co-existing and integrated sanitation systems, from onsite to sewered and centralized to decentralized, is needed to improve sanitation access in rapidly expanding cities around the globe.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"2 11","pages":"1041-1041"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44221-024-00350-2.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142672803","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-18DOI: 10.1038/s44221-024-00327-1
Margaret G. O’Connell, Neha Rajendran, Menachem Elimelech, Jack Gilron, Jennifer B. Dunn
Desalination is increasingly essential to ensure access to water as climate change and population growth stress fresh water supplies. Already in use in water-stressed regions around the world, desalination generates fresh water from salty sources, and in doing so forms a concentrated brine that requires disposal. There is a growing push for the adoption of zero/minimal liquid discharge (ZLD/MLD) technologies that recover additional water from this brine, thereby reducing the liquid volumes requiring disposal. In this analysis, we evaluated the cost, energy and sustainability impacts of 7 overarching treatment trains with 75 different configurations. We found ZLD/MLD water recoveries ranging from 32.6% to 98.6%, but with steep energy and cost trade-offs that underscore the crucial roles of ion-specific separations, heat integration and clean energy sources. We explored the key trade-offs between cost, energy and water recovery, elucidating the increasingly tight connections that are central to the energy–water nexus and desalination. Desalination brine remains a challenge that zero/minimal liquid discharge aims to solve. Spanning 75 treatment scenarios, this analysis evaluates the trade-offs that underscore the crucial roles of ion specificity, heat integration and clean energy.
{"title":"Analysis of energy, water, land and cost implications of zero and minimal liquid discharge desalination technologies","authors":"Margaret G. O’Connell, Neha Rajendran, Menachem Elimelech, Jack Gilron, Jennifer B. Dunn","doi":"10.1038/s44221-024-00327-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-024-00327-1","url":null,"abstract":"Desalination is increasingly essential to ensure access to water as climate change and population growth stress fresh water supplies. Already in use in water-stressed regions around the world, desalination generates fresh water from salty sources, and in doing so forms a concentrated brine that requires disposal. There is a growing push for the adoption of zero/minimal liquid discharge (ZLD/MLD) technologies that recover additional water from this brine, thereby reducing the liquid volumes requiring disposal. In this analysis, we evaluated the cost, energy and sustainability impacts of 7 overarching treatment trains with 75 different configurations. We found ZLD/MLD water recoveries ranging from 32.6% to 98.6%, but with steep energy and cost trade-offs that underscore the crucial roles of ion-specific separations, heat integration and clean energy sources. We explored the key trade-offs between cost, energy and water recovery, elucidating the increasingly tight connections that are central to the energy–water nexus and desalination. Desalination brine remains a challenge that zero/minimal liquid discharge aims to solve. Spanning 75 treatment scenarios, this analysis evaluates the trade-offs that underscore the crucial roles of ion specificity, heat integration and clean energy.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"2 11","pages":"1116-1127"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44221-024-00327-1.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142672774","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sanitation could evolve beyond its traditional focus on public health and environmental protection to address broader challenges. A portfolio approach is proposed, integrating diverse systems at various scales to optimize benefits including economic value, resource efficiency, climate resilience and human dignity.
{"title":"A portfolio approach to achieving universal sanitation","authors":"Abishek Sankara Narayan, Caetano Dorea, Juliet Willetts, Liron Friedman, Pradip Kalbar, Kartik Chandran","doi":"10.1038/s44221-024-00336-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-024-00336-0","url":null,"abstract":"Sanitation could evolve beyond its traditional focus on public health and environmental protection to address broader challenges. A portfolio approach is proposed, integrating diverse systems at various scales to optimize benefits including economic value, resource efficiency, climate resilience and human dignity.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"2 11","pages":"1044-1047"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142672766","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-08DOI: 10.1038/s44221-024-00332-4
Nan Wu, Stuart W. D. Grieve, Andrew J. Manning, Kate L. Spencer
Microplastics (MPs) are an important component of suspended particulate matter in aquatic environments with two main transport modes, that is, as individual entities or in flocs. Despite its importance to MP pollution management, understanding and predicting MP flocculation remains a challenge. In this Article, we combined a meta-analysis of published data (>2,000 measurements) with new experimental data (>4,000 measurements) to investigate which size fraction of MPs can be incorporated into and transported by flocs in the aquatic environment. The size relationship between MPs and flocs can be used to predict the flocculation of MPs in various aquatic environments, and we have proposed a mathematical model to show that small MPs (<162 µm) are predominantly transported as flocs, regardless of the physicochemical characteristics of the MPs or water body. This provides valuable information to predict the transport modes of MPs, presenting a critical insight for multiple environmental settings and future pollution control strategies. Microplastics dispersed in the environment can be transported as single entities or in flocs. Analysis of existing and new data shows that microplastic transport can be modelled in a way that is consistent with a predominance of floc movement.
{"title":"Flocs as vectors for microplastics in the aquatic environment","authors":"Nan Wu, Stuart W. D. Grieve, Andrew J. Manning, Kate L. Spencer","doi":"10.1038/s44221-024-00332-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-024-00332-4","url":null,"abstract":"Microplastics (MPs) are an important component of suspended particulate matter in aquatic environments with two main transport modes, that is, as individual entities or in flocs. Despite its importance to MP pollution management, understanding and predicting MP flocculation remains a challenge. In this Article, we combined a meta-analysis of published data (>2,000 measurements) with new experimental data (>4,000 measurements) to investigate which size fraction of MPs can be incorporated into and transported by flocs in the aquatic environment. The size relationship between MPs and flocs can be used to predict the flocculation of MPs in various aquatic environments, and we have proposed a mathematical model to show that small MPs (<162 µm) are predominantly transported as flocs, regardless of the physicochemical characteristics of the MPs or water body. This provides valuable information to predict the transport modes of MPs, presenting a critical insight for multiple environmental settings and future pollution control strategies. Microplastics dispersed in the environment can be transported as single entities or in flocs. Analysis of existing and new data shows that microplastic transport can be modelled in a way that is consistent with a predominance of floc movement.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"2 11","pages":"1082-1090"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s44221-024-00332-4.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142672770","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-05DOI: 10.1038/s44221-024-00337-z
Ligy Philip
Water, sanitation, and health are inseparable — poor planning risks contaminating water sources and sowing the seeds of long-term health crises.
水、卫生和健康密不可分--规划不当有可能污染水源，埋下长期健康危机的隐患。
{"title":"Overlooking the critical nexus between water, sanitation, and health","authors":"Ligy Philip","doi":"10.1038/s44221-024-00337-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-024-00337-z","url":null,"abstract":"Water, sanitation, and health are inseparable — poor planning risks contaminating water sources and sowing the seeds of long-term health crises.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"2 11","pages":"1042-1043"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142672799","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sustainable water management relies on water infrastructure that encompasses artificial structures and natural ecosystems, along with the cooperation of people and various organizations.
可持续水资源管理有赖于包括人工结构和自然生态系统在内的水资源基础设施，以及人们和各种组织的合作。
{"title":"Water infrastructure of all, by all, for all","authors":"Taikan Oki, Junji Hashimoto, Michio Murakami, Michiru Sasagawa, Shinichiro Nakamura","doi":"10.1038/s44221-024-00338-y","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-024-00338-y","url":null,"abstract":"Sustainable water management relies on water infrastructure that encompasses artificial structures and natural ecosystems, along with the cooperation of people and various organizations.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"2 11","pages":"1048-1050"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142672780","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-01DOI: 10.1038/s44221-024-00329-z
Hu Zhao, Ziying Sun, Chenchen Li, Dan Wu, Li Quan Lee, Dan Lu, Yunbo Lv, Xiang Chu, Ying Li, Wenguang Tu, Ovi Lian Ding, Jin Zhou, Zhigang Zou, Yan Zhou, Hong Li
The ever-increasing generation of sewage sludge in megacities places a substantial burden on waste treatment systems. The complex and resilient structure of sludge renders conventional pretreatment and biological reclamation methods time-consuming, energy-inefficient and environmentally burdensome. Here we present an integrated mechano-electro-bioprocess that valorizes sludge with minimal environmental impact. We achieve nearly complete recovery of organics with ~91.4% total organic carbon (TOC), which are effectively converted into single-cell protein (>63% TOC) in a tandem process. Heavy metals are efficiently concentrated and stabilized, while simultaneously producing green hydrogen at an impressive efficiency and rate (~10% solar-to-hydrogen energy efficiency, rate >13 l per hour). A comprehensive life-cycle and techno-economic analysis confirms the substantial environmental and economic benefits of this approach. Notably, it results in a 99.5% reduction in CO2 emissions and a 99.3% decrease in energy depletion compared with conventional anaerobic digestion. As renewable electricity deployment expands globally, this mechano-electro-bioprocess offers a promising path towards sustainable development. The integrated process of mechanochemical fractionation-assisted and solar-driven electrochemical reforming, followed by biological funnelling, enables the efficient upcycling of sewage sludge. This process not only co-produces valuable single-cell protein and green hydrogen but also effectively removes heavy metal contaminants.
{"title":"Solar-driven sewage sludge electroreforming coupled with biological funnelling to cogenerate green food and hydrogen","authors":"Hu Zhao, Ziying Sun, Chenchen Li, Dan Wu, Li Quan Lee, Dan Lu, Yunbo Lv, Xiang Chu, Ying Li, Wenguang Tu, Ovi Lian Ding, Jin Zhou, Zhigang Zou, Yan Zhou, Hong Li","doi":"10.1038/s44221-024-00329-z","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-024-00329-z","url":null,"abstract":"The ever-increasing generation of sewage sludge in megacities places a substantial burden on waste treatment systems. The complex and resilient structure of sludge renders conventional pretreatment and biological reclamation methods time-consuming, energy-inefficient and environmentally burdensome. Here we present an integrated mechano-electro-bioprocess that valorizes sludge with minimal environmental impact. We achieve nearly complete recovery of organics with ~91.4% total organic carbon (TOC), which are effectively converted into single-cell protein (>63% TOC) in a tandem process. Heavy metals are efficiently concentrated and stabilized, while simultaneously producing green hydrogen at an impressive efficiency and rate (~10% solar-to-hydrogen energy efficiency, rate >13 l per hour). A comprehensive life-cycle and techno-economic analysis confirms the substantial environmental and economic benefits of this approach. Notably, it results in a 99.5% reduction in CO2 emissions and a 99.3% decrease in energy depletion compared with conventional anaerobic digestion. As renewable electricity deployment expands globally, this mechano-electro-bioprocess offers a promising path towards sustainable development. The integrated process of mechanochemical fractionation-assisted and solar-driven electrochemical reforming, followed by biological funnelling, enables the efficient upcycling of sewage sludge. This process not only co-produces valuable single-cell protein and green hydrogen but also effectively removes heavy metal contaminants.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"2 11","pages":"1102-1115"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142672717","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-11-01DOI: 10.1038/s44221-024-00331-5
Mengmeng Du, Bocheng Qiu
Upcycling waste sewage sludge to food presents a promising approach to simultaneously addressing environmental concerns and achieving a circular economy. A hybrid system that integrates mechanochemical, electrochemical, and biological catalysis demonstrates the potential for single-cell protein synthesis from waste sludge.
{"title":"Food production from sludge","authors":"Mengmeng Du, Bocheng Qiu","doi":"10.1038/s44221-024-00331-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-024-00331-5","url":null,"abstract":"Upcycling waste sewage sludge to food presents a promising approach to simultaneously addressing environmental concerns and achieving a circular economy. A hybrid system that integrates mechanochemical, electrochemical, and biological catalysis demonstrates the potential for single-cell protein synthesis from waste sludge.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"2 11","pages":"1053-1054"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142672759","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-10-25DOI: 10.1038/s44221-024-00333-3
Blake G. Lindner, Konstantinos T. Konstantinidis
Widespread sewage contamination of the world’s harbours can be revealed by combined faecal source tracking, but more work is needed to achieve source apportioning.
{"title":"Faecal contamination of the world’s harbours","authors":"Blake G. Lindner, Konstantinos T. Konstantinidis","doi":"10.1038/s44221-024-00333-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s44221-024-00333-3","url":null,"abstract":"Widespread sewage contamination of the world’s harbours can be revealed by combined faecal source tracking, but more work is needed to achieve source apportioning.","PeriodicalId":74252,"journal":{"name":"Nature water","volume":"2 11","pages":"1059-1060"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-10-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142672761","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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