Biological Treatment Processes Research Articles

Cupric ions inducing dynamic hormesis in duckweed systems for swine wastewater treatment: Quantification, modelling and mechanisms

Hormesis has attracted close attention of environmental and toxicological communities over the past decades. Most studies focused on the hormesis induced by stressors in the aspect of their biotoxicity to organisms, while little research was conducted on hormesis in the aspect of biological wastewater treatment process. In this study, removal of NH4+-N and Cu2+ by S. polyrrhiza under long-term Cu2+ exposure at environmentally relevant concentrations in swine wastewater was investigated. Removal efficiencies of NH4+-N by duckweeds at 0.0, 0.1, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 and 4.0 mg/L Cu2+ were 81.6 %, 83.7 %, 89.4 %, 74.9 %, 61.8 % and 45.1 % on day 28, however, during the initial period of cultivation (0–4 days), such hormetic effect was not observed, indicating time-dependent feature of hormesis in NH4+-N removal. The modified logistic growth model was applied to describe long-term hormesis induced by Cu2+ on NH4+-N removal and it suggested that the optimal copper exposure for ammonium removal was 0.48 mg/L. More importantly, it was found that previous exposure to low doses of Cu2+ (0–1 mg/L) could enhance NH4+-N removal performance under the second exposure. Cu2+ above 1 mg/L could switch copper bioaccumulation pattern from the Langmiur-irreversible type to reversible one, indicating risk of secondary pollution. Six components including freshly-produced humic-like substances, lignin, fulvic acid-protein complex, free amino acid-like substances, tyrosine-like substance and soluble amino acid-like substances in duckweeds were detected by parallel factor (PARAFAC) model detected. Principle component analysis (PCA) conducted on PARAFAC components suggested that enhanced synthesis of protein and growth factors intracellularly at low dose stimulation improved ammonia uptake from the environment. This study provided a novel strategy to improve treatment performance of duckweeds for copper contaminated wastewater and helped understand biochemical responses and their roles in evolutionary adaptive strategies to stresses.

Identification and characterization of diverse isomers of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in Chinese municipal wastewater

Linear and branched isomers of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are simultaneously present in the environment. However, isomer profiles of PFASs in municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are still unknown because of the limitations of standards. Here, influent and effluent samples from 148 municipal WWTPs in China were collected. Ion mobility spectrometry was introduced into high-resolution mass spectrometry-based suspect screening methods to identify the target and suspect PFAS isomers. A total of 38 branched isomers of 14 typical PFASs were identified in wastewater samples. Linear PFASs had higher detection rates (22.3%-100%) than branched isomers (2.0%-98%). Compared to the influents, proportions of branched isomers of most PFASs (except for perfluoropentanoic acid and perfluorohexanoic acid) increased in the effluents. The conventional biological treatment processes (such as anaerobic–anoxic–aerobic and oxidation ditch treatments) had poor removal efficiency for linear PFASs (<21.4%) and branched isomers (<13.4%). No difference on removal efficiency among treatment processes was found. Furthermore, isomer composition in the WWTPs showed obvious differences between East China region and other regions, and the usage of short-chain PFASs (perfluorobutanesulfonic acid and perfluorohexanesulfonic acid) may be a key factor for driving this difference. This study sheds lights on the identification and characterization of PFAS isomers in WWTPs, which would be useful for development of monitoring and control strategies of PFASs.

Identification of β-lactam-resistant coding genes in the treatment plant by activated sludge process

Wastewater treatment plants are the most important release source of antibiotic-resistance genes (ARGs) into the environment. This study aimed to identify β-lactam-resistance genes in Qom province municipal wastewater and also to determine the effect of municipal wastewater treatment plants with different processes on reducing these pollutants. Sampling was performed according to the standard protocol and at constant temperature conditions. Nine genes resistant to the six groups of β-lactam antibiotics were selected, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test was performed to identify the presence/absence of ARGs. At the same time, real-time PCR test was also carried out to quantitatively measure three ARGs in wastewater and effluent samples. The obtained results showed that the highest and the lowest removal were related to blanps-1 (90.61%) and blaCTX-M-32 (65.93%), respectively; however, a decreasing trend in these two genes were showed in to blaoxa-1 with an increase in effluent unit (45.12%). The results showed that conventional biological wastewater treatment processes not only have little potential to reduce antibiotic-resistance genes during the treatment process but also these processes sometimes increase resistant genes. The results of the oxa-1 gene in this study are consistent with this trend. In addition, the sludge treatment unit was based on the results of sequencing Salmonella enterica and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Our study suggests that wastewater treatment plants using conventional chlorination do not favor the proliferation of antibiotic resistance bacteria and ARGs during wastewater treatment. Thus, equipping treatment plants with advanced processes will be efficient in reducing bacterial resistance.

Literature Review on Effect of Sludge Age on Microbial Community Structure in HMBR

The composite membrane biological treatment process has the characteristics of high quality effluent and low membrane pollution, which is widely used in domestic and international water treatment industry. Based on the review of the basic research on membrane fouling mechanism and the comparison of the research results of MBR at home and abroad, from the perspective of microbial ecology, based on the new generation of environmental microbial analysis technology of high-throughput sequencing, this paper expounds the microbial ecological mechanism that sludge age changes the content of microbial metabolites and membrane fouling process by affecting the microbial community structure and physiological characteristics.

Thermal swing intermittently-operated biological activated carbon filtration for rapid, non-sewered treatment of psychrophilic black water

TS-IOBAC filtration is an energy-efficient biological treatment process for decentralized wastewater treatment in cold climates.

Micro(nano)plastic size and concentration co-differentiate the treatment performance and toxicity mechanism in aerobic granular sludge systems

Microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) released into wastewater may pose threats to the biological treatment process. Aerobic granular sludge (AGS), a prospective biotechnology for wastewater treatment, can effectively intercept MPs and NPs, but the effect of these emerging contaminants on the AGS system lacks investigation. This study showed that low concentrations of MPs and NPs (1 mg/L) posed negligible inhibitory effects on the characteristics and performance of the AGS system. Yet, increasing MPs concentrations to higher levels (20 and 100 mg/L) impaired the granular integrity and diminished the total nitrogen (TN) removal efficiency by 3.8 %–17.8 %, especially for the denitrification process. Compared to MPs, prolonged exposure to NPs at the same levels showed greater adverse effects on the AGS, as evidenced by overgrowth of filamentous bacteria and lower TN removal efficiency (decreased by 11.4 %–22.8 %). This was possibly due to biofilm formation on the surface of MPs and excessive secretion of extracellular polymeric substances served as barriers to mitigate the toxic effects of MPs. In contrast, microorganisms were directly exposed to the toxicity of NPs, resulting in greater oxidative stress, impaired cytomembrane structure, deteriorated cell viability, and decreased proteins production. Metagenomic analysis further revealed that the populations of key functional bacteria (e.g. denitrifiers Acidovorax and Flavobacterium) decreased after long–term exposure to MPs and NPs. The key enzymes and genes (e.g. nirK, napAB, nirS, norBC and nosZ) related to nitrogen transformation processes, electron donor and energy production (e.g. mdh) were declined accordingly, unravelling the inherent mechanism for the decreased nitrogen removal. This study indicated that NPs have more detrimental impacts on AGS system, which needs to be taken into account when treating plastic containing wastewaters.

The Potential of Heat Recovery from Wastewater Considering the Protection of Wastewater Treatment Plant Technology

Energy efficiency is extremely significant for industrial processes and technologies. Rising energy prices, depleting fossil fuels, as well as tightening regulations that impose the need to reduce GHG emissions incentivize companies to look for energy-efficient solutions. This also applies to wastewater treatment plants, which, on the one hand, are consumers of very large amounts of energy, and on the other hand, have significant potential to retrieve waste energy in the form of heat accumulated in wastewater. The authors of this publication have recognized the benefits of managing this heat. However, they have also pointed out several problems and difficulties associated with this process. By means of measured data, this publication provides a comprehensive analysis of the heat that can be recovered from wastewater treatment plants. As a result of the analyses, the locations of sites for collecting heat from wastewater have been determined, and potential technologies for this purpose have been identified. Moreover, the impact of the proposed heat recovery technology on the process of biological wastewater treatment has also been analyzed. As a result of the research, the authors developed generalized guidelines for selecting an optimal heat recovery site and the technological system designed for this purpose.

Integrated photocatalysis and moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) for treating conventional and emerging organic pollutants from synthetic wastewater: Performances and microbial community responses

Increasing concern for emerging organic pollutants (e.g. antibiotics) urges improvements in conventional biological wastewater treatment processes. This study examined the performance of an integrated photocatalysis and moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) system in treating synthetic wastewater containing sulfamethoxazole (SMX). It was found that the integrated system could remove over 80.5 % of SMX and 67.7–80.7 % of chemical oxygen demand (COD) with a hydraulic retention time of 24 h. The introduction of photocatalysis had no impact on COD removal and significantly enhanced SMX removal. High-throughput analysis indicated that microbial community greatly altered due to photocatalytic oxidation stress, with clostridiaceae and enterobacteriaceae becoming dominant families. Nevertheless, microorganisms maintained metabolic activity, which may be ascribed to the protection of carriers and microbial self-preservation by secreting extracellular polymeric substances and antioxidant enzymes. Collectively, this study sheds light on treating wastewater containing conventional and emerging organic pollutants by integrating photocatalysis with MBBR.

Heat Recovery from a Wastewater Treatment Process—Case Study

This article presents the potential of heat recovery from wastewater with an example of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Mokrawica, which is located in the West Pomeranian region of Poland. A thorough literature review discusses the relevance of the topic and shows examples of heat recovery conducted with heat pumps. Raw and treated wastewater are mostly used as heat sources, with the latter achieving higher thermal capacities. Heat recovery from a biological treatment process is rarely implemented and requires more detailed studies on this subject. The proposed methodology for estimating possible heat recovered from wastewater, requiring heating and cooling capacities, as well as the coefficient of performance (COP) of a heat pump, is based on only three parameters: wastewater volumetric flow, wastewater temperature, and the required temperature for heating or air-conditioning. The heat recovery potential was determined for different parts of WWTP processes, i.e., the sand box, aeration chamber, secondary sedimentation tank, and treated sewage disposal. The average values of 309–451 kW and a minimum of 58–68 kW in winter were determined. The results also indicate that, depending on the location of the heat recovery, it is possible to obtain from wastewater between 57.9 kW and 93.8 kW of heat or transfer to wastewater from 185.9 to 228.2 kW. To improve biological treatment processes in the winter season, wastewater should be preheated with a minimum of 349–356 kW that can be recovered from the treated wastewater. The heat transferred to the wastewater from the air-conditioning system amounts to 138–141 kW. By comparing the required cooling and heating capacities with the available resources, it is possible to fully recover or transfer the heat for central heating, hot water, and air conditioning of the building. Partial preheating of wastewater during the treatment process requires further analysis.

Investigation of the nitrogen removal performance and microbial community structure in a full-scale A/O1/H/O2 coking wastewater treatment system.

Biological treatment processes are an effective method for removing the nitrogen-containing contaminants that exist in coking wastewater. However, little is known about microbial composition and keystone taxa involved in biological nitrogen removal processes. In order to improve the removal efficiency of nitrogen-containing contaminants in anaerobic-aerobic-hydrolytic-aerobic (A/O1/H/O2) system, the microbial composition and interactions of keystone taxa should be clarified. The present work clarifies the removal performance of nitrogen-containing contaminants in the A/O1/H/O2 system, identifies the microbial community involved in various bioreactors, and reveals the keystone taxa within the microbial communities. Combined the processes of ammoniation, denitrification, and nitrification, total nitrogen decreased from 248 to 31 mg L-1 and achieved a removal efficiency of 87.5% in the full-scale A/O1/H/O2 system. High-throughput MiSeq sequencing revealed that Proteobacteria was the most abundant phylum in the A/O1/H/O2 system with relative abundances of 24%-50%. Thiobacillus dominated in bioreactors A and O1 with relative abundances of 2.90% and 4.44%, respectively, while Nitrospira was identified as the most dominant genus in bioreactors H and O2, accounting for 13.33% and 18.38%, respectively. The microbial community composition and co-occurrence network analysis showed that the keystone taxa belonged to Thiobacillus, Nitrospira, Bdellovibrio, Planctomyces, Desulfotomaculum, and Sphingobium, which are related to nitrogen degradation.

Математическое моделирование процесса биологической очистки сточных вод в аэротенке-вытеснителе

Приведены результаты теоретических исследований кинетики процессов биохимического окисления органических загрязнений сточных вод микроорганизмами активного ила. Показано, что величину среднедействующей удельной скорости окисления органических загрязнений сточных вод активным илом аэротенка-вытеснителя можно определить, используя теорему о среднем значении непрерывной функции f(L), интегрируемой в некотором промежутке изменения ее переменной от Lн до Lк. Интегрированием уравнения Михаэлиса–Ментен получена математическая модель, базирующаяся на фундаментальных закономерностях ферментативной кинетики, описывающая процесс биологического окисления органических загрязнений в аэротенке-вытеснителе. Использование предлагаемых уравнений позволит определять среднедействующие значения удельных скоростей окисления различных органических загрязнений (БПК, нефтепродуктов, ПАВ, фенолов и др.), расчетную продолжительность аэробных процессов и тем самым оптимизировать процессы проектирования и эксплуатации сооружений биологической очистки сточных вод в аэротенках-вытеснителях. The results of theoretical studies of the kinetics of the processes of biochemical oxidation of organic wastewater pollution by activated sludge microorganisms are presented. It is shown that the value of the average effective value of the specific rate of organic wastewater pollution oxidation by the activated sludge in a plug flow aeration tank can be determined using the theorem on the average value of the continuous function f(L) integrated in a certain range of its variable from Lн to Lк. By integrating the Michaelis–Menten equation, a mathematical model was obtained based on the fundamental regularities of enzymatic kinetics that describes the process of biological oxidation of organic pollutants in a plug flow aeration tank. The use of the proposed equations will provide for determining the average effective values of the specific oxidation rates of various organic pollutants (BOD, oil products, surfactants, phenols, etc.), the estimated duration of aerobic processes; and thereby, optimizing the design and operation of biological wastewater treatment facilities in plug flow aeration tanks.

A gas distributor capable of multiple injection directions to improve the gas–liquid dispersion performance in the airlift loop reactor

As the gas supply equipment, the gas distributor is one of the core components in the airlift loop bioreactor. The gas injection direction and the dynamic behavior of the bubbles significantly affect the gas–liquid dispersion performance in the bioreactor. Therefore, based on the previously designed airlift loop reactor, a new type of tubular convex gas distributor (TCD) with multi-angle gas injection capability was developed. Under the conditions of different superficial gas velocities, the gas–liquid flow in the reactor was numerically simulated by computational fluid dynamics. The results showed that TCD had better gas–liquid dispersion and mass transfer performance in this reactor than several other traditional types of distributors. Under the experimental conditions, the optimal gas–liquid two-phase flow in the reactor was observed when the angle of the TCD vent tube was 15°, the number was 12, and the diameter was 1 mm. It was found that the error between the experimental results and the simulation results was controlled within 10 %, which verified the accuracy of the simulation. The application of TCD in the airlift loop bioreactor improved the wastewater treatment and biomass accumulation, significantly. The TCD can provide design ideas for gas distributors in other types of bioreactors, and is beneficial to improving the process of biological wastewater treatment for industrial application.

Characterization of Oxidation-Reduction Potential Variations in Biological Wastewater Treatment Processes: A Study from Mechanism to Application

Oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) sensors would constitute a robust surveillance and control solution for aeration and external carbon dosing in wastewater biological treatment processes if a clear correlation exists between the ORP values and process variables (e.g., dissolved oxygen (DO), nitrate, and chemical oxygen demand (COD). In this study, ORP values and other water quality variables were analyzed, and principal component analysis (PCA) and analysis of variance were used to study the relationships between ORP and main reactive substances under anoxic conditions. Mathematical models were then established using multiple regression analysis. The results showed that under anoxic conditions, ORP was positively correlated with nitrate, DO, and COD and negatively correlated with ammonia nitrogen, phosphate, and pH. COD had a low correlation with the ORP value change. PCA showed that the mathematical model of ORP can be established by using DO, nitrate, and phosphate, for which the adjusted R² value was 0.7195. The numeric relationships among ORP, COD, and nitrate were clearly established and applied to control external carbon dosing. A precise and clear relationship between ORP and COD offers the possibility to substitute COD monitoring for process control.

The impact of solids retention time on Greenhouse Gases Emissions from biological wastewater treatment processes

Biological wastewater treatment is linked to direct and indirect greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions, thus new approaches on design and operation of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) must be adopted aiming towards GHGs emissions’ mitigation. This study evaluates the impact of solids retention time (SRT) on GHGs (CO2 and N2O) emissions of activated sludge (AS) wastewater treatment processes with nutrients removal operating at 10, 30 and 180 days SRT. The 180 days SRT represents the complete solids retention AS process (CRAS), which introduces a novel WWTP design and operation approach for excess sludge reduction. The evaluation of GHGs emissions and process performance via ASDM model and Bridle methodology showed that the total N2O emissions increased together with increasing dissolved oxygen and SRT. CRAS process achieved 97,4% and 96,2% excess sludge reduction compared to AS process with SRT of 10 d and 30 d respectively, with total direct emissions in CRAS process being respectively higher by 20,0% and 12,2%. The lower total indirect emissions in CRAS process compensate for the higher direct emissions. At high influent loads, the balance in GHGs emissions tilts in favour of CRAS process due to management of increased excess sludge quantities, rendering CRAS process a more sustainable choice.

Solutions for Optimizing Processes of Biological Treatment of Wastewater from the Textile Industry

Abstract In the present paper, the main concerns regarding the purification processes of wastewater from the textile industry containing nitrogen-type dyes are reviewed, and a method for the biological purification of these waters is developed. After consulting the results of the research in this field of wastewater treatment worldwide, a series of effective methods, described in the first chapter of this paper can be taken as positive examples. Following that, some methods of biological treatment of textile and leather industry wastewater are proposed, such as the inclusion of a biological treatment step using a fixed bed reactor. At the conclusion of this paper, recommendations are made for textile fabric operative industry, which are useful in biological contact processes. Biomass support panels, with limited flexibility and substantial surface expansion, with or without frames, form a variety of biomass support elements (textile fabric or otherwise), which can contain biological purification processes through the biomass panels.

Impacts of steam explosion pretreatment on semi-continuous anaerobic digestion of lignin-rich submerged macrophyte

This study evaluated the impacts of steam explosion pretreatment of lignin-rich macrophyte (Potamogeton maackianus) on semi-continuous anaerobic digestion. The pretreatment accelerated hydrolysis efficiency from 9% to 19% (untreated) to 38%–48% (pretreated), which considerably enhanced the methane yield from 108 ± 31 to 200 ± 36 mL g-VS−1. As a negative impact, the soluble COD concentration in the effluent in the pretreatment condition was high (10,000–12,000 mg L−1) due to the accumulation of steam explosion by-products (soluble lignin and phenolic compounds). This high concentration of by-products in the digestate can destabilise subsequent biological treatment processes; therefore, their removal from the digestate will be necessary. Although the concentration of inhibitory phenolic compounds in the pretreated P. maackianus was high, it was continuously removed (38 ± 10%) in the reactor, which ensured process stability. As a result, this study demonstrated for the first time the effectiveness of direct anaerobic digestion treatment of steam-exploded lignocellulose biomass over a long-term continuous operation. By summarising the results of previous studies and our study, we found that the improvement in CH4 production (y, %) by steam explosion pretreatment is regulated by lignin content in the untreated biomass (x, %-TS) and expressed by the equation, y = 18.1 e0.071x (p = 0.0001). This empirical formula indicates that the effectiveness of steam explosion pretreatment increases exponentially with an increase in the lignin content.

Comparison of Nitrogen and Phosphorus Removal between Two Typical Processes under Low Temperature in a Full-Scale Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant

Given its strict discharge standards for wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), China focuses on improving the removal effect of nitrogen and phosphorus in biological treatment processes under low temperatures. The variations in nitrogen and phosphorus during the anaerobic–anoxic-oxic (AAO) and AAO-sequencing batch reactor (SBR) processes in a full-scale WWTP were compared by sampling. Results showed that the removal efficiencies of total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) in both processes exceeded 85% and 91%, respectively, when the water temperature was lower than 15 °C. The wastewater treatment potential capacity of the AAO process was larger than that of AAO-SBR, indicating that the AAO process could realize the subjective demand of nitrogen or phosphorus removal by adjusting its operation mode. The anaerobic phosphorus release of the AAO process was affected when part of the internal reflux entered the anaerobic tank. Thus, the biological phosphorus removal of the AAO process was worse than that of the AAO-SBR process. Since the nitrification and denitrification rates of the AAO process were all higher than that of the AAO-SBR process, the TN removal efficiency of AAO was higher than that of AAO-SBR. These results could provide some advice for the upgrade, operation optimization, and process selection of both processes in the future.

Modelling the biological treatment process aeration efficiency: application of the artificial neural network algorithm.

The biological treatment process (BTP) is responsible for removing chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonia using microorganisms present in wastewater. The BTP consumes large quantities of energy due to the transfer of oxygen using air pumps/blowers. Energy consumption in the BTP is due to low solubility of oxygen, which results in low aeration efficiency (AE). The aim of the study was to develop an AE model that can be used to monitor the performance of the BTP. Multilayer perceptron artificial neural network (MLP ANN) algorithm was used to model AE in the BTP. The performance of the AE model was evaluated using R2, mean square error (MSE), and root mean square error (RMSE). Sensitivity analysis was performed on the AE model to determine variables that drive AE. The results of the study showed that MLP ANN algorithm was able to model AE. R2, MSE, and RMSE results were 0.939, 0.0025, and 0.05, respectively, during testing phase. Sensitivity analysis results showed that temperature (34.6%), COD (21%), airflow rate (19.1%), and OTR/KLa (15.7%) drive AE. At high temperatures, the viscosity of wastewater is low which enables oxygen to penetrate the wastewater, resulting in high AE. The AE model can be used to predict the performance of the BTP, which will assist in minimizing energy consumption.

Impact of temperature and airflow rate on the removal of organic pollutants and inorganic pollutants in the biological treatment process

The purpose of this study was to analyse the impact of temperature and airflow rate on the removal of COD and ammonia. This study showed for the first time that temperature has a significant impact on the removal of COD and ammonia compared with airflow rate. The impact of temperature and airflow rate on COD and ammonia removal was analysed using R², linear regression line, and ANOVA test. The results of the study showed that the highest COD removal was 157 mg/l measured at a temperature of 35 °C and airflow rate of 10 l/min. The highest ammonia removal was 15.9 mg/l measured at a temperature of 32.5 °C and airflow rate of 20 l/min. The results showed that when temperature increased, COD and ammonia removal increased linearly. R² values were 66.6% and 59.5% for COD and ammonia removal respectively. Linear regression lines were positive 2.69 mg/l and 0.3573 mg/l respectively. The ANOVA test confirmed that temperature had a significant impact on both COD (P 0.03 < 0.05) and ammonia removal (P 0.000 < 0.05). When airflow rate increased, COD and ammonia removal decreased. R² values were 44.7% and 32.5% respectively. Linear regression lines were negative 0.8343 and 0.084 respectively. The ANOVA test confirmed that airflow rate had no significant impact on both COD (P 0.525 > 0.05) and ammonia removal (P 0.902 > 0.05). The optimum operating temperature and airflow rate were 32.5 °C – 35 °C and 5 l/min–10 l/min respectively.

Bacteriophages in wastewater treatment: can they be an approach to optimize biological treatment processes?

In this paper, we explore the applications of bacteriophages and the advantages of using these viruses to control undesirable organisms in wastewater treatment plants. Based on this, this paper reviewed the literature on the subject by performing a bibliometric and scientometric analysis of articles published in peer-reviewed journals through 2021. We obtained 806 publications, of which 40% were published in the last 5years, demonstrating an increase in interest in the subject. These articles analyzed, bacteriophages in treatment plants were strongly linked to bacteria such as Escherichia coli and related to disinfection, inactivation, sewage, and wastewater, in addition, biocontrol studies have gained prominence in recent years, particularly due to the resistance of microorganisms to antibiotics. Studies have shown that bacteriophages have great potential for application in treatment systems to control unwanted processes and act as valuable economic and environmental tools to improve the efficiency of various treatment technologies. Although these viruses have already been studied in various applications to optimize treatment plant processes, technology transfer remains a challenge due to the limitations of the technique-such as physicochemical factors related to the environment-and the complexity of biological systems. The research focusing on application strategies in conjunction with molecular biology techniques can expand this study area, enabling the discovery of new bacteriophages.