{"title":"Making Waves: Endogenous-driven Fenton-like catalysis-Turning endogenous water components as driving forces for trace-level emerging contaminant elimination.","authors":"Fengting Geng, Yuanfang Wang, Qian Li, Qingbai Tian, Zhifei Ma, Xing Xu","doi":"10.1016/j.watres.2026.126861","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2026.126861","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The effective removal of persistent and trace-level emerging contaminants (ECs) from aquatic systems presents a critical challenge to ensuring ecological security and achieving sustainable water resource management. Conventional advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are hindered by a high dependence on external oxidants, leading to significant chemical consumption and secondary pollution risks for trace-level ECs elimination. This \"Making Waves\" article focuses on the innovative paradigm of endogenous-driven Fenton-like systems as a transformative solution. By leveraging catalyst design strategies via built-in electric field, these systems utilize the chemical potential energies of endogenous components in water (such as dissolved oxygen (DO) and ECs), thereby establishing an advanced treatment system using the endogenous-driven forces for the removal of trace-level ECs. We provide a systematic overview of the conceptual clarity, fundamental mechanistic paradigm of endogenous-driven Fenton-like catalysis, and critically examine its application scenarios as well as the merits/demerits compared to conventional exogenous AOPs. We further assess the challenges and future research directions toward endogenous-driven systems, extending beyond substrate-dependent catalysis mechanisms, operation stability, and reactor engineering, etc. Ultimately, this work outlines the pathway for endogenous-driven Fenton-like catalysis to evolve into a greener, and more intelligent technology for the advanced treatment of water matrixes with trace-level ECs.</p>","PeriodicalId":443,"journal":{"name":"Water Research","volume":"308 Pt A","pages":"126861"},"PeriodicalIF":12.8,"publicationDate":"2026-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148899834","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Magnetite facilitates phage-bacteria interactions and phage-associated metabolic coordination for medium-chain fatty acid biosynthesis under ammonia stress","authors":"Mengzhu Zhang, Ziyi Wang, Juntao Xia, Yuming Zhen, Feng Jiang, Liang Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.watres.2026.126856","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2026.126856","url":null,"abstract":"Medium-chain fatty acid (MCFA) production from waste activated sludge (WAS) is considered to rely on the syntrophic interactions among distinct functional microorganisms. Whether phages represent an overlooked ecological component involved in MCFA biosynthesis remains unclear. MCFA production is often inhibited by high total ammonia nitrogen (TAN). Conductive materials have been proposed as effective strategies to enhance or recover MCFA production under TAN stress. Therefore, the inhibition–recovery system could provide a useful framework for investigating whether viral ecological responses are associated with MCFA-related metabolic processes. In this study, magnetite (Fe<ce:inf loc=\"post\">3</ce:inf>O<ce:inf loc=\"post\">4</ce:inf>) was selected as the recovery strategy of MCFA production under TAN stress. Results showed that a total of 3,915 vOTUs and 118 metagenome-assembled genomes were recovered from the anaerobic bioreactors subjected to three conditions: Control (without TAN stress), TAN stress, and TAN stress with Fe<ce:inf loc=\"post\">3</ce:inf>O<ce:inf loc=\"post\">4</ce:inf> presence. Under high TAN environment (∼5 g/L), MCFA production reduced by 49% (1.3 g COD/L) in comparison to that without high TAN stress. The ecological coupling between temperate phages and MCFA-related bacterial hosts was weakened, accompanied by substantial decreases in the abundance and transcriptional abundance of phage-associated auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) related to MCFA synthesis (e.g., fatty acid biosynthesis, acyl-chain metabolism). In the presence of Fe<ce:inf loc=\"post\">3</ce:inf>O<ce:inf loc=\"post\">4</ce:inf> (i.e., 10 g/L), MCFA production was four and two times higher than those with and without high TAN stress. In addition to enhanced phage–bacteria ecological coupling and increased the abundance and transcription of AMGs related to MCFA formation, Fe<ce:inf loc=\"post\">3</ce:inf>O<ce:inf loc=\"post\">4</ce:inf> increased the abundance and expressions of electron-transfer-related AMGs (e.g., cbb3-type cytochrome c oxidase, type IV pilus assembly genes) and QS-related <ce:italic>LuxR</ce:italic>-family and HTH-type regulators, indicating that such indirect pathway could be largely overlooked during MCFA synthesis. This is also the first-time reporting that phages could represent an ecological layer responsive to iron oxide. Analyses of publicly available metagenomes collected from MCFA-oriented anaerobic systems further confirmed that phages could be broadly associated with the metabolic processes involved in MCFA biosynthesis. Taken together, this study reveals that phages could serve as an overlooked ecological layer associated with MCFA metabolism and provide a viral-ecology perspective for understanding TAN inhibition and iron oxide-mediated recovery during WAS-to-MCFA bioconversion.","PeriodicalId":443,"journal":{"name":"Water Research","volume":"40 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":12.8,"publicationDate":"2026-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148884601","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Water ResearchPub Date : 2026-09-02DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2026.126843
Xincheng Li, Qi Wang, Zhentongxin Ji, Zhirong Zhang, Yanfei Li, Nan Hu
{"title":"Structure-Performance in Zwitterionic and Anionic Biosurfactant-Assisted Foam Fractionation of PFAS: Interfacial and Molecular Mechanisms","authors":"Xincheng Li, Qi Wang, Zhentongxin Ji, Zhirong Zhang, Yanfei Li, Nan Hu","doi":"10.1016/j.watres.2026.126843","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2026.126843","url":null,"abstract":"Foam fractionation has emerged as a promising technology for remediating per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from aquatic environments. However, its sustainable application is critically hindered by the reliance on toxic synthetic co-surfactants and the intrinsic hydrodynamic trade-off between pollutant removal and enrichment. Here, we investigate how the molecular structure and charge characteristics of zwitterionic and anionic biosurfactants regulate PFAS capture and foam-fractionation performance. The study compares zwitterionic lauramidopropyl betaine (LAB) and lauryldimethylbetaine (BS-12) with anionic rhamnolipids (RLs) and sophorolipids (SLs). Interfacial thermodynamics and mechanistic characterization using FTIR, zeta-potential measurements, and molecular docking indicate that zwitterionic biosurfactants form cohesive interfacial assemblies with PFAS, whereas bulky anionic biosurfactants experience severe steric and electrostatic constraints. The stronger hydrogen-bonding capacity and polarizability of the sulfonate group also contribute to the more favorable interfacial association of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) than perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). Systematic variation of biosurfactant dosage, pH, ionic strength, and gas velocity reveals how interfacial adsorption and foam drainage jointly determine the balance between PFAS removal and enrichment. Under the optimized conditions, the LAB-assisted system achieved a maximum PFOS removal efficiency of 97.4% and an enrichment ratio of 10.4–13.2. The performance of the LAB system was further evaluated in deionized water, tap water, river water, and simulated wastewater, and supplementary experiments were conducted for the representative short-chain PFAS. Overall, this study links biosurfactant structure, interfacial interaction, foam hydrodynamics, and PFAS separation performance, providing a mechanistic basis for designing biosurfactant-assisted foam-fractionation processes for PFAS-contaminated wastewater and concentrated process streams.","PeriodicalId":443,"journal":{"name":"Water Research","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":12.8,"publicationDate":"2026-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148884604","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Water ResearchPub Date : 2026-09-02DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2026.126849
Pan Huo, Tianyi Han, Jiayi Hou, Tianyi Zhang, Pengcheng Gao, Jinbo Li
{"title":"Organic matter and greenhouse gas dynamics across contrasting hydrological states in intermittent rivers","authors":"Pan Huo, Tianyi Han, Jiayi Hou, Tianyi Zhang, Pengcheng Gao, Jinbo Li","doi":"10.1016/j.watres.2026.126849","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2026.126849","url":null,"abstract":"As intermittent rivers expand globally, understanding how contrasting hydrological conditions relate to organic matter (OM) characteristics and greenhouse gas (GHG) dynamics is important. We investigated CO₂ and N₂O dynamics across contrasting low-flow (LF) and high-flow (HF) campaigns in intermittent rivers. Pore-water GHG concentrations consistently exceeded those in overlying water, suggesting an important internal GHG pool. During the LF campaign, higher chlorophyll-a concentrations coincided with lower overlying-water CO₂ concentrations, whereas the HF campaign showed greater soil-OM contribution, higher DOC, a stronger humic-like/aromatic DOM signature, and higher dissolved CO₂. Multivariate RDA explained substantial joint CO₂–N₂O variation (adjusted R² = 0.720 in LF and 0.668 in HF); nutrients retained large unique fractions in both campaigns, while the OM-associated fraction was larger in HF. Metagenomic profiles linked pore-water CO₂ to multiple carbon-processing and respiratory functions. Pore-water N₂O was less clearly associated with broad microbial-community turnover but showed stronger relationships with substrate balance and denitrification-related functional composition. Higher N₂O coincided with lower WDOC/NO₃⁻-N; CLR-based analyses further showed significant associations between N₂O and denitrification-related gene profiles, with the relative representation of <ce:italic>nosZ</ce:italic> versus <ce:italic>nirK</ce:italic>/<ce:italic>nirS</ce:italic> decreasing as N₂O increased. These patterns were consistent with greater incomplete-denitrification potential under relatively low carbon availability. Across three thin boundary layer (TBL) model parameterizations, estimated CO₂ emissions were consistently higher in the HF campaign, whereas the direction of the N₂O flux contrast varied among models. These findings highlight distinct environmental and microbial associations of CO₂ and N₂O across contrasting hydrological states in intermittent rivers.","PeriodicalId":443,"journal":{"name":"Water Research","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":12.8,"publicationDate":"2026-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148884602","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Mechanochemically tailored Cu(I)-rich catalyst triggers Cu(III) generation in ozone activation for hypersaline wastewater decontamination","authors":"Chenyang Gao, Yinhao Dai, Fuqiang Liu, Jianying Wu, Ivan Pozdnyakov, Hongyu Dong, Xiaohong Guan","doi":"10.1016/j.watres.2026.126848","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2026.126848","url":null,"abstract":"The performance of conventional heterogeneous catalytic ozonation (HCO) is severely impaired in hypersaline wastewater due to the scavenging of hydroxyl radicals (HO<ce:sup loc=\"post\">•</ce:sup>) by chloride ions (Cl⁻). Herein, we fabricate a mechanochemically tailored Cu(I)-rich Cu<ce:inf loc=\"post\">x</ce:inf>O/MnO<ce:inf loc=\"post\">x</ce:inf> catalyst to steer ozone activation toward a Cu(III)-mediated non-radical pathway. Ball milling promotes the formation of interfacial Cu–O–Mn linkages, enabling electron transfer from MnO<ce:inf loc=\"post\">x</ce:inf> to Cu sites and stabilizing surface Cu(I). Using oxalate as a model recalcitrant contaminant, the Cu<ce:inf loc=\"post\">x</ce:inf>O/MnO<ce:inf loc=\"post\">x</ce:inf>/O<ce:inf loc=\"post\">3</ce:inf> system achieves 93.2%–100% oxalate removal over a pH range of 4.0–9.0 and retains 81.7% removal at 300 mM Cl<ce:sup loc=\"post\">−</ce:sup>. Multiple lines of evidence confirm that Cu(III), rather than HO<ce:sup loc=\"post\">•</ce:sup>, acts as the dominant oxidant. Notably, this system exhibits oxidative stability owing to continuous Cu(I)/Cu(III) redox cycling, which could be attributed to the electron replenishment to Cu sites from MnO<ce:inf loc=\"post\">x</ce:inf> and O<ce:inf loc=\"post\">2</ce:inf><ce:sup loc=\"post\">•⁻</ce:sup> mediated by Cu–O–Mn bonds. Furthermore, when applied to real hypersaline wastewaters with total dissolved solids of 8.1–24.1 g L<ce:sup loc=\"post\">−1</ce:sup>, the Cu<ce:inf loc=\"post\">x</ce:inf>O/MnO<ce:inf loc=\"post\">x</ce:inf> membrane catalytic system attains 56.7%–76.8% TOC removal, representing a 1.6- to 2.7-fold enhancement over ozonation. This work provides a robust strategy for developing salt-resistant non-radical HCO systems for hypersaline wastewater treatment.","PeriodicalId":443,"journal":{"name":"Water Research","volume":"8 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":12.8,"publicationDate":"2026-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148884603","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Co-utilization of manganous nitrate and pyrolusite enables concurrent mitigation of arsenic mobilization and greenhouse gas emissions in paddy-field wetlands","authors":"Zheng Chen, Yilin Chen, Yian Jia, Jing Zhang, Liyun Ge, Honghui Wang, Jinlin Chen, Ruotong Mao, Shuyun Zhang, Hui Gao, Siwen Xia","doi":"10.1016/j.watres.2026.126845","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2026.126845","url":null,"abstract":"Constructed wetlands face the dual challenge of arsenic (As) mobilization and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under flooded anoxic conditions. Moving beyond single-process remediation, this study developed a synergistic strategy through the co-application of manganous nitrate (Mn(NO<ce:inf loc=\"post\">3</ce:inf>)<ce:inf loc=\"post\">2</ce:inf>) and pyrolusite (MnO<ce:inf loc=\"post\">2</ce:inf>) in microcosms simulating As-contaminated paddy-field wetlands. The results demonstrated that the Mn(NO<ce:inf loc=\"post\">3</ce:inf>)<ce:inf loc=\"post\">2</ce:inf>+MnO<ce:inf loc=\"post\">2</ce:inf> treatment achieved near-complete As(III) immobilization in the overlying water, significantly outperforming other amendments (KNO<ce:inf loc=\"post\">3</ce:inf>-alone, MnO<ce:inf loc=\"post\">2</ce:inf>-alone and KNO<ce:inf loc=\"post\">3</ce:inf>+MnO<ce:inf loc=\"post\">2</ce:inf>) during a 24d-incubation period. Concurrently, it substantially suppressed cumulative emissions of CH<ce:inf loc=\"post\">4</ce:inf> and N<ce:inf loc=\"post\">2</ce:inf>O by approximately 35% and 61% than that of the KNO<ce:inf loc=\"post\">3</ce:inf>-alone treatment. Metagenomic analysis revealed that this dual amendment reshaped the microbial community and metabolism. It enriched key taxa such as the dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA)-associated archaeon <ce:italic>Candidatus Methanoperedens nitroreducens</ce:italic> and nitrate-reducing coupled with Fe/Mn-oxidizing bacteria (e.g., <ce:italic>Propioniciclava, Zoogloea</ce:italic>, and <ce:italic>Bryobacter</ce:italic>). Meanwhile, the combined amendment also significantly increased the abundance of critical functional genes, including the N<ce:inf loc=\"post\">2</ce:inf>O-reductase gene <ce:italic>nosZ</ce:italic>, DNRA marker gene <ce:italic>nrfA</ce:italic> and CH<ce:inf loc=\"post\">4</ce:inf>-oxidation genes (<ce:italic>pmoA</ce:italic> and reverse methanogenesis-associated <ce:italic>mcrA</ce:italic>). The underlying mechanism relies on a regenerative Mn(II)/Mn(IV) cycle driven by the biotransformation of Mn(NO<ce:inf loc=\"post\">3</ce:inf>)<ce:inf loc=\"post\">2</ce:inf>. This cycle strategically redirects electron flow from pollutant‑mobilizing pathways, e.g., methanogenesis and dissimilatory Fe/As reduction toward As(III) immobilization and low‑carbon‑emission processes. These processes specifically include anaerobic oxidation of methane coupled to Mn(IV) reduction (AOM‑MnR), nitrate-dependent anaerobic methane oxidation (n-DAOM) and complete denitrification. Overall, this work provides a novel “mineral-electron switch coupled with nitrate-metabolic trigger” framework, offering an effective and sustainable synergy-based approach for the co-management of metalloid and GHG pollution in flooded anoxic environments.","PeriodicalId":443,"journal":{"name":"Water Research","volume":"100 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":12.8,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148884373","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Water ResearchPub Date : 2026-09-01DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2026.126847
Zhengqing Yang, Jie Yuan, Xiaoliang Liu, Tianle Huang, ChunLin Wang, Yuchen Wang, Yuan Chen, Xiaodong Li, Lin Tang
{"title":"Spatiotemporal Dynamics and Dual-Transfer Mechanisms of the Riverine Resistome under Antibiotic and Metal Co-Pollution in the Xiangjiang River Basin","authors":"Zhengqing Yang, Jie Yuan, Xiaoliang Liu, Tianle Huang, ChunLin Wang, Yuchen Wang, Yuan Chen, Xiaodong Li, Lin Tang","doi":"10.1016/j.watres.2026.126847","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2026.126847","url":null,"abstract":"The co-pollution of antibiotics and heavy metals severely exacerbates the dissemination of antimicrobial resistance, yet the distinct mechanisms driving resistome assembly across complex environmental matrices remain poorly understood. This study characterizes the spatiotemporal dynamics of the resistome under multi-pollutant stress within the water-sediment system of the Xiangjiang River, a basin historically impacted by intensive heavy metal smelting and contemporary antibiotic discharges. We elucidate a phase-dependent \"dual-track\" mechanism governing resistance evolution. In the flowing aqueous phase, particularly during wet-season runoff events, sub-inhibitory antibiotics serve as a primary stimulant that promotes a high potential for rapid horizontal gene transfer, facilitating the structural consolidation of multidrug resistance genes with highly mobile genetic elements. Conversely, in benthic sediments, persistent heavy metal legacies exert deterministic selective pressure that restructures the microbial host community, strongly implicating host-dependent vertical gene transfer as the dominant pathway for resistome enrichment. Crucially, our <ce:italic>in vitro</ce:italic> transformation models demonstrate that antibiotics and heavy metals exert a potent combined promotion effect on genetic exchange during co-exposure, with both contaminants concurrently driving the significant elevation of horizontal mobility. This potent co-selection transforms the riverine ecosystem into a dynamic \"genetic reactor\", enabling environmental microbiomes to acquire broad-spectrum resistance traits through singular transfer events. Ultimately, our findings highlight the urgent need for integrated water-sediment management and the synchronized co-regulation of mixed contaminants to mitigate escalating ecological and public health risks.","PeriodicalId":443,"journal":{"name":"Water Research","volume":"24 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":12.8,"publicationDate":"2026-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148884682","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}