Jingqi Sun, Yiming Feng, Ru Zheng, Yimin Mao, Qile Zhu, Xiaogang Wu, Lingrui Kong, Kuo Zhang, Sitong Liu
{"title":"太阳能强化低温生物废水处理","authors":"Jingqi Sun, Yiming Feng, Ru Zheng, Yimin Mao, Qile Zhu, Xiaogang Wu, Lingrui Kong, Kuo Zhang, Sitong Liu","doi":"10.1038/s41893-025-01591-z","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Biological wastewater treatment (BWT) is critical to safeguard the aqueous environment. However, enzyme activities in microbial metabolism are inhibited by low temperatures, making BWT implementation in cold environments challenging. Here we propose a strategy to endow BWT facilities with low-temperature operation resilience by integrating photothermal technology with BWT using photothermal carriers (PTCs). Specifically, α-Fe2O3@polyaniline was coated onto a high-conductivity SiC ceramic matrix on a PTC, forming functional partitions for bacterial colonization. The upper layers of the PTCs have an interlaced porous structure and photothermal functions, which provided stable energy conversion and light shielding. The heat conducted downward formed a mesophilic, lightless zone in the lower PTC layers, resulting in high thermal conduction and bioaffinity. Consequently, anammox bacteria, a key biome for sustainable BWT, can be enriched in these PTCs, as evidenced by a 21.4% increase in abundance and a 2.2-fold increase in biomass. With the use of PTCs in a BWT facility under 0.6 kW m−2 illumination, the nitrogen removal performance at low temperature (15 °C) was 5.8 times higher than the case without the use of PTCs. Overall, this work shows how solar energy can be used to enhance the resilience of BWT to low temperatures, improving the applicability of BWT in cold regions. Biological wastewater treatment is greatly challenging in cold environments as low temperatures inhibit enzyme activity in microbial metabolism. This work presents a strategy that integrates biological wastewater treatment with photothermal technology to improve its resilience to low temperatures.","PeriodicalId":19056,"journal":{"name":"Nature Sustainability","volume":"8 9","pages":"1048-1057"},"PeriodicalIF":27.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Solar-enhanced low-temperature biological wastewater treatment\",\"authors\":\"Jingqi Sun, Yiming Feng, Ru Zheng, Yimin Mao, Qile Zhu, Xiaogang Wu, Lingrui Kong, Kuo Zhang, Sitong Liu\",\"doi\":\"10.1038/s41893-025-01591-z\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"Biological wastewater treatment (BWT) is critical to safeguard the aqueous environment. However, enzyme activities in microbial metabolism are inhibited by low temperatures, making BWT implementation in cold environments challenging. Here we propose a strategy to endow BWT facilities with low-temperature operation resilience by integrating photothermal technology with BWT using photothermal carriers (PTCs). Specifically, α-Fe2O3@polyaniline was coated onto a high-conductivity SiC ceramic matrix on a PTC, forming functional partitions for bacterial colonization. The upper layers of the PTCs have an interlaced porous structure and photothermal functions, which provided stable energy conversion and light shielding. The heat conducted downward formed a mesophilic, lightless zone in the lower PTC layers, resulting in high thermal conduction and bioaffinity. Consequently, anammox bacteria, a key biome for sustainable BWT, can be enriched in these PTCs, as evidenced by a 21.4% increase in abundance and a 2.2-fold increase in biomass. With the use of PTCs in a BWT facility under 0.6 kW m−2 illumination, the nitrogen removal performance at low temperature (15 °C) was 5.8 times higher than the case without the use of PTCs. Overall, this work shows how solar energy can be used to enhance the resilience of BWT to low temperatures, improving the applicability of BWT in cold regions. Biological wastewater treatment is greatly challenging in cold environments as low temperatures inhibit enzyme activity in microbial metabolism. This work presents a strategy that integrates biological wastewater treatment with photothermal technology to improve its resilience to low temperatures.\",\"PeriodicalId\":19056,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Nature Sustainability\",\"volume\":\"8 9\",\"pages\":\"1048-1057\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":27.1000,\"publicationDate\":\"2025-07-11\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Nature Sustainability\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"93\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-025-01591-z\",\"RegionNum\":1,\"RegionCategory\":\"环境科学与生态学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q1\",\"JCRName\":\"ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Nature Sustainability","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-025-01591-z","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
Biological wastewater treatment (BWT) is critical to safeguard the aqueous environment. However, enzyme activities in microbial metabolism are inhibited by low temperatures, making BWT implementation in cold environments challenging. Here we propose a strategy to endow BWT facilities with low-temperature operation resilience by integrating photothermal technology with BWT using photothermal carriers (PTCs). Specifically, α-Fe2O3@polyaniline was coated onto a high-conductivity SiC ceramic matrix on a PTC, forming functional partitions for bacterial colonization. The upper layers of the PTCs have an interlaced porous structure and photothermal functions, which provided stable energy conversion and light shielding. The heat conducted downward formed a mesophilic, lightless zone in the lower PTC layers, resulting in high thermal conduction and bioaffinity. Consequently, anammox bacteria, a key biome for sustainable BWT, can be enriched in these PTCs, as evidenced by a 21.4% increase in abundance and a 2.2-fold increase in biomass. With the use of PTCs in a BWT facility under 0.6 kW m−2 illumination, the nitrogen removal performance at low temperature (15 °C) was 5.8 times higher than the case without the use of PTCs. Overall, this work shows how solar energy can be used to enhance the resilience of BWT to low temperatures, improving the applicability of BWT in cold regions. Biological wastewater treatment is greatly challenging in cold environments as low temperatures inhibit enzyme activity in microbial metabolism. This work presents a strategy that integrates biological wastewater treatment with photothermal technology to improve its resilience to low temperatures.
期刊介绍:
Nature Sustainability aims to facilitate cross-disciplinary dialogues and bring together research fields that contribute to understanding how we organize our lives in a finite world and the impacts of our actions.
Nature Sustainability will not only publish fundamental research but also significant investigations into policies and solutions for ensuring human well-being now and in the future.Its ultimate goal is to address the greatest challenges of our time.