Inactivation and risk control of pathogenic microorganisms in municipal sludge treatment: A review

Abstract

The rapid global spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has promoted concern over human pathogens and their significant threats to public health security. The monitoring and control of human pathogens in public sanitation and health facilities are of great importance. Excessive sludge is an inevitable byproduct of sewage that contains human and animal feces in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). It is an important sink of different pollutants and pathogens, and the proper treatment and disposal of sludge are important to minimize potential risks to the environment and public health. However, there is a lack of comprehensive analysis of the diversity, exposure risks, assessment methods and inactivation techniques of pathogenic microorganisms in sludge. Based on this consideration, this review summarizes the control performance of pathogenic microorganisms such as enterovirus, Salmonella spp., and Escherichia coli by different sludge treatment technologies, including composting, anaerobic digestion, aerobic digestion, and microwave irradiation, and the mechanisms of pathogenic microorganism inactivation in sludge treatment processes are discussed. Additionally, this study reviews the diversity, detection methods, and exposure risks of pathogenic microorganisms in sludge. This review advances the quantitative assessment of pathogenic microorganism risks involved in sludge reuse and is practically valuable to optimize the treatment and disposal of sludge for pathogenic microorganism control.

The effect of pre-treatment and anaerobic digestion for pathogens reduction in agricultural utilization of sewage sludge

“…One such possibility may be the use of disintegration methods. As we have shown in our earlier works (Grübel and Suschka 2015 ; Machnicka et al 2015 ; Suschka and Grübel 2016 ; Grübel and Machnicka 2020 ; Li et al 2021 ), the disintegration process effectively releases organic matter into the supernatant liquid of WAS, which contributes to the increased production of biogas. In connection with the above, we have undertaken research to determine the effectiveness of disintegration in removing selected bacterial indicators and parasite eggs.…”

“…Sewage sludge comes into existence in wastewater treatment plants as a peculiar waste of wastewater treatment processes. The legal regulations regarding sewage sludge management have restrictions on the presence of volatile substances, disease-causing pathogenic organisms (viruses, bacteria, protozoa, and parasite eggs), heavy metals, and inorganic ions, along with dangerous chemicals from industrial wastes, household chemicals, and pesticides (López et al 2019 ; Li et al 2021 ).…”

Recent Research on Municipal Sludge as Soil Fertilizer in China: a Review

“…Pathogen inactivation is one of the main strategies for addressing this issue, and its efficacy depends on various physical, chemical, and biological processes. This strategy can be used to reduce the pathogen load of sludge by optimizing conditions, such as temperature, pH, and residence time, minimizing the potential risk to human health (Li et al, 2021 ). There is a risk that any pathogens in municipal sludge applied to land as fertilizer may enter the ecosystem, so it is important to consider the pathogens in municipal sludge in order to reduce the health risk to humans.…”

Technologies for pollutant removal and resource recovery from blackwater: a review

“…Microorganic pathogens are nearly the most concerning issue when BW is reused, especially in epidemic cases (Schoen and Garland, 2017;Lai et al, 2018;Li et al, 2022). BW is thought to contain extremely high levels of microorganisms and is considered liable to spread enteric microorganisms among people (Odey et al, 2017).…”