Reverse osmosis (RO) membranes are widely used for desalination and water treatment. However, they insufficiently reject some small uncharged micropollutants, such as certain endocrine-disrupting, pharmaceutically active compounds and boric acid, increasingly present in water sources and wastewater. This study examines the feasibility of improving rejection of multiple micropollutants in commercial low-pressure RO membrane elements using concentration polarization- and surfactant-enhanced surface polymerization. Low-pressure membrane elements modified by grafting poly(glycidyl methacrylate) showed enhanced rejection of all tested solutes (model organic micropollutants, boric acid, and NaCl), with permeability somewhat reduced, but comparable with commercial brackish water RO membranes. The study demonstrates the potential and up-scalability of grafting as an in situ method for improving removal of various classes of organic and inorganic micropollutants and tuning performance in RO and other dense composite membranes for water purification.

Municipal solid waste management is considered one of the major environmental challenges. Organic waste, especially food waste, usually accounts for over 50 wt% of municipal solid waste, yet, in most countries, it is the least recovered material. Decentralized composting aims to develop a new framework of waste management, building a closed-loop system for the composting of home, community, and commercial organic waste in urban environments. However, in some cases, decentralized composting is not economically and/or environmentally viable. Even when it is viable, various barriers and challenges need to be addressed in many cases. Different models in the literature address certain aspects of organic waste management, such as food waste treatment technology, recovery of energy, site selection, or environmental impact. The objective of this study is to provide guidelines and a methodological framework to quantify economic, social, operational, environmental, and regulatory aspects, in order to examine the viability and feasibility of decentralized composting projects at any given location. The decentralized composting analysis model proposed in this study has been developed with an innovative approach to decentralized composting project planning and design, an approach that is both holistic and very practical. The innovative model incorporates various aspects to examine the viability of decentralized composting projects based on benefit/cost criteria. In this respect, a result obtained through another model that examines a specific aspect of decentralized composting can be used as input for the model presented here. The decentralized composting analysis model provides a powerful tool for decision makers, based on the quantification of the decentralized composting project characteristics, and a benefit/cost index that takes into account the various impact variables. The decentralized composting analysis model allows examining the viability of the decentralized composting project in different scenarios, locations and options, and can help indicate the most viable alternative. In this paper, we describe the decentralized composting analysis model and its methodological framework, along with numerical examples to demonstrate its implementation.

The advanced anaerobic technology (AAT), developed based on an immobilized high-rate anaerobic reactor, was applied as a pretreatment of municipal wastewater (WW) at Karmiel's treatment plant in Israel. The demonstration-scale AAT (21 m3) system was operated at a flow rate of 100 m3day−1 municipal WW mixed with olive mill wastewater (OMW) (0.5 m3day−1) to simulate the scenario of illegal discharge of agro-industrial WW. The AAT provided a stable performance. Specifically, AAT enabled treating high organic loads (9.3 kg m−3day−1) resulting from OMW discharge by shaving the high peaks of organic content and protecting the subsequent activated sludge process. This system enabled the recovery of a significant part of the organic load by anaerobic biodegradation to produce biogas, shown to be highly dependent on temperature and partly on the organic loading rate. The outcomes indicate that the AAT could tolerate an addition of up to 0.5% OMW to municipal WW by removing more than 50% of the total chemical oxygen demand and 18–47% of polyphenols. This work shows that the AAT system has the potential of pretreating municipal WW, increasing the energy efficiency of the plant, and protecting small-medium WWTPs from sudden agro-industrial discharges.

The organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) is a significant environmental threat, and an economic and social challenge to manage. As such, the efficient treatment of OFMSW is a significant key factor in achieving sustainable waste management. Decentralized composting (DC) offers a new framework of waste management. The DC analysis model (DCAM) proposed in our previous study provides a powerful tool for decision makers, based on the quantification of the DC project characteristics. In this paper, we focus on qualitative analysis as a complementary tool to support decision making in cases where the quantitative analysis is equivocal. The qualitative analysis identifies the main players in the field, the critical stakeholders, and the potential conflicts between them. It also reveals the root problems and the core competencies for the project’s implementation. The DCAM qualitative analysis in the Shefa-Amr case study indicates that unresolved root problems, such as “lack of national regulation”, “clear ownership of the project”, and “lack of ongoing budget” can result in an unsustainable composting system. Countering that, “commitment of the municipality” together with “economic viability” and securing “suitable areas for placing composters” are among the most important core competencies for the effective implementation of DC projects.

The organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) is a significant environmental threat, and an economic and social challenge to manage. As such, the efficient treatment of OFMSW is a significant key factor in achieving sustainable waste management. Decentralized Composting (DC) develops a new framework of waste management. The DC Analysis Model (DCAM), proposed in our previous study, provides a powerful tool for decision makers, based on the quantification of the DC project characteristics. In this paper, we focus on the qualitative analysis as a complementary tool to support decision making, in cases where quantitative analysis is unequivocal. The qualitative analysis identifies the main players in the field, the critical stakeholders and the potential conflicts between them. It also reveals the root problems and the core competencies for the project's implementation. DCAM qualitative analysis in Shefa-Amr (case study) indicates that unresolved root problems, such as the “lack of national regulation”, “clear ownership of the project” and “lack of ongoing budget” can result in an unsustainable composting system. Countering that, “the commitment of the municipality”, together with “economic viability” and securing “suitable areas for placing composters” are among the most important core competencies for the effective implementation of DC projects.