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Current wastewater treatment processes such as activated sludge process and other aeration technologies are resourceconsuming and are unsustainable. Novel and integrated processes are crucial to the development of sustainable wastewater treatment systems. In this context, anaerobic treatment technologies provide numerous opportunities for minimization of energy and resource consumption and maximization of beneficial products. Further, integration of anaerobic digestion augmented by co-digestion, fermentation, dark fermentation or photo-fermentation and other bioelectrochemical systems may result in resource-efficient waste management and environmental protection. This mini-review discusses various possibilities and highlights recent developments of integrated aerobic and anaerobic technologies with bioelectrochemical systems for sustainable wastewater treatment. 

This study presents the use of an autotrophic microorganism, Anammox bacteria, as a sustainable biocatalyst/biocathode in microbial desalination cells (MDCs) for energy-positive wastewater treatment. We report the first proof of concept study to prove that anammox mechanism can be beneficial in MDCs to provide simultaneous removal of carbon and nitrogen compounds from wastewater while producing bioelectricity. A series of experiments were conducted to enrich and evaluate the anammox mechanism and the process performance in continuous, fed-batch mode conditions. Coulombic efficiency of MDCs and nitrite and ammonium removal of wastewater increased in successive batch studies. A maximum power density of 0.092 Wm−3 (or a maximum current density of 0.814 A m−3) with more than 90% of ammonium removal was achieved in this system. We calculated the Nernst potential for the nitrite reduction in the anammox biocathode chamber and compared with experimental values. Sequential removal of carbon and nitrogen compounds in anode and cathode chambers respectively, was also evaluated. Further, the inhibition effect of high nitrogen concentrations and the variations in microbial community profiles, especially, anammox presence was studied at different carbon and ammonia concentrations. Experimental studies and microbial community analysis are presented in detail. 

This research investigates a novel platform for an energy-yielding wastewater treatment and desalination scheme in which the organic matter present in wastewater is purposely fed to the exoelectrogenic bacteria to produce bioelectricity in a three-compartment bioelectrochemical system called photosynthetic microbial desalination cell (PMDC). The role of an inorganic carbon source in the microalgae biocathode was studied. Addition of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) increased power production, microalgae growth and desalination rate. A power density of 660 mW/m3 was measured which is about 7.5 times higher than the PMDCs without NaHCO3. Desalination rate was more than 40% after 72 h. Overall, the process could be energy-positive while producing 4.21 kWh per m3 of wastewater treated including desalination energy savings and microalgae biomass energy potential.