In this study, a combined alkaline (ALK) and ultrasonication (ULS) sludge lysis-cryptic pretreatment and anoxic/oxic (AO) system (AO + ALK/ULS) was developed to enhance biological nitrogen removal (BNR) in domestic wastewater with a low carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio. A real-time control strategy for the AO + ALK/ULS system was designed to optimize the sludge lysate return ratio (RSLR) under variable sludge concentrations and variations in the influent C/N (⩽ 5). A multi-layered backpropagation artificial neural network (BPANN) model with network topology of 1 input layer, 3 hidden layers, and 1 output layer, using the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm, was developed and validated. Experimental and predicted data showed significant concurrence, verified with a high regression coefficient (R2 = 0.9513) and accuracy of the BPANN. The BPANN model effectively captured the complex nonlinear relationships between the related input variables and effluent output in the combined lysis-cryptic + BNR system. The model could be used to support the real-time dynamic response and process optimization control to treat low C/N domestic wastewater.In freshwater systems, sediment can be an important source for the internal loading of PO4. The limiting character of this element in such system leads to consider this phenomenon in terms of eutrophication risks and water quality stakes. A four-months follow-up (January, March, April and May 2019) was carried out in a strong phosphate (PO4) limited secondary channel from an artificial irrigation system of Charente Maritime (France) to link the mobilization of remineralization products in the upper 6 cm layer of sediment (conventional core slicing/centrifugation and DET probes) and the phytoplankton biomass dynamics in the water column. Results showed congruent patterns between the temporal succession of the organic matter mineralization processes in the sediment and the primary biomass dynamics in the water column. In January and March (considered in winter), PO4 proved to be retained by adsorption onto iron oxides in anoxic sediment since pore water nitrate inhibited for about a month the respiration of metal oxides in the first cm of sediment, thus limiting PO4 availability and the phytoplankton growth. In April and May (early spring), after exhaustion of pore water nitrate, the dissolutive reduction of iron oxides released PO4 into pore water generated a significant diffusive outgoing flux from the sediment to the water column with a maximum in April (-1.10E-04±2.81E-05 nmol cm-2 s-1). This release coincided with the nanophytoplankton bloom (5.50 µg Chla L-1) and a potential increase of PO4 concentration in the water column. This work provides some insight on the importance of benthic-pelagic coupling in anthropogenic systems. This conceptual model has to be deployed on other sites of interest where internal loading of P takes precedence over external inputs and nitrate mitigation drives its benthic recycling and ultimately its bioavailability. This is to be essential to characterize the aquatic environment quality in order to limit eutrophication risks.Membrane distillation (MD) has the high potential to circumvent conventional desalination limitations in treating highly saline brines. However, the performance of MD is limited by its low thermal efficiencyand temperature polarization (TP) effect. Consequently, the driving force decreases when heat loss increases.In this study, we propose to minimize TP through localized heating where the thin feed channel was heated uniformly at the membrane-liquid interface without changing the properties of the membrane.This concept was further improved by implementing a new dead-end MD configuration. Investigated for the first time,this configuration eliminated circulation heat losses, which cannot be realized in conventional MD due to a rapid temperature stratification. In addition, the accumulation of foulants on the membrane surface was successfully controlled by intermittent flushing. 3-Dimensional conjugate heat transfer modeling revealedmore uniform heat transfer and temperature gradient across the membrane due to the increased feed water temperature over a larger membrane area. The increase of water vapor flux (45%) and the reduction of heat lossobserved in the new dead-end concept led to a decrease of the specific energy consumption by 57%, corresponding to a gain output ratio increase of about 132 %, compared to a conventional bulk heating, while preserving membrane integrity. A conjugate heat transfer model was deployed in ANSYS-Fluent framework to elucidate on the mechanism of flux enhancement associated with the proposed technique. selleck kinase inhibitor This study provides a framework for future sustainable MD developmentby maintaining a stable vapor flux while minimizing energy consumption.The formation and fate of perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) in sludge during anaerobic digestion (AD) is of global importance since the sludge is a significant source of PFAAs to the environment. The formation of PFAAs from polyfluorinated compounds, namely PFAA precursors, is poorly understood in AD. This study aims to investigate the formation of PFAAs from precursors and their partitioning behaviour in waste activated sludge (WAS) during AD process. To achieve this, three isotope-labelled PFAAs were spiked and monitored along with indigenous PFAAs and precursors over eight weeks in a laboratory-scale anaerobic digester, fed with sludge from a local wastewater treatment plant and operated with a hydraulic retention time of 12 days under 35 ℃. In addition to isotope-labelled PFAAs, twelve native PFAAs and eight polyfluorinated compounds were detected in the feed and digested sludges. A mass-balance model, validated by the spiking experiment, was applied to predict the concentrations of PFAAs and precursors assuming no formation/degradation in AD. The measured concentrations of short-chain PFAAs (perfluoroalkyl carboxylates (PFCAs) C less then 8; perfluoroalkane sulfonates (PFSAs) C less then 6) in the AD sludge were significantly (p less then 0.05) higher than the model-predicted concentrations, indicating the formation of these PFAAs from precursors in AD. In contrast, the formation of long-chain PFAAs (PFCAs C ≥ 8; PFSAs C ≥ 6) was not observed. Moreover, the degradation of two polyfluoroalkyl phosphates (PAPs) (62 PAP and 62/82 diPAP) occurred, evidenced by their measured concentrations that were statistically lower than the mass-balance predictions. Further, the AD process reduced the amount of PFAAs absorbed/adsorbed to sludge, particularly for the long-chain ones, due to the breakdown of solids.