New insights into carbon capture and re-direction technologies for wastewater resource recovery: A critical review

Sewage resource recycling represents a pivotal solution for addressing water scarcity and environmental contamination. Carbon capture and carbon redirection technologies assume a critical role as a fundamental methodology within the domain of sewage resource recycling. However, many critical issues still need to be resolved. Therefore, this research provides an overview and outlook of carbon capture and anaerobic digestion (AD) technology in the progress of wastewater resource recovery research. Firstly, the developmental trajectory of municipal wastewater treatment processes is summarized. Secondly, the principles of wastewater carbon capture technology and the AD based on adsorbents, membranes and biotechnology are presented. Then, a summary of advancements in the amalgamation of carbon capture with the AD technology within the context of wastewater treatment is provided. To further improve the effluent water quality, it is necessary to couple them with mature nitrogen removal processes. This research summarizes the latest coupling processes, and it will be conducive to the practical engineering application of carbon capture and the AD technology in the future. Finally, an enumeration of challenges to engineering applications is delineated, concurrently accompanied by a prospective outlook. The aim of this research is to provide a valuable reference for the utilization of carbon resources in wastewater resource recycling.