Closing the Loop: Innovations in Resource Recovery and Wastewater Management for Sustainable Futures

The chapter explores innovations in wastewater management and resource recovery for sustainable futures. It highlights the global challenges of untreated wastewater, which impacts ecosystems, human health, and economies. Technologies like anammox and struvite precipitation recover nutrients for agriculture, while methods like nanofiltration and hydrometallurgy extract metals from industrial waste. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) generate energy during wastewater treatment, and microalgae-based biorefineries produce biofuels and medicinal compounds. Direct potable reuse (DPR) systems transform wastewater into drinking water, reducing dependency on traditional sources. Artificial intelligence (AI) optimizes treatment processes, enhances efficiency, and reduces energy consumption. Case studies from Israel, the EU, and India demonstrate successful wastewater reuse strategies, while policy interventions emphasize governance, regulations, and community engagement. The chapter advocates transitioning to a circular economy, leveraging wastewater treatment plants as resource recovery facilities to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve public health, and foster economic stability. Social acceptance remains a key challenge for widespread adoption.

Faced with rising global challenges, such as population growth and urbanization leading to climate change, the sustainable management of water resources has become imperative for achieving resilient and environmentally responsible developments. This chapter reports the recent progressions for resource recovery from wastewater, exploring their transformative abilities and essential role in advancing sustainable development goals. Various innovative strategies, such as nutrient recovery technologies, extraction of valuable metals and rare elements from industrial wastewater, energy recovery from wastewater, and impacted systems, exemplify a paradigm change in water management practices. We present case studies from some nations to better understand their contributions towards resource recovery from wastewater. This chapter highlights transforming wastewater from a mere environmental challenge into a valuable resource through the integration of artificial intelligence and data analytics to better predict, maintain, and develop overall sustainability and resilience of wastewater treatment infrastructure. We also explore the role of governance and self-social responsibility in mitigating the problems faced in wastewater management.