CAS Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
Environ Sci Technol. 2020 Jul 7;54(13):7742-7750. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.0c00850. Epub 2020 Jun 11.
Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) are known to crucially affect the properties and performance of activated sludge, but the detailed influential mechanisms and the pertinence to specific compositional, structural properties of EPS are still elusive. Such knowledge gaps have severely limited our ability in optimizing biological wastewater treatment processes, for which long-term robust and efficient sludge performance remains one of the main bottlenecks. Here, we overview the new knowledge on the molecular structure of sludge EPS gained over the past few years and discuss the future challenges and opportunities for further advancing EPS study and engineering. The structural and functional features of several macromolecules in sludge EPS and their important structural roles in granular sludge are analyzed in detail. The EPS-pollutant interactions and environment-dependent regulation machinery on EPS production are deciphered. Lastly, the remaining knowledge gaps are identified, and the future research needs that may lead to molecular-level understanding and precise engineering of sludge EPS are highlighted.
胞外聚合物（EPS）被认为对活性污泥的性质和性能有至关重要的影响，但 EPS 的详细影响机制及其与 EPS 的特定组成、结构性质的相关性仍然难以捉摸。这些知识空白极大地限制了我们优化生物废水处理过程的能力，而长期的稳健和高效的污泥性能仍然是主要瓶颈之一。在这里，我们综述了过去几年中关于污泥 EPS 分子结构的新知识，并讨论了进一步推进 EPS 研究和工程的未来挑战和机遇。详细分析了污泥 EPS 中几种大分子的结构和功能特征及其在颗粒污泥中的重要结构作用。揭示了 EPS-污染物相互作用和环境依赖的 EPS 产生调控机制。最后，确定了剩余的知识空白，并强调了未来可能导致对污泥 EPS 的分子水平理解和精确工程的研究需求。
