Over the past few years, environmental awareness in Taiwan has risen significantly. The Environmental Protection Administration of Executive Yuan, R.O.C Taiwan has established more stringent regulations in controlling water pollution concerning specific discharge criteria and monitoring requirements, such as ammonia-nitrogen, heavy metals, color, and other harmful substances, which were in effect on 1st January 2021. As a result, industrial facilities and municipalities have to improve their wastewater and sewage treatment systems such as separation technologies, reduction, recycle and reuse technologies in achieving both the enforced standards and effectiveness of reducing and preventing water pollution. To assist in the improvement and transformation of industrial wastewater treatment technologies, this project here proposes emerging wastewater treatment technologies implementing the qualities of 4L+C, which are low pollution, low energy consumption, low cost, low space, and circular economy. The proposed wastewater treatment technologies include capacitive deionization technology, integration of separation and crystallization technology in recycling ammonia, and non-thermal plasma technology. Capacitive deionization, as an energy-efficient invention for ion separation, has undergone investigations for selective removals of ammonium and nitrate and will be followed with efficiency validation aiming at heavy metal removal into the pilot scale. As for the recycling ammonia-nitrogen technology, apart from real-field wastewater validation to improve their readiness and maturity, the research and development team also collaborated with industrial facilities to carry out on-site experimentation and will continue to establish the demonstration of validated technology. While non-thermal plasma technology has completed preliminary parameters studies, it shows a promising potential for further development in dye and antibiotics removal. Apart from the research and development of these emerging technologies, the teams have also conducted on-site consultations and industrial wastewater sampling at 6 different industrial plantations to comprehend ongoing wastewater treatment difficulties. Meanwhile, by gathering the opinions from the industry experts and academic professionals through 1 symposiums event, 1 academic and 2 industrial forums, this project has proposed improvements and solutions of wastewater and sewage treatment systems concerning the specific industries. At last, the publicity of these emerging domestic wastewater treatment technologies is boosted through the channel of a press conference, documentary films, both local and international seminars, and journal publications. Overall, with all the accomplishments and efforts, this project helps to stimulate the growth and the transformation of industrial wastewater management in Taiwan.

Emerging Wastewater Treatment Technologies, Water Purification, Resources Recovery and Reuse