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• The γ-Fe 3 O 4 -N-BC improved the adsorption properties of biochar effectively. • Nutrient removal was improved by inoculating γ-Fe 3 O 4 -N-BC in MBR. • Effective membrane fouling alleviation was achieved in γ-Fe 3 O 4 -N-BC-MBR. • Increase of sludge size and zeta potential in 500-MBR reduced gel layer formation. • The reduction PN/PS ratio in 500-MBR contributed to alleviate membrane fouling. In this study, a new type of iron–nitrogen doped biochar (γ- Fe 3 O 4 -N-BC) was developed to improve nutrient removal efficiency and mitigate membrane fouling in combination with MBR. The characteristion of γ-Fe 3 O 4 -N-BC, N-BC, and BC revealed that the BET surface area (S BET) of γ-Fe 3 O 4 -N-BC, which was 1320.86 m2/g, was greater than that of N-BC (702.75 m2/g) and BC (1033.63 m2/g). The excellent S BET exhibited by γ-Fe 3 O 4 -N-BC compared to that of the other biochars is attributed to hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactions. Compared to the addition of N-BC or BC or the absence of biochar, the addition of γ-Fe 3 O 4 -N-BC in the membrane bioreactor (MBR) resulted in superior wastewater treatment performance, for which the average removal efficiencies of chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia nitrogen (NH 4 +-N), and total phosphorus (TP) were 94.65 %, 82.56 %, and 65.90 %, respectively. Moreover, after inoculation with γ-Fe 3 O 4 -N-BC, the TMP increase rate and time required to reach 42.37 kPa were 2.35 kPa/d and 18 d, respectively. The investigation of the effect of the γ-Fe 3 O 4 -N-BC concentration on MBR performance showed that the nutrient removal efficiency in the 500-MBR greater than that in the 350-MBR, 650-MBR, and 800-MBR, and that the membrane fouling was more ameliorative. A mechanistic investigation demonstrated that the 500-MBR had a beneficial influence on sludge biomass growth and helped to improve the nutrient removal capacity of the MBR. The 500-MBR improved the flocculability and stability of the sludge flocs in the MBR by increasing particle size and zeta potential. Changes in the extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) concentration and the smaller protein (PN) / polysaccharide (PS) ratio in 500-MBR also had significant impacts on alleviating the adhesion and accumulation of fouling layers on the improved membrane surface. Consequently, this study provides a new method for nutrient removal and membrane fouling mitigation in the MBR process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research, three highly efficient combination systems, including constructed wetland microbial fuel cell (CWMFC), hydrolytic sludge acidification coupling with constructed wetland microbial fuel cell (HSA-CWMFC) and hydrolytic filler acidification coupling with constructed wetland microbial fuel cell (HFA-CWMFC), were applied to the removal of pollutants from domestic sewage. The three combination systems could effectively treat domestic sewage and generate clean energy. The power generated by CWMFC, HSA-CWMFC, and HFA-CWMFC was 0.36 W/m2, 0.40 W/m2, and 0.43 W/m2, respectively. The results indicated that the removal rates of chemical oxygen demand (COD), total organic carbon (TOC), total phosphorus (TP), ammonia nitrogen (NH 3 –N), and nitrate nitrogen (NO 3 −-N) in HFA-CWMFC could achieve the optimal values of 91.01%, 90.63%, 95.35%, 86.11%, and 91.01%, respectively. In addition, HFA-CWMFC produced more organic acids than HSA-CWMFC, which was beneficial to the follow-up reaction. Through qualcomm sequencing analysis, it could be seen that Firmicutes , which could enhance power generation capacity and increase removal rates of pollutants, played an important role in HFA-CWMFC. The results demonstrated that the three combined systems had excellent application prospects for sewage treatment and energy generation. [Display omitted] ● The hydrolytic combination systems had remarkable effect on pollutants removal. ● The hydrolytic filler combination system could obviously remove pollutants. ● Microbial community in the hydrolytic filler combination system was more abundant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]