RT Journal Article
T1 Nematode biomass production from sewage sludge as a novel method for circular economy
A1 López Viso, Carlos
A1 Hodaifa, Gassan
A1 Muñoz Ruiz, Manuel Jesús
K1 Caenorhabditis elegans
K1 Urban sludge reduction
K1 Urban wastewater
K1 Predation
K1 Fat matter
AB Sludge generated in urban wastewater treatment plants is a huge environmental and economic challenge of sustainability. Sludge recovery is an environmental necessity and is a requirement for wastewater treatment plants. Predators have been proposed as a biological solution and simultaneously obtaining by-product of interest. Nematodes are predators that are found naturally in sludge but have never been proposed for sludge reduction. In this work, Caenorhabditis elegans, a nematode broadly used for biomedical studies, was used to grow on urban sludge, reaching a remarkable average population up to 92,668 nematodes/mL, 50.6% of sludge was converted into nematode biomass and up to 21.0% of organic matter removed. To demonstrate the viability of this nematode to grow and reduce urban sludges, different experiments in solid and liquid culture media were performed. The physio-chemical composition of the different types of sludges generated in the urban wastewater treatment plants was determined. The total lipids (4.52%, w/w) and fatty acid profiles obtained in the nematode biomass were determined. This work presents a new method to valorise urban sludge and opens the possibility to obtain by-products with high added value.
PB Elsevier
YR 2022
FD 2022
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10433/20183
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10433/20183
LA en
NO Journal of Cleaner Production Volume 330, 1 January 2022, 129706
NO BEFESA S.L. (ABENGOA) by financing the project entitled "Viability study for obtaining nematodes fat matter from sludge of urban wastewater treatment plants" and the Junta de Andalucia and Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Spain), through Project Ref.: AGR-7092 "Application of advanced oxidation technologies for treating of washing wastewaters of olive oil and olives",
NO Universidad Pablo de Olavide. Departamento de Biología Molecular e Ingeniería Bioquímica
DS RIO
RD May 8, 2026