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Topic · Pollution

Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal

Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal is a research topic within Pollution. Science Explorer counts 44k research works in it since 1950. 18.3% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the microbial nitrogen cycle in biological wastewater treatment systems, including the roles of nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria, anammox bacteria, and extracellular polymeric substances. It covers topics such as complete nitrification, partial nitritation/anammox, biological phosphorus removal, and nitrous oxide emission during wastewater treatment.

  • Nitrogen-Cycling Network
  • Anammox Bacteria
  • Extracellular Polymeric Substances
  • Nitrifying Bacteria
  • Denitrifying Bacteria
  • Biological Phosphorus Removal
  • Activated Sludge
  • Wastewater Treatment
  • Nitrous Oxide Emission
  • Anaerobic Ammonium Oxidation
Research works
44k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
8k
per year above
Top-10% rate
18.3%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+14%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (3.6k and 459 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China 3.6k works
  2. 2 United States 459 works
  3. 3 India 312 works
  4. 4 Japan 168 works
  5. 5 Spain 131 works
  6. 6 South Korea 126 works
  7. 7 Germany 120 works
  8. 8 Canada 118 works
  9. 9 Australia 112 works
  10. 10 Brazil 101 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 68.7%United States: 8.7%India: 5.9%Japan: 3.2%6 others listed: 13.5%69%largest
China3,611 · 68.7%United States459 · 8.7%India312 · 5.9%Japan168 · 3.2%6 others listed709 · 13.5%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal research?

By volume in 2022–2025, Beijing University of Technology publishes the most Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal research, followed by Harbin Institute of Technology and Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology.

Who are the leading researchers in Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal include Guangming Zeng and Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté.

  1. 1 Guangming Zeng China 5.6k citations
  2. 2 Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté Netherlands 2.4k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

Where is Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal research done?

The largest centres of Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Nanjing (China), Shanghai (China) and Guangzhou (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Shanghai and Sendai.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 787 works
  2. 2 Nanjing China 259 works
  3. 3 Shanghai China 195 works
  4. 4 Guangzhou China 189 works
  5. 5 Xi'an China 148 works
  6. 6 Harbin China 146 works
  7. 7 Wuhan China 134 works
  8. 8 Hangzhou China 127 works
  9. 9 Tianjin China 127 works
  10. 10 Qingdao China 120 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Shanghai21.6 works22×
  2. SendaiJP · 34.1 works6.4×
← less than its size predictsmore →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal than the world average.

See Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal on the map

Where is the best place to study Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal?

Among universities, judged by research, Harbin Institute of Technology, Hohai University and Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 24.57%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Harbin Institute of Technology: 112, 27.2%Hohai University: 43, 29.0%Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology: 84, 24.6%Beijing University of Technology: 165, 19.0%Suzhou University of Science and Technology: 49, 16.8%Beijing Forestry University: 22, 30.0%Southwest University: 21, 23.9%Ocean University of China: 35, 16.2%University of Technology Sydney: 16, 23.3%Northwest A&F University: 9, 35.7%Hohai UniversityHarbin Institute of …Xi'an University of …Beijing University o…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1 Harbin Institute of TechnologyChina 66.927.2%10.3×112 -37.4%
2 Hohai UniversityChina 64.929.0%11.8×43 -0.0%
3 Xi'an University of Architecture and TechnologyChina 63.724.6%41.6×84 -10.3%
4 Beijing University of TechnologyChina 63.319.0%35.0×165 -21.6%
5 Suzhou University of Science and TechnologyChina 63.016.8%34.1×49 +122.2%
6 Beijing Forestry UniversityChina 60.030.0%11.3×22 -2.2%
7 Southwest UniversityChina 55.923.9%5.8×21 +193.7%
8 Ocean University of ChinaChina 54.716.2%10.4×35 +27.6%
9 University of Technology SydneyAustralia 54.423.3%5.5×16 +114.0%
10 Northwest A&F UniversityChina 54.435.7%3.5×9 +285.3%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 14% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2022. The fastest-growing topics are Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.