Microplastics (MPs) are widely distributed in freshwater and have the following characteristics: small size, strong hydrophobicity, difficult degradation, and easy adsorption of toxic substances. These characteristics pose a potential threat to the environment and human health. In this paper, three common MPs in freshwater were removed by conventional dissolved air flotation (DAF) and positive modification DAF (Posi‐DAF). The results showed that the optimal removal efficiency of MPs by conventional DAF was 32%–38% at 0.4–0.5 MPa. This indicated that the adhesion between microbubbles (MBs) and MPs was not ideal when the hydrophilic/hydrophobic interaction was the dominant mechanism. However, the removal efficiency of MPs was increased by 13.6%–33.7% compared with that of conventional DAF after two surface modifiers were used on MBs. This result indicated that in addition to the hydrophilic/hydrophobic interaction, both charge attraction and sweeping had positive effects. Practitioner points The removal efficiency and mechanism of MPs by posi‐DAF were investigated. The characteristics, particle number, and adhesion of microplastics were measured. Conventional DAF was dominated by hydrophilic/hydrophobic interactions. CTAB Posi‐DAF was dominated by charge attraction. PDADMAC Posi‐DAF was dominated by charge attraction and sweeping.

To simultaneously improve the removal of nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater with a low C/N ratio and reduce excess sludge production, in this paper, excess sludge ultrasound‐hydrolysis acidification (UHA) pretreatment was coupled with the anaerobic–anoxic–oxic (AAO) process to provide carbon source and enhance biological nitrogen removal performance, and the experimental results can be summarized as follows. First, the total nitrogen (TN) concentrations in the effluent of the system decreased from 16.94 mg/L to 5.74 mg/L, and the removal rate of TN increased by 25.5%. In addition, the concentrations for ammonia nitrogen (NH3‐N) in the system decreased 12.59 mg/L, and the removal rate of this index increased by 29.0%. Furthermore, the specific oxygen uptake rate (SOUR) in the anoxic zone increased significantly because the application of UHA products enhanced the microbial activity, and the addition of UHA products had an effect on the microbial community structure in the system. The amounts of denitrifying bacteria such as Betaproteobacteria and Alphaproteobacteria also increased, which enhanced the nitrogen removal efficiency of wastewater biological treatment. Practitioner points Treatment of excess sludge in UHA device as an additional carbon source. Nitrogen removal efficiency was greatly improved after adding UHA products. Input of UHA products enhanced microbial activity in AAO system. Denitrifying bacteria increased with the addition of UHA products.