Optimization of Simultaneous Nutrients and Chemical Oxygen Demand Removal from Anaerobically Digested Liquid Dairy Manure in a Two-Step Fed Sequencing Batch Reactor System Using Taguchi Method and Grey Relational Analysis.

The technological development for efficient nutrient removal from liquid dairy manure is critical to a sustainable dairy industry. A nutrient removal process using a two-step fed sequencing batch reactor (SBR) system was developed in this study to achieve the applicability of simultaneous removal of phosphorus, nitrogen, and chemical oxygen demand from anaerobically digested liquid dairy manure (ADLDM). Three operating parameters, namely anaerobic time:aerobic time (min), anaerobic DO:aerobic DO (mg L-1), and hydraulic retention time (days), were systematically investigated and optimized using the Taguchi method and grey relational analysis for maximum removal efficiencies of total phosphorus (TP), ortho-phosphate (OP), ammonia-nitrogen (NH3-N), total nitrogen (TN), and chemical oxygen demand (COD) simultaneously. The results demonstrated that the optimal mean removal efficiencies of 91.21%, 92.63%, 91.82%, 88.61%, and 90.21% were achieved for TP, OP, NH3-N, TN, and COD at operating conditions, i.e., anaerobic:aerobic time of 90:90 min, anaerobic DO:aerobic DO of 0.4:2.4 mg L-1, and HRT of 3 days. Based on analysis of variance, the percentage contributions of these operating parameters towards the mean removal efficiencies of TP and COD were ranked in the order of anaerobic DO:aerobic DO > HRT > anaerobic time:aerobic time, while HRT was the most influential parameter for the mean removal efficiencies of OP, NH3-N, and TN followed by anaerobic time:aerobic time and anaerobic DO:aerobic DO. The optimal conditions obtained in this study are beneficial to the development of pilot and full-scale systems for simultaneous biological removal of phosphorus, nitrogen, and COD from ADLDM.

Nutrient starvation and light deprivation effects on starch accumulation in Landoltia punctata cultivated on anaerobically digested dairy manure.

Duckweed has been recognized for its potential of producing biomass on nutrients from waste streams. Our research has shown that strains of duckweed can be successfully cultivated on anaerobically digested (AD) dairy manure under controlled levels of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). The objective of this study was to explore the maximization of starch accumulation in Landoltia punctata (Mey.) Les & Crawford strain 0128 under different cultivation conditions using AD dairy manure as the nutrient source. Experimental results have shown that the most influential factors for starch accumulation in L. punctata were the nutrient concentration and the appropriate scheduling of nutrient starvation at the right growth stages. In our study, nutrient starvation for starch accumulation in L. punctata was achieved by incorporating nutrient addition of appropriately diluted AD dairy manure sequentially in a controlled manner under a constant light intensity of 3,000 lx. It was observed that a starch concentration of 30% (w/w) within the L. punctata biomass was achieved with an initial total N of 57.1 mg L-1 and a total P of 6.7 mg L-1 after a 30-d cultivation. Under the abovementioned cultivation conditions, the duckweed L. punctata recovered 16.3% (±4.0%) of total N and 25.9% (±6.6%) of total P from AD manure into its biomass. It is concluded that L. punctata can be successfully cultivated on nutrients from dairy manure for starch production, which would achieve well-being for dairy farmers by producing a feedstock for biofuels while treating dairy wastewater in an environmentally friendly manner.