Environmental assessment of alternative treatment schemes for energy and nutrient recovery from livestock manure.

The application of livestock manure on agricultural land is being restricted due to its significant content of phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N), leading to eutrophication. At the same time, the growing demand for N and P mineral fertilizers is increasing their production costs and causing the depletion of natural phosphate rock deposits. In the present work, seven technologically feasible treatment schemes for energy (biogas) and nutrient recovery (e.g., struvite precipitation) and/or removal (e.g., partial nitritation/anammox) were evaluated from an environmental perspective. In general, while approaches based solely on energy recovery and use of digestate as fertilizer are commonly limited by community regulations, strategies pursuing the generation of high-quality struvite are not environmentally sound alternatives. In contrast, schemes that include further solid/liquid separation of the digestate improved the environmental profile, and their combination with an additional N-removal stage would lead to the most environmental-friendly framework. However, the preferred scenario was identified to be highly dependent on the particular conditions of each site, integrating environmental, social and economic criteria.

Effect of oxygen on the microbial activities of thermophilic anaerobic biomass.

Low oxygen levels (µgO2L(-1)) in anaerobic reactors are quite common and no relevant consequences are expected. On the contrary, higher concentrations could affect the process. This work aimed to study the influence of oxygen (4.3 and 8.8mgO2L(-1), respectively) on the different microbial activities (hydrolytic, acidogenic and methanogenic) of thermophilic anaerobic biomass and on the methanogenic community structure. Batch tests in presence of oxygen were conducted using specific substrates for each biological activity and a blank (with minimum oxygen) was included. No effect of oxygen was observed on the hydrolytic and acidogenic activities. In contrast, the methane production rate decreased by 40% in all oxygenated batches and the development of active archaeal community was slower in presence of 8.8mgO2L(-1). However, despite this sensitivity of methanogens to oxygen at saturation levels, the inhibition was reversible.