A novel membrane-based process to concentrate nutrients from sidestreams of an Urban Wastewater Treatment Plant through captured carbon dioxide from biogas.

Among the challenges that wastewater treatment plants face in the path towards sustainability, reducing CO2 emissions and decrease the amount of waste highlight. Within these wastes, those that can cause eutrophication, such as nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorous) are of great concern. Herein we study a novel process to concentrate nutrients via membrane technology. In particular, we propose the use of forward osmosis, applying the carbonated solvent which contains the CO2 captured from the biogas stream as draw solution. This carbonated solvent has a high potential osmotic pressure, which can be used in forward osmosis to concentrate the nutrients stream. To this end, we present the results of an experimental plan specifically designed and performed to evaluate two main parameters: (1) nutrients concentration; and (2) water recovery. The process designed involves pH adjustment, membrane filtration to separate solids, pH reduction and forward osmosis concentration of nutrients. With this process, concentrations factor for nutrients in between 2 and 2.5 and water recovery of approximately 50 % with water flux of 7 to 8 L/(m2h) can be achieved.

Synergizing carbon capture and utilization in a biogas upgrading plant based on calcium chloride: Scaling-up and profitability analysis.

Herein we analyze the profitability of a novel regenerative process to synergize biogas upgrading and carbon dioxide utilization. Our proposal is a promising alternative which allows to obtain calcium carbonate as added value product while going beyond traditional biogas upgrading methods with high thermal energy consumption. Recently we have demonstrated the experimental viability of this route. In this work, both the scale-up and the profitability of the process are presented. Furthermore, we analyze three representative scenarios to undertake a techno-economic study of the proposed circular economy process. The scale-up results demonstrate the technical viability of our proposal. The precipitation efficiency and the product quality are still remarkable with the increase of the reactor size. The techno-economic analysis reveals that the implementation of this circular economy strategy is unprofitable without subsidies. Nonetheless, the results are somehow encouraging as the subsides needed to reach profitability are lower than in other biogas upgrading and carbon dioxide utilization proposals. Indeed, for the best-case scenario, a feed-in tariff incentive of 4.3 €/MWh makes the approach profitable. A sensitivity study through tornado analysis is also presented, revealing the importance of reducing bipolar membrane electrodialysis energy consumption. Overall our study envisages the big challenge that the EU faces during the forthcoming years. The evolution towards bio-based and circular economies requires the availability of economic resources and progress on engineering technologies.

Low-Energy Method for Water-Mineral Recovery from Acid Mine Drainage Based on Membrane Technology: Evaluation of Inorganic Salts as Draw Solutions.

In this work, a novel study for acid mine drainage remediation and reutilization by means of a forward osmosis technology is addressed. The proposed process is a potential alternative path, which allows to recover high-quality water and to concentrate metals for its possible reutilization as synthetic minerals. This novel process will help in the mining industry evolving toward more sustainable processes and favors circular economy policies. Four inorganic salts (NaCl, KCl, CaCl2, and MgCl2) were evaluated as draw solutions from 1 to 5 M concentrations, in terms of water flux, water recovery, and metal rejection, using a thin-film composite (TFC) membrane. Water flux obtained was in the range of 14-53 L/(m2 h). The highest water flux was found for MgCl2, whereas the lowest correspond to KCl. The metal rejection obtained was greater than 99%. After a discussion and comparison of the results, MgCl2 was chosen for evaluating long-term assay performance. Scanning electron microscope images of the thin-film composite membrane after long-term assays were taken. The tendency of Mg-Ca and Al-Fe fouling was observed over the membrane surface. The energy consumption was estimated from 4.84-22.3 kWhe/m3, assuming that osmotically assisted reverse osmosis is used to regenerate the draw solution.

Sustainable management of spent fluid catalytic cracking catalyst from a circular economy approach.

For sustainable growth, an economic model must tend toward a circular system, especially in the field of waste management. This work focuses on the valorization of spent fluid catalytic cracking catalyst from oil refineries, which generate 400,000 metric tons of spent catalyst per year worldwide, most of which is sent to landfills. A new alternative to landfilling is proposed for this waste, based on the combination of acid leaching for the recovery of lanthanum, a valuable rare earth, and the reuse of the leached solid residue as a cement substitute. A comparative life cycle assessment was made, including four environmental impact categories, i.e. global warming, fossil resource scarcity, mineral resource scarcity and water consumption, in order to quantify the potential environmental benefits of secondary lanthanum recovery from industrial waste with respect to primary lanthanum extraction from mineral resources. A maximum of 85.6% La recovery was achieved and 15 wt% of cement can be substituted with leached solid residue without changing the original cement classification. The waste management process presented in this paper promotes the sustainable management of the spent fluid catalytic cracking catalyst and contributes to the development of a new resource for a critical material such as lanthanum. The implementation of this novel waste management process could reduce global warming and mineral resource scarcity but would increase fossil resource scarcity and water consumption in comparison with primary La extraction.

Understanding the effect of Ca and Mg ions from wastes in the solvent regeneration stage of a biogas upgrading unit.

This paper reveals the effect of calcium and magnesium ions in carbonation experiments carried out to regenerate sodium hydroxide from a biogas upgrading unit. This novel study arises as an alternative to standard physical process whose elevated energy consumption imposes economic restrictions. Previous works employed alkaline waste to turn them into value added product. Nevertheless, no attractive economical results were obtained due to the low regeneration efficiencies. Our hypothesis is that both calcium and magnesium waste composition percentages have an impact in the result, hence this work propose an isolated study aiming to determine the of each one in the global performance. To this end, the operational parameters (reaction time, reaction temperature and molar ratio) were tuned as well as physicochemical properties of the final solid samples were analyzed by several techniques. The results indicate that calcium is much more prone than magnesium to reach high efficiencies in aqueous carbonation experiments. Additionally, higher quality products were achieved with calcium. The results of this study suppose an important step for understanding the aqueous carbonation through waste in the path to achieve a more sustainable city and society.

Synergizing carbon capture storage and utilization in a biogas upgrading lab-scale plant based on calcium chloride: Influence of precipitation parameters.

Herein a strategy for biogas upgrading in a continuous flow absorption unit using CaCl2 as capturing agent is reported. This process is presented as an alternative to the standard physical regeneration processes to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from biogas effluents with inherent high energy penalties. This work showcases a systematic study of the main parameters (reaction time, reaction temperature, and molar ratio reactant/precipitator) affecting calcium carbonate (CaCO3) precipitation efficiency in a reaction between sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) and CaCl2. In addition, the purity and main characteristics of the obtained product were carefully analysed via in a combined characterization study using Raman, XRD, and SEM. Our results indicate that acceptable precipitation efficiencies between 62 and 93% can be reached by fine tuning the studied parameters. The characterization techniques evidence pure CaCO3 in a calcite structure. These results confirmed the technical feasibility of this alternative biogas upgrading process through CaCO3 production.

Synthetic Slag Production Method Based on a Solid Waste Mix Vitrification for the Manufacturing of Slag-Cement.

Herein an innovative process to develop a potential vitreous material with cementing properties is proposed. This process paves a production path through melting industrial waste and subsequently cooling the casting in water. The idea erases the need to reduce the environmental impact of the cement industry in terms of natural resources consumption as well as the re-utilization of abandoned wastes from other industries. The recycled industrial wastes were selected according to the amount of waste produced in the industrial field and its suitable chemical composition, such as construction and demolition waste and/or shells from shellfish. As a main result, the mechanical properties showed by our novel material were worse than those reported by blast furnace slag (25⁻28 MPa for two different proportions) for seven days and better (43⁻52 MPa for two different proportions) for 28 days. The rest of the properties evaluated were in agreement with the standards' requirements. Hence, this novel process would help to minimize the environmental impact of these wastes at the same time that their use in the cement industry would reduce the consumption of raw materials.

Micronutrient dynamics after thermal pretreatment of olive mill solid waste.

This study investigated metal dynamics, and their bioavailability, before and after thermal pretreatment of olive mill solid waste (OMSW), using a sequential metal extraction scheme. The 11.5% increase of cobalt in the most available fraction after the pretreatment coupled to the increase of methane production rate have been a good indicator that the OMSW anaerobic digestion might be metal limited due to the lack of cobalt.