Nitrogen removal in domestic wastewater. Effect of nitrate recycling and COD/N ratio.

A denitrification/nitrification pilot plant was designed, built and put into operation, treating the effluent of an anaerobic reactor. The operation of the plant examined the effect of the nitrate recycling and the COD/N ratio on the nitrogen and the remaining organic matter removal at 18 °C. The system consisted of a two-stage treatment process: anoxic and aerobic. The hydraulic retention time (HRT) of the system was 1 h for the anoxic bioreactor and 2 h for the aerobic one. The increase in the nitrate recycling ratio did not cause a significant improvement in the nitrogen removal due to the insufficient carbon source. The wastewater to be treated had a C/N ratio of 1.1 showing a lack of organic carbon. The addition of methanol was a key point in the denitrification process used as a model for the traditional wastewater by-pass in the WWTP. The maximum nitrogen and organic matter removal (87.1% and 96%, respectively) was achieved with a nitrate recycling ratio of 600% and a C/N of 8.25, adjusted by methanol addition.

Sequencing batch reactor process for the removal of nitrogen from anaerobically treated domestic wastewater.

This work presents the performance of a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) system used as a means of removing nitrogen from domestic wastewater containing a low chemical oxygen demand (COD) to nitrogen ratio due to pre-treatment with an anaerobic reactor. The aim of the work was to determine the feasibility of this system for the removal of nitrogen from the domestic wastewater. An SBR with a working volume of 5 L was investigated at different cycle times of 12, 8 and 6 h, at 18 °C. The efficiency of the SBR varied together with the duration of the cycle, where the optimum performance was seen in the 6 h cycle with the anoxic-aerobic-anoxic sequence. Due to the low quantity of organic matter present in the domestic wastewater after the anaerobic treatment, an additional supply of external carbon was necessary before the second anoxic stage. The removal efficiencies obtained were: 98% for total Kjeldahl nitrogen, 84% for total nitrogen and 77% for soluble COD. The reactor was thus shown to be viable, and it was concluded that this process may be successfully applied as a post-treatment for the removal of nitrogen from anaerobically treated domestic wastewater.

Recirculation of gas emissions to achieve advanced denitrification of the effluent from the anaerobic treatment of domestic wastewater.

A denitrifying pilot plant was designed, constructed and operated for more than five months. The plant treated domestic wastewater with high ammonium nitrogen concentration, which had previously undergone an anaerobic process at 18 °C. The process consisted of one biofilter with 2 h of hydraulic retention time for denitritation. Different synthetic nitrite concentrations were supplied to the anoxic reactor to simulate the effluent of a nitritation process. This work investigates the advanced denitritation of wastewater using the organic matter and other alternative electron donors present in an anaerobic treatment process effluent: methane and sulfide. The denitrifying bacteria were able to treat wastewater at an inlet nitrite concentration of 75 mg NO2--N/L with a removal efficiency of 92.9%. When the inlet nitrite concentration was higher, the recirculation of the gas from the top of the anoxic reactor was successful to enhance the nitrite removal, achieving a NO2- elimination efficiency of 98.3%.

Denitrification of the anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) effluent with alternative electron donors in domestic wastewater treatment.

A fixed film bioreactor for the denitrification of the effluent from an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) treating domestic wastewater was designed, built and investigated. After anaerobic treatment, the wastewater usually has a low C/N ratio (∼1.3), and a remaining chemical oxygen demand of around 117mg O2/L, which is not enough to make conventional heterotrophic denitrification possible. That effluent also holds methane and sulfide dissolved and oversaturated after leaving the AnMBR. This paper demonstrates the feasibility of using these reduced compounds as electron donors in order to remove 80mg NOx--N/L at 18°C and 2h of hydraulic retention time. In addition, the influence of the NO2-/NO3- ratios in the feed was studied. Total nitrogen removal was achieved in all the cases studied, except for a feed with 100% NO3-. Methane was the main electron donor used to remove the nitrites and nitrates, with a participation rate of over 70%.

Economic analysis of microaerobic removal of H2S from biogas in full-scale sludge digesters.

The application of microaerobic conditions during sludge digestion has been proven to be an efficient method for H2S removal from biogas. In this study, three microaerobic treatments were considered as an alternative to the technique of biogas desulfurization applied (FeCl3 dosing to the digesters) in a WWTP comprising three full-scale anaerobic reactors treating sewage sludge, depending on the reactant: pure O2 from cryogenic tanks, concentrated O2 from PSA generators, and air. These alternatives were compared in terms of net present value (NPV) with a fourth scenario consisting in the utilization of iron-sponge-bed filter inoculated with thiobacteria. The analysis revealed that the most profitable alternative to FeCl3 addition was the injection of concentrated O2 (0.0019 €/m(3) biogas), and this scenario presented the highest robustness towards variations in the price of FeCl3, electricity, and in the H2S concentration.

Theoretical methane production generated by the co-digestion of organic fraction municipal solid waste and biological sludge.

The co-digestion of two problematic and available wastes, namely Organic Fraction Municipal Solid Waste (OFMSW) and biological sludge, was carried out in this work. Biochemical Methane Potential (BMP) tests are a useful tool for determining the best substrate and co-digestion configurations, however there are some methodologies destined to save costs and time from this process by using the theoretical final methane potential of a substrate from its organic composition. Besides there are some models capable not only of reproducing the methane curve behavior, but also of predicting final methane productions from the first days of experimentation. Methodologies based in the elemental composition for the determination of theoretical production fit better with the experimental results and behavior, nevertheless the Gompertz model was capable of predicting the final productivity within the 7th day of experiment, selecting at the same time the co-digestion of 80% OFMSW and 20% Biological sludge as the optimum.

Where does the removal of H2S from biogas occur in microaerobic reactors?

In order to maximise the efficiency of biogas desulphurisation and reduce the oxygen cost during microaerobic digestion, it is essential to know how the process occurs. For this purpose, a reactor with a total volume of 266 L, treating 10 L/d of sewage sludge, was operated with 25.0 L and without headspace. Under anaerobic conditions, the H2S concentration in the biogas varied between 0.21 and 0.38%v/v. Next, O2 was supplied from the bottom of the reactor. At 0.25-0.30 NLO2/Lfed, the biogas was entirely desulphurised, and its O2 content remained below 1.03%v/v, when the digester had 25.0 L of gas space. However, with almost no headspace, the H2S content in the biogas fluctuated from 0.08 to 0.21%v/v, while the average O2 concentration was 1.66%v/v. The removed H2S accumulated in the outlet pipe of the biogas in the form of S(0) due to the insufficient headspace.

Grease waste and sewage sludge co-digestion enhancement by thermal hydrolysis: batch and fed-batch assays.

Grease waste (GW) is an adequate substrate for sewage sludge co-digestion since, coming from a waste water treatment plant, it has a high methane potential (489 NmLCH(4)/gVSin); however, no synergistic effect takes place when co-digesting with 52%VS grease. Conversely, thermal hydrolysis (TH) improves the anaerobic digestion of GW (43% higher kinetics) and biological sludge (29% more methane potential). Therefore, the application of TH to a co-digestion process was further studied. First, biochemical methane potential tests showed that the best configuration to implement the TH to the co-digestion process is pretreating the biological sludge alone, providing a 7.5% higher methane production (398 NmLCH(4)/gVSin), 20% faster kinetics and no lag-phase. Its implementation in a fed-batch operation resulted in considerable methane production (363 NmLCH(4)/gVSin) and TH improved the rheology and dewaterability properties of the digestate. This leads to important economical savings when combined with co-digestion, reducing final waste management costs and showing interesting potential for full-scale application.

Microaerobic digestion of sewage sludge on an industrial-pilot scale: the efficiency of biogas desulphurisation under different configurations and the impact of O2 on the microbial communities.

Biogas produced in an industrial-pilot scale sewage sludge reactor (5m(3)) was desulphurised by imposing microaerobic conditions. The H2S concentration removal efficiency was evaluated under various configurations: different mixing methods and O2 injection points. Biogas was entirely desulphurised under all the configurations set, while the O2 demand of the digester decreased over time. Although the H2S removal seemed to occur in the headspace, S(0) (which was found to be the main oxidation product) was scarcely deposited there in the headspace. O2 did not have a significant impact on the digestion performance; the VS removal remained around 47%. Conversely, DGGE revealed that the higher O2 transfer rate to the sludge maintained by biogas recirculation increased the microbial richness and evenness, and caused an important shift in the structure of the bacterial and the archaeal communities in the long term. All the archaeal genera identified (Methanosaeta, Methanospirillum and Methanoculleus) were present under both anaerobic and microaerobic conditions.

The headspace of microaerobic reactors: sulphide-oxidising population and the impact of cleaning on the efficiency of biogas desulphurisation.

O2-limiting/microaerobic conditions were applied in order to control the H2S content of biogas. The S(0)-rich deposits found all over the headspace of two pilot reactors (R1 and R2) as a result of operating under such conditions for 7 and 15 months (respectively) were sampled and removed. After restarting micro-oxygenation, H2S-free biogas was rapidly obtained, and the O2 demand of R2 decreased. This highlighted the need for a cleaning interval of less than 14 months in order to minimise the micro-oxygenation cost. The H2S removed from R2 after approximately 1 month was recovered from its headspace as S(0), thus indicating that the biogas desulphurisation did not take place at the liquid interface. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis indicated that the composition, species richness and size of the sulphide-oxidising bacteria population depended on the location, and, more specifically, moisture availability, and indicated increasing species richness over time. Additionally, a possible succession was estimated.

Thermal hydrolysis integration in the anaerobic digestion process of different solid wastes: energy and economic feasibility study.

An economic assessment of thermal hydrolysis as a pretreatment to anaerobic digestion has been achieved to evaluate its implementation in full-scale plants. Six different solid wastes have been studied, among them municipal solid waste (MSW). Thermal hydrolysis has been tested with batch lab-scale tests, from which an energy and economic assessment of three scenarios is performed: with and without energy integration (recovering heat to produce steam in a cogeneration plant), finally including the digestate management costs. Thermal hydrolysis has lead to an increase of the methane productions (up to 50%) and kinetics parameters (even double). The study has determined that a proper energy integration design could lead to important economic savings (5 €/t) and thermal hydrolysis can enhance up to 40% the incomes of the digestion plant, even doubling them when digestate management costs are considered. In a full-scale MSW treatment plant (30,000 t/year), thermal hydrolysis would provide almost 0.5 M€/year net benefits.

Microaerobic desulphurisation unit: a new biological system for the removal of H2S from biogas.

A new biotechnology for the removal of H2S from biogas was devised. The desulphurisation conditions present in microaerobic digesters were reproduced inside an external chamber called a microaerobic desulphurisation unit (MDU). A 10 L-unit was inoculated with 1L of digested sludge in order to treat the biogas produced in a pilot digester. During the 128 d of research under such conditions, the average removal efficiency was 94%. The MDU proved to be robust against fluctuations in biogas residence time (57-107 min), inlet H2S concentration (0.17-0.39% v/v), O2/H2S supplied ratio (17.3-1.4 v/v), and temperature (20-35°C). Microbiological analysis confirmed the presence of at least three genera of sulphide-oxidising bacteria. Approximately 60% of all the H2S oxidised was recovered from the bottom of the system in the form of large solid S(0) sheets with 98% w/w of purity. Therefore, this system could become a cost-effective alternative to the conventional biotechniques for biogas desulphurisation.

The potential of oxygen to improve the stability of anaerobic reactors during unbalanced conditions: results from a pilot-scale digester treating sewage sludge.

A well-functioning pilot reactor treating sewage sludge at approximately 4.4 NL/m(3)/d of oxygen supply and 18d of hydraulic retention time (HRT) was subjected to a hydraulic overload to investigate whether oxygen benefits successful operation in stressful circumstances. Only a mild imbalance was caused, which was overcome without deterioration in the digestion performance. Volatile solids (VS) removal was 45% and 43% at 18 and 14 d of HRT, respectively. Biogas productivity remained around 546 NmL/gVS, but it was slightly higher during the period of imbalance. Thereafter, similar performances were achieved. Under anaerobic conditions, VS removal and biogas productivity were respectively 41% and 525 NmL/gVS, hydrogen partial pressure rose, and acetic acid formation became less favourable. Oxygen seemed to form a more stable digestion system, which meant increased ability to deal successfully with overloads. Additionally, it improved the biogas quality; methane concentration was negligibly lower, while hydrogen sulphide and oxygen remained around 0.02 and 0.03%v/v, respectively.

Working with energy and mass balances: a conceptual framework to understand the limits of municipal wastewater treatment.

At present all municipal waste water treatment plants (WWTPs) are energy consumers. Electrical energy requirements for oxygen transfer are large in secondary biological systems. Nevertheless, from a thermodynamic point of view chemical oxygen demand (COD) is an energy source. Combustion of every kilogram of COD releases 3.86 kWh of energy. In this manuscript some measures are presented, from a conceptual point of view, in order to convert the actual concept of wastewater treatment as an 'energy sink' to an 'energy source' concept. In this sense, electrical self-sufficiency in carbon removal WWTPs could be obtained by increasing the sludge load to the anaerobic sludge digester. Nitrogen removal increases the energy requirements of WWTPs. The use of a combined two-stage biological treatment, using a high loaded first stage for carbon removal and a second stage combined nitrification-anammox process for nitrogen removal in the water line, offers a way to recover self-sufficiency. This is not a proven technology at ambient temperature, but its development offers an opportunity to reduce the energy demand of WWTPs.

The role of the headspace in hydrogen sulfide removal during microaerobic digestion of sludge.

The role of the headspace (HS) in the microaerobic removal of hydrogen sulfide from biogas produced during sludge digestion was studied. Research was carried out in a pilot reactor with a total volume of 265 L, under mesophilic conditions. Biogas was successfully desulfurized (99%) by introducing pure oxygen (0.46 NL/L(fed)) into the recirculation stream when the HS volume was both 50.0 and 9.5 L. The removal efficacy dropped sharply to ≈15% when the HS was reduced to 1.5 L. The system responded quickly to the operational changes imposed: micro-oxygenation stops and variations in supply, as well as HS volume reductions and increases. As the final result, the microaerobic process required a minimum surface into the gas space to occur, which along with the elemental sulfur deposition in this area indicated that the oxidation took place there. Additionally, the pattern of sulfur accumulation suggested that the removal occurred preferentially on certain materials, and pointed to a significant biological contribution.

Robustness of the microaerobic removal of hydrogen sulfide from biogas.

Several disturbances presented in full-scale digesters can potentially affect the efficiency of the microaerobic removal process. This study evaluates the variation of the sulfur load and the performance of the system in situations of oxygen lack or excess and after normal rates are recovered. The process was shown to recover from oxygen lack or excess within 28 h when the original conditions were restored in a pilot-plant digester of 200 L treating sewage sludge with HRT of 20 days. The decrease of the sulfur load to the digester did not affect the biogas composition in the short-term and when oxygen rate was reduced to adjust to the lower hydrogen sulfide production, the removal proceeded normally with a lower unemployed oxygen amount. The digester opening to remove accumulated sulfur in the headspace did not alter process performance once the microaerobic removal was restarted.

Determination of the optimal rate for the microaerobic treatment of several H2S concentrations in biogas from sludge digesters.

The treatment of H2S in the biogas produced during anaerobic digestion has to be carried out to ensure the efficient long-lasting use of its energetic potential. The microaerobic removal of H2S was studied to determine the treatment capacity at low and high H2S concentrations in the biogas (0.33 and 3.38% v/v) and to determine the optimal O2 rate that achieved a concentration of H2S of 150 mg/Nm3 or lower. Research was performed in pilot-plant scale digesters of sewage sludge, with 200 L of working volume, in mesophilic conditions with a hydraulic retention time of 20 d. O2 was supplied at different rates to the headspace of the digester to create the microaerobic conditions. The treatment successfully removed H2S from the biogas with efficacies of 97% for the low concentration and 99% for the highest, in both cases achieving a concentration below 150 mg/Nm3. An optimal O2 rate of 6.4 NLO2/Nm3 of biogas when treating the biogas was found with 0.33% (v/v) of H2S and 118 NLO2/ Nm3 of biogas for the 3.38% (v/v) concentration. This relation may be employed to control the H2S content in the biogas while optimising the O2 supply.

Enhancement of the conventional anaerobic digestion of sludge: comparison of four different strategies.

Anaerobic digestion (AD) is the preferred option to stabilize sludge. However, the rate limiting step of solids hydrolysis makes it worth modifing the conventional mesophilic AD in order to increase the performance of the digester. The main strategies are to introduce a hydrolysis pre-treatment, or to modify the digestion temperature. Among the different pre-treatment alternatives, the thermal hydrolysis (TH) at 170 degrees C for 30 min, and the ultrasounds pre-treatment (US) at 30 kJ/kg TS were selected for the research, while for the non-conventional anaerobic digestion, the thermophilic (TAD) and the two-stage temperature phased AD (TPAD) were considered. Four pilot plants were operated, with the same configuration and size of anaerobic digester (200 L, continuously fed). The biogas results show a general increase compared to the conventional digestion, being the highest production per unit of digester for the process combining the thermal pre-treatment and AD (1.4 L biogas/L digester day compared to the value of 0.26 obtained in conventional digesters). The dewaterability of the digestate became enhanced for processes TH + AD and TPAD when compared with the conventional digestate, while it became worse for processes US + AD and TAD. In all the research lines, the viscosity in the digester was smaller compared to the conventional (which is a key factor for process performance and economics), and both thermal pre-treatment and thermophilic digestion (TAD and TPAD) assure a pathogen free digestate.

Effect of microaerobic conditions on the degradation kinetics of cellulose.

Limited oxygen supply to sludge digesters has shown to be an effective method to eliminate hydrogen sulfide from the biogas produced during anaerobic digestion but uneven results have been found in terms of the effect on the degradation of complex organic matter. In this study, the effect that the limited oxygen supply provoked on the "anaerobic" degradation of cellulose was evaluated in batch-tests. The microaerobic assays showed to reach a similar maximum production of methane than the anaerobic ones after 19 d and a similar hydrolytic activity (considering a first order rate constant); however, the microaerobic assays presented a shorter lag-phase time than the anaerobic test resulting in faster production of methane during the first steps of the degradation; specifically, the maximum methane production found in the anaerobic test in 19 d was found in the microaerobic test before the day 15.

Effect of oxygen dosing point and mixing on the microaerobic removal of hydrogen sulphide in sludge digesters.

Limited oxygen supply to anaerobic sludge digesters to remove hydrogen sulphide from biogas was studied. Micro-oxygenation showed competitive performance to reduce considerably the additional equipment necessary to perform biogas desulphurization. Two pilot-plant digesters with an HRT of ∼ 20 d were micro-oxygenated at a rate of 0.25 NL per L of feed sludge with a removal efficiency higher than 98%. The way of mixing (sludge or biogas recirculation) and the point of oxygen supply (headspace or liquid phase) played an important role on hydrogen sulphide oxidation. While micro-oxygenation with sludge recirculation removed only hydrogen sulphide from the biogas, dissolved sulphide was removed if micro-oxygenation was performed with biogas recirculation. Dosage in the headspace resulted in a more stable operation. The result of the hydrogen sulphide oxidation was mostly elemental sulphur, partially accumulated in the headspace of the digester, where different sulphide-oxidising bacteria were found.