scholarly journals Energy alternatives in large-scale wastewater treatment

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 141-146
Author(s):  
Zoltán Gabnai

In my article, after describing the characteristics of recent wastewater treatment activity, I introduce different traditional and innovative energetic opportunities of the compulsory waste management activities at large-scale operational level, covering national and international examples. Furthermore, the wastewater-based biomethane production and the certain plant’s energy self-sufficiency are highlighted topics as well. In the former case, it is possible to utilize the wastewater-based biomethane as fuel (and even to operate own vehicle fleet), while the second one gives the opportunity for the internal usage of produced electricity and waste heat, which can also result in significant cost-savings. As an additional option, algae-based wastewater post treatment is presented, based on the conditions of a Hungarian wastewater treatment plant, which biogas production efficiency and thus energy self-sufficiency has developed favourably due to the technological improvements. These plants may have a twofold role in the future: they are responsible for the compulsory waste management activity and on the other hand they can serve as excellent raw material mines. JEL Code: Q25

2012 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
pp. 1277-1281 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Jenicek ◽  
J. Bartacek ◽  
J. Kutil ◽  
J. Zabranska ◽  
M. Dohanyos

Anaerobic digestion is the only energy-positive technology widely used in wastewater treatment. Full-scale data prove that the anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge can produce biogas that covers a substantial amount of the energy consumption of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). In this paper, we discuss possibilities for improving the digestion efficiency and biogas production from sewage sludge. Typical specific energy consumptions of municipal WWTPs per population equivalent are compared with the potential specific production of biogas to find the required/optimal digestion efficiency. Examples of technological measures to achieve such efficiency are presented. Our findings show that even a municipal WWTP with secondary biological treatment located in a moderate climate can come close to energy self-sufficiency. However, they also show that such self-sufficiency is dependent on: (i) the strict optimization of the total energy consumption of the plant, and (ii) an increase in the specific biogas production from sewage sludge to values around 600 L per kg of supplied volatile solids.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Joseph ◽  
Korbinian Kaetzl ◽  
Frank Hensgen ◽  
Bernhard Schäfer ◽  
Michael Wachendorf

Activated carbon (AC) used for removal of organic micropollutants in European wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is usually produced from non-renewable resources that need to be transported over long distances. Utilising local residual biomass as a raw material may be advantageous in terms of sustainability. This study investigated the environmental and energy balances of using biowaste and biomass from landscape management for micropollutant removal at a commercial scale WWTP. Both residual biomasses were processed using the integrated generation of solid fuel and biogas from biomass (IFBB) technique to obtain a press cake that was used as feedstock for AC production. The results showed a lower global warming potential (GWP) and cumulative energy demand in comparison to a fossil-based conventional AC. Differences in GWP between residual and fossil ACs were enhanced when the end-of-life incineration step was considered, and residual AC had a lower social risk associated with its production. Energy efficiency of AC production was substantially increased by utilising waste heat generated in the pyrolysis process of biochar and by using electricity generated in a combined heat and power plant using biogas from the methanation of IFBB press fluids. Converting residual biomass into activated carbon using IFBB and a state-of-the-art pyrolysis and activation unit along with energy recovery would aid WWTPs to become self-sufficient in terms of raw materials and improve the sustainability of WWTPs.


2001 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 908-913 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex G. Fassbender

The Ammonia Recovery Process (ARP) is an award-winning, low-cost, environmentally responsible method of recovering nitrogen, in the form of ammonia, from various dilute waste streams and converting it into concentrated ammonium sulfate. The ThermoEnergy Biogas System utilizes the new chemisorption-based ARP to recover ammonia from anaerobically digested wastes. The process provides for optimal biogas production and significantly reduced nitrogen levels in the treated water discharge. Process flows for the ammonia recovery and ThermoEnergy biogas processes are presented and discussed. A comparison with other techniques such as biological nitrogen removal is made. The ARP technology uses reversible chemisorption and double salt crystal precipitation to recover and concentrate the ammonia. The ARP technology was successfully proven in a recent large-scale field demonstration at New York City’s Oakwood Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant, located on Staten Island. This project was a joint effort with Foster Wheeler Environmental Corporation, the Civil Engineering Research Foundation, and New York City Department of Environmental Protection. Independent validated plant data show that ARP consistently recovers up to 99.9% of the ammonia from the city’s centrate waste stream (derived from dewatering of sewage sludge), as ammonium sulfate. ARP technology can reduce the nitrogen (ammonia) discharged daily into local bodies of water by municipalities, concentrated animal farming operations, and industry. Recent advances to ARP enhance its performance and economic competitiveness in comparison to stripping or ammonia destruction technologies.


2004 ◽  
Vol 50 (7) ◽  
pp. 123-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.F. Gokcay ◽  
G. Sin

Environmental legislations in the Western world impose stringent effluent quality standards for ultimate protection of the environment. This is also observed in Turkey. The current paper presents efforts made to simulate an existing 0.77 million m3/day conventional activated sludge plant located at Ankara, AWTP. The ASM1 model was used for simulation in this study. The model contains numerous stoichiometric and kinetic parameters, some of which need to be determined on case by case bases. The easily degradable COD (SS) was determined by two methods, physical-chemical and respirometric methods, namely. The latter method was deemed unreliable and rejected in the further study. Dynamic simulation with SSSP program predicted effluent COD and MLSS values successfully while overestimating OUR. A complete fit could only be obtained by introducing a dimensionless correction factor (ηO2 = 0.58) to the oxygen term in ASM1.


2017 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 337-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Brückner ◽  
K. Kirchner ◽  
Y. Müller ◽  
S. Schiwy ◽  
K. Klaer ◽  
...  

Abstract The project DemO3AC (demonstration of large-scale wastewater ozonation at the Aachen-Soers wastewater treatment plant, Germany) of the Eifel-Rur Waterboard contains the construction of a large-scale ozonation plant for advanced treatment of the entire 25 million m³/yr of wastewater passing through its largest wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). In dry periods, up to 70% of the receiving water consists of treated wastewater. Thus, it is expected that effects of ozonation on downstream water biocoenosis will become observable. Extensive monitoring of receiving water and the WWTP shows a severe pollution with micropollutants (already prior to WWTP inlet). (Eco-)Toxicological investigations showed increased toxicity at the inlet of the WWTP for all assays. However, endocrine-disrupting potential was also present at other sampling points at the WWTP and in the river and could not be eliminated sufficiently by the WWTP. Total cell counts at the WWTP are slightly below average. Investigations of antibiotic resistances show no increase after the WWTP outlet in the river. However, cells carrying antibiotic-resistant genes seem to be more stress resistant in general. Comparing investigations after implementation of ozonation should lead to an approximation of the correlation between micropollutants and water quality/biocoenosis and the effects that ozonation has on this matter.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (10) ◽  
pp. 1260-1262
Author(s):  
Stela Sefa ◽  
Tania Floqi ◽  
Julian Sefa

The wastewater treatment plant serving the city of Durres, which is the second most populous city of Albania, employs the tertiary advanced wastewater treatment method and engages in biogas production to achieve energy efficiency. In order to empirically evaluate the plant’s energy efficiency realization, the total biogas produced and converted to electricity for daily consumption was measured during a three years period (2016 - 2018). The highest electricity produced was recorded in 2016, with a daily average of 844kWh compared to 550kWh and 370kWh in 2017 and 2018, respectively. So that the plant meets proper criteria to classify as an energy-efficient entity, 30.0 percent of its electricity consumption must be derived from biogas. Converted in kWh, the plant should generate 2,975 kWh/day. Based on the biomass and energy values measured during the study period, it is concluded that electricity supplied from biogas met 6.0 percent of the plant’s energy requirements, or one fifth of the energy-efficiency target. While the plant was successful in carrying out the full waste-to-energy production process, the electricity supplied from biogas was very low and did not fulfil the plant’s self-energy requirements.


2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 59-62
Author(s):  
Vladimír Sitkey ◽  
Ján Gaduš ◽  
Ľubomír Kliský ◽  
Alexander Dudák

Abstract Energy variety of amaranth (Amaranthus spp.) was grown in large-scale trials in order to verify the capability of its cultivation and use as a renewable energy source in a biogas plant. The possibility of biogas production using anaerobic co-fermentation of manure and amaranth silage was verified in the experimental horizontal fermentor of 5 m3 volume, working at mesophilic conditions of 38-40 °C. The goal of the work was also to identify the optimum conditions for growth, harvesting and preservation of amaranth biomass, to optimize biogas production process, and to test the residual slurry from digestion process as a high quality organic fertilizer. The average yield of green amaranth biomass was 51.66 t.ha-1 with dry matter content of 37%. Based on the reached results it can be concluded that amaranth silage, solely or together with another organic materials of agricultural origin, is a suitable raw material for biogas production.


2018 ◽  
Vol 77 (11) ◽  
pp. 2613-2623 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerstin Schopf ◽  
Johannes Judex ◽  
Bernhard Schmid ◽  
Thomas Kienberger

Abstract A municipal wastewater treatment plant accounts for a large portion of the total energy consumption of a municipality. Besides their high energy demand, the plants also display a significant bioenergy potential. This is due to the utilisation of the energy content of digester gas and sewage sludge if there exist suitable units. To maximise the energy recovery efficiency of wastewater treatment systems (WWTS), it is important to analyse the amount of digester gas and sludge produced in different types of plants. Therefore, the present paper deals with designing a tool to answer the following research questions: Which bioenergy potentials occur in different plant types? Which mass and energy flows are related to the specific potentials? Which utilisation processes for the potentials can lead to a high energy recovery efficiency of WWTS? Preliminary analyses with the designed tool were focused on estimating the level of electric and thermal energy self-sufficiency of different plant configuration scenarios including or excluding digester gas and/or sludge utilisation units. First results based on the level of self-sufficiency and associated energy and disposal costs show that a digester gas and sewage sludge utilisation should be considered when designing future WWTS.


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