scholarly journals Experiences of running a hydroponic system in a pilot scale for resource-efficient water reuse

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 347-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexa Bliedung ◽  
Thomas Dockhorn ◽  
Jörn Germer ◽  
Claudia Mayerl ◽  
Marius Mohr

Abstract Within the research project HypoWave, a hydroponic system for plant production was investigated. The hydroponic system was fed with wastewater that had undergone specially adapted treatment. The principal aim was to develop a combined system for water treatment and hydroponic plant production, where water and nutrients were reused efficiently to produce marketable food products. Another goal was to find out whether the reuse of pre-treated wastewater for plant growth in a hydroponic system could also present an additional alternative wastewater treatment step for enhanced nutrient removal. A pilot plant, consisting of various treatment steps such as activated sludge process, ozonation and biological activated carbon filtration, was used to produce lettuce with irrigation water of different qualities. The hydroponic pilot plant was operated in two different modes – flow-through and feed & deplete. This paper focuses on the influence of the various modes of operation and accordingly varying nutrient concentrations (N, P, K) on plant growth. Furthermore, heavy metal content in the various types of treated wastewater and in the produced plants was investigated. In addition, the results of the different modes of operation were verified by mass balances for N, P and K.

2003 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 161-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Lubello ◽  
R. Gori ◽  
A.M. de Bernardinis ◽  
G. Simonelli

In this paper we present the results obtained from tests conducted on ultrafiltration treatment of a secondary effluent designated for possible industrial reuse. Tests were carried out at Empoli Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) (Florence, Italy) with the use of a hollow fiber pilot plant (mod. ZW-10, Zenon Environmental). Testing lasted for about 4 months, during which the pilot plant was fed by effluent from the wastewater treatment plant. Results show that the permeate was of high quality. The membranes were very efficient in reducing turbidity (94.5%) and TSS (98.7%). The reduction of COD (around 35%) was also good. The permeate also showed low SDI values (usually < 3%). With respect to microbiological parameters, treatment was shown to be above all efficient in the removal of Escherichia coli. The permeate already respects required quality standards set forth by a new technical law decree on water reuse, soon to be approved within Italian Legislation. Based on these test results, a preliminary design of a wastewater treatment plant with the complex of structures necessary to the distribution of the treated wastewater in the industrial area located closed to the plant, has been created. Under this design, treated water could be produced at a cost of 0.38 Euro/m3, which includes investment, financial charges and maintenance costs.


1999 ◽  
Vol 40 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 293-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno B. Levine ◽  
Kapal Madireddi ◽  
Valentina Lazarova ◽  
Michael K. Stenstrom ◽  
Mel Suffet

Organic and trace organic performance data for ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) at the Lake Arrowhead water reclamation pilot plant are analyzed to determine the treatment efficiency of these processes in an indirect potable reuse design. Four organic parameters were studied: dissolved organic carbon (DOC), ultra-violet absorbance at 254 nm (UV-254), SUVA and base neutral analysis (BNA). UF and NF removed the larger compounds from the influent, but had no significant impact on the base neutral fraction with the exception of sterols. The RO process removed DOC and UV-absorbance compounds from the effluent to their respective detection limits. Base neutral compounds were significantly removed by RO, leaving at extremely low concentrations small molecular weight compounds, indicating indirect potable reuse is technically feasible.


1999 ◽  
Vol 40 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 43-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelo Juanico ◽  
Eran Friedler

Most of the water has been captured in the rivers of Israel and they have turned into dry river-beds which deliver only sporadic winter floods. In a semi-arid country where literally every drop of water is used, reclaimed wastewater is the most feasible water source for river recovery. Two topics are addressed in this paper: water quality management in rivers where most of the flowing water is treated wastewater, and the allocations of reclaimed wastewater required for the recovery of rivers and streams. Water quality management must consider that the main source of water to the river has a pollution loading which reduces its capability to absorb other pollution impacts. The allocation of treated wastewater for the revival of rivers may not affect negatively the water balance of the region; it may eventually improve it. An upstream bruto allocation of 122 MCM/year of wastewater for the recovery of 14 rivers in Israel may favor downstream reuse of this wastewater, resulting in a small neto allocation and in an increase of the water resources available to the country. The discharge of effluents upstream to revive the river followed by their re-capture downstream for irrigation, implies a further stage in the intensification of water reuse.


2003 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 145-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Heinonen-Tanski ◽  
P. Juntunen ◽  
R. Rajala ◽  
E. Haume ◽  
A. Niemelä

Municipal treated wastewater has been tertiary treated in a pilot-scale rapid sand filter. The filtration process was improved by using polyaluminium coagulants. The sand-filtered water was further treated with one or two UV reactors. The quality changes of wastewater were measured with transmittance, total phosphorus, soluble phosphorus, and somatic coliphages, FRNA-coliphages, FC, enterococci and fecal clostridia. Sand filtration alone without coagulants improved slightly some physico-chemical parameters and it had almost no effect on content of microorganisms. If coagulants were used, the filtration was more effective. The reductions were 88-98% for microbial groups and 80% for total phosphorus. The wastewater would meet the requirements for bathing waters (2,000 FC/100 ml, EU, 1976). UV further improved the hygiene level; this type of treated wastewater could be used for unrestricted irrigation (2.2 TC/100 ml, US.EPA 1992). The improvement was better if coagulants were used. The price for tertiary treatment (filtration + UV) would have been 0.036 Euro/m3 according to prices in 2001 in 22 Mm3/a. The investment cost needed for the filtration unit was 0.020 Euro/m3 (6%/15a). Filtration with coagulants is recommended in spite of its costs, since the low transmittance of unfiltered wastewater impairs the efficiency of the UV treatment.


2011 ◽  
Vol 695 ◽  
pp. 626-629 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jung Soo Mun ◽  
Sang Ho Lee ◽  
Jung Hun Lee ◽  
Jeong Yul Suh ◽  
Ree Ho Kim

Urban areas consume huge amounts of water and produce much wastewater, which deteriorate the aquatic environment and exhaust the country’s freshwater resources. Water reuse from sewage and wastewater is recognized as a good option for securing water. There are several kinds of processes for improving the water quality. Nutrient removal is very important for water reuse, especially in water supply for outdoor use, to prevent water quality deterioration via eutrophication. Moreover, low cost and easy maintenance should be considered for nutrient removal. In this study, red mud and BauxsolTM, a mixed mineral powder made of physicochemically modified red mud residue generated by the Bayer process for alumina refineries, was used for the removal of nitrate and heavy metals in artificial solution, and of phosphate in final effluent, from a sewage treatment plant in Dae-gu, Republic of Korea. Nitrate removal by red mud showed little efficiency while heavy metal removal showed high efficiency. The concentrations of the total phosphate in the effluent and treated water were 1.51 and 0.14 mg/L, respectively, which represent about 90.7% removal. Before and after the treatment, the pH was maintained at a neutral range of 6.5-7.2. BauxsolTM also showed a high heavy metal removal capacity. Therefore, BauxsolTM in powder and pellet form can be applied individually or mixed with soil to improve water quality for water reuse.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sare Asli ◽  
Nedal Massalha ◽  
Muhamad Hugerat

Abstract AimsTo determine the effects of treated wastewater (TWW) and dialyzed TWW (DTWW) through dialysis tube with a cut-off at 6000-8000 Da, on the water transport characteristics of maize seedlings (Zea mays L). MethodsLaboratory experiments were conducted to determine the effect of TWW on the hydraulic conductivity of excised roots. Moreover, the effect on transpiration, plant growth, root cell permeability and on the plant fresh and dry weight was determined. ResultsPressurized water flow through the excised primary roots was reduced by 25%-52%, within 90 min of exposure to TWW or DTWW. In hydroponics, DTWW affected root elongation severely by 58 %, while cell-wall pore sizes of same roots were little reduced (by 6%). Additionally, the exposure to TWW or DTWW caused inhibition of both leaf growth rate by (26%-70%) and transpiration by (14%-64%). While in soil growth, the plant fresh and dry weight was also significantly affected but not with secondary DTWW. Conclusions These impacts appeared simultaneously to involve phytotoxic and physical clogging impacts. First, the inhibition in hydraulic conductivity through live roots (phytotoxic and physical effects) after exposure to secondary DTWW was by 22%, while through killed roots accepted after hot alcohol disruption of cell membranes (physical effects only); was only by 14%. Second, although DTWW affected root elongation severely by 58%, cell-wall pore sizes of same roots were little reduced by 6%. We conclude that large molecules, such as polypeptides, remained after the dialysis process, may have produced hormone-like activity that affected root water permeability.


2018 ◽  
Vol 78 (7) ◽  
pp. 1566-1575 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. S. Rathnaweera ◽  
B. Rusten ◽  
K. Korczyk ◽  
B. Helland ◽  
E. Rismyhr

Abstract A pilot-scale CFIC® (continuous flow intermittent cleaning) reactor was run in anoxic conditions to study denitrification of wastewater. The CFIC process has already proven its capabilities for biological oxygen demand removal with a small footprint, less energy consumption and low cost. The present study focused on the applicability for denitrification. Both pre-denitrification (pre-DN) and post-denitrification (post-DN) were tested. A mixture of primary treated wastewater and nitrified wastewater was used for pre-DN and nitrified wastewater with ethanol as a carbon source was used for post-DN. The pre-DN process was carbon limited and removal rates of only 0.16 to 0.74 g NOx-N/m²-d were obtained. With post-DN and an external carbon source, 0.68 to 2.2 g NO3-Neq/m²-d removal rates were obtained. The carrier bed functioned as a good filter for both the larger particles coming with influent water and the bio-solids produced in the reactor. Total suspended solids removal in the reactor varied from 20% to 78% (average 45%) during post-DN testing period and 9% to 70% (average 29%) for pre-DN. The results showed that the forward flow washing improves both the DN function and filtration ability of the reactor.


2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adriana Begeer ◽  
Andrew Jackson ◽  
Audra Morse

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