The AF-BNR-SCP process as a way to reduce global sludge production: comparison with classical approaches on a full scale basis

The paper presents a comparison between the performances of two full scale wastewater treatment plants operating in Italy, considering the mass balances including P treatments, and results coming from an analysis of 16 similar plants in Europe and USA, in order to evaluate sludge overproduction due to chemical P removal adoption. Specific production of 9.5 and 12.5 kgTS/P.E.y were found for a BNR and denitrification plant scheme respectively. These results were compared, on a mass balance basis, with the performances coming from the adoption of the integrated waste/wastewater cycles, in which OFMSW fermentation is used as C source to promote BNR performances and P removal from anaerobic supernatants as struvite crystals. ASM2 simulations are used to verify the advantages coming from this approach in terms of sludge reduction. A complete mass balance of the process is carried out, and it is shown that this last process allows us to achieve the lowest sludge production among the processes considered, coupling this with the economic benefits coming from OFMSW disposal and struvite crystallisation.

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Quantification of biologically and chemically bound phosphorus in activated sludge from full-scale plants with biological P-removal

10.1101/2021.01.04.425262 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Francesca Petriglieri ◽

Jette F. Petersen ◽

Miriam Peces ◽

Marta Nierychlo ◽

Kamilla Hansen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Wastewater Treatment ◽

Activated Sludge ◽

Mass Balance ◽

Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽

Raman Microspectroscopy ◽

Full Scale ◽

P Fractions ◽

P Content ◽

Total P ◽

P Removal

AbstractLarge amounts of phosphorus (P) are present in activated sludge from municipal wastewater treatment plants, where it exists in the form of metal salt precipitates or biologically bound into the biomass as nucleic acids, cell membrane components, and the extracellular polymeric substances or, in special polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (PAOs), as intracellular polyphosphate. Only recently, methods that reliably allow an absolute quantification of the different P-fractions, such as sequential extraction, Raman microspectroscopy, solid-state 31P magic angle spinning (MAS) NMR, and solution state 31P NMR have been developed. This study combines these techniques to obtain a comprehensive P mass-balance of activated sludge from four wastewater treatment plants with enhanced biological phosphate removal (EBPR). The total content of P and various cations was measured by chemical analysis (ICP-OES), and different P fractions were extracted for chemical characterization. Chemically bound P constituted 38-69% of total P, most likely in the form of Fe, Mg, or Al minerals, while organically bound P constituted 7-9%. By using Raman microspectroscopy and solution state 31P NMR and 31P MAS NMR spectroscopy before and after anaerobic P-release experiments, poly-P was quantified and constituted 22-54% of total P in the activated sludges and was found in approx. 25% of all bacterial cells. Moreover, Raman microspectroscopy in combination with fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was used to quantify the species-specific intracellular poly-P of known PAO genera (Tetrasphaera, Ca. Accumulibacter, Dechloromonas) and other microorganisms known to possess high level of poly-P, such as the filamentous Ca. Microthrix. They were all abundant, as measured by quantitative-FISH and amplicon sequencing, and accumulated large amount of poly-P, depending on their cell-size, contributing substantially to the P-removal. Interestingly, in all four EBPR plants investigated, only 1-13% of total poly-P was stored by unidentified PAO, highlighting that most PAOs in the full-scale EBPR plants investigated are now known.HighlightsExhaustive P mass-balance of main organic and inorganic P-species in four EBPR plantsQuantification of poly-P of FISH-defined PAO and other species with high P contentTotal P content was 36-50 mgP/gSS of which 31-62% was in biomass and as poly-PA high fraction of all cells (25-30%) contained a high content of poly-PKnown PAOs contained almost all poly-P in the EBPR plants investigated

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A case-study on the accuracy of mass balances for xenobiotics in full-scale wastewater treatment plants

Environmental Science Processes & Impacts ◽

10.1039/c3em30884g ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 15 (4) ◽

pp. 730 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Marius Majewsky ◽

Julien Farlin ◽

Michael Bayerle ◽

Tom Gallé

Keyword(s):

Wastewater Treatment ◽

Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽

Full Scale ◽

Mass Balances

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Sludge reduction in a small wastewater treatment plant by electro-kinetic disintegration

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.2015.148 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 72 (3) ◽

pp. 364-370 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Agostina Chiavola ◽

Alessandra Ridolfi ◽

Emilio D'Amato ◽

Simona Bongirolami ◽

Ennio Cima ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Wastewater Treatment ◽

Flow Rate ◽

Wastewater Treatment Plant ◽

Treatment Plant ◽

Full Scale ◽

Sludge Reduction ◽

Treatment Efficiency ◽

Biological Sludge ◽

Sludge Production

Sludge reduction in a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) has recently become a key issue for the managing companies, due to the increasing constraints on the disposal alternatives. Therefore, all the solutions proposed with the aim of minimizing sludge production are receiving increasing attention and are tested either at laboratory or full-scale to evaluate their real effectiveness. In the present paper, electro-kinetic disintegration has been applied at full-scale in the recycle loop of the sludge drawn from the secondary settlement tank of a small WWTP for domestic sewage. After the disintegration stage, the treated sludge was returned to the biological reactor. Three different percentages (50, 75 and 100%) of the return sludge flow rate were subjected to disintegration and the effects on the sludge production and the WWTP operation efficiency evaluated. The long-term observations showed that the electro-kinetic disintegration was able to drastically reduce the amount of biological sludge produced by the plant, without affecting its treatment efficiency. The highest reduction was achieved when 100% return sludge flow rate was subjected to the disintegration process. The reduced sludge production gave rise to a considerable net cost saving for the company which manages the plant.

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Denitrification activity of polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs) in full-scale wastewater treatment plants

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.2018.517 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 78 (12) ◽

pp. 2449-2458 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Ana B. Lanham ◽

Adrian Oehmen ◽

Gilda Carvalho ◽

Aaron M. Saunders ◽

Per H. Nielsen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Wastewater Treatment ◽

Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽

In Situ Hybridisation ◽

Full Scale ◽

Type I ◽

Fluorescence In Situ Hybridisation ◽

Biological Phosphorus Removal ◽

Aerobic Conditions ◽

Polyphosphate Accumulating Organisms ◽

P Removal

Abstract A comprehensive assessment of full-scale enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) plants (five plants, 19 independent tests) was undertaken to determine their effectiveness in terms of aerobic and anoxic P removal. By comparing parallel P uptake tests under only aerobic or under anoxic-aerobic conditions, results revealed that introducing an anoxic stage led to an overall P removal of on average 90% of the P removed under only aerobic conditions. This was achieved with negligible higher PHA and glycogen requirements, 30% lower overall oxygen consumption and with the simultaneous removal of nitrate, reducing up to an estimate of 70% of carbon requirements for simultaneous N and P removal. Varying fractions of denitrifying polyphosphate accumulating organisms (DPAOs), from an average of 25% to 84%, were found in different plants. No correlation was found between the DPAO fractions and EBPR configuration, season, or the concentration of any of the microbial groups measured via quantitative fluorescence in situ hybridisation. These included Type I and Type II Ca. Accumulibacter and glycogen accumulating organisms, suggesting that chemical batch tests are the best methodology for quantifying the potential of anoxic P removal in full-scale wastewater treatment plants.

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Data evaluation of full-scale wastewater treatment plants by mass balance

Water Research ◽

10.1016/j.watres.2008.08.009 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 42 (18) ◽

pp. 4645-4655 ◽

Cited By ~ 36

Author(s):

S. Puig ◽

M.C.M. van Loosdrecht ◽

J. Colprim ◽

S.C.F. Meijer

Keyword(s):

Wastewater Treatment ◽

Mass Balance ◽

Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽

Full Scale ◽

Data Evaluation

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Automatic buffer capacity based sensor for effluent quality monitoring

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.1996.0008 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 33 (1) ◽

pp. 81-87

Author(s):

L. Van Vooren ◽

P. Willems ◽

J. P. Ottoy ◽

G. C. Vansteenkiste ◽

W. Verstraete

Keyword(s):

Wastewater Treatment ◽

Buffer Capacity ◽

Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽

Data Interpretation ◽

Full Scale ◽

Quality Monitoring ◽

Effluent Quality ◽

Capacity Curves ◽

On Line

The use of an automatic on-line titration unit for monitoring the effluent quality of wastewater plants is presented. Buffer capacity curves of different effluent types were studied and validation results are presented for both domestic and industrial full-scale wastewater treatment plants. Ammonium and ortho-phosphate monitoring of the effluent were established by using a simple titration device, connected to a data-interpretation unit. The use of this sensor as the activator of an effluent quality proportional sampler is discussed.

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