Technical and experimental evaluation of an innovative decentralized technology for the municipal wastewater treatment in the city of Rome

2010 ◽  
Vol 62 (4) ◽  
pp. 956-962 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agostina Chiavola ◽  
Piero Sirini ◽  
Sandro Cecili

The present paper shows the results obtained through an experimental activity carried out on a pilot-scale plant using an innovative technology which couples the granular aerobic sludge with the sequencing batch process. Treatment efficiency and operation costs were evaluated in order to assess feasibility of this new technology for the upgrading of the existing continuous flow activated sludge treatment plant located in Casal Monastero, a decentralized area of the City of Rome. During start-up (about 3 months), the granular aerobic sludge was developed by controlling the dissolved oxygen concentration, the value of pH and the up-flow velocity. Besides, the influent organic loading was progressively increased starting from 0.1 kg/m3 d up to 0.9 kg/m3 d. In order to improve nitrogen removal, an anoxic phase was temporary added to the operative cycle. Complete development of the granular sludge determined an appreciable improvement of the denitrification process which allowed to eliminate the anoxic phase. At regime conditions, the plant was operated with 3 daily cycles, each one of 8 h. The new system showed a reduced sludge production (of about 20–35%) as compared to the existing plant, along with high removal efficiency of both Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and nitrogen. However, the operation was discontinuous and strictly related to the strength of the granular sludge. Therefore, a careful monitoring is recommended in order to control operation and performance of this new system.

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuai Wang ◽  
Ilya Savva ◽  
Rune Bakke

Abstract The first full-scale Hybrid Vertical Anaerobic Aerobic Biofilm (HyVAB) reactor has been set up for treating wastewater from a vegetable processing industry in Grimstad, Norway. The novel HyVAB reactor integrates a bottom expanded granular sludge bed with a top aerobic biofilm stage, resulting in a small footprint and high treatment efficiency. The full scale holistic treatment plant consists of a pretreatment system of a sand trap and an equalization tank, a HyVAB reactor and an effluent sludge settlement tank. The HyVAB system has been operated continuously for 219 days with flow and chemical oxygen demand (COD) fluctuations corresponding to different product seasons. The reactor hydraulic retention time ranges from 32 to 10 hours, with the anaerobic organic loading rate (OLR) reaching a maximum 16 kg-COD/m3·d. The HyVAB removed on average of 90% of the total feed COD, at an operational temperature of 25 °C. Sludge production was low at 0.11 kg-volatile suspended solids/kg-COD removed. Odorless effluent from HyVAB can be discharged directly to a local municipal wastewater treatment plant without sludge handling. Over 82% of feed COD was converted to methane, leaving high methane content (84 ± 2%) biogas out of the reactor. Energy consumption of HyVAB was 0.5 kwh/ton wastewater. The cost of wastewater treatment is 1.5 NOK/kg COD removed (based on rates in Norway).


2019 ◽  
Vol 80 (9) ◽  
pp. 1654-1661
Author(s):  
J. Tauber ◽  
V. Parravicini ◽  
K. Svardal ◽  
J. Krampe

Abstract In this research, sources of methane emissions of an anaerobic digester (AD) system at a municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) with 260,000 population equivalent (PE) capacity were detected by a non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) camera. The located emissions were evaluated qualitatively and were documented with photographs and video films. Subsequently, the emission sources were quantified individually using different methods like the Flux-Chamber method and sampling from the digester's circulation pipe. The dissolved methane in the sludge digester was measured via gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and 6.8% oversaturation compared to the equilibrium after Henry's law was found. Additionally, the residual gas potential of the digestate was measured using batch tests with 10 days' additional stabilisation time. The PE-specific residual gas production of the full-scale AD was calculated to 12.4 g CH4/(PE · y). An extended chemical oxygen demand (COD) balance including methane emissions for the whole digester system was calculated. Also the measured methane loads were calculated and summed up. The total methane loss of the AD was calculated at 24.6 g CH4/(PE · y), which corresponds to 0.4% of the produced biogas (4,913 g CH4/(PE · y)). PE-specific methane emission factors are presented for each investigated (point) source like the sludge outlet at the digester's head, a leaking manhole sealing and cracks in the concrete structure.


2013 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 199-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marketa Julinova ◽  
Jan Kupec ◽  
Roman Slavik ◽  
Maria Vaskova

Abstract A synthetic polymer, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP - E 1201) primarily finds applications in the pharmaceutical and food industries due to its resistance and zero toxicity to organisms. After ingestion, the substance passes through the organism unchanged. Consequently, it enters the systems of municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) without decomposing biologically during the waste treatment process, nor does it attach (through sorption) to particles of activated sludge to any significant extent, therefore, it passes through the system of a WWTP, which may cause the substance to accumulate in the natural environment. For this reason the paper investigates the potential to initiate aerobic biodegradation of PVP in the presence of activated sludge from a municipal wastewater treatment plant. The following agents were selected as the initiators of the biodegradation process - co-substrates: acrylamide, N-acethylphenylalanine and 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, a substance with a similar structure to PVP monomer. The biodegradability of PVP in the presence of co-substrates was evaluated on the basis of biological oxygen demand (BOD) as determined via a MicroOxymax O2/CO2/CH4 respirometer. The total substrate concentration in the suspension equaled 400 mg·dm-3, with the ratio between PVP and the cosubstrate being 1:1, while the concentration of the dry activated sludge was 500 mg·dm-3. Even though there was no occurrence of a significant increase in the biodegradation of PVP alone in the presence of a co-substrate, acrylamide appeared to be the most effective type of co-substrate. Nevertheless, a recorded decrease in the slope of biodegradation curves over time may indicate that a process of primary decomposition was underway, which involves the production of metabolites that inhibit activated sludge microorganisms. The resulting products are not identified at this stage of experimentation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 77 (11) ◽  
pp. 2723-2732 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaowei Zheng ◽  
Shenyao Zhang ◽  
Jibiao Zhang ◽  
Deying Huang ◽  
Zheng Zheng

Abstract With the improvement of wastewater discharge standards, wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are continually undergoing technological improvements to meet the evolving standards. In this study, a quartz sand deep bed denitrification filter (DBDF) was used to purify WWTP secondary effluent, utilizing high nitrate nitrogen concentrations and a low C/N ratio. Results show that more than 90% of nitrate nitrogen (NO3-N) and 75% of chemical oxygen demand (COD) could be removed by the 20th day of filtration. When the filter layer depth was set to 1,600 mm and the additional carbon source CH3OH was maintained at 30 mg L−1 COD (20 mg L−1 methanol), the total nitrogen (TN) and COD concentrations of DBDF effluent were stabilized below 5 and 30 mg L−1, respectively. Analysis of fluorescence revealed that DBDF had a stronger effect on the removal of dissolved organic matter (DOM), especially of aromatic protein-like substances. High throughput sequencing and qPCR results indicate a distinctly stratified microbial distribution for the main functional species in DBDF, with quartz sand providing a good environment for microbes. The phyla Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Chloroflexi were found to be the dominant species in DBDF.


2007 ◽  
pp. 183-190
Author(s):  
Piotr Kowalik ◽  
Ziemowit Suligowski

By I 863 the population of Gdansk was about I 00000 people and the water consumption waspredicted on the level of 100 litres per person a day, which meant about 10000 m3/day ofwastewater. The water supply and sewerage systems were completed in I 869-1871 and thewastewater treatment plant built in I 872 (it was situated 3 km from the city), The wastewatertreatment plant consisted of the 320 ha of the irrigation fields of Sianki, These fields werenever used for agriculture. Sand dunes were levelled and ditches were constructed on 2 levels.Ditches on the upper level received wastewater, while those at the lower level served to draintreated wastewater. From the upper ditches wastewater was distributed to flood and irrigatesandy soils covered by grass. The hydraulic load was above 3000 mm per year in I 872,increasing year after year and ending with 8000 mm per year in 1972. Efficiency of pollutionremoval was 80%, The irrigation fields on sandy dunes served well until the 1970s, when theplant was overloaded, neglected and included into the industrial area of harbour. Fields werecovered by grass monoculture for hay production of couch-grass (Agrophyrum repens). In thelocations of local sedimentation of sewage sludge the monoculture of nettle (Urtica) wasdeveloped. Due to the poor management, more and more wastewater was flowing on thesurface of the fields, instead of infiltrating and percolating through the sandy soil, whichreduced their purification efficiency from 80 to 10%. During the period of 1992-1994 theplant was closed after 120 years of continuous use.


Membranes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 253
Author(s):  
Carlos Carbonell-Alcaina ◽  
Jose Luis Soler-Cabezas ◽  
Amparo Bes-Piá ◽  
María Cinta Vincent-Vela ◽  
Jose Antonio Mendoza-Roca ◽  
...  

Management of wastewater is a major challenge nowadays, due to increasing water demand, growing population and more stringent regulations on water quality. Wastewaters from food conservation are especially difficult to treat, since they have high salinity and high organic matter concentration. The aim of this work is the treatment of the effluent from a table olive fermentation process (FTOP) with the aim of reusing it once the organic matter is separated. The process proposed in this work consists of the following membrane-based technologies: Ultrafiltration (UF) (UP005, Microdyn Nadir), Forward Osmosis (FO) (Osmen2521, Hydration Technology Innovation) and Nanofiltration (NF) (NF245, Dow). The FO process was implemented to reduce the salinity entering the NF process, using the FTOP as draw solution and, at the same time, to concentrate the centrate produced in the sludge treatment of a municipal wastewater treatment plant with the aim of obtaining a stream enriched in nutrients. The UF step achieved the elimination of 50% of the chemical oxygen demand of the FTOP. The UF permeate was pumped to the FO system reducing the volume of the anaerobically digested sludge centrate (ADSC) by a factor of 3 in 6.5 h. Finally, the ultrafiltrated FTOP diluted by FO was subjected to NF. The transmembrane pressure needed in the NF stage was 40% lower than that required if the ultrafiltration permeate was directly nanofiltered. By means of the integrated process, the concentration of organic matter and phenolic compounds in the FTOP decreased by 97%. Therefore, the proposed process was able to obtain a treated brine that could be reused in other processes and simultaneously to concentrate a stream, such as the ADSC.


2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 130-135
Author(s):  
Anna Ciaciuch ◽  
Jerzy Gaca ◽  
Karolina Lelewer

Abstract The research presents the changes in chemical oxygen demand (COD) fractions during the two-stage thermal disintegration and anaerobic digestion (AD) of sewage sludge in municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). Four COD fractions have been separated taking into account the solubility of substrates and their susceptibility to biodegradation: inert soluble organic matter SI, readily biodegradable substrate SS, slowly biodegradable substrates XS and inert particulate organic material XI. The results showed that readily biodegradable substrates SS (46.8% of total COD) and slowly biodegradable substrates XS (36.1% of total COD) were dominant in the raw sludge effluents. In sewage effluents after two-stage thermal disintegration, the percentage of SS fraction increased to 90% of total COD and percentage of XS fraction decreased to 8% of total COD. After AD, percentage of SS fraction in total COD decreased to 64%, whereas the percentage of other fractions in effluents increased.


2021 ◽  
Vol 269 ◽  
pp. 02002
Author(s):  
Ruohan Tang ◽  
Xiang Chen ◽  
Yuling Ou ◽  
Yeqin Xu ◽  
Zhi Chen

In this study, an integrated ecological system was constructed to treat small scattered aquaculture wastewater in southern rural areas of China. The water outlet of 4 level wetlands was continuously monitored from July to December in 2017. Results showed the average concentrations of total nitrogen (TN), ammonia nitrogen (NH4+-N), nitrate nitrogen (NO3-N), total phosphorus (TP) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) were 43.64mg/L, 17.53mg/L, 1.71mg/L, 1.66mg/L and 51.39mg/L in the average effluent concentration of grade I wetland, respectively, and 8.35mg/L, 4.42mg/L, 0.24mg/L, 0.26mg/L, 21.32mg/L in the average effluent concentration of grade IV wetland, respectively. The removal rates were 81%, 75%, 86%, 85% and 59% for TN, NH4+-N, NO3-N, TP and COD in the integrated ecological system, respectively. The effluents from the integrated ecological system met the requirements of “Discharge Standard of Pollutants for Livestock and Poultry Breeding” (GB 18596-2001) and achieved “Discharge Standard of Pollutants for Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant” (GB 18918-2002) the center two levels to discharge the standard. Obviously, the integrated ecological system could work efficiently in treating the rural scattered aquaculture wastewater, and also possess merits of low construction and operation costs and simple management method, which will be benefited to its application in the southern rural regions of China.


2018 ◽  
Vol 78 (9) ◽  
pp. 1861-1870 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmet E. Uman ◽  
Joseph G. Usack ◽  
José L. Lozano ◽  
Largus T. Angenent

Abstract A previous study had reported that the Fenton reaction at full scale increased the digestibility of thickened sludge in a digester. The authors of the study had observed a positive effect on biogas productivity, but without a control. Here, we evaluated this result by investigating the anaerobic treatment characteristics of fresh, thickened sludge in an experimental design with a control. To accomplish this, two identical continuously stirred anaerobic digesters (CSADs) were operated in parallel at mesophilic conditions. We also included anaerobic settlers to mimic the full-scale plant and to accomplish sludge recycling. We fed fresh, thickened sludge to both setups once every other day, but performed the Fenton reaction with only the experimental system by adding H2O2 to the recycled biosolids from the anaerobic settler. We observed very large fluctuations in biogas production due to ever-changing characteristics of the thickened sludge both on a daily and seasonal basis. Regardless, the two setups performed almost identically with: 1) chemical oxygen demand removal efficiencies of 63.8 ± 2.9% and 62.1 ± 3.2%; and 2) biogas productivities of 0.280 and 0.279 L CH4·g−1 volatile solids for the experimental (with Fenton) and control (without Fenton) CSADs, respectively. These results indicate that the use of a Fenton reaction did not affect biogas productivities.


2014 ◽  
Vol 69 (11) ◽  
pp. 2350-2356 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. M. Hai ◽  
S. Sakamoto ◽  
V. C. Le ◽  
H. S. Kim ◽  
R. Goel ◽  
...  

Activated Sludge Models (ASMs) assume an unbiodegradable organic particulate fraction in the activated sludge, which is derived from the decay of active microorganisms in the sludge and/or introduced from wastewater. In this study, a seasonal change of such activated sludge constituents in a municipal wastewater treatment plant was monitored for 1.5 years. The chemical oxygen demand ratio of the unbiodegradable particulates to the sludge showed a sinusoidal pattern ranging from 40 to 65% along with the change of water temperature in the plant that affected the decay rate. The biogas production in a laboratory-scale anaerobic digestion (AD) process was also affected by the unbiodegradable fraction in the activated sludge fed. Based on the results a chemical pre-treatment using H2O2 was conducted on the digestate to convert the unbiodegradable fraction to a biodegradable one. Once the pre-treated digestate was returned to the digester, the methane conversion increased up to 80% which was about 2.4 times as much as that of the conventional AD process, whilst 96% of volatile solids in the activated sludge was digested. From the experiment, the additional route of the organic conversion processes for the inert fraction at the pre-treatment stage was modelled on the ASM platform with reasonable simulation accuracy.


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