Algae for wastewater treatment and polishing : development of methodologies for algal growth and population analysis and process optimization of algal membrane bioreactor

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Tianyu Tang
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Nutrient Removal ◽  
Membrane Bioreactor ◽  
Algal Growth ◽  
High Density ◽  
Nutrient Recovery ◽  
Algae Cultivation ◽  
Removal Capacity ◽  
Algal Productivity

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] The discharge of secondary wastewater effluent from wastewater treatment plants can lead to eutrophication in receiving water bodies due to the presence of nitrogen and phosphorus in the effluent. The research herein resulted in the development of an algal-based wastewater treatment system, which can provide efficient and cost effective wastewater treatment as well as the ability to recover nutrients in the form of algal biomass. Developing such rapid analytical methods to monitor algal activity and population dynamics and to understand the effects of system design and operation on algal performance is critical to improved wastewater treatment and nutrient recovery. This PhD thesis research presents new methods to monitor algal activity and population dynamics that can be applied for the design and operation of algal system, and to improve the algal productivity and nutrient removal capacity using a novel algal membrane bioreactor (A-MBR) technique and CO2 enrichment for high-density algae cultivation, wastewater polishing and nutrient recovery. This Ph.D. thesis research is: (1) to develop rapid and specific methods to monitor algal activity and population dynamics that can be applied for the design and operation of algal systems, (2) to improve the algal productivity and nutrient removal capacity using a novel algal membrane bioreactor (AMBR) technique, and (3) to evaluate the role of CO2 supply in high-density algae cultivation, wastewater polishing, and nutrient recovery.

Upgrading of wastewater treatment plants for nutrient removal under optimal use of existing structures

2008 ◽  
Vol 57 (9) ◽  
pp. 1437-1443 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Winkler ◽  
M. Gasser ◽  
W. Schättle ◽  
D. Kremmel ◽  
P. Kletzmayr ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Nutrient Removal ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽  
Cost Comparison ◽  
Anaerobic Sludge ◽  
Existing Structures ◽  
Low Area ◽  
Removal Capacity ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Operation Results

Upgrading of wastewater treatment plants under maximum use of existing structures is often an important requirement, but also useful due to a number of aspects. Because of a change in legal effluent requirements, a number of plants in Austria, typically aged 20+ years, were required to be extended. The two stage activated sludge HYBRID®-process often provides an interesting design alternative for such plant upgrades, especially in case an anaerobic sludge treatment stage already exists. It provides high nutrient removal capacity at low area demand. The latter is especially important in cases where no or very limited extension area is available making it the key factor to preserve a site for future use. Based on two full stage case studies the adaptation of the plant layout, first operation results and a synthetic cost comparison to a conventional (single stage) plant extension are given.

Electrically enhanced MBR system for total nutrient removal in remote northern applications

2012 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 737-742 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Wei ◽  
M. Elektorowicz ◽  
J. A. Oleszkiewicz
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Nutrient Removal ◽  
Membrane Fouling ◽  
Membrane Bioreactor ◽  
Extracellular Polymeric Substances ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Transmembrane Pressure ◽  
Treatment Technology ◽  
Electrically Enhanced ◽  
P Removal

Thousands of sparsely populated communities scatter in the remote areas of northern Canada. It is economically preferable to adopt the decentralized systems to treat the domestic wastewater because of the vast human inhabitant distribution and cold climatic conditions. Electro-technologies such as electrofiltration, elctrofloatation, electrocoagulation and electrokinetic separation have been applied in water and conventional wastewater treatment for decades due to the minimum requirements of chemicals as well as ease of operation. The membrane bioreactor (MBR) is gaining popularity in recent years as an alternative water/wastewater treatment technology. However, few studies have been conducted to hyphenate these two technologies. The purpose of this work is to design a novel electrically enhanced membrane bioreactor (EMBR) as an alternative decentralized wastewater treatment system with improved nutrient removal and reduced membrane fouling. Two identical submerged membranes (GE ZW-1 hollow fiber module) were used for the experiment, with one as a control. The EMBR and control MBR were operated for 4 months at room temperature (20 ± 2 °C) with synthetic feed and 2 months at 10 °C with real sewage. The following results were observed: (1) the transmembrane pressure (TMP) increased significantly more slowly in the EMBR and the interval between the cleaning cycles of the EMBR increased at least twice; (2) the dissolved chemical oxygen demand (COD) or total organic carbon (TOC) in the EMBR biomass was reduced from 30 to 51%, correspondingly, concentrations of the extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), the major suspicious membrane foulants, decreased by 26–46% in the EMBR; (3) both control and EMBR removed >99% of ammonium-N and >95% of dissolved COD, in addition, ortho-P removal in the EMBR was >90%, compared with 47–61% of ortho-P removal in the MBR; and (4) the advantage of the EMBR over the conventional MBR in terms of membrane fouling retardation and phosphorus removal was further demonstrated at an operating temperature of 10 °C when fed with real sewage. The EMBR system has the potential for highly automated control and minimal maintenance, which is particularly suitable for remote northern applications.

Baffled membrane bioreactor (BMBR) for advanced wastewater treatment: easy modification of existing MBRs for efficient nutrient removal

2005 ◽  
Vol 52 (10-11) ◽  
pp. 427-434 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Kimura ◽  
Y. Watanabe
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Nutrient Removal ◽  
Membrane Bioreactor ◽  
Municipal Wastewater ◽  
Reaction Chamber ◽  
Municipal Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Term Operation ◽  
Constant Interval ◽  
Single Reaction

In this study, a novel membrane bioreactor (MBR) in which nitrification and denitrification simultaneously proceed in a single reaction chamber is proposed for advanced municipal wastewater treatment. Anoxic/aerobic environments are alternatively created in the proposed MBR by inserting baffles inside the membrane chamber. The performance of the proposed baffled membrane bioreactor (BMBR) was examined at an existing municipal wastewater treatment facility based on long-term operation. Although the procedure was simple, insertion of the baffles actually created the alternative anoxic/aerobic environments in the chamber at a constant interval and showed a great improvement in the nutrient removal. The insertion did not cause any adverse effect on membrane permeability. In this study, almost complete elimination of NH4+-N was observed while around 8mg/L of NO3−-N was detected in the treated water. The modification proposed in this study can immediately be applied to most existing MBRs and is highly recommended for more efficient wastewater treatment.

Nutrient removal and biodiesel production by integration of freshwater algae cultivation with piggery wastewater treatment

2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (13) ◽  
pp. 4294-4302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liandong Zhu ◽  
Zhongming Wang ◽  
Qing Shu ◽  
Josu Takala ◽  
Erkki Hiltunen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Nutrient Removal ◽  
Biodiesel Production ◽  
Freshwater Algae ◽  
Piggery Wastewater ◽  
Algae Cultivation
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