scholarly journals Exploiting the Nutrient Potential of Anaerobically Digested Sewage Sludge: A Review

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (23) ◽  
pp. 8149
Author(s):  
Nicola Di Costanzo ◽  
Alessandra Cesaro ◽  
Francesco Di Capua ◽  
Giovanni Esposito

The world is currently witnessing a rapid increase in sewage sludge (SS) production, due to the increased demand for wastewater treatment. Therefore, SS management is crucial for the economic and environmental sustainability of wastewater treatment plants. The recovery of nutrients from SS has been identified as a fundamental step to enable the transition from a linear to a circular economy, turning SS into an economic and sustainable source of materials. SS is often treated via anaerobic digestion, to pursue energy recovery via biogas generation. Anaerobically digested sewage sludge (ADS) is a valuable source of organic matter and nutrients, and significant advances have been made in recent years in methods and technologies for nutrient recovery from ADS. The purpose of this study is to provide a comprehensive overview, describing the advantages and drawbacks of the available and emerging technologies for recovery of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) from ADS. This work critically reviews the established and novel technologies, which are classified by their ability to recover a specific nutrient (ammonia stripping) or to allow the simultaneous recovery of multiple elements (struvite precipitation, ion exchange, membrane technologies, and thermal treatments). This study compares the described technologies in terms of nutrient recovery efficiency, capital, and operational costs, as well as their feasibility for full-scale application, revealing the current state of the art and future perspectives on this topic.

2006 ◽  
Vol 53 (8) ◽  
pp. 81-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Parravicini ◽  
E. Smidt ◽  
K. Svardal ◽  
H. Kroiss

Further reduction of volatile suspended solids (VSS) during a post-stabilisation step was applied to evaluate the stabilisation degree of digested sewage sludge. For this purpose digested sludge was collected at four municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and further stabilised in lab-scale chemostat reactors either under anaerobic or aerobic conditions. Experimental results showed that even in adequately digested sludge a consistent amount of VSS was degraded during aerobic post-stabilisation. It seems that aerobic conditions play a significant role during degradation of residual VSS. Additionally, specific VSS production (gVSS/peCOD110.d) as well as specific oxygen uptake rate were shown to be suitable parameters to assess the degree of sludge stabilisation at WWTPs. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to reveal changes in the sludge composition. Spectra of treated and untreated sludge samples indicated that the major component of residual VSS in stabilised sludge for instance consisted of biomass, while cellulose was absent.


2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Luchien Luning ◽  
Paul Roeleveld ◽  
Victor W.M. Claessen

In recent years new technologies have been developed to improve the biological degradation of sewage sludge by anaerobic digestion. The paper describes the results of a demonstration of ultrasonic disintegration on the Dutch Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) Land van Cuijk. The effect on the degradation of organic matter is presented, together with the effect on the dewatering characteristics. Recommendations are presented for establishing research conditions in which the effect of sludge disintegration can be determined in a more direct way that is less sensitive to changing conditions in the operation of the WWTP. These recommendations have been implemented in the ongoing research in the Netherlands supported by the National Institute for wastewater research (STOWA).


Chemosphere ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 353-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiayin Dai ◽  
Muqi Xu ◽  
Jiping Chen ◽  
Xiangping Yang ◽  
Zhenshan Ke

2003 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 529-542
Author(s):  
Olfat El-Sebaie ◽  
Ahmed Hussein ◽  
Mohamed Ramadan ◽  
Magda Abd El-Atty ◽  
Helaly Helaly

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 154-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Berthod ◽  
G. Roberts ◽  
A. Sharpe ◽  
D. C. Whitley ◽  
R. Greenwood ◽  
...  

Understanding the partitioning behaviour of active pharmaceutical ingredients between sludge and aqueous phases in wastewater treatment plants is important for environmental regulation.


Author(s):  
Daniela CIUPEANU CĂLUGĂRU

For turning to a high degree of favorability of sludge from wastewater treatment plants, currently the reintroduction in the natural circuit of this waste is an urgent priority. Knowing precisely the composition of chemical and biological sludge from waste water in accordance with the law and the rules of their application, along with modern wastewater treatment appropriate technologies play a key role on environmental protection. Involvement by precise rules, the content of heavy metals in relation to the maximum permitted by law, translate in to particularly advantageous results in terms of environmental quality.


2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Spanos ◽  
Antoaneta Ene ◽  
Chrysoula Styliani Patronidou ◽  
Christina Xatzixristou

AbstractThe aim of this study was to evaluate the temporal variations of selected heavy metals level in anaerobic fermented and dewatered sewage sludge. Sewage sludge samples were collected in different seasons and years from three municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) located in Northern Greece, in Kavala (Kavala and Palio localities) and Drama (Drama locality) Prefectures. An investigation of the potential of sludge utilization in agriculture was performed, based on the comparison of average total heavy metal concentrations and of chromium species (hexavalent, trivalent) concentrations with the allowed values according to the Council Directive 86/278/EEC and Greek national legislation (Joint Cabinet Decision 80568/4225/91) guidelines. In this regard, all the investigated heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn, Hg) and chromium species Cr(VI) and Cr(III) have average concentrations (dry matter weight) well below the legislated thresholds for soil application, as following: 2.12 mg kg−1Cd; 103.7 mg kg−1Cr; 136.4 mg kg−1Cu; < 0.2 mg kg−1Hg; 29.1 mg kg−1Ni; 62.0 mg kg−1Pb; 1253.2 mg kg−1Zn; 1.56 mg kg−1Cr(VI) and 115.7 mg kg−1Cr(III). Values of relative standard deviation (RSD) indicate a low or moderate temporal variability for domestic-related metals Zn (10.3-14.7%), Pb (27.9-44.5%) and Cu (33.5-34.2%), and high variability for the metals of mixed origin or predominantly resulted from commercial activities, such as Ni (42.4-50.7%), Cd (44.3-85.5%) and Cr (58.2-102.0%). For some elements the seasonal occurrence pattern is the same for Kavala and Palio sludge, as following: a) Cd and Cr: spring>summer>winter; b) Cu, Ni and Pb: winter>spring>summer. On average, in summer months (dry season) metal concentrations are lower than in spring and winter (wet seasons), with the exception of Zn. For Kavala and Palio the results demonstrate that the increased number of inhabitants (almost doubled) in summer time due to tourism does not influence the metal levels in sludge. Comparing the results obtained for similar spring-summer-winter sequences in 2007 and 2010/11 and for the spring season in 2007, 2008 and 2010, it can be noticed that, in general, the average heavy metal contents show an increasing tendency towards the last year. In all the measurement periods, the Palio sludge had the highest metal contents and Kavala sludge the lowest, leading to the conclusion that the WWTP operating process rather than population has a significant effect upon the heavy metal content of sludge. Cr(VI)/Cr(total) concentration ratios are higher for Kavala sludge in the majority of sampling campaigns, followed by Drama and Palio sludge. The metals which present moderate to strong positive correlation have common origin, which could be a domestic-commercial mixed source.


2004 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Rio ◽  
C. Faur-Brasquet ◽  
L. Le Coq ◽  
D. Lecomte ◽  
P. Le Cloirec

Sewage sludges produced from wastewater treatment plants continue to create environmental problems in terms of volume and method of valorization. Thermal treatment of sewage sludge is considered as an attractive method in reducing sludge volume which at the same time produces reusable by-products. This paper deals with the first step of activated carbon production from sewage sludge, the carbonization step. Experiments are carried out on viscous liquid sludge and limed sludge by varying carbonization temperature and heating rate. The results show that carbonized residue properties are interesting for activated carbon production.


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