How to Produce an Alternative Carbon Source for Denitrification by Treating and Drastically Reducing Biological Sewage Sludge

Minimizing the biological sewage sludge (BSS) produced by wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) represents an increasingly difficult challenge. With this goal, tests on a semi-full scale Thermophilic Alternate Membrane Biological Reactor (ThAlMBR) were carried out for 12 months. ThAlMBR was applied both on thickened (TBSS) and digested biological sewage sludge (DBSS) with alternating aeration conditions, and emerged: (i) high COD removal yields (up to 90%), (ii) a low specific sludge production (0.02–0.05 kgVS produced/kgCODremoved), (iii) the possibility of recovery the aqueous carbon residue (permeate) in denitrification processes, replacing purchased external carbon sources. Based on the respirometric tests, an excellent biological treatability of the permeate by the mesophilic biomass was observed and the denitrification kinetics reached with the diluted permeate ((4.0 mgN-NO3−/(gVSS h)) were found comparable to those of methanol (4.4 mgN-NO3−/(gVSS h)). Moreover, thanks to the similar results obtained on TBSS and DBSS, ThAlMBR proved to be compatible with diverse sludge line points, ensuring in both cases an important sludge minimization.

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Sludge minimization by disintegration at different wastewater treatment plants

Water Practice & Technology ◽

10.2166/wpt.2008.010 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Luchien Luning ◽

Paul Roeleveld ◽

Victor W.M. Claessen

Keyword(s):

Organic Matter ◽

Wastewater Treatment ◽

Anaerobic Digestion ◽

Sewage Sludge ◽

New Technologies ◽

Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽

Treatment Plant ◽

Biological Degradation ◽

Ongoing Research ◽

Sludge Minimization

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).

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Characterizing denitrification kinetics at cold temperature using various carbon sources in lab-scale sequencing batch reactors

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.2008.670 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 58 (1) ◽

pp. 233-238 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Yalda Mokhayeri ◽

Rumana Riffat ◽

Imre Takacs ◽

Peter Dold ◽

Charles Bott ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Chesapeake Bay ◽

Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽

Inorganic Nitrogen ◽

Carbon Sources ◽

Ex Situ ◽

Batch Reactors ◽

Sequencing Batch Reactors ◽

Denitrification Kinetics ◽

Internal Sources ◽

Set Up

Wastewater treatment plants in the Chesapeake Bay region are becoming more interested in external carbon sources for denitrification. This is in response to the recent regulations to remediate the Chesapeake Bay, which will limit effluent total nitrogen to near 3 mg/L for plants, thus requiring near complete elimination of inorganic nitrogen species. Since sufficient internal carbon is usually not available for complete denitrification, external carbon is needed to supplement internal sources. Of particular interest is the use of an alternate external carbon source to replace the least expensive source methanol. This study focuses on three commonly available external carbon sources: methanol, ethanol and acetate. The aim of this study was to obtain the specific denitrification rate (SDNR) of the substrates under several conditions. Sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) were set up to first grow biomass to the specified substrate while in situ SDNRs were conducted concurrently. Once the biomass was grown with the corresponding substrate, a series of ex situ SDNRs were performed using various biomass/substrate combinations to evaluate response to substrate combinations at 13°C. Results from this study indicate that the SDNRs for biomass grown on methanol, ethanol and acetate were 9.2 mg NO3-N/g VSS/hr, 30.4 mg NO3-N/gVSS/hr and 31.7 mg NO3-N/g VSS/hr, respectively, suggesting that acetate and ethanol were equally effective external carbon sources followed by much lower SDNR using methanol. Ethanol could be used with methanol biomass with similar rates as that of methanol. Additionally, methanol was rapidly acclimated to ethanol grown biomass suggesting that the two substrates could be interchanged to grow respective populations with a minimum lag period.

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A FIELD STUDY OF FARMERS ADOPTION AND APPLICATION OF SEWAGE SLUDGE PRACTICES PRODUCED FROM WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS IN AGRICULTURE AT SOME EGYPTIAN VILLAGES دراسة میدانیة لتبنی وتطبیق الزراع لممارسات استخدام الحمأة المنتجة من محطات معالجة میاه الصرف الصحی فی الزراعة ببعض القری المصریة

Journal of Agricultural Economics and Social Sciences ◽

10.21608/jaess.2015.40509 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 6 (10) ◽

pp. 1599-1609

Author(s):

یحیى زهران ◽

محمد عبدالمجید ◽

أحمد حمزة

Keyword(s):

Wastewater Treatment ◽

Sewage Sludge ◽

Field Study ◽

Wastewater Treatment Plants

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Production of fuels on the basis of sewage sludge through conditioning using high calorific value fractions

Water Practice & Technology ◽

10.2166/wpt.2008.011 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 3 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Karl-Georg Schmelz ◽

Anja Reipa ◽

Hartmut Meyer

Keyword(s):

Sewage Sludge ◽

Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽

Treatment Plant ◽

Calorific Value ◽

Fluidised Bed ◽

Sludge Treatment ◽

Heating Value ◽

Fine Coal ◽

Used Cars ◽

Plastic Components

Emschergenossenschaft and Lippeverband operate 59 wastewater treatment plants which produce approx. 100,000 Mg TS of sewage sludge each year. Using sludge pressure pipelines, about 60 % of this sludge are transported to the central sludge treatment plant in Bottrop. The digested sludges are conditioned using fine coal and polymers and are dewatered using membrane filters. By adding coal, the heating value of the sludge is raised which enables autothermal combustion of the dewatered sludges in fluidised bed furnaces at the central sludge treatment plant. In order to replace coal, a fossil fuel, as conditioning agent, experiments were conducted using alternative materials with high heating values. The addition of shredder fluff agglomerates proved to be particularly successful. Shredder fluff agglomerates are a residue from the recycling of used cars and are generated in a multistage process (e.g. Volkswagen-SiCon Process) by separating the light shredder fraction (plastic components etc.) from the total shredder fluff. The fibrous material is outstandingly suitable for improving the dewaterability and for sufficiently raising the heating value of the dewatered sludge in order to enable autothermal combustion. Since first experiments showed very positive results, a full-scale long-term test-run will take place in 2007.

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Treatment and Quality of Sewage Sludge in Germany - Results of a Survey

Water Practice & Technology ◽

10.2166/wpt.2007.020 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

A. Meda ◽

C. Schaum ◽

M. Wagner ◽

P. Cornel ◽

A. Durth

Keyword(s):

Sewage Sludge ◽

Treatment Process ◽

Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽

Current Status ◽

Sludge Treatment ◽

Sewage Sludge Treatment ◽

Treatment And Disposal ◽

German Association ◽

Entire Treatment

TIn 2004, the German Association for Wastewater, Water and Waste (DWA) carried out a survey about the current status of sewage sludge treatment and disposal in Germany. The study covered about one third of the wastewater treatment plants and about two thirds of the entire treatment capacity (expressed in population equivalents) in Germany. This provides an up-to-date and representative database. The paper presents the most important results regarding sludge treatment, process engineering, current disposal paths and sewage sludge quality.

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Earthworms drastically change fungal and bacterial communities during vermicomposting of sewage sludge

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-95099-z ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Jorge Domínguez ◽

Manuel Aira ◽

Keith A. Crandall ◽

Marcos Pérez-Losada

Keyword(s):

Sewage Sludge ◽

Community Composition ◽

Fungal Community ◽

High Throughput Sequencing ◽

Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽

Agricultural Practices ◽

Fungal Community Composition ◽

Earthworm Casts ◽

Composition And Structure ◽

Sustainable Agricultural Practices

AbstractWastewater treatment plants produce hundreds of million tons of sewage sludge every year all over the world. Vermicomposting is well established worldwide and has been successful at processing sewage sludge, which can contribute to alleviate the severe environmental problems caused by its disposal. Here, we utilized 16S and ITS rRNA high-throughput sequencing to characterize bacterial and fungal community composition and structure during the gut- and cast-associated processes (GAP and CAP, respectively) of vermicomposting of sewage sludge. Bacterial and fungal communities of earthworm casts were mainly composed of microbial taxa not found in the sewage sludge; thus most of the bacterial (96%) and fungal (91%) taxa in the sewage sludge were eliminated during vermicomposting, mainly through the GAP. Upon completion of GAP and during CAP, modified microbial communities undergo a succession process leading to more diverse microbiotas than those found in sewage sludge. Consequently, bacterial and fungal community composition changed significantly during vermicomposting. Vermicomposting of sewage resulted in a stable and rich microbial community with potential biostimulant properties that may aid plant growth. Our results support the use of vermicompost derived from sewage sludge for sustainable agricultural practices, if heavy metals or other pollutants are under legislation limits or adequately treated.

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Production and Destination of Sewage Sludge in the Piemonte Region (Italy): The Results of a Survey for a Future Sustainable Management

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18073556 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (7) ◽

pp. 3556

Author(s):

Giuseppe Campo ◽

Alberto Cerutti ◽

Claudio Lastella ◽

Aldo Leo ◽

Deborah Panepinto ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sewage Sludge ◽

Sustainable Management ◽

Municipal Wastewater ◽

Wastewater Treatment Plants ◽

Similar Amount ◽

Municipal Wastewater Treatment ◽

Sludge Management ◽

Subsequent Step ◽

German Legislation ◽

Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants

The management of sewage sludge originated from municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is an urgent issue. In 2019, the local authority of the Piemonte region started a survey with the aim of collecting recent data concerning wastewater and sludge management in the WWTPs located in its own territory. The survey’s results revealed that 60% of the sludge (51,000 t, as dry substance, d.s.) produced by the local WWTPs was recovered or disposed of outside of the region, and a similar amount of sludge was recovered in agriculture directly or after composting. The increase in the costs to accommodate sewage sludge in recovery or disposal plants, followed to a recent Italian Sentence (27958/2017), and the more and more stringent requirements fixed by lots of European countries for the application of sludge in agriculture, are pushing the Piemonte region authority to re-organize its own network for sludge management, with solutions based onto proximity and diversification. Whether the provisions of the current German legislation are applied in the future also in Italy, approx. 90% of sewage sludge produced into the Piemonte region should be incinerated, with a subsequent step of phosphorous recovery. The new regional plan, according to the Regional Address Deed, should consider a diversification of sludge treatment and recovery practices. On this basis, a need for new plants for around 40,000 t d.s./y could be planned.

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