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. 2021 Dec 12;11(12):977.
doi: 10.3390/membranes11120977.

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

Maria Cristina Collivignarelli  1   2 , Alessandro Abbà  3 , Francesca Maria Caccamo  1 , Marco Carnevale Miino  1 , Angela Durante  4 , Stefano Bellazzi  1 , Marco Baldi  5 , Giorgio Bertanza  3
Affiliations

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

Maria Cristina Collivignarelli et al. Membranes (Basel). .

Abstract

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.

Keywords: carbon recovery; circular economy; nitrate uptake rate tests; respirometric tests; sludge minimization; thermophilic membrane reactor; wastewater treatment plant.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Applications of ThAlMBR in sludge line. (a) Scenario A: downstream of the thickener, (b) Scenario B: downstream of the anaerobic digester. BSS: biological sewage sludge, TBSS: thickened biological sewage sludge, DBSS: digested biological sewage sludge, VS: volatile solids.
Figure 2
Figure 2
COD removal yields with TBSS (a) and DBSS (b). The continuous black lines represent the fitting of COD removed as a function of COD fed while the dot blue lines represent the condition of complete COD removal.
Figure 3
Figure 3
TN partition (a) in TBSS and (b) in DBSS. TN: total nitrogen, TBSS: thickened biological sewage sludge, DBSS: digested biological sewage sludge, n: number of data.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Conversion rates of N-organic in N-NH4+ with TBSS (a) and with DBSS (b). The black lines represent the fittings while the dot blue lines represent the condition of complete pollutant removal.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Trend of OUR and GPI. Dot black lines represent the linear fitting of OUR values as a function of COD. Yellow squares indicate the GPI values in ten diverse OUR tests.
Figure 6
Figure 6
OUR trend with COD, for fed BSS (a) and permeate (b). Continuous lines represent the fitting of OR as a function of COD.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Results of NUR tests. Each test was conducted with the substrate fed to denitrification. The dilution value has been indicated in brackets. n: number of tests.
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References

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