scholarly journals Nitrate Removal by Floating Treatment Wetlands Amended with Spent Coffee: A Mesocosm-Scale Evaluation

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 (6) ◽  
pp. 1619-1630
Author(s):  
Mary G. Keilhauer ◽  
Tiffany L. Messer ◽  
Aaron R. Mittelstet ◽  
Thomas G. Franti ◽  
Jessica Corman

HighlightsA floating treatment wetland design was evaluated for water quality improvements.Nitrate-N removal rates were quantified using spent coffee grounds as a carbon source.Nitrate-N removal rates increased throughout the growing season Abstract. The Midwestern U.S. is vulnerable to eutrophic conditions from high nutrient concentrations. Floating treatment wetlands (FTWs) are an innovative wetland design for nutrient removal from nonpoint sources and provide a unique treatment. The objectives of this project were to quantify nitrate removal in traditional and carbon-amended FTWs planted with Midwestern plant species during the establishment year. Three greenhouse experiments were conducted throughout the growing season using 18 mesocosms. Two vegetation designs were evaluated: rush species ( and ) and diverse species (, , , , , and ). Spent coffee grounds were applied to 9 of the 18 mesocosms as a carbon amendment. Nitrate-N removal increased during the establishment growing season in the FTW systems (Spring: 15.0% to 17.3%, Summer 1: 82.8% to 92.6%, Summer 2: 86.4% to 94.7%). Nitrate-N removal was also impacted by carbon amendments (FTW without amendment: 82.8% to 94.7%, FTW with amendment: 88.4% to 96.1%). Carbon additions were found to enhance denitrifying conditions even in the absence of FTWs (decreased dissolved oxygen, increased available organic carbon). Significant differences in nitrate-N removal were not observed between FTW vegetation designs. This study provides new insight on the impacts of the growing season, plant species, and carbon amendments on FTW nitrate-N removal performance during the establishment year. Keywords: Best management practices, Carbon amendment, Floating treatment wetlands, Nitrogen removal, Spent coffee grounds

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 434-443 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xianxin Luo ◽  
Junfeng Su ◽  
Han Liu ◽  
Tinglin Huang ◽  
Li Wei ◽  
...  

Abstract A moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) using Mn(II) and Fe(II) as mixed electron donors was designed for nitrate removal. The optimal state, as determined by response surface methodology, was an Fe(II):Mn(II) molar ratio of 0.62, electron donor:electron acceptor molar ratio of 2.62 and hydraulic retention time of 10.88 h. Subsequently, the MBBR was applied to groundwater treatment and demonstrated a final nitrate-N removal efficiency of 99.5% with a nitrite-N accumulation rate of 0.0706 mg-N·L−1·h−1. Furthermore, high-throughput sequencing was employed to characterize bacterial communities in the MBBR. Results showed that the genera of Pseudomonas and Acinetobacter may make a contribution to the nitrate removal.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (11) ◽  
pp. 3390
Author(s):  
Hui Zhang ◽  
Lin Song ◽  
Xiaolin Chen ◽  
Pengcheng Li

Excessive use of nitrogen fertilizer in intensively managed agriculture has resulted in abundant accumulation of nitrate in soil, which limits agriculture sustainability. How to reduce nitrate content is the key to alleviate secondary soil salinization. However, the microorganisms used in soil remediation cause some problems such as weak efficiency and short survival time. In this study, seaweed polysaccharides were used as stimulant to promote the rapid growth and safer nitrate removal of denitrifying bacteria. Firstly, the growth rate and NO3−-N removal capacity of three kinds of denitrifying bacteria, Bacillus subtilis (BS), Pseudomonas stutzeri (PS) and Pseudomonas putida (PP), were compared. The results showed that Bacillus subtilis (BS) had a faster growth rate and stronger nitrate removal ability. We then studied the effects of Enteromorpha linza polysaccharides (EP), carrageenan (CA), and sodium alginate (AL) on growth and denitrification performance of Bacillus subtilis (BS). The results showed that seaweed polysaccharides obviously promoted the growth of Bacillus subtilis (BS), and accelerated the reduction of NO3−-N. More importantly, the increased NH4+-N content could avoid excessive loss of nitrogen, and less NO2−-N accumulation could avoid toxic effects on plants. This new strategy of using denitrifying bacteria for safely remediating secondary soil salinization has a great significance.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (15) ◽  
pp. 4667
Author(s):  
Sunyong Park ◽  
Hui-Rim Jeong ◽  
Yun-A Shin ◽  
Seok-Jun Kim ◽  
Young-Min Ju ◽  
...  

Agricultural by-products have several disadvantages as fuel, such as low calorific values and high ash contents. To address these disadvantages, this study examined the mixing of agricultural by-products and spent coffee grounds, for use as a solid fuel, and the improvement of fuel characteristics through torrefaction. Pepper stems and spent coffee grounds were first dried to moisture contents of <15% and then combined, with mixing ratios varying from 9:1 to 6:4. Fuel pellets were produced from these mixtures using a commercial pelletiser, evaluated against various standards, and classified as grade A, B, or Bio-SRF. The optimal ratio of pepper stems to spent coffee grounds was determined to be 8:2. The pellets were torrefied to improve their fuel characteristics. Different torrefaction temperatures improved the mass yields of the pellets to between 50.87% and 88.27%. The calorific value increased from 19.9% to 26.8% at 290 °C. The optimal torrefaction temperature for coffee ground pellets was 230 °C, while for other pellets, it was 250 °C. This study provides basic information on the potential enhancement of agricultural by-products for fuel applications.


Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 494 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kang Hyun Lee ◽  
Ye Won Jang ◽  
Jeongho Lee ◽  
Seunghee Kim ◽  
Chulhwan Park ◽  
...  

Biorefinery, which utilizes carbon-neutral biomass as a resource, is attracting attention as a significant alternative in a modern society confronted with climate change. In this study, spent coffee grounds (SCGs) were used as the feedstock for lactic acid fermentation. In order to improve sugar conversion, alkali pretreatment was optimized by a statistical method, namely response surface methodology (RSM). The optimum conditions for the alkali pretreatment of SCGs were determined as follows: 75 °C, 3% potassium hydroxide (KOH) and a time of 2.8 h. The optimum conditions for enzymatic hydrolysis of pretreated SCGs were determined as follows: enzyme complex loading of 30-unit cellulase, 15-unit cellobiase and 50-unit mannanase per g biomass and a reaction time of 96 h. SCG hydrolysates were used as the carbon source for Lactobacillus cultivation, and the conversions of lactic acid by L. brevis ATCC 8287 and L. parabuchneri ATCC 49374 were 40.1% and 55.8%, respectively. Finally, the maximum lactic acid production by L. parabuchneri ATCC 49374 was estimated to be 101.2 g based on 1000 g of SCGs through the optimization of alkali pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis.


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