scholarly journals The SPPD-WRF Framework: A Novel and Holistic Methodology for Strategical Planning and Process Design of Water Resource Factories

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 4168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Kehrein ◽  
Mark van Loosdrecht ◽  
Patricia Osseweijer ◽  
John Posada ◽  
Jo Dewulf
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Water Resource ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plant ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Municipal Wastewater ◽  
Treatment Plant ◽  
Resource Recovery ◽  
Engineering Project ◽  
Wwtp Design

This paper guides decision making in more sustainable urban water management practices that feed into a circular economy by presenting a novel framework for conceptually designing and strategically planning wastewater treatment processes from a resource recovery perspective. Municipal wastewater cannot any longer be perceived as waste stream because a great variety of technologies are available to recover water, energy, fertilizer, and other valuable products from it. Despite the vast technological recovery possibilities, only a few processes have yet been implemented that deserve the name water resource factory instead of wastewater treatment plant. This transition relies on process designs that are not only technically feasible but also overcome various non-technical bottlenecks. A multidimensional and multidisciplinary approach is needed to design water resource factories (WRFs) in the future that are technically feasible, cost effective, show low environmental impacts, and successfully market recovered resources. To achieve that, the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) design space needs to be opened up for a variety of expertise that complements the traditional wastewater engineering domain. Implementable WRF processes can only be designed if the current design perspective, which is dominated by the fulfilment of legal effluent qualities and process costs, is extended to include resource recovery as an assessable design objective from an early stage on. Therefore, the framework combines insights and methodologies from different fields and disciplines beyond WWTP design like, e.g., circular economy, industrial process engineering, project management, value chain development, and environmental impact assessment. It supports the transfer of the end-of-waste concept into the wastewater sector as it structures possible resource recovery activities according to clear criteria. This makes recovered resources more likely to fulfil the conditions of the end-of-waste concept and allows the change in their definition from wastes to full-fledged products.

scholarly journals Water Resource Recovery Facilities (WRRFs): The Case Study of Palermo University (Italy)

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 3413
Author(s):  
Giorgio Mannina ◽  
Rosa Alduina ◽  
Luigi Badalucco ◽  
Lorenzo Barbara ◽  
Fanny Claire Capri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Water Resource ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Volatile Fatty Acids ◽  
Treatment Plant ◽  
Resource Recovery ◽  
Horizon 2020 ◽  
Eu Project ◽  
The University

The wastewater sector paradigm is shifting from wastewater treatment to resource recovery. In addition, concerns regarding sustainability during the operation have increased. In this sense, there is a need to break barriers (i.e., social, economic, technological, legal, etc.) for moving forward towards water resource recovery facilities and demonstration case studies can be very effective and insightful. This paper presents a new water resource recovery case study which is part of the Horizon 2020 EU Project “Achieving wider uptake of water-smart solutions—Wider Uptake”. The final aim is to demonstrate the importance of a resource recovery system based on the circular economy concept. The recovery facilities at Palermo University (Italy) are first presented. Afterwards, the resource recovery pilot plants are described. Preliminary results have underlined the great potential of the wastewater treatment plant in terms of resources recovery and the central role of the University in fostering the transition towards circular economy. The fermentation batch test highlighted a volatile fatty acids (VFAs) accumulation suitable for polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) production. The results of static adsorption and desorption tests showed that the highest amount of adsorbed NH4+ was recorded for untreated and HCl-Na treated clinoptilolite.

scholarly journals Assessment of Microplastics in a Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant with Tertiary Treatment: Removal Efficiencies and Loading per Day into the Environment

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 1339
Author(s):  
Javier Bayo ◽  
Sonia Olmos ◽  
Joaquín López-Castellanos
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plant ◽  
Municipal Wastewater ◽  
Removal Rate ◽  
Treatment Plant ◽  
Source Control ◽  
Municipal Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Tertiary Treatment ◽  
Stable Performance ◽  
Wastewater Samples

This study investigates the removal of microplastics from wastewater in an urban wastewater treatment plant located in Southeast Spain, including an oxidation ditch, rapid sand filtration, and ultraviolet disinfection. A total of 146.73 L of wastewater samples from influent and effluent were processed, following a density separation methodology, visual classification under a stereomicroscope, and FTIR analysis for polymer identification. Microplastics proved to be 72.41% of total microparticles collected, with a global removal rate of 64.26% after the tertiary treatment and within the average retention for European WWTPs. Three different shapes were identified: i.e., microfiber (79.65%), film (11.26%), and fragment (9.09%), without the identification of microbeads despite the proximity to a plastic compounding factory. Fibers were less efficiently removed (56.16%) than particulate microplastics (90.03%), suggesting that tertiary treatments clearly discriminate between forms, and reporting a daily emission of 1.6 × 107 microplastics to the environment. Year variability in microplastic burden was cushioned at the effluent, reporting a stable performance of the sewage plant. Eight different polymer families were identified, LDPE film being the most abundant form, with 10 different colors and sizes mainly between 1–2 mm. Future efforts should be dedicated to source control, plastic waste management, improvement of legislation, and specific microplastic-targeted treatment units, especially for microfiber removal.

scholarly journals Energy Valorisation of Wastewater Treatment Plant Sludge through Thermal Gasification: An Economic Perspective

Proceedings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 3
Author(s):  
Luis F. Carmo-Calado ◽  
Roberta Mota-Panizio ◽  
Gonçalo Lourinho ◽  
Octávio Alves ◽  
I. Gato ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plant ◽  
Municipal Wastewater ◽  
Treatment Plant ◽  
Electricity Production ◽  
Baseline Scenario ◽  
Municipal Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Plant Processing ◽  
Sludge Drying ◽  
Calorific Power

The technical-economic analysis was carried out for the production of sludge-derived fuel from a municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). The baseline for the analysis consists of a sludge drying plant, processing 6 m3 of sludge per day and producing a total of about 1 m3 of combustible material with 8% of moisture and a higher calorific power of 18.702 MJ/kg. The transformation of biofuel into energy translates into an electricity production of about 108 kW per 100 kg of sludge. The project in the baseline scenario demonstrated feasibility with a payback time of about six years.

Impact of a wastewater treatment plant on Cryptosporidium oocysts and Giardia cysts occurring in a surface water

2000 ◽  
Vol 41 (7) ◽  
pp. 31-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Carraro ◽  
E. Fea ◽  
S. Salva ◽  
G. Gilli
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plant ◽  
Municipal Wastewater ◽  
Treatment Plant ◽  
Municipal Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Mean Values ◽  
Cryptosporidium Oocysts ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Receiving Water ◽  
Giardia Cysts

The aim of this study was to assess the impact of a municipal wastewater treatment plant (MWTP) on the occurrence of Cryptosporidium oocysts and Giardia cysts in the receiving water. All MWTP effluent samples were Giardia and Cryptosporidium contaminated, although low mean values were found for both parasites (0.21±0.06 oocysts/L; 1.39±0.51 cysts/L). Otherwise, in the raw sewage a greater concentration was detected (4.5±0.3 oocysts/L; 53.6±6.8 cysts/L). The major occurrence of Giardia over Cryptosporidium, both in the influent and in the effluent of the MWTP, is probably related to the human sewage contribution to the wastewater. Data on protozoa contamination of the receiving water body demonstrated similar concentrations in the samples collected before (0.21±0.07 oocysts/L; 1.31±0.38 cysts/L) and after (0.17±0.09 oocysts/L and 1.01±1.05 cysts/L) the plant effluent discharge. The results of this study suggest that the MWTP has no impact related to Giardia and Cryptosporidium river water contamination, and underline the need for investigation into the effectiveness of these protozoa removal by less technologically advanced MWTPs which are the most widespread and could probably show a lower ability to reduce protozoa.

Improving the efficiency of a wastewater treatment plant by fuzzy control and neural networks

2001 ◽  
Vol 43 (11) ◽  
pp. 189-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Bongards
Keyword(s):  
Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Wastewater Treatment Plant ◽  
Municipal Wastewater ◽  
Fuzzy Controller ◽  
Control Strategies ◽  
Treatment Plant ◽  
Municipal Wastewater Treatment ◽  
Controlled System ◽  
Measurement Results ◽  
Predictive Controller

One of the main problems in operating a wastewater treatment plant is the purification of the excess water from dewatering and pressing of sludge. Because of a high load of organic material and of nitrogen it has to be buffered and treated together with the inflowing wastewater. Different control strategies are discussed. A combination of neural network for predicting outflow values one hour in advance and fuzzy controller for dosing the sludge water are presented. This design allows the construction of a highly non-linear predictive controller adapted to the behaviour of the controlled system with a relatively simple and easy to optimise fuzzy controller. Measurement results of its operation on a municipal wastewater treatment plant of 60,000 inhabitant equivalents are presented and discussed. In several months of operation the system has proved very reliable and robust tool for improving the system's efficiency.

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