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Estimation of Energy Recovery Potential from Primary Residues of Four Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants
- Source :
- Sustainability, Vol 13, Iss 7198, p 7198 (2021), Sustainability, Volume 13, Issue 13
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- MDPI AG, 2021.
-
Abstract
- Wastewater treatment plants have been traditionally developed for the aerobic degradation of effluent organic matter, and are associated with high energy consumption. The adoption of sustainable development targets favors the utilization of every available energy source, and the current work aims at the identification of biomethane potential from non-conventional sources derived from municipal wastewater treatment processes. Byproducts derived from the primary treatment process stage were collected from four sewage treatment plants in Greece with great variation in design capacity and servicing areas with wide human activities, affecting the quality of the influents and the corresponding primary wastes. The samples were characterized for the determination of their solids and fats content, as well as the concentration of leached organic matter and nutrients, and were subjected to anaerobic digestion treatment for the measurement of their biomethane production potential according to standardized procedures. All samples exhibited potential for biogas utilization, with screenings collected from a treatment plant receiving wastewater from an area with combined rural and agro-industrial activities presenting the highest potential. Nevertheless, these samples had a methanogens doubling time of around 1.3 days, while screenings from a high-capacity unit proved to have a methanogens doubling time of less than 1 day. On the other hand, floatings from grit chambers presented the smallest potential for energy utilization. Nevertheless, these wastes can be utilized for energy production, potentially in secondary sludge co-digestion units, converting a treatment plant from an energy demanding to a zero energy or even a power production process.
- Subjects :
- anaerobic digestion
fats
020209 energy
Geography, Planning and Development
TJ807-830
02 engineering and technology
010501 environmental sciences
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law
TD194-195
01 natural sciences
Renewable energy sources
Biogas
biogas potential
0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering
Organic matter
GE1-350
Effluent
wastewater treatment plant
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
chemistry.chemical_classification
Energy recovery
screenings
Environmental effects of industries and plants
Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
Pulp and paper industry
Environmental sciences
Anaerobic digestion
Wastewater
chemistry
Available energy
Environmental science
Sewage treatment
energy utilization
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 20711050
- Volume :
- 13
- Issue :
- 7198
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Sustainability
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....06ea92ec1af08064136a8bd70c42b5c1