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Frontiers in Renewable Energy Production and Nutrient Recovery in Wastewater Treatment Plants

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A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "A4: Bio-Energy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2023) | Viewed by 5859

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Jacek Mąkinia

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Gdansk University of Technology, 11/12 Narutowicza Street, 80-233 Gdańsk, Poland
Interests: wastewater treatment; nutrient removal and recovery; carbon footprint; Anammox; mathematical modeling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Przemyslaw Kowal

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Gdansk University of Technology, 11/12 Narutowicza Street, 80-233 Gdańsk, Poland
Interests: microbial analysis; nitrification; denitrification; 16SrRNA PCR-DbeGGE

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

There is currently a strong need to switch from viewing wastewater not as a threat to public health and the environment but rather as a resource. The new wastewater treatment paradigm is shifting from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) to “water resource recovery facilities”. This approach is in line with the new circular economy concept and helps achieve several UN Sustainable Development Goals. Energy and nutrients are the critical resources contained in wastewater. Therefore, better and holistic management of WWTPs must be considered to make the best use of the nutrients and energy embedded in water streams. Realizing this goal will also entail rethinking the current wastewater treatment model.

This Special Issue on “Frontiers in Renewable Energy Production and Nutrient Recovery in Wastewater Treatment Plants” seeks high-quality works that focus on (i) methods enhancing anaerobic digestion and new methods of renewable production, (ii) achieving energy neutrality and minimization of carbon footprint, and (iii) practical applications of well-established processes for phosphorous recovery and developments of new processes for nitrogen recovery.

Prof. Dr. Jacek Mąkinia
Dr. Przemyslaw Kowal
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

circular economy
sustainable wastewater treatment
carbon footprint
energy neutrality
energy performance evaluation
anaerobic digestion
dark fermentation
co-digestion
bioelectrochemical systems
recovery of thermal and hydro energy
external sources of renewable energy
microalgae systems
p recovery systems
n recovery systems
process optimization
mathematical modeling and simulation
case studies

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 1395 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Municipal Sewage Sludge Composting in the Two-Stage System: The Role of Different Bulking Agents and Amendments

by Dorota Kulikowska, Katarzyna Bernat, Magdalena Zaborowska and Magdalena Zielińska

Energies 2022, 15(14), 5014; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15145014 - 8 Jul 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1552

Abstract

This study assessed the effect of different lignocellulosic amendments and bulking agents on compost stability (based on a 4 day respiration activity test, AT4, and self-heating factor, SH_F) and maturity (based on the nitrification index I_nitr and the ratio of C in humic acids, HA, to total organic carbon, TOC, in compost, C_HA/TOC). With all feedstock compositions (FCs), the share of sewage sludge was 79% (wet mass). For FC₁, wood chips (13.5%) and wheat straw (7.5%) were used as bulking agents and amendments; for FC₂, instead of wood chips, energy willow was added; for FC₃, pine bark (13.5%) and conifer sawdust (7.5%) were used. All FCs produced stable and mature compost; however, with FC₂, the thermophilic phase last 3 days longer than with the other FCs. Moreover, an AT4 value below 10 g O₂/kg dry mass (d.m.) was obtained the earliest with FC₂ (after 45 days, ca. 15–20 days earlier than with other FCs). With FC₂, I_nitr below 0.5 was obtained in ca. 60 days, 10 days earlier than with FC₃ and 30 days earlier than with FC₁. The highest net increases in HS (86.0 mg C/g organic matter (OM)) and HA (56.3 mg C/g OM) were also noted with FC₂; with other FCs, the concentrations of these compounds were from 1.3- to 1.5-fold (HS) and from 1.4- to 1.9-fold (HA) lower. With FC₂, the highest C_HA/TOC (15.5%) was also noted, indicating that this compost contained the largest share of the most stable form of organic carbon. The rates of OM removal in the bioreactor ranged from 7.8 to 10.1 g/(kg d.m.·day). The rates of SH and HA formation ranged from 1.63 to 4.83 mg C/(g OM·day) and from 1.23 to 1.80 mg C/(g OM·day), respectively. This means that, through the choice of the amendments and bulking agents, the length of the composting time needed to obtain a stable and mature product can be controlled. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Frontiers in Renewable Energy Production and Nutrient Recovery in Wastewater Treatment Plants)

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14 pages, 2337 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Influence of Low-Temperature Disintegration on the Co-Fermentation Process of Distillation Residue and Waste-Activated Sludge

by Anna Remiszewska-Skwarek, Ryszard Wierzchnicki, Otton K. Roubinek, Archana Kasinath, Alicja Jeżewska, Magdalena Jasinska, Hubert Byliński, Andrzej G. Chmielewski and Krzysztof Czerwionka

Energies 2022, 15(2), 482; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15020482 - 11 Jan 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1495

Abstract

Innovative low-temperature disintegration (process temperature 55 °C and oxygen concentration 0.2 mg/dm³) can be an economically rational technology to intensifying energy production from renewable sources. The proposed process can achieve a degree of disintegration—under optimal conditions—of about 50%, which is excellent when compared with other methods of feed pre-treatment. The low-temperature disintegration of distillation residue and waste-activated sludge before the co-fermentation process increased biogas production by 30% and methane production by 65% (over a 26 d duration). The obtained results confirm that the low-temperature disintegration method can be effectively used to pre-prepare this type of feed. At the same time, it was discovered that the Gompertz model can be used to mathematically describe the biogas accumulation curves in the methane co-fermentation processes of the tested feeds (the correlation coefficients were higher than 0.98). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Frontiers in Renewable Energy Production and Nutrient Recovery in Wastewater Treatment Plants)

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Review

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17 pages, 488 KiB

Open AccessReview

Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactors (AnMBRs) for Wastewater Treatment: Recovery of Nutrients and Energy, and Management of Fouling

by Magdalena Zielińska and Adenike Ojo

Energies 2023, 16(6), 2829; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16062829 - 18 Mar 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2169

Abstract

Anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) technology is emerging as an alternative to conventional anaerobic treatment due to its complete biomass retention, short start-up time, high effluent quality, and small footprint. This paper provides a general overview of the application of AnMBRs for industrial and municipal wastewater treatment. The potential benefits of AnMBRs are discussed, such as the degradation of organic matter for energy production, the concentration of nutrients for subsequent reclamation, or the effective removal of organic contaminants for water reuse. To explore the technology for energy-neutral wastewater treatment, the recovery of methane, hydrogen, and ethanol is summarized, highlighting the problems of dissolution of methane in permeate and competition between sulfate-reducing bacteria and methanogens for organic matter. Recovery of water and nutrients for reuse, e.g., for algae production, is reported. Since membrane fouling remains a challenge in membrane operation and leads to increased operation and maintenance costs, methods to reduce fouling are highlighted. Future research prospects related to the application of AnMBR in resource recovery plants and fouling management are emphasized. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Frontiers in Renewable Energy Production and Nutrient Recovery in Wastewater Treatment Plants)

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