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Biochar for the Environmental Wastewater Treatment

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A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2019) | Viewed by 19516

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Manfred Lübken

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Guest Editor

Institute of Urban Water Management and Environmental Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsstr. 150, 44801 Bochum, Germany
Interests: wastewater filtration; water reuse; mathematical modeling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Sahar Dalahmeh

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Co-Guest Editor

Environmental Technology, Department of Energy and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences(SLU); Box 7032, SE 75007 Uppsala, Sweden
Interests: wastewater treatment; wastewater reuse; sustainability; wastewater Engineering; wastewater filtration

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The cultivation of agricultural crops requires water, which is estimated on a global scale to be around 70% of our drinking water. Irrigation is necessary if the water demand is not covered by precipitation or stored soil water. This is particularly the case in the arid and semi-arid regions of the earth. The use of treated wastewater can counteract the exploitation of water resources. Conventionally treated wastewater, however, is still contaminated with pathogens, chemical and pharmaceutical residues or viruses, so that a health hazard cannot be excluded if such water is reused for agricultural irrigation. As wastewater is widely available, is not subject to seasonal fluctuations and contains inorganic nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, it is still an attractive water source in many regions with limited water resources. Hence, there is a strong demand for the development of simple, low-cost water treatment systems with a high adoption potential.

Filtration systems are, in general, characterized as low cost, easy to operate and they have a low space requirement. Filter material should have, e.g., a large specific surface area, low bulk densities and should be locally available where wastewater treatment is to be installed. Recently, biochar has been demonstrated to be effective in the removal of organic and inorganic constituents, heavy metals or microorganisms from contaminated water. Compared to many other filter materials, biochar has the advantage that it can be produced from locally available biomass and can be used as a soil amendment after wastewater treatment. The aim of this Special Issue is to discuss both the potential and limits of biochar as a filter material for wastewater treatment.

Dr.-Ing. Manfred Lübken

Dr. Sahar Dalahmeh

Guest Editors

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Keywords

Biofiltration
Water reuse
Biochar
Wastewater treatment
Pathogens
Adsorption
Pyrolysis
Irrigation

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 2083 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Filter Media-Packed Bed Reactor Fortification with Biochar to Enhance Wastewater Quality

by Ezekiel Kholoma, Agnieszka Renman and Gunno Renman

Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(3), 790; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10030790 - 22 Jan 2020

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2537

Abstract

Contamination of water sources by inappropriately disposed poorly treated wastewater from countryside establishments is a worldwide challenge. This study tested the effectiveness of retrofitting sand (Sa)- and gas–concrete (GC)-packed reactors with biochar (C) in removing turbidity, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), phosphate (PO₄³⁻), and total phosphorus (P_tot) from wastewater. The down-flow reactors were each intermittently loaded with 0.063 L/d for 399 days. In general, all reactors achieved <3 NTU (Nephelometric Turbidity Units) effluent turbidity (99% efficiency). GC reactors dominated in inlet PO₄³⁻ (6.1 mg/L) and DOC (25.3 mg/L) reduction, trapping >95% and >60%, respectively. Compared to Sa (PO₄³⁻: 35%, DOC: 52%), the fortified sand (SaC) filter attenuated more PO₄³⁻ (>42%) and DOC (>58%). Student t-tests revealed that C significantly improved the Sa PO₄³⁻ (p = 0.022) and DOC (p = 0.034) removal efficacy. From regression analysis, 53%, 81%, and 85% PO₄³⁻ sorption variation in Sa, C, and SaC, respectively, were explained by variation in their effluent pH measures. Similarly, a strong linear correlation occurred between PO₄³⁻ sorption efficiency and pH of fortified (r > 0.7) and reference (r = 0.6) GC filters thus suggesting chemisorption mechanisms. Therefore, whereby only sand may be available for treating septic tank effluents, fortifying it with biochar may be a possible measure to improve its efficacy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biochar for the Environmental Wastewater Treatment)

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13 pages, 2348 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Combined Vertical-Horizontal Flow Biochar Filter for Onsite Wastewater Treatment—Removal of Organic Matter, Nitrogen and Pathogens

by Sahar S Dalahmeh, Almoayied Assayed and Ylva Stenström

Appl. Sci. 2019, 9(24), 5386; https://doi.org/10.3390/app9245386 - 09 Dec 2019

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2501

Abstract

This study investigated the performance of a combined vertical-horizontal flow biochar filter (VFF-HFF) system in terms of organic matter, total nitrogen (Tot-N), Escherichia coli and Salmonella removal and explored the effects of hydraulic loading rate (HLR) on pollutant removal. The combined VFF-HFF system used biochar as the filter medium and comprised two stacked sections: (i) an aerobic vertical flow filter (VFF) in which the wastewater percolated through the biochar medium in unsaturated mode and (ii) a horizontal flow filter (HFF), in which the biochar was saturated with water and had limited access to air, to enable anaerobic conditions and enhance the denitrification process. The system was tested over 126 weeks using real wastewater applied at different HLR (23, 31, 39 L m⁻² day⁻¹). The results showed that long-term removal of organic matter in the entire system was 93 ± 3%, with most (87 ± 5%) occurring in the VFF. For Tot-N, the long-term removal was 71 ± 12%, with increasing trends for nitrification in the VFF and denitrification in the HFF. Mean long-term nitrification efficiency in the VFF was 65 ± 15% and mean long-term denitrification efficiency in the HFF 49 ± 14%. Increasing HLR from 23 to 31 L m⁻² day⁻¹ increased the nitrification efficiency from 42 to 61%. Increasing the HLR further to 39 L m⁻² day⁻¹ decreased the denitrification efficiency from 45 to 25%. HLR had no significant effects on VFF and HFF performance in terms of E. coli and Salmonella removal, although the VFF achieved a 1.09–2.1 log₁₀ unit reduction and the HFF achieved a 2.48–3.39 log₁₀ unit reduction. Thus, long-term performance, i.e., removal of pollutants measured during the last 52 weeks of the experiment, was satisfactory in terms of organic matter and nitrogen removal, with no signs of clogging, indicating good robustness of the combined VFF-HFF biochar filter system. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biochar for the Environmental Wastewater Treatment)

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Review

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29 pages, 2044 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperEditor’s ChoiceReview

Biochar for Wastewater Treatment—Conversion Technologies and Applications

by Ghizlane Enaime, Abdelaziz Baçaoui, Abdelrani Yaacoubi and Manfred Lübken

Appl. Sci. 2020, 10(10), 3492; https://doi.org/10.3390/app10103492 - 18 May 2020

Cited by 201 | Viewed by 13925

Abstract

Biochar as a stable carbon-rich material shows incredible potential to handle water/wastewater contaminants. Its application is gaining increasing interest due to the availability of feedstock, the simplicity of the preparation methods, and their enhanced physico-chemical properties. The efficacy of biochar to remove organic and inorganic pollutants depends on its surface area, pore size distribution, surface functional groups, and the size of the molecules to be removed, while the physical architecture and surface properties of biochar depend on the nature of feedstock and the preparation method/conditions. For instance, pyrolysis at high temperatures generally produces hydrophobic biochars with higher surface area and micropore volume, allowing it to be more suitable for organic contaminants sorption, whereas biochars produced at low temperatures own smaller pore size, lower surface area, and higher oxygen-containing functional groups and are more suitable to remove inorganic contaminants. In the field of water/wastewater treatment, biochar can have extensive application prospects. Biochar have been widely used as an additive/support media during anaerobic digestion and as filter media for the removal of suspended matter, heavy metals and pathogens. Biochar was also tested for its efficiency as a support-based catalyst for the degradation of dyes and recalcitrant contaminants. The current review discusses on the different methods for biochar production and provides an overview of current applications of biochar in wastewater treatment. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biochar for the Environmental Wastewater Treatment)

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