Energy and resource recovery from a future aerobic granular sludge wastewater treatment plant and benefit analysis

Xingyu Chen, Xinyue Wang, Qian Wang, Jixiang Wang, Zhongfang Lei, Tian Yuan, Zhenya Zhang, Duu-Jong Lee*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and ReviewsRGC 21 - Publication in refereed journalpeer-review

20 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The sustainable approach to energy and resource recovery from excess sludge is gaining traction. This study compared the benefits of methane production through anaerobic digestion (AD) and the recovery of alginate-like exopolymers (ALE)/phosphorus (P) from two types of aerobic granular sludge (AGS). Bacterial and algal-bacterial AGS produced similar methane amounts, around 292 and 287 mL/g-VSadded, respectively, over 30 days, with 72% and 80% biodegradability. After ALE extraction, the remaining AGS showed a 48–56% decrease in methane production without pH adjustment. However, a conceptual wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) processing 10,000 m3/d of wastewater with ALE/P and methane recovery yielded the highest net profits, approximately 66.3 thousand USD annually, when algal-bacterial AGS was used, compared to 59.2 thousand USD for the bacterial AGS-based WWTP. These findings provide valuable insights for developing a sustainable wastewater industry and future WWTP design. © 2024 Elsevier B.V.
Original languageEnglish
Article number150558
JournalChemical Engineering Journal
Volume487
Online published19 Mar 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 May 2024

Research Keywords

  • Algal-bacterial aerobic granular sludge
  • Alginate-like exopolymers
  • Bacterial aerobic granular sludge
  • Benefit analysis
  • Methane production
  • Phosphorus

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