TY - JOUR
T1 - Optimising nitrogen recovery from reject water in a 3-chamber bioelectroconcentration cell
AU - Koskue, Veera
AU - Rinta-Kanto, Johanna M.
AU - Freguia, Stefano
AU - Ledezma, Pablo
AU - Kokko, Marika
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by Maj and Tor Nessling Foundation [grant number 201800132]; and Tampere University Doctoral School supporting Veera Koskue.
Funding Information:
Pablo Ledezma acknowledges an ECR Development Fellowship from The University of Queensland. The authors acknowledge Dr. Maripaz Ventero Mart?n from The Foundation for the Promotion of Health and Biomedical Research of Valencia Region (FISABIO; Valencia, Spain) for assisting with the DNA extraction and sequencing. This work was supported by Maj and Tor Nessling Foundation [grant number 201800132]; and Tampere University Doctoral School supporting Veera Koskue.
Funding Information:
Pablo Ledezma acknowledges an ECR Development Fellowship from The University of Queensland. The authors acknowledge Dr. Maripaz Ventero Martín from The Foundation for the Promotion of Health and Biomedical Research of Valencia Region (FISABIO; Valencia, Spain) for assisting with the DNA extraction and sequencing.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2021/6/1
Y1 - 2021/6/1
N2 - With the growing demand for macronutrients, such as nitrogen, and environmental issues related to their production, there is increasing need for efficient nutrient recycling. Reject waters from the dewatering of anaerobically digested sewage sludge are potential sources for nutrient recovery due to their high ammonium nitrogen (NH4-N) concentration (ca. 1 gNH4-N L−1) and low volume (ca. 1% of incoming sewage). In this study, a 3-chamber bioelectroconcentration cell was used for NH4-N recovery into a liquid concentrate from both synthetic and real reject water. NH4-N recovery efficiency and rate were optimised based on NH4-N loading rate, varying from 1.4 to 9.4 gNH4-N L−1 d−1 with synthetic reject water. The obtained NH4-N recovery efficiencies are the highest reported to date for bioelectroconcentration, peaking at 75.5 ± 4.6% (recovery rate of 728 ± 117 gN m−3 d−1) at loading rate 1.9 gNH4-N L−1 d−1. A loading rate of 2.9 gNH4-N L−1 d−1 led to the most optimal ratio between NH4-N recovery efficiency (68.2 ± 11.6%) and recovery rate (965 ± 66 gN m−3 d−1), with NH4-N up-concentrated 7.4 ± 0.9 times to 7483 ± 625 mg L−1 in the concentrate. With real reject water, NH4-N recovery efficiency of 53.2 ± 4.0% and recovery rate of 556 ± 37 gN m−3 d−1 were obtained at loading rate 2.5 gNH4-N L−1 d−1, with a specific energy consumption of 6.1 ± 1.1 kWh kgN−1. 16S rRNA amplicon analysis showed the dominance of phyla Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes in the anodic biofilms, with a significant change in the enriched microbial communities after transitioning from synthetic to real reject water. This study indicates the potential of bioelectroconcentration for nitrogen recovery from reject water without the need for an external organic carbon source or other chemical additions.
AB - With the growing demand for macronutrients, such as nitrogen, and environmental issues related to their production, there is increasing need for efficient nutrient recycling. Reject waters from the dewatering of anaerobically digested sewage sludge are potential sources for nutrient recovery due to their high ammonium nitrogen (NH4-N) concentration (ca. 1 gNH4-N L−1) and low volume (ca. 1% of incoming sewage). In this study, a 3-chamber bioelectroconcentration cell was used for NH4-N recovery into a liquid concentrate from both synthetic and real reject water. NH4-N recovery efficiency and rate were optimised based on NH4-N loading rate, varying from 1.4 to 9.4 gNH4-N L−1 d−1 with synthetic reject water. The obtained NH4-N recovery efficiencies are the highest reported to date for bioelectroconcentration, peaking at 75.5 ± 4.6% (recovery rate of 728 ± 117 gN m−3 d−1) at loading rate 1.9 gNH4-N L−1 d−1. A loading rate of 2.9 gNH4-N L−1 d−1 led to the most optimal ratio between NH4-N recovery efficiency (68.2 ± 11.6%) and recovery rate (965 ± 66 gN m−3 d−1), with NH4-N up-concentrated 7.4 ± 0.9 times to 7483 ± 625 mg L−1 in the concentrate. With real reject water, NH4-N recovery efficiency of 53.2 ± 4.0% and recovery rate of 556 ± 37 gN m−3 d−1 were obtained at loading rate 2.5 gNH4-N L−1 d−1, with a specific energy consumption of 6.1 ± 1.1 kWh kgN−1. 16S rRNA amplicon analysis showed the dominance of phyla Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes in the anodic biofilms, with a significant change in the enriched microbial communities after transitioning from synthetic to real reject water. This study indicates the potential of bioelectroconcentration for nitrogen recovery from reject water without the need for an external organic carbon source or other chemical additions.
KW - Bioelectrochemical system
KW - Bioelectroconcentration
KW - Centrate
KW - Nutrient recovery
KW - Reject water
U2 - 10.1016/j.seppur.2021.118428
DO - 10.1016/j.seppur.2021.118428
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85100772487
VL - 264
JO - Separation and Purification Technology
JF - Separation and Purification Technology
SN - 1383-5866
M1 - 118428
ER -
