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67.10
2013
ABSTRACT
At present all municipal waste water treatment plants (WWTPs) are energy consumers. Electrical
energy requirements for oxygen transfer are large in secondary biological systems. Nevertheless,
from a thermodynamic point of view chemical oxygen demand (COD) is an energy source.
Combustion of every kilogram of COD releases 3.86 kWh of energy. In this manuscript some
measures are presented, from a conceptual point of view, in order to convert the actual concept of
wastewater treatment as an energy sink to an energy source concept. In this sense, electrical selfsufciency in carbon removal WWTPs could be obtained by increasing the sludge load to the
anaerobic sludge digester. Nitrogen removal increases the energy requirements of WWTPs. The use
of a combined two-stage biological treatment, using a high loaded rst stage for carbon removal and
a second stage combined nitricationanammox process for nitrogen removal in the water line,
offers a way to recover self-sufciency. This is not a proven technology at ambient temperature, but
its development offers an opportunity to reduce the energy demand of WWTPs.
Key words
INTRODUCTION
Wastewater is a mixture rich in water (>99%), with a small
amount of pollutants (<1%) that in wastewater treatment
plants (WWTPs) are transformed into by-products (carbon
dioxide and sludge). Regardless of the technology used
and the size of the facilities, at present almost all municipal
WWTPs using aerobic biological processes for removing
organic matter are net electrical energy consumers. Aerobic
processes used are net energy consumers due to the fact that
the oxidation of organic matter requires oxygen transfer, and
aeration systems demand high amounts of electrical energy.
Additionally, nitrogen treatment processes consume more
electrical energy than processes simply removing chemical
oxygen demand (COD) due to the additional oxygen and
pumping requirements for the nitricationdenitrication
process (Jonasson ).
Accepting as specic energy parameter the source electrical energy use intensity (EUI), dened as annual energy
used on the facility divided by the average inuent ow
(kWh/m3), the literature overview shows big differences
among different facilities. EUI average values of
0.78 kWh/m3 treated wastewater were reported in the
doi: 10.2166/wst.2013.124
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COD balances
COD balances were calculated using a spreadsheet (Excel).
The information required to perform COD balances in the
secondary treatment, apparent biomass yield and oxygen
requirements, was determined with the assistance of
Biowin software.
Assumptions considered during the study
Scenario 1. Conventional facility for carbon removal; Apparent biomass yield in the CAS was xed at 0.5 g COD/g COD
and efciency of primary sedimentation was xed at 30%.
Scenario 2. Improving primary sedimentation. Similar to
scenario 1 but efciency of primary sedimentation was
increased to 40%, by using lower overow rates and
adding occulants in the primary sedimentation tanks as
suggested by Siegrist et al. ().
Figure 1
Mass (% COD, referred to the inuent) and energy (MWh/d) balances for
scenario 1, a conventional WWTP for 400,000 p.e.
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Figure 2
Mass (% COD, in relation to the inuent) and energy (MWh/d) balances for
scenario 2; efciency of primary sedimentation was 40%.
Figure 3
COD percentage and balance (in relation to 100% in the inuent) and total nitrogen balance (9.6 units in the inuent, associated with 100 COD units) for scenario 3 (left) and 4 (right).
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Scenario 4
The WWTP is similar to that of scenario 3 (Figure 3), but
now an autotrophic removal process, e.g. Canon process
(Third et al. ), is considered for treating TN of the centrate. Eleven percent of TN treated with this process will be
Figure 4
Nitrogen and COD balances considering 100 g COD as basis of calculus in the
WWTP, considering autotrophic nitrogen removal in the water line.
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Summary
Table 1 summarizes the main results obtained in the ve
different scenarios analyzed. It should be stressed that
most of the results were obtained using a simple thermodynamic analysis. The main objective of this study was to
determine the thermodynamic limitations of sewage treatment. Of the gross energy associated with wastewater
COD, only a fraction can be recovered as electricity. For
doing this, WWTP design capacity was xed at 400,000 p.e.,
in which an anaerobic digester was used for sludge stabilization. Other authors (Svardal & Kroiss ) presented
energy balances for WWTPs with different design capacities
ranging from 5,000 to more than 100,000 p.e.
Electrical self-sufciency is possible in those WWTPs
designed for carbon removal, e.g. by increasing the amount
of COD treated in sludge anaerobic digesters (scenario 2).
For those WWTPs in which nitrogen removal is required,
self-sufciency depends on other variables, e.g. COD/N
ratio of the inuent, efciency of anaerobic digesters or the
use of high efciency electric power generators. Combined
two-stage biological treatment, as proposed in scenario 5,
using a high loaded rst stage for carbon removal and a
second autotrophic nitrication/denitrication stage for
nitrogen removal in the water line, offer an opportunity to
recover the electrical self-sufciency. This process still is
under development, and represents a challenge to reduce
the energy consumption. Other researchers presented interesting proposals for recovering energy, water, and nutrients
from WWTPs. Verstraete & Vlaeminck () propose the
use of a new process, ZeroWasteWater, but its future application probably might be limited to those WWTPs in which
resource recovery is an issue. ZeroWasteWater implies a
Table 1
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CONCLUSIONS
Energy self-sufciency in COD WWTPs could be obtained
by increasing the sludge load to the anaerobic sludge digester. This could be accomplished by increasing efciency of
primary sedimentation, diminishing sludge age in the CAS
or improving sludge destruction in the anaerobic digester.
Nitrogen removal increases the energy requirements of
the WWTPs. More effort should be put into nutrient
removal CAS, by diminishing nitrate (energy) washout
with the efuent. The use of the anammox process for treating the centrate is not a way for directly reducing energy
requirements. However, this process reduces denitrication
requirements in the CAS, allowing an increase in primary
sludge and methane production in the plant. On the other
hand, the use of the anammox process in the water line
offers a way to recover self-sufciency. This could be
obtained by using a secondary high-rate CAS and tertiary
autotrophic nitrogen removal technologies. This is not a
proven technology, but its development for treating nitrogen
in the water line offers an opportunity to recover the energy
sustainability of the WWTPs.
Electricity
Self-
consumption
generation
sufciency
Scenario
(MWh/d)
(MWh/d)
(%)
1. Conventional
WWTP
24.5
19.7
2. Improving
primary
sedimentation
22.0
22.0
3. Conventional N
removal
33.7
19.7
58.5
4. Anammox
(centrate)
33.6
19.7
58.6
5. Anammox
(water line)
23.9
80.5
100
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are grateful to the Spanish Ministry of Science
and Technology, through the Novedar-Consolider Project,
which funded this study (CSD200700055).
REFERENCES
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