Electricity from wastewater treatment

by Mike Rycroft, features editor

Recent developments have shown that it is possible to generate sufficient energy from organic material contained in a variety of wastewater
streams to provide a significant portion of the energy required to run the plant. It is however, an energy intensive operation.

The energy requirements of wastewater  Anaerobic digestion-municipal Anaerobic digestion

treatment plants are substantial. Estimates w a s t e w a t e r, m a n y w a s t e w a t e r
treatment works (WWTW) are already Anaerobic digestion (AnD) takes place
of actual energy consumed by different
using this method but without energy inside closed reactors in the absence of
plants vary according to the composition of
generation oxygen and produces a methane rich gas
the wastewater and the type of treatment.
as well as biomass. The process needs to
One study estimates that the energy  Ethanol fermentation – suitable for be carefully controlled to optimise the
required to treat municipal wastewater is effluent from the fruit industry production of biogas [3]. There are several
in the region of 600 kWh/Ml [1]. Combustion and gasification – suitable
 hundred biogas digesters in operation in
There are several thousand wastewater for highly concentrated waste streams South Africa, both at municipalities and in
treatment plants in South Africa, including  Plant/biomass growth – suitable for industry. Many use the biogas produced
municipal, industrial and agricultural dilute waste streams directly for heating the reactors, while
effluent treatment plants. The methods some also simply flare the excess gas.
 Microbial fuel cells – an emerging
used for treatment vary depending on the A number of projects recently launched
technology
size of the plant, but all have the potential to use the biogas generated to run gas
to generate energy while ensuring that This article will only consider microbial engines and generate electricity [4].
effluent leaving the plant is of the required technologies, namely anaerobic digestion The typical composition of the biogas
standard. Many of the energy generating and microbial fuel cells. produced is given in Table 2 [2] .
treatment methods actually provide a
higher quality of water than traditional Microbial digestion ABMR reactor
methods. Effluent containing organic matter is usually In a conventional AnD reactor treated
treated by biological process involving wastewater from the reactor normally has
Energy production from waste water digestion of the waste matter by natural to undergo further treatment to remove the
or cultured bacteria to produce inert solid undigested organic material. Conversion
Energy potential for wastewater
matter and various gasses depending on efficiency of the AnD will depend on
A study conducted by UCT on behalf of the process. Two processes are generally retention time of organics materials
the Water Research Council [2] estimated used in waste water treatment, aerobic in the reactor. Wastewater exiting the
that a total of 10 GWth could be recovered digestion and anaerobic digestion. reactor will carry some material with it.
from wastewater streams in South Africa. Effective operation requires separation
This is equivalent to 7% of Eskom’s existing Aerobic digestion of water and return of undigested matter
electrical power supply. Table 1 shows the Aerobic bacterial digestion (AD) is used to the reactor. The latest method uses
potential for energy production of various commonly in South African waste water membrane technology to extract almost
waste streams [2]. treatment plants. The process takes pure water and return the organic material
place in the presence of oxygen and to the reactor. This ensures a constant
Power generation flow of treated water from the reactor
produces carbon dioxide and activated
The following methods are considered sludge, which must be treated further. while maximising conversion of organic
suitable for energy generation from waste: AD takes place in open ponds in WWTWs matter into biogas. Conversion rates (from
and oxygen is generally supplied by organic material to biogas) in excess of
means of mechanical aerators. It has 90% are being reported. Two methods
Source Energy
potential been estimated that aeration accounts have been developed, one where the
(MWth) for 80% of the energy consumption of membrane is immersed in the reactor, and
AD treatment plants. In the past control the second where material is circulated
Domestic black 500 – 800
water of aeration has not been done, but through an external filter unit containing
application of automation, measurement the membrane. Both methods require
Animal Cattle 80 – 215 energy to extract the water through the
husbandry and control of the process and the use
of VFD motors has reduced the energy membrane, but energy requirements are
Rural cattle 1200 – 3500 said to be significantly lower than other
consumption considerably.
Piggeries 120 water extraction methods.
Poultry 20 – 700 Matching production and consumption of
farms Component Typical range (%)
gas
Abattoirs 1 – 55 Methane (CH4) 50 – 80
Carbon dioxide (CO2) 25 – 50 Although gas production can be closely
Petrochemical 50
controlled it is not constant, and matching
Fruit production 70 Nitrogen (N2) 0 – 10 production with generation provides
Wineries and 73 Hydrogen sulphide (H2S) 0–3 a challenge. One solution is the use
distilleries Hydrogen (H2) 0–1 of storage – gas produced is stored
in containers until there is sufficient
Breweries 20 Oxygen (O2) 0–2 available to run engines – meaning that
Textile industry 25 Ammonia (NH3) 0–3 generators are not running continuously,
Pulp and paper 50 – 100 Siloxanes Trace but generation can be controlled to match
consumption or for peak lopping during
Table 1: Energy potential of various wastewaters Table 2: Typical composition high tariff periods only. Also, gas generated
produced in South Africa. of biogas from wastewater. during off peak periods is stored which
energize - December 2013 - Page 55
APPLICATION
Fig .1: Diagram of a microbial fuel cell.
means that additional cost of generation
capacity used at less than 100% capacity
factor must be offset by savings achieved
against peak period tariffs. A second
solution is to flare excess gas.
Microbial fuel cells
Fuel cells are devices that can convert
chemical energy into electrical energy.
Microbial fuel cells (MFC) operate by using
bacteria that oxidise organic matter in
the wastewater to transfer electrons to
an anode and then via a circuit to the
cathode where they combine with protons
and oxygen to form water. The difference
in the potential coupled to electron flow
produces electricity. MFCs are an emerging
technology and a number of MFCs have
been successfully operated with both
pure cultures and mixed cultures that were
enriched either from sediment or activated
sludge from wastewater treatment plants.
Wastewaters of very different characteristics
f r o m v a r i o u s s o u r c e s c a n b e u s e d.
Essentially, this technology can use bacteria
already present in wastewater as catalysts
to generate electricity while simultaneously
treating wastewater, but its development is
hampered by low power output and high
material costs. Experimental results have
achieved generation rates of 1,5 W/m2 [3],
MFCs have not been developed in large
scale applications.
Case study
Sasol and GE Power & Water have together
developed new water technology that will
clean waste water, while also providing
biogas as a by-product for power
generation. This new technology, known
as anaerobic membrane bioreactor
technology (AnMBR), will be further
developed at a new demonstration
plant at Sasol’s R&D campus at its Sasol
One Site in Sasolburg. AnMBR involves
anaerobic micro-organisms that are able
to live in environments devoid of oxygen,
such as sediment layers on floors of lakes,
dams and the ocean. Sasol currently uses
aerobic microbes to treat GTL and coal-
to-liquids (CTL) effluents in ORYX GTL, Qatar
and Synfuels, Secunda facilities. One of
Fig. 2: The pilot plant at Sasol.
the by-products from the Fischer-Tropsch
(FT) process is an effluent stream rich in
organic acids and alcohols. Traditional
(aerobic) treatment technologies treat
this effluent by converting the organics
to carbon dioxide. The benefit of the
AnMBR is that the micro-organisms convert
these organics into a methane rich bio-
gas which can then be used for power
generation. This then results in an overall
efficiency improvement in the GTL process.
By converting the effluents to a valuable
product (power) there is a resulting
improvement in the GTL value proposition.
Another benefit of the AnMBR is that it
produces almost 80% less waste bio-solids
than the previous generation process.
The treatment of GTL derived effluents is
complex and challenging. Sasol pioneered
the treatment of effluents from the GTL
process in Ras Laffan, Qatar, where effluents
are treated and recycled for use as
irrigation water in the city of Ras Laffan.
Sasol’s second generation offering, which
is currently being designed for the US GTL
facility, is the aerobic Membrane Bioreactor
(MBR). The AnMBR helps maintain Sasol’s
leadership position in this field by converting
wastes into value-adding products.
Micro-organisms break down complex
organics, such as proteins and carbohydrates
through a process called hydrolysis, to
simpler building blocks, such as sugars that
provide food to the micro-organisms. The
waste produced is bio-gas, which can be
used as feedstock to generate power. Sasol
has been developing the technology for a
number of years with promising results. The
partnership with GE is aimed at leveraging
GE’s membrane technology and decades
of membrane bioreactor experience, and
Sasol’s expertise in biological treatment of
FT derived effluents. Bench scale test work
has been on-going for the past year with
promising results and with the construction
of a pilot plant at Sasol’s research and
development facilities this improves the
potential for commercialisation of this
technology.
It is anticipated that the technology will
be commercially ready early in 2015.
energize - December 2013 - Page 56
Sasol will have exclusive rights to apply this
technology to FT based plants whilst GE will
have the right to market the technology
for other industrial uses. Sasol and GE
have together developed new water
technology that will clean waste water.
For a 48 000 bbl/day GTL the AnMBR will
be able to generate about 20 MWth from
the effluents.
The new pilot plant is located at Sasol’s
research and development campus at its
Sasol One site in Sasolburg.
The main advantages being:
 An improvement in the economics
 Smaller footprint
 improved efficiency and thus lower
carbon footprint
 Reduction in waste produced
AnMBRs have been applied to other
wastewater streams but Sasol will be the
first to apply this technology in a GTL
environment. It is anticipated that the
technology will be commercially ready
early in 2015. Sasol is committed to
improving and maintaining their leadership
position in GTL, we will continue focussing
on improving the GTL value proposition
and this is one of the core areas where we
will direct our research effort.
References
[1] Environmental knowledge transfer network:
“Energy efficient water and wastewater
treatment”.
[2] S Burton et al: “Energy from wastewater,
a feasibility study ”, www.wrc.org.za/
Knowledge Hub Documents/Research
Reports/1732-1-09.pdf
[3] M Rycroft: “Municipal liquid waste: a
neglected source of energy” Energize, August
2013.
[4] City of Johannesburg: “ Waste water to
energy ”, www.cityenergy.org.za/files/
resources/energy_courses/Johannesburg
waste to energy.pdf
[5] Penn State college of
engineering: “Microbial fuel cells”,
w w w. r e s e a r c h. p s u. e d u / c a p a b i l i t i e s /
documents/MFC_QandA.pdf
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