Impact of primary treatment methods on sludge characteristics and digestibility, and wastewater treatment plant-wide economics

Amr Mustafa Abdelrahman; Sadiye Kosar; Hazal Gulhan; Busra Cicekalan; Gulin Ucas; Ezgi Atli; Huseyin Guven; Hale Ozgun; Izzet Ozturk; Ismail Koyuncu; Jules B. van Lier; Eveline I.P. Volcke; Mustafa Evren Ersahin

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2023.119920

Impact of primary treatment methods on sludge characteristics and digestibility, and wastewater treatment plant-wide economics

Amr Mustafa Abdelrahman^*, Sadiye Kosar, Hazal Gulhan, Busra Cicekalan, Gulin Ucas, Ezgi Atli, Huseyin Guven, Hale Ozgun, Izzet Ozturk, Ismail Koyuncu, Jules B. van Lier, Eveline I.P. Volcke, Mustafa Evren Ersahin

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Environmental Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

15 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Biogas production from anaerobic sludge digestion plays a central role for wastewater treatment plants to become more energy-efficient or even energy-neutral. Dedicated configurations have been developed to maximize the diversion of soluble and suspended organic matter to sludge streams for energy production through anaerobic digestion, such as A-stage treatment or chemically enhanced primary treatment (CEPT) instead of primary clarifiers. Still, it remains to be investigated to what extent these different treatment steps affect the sludge characteristics and digestibility, which may also impact the economic feasibility of the integrated systems. In this study, a detailed characterization has been performed for sludge obtained from primary clarification (primary sludge), A-stage treatment (A-sludge) and CEPT. The characteristics of all sludges differed significantly from each other. The organic compounds in primary sludge consisted mainly of 40% of carbohydrates, 23% of lipids, and 21% of proteins. A-sludge was characterized by a high amount of proteins (40%) and a moderate amount of carbohydrates (23%), and lipids (16%), while in CEPT sludge, organic compounds were mainly 26% of proteins, 18% of carbohydrates, 18% of lignin, and 12% of lipids. The highest methane yield was obtained from anaerobic digestion of primary sludge (347 ± 16 mL CH₄/g VS) and A-sludge (333 ± 6 mL CH₄/g VS), while it was lower for CEPT sludge (245 ± 5 mL CH₄/g VS). Furthermore, an economic evaluation has been carried out for the three systems, considering energy consumption and recovery, as well as effluent quality and chemical costs. Energy consumption of A-stage was the highest among the three configurations due to aeration energy demand, while CEPT had the highest operational costs due to chemical use. Energy surplus was the highest by the use of CEPT, resulting from the highest fraction of recovered organic matter. By considering the effluent quality of the three systems, CEPT had the highest benefits, followed by A-stage. Integration of CEPT or A-stage, instead of primary clarification in existing wastewater treatment plants, would potentially improve the effluent quality and energy recovery.

Original language	English
Article number	119920
Journal	Water Research
Volume	235
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2023.119920
Publication status	Published - 15 May 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Elsevier Ltd

Funding

This research was funded by Istanbul Water and Sewerage Administration (ISKI) with the project titled as “Integration of High-rate Activated Sludge Process and Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor Process for Energy Efficient Wastewater Treatment in Istanbul: Maximum Energy Recovery (MEGA2 Project)”. The authors would like to express their gratitude for the PhD Fellowship awards provided by the Turkish Academy of Sciences (TUBA) to Amr Mustafa Abdelrahman. The authors would like to express their gratitude for the support by the Istanbul Technical University, Turkey, Scientific Research Projects: Amr Mustafa Abdelrahman [Project No: MDK-2021-42990]. This research was funded by Istanbul Water and Sewerage Administration (ISKI) with the project titled as “Integration of High-rate Activated Sludge Process and Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor Process for Energy Efficient Wastewater Treatment in Istanbul: Maximum Energy Recovery (MEGA2 Project)”. The authors would like to express their gratitude for the PhD Fellowship awards provided by the Turkish Academy of Sciences (TUBA) to Amr Mustafa Abdelrahman. The authors would like to express their gratitude for the support by the Istanbul Technical University, Turkey, Scientific Research Projects: Amr Mustafa Abdelrahman [Project No: MDK-2021-42990 ].

Funders	Funder number
Amr Mustafa Abdelrahman	MDK-2021-42990
ISKI
Istanbul Water and Sewerage Administration
Maximum Energy Recovery
TUBA
Türkiye Bilimler Akademisi
Istanbul Teknik Üniversitesi

Keywords

A-stage
Biochemical methane potential
Chemically enhanced primary treatment
Economic evaluation
Physicochemical characteristics
Primary clarification

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1016/j.watres.2023.119920

Cite this

Abdelrahman, A. M., Kosar, S., Gulhan, H., Cicekalan, B., Ucas, G., Atli, E., Guven, H., Ozgun, H., Ozturk, I., Koyuncu, I., van Lier, J. B., Volcke, E. I. P., & Ersahin, M. E. (2023). Impact of primary treatment methods on sludge characteristics and digestibility, and wastewater treatment plant-wide economics. Water Research, 235, Article 119920. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2023.119920

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abstract = "Biogas production from anaerobic sludge digestion plays a central role for wastewater treatment plants to become more energy-efficient or even energy-neutral. Dedicated configurations have been developed to maximize the diversion of soluble and suspended organic matter to sludge streams for energy production through anaerobic digestion, such as A-stage treatment or chemically enhanced primary treatment (CEPT) instead of primary clarifiers. Still, it remains to be investigated to what extent these different treatment steps affect the sludge characteristics and digestibility, which may also impact the economic feasibility of the integrated systems. In this study, a detailed characterization has been performed for sludge obtained from primary clarification (primary sludge), A-stage treatment (A-sludge) and CEPT. The characteristics of all sludges differed significantly from each other. The organic compounds in primary sludge consisted mainly of 40% of carbohydrates, 23% of lipids, and 21% of proteins. A-sludge was characterized by a high amount of proteins (40%) and a moderate amount of carbohydrates (23%), and lipids (16%), while in CEPT sludge, organic compounds were mainly 26% of proteins, 18% of carbohydrates, 18% of lignin, and 12% of lipids. The highest methane yield was obtained from anaerobic digestion of primary sludge (347 ± 16 mL CH4/g VS) and A-sludge (333 ± 6 mL CH4/g VS), while it was lower for CEPT sludge (245 ± 5 mL CH4/g VS). Furthermore, an economic evaluation has been carried out for the three systems, considering energy consumption and recovery, as well as effluent quality and chemical costs. Energy consumption of A-stage was the highest among the three configurations due to aeration energy demand, while CEPT had the highest operational costs due to chemical use. Energy surplus was the highest by the use of CEPT, resulting from the highest fraction of recovered organic matter. By considering the effluent quality of the three systems, CEPT had the highest benefits, followed by A-stage. Integration of CEPT or A-stage, instead of primary clarification in existing wastewater treatment plants, would potentially improve the effluent quality and energy recovery.",

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AU - Abdelrahman, Amr Mustafa

AU - Kosar, Sadiye

AU - Gulhan, Hazal

AU - Cicekalan, Busra

AU - Ucas, Gulin

AU - Atli, Ezgi

AU - Guven, Huseyin

AU - Ozgun, Hale

AU - Ozturk, Izzet

AU - Koyuncu, Ismail

AU - van Lier, Jules B.

AU - Volcke, Eveline I.P.

AU - Ersahin, Mustafa Evren

PY - 2023/5/15

Y1 - 2023/5/15

N2 - Biogas production from anaerobic sludge digestion plays a central role for wastewater treatment plants to become more energy-efficient or even energy-neutral. Dedicated configurations have been developed to maximize the diversion of soluble and suspended organic matter to sludge streams for energy production through anaerobic digestion, such as A-stage treatment or chemically enhanced primary treatment (CEPT) instead of primary clarifiers. Still, it remains to be investigated to what extent these different treatment steps affect the sludge characteristics and digestibility, which may also impact the economic feasibility of the integrated systems. In this study, a detailed characterization has been performed for sludge obtained from primary clarification (primary sludge), A-stage treatment (A-sludge) and CEPT. The characteristics of all sludges differed significantly from each other. The organic compounds in primary sludge consisted mainly of 40% of carbohydrates, 23% of lipids, and 21% of proteins. A-sludge was characterized by a high amount of proteins (40%) and a moderate amount of carbohydrates (23%), and lipids (16%), while in CEPT sludge, organic compounds were mainly 26% of proteins, 18% of carbohydrates, 18% of lignin, and 12% of lipids. The highest methane yield was obtained from anaerobic digestion of primary sludge (347 ± 16 mL CH4/g VS) and A-sludge (333 ± 6 mL CH4/g VS), while it was lower for CEPT sludge (245 ± 5 mL CH4/g VS). Furthermore, an economic evaluation has been carried out for the three systems, considering energy consumption and recovery, as well as effluent quality and chemical costs. Energy consumption of A-stage was the highest among the three configurations due to aeration energy demand, while CEPT had the highest operational costs due to chemical use. Energy surplus was the highest by the use of CEPT, resulting from the highest fraction of recovered organic matter. By considering the effluent quality of the three systems, CEPT had the highest benefits, followed by A-stage. Integration of CEPT or A-stage, instead of primary clarification in existing wastewater treatment plants, would potentially improve the effluent quality and energy recovery.

AB - Biogas production from anaerobic sludge digestion plays a central role for wastewater treatment plants to become more energy-efficient or even energy-neutral. Dedicated configurations have been developed to maximize the diversion of soluble and suspended organic matter to sludge streams for energy production through anaerobic digestion, such as A-stage treatment or chemically enhanced primary treatment (CEPT) instead of primary clarifiers. Still, it remains to be investigated to what extent these different treatment steps affect the sludge characteristics and digestibility, which may also impact the economic feasibility of the integrated systems. In this study, a detailed characterization has been performed for sludge obtained from primary clarification (primary sludge), A-stage treatment (A-sludge) and CEPT. The characteristics of all sludges differed significantly from each other. The organic compounds in primary sludge consisted mainly of 40% of carbohydrates, 23% of lipids, and 21% of proteins. A-sludge was characterized by a high amount of proteins (40%) and a moderate amount of carbohydrates (23%), and lipids (16%), while in CEPT sludge, organic compounds were mainly 26% of proteins, 18% of carbohydrates, 18% of lignin, and 12% of lipids. The highest methane yield was obtained from anaerobic digestion of primary sludge (347 ± 16 mL CH4/g VS) and A-sludge (333 ± 6 mL CH4/g VS), while it was lower for CEPT sludge (245 ± 5 mL CH4/g VS). Furthermore, an economic evaluation has been carried out for the three systems, considering energy consumption and recovery, as well as effluent quality and chemical costs. Energy consumption of A-stage was the highest among the three configurations due to aeration energy demand, while CEPT had the highest operational costs due to chemical use. Energy surplus was the highest by the use of CEPT, resulting from the highest fraction of recovered organic matter. By considering the effluent quality of the three systems, CEPT had the highest benefits, followed by A-stage. Integration of CEPT or A-stage, instead of primary clarification in existing wastewater treatment plants, would potentially improve the effluent quality and energy recovery.

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Impact of primary treatment methods on sludge characteristics and digestibility, and wastewater treatment plant-wide economics

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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