The Effect of Sequential and Simultaneous Supplementation of Waste-Derived Volatile Fatty Acids and Methanol as Alternative Carbon Source Blend for Wastewater Denitrification

Tugba Sapmaz; Reza Manafi; Amir Mahboubi; Derya Y. Koseoglu-Imer; Mohammad J. Taherzadeh

doi:10.3390/su15086849

The Effect of Sequential and Simultaneous Supplementation of Waste-Derived Volatile Fatty Acids and Methanol as Alternative Carbon Source Blend for Wastewater Denitrification

Tugba Sapmaz
, Reza Manafi
, Amir Mahboubi^*
, Derya Y. Koseoglu-Imer
, Mohammad J. Taherzadeh

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Environmental Engineering

University of Borås
Istanbul Technical University

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

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Supplementation of alternative carbon sources is a technological bottleneck, particularly in post-denitrification processes due to stringent effluent nitrogen levels. This study focuses on enhancing the sustainability of wastewater treatment practices by partially replacing conventionally used fossil-derived methanol with organic waste-derived volatile fatty acids (VFAs) in moving bed biofilm reactors (MBBRs). In this regards, results of denitrification batch assays with sequential or simultaneous addition of VFA effluent from acidogenic fermentation of potato starch residue (AD-VFA_PPL) and chicken manure (AD-VFA_CKM), simulated synthetic VFAs solutions (sVFAs), and methanol as carbon source were presented and discussed. Although methanol has proven superior in the conversion of nitrate to nitrite, VFAs are more effective when it comes to reducing nitrite. Although solely added AD-VFA_PPL had a slower denitrification capability (0.56 ± 0.13 mgNO_x-N removed/m²/day) than methanol (1.04 ± 0.46 mgNO_x-N removed/m²/day), up to 50% of the methanol can be replaced by waste-derived AD-VFA_PPL and achieve comparable performance (1.08 ± 0.07 mgNO_x-N removed/m²/day) with the pure methanol. This proves that the co-addition of VFAs together with methanol can fully compete with pure methanol in performance, providing a promising opportunity for wastewater treatment plants to potentially reduce their carbon footprint and become more sustainable in practice while benefiting from recovered nutrients from waste.

Original language	English
Article number	6849
Journal	Sustainability (Switzerland)
Volume	15
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/su15086849
Publication status	Published - Apr 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 by the authors.

Funding

This research received funding (Funding number: 2020-03664) from Sweden’s Innovation Agency. The authors would like to thank Sweden’s Innovation Agency, the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development, and the University of Borås for their technical and financial support of this work. The authors would like to express their sincere gratitude to Dag Lorick, Lucica Enache, and Ann Mattsson (Gryaab AB, Gothenburg, Sweden) for their kind technical and scientific support. The first author (T.S.) is sponsored via a PhD grant from the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye.

Funders
Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development
VINNOVA
Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştırma Kurumu
Högskolan i Borås

UN SDGs

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

SDG 6 Clean Water and Sanitation
SDG 13 Climate Action

Keywords

carbon source
chicken manure
ethanol
methanol
moving bed biofilm reactor
post-denitrification
potato protein liquor
volatile fatty acids

Access to Document

10.3390/su15086849

Cite this

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title = "The Effect of Sequential and Simultaneous Supplementation of Waste-Derived Volatile Fatty Acids and Methanol as Alternative Carbon Source Blend for Wastewater Denitrification",

abstract = "Supplementation of alternative carbon sources is a technological bottleneck, particularly in post-denitrification processes due to stringent effluent nitrogen levels. This study focuses on enhancing the sustainability of wastewater treatment practices by partially replacing conventionally used fossil-derived methanol with organic waste-derived volatile fatty acids (VFAs) in moving bed biofilm reactors (MBBRs). In this regards, results of denitrification batch assays with sequential or simultaneous addition of VFA effluent from acidogenic fermentation of potato starch residue (AD-VFAPPL) and chicken manure (AD-VFACKM), simulated synthetic VFAs solutions (sVFAs), and methanol as carbon source were presented and discussed. Although methanol has proven superior in the conversion of nitrate to nitrite, VFAs are more effective when it comes to reducing nitrite. Although solely added AD-VFAPPL had a slower denitrification capability (0.56 ± 0.13 mgNOx-N removed/m2/day) than methanol (1.04 ± 0.46 mgNOx-N removed/m2/day), up to 50\% of the methanol can be replaced by waste-derived AD-VFAPPL and achieve comparable performance (1.08 ± 0.07 mgNOx-N removed/m2/day) with the pure methanol. This proves that the co-addition of VFAs together with methanol can fully compete with pure methanol in performance, providing a promising opportunity for wastewater treatment plants to potentially reduce their carbon footprint and become more sustainable in practice while benefiting from recovered nutrients from waste.",

keywords = "carbon source, chicken manure, ethanol, methanol, moving bed biofilm reactor, post-denitrification, potato protein liquor, volatile fatty acids",

author = "Tugba Sapmaz and Reza Manafi and Amir Mahboubi and Koseoglu-Imer, \{Derya Y.\} and Taherzadeh, \{Mohammad J.\}",

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AU - Manafi, Reza

AU - Mahboubi, Amir

AU - Koseoglu-Imer, Derya Y.

AU - Taherzadeh, Mohammad J.

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KW - carbon source

KW - chicken manure

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KW - potato protein liquor

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The Effect of Sequential and Simultaneous Supplementation of Waste-Derived Volatile Fatty Acids and Methanol as Alternative Carbon Source Blend for Wastewater Denitrification

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

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