Refinery and concentration of nutrients from urine with electrodialysis enabled by upstream precipitation and nitrification

Autor: Arne Verliefde, Marjolein Vanoppen, Siegfried E. Vlaeminck, Kim De Paepe, Dries Demey, Ralph E.F. Lindeboom, Peter Clauwaert, Wout Coessens, Jolien De Paepe, Brigitte Lamaze
Rok vydání: 2018
Předmět:
0301 basic medicine
Environmental Engineering
Denitrification
Biofouling
Nitrogen
chemistry.chemical_element
010501 environmental sciences
Nitrosomonas eutropha
Urine
01 natural sciences
Waste Disposal
Fluid
Phosphates
03 medical and health sciences
Bioreactors
RNA
Ribosomal
16S
Chemical Precipitation
Humans
Waste Management and Disposal
Biology
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Water Science and Technology
Civil and Structural Engineering
Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis
Nitrates
biology
Moving bed biofilm reactor
Ecological Modeling
Phosphorus
Microbiota
Nitrosomonas marina
Electrodialysis
Nitrosomonas aestuarii
biology.organism_classification
Pulp and paper industry
Pollution
Nitrification
Chemistry
030104 developmental biology
chemistry
Biofilms
Engineering sciences. Technology
Dialysis
Oxidation-Reduction
Zdroj: Water research
ISSN: 1879-2448
0043-1354
Popis: Human urine is a valuable resource for nutrient recovery, given its high levels of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, but the compositional complexity of urine presents a challenge for an energy-efficient concentration and refinery of nutrients. In this study, a pilot installation combining precipitation, nitrification and electrodialysis (ED), designed for one person equivalent (1.2 L-urine d(-l)), was continuously operated for similar to 7 months. First, NaOH addition yielded calcium and magnesium precipitation, preventing scaling in ED. Second, a moving bed biofilm reactor oxidized organics, preventing downstream biofouling, and yielded complete nitrification on diluted urine (20-40%, i.e. dilution factors 5 and 2.5) at an average loading rate of 215 mg N L-1 d(-1). Batch tests demonstrated the halotolerance of the nitrifying community, with nitrification rates not affected up to an electrical conductivity of 40 mS cm(-1) and gradually decreasing, yet ongoing, activity up to 96 mS cm(-1) at 18% of the maximum rate. Next-generation 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing revealed that switching from a synthetic influent to real urine induced a profound shift in microbial community and that the AOB community was dominated by halophilic species closely related to Nitrosomonas aestuarii and Nitrosomonas marina. Third, nitrate, phosphate and potassium in the filtered (0.1 mu m) bioreactor effluent were concentrated by factors 43, 2.6 and 4.6, respectively, with ED. Doubling the urine concentration from 20% to 40% further increased the ED recovery efficiency by similar to 10%. Batch experiments at pH 6, 7 and 8 indicated a more efficient phosphate transport to the concentrate at pH 7. The newly proposed three-stage strategy opens up opportunities for energy- and chemical-efficient nutrient recovery from urine. Precipitation and nitrification enabled the long-term continuous operation of ED on fresh urine requiring minimal maintenance, which has, to the best of our knowledge, never been achieved before. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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