| 1. |
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| 2. |
- Davidsson, Åsa, et al.
(författare)
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Effect of anaerobic digestion at 35, 55 and 60 °C on pharmaceuticals and organic contaminants
- 2014
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Ingår i: Water Science and Technology. - : IWA Publishing. - 0273-1223 .- 1996-9732. ; 69:6, s. 1282-1288
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The application of treated sewage sludge on farmland is a suggested method for recycling nutrients and reducing demand for commercial fertilizer. However, sludge needs to be safe from possible contaminants which can cause acute and long-term health and environmental problems. Residual pharmaceuticals and organic contaminants are mentioned as emerging threats since wastewater treatment plants are not designed to degrade these substances. The aim of this study was to screen and evaluate the presence, and reduction, of pharmaceuticals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) during anaerobic digestion of mixed primary and waste-activated sludge at 35, 55 and 60°C and during pasteurization at 70°C. The study showed the difficulty of analysing pharmaceutical compounds in low concentrations in the sludge matrix. No general reduction of these compounds was seen during treatment, but for individual substances some reduction occured. The PAHs were generally not reduced during digestion or pasteurization, but for three substances (indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene and dibenzo[a,h]anthracene (analysed together) and benzo[g,h,i]perylene) reduction (up to 60%) during digestion was seen. Digestion at 35 and 55°C resulted in about the same order of reduction of the three individual PAHs, which was higher than for digestion at 60°C.
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| 3. |
- Davidsson, Åsa, et al.
(författare)
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Effect of anaerobic digestion at 35, 55 and 60 °C ON pharmaceuticals and organic pollutants
- 2013
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Ingår i: Presented at the 1st International IWA Conference on Holistic Sludge Management, Västerås, Sweden, May 6-8, 2013. ; , s. 1-8
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The application of treated sewage sludge on farmland is a suggested method for recycling nutrients and reducing demand for commercial fertilizer. However sludge needs to be rendered safe from possible contaminants which can cause acute and long-term health and environmental problems. Residual pharmaceuticals and organic contaminants in sludge are mentioned as emerging threats since wastewater treatment plants are not designed to degrade these substances thus yielding an accumulation in sludge. The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence, and reduction, of pharmaceuticals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) during anaerobic digestion at 35, 55 and 60ºC and during pasteurization at 70°C. The substrate used was mixed primary and secondary sludge from a 300 000 person-equivalents municipal wastewater treatment plant in southern Sweden. In general no reduction of pharmaceuticals could be observed at any temperature or minimum exposure time, except for the beta-blocker Irbesartan and the antibiotic Trimethoprim. The results from pharmaceuticals in mesophilic sludge agreed with results in recent Swedish studies. Also, no reduction of PAHs during digestion or pasteurization (70°C – 1 hour) was seen, but for single PAHs digestion could lead to reduction.
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| 4. |
- Drangert, Jan-Olof, et al.
(författare)
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Recycling-The future urban sink for wastewater and organic waste
- 2023
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Ingår i: CITY AND ENVIRONMENT INTERACTIONS. - : ELSEVIER. - 2590-2520. ; 19
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The worlds population is estimated to reach 11 billion in this century, with some 8.5 billion living in urban areas. Cities become unprecedented hot spots of demand for virgin water and food, as well as producers of large volumes of valuable waste. The recycling of urban nutrient-rich liquid and solid waste as fertilizer in agriculture will thus be of benefit to both sectors. The analysis suggests that recycling has the potential to become the ultimate sink for organic waste and wastewater, while simultaneously securing the supply of food and fertilizers, and reducing both local and global environmental impacts. Presently, harmful chemical substances from various consumer products in our chemical society are disposed of in urban waste flows and hamper recovery and reuse. A combination of counter measures such as not mixing nutrient-rich blackwater with grey water polluted with chemical compounds, are crucial. The sludge from the small volume of blackwater can contribute enough fertilizers to secure global food supplies by the year 2100. The voluminous grey water will contain few pathogenic microorganisms and can be treated for non-potable reuse. Three urban arrangements are analysed: Singapore (entire city), Helsingborg in Sweden (city district), and Bangalore in India (eco-house).
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| 5. |
- Fältström, Emma, 1987-
(författare)
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Mitigating Microplastics Pollution in Urban Water Systems : Flow, actors, and control measures
- 2023
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Water pollution has long been considered a challenge in urban areas. Urban wastewater and stormwater act as transport pathways for pollutants from urban areas to receiving waters. Microplastics are a pollution problem of growing concern. As part of the zero-pollution action plan for 2050, the European Commission has set the target to reduce emissions of microplastics to the environment by 30% from 2016 to 2030. The majority of the microplastics originate from sources on land, and urban areas are viewed as particular hotspots. More knowledge is needed on the sources and pathways of microplastics within the urban area, such as to and from urban water systems. To be able to reduce microplastics pollution, there is also a need to understand where control measures can be introduced and make an impact in terms of reduced loads to the environment. For control measures to be implemented, there is also a need to understand the incentives and challenges that the actors, who have a responsibility related to the flows, encounter when working with pollution control. The aim of this thesis was to contribute to enhanced understanding of flows of microplastics in urban water systems and how the flows can be controlled, in order to facilitate mitigation actions for these flows. This aim was addressed by identifying and quantifying sources with emissions to urban wastewater and stormwater and pathways from the urban water system, with inspiration from the method substance flow analysis. The estimated sources were also compared to measurements in raw wastewater and stormwater from four different catchments to identify matches and differences. Further, control measures were introduced to the quantified sources and pathways. Municipal officials, who can implement the control measures, were also interviewed about their incentives and challenges when controlling microplastics and other pollutants in the urban water system. The emissions of microplastics to stormwater were estimated to be much higher than those to wastewater. Tyre wear particles and cigarette butts were estimated to be the largest sources. While stormwater measurements confirmed tyre wear particles, cigarette butts, and paint particles, which was another large source according to the source estimates, could not be confirmed. Instead, the samples contained other types of microplastics. These mismatches indicate that large flows of microplastics may come from sources that have yet to be identified and quantified. The largest source to wastewater was estimated to be synthetic fibres (mainly polyester) released during laundry washing. Polyester also had the largest share in the wastewater measurements. Untreated stormwater was the largest pathway to receiving waters, followed by treated stormwater. Treated wastewater and overflows had comparatively small emissions. The measures introduced to wastewater had the potential to reduce the load of microplastics in the wastewater by half. However, as wastewater treatment retain most of the microplastics, and because the largest emissions came from stormwater, this reduction made a small difference in terms of total loads to receiving waters. Reduced urban traffic, changed driving behaviour, and more stormwater treatment, were also required to reduce emissions of microplastics from the urban water system to receiving waters by 30% in accordance with the EU target. Three types of incentives for pollution control among the municipal officials were identified. One incentive was that pollution control positively affected other aspects that were seen as important, such as that it had economic benefits or increased water- and sludge quality. Another incentive was a perceived responsibility for water quality, for the environment, or to be role models. A third incentive was a “pressure” to act from the local environmental control authorities or through local politics. The challenges for pollution control were primarily related to insufficient resources in terms of time, finances, and knowledge. Changing, limited, or lack of legislation was also identified as a challenge. Other identified challenges, such as unclear responsibilities and unclear expectations of the work, can be alleviated with a strategy or plan, but a plan did not ease all challenges. Support, in terms of financial means and guidance, is also needed so that actions set out in the plans can be implemented. So far, the control measures for microplastics related to urban water systems have primarily been preventive and focused on restricting use of microplastics in certain applications. There are no restrictions on emissions yet. If such restrictions come, where they are placed will impact the type of measures that will be introduced. This, in turn, will have consequences at the system level: for example, if it will lead to emissions in another part of the system, and which actors will be responsible for managing the pollution.
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| 6. |
- Haghighatafshar, Salar, et al.
(författare)
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Management of hydrogen sulfide in anaerobic digestion of enzyme pretreated marine macro-algae
- 2012
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Ingår i: Vatten: tidskrift för vattenvård /Journal of Water Management and research. - 0042-2886. ; 68:4, s. 265-273
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Enzymatic pretreatment of algae by means of cellulose degrading enzyme was evaluated through lab-scale and pilot-scale experiments. The degradation efficiency of the enzyme depended on the initial physical quality of the algae. Lab-scale batch anaerobic digestion experiments showed comparatively low methane potential for the pretreated algae at both mesophilic and thermophilic temperatures. However, the raw algae (cut into small pieces) were found to be hardly hydrolysable. The methane potential of raw algae in thermophilic and mesophilic digestion was about 17 NmL/g VS and –36 NmL/g VS respectively. Presence of inhibitory agent(s) was obvious at both temperatures. Very fast growth of sulfate-reducing bacteria was noticed in the continuous digestion, so that in less than 20 days, hydrogen sulfide concentrations over 10000 ppm were observed in both meso- and thermophilic reactors. Inhibition of methanogenesis in the thermophilic reactor occurred at unionized dissolved sulfide concentration of about 22 mg/L (10000 ppm in the biogas) while it was mainly non-SRB acetogens that were inhibited in the mesophilic reactor at unionized sulfide concentrations as high as 50 mg/L (17000 ppm in the biogas). This shows that probably thermophilic digestion is more prone to be inhibited at high sulfide concentrations. Micro-aeration was found to be more efficient in the thermophilic reactor while its effect on the mesophilic process was negligible.
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| 7. |
- Haghighatafshar, Salar, et al.
(författare)
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Modeling of anaerobic digestion with a focus on estimation of hydrolysis constants at 35, 55, and 60°C
- 2015
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Ingår i: Water Environment Research. - 1061-4303. ; 87:7, s. 587-594
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Hydrolysis constants of mixed sludge at 35°C, 55°C, and 60°C were found to be 0.32 d-1, 0.44 d-1, and 0.50 d-1, respectively in pilot-scale semi-continuously operated anaerobic digesters. The hydrolysis constants as well as estimated chemical oxygen demand (COD) fractions in the feed were introduced to a mathematical model for anaerobic digestion published by Siegrist et al. (2002) which is similar to Anaerobic Digestion Model No. 1 (ADM1). First-order and Monod-type kinetics were tested for estimation of hydrolysis constants. The applied kinetics were found to affect the outcome of the regression study. Moreover, the free ammonia inhibition model was excluded for both propionate oxidation and acetate conversion, thanks to the apparent acclimatized biomass. No substantial accumulation of volatile fatty-acids (VFA) was observed in the reactors at 35, 55 and 60°C corresponding to free ammonia nitrogen (FAN) concentrations of about 20, 110 and 130 g N/m3, respectively.
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| 8. |
- Hall, Ashley, et al.
(författare)
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Treatment of greywater with nanofiltration for nutrient removal – 2-year experience from Helsingborg
- 2024
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Ingår i: Water Practice and Technology. - 1751-231X. ; 19:3, s. 900-910
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Source-separated sanitation and greywater treatment have become an increasingly attractive alternative to traditional waste-water management systems in recent years due to their potential to combat water scarcity, ease resource recovery, and meet tightening effluent demands. In Helsingborg, Sweden, source-separated wastewater from the new city district of Oceanhamnen is being collected and treated in a new treatment plant (RecoLab) to test, among other issues, how efficient greywater treatment can be in achieving low discharge limits for pollutants. The greywater treatment consists of activated sludge treatment, drum filter micro-sieving, and nanofiltration. In the first two years of operation, the robustness of the treatment system during periods with extreme conditions, e.g., very low and very high organic matter concentrations, was tested. The combination of biological treatment and nanofiltration has achieved stable effluent concentrations below 10 mg/L chemical oxygen demand, 2 mg/L total nitrogen, and 0.2 mg/L total phosphorus as average values for 22 months of operation with an average flow of 43 m3/day. The treatment system for greywater treatment thus shows the possibility to achieve low discharge limits and meet the new proposed effluent demands of the EU Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive.
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| 9. |
- Henriksson, Gunilla, et al.
(författare)
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Benchmarking av gödselsamrötning med avloppsslam mot förbränning av häst- och djurparksgödsel
- 2015
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Rapport (refereegranskat)abstract
- Owners of stables and owners of zoos have difficulty finding an economically sustainable deposition of their produced manure. More than two million tons of horse manure are produced in urban environments in Sweden every year. If the manure cannot be used as fertilizer on farm land it is classified as a waste fraction and should be handled according to current regulations. The manure is a valuable waste fraction that contains both energy and nutrients. If the manure cannot be spread on farm land more applications need to be identified, where the energy and nutrients in the manure can be used. The focus in this study is to investigate possible applications for the usage of horse and zoo manure within Borås municipality where, among other things, a waste water treatment plant and a combined heat and power plant are available. Horse and zoo manure have been investigated in the following applications: co-digestion with sewage sludge at a waste water treatment plant (lab experiments), co-digestion with food waste (theoretical), co-incineration with waste (full scale) and co-incineration with biomass (theoretical). Potential quantity of manure and economical and legal aspects have been studied as well. There is no compilation of the number of horses in the country which makes it hard to estimate the true quantity of manure. The quantity of manure from the zoos are somewhat easier to estimate since the zoo owners are fewer and have knowledge of their manure production. The co-digestions experiments in this study showed that addition of horse manure to digestion can be of interest in many ways, among other things it can give a more stable biogas production and a possible decrease in the Cd/P-ratio in the end product. Horse manure turned out to have a faster degradation rate compared to zoo manure, however the degradation rate was lower than that of sewage sludge. Zoo manure gave a relatively low biogas production compared to horse manure at thermophilic conditions. The co-incineration trial with waste and manure gave no negative effect with regard to emissions and operation. However, the amount of manure added to the incineration trial was low. The theoretical studies regarding the co-incineration with biomass, showed two potential alternatives that need to be investigated further. Interesting aspects to look further upon, based on this study, are for example: • Laws and regulations in the EU regarding manure. • Co-digestion of manure and sewage sludge in a larger scale. • Laws and regulations and costs regarding incineration of manure with biomass.
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| 10. |
- Högstrand, Sofia, et al.
(författare)
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Incorporation of main line impact into life cycle assessment of nutrient recovery from reject water using novel membrane contactor technology
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Cleaner Production. - 0959-6526. ; 408
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) nutrient recovery has recently gained traction in the search for new pathways for fertilizer production. In particular, concentrated waste streams such as reject water from sludge digestion are suitable. The environmental impact of a novel nutrient recovery technology using a membrane contactor (NPHarvest) was examined with an environmental life cycle assessment (LCA). Impact hotspots were benchmarked against a comparable technology (struvite precipitation and ammonia stripping), and the impacts of the two technologies were found to be similar for most studied environmental impact categories. To allow for the inclusion of effects on other parts of the WWTP while limiting the general system boundaries to the reject water treatment, a novel approach to capture the main line impact was developed. The effects on the main line contributed substantially to the overall results. The overall results indicated clear nutrient recovery benefits related to substituted materials in mineral fertilizer production. Additionally, reject water nutrient recovery provided even greater benefits due to reduced N2O emissions and the reduced use of precipitation chemicals in the WWTP main line. Nonetheless, both nutrient removal and recovery were necessary for the two technologies to reach a net zero climate impact in their current pilot scales. Further development of the NPHarvest technology—such as mitigating NH3 emissions, exploring alternative input chemicals and optimizing energy consumption (especially for crystallizing the ammonium salt solution that is produced)—is recommended before full-scale implementation.
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