| 1. |
- Anbalagan, Anbarasan, 1988-
(författare)
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A passage to wastewater nutrient recovery units : Microalgal-Bacterial bioreactors
- 2018
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Konstnärligt arbete (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In recent years, the microalgal–bacterial process has been considered to be a very attractive engineering solution for wastewater treatment. However, it has not been widely studied in the context of conventional wastewater treatment design under Swedish conditions. The technology holds several advantages: as a CO2 sink, ability to withstand cold conditions, ability to grow under low light, fast settling without chemical precipitation, and reducing the loss of valuable nutrients (CO2, N2, N2O, PO4). The process also provides the option to be operated either as mainstream (treatment of municipal wastewater) or side stream (treatment of centrate from anaerobic digesters) to reduce the nutrient load of the wastewater. Furthermore, the application is not only limited to wastewater treatment; the biomass can be used to synthesise platform chemicals or biofuels and can be followed by recovery of ammonium and phosphate for use in agriculture.In the present study, the feasibility of applying the process in Swedish temperature and light conditions was investigated by implementing microalgae within the activated sludge process. In this context, the supporting operational and performance indicators (hydraulic retention time (HRT), sludge retention time (SRT) and nutrients removal) were evaluated to support naturally occurring consortia in photo-sequencing and continuous bioreactor configuration. Furthermore, CO2 uptake and light spectrum-mediated nutrient removal were investigated to reduce the impact on climate and the technical challenges associated with this type of system.The results identified effective retention times of 6 and 4 days (HRT = SRT) under limited lighting to reduce the electrical consumption. From the perspective of nitrogen removal, the process demands effective CO2 input either in the mainstream or side stream treatment. The incorporation of a vertical absorption column demonstrated effective CO2 mass transfer to support efficient nitrogen and phosphorus removal as a side stream treatment. However, the investigation of a continuous single-stage process as the mainstream showed a requirement for a lower SRT in comparison to semi-continuous operation due to faster settlability, regardless of inorganic carbon. Furthermore, the process showed an effective reduction of influent phosphorus and organic compounds (i.e. COD/TOC) load in the wastewater as a result of photosynthetic aeration. Most importantly, the operation was stable at the temperature equivalent of wastewater (12 and 13 ˚C), under different lighting (white, and red-blue wavelengths) and retention times (6 and 1.5 d HRT) with complete nitrification. Additionally, the biomass production was stable with faster settling properties without any physiochemical separation.The outcomes of this thesis on microalgal–bacterial nutrient removal demonstrates that (1) photosynthesis-based aeration at existing wastewater conditions under photo-sequential and continuous photobioreactor setup, (2) flocs with rapid settling characteristics at all studied retention times, (3) the possibility of increasing carbon supplementation to achieve higher carbon to nitrogen balance in the photobioreactor, and (4) most importantly, nitrification-based microalgal biomass uptake occurred at all spectral distributions, lower photosynthetic active radiation and existing wastewater conditions.
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| 2. |
- Bürger, Raimund, et al.
(författare)
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Estimating the hindered-settling flux function from a batch test in a cone
- 2018
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Ingår i: Chemical Engineering Science. - : Elsevier. - 0009-2509 .- 1873-4405. ; 192, s. 244-253
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The hindered-settling velocity function for the modelling, simulation and control of secondary settling tanks can be determined from batch tests. The conventional method is to measure the velocity of the descending sludge-supernatant interface (sludge blanket) as the change in height over time in a vessel with constant cross-sectional area. Each such experiment provides one point on the flux curve since, under idealizing assumptions (monodisperse suspension, no wall-effects), the concentration of sludge remains constant just below the sludge blanket until some wave from the bottom reaches it. A newly developed method of estimation, based on the theory of nonlinear hyperbolic partial differential equations, is applied to both synthetic and experimental data. The method demonstrates that a substantial portion of the flux function may be estimated from a single batch test in a conical vessel. The new method takes into consideration that during an ideal settling experiment in a cone, the concentration just below the sludge blanket increases with time since the mass of suspended solids occupy a reduced volume over time.
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| 3. |
- Diehl, Stefan, et al.
(författare)
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Analysis of photobioreactors in series
- 2018
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Ingår i: Mathematical Biosciences. - : ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC. - 0025-5564 .- 1879-3134. ; 306, s. 107-118
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A photobioreactor (PBR) contains microalgae which under illumination consume carbon dioxide and substrate dissolved in water, and produce oxygen. The process is used in water recovery resource facilities with a continuous flow of wastewaster through the PBR. With several PBRs in series the reduction of substrate can be improved. This paper contains a thorough analysis of a model of PBRs in series, where each PBR is modelled with a system of three ordinary differential equations for the concentrations of dissolved substrate and biomass (algae), and the internal cell quota of substrate to biomass. Each PBR has a certain volume and irradiation. The absorption rate of substrate into the cells is modelled with Monod kinetics, whereas the biomass growth rate is modelled with Droop kinetics, in which both a minimum and a maximum internal cell quota are assumed. The main result is that the model has a unique stable steady-state solution with algae in all PBRs. Another stable steady-state solution is the wash-out solution with no algae in the system. Other steady-state solutions are combinations of these two with no algae in some of the first PBRs and algae in the rest of the PBRs in the series. Conditions on the illumination, volumetric flow and volumes of the PBRs are given for the respective solution. Numerical solutions illustrate the theoretical results and indicate further properties.
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| 4. |
- Olsson, Jesper, 1975-, et al.
(författare)
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Anaerobic co-digestion of sludge and microalgae grown inmunicipal wastewater : A feasibility study
- 2018
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Ingår i: Water Science and Technology. - : IWA Publishing. - 0273-1223 .- 1996-9732. ; 77:3, s. 682-694
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this study a natural mix of microalgae grown in wastewater of municipal character was co-digested with sewage sludge in mesophilic conditions, in both batch and semi-continuous modes. The semicontinuous experiment was divided into two periods with OLR 1 (Organic Loading Rate) of 2.4 kg VS m3 d-1 and HRT1 (Hydraulic Retention Time) of 15 days, and OLR2 of 3.5 kg VS m3 d-1 and HRT2 of 10 days respectively. Results showed stable conditions during both periods. The methane yield was reduced when adding microalgae (from 200 ± 25 NmL CH4 g VSin-1 , to 168±22 NmL CH4 g VSin-1). VS reduction was also decreased by 51%. This low digestability was confirmed in the anaerobic batch test. However, adding microalgae improved the dewaterability of the digested sludge. The high heavy metals content in the microalgae resulted in a high heavy metals content in the digestate, making it more difficult to reuse the digestate as fertilizer on arable land. The heavy metals are thought to originate from the flue gas used as a CO2 source during the microalgae cultivation. Therefore the implementation of CO2 mitigation via algal cultivation requires careful consideration regarding thesource of the CO2-rich gas.
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| 5. |
- Samuelsson, Oscar, et al.
(författare)
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Fault signatures and bias progression in dissolved oxygen sensors
- 2018
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Ingår i: Water Science and Technology. - : IWA Publishing. - 0273-1223 .- 1996-9732. ; 78:5, s. 1034-1044
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Biofilm fouling is known to impact the data quality of sensors, but little is known about the exact effects. We studied the effects of artificial and real biofilm fouling on dissolved oxygen (DO) sensors in full-scale water resource recovery facilities, and how this can automatically be detected. Biofilm fouling resulted in different drift direction and bias magnitudes for optical (OPT) and electrochemical (MEC) DO sensors. The OPT-sensor was more affected by biofilm fouling compared to the MEC-sensor, especially during summer conditions. A bias of 1 mg/L was detected by analysing the impulse response (IR) of the automatic air cleaning system in the DO sensor. The IR is an effect of a temporal increase in DO concentration during the automatic air cleaning. The IRs received distinct pattern changes that were matched with faults including: biofilm fouling, disturbances in the air supply to the cleaning system, and damaged sensor membrane, which can be used for fault diagnosis. The results highlight the importance of a condition-based sensor maintenance schedule in contrast to fixed cleaning intervals. Further, the results stress the importance of understanding and detecting bias due to biofilm fouling, in order to maintain a robust and resource-efficient process control.
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| 6. |
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