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- Kazadi Mbamba, Christian, et al.
(author)
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Modelling Industrial Symbiosis of Biogas Production and Industrial Wastewater Treatment Plants – Technical Report
- 2020
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- The present-day treatment of pulp and paper mill effluents can be significantly improved by incorporating biogas production in the context of industrial symbiosis. In this work a new industrial symbiosis concept is presented, the focus being on modelling it in view of process optimization, design improvement and adoption by the pulp and paper industry. The concept consists of a first stage in which pulp and paper mill effluents are treated by high-rate anaerobic digestion in external circulation sludge bed (ECSB) reactors to produce biogas. In the second stage the removal of organic matter contained in the anaerobic effluent stream occurs through aerobic activated sludge treatment, aiming to achieve maximum sludge production with minimum aeration requirements. This sludge should in the case study then be co-digested with residues from fish farming industry to yield methane for energy production, nutrient-rich reject water that can be recycled to the activated sludge treatment for optimum microbial activities and production of a nutrient-rich soil amendment. The overall research aim was in this project to develop a mathematical model that describes the relevant process units and the dynamics of the different processes involving organic matter removal, biogas production and nutrient release. The plant-wide model used integrated activated sludge and anaerobic models with a physico-chemical modelling framework. Through systematic calibration good general agreement was obtained between the full-scale experimental and simulated results at steady state. Acceptable differences between measured and modelled biogas production (flow rate and methane concentration), nutrients release (N and P) and effluent quality (N, P and COD) of 2-3.2 %, 5.3-7.4 % and 1.4-1.9 %, respectively, were observed throughout the full-scale system. Model-based analysis shows that the model can predict and give insight on dynamic behaviours resulting from deliberate changes but also on disturbances in one of the systems and their subsequent impacts within the integrated plant. Additionally, the model allowed the prediction of nutrients release in anaerobic digestion and subsequent consumption upstream in the high-rate anaerobic system or activated sludge system. Simulations show that there is a need for imposing a basic control and operational strategy for efficient reject water recirculation to optimize the concentrations of N and P in the activated sludge system while also achieving nutrient levels required to meet the effluent discharge permits. Overall, the evaluated plant-wide model can jointly describe the relevant physico-chemical and biological processes and is therefore advocated as a tool for future extension of this type of industrial symbiosis concepts between biogas producers and industries producing large amounts of wastewater rich in organic material. The model can be used for design, multi-criteria performance assessment and optimization of different treatment plants.
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