Wastewater treatment plants :

wastewater resource recovery facilities ?

C. Wisniewski
Montpellier University, France

UMR QualiSud

Faculté des Sciences Pharmaceutiques

et Biologiques

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
 Wastewater Treatment adaptation
according to Climate Change

OUTLINES

Current state of Wastewater Treatment (WWT)

Climate Change's Relation to Wastewater Treatment

A new Paradigm for Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP)

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
 Municipal sewage effluent
Industrial effluent

WASTEWATER Urban and agricultural runoff Parameter mg/L

TSS 250 to 600
COD 500 to 1200
BOD 230 to 560
N total 30 to 100
WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS P total 6 to 25

Level of treatment required before

discharge imposed by European Directives

DISCHARGED IN
WATER BODIES

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (91/271/EEC1)
SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON
WASTEWATER TREATMENT
Objective

Protection of the aquatic environment from the adverse effects (such as

eutrophication) of urban (and industrial) wastewater

Collection and treatment

of wastewater in all agglomerations with a population equivalent larger than 2000

Parameter mg/L % reduction

Phosphorus and Nitrogen
COD 125 75

BOD 25 70 - 90 Sensitive areas

N total 10 - 15
80
P total 1-2
Implementation and Improvement of
many WWTPs the last few years…

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC2000)

Objective

Protection and restoration of clean water across Europe

Achieve “good status” by 2015 and to prevent deterioration to water bodies

Micro-pollutant
Identification of priority substances Emerging contaminants
that have to be reduced in water bodies

Implementation of additional treatment

steps in many WWTPs …

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
CONVENTIONNAL WASTEWATER PLANT… TODAY

Pre-treatment Primary Secondary Tertiary

treatment treatment treatment

Removal of Removal of organic matter and of

suspended solids some nutrients
(settling) (aerobic or anaerobic processes)

Improvement of the
effluent quality before
its discharge
DISCHARGE
(effluent polishing)

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
CONVENTIONNAL WASTEWATER PLANT… TODAY

Pre-treatment Primary Secondary Tertiary

treatment treatment treatment

DISCHARGE
Sludge treatment

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
CONVENTIONNAL WASTEWATER PLANT… TODAY

A SIMPLE WASTE TREATMENT UNIT

… REQUIRING ENERGY
… PRODUCING SLUDGE
ENERGY
SLUDGE

What is the future of WASTEWATER TREATMENT plants?

CLIMATE CHANGE

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
WWT Impact on Climate Change
Climate Change Impact on WWT

What is the future of WASTEWATER TREATMENT plants?

CLIMATE CHANGE

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
Climate Change Impact on WWT
Earlier snowmelt

Increased evaporation rates

Temperature elevation
Higher climate variability

Changes in frequency and timing of

Extreme weather events
precipitation events
More intensive rainfall events

Very few references on the

assessment of climate change
impacts on WWT

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
 Modification of BIOLOGICAL REMOVAL RATES
Modifications of SOLIDS-LIQUID SEPARATION
Temperature elevation

Conventional Process models

Changes in frequency and timing of
unable of describing and predicting
the effects of SHOCK-LOADING precipitation events
EVENTS

Increase of sewage
influent Combined sewers
PEAK FLOW RATES Large majority of existing
sewers in most EU countries
Water Sci Technol. 2009, 60(2):533-540

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
WWT Impact on Climate Change

SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS
on the overall environmental performance

ENERGY
SLUDGE

GREENHOUSE GAS (GHG) EMISSIONS

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
 Global Greenhouse Gas
Emissions by Source (USA)

GHG emissions
from
wastewater
represent 0,6 %

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

(IPCC), 2007 .

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
GHG emissions
Carbon dioxide (CO2) Nitrous oxide (N2O) Methane (CH4)

CO2
CH4
N2O
N2O

CH4
Sludge thickening
and disposal

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
 Carbon dioxide from Nitrous oxide from
aerobic process nitrification/denitrification processes

CO2
CH4
Methane from anaerobic N2O
processes N20

CH4 Managing Water Resources under

Sludge thickening
and disposal Climate Uncertainty, Part of the series
Springer Water. 2001 : 197-220

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
REMOVE ORGANIC MATTER
NITROGEN GENERATE SOLID WASTE
PHOSPHOROUS GHG
CONSUME ENERGY
Micropollutant

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
A NEW PARADIGM FOR WWTP IS NOW NECESSARY

Treatment and disposal

ENERGY
SLUDGE
GHG

FACTORY
Resources recovering and recycling

Extracting resources from wastewater is not new

… but becomes crucial

WHAT CAN WE GET FROM WASTEWATER?

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
WHAT CAN WE GET FROM WASTEWATER?

Energy

Nutrient
Other value-added materials…

Water (for reuse)

http://www.biocycle.net/2014/08/14/power-positive-resource-recovery/

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
 Energy

 There is more energy in wastewater than is required to treat it

There are different types of energy in wastewater

Biological/chemical Energy 1 m3/d Energy demands

In the ORGANIC MATTER
0.05 kW 0.02 kW

Heat Energy 15 times higher than

assuming that a 12° change in the energy required for
temperature could be extracted 0.26 kW treatment

http://www.biocycle.net/2014/08/14/power-positive-resource-recovery/

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
 Power Positive Wastewater Treatment
power production equivalent to the power demand

0.02 kW

Biological/chemical Energy 40% of this energy can be converted

into electrical power
In the ORGANIC MATTER
0.05 kW

Heat Energy Low-grade heat

Low energy quality
assuming that a 12° change in
0.26 kW Any significant amount of power produced
temperature could be extracted

http://www.biocycle.net/2014/08/14/power-positive-resource-recovery/

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
 Energy
LARGE DEVELOPMENT OF ANAEROBIC PROCESSES FOR ORGANIC MATTER REMOVAL

Aerobic treatment requires air and

demands more power than anaerobic
treatment that produces biogas that
can be used to fuel power production.

Research about conversion of

digester gas (methane) into methanol
 Anaerobic digestion might
be coupled with other process
to produce methanol, ammonia,
or other products from digester
gas.

http://www.ajol.info/index.php/wsa/article/view/115257/104844
http://www.biocycle.net/2014/08/14/power-positive-resource-recovery/

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
Nutrient Recovery
PHOSPHOROUS
 NITROGEN
Wastewater contains nutrients such as
phosphorus and nitrogen

MOTIVATIONS
Non-renewable resource for Abundant in the atmosphere
which there is no substitute BUT
takes a considerable energy
Rise in P prices due to input to capture it and convert
increasing fertilizer demand it into a fertilizer product

Volatility of the natural gas

market

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
 PHOSPHOROUS

Approximately 18% of the EU’s

total phosphorus goes into sludge
and could be recycled

Many countries are starting to

promote measures to recover
phosphorus from wastewater
Switzerland Sweden

UK and Germany

http://inside.bluetechresearch.com/streams/themes/nutrient-recovery-energy-and-resource-recovery/

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
 PHOSPHOROUS

Ion exchange and adsorption

Bio-electrochemical system
Membrane separation

NITROGEN

Chemical precipitation Chemical reduction and extraction

Biological assimilation Physical-chemical adsorption and ion exchange

Physical filtration and membrane process

Water Pollution . 2015, 1 (3) : 155-166

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
 NITROGEN and PHOSPHOROUS

Nitrogen and Phosphorus recovered by precipitation (e.g. struvite)

Both Phosphorus and Ammonium can be simultaneously removed and
precipitates can be used as a fertilizer.

Separation of urine Urine accounts for only 1% of the total volume of

and solids wastewater, but it contains up to 80% of all the nutrients.

Urine contains phosphate (PO4) and

ammonium (NH4).
When magnesium (Mg) is added to urine,
phosphate, ammonium and magnesium bind
and form struvite (MgNH4PO4•6H2O), which
can then be filtered out, collected, and dried
into a powder
http://www.sswm.info/content/struvite-0

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
 NITROGEN and PHOSPHOROUS

Large-scale Application
of Phosphorus (Struvite)
Recovery from Digested
Municipal Sludge

"Stuttgart Process"

The process is distinguished by the fact that municipal sewage sludge from wastewater
treatment plants with simultaneous phosphate elimination with iron salts could be used
without any changes in the process of wastewater treatment.
The resulting product can be applied, for example, directly as fertilizer in agriculture.

http://www.iswa.uni-stuttgart.de/lsww/forschung/awt/2012_2013_Forschungsprojekte/Pilotanlage_MAP.en.html

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
Other value-added materials…

Identification of 13 lucrative elements

Platinum, silver, iron, zinc, copper, gold

U.S. sewage sludges were analyzed € 2 million
for 58 elements by ICP-MS and
electron microscopy
1 ton of sludge
16,7 g Ag - 0,33 g Au

Environ. Sci. Technol. 2015, 49 (16): 9479–9488

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
LIST OF MATERIALS THAT CAN BE POTENTIALLY EXTRACTED FROM WASTEWATER

PHA (polyhydroxyalcanoate) Production

Biopolymers of commercial interest
PHA storage is a widespread bacterial property

Nutrient Recovery: State of the Knowledge 2011, Water Environment Research Foundation

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
Water Reuse

CLIMATE CHANGE

Wastewater reuse will become more

necessary as climate change accelerates

Decrease in the availability of

freshwater DEMAND FOR
ALTERNATIVE POTABLE
Deterioration of freshwater SUPPLY SOURCES
resources

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
Pre-treatment Primary Secondary Tertiary
treatment treatment treatment
R
E
U
S
E

Sludge thickening
and disposal

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
Membrane bioreactor (MBR)

Pre-treatment Primary
treatment
R
High wastewater discharge quality
E
U
High level of wastewater recycling S
E

Sludge thickening
and disposal

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
Membrane bioreactor (MBR)

Pre-treatment Primary
Increase of the global market for
treatment
membrane bioreactors R
E
U
S
E

Sludge thickening
and disposal

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
A new paradigm for WWTPs

Treatment and disposal

FACTORY
Resources recovering and recycling

Effective and cost efficient

Without side-effects
MESURES Promoting equity
Technically and socially feasible
Preventing long term negative effects

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?
A new paradigm for WWTPs Energy factory
Nutrient factory

Changes in polices and

regulations
Water factory

Changes in public attitude

(e.g. to use reclaimed water)
How much will it cost
and who will finance it?
What limits will be imposed?

… wastewater reuses, and energy and nutrient recovery from

wastewater have to be actively encouraged

Wastewater treatment plants : wastewater

resource recovery facilities ?