News

Carbonera (b) - SCEPPHAR Sidestream

SMARTech n: 5

Sidestream Short-Cut Enhanced Phosphorus and PHA recovery (SCEPPHAR)

Objectives:

Recovery of PHA and struvite during the treatment of anaerobic supernatant via-nitrite

Challenges:

To enable the integration of conventional biogas recovery from cellulosic primary sludge with the energy-efficient nitrogen removal via-nitrite from sludge reject water and the recovery of PHA and struvite

Integration within WWTP:

Smartech 5 is implemented in the sidestream of the anarobic digester of Carbonera WWTP

Key enabling process(es):

Biotechnology

SMART-product(s):

 

PHA and Struvite

Partners involved:

1. UNIVR (main responsible of the Smartech)

2. ATS (owner of the Carbonera WWTP)

3. SALSNES (provider of the Rotating Belt Filter for the sieving of wastewater)

4. UR (characterization of the produced PHA)

5. BIOTREND (extraction of PHA from PHA enriched sludge)

6. UBRUN (post-processing of the extracted PHA for biocomposite applications)

7. Università Politecnica delle Marche (Coordinator of Smart-Plant Project)

DESCRIPTION:

SMARTech 5 applies the SCEPPHAR concept, which was conceived as a modified version of SCENA for WWTPs larger than 150 kPE, where PHA recovery is an economically sustainable option. It accounts of the following subprocesses: (i) cellulosic primary sludge fermentation to enhance the production of VFAs and release nitrogen and phosphorus in soluble forms (ammonia and phosphate); (ii) solid and liquid separation of the fermentation products and recovery of struvite form the sewage sludge fermentation liquid by the addition of Mg(OH)2 to favour the precipitation; (iii) ammonium conversion to nitrite accomplished in a SBR; (iv) selection of PHA storing biomass in a SBR by the alternation of aerobic feast conditions and followed by anoxic famine conditions for denitritation driven by internally stored PHA as carbon source; (v) PHA accumulation using a fed-batch reactor to maximize the cellular PHA content of the biomass harvested from the selection stage.

 

IMPACT:

The pilot-scale system, that was tested and validated at WWTP Carbonera (Treviso, Italy), allowed the recovery of 0.7-0.8 kgPHA/day and 300 g/day of P precipitated salts and electrical energy savings of 15-25% for the treatment of the sludge reject water.

 

salnes filter
scepphar fermentation unit
scepphar nitritation selectio accumulation sbr
scepphar s l separator

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SMART-Plant scales-up in real environment eco-innovative and energy-efficient solutions to renovate existing wastewater treatment plants and close the circular value chain by applying low-carbon techniques to recover materials that are otherwise lost.

Seven plus two (7+2) pilot systems were optimized for more than two years in real environment in five municipal water treatment plants, including also two post-processing facilities. The systems were automatized with the aim of optimizing wastewater treatment, resource recovery, energy-efficiency and reduction of greenhouse emissions. A comprehensive SMART portfolio comprising biopolymers, cellulose, fertilizers and intermediates were recovered and processed up to the final commercializable end-products.

Dynamic modeling and superstructure framework for decision support was developed and validated to identify the optimum SMART-Plant system integration options for recovered resources and technologies.

The integration of resource recovery assets to system wide asset management programs were evaluated in each site following the resource recovery paradigm for the wastewater treatment plant of the future, enabled through SMART-Plant solutions. The project proved the feasibility of circular management of urban wastewater and environmental sustainability of the systems, through Life Cycle Assessment and Life Cycle Costing approaches as well as the global benefit of the scaled-up water solutions.

Global market deployment was achieved as right fit solution for water utilities and relevant industrial stakeholders, considering the strategic implications of the resource recovery paradigm in case of both public and private water management. New public-private partnership models were also explored connecting the water sector to the chemical industry and its downstream segments such as the construction and agricultural sector, thus generating new opportunities for funding and potential public-private competition.