UNS: Coupled Hybrid Anaerobic Reactors to Generate Energy (CHARGE)

1512787图生活废水通常含有的热能是处理所需能量的五倍。城市污水处理厂有潜力捕获废物有机物质中存在的大部分能量，但每天处理少于1000万加仑的小型公用事业公司（占美国废水处理系统的97%）通常不愿意采用复杂且往往昂贵的资源回收系统。采用厌氧主流污水处理进行一级和二级处理的处理模式可以满足二级标准，从有机物中获取能量并消除污泥的单独消化。厌氧折流板反应器-膨胀颗粒污泥床-微筛系统代表了废水处理范式的转型变化，从多个独立的资本密集型能源消耗单元过程到更少的更简单的单元过程，最大限度地提高能源生产率和回报。所提出的耦合混合厌氧反应器系统的优势在于对控制微生物和固体动力学的因素的了解的进步，以满足低复杂性能量中性系统在环境废水条件下的性能目标。假设混合厌氧折流板反应器-膨胀颗粒污泥床-微筛可以处理原始废水以达到二级标准并产生化学计量量的甲烷。辅助目标是：1)优化混合厌氧反应器系统与实际废水在实验规模到示范规模，以产生二级处理质量，2)从BOD去除中产生化学计量量的甲烷，3)开发一个过程模型来预测厌氧挡板反应器-膨胀颗粒污泥床-微筛性能，以及4)通过描述在现有厌氧折流板反应器生命周期评估中添加链接膨胀颗粒污泥床和微筛所需的细节，评估混合系统的生命周期影响。预期的结果是增加对设计和实施低复杂性混合厌氧系统的过程理解，该系统将在调节水以自养氮去除和磷回收的同时产生能量。该团队在微生物过程建模、微生物生态学、环境工程、污水处理厂和公用事业运营方面拥有数十年的经验。这项研究将促进州和联邦监管机构对新能源积极技术的全面应用的接受和行业采用。预期的变革成果将通过许多途径传播，包括区域理事会会议和国家会议的讲习班，以及将邀请废水处理行业变革推动者参加的技术传播讲习班。拟议的项目还将扩大STEM的参与，因为pi将通过招募来自代表性不足群体的本科生和研究生作为研究人员，以及通过我们与当地社区学院的合作伙伴关系招收低收入的第一代社区大学生，从而延续其在该领域的悠久历史。研究人员还将把这些研究的概念内容转化为既定的大学前推广工作，以激发当地弱势和少数族裔学区对STEM领域的兴趣。

1512787FigueroaDomestic wastewater typically contains calorific energy which represents five times the energy required for treatment. Municipal wastewater treatment plants have the potential to capture most of the energy present in the waste organic matter, but smaller utilities treating less than 10 million gallons per day, which account for 97% of the wastewater treatment systems in the US, are often reluctant to adopt complex and often costly resource recovery systems. A treatment paradigm using anaerobic mainstream wastewater treatment for primary and secondary treatment can meet secondary standards, harvest the energy from organic matter and eliminate separate sludge digestion. The anaerobic baffled reactors - expanded granular sludge bed - microscreen system represents a transformational change in the wastewater treatment paradigm from multiple separate capital-intensive energy-consuming unit processes to fewer simpler unit processes that maximize energy productivity and payback.The advantage of the proposed coupled hybrid anaerobic reactor system lies in the advancement of knowledge regarding the factors that control the microbial and solids dynamics to meet the performance goals of a low complexity energy-neutral system at ambient wastewater conditions. The hypothesis is that a hybrid anaerobic baffled reactors - expanded granular sludge bed - microscreen can treat raw wastewater to meet secondary standards and produce stoichiometric amounts of methane. The supporting objectives are to: 1) optimize the hybrid anaerobic reactor system with real wastewater at bench- to demonstration-scale to produce secondary treatment quality, 2) generate stoichiometric amounts of methane from BOD removal, 3) develop a process model to predict anaerobic baffled reactors - expanded granular sludge bed - microscreen performance, and, 4) evaluate the life cycle impacts of the hybrid system by characterizing details needed to add the linked expanded granular sludge bed and microscreen to an existing anaerobic baffled reactors life cycle assessment. The expected outcome is increased process understanding for design and implementation of a low complexity hybrid anaerobic system that will generate energy while conditioning the water for autotrophic nitrogen removal and phosphorus recovery. The team brings decades of experience in microbial process modeling, microbial ecology, environmental engineering, wastewater plant and utility operations. The research will facilitate state and federal regulatory acceptance and industry adoption of new energy positive technology for full-scale applications. The expected transformative results will be disseminated via numerous avenues including workshops at regional council meetings and national conferences, as well as a technology diffusion workshop that will engage change agents from the wastewater treatment industry. The proposed project will also broaden participation in STEM, as the PIs will continue their extensive history in this area by recruiting as researchers undergraduate and graduate students from underrepresented groups, as well as low-income first-generation community college students via our partnership with a local community college. The investigators will also translate conceptual content from these studies into established pre-college outreach efforts to inspire interest in STEM fields in local disadvantaged and predominantly minority school districts.