Understanding how microbial communities respond to design and process engineering in wastewater treatment

了解微生物群落如何响应废水处理中的设计和工艺工程

• 批准号: BB/Y003314/1
• 负责人: James Chong
• 金额: $ 136.4万
• 依托单位: University of York
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FY003314%2F1
• 关键词: Understanding; how; microbial; communities; respond

Global human activity is responsible for the production of 105 billion tonnes of organic wastes per year. Organic waste sources include food waste, crop and animal residues (including manures) and sewage sludges from wastewater. The unsupervised decomposition of this material results in the release of substantial greenhouse gases (GHG) to the atmosphere. It has been estimated that extensive deployment of existing anaerobic digestion (AD) technologies for the biological treatment of organic wastes could reduce global GHG emissions by 10% by 2030 and produce 10,100 to 14,000 terawatt hours of energy. That is, 16-22% of global electricity consumption, or 26-37% of natural gas usage. Thus, AD could play a critical part in global efforts to reach Net Zero. AD is a bio-based technology that uses communities of hundreds of different species of microbes to recover resources from waste. The microbes found in anaerobic digesters facilitate the decomposition of organic materials into biogas, a mixture of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane, two greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. In contrast to fossil sources of these gases, the carbon liberated by AD comes from CO2 that has been recently fixed from the atmosphere by plants. By cycling CO2 fixed from the atmosphere rather than adding CO2 from fossil fuels, AD can be considered a Net Carbon Zero technology. The biogas generated by AD is usually captured before being burned to generate heat, electricity and Net Zero CO2, or upgraded to biomethane, sometimes referred to as Renewable Natural Gas, which can be injected into the grid as a Net Zero drop-in replacement for natural gas. Methane can be used as a building block for a range of important chemicals, including plastics, and so AD could potentially contribute to the displacement of fossil fuels for plastics and other products that are currently petroleum-based.Anaerobic digestion is the UK government's preferred disposal route for the 9.5 million tonnes per annum of domestic food waste. Segregated food waste collection legislation is due to be rolled out in the UK this year (2023) so that more resources can be recovered from waste more easily. In addition, UK water companies treated 801,721 tonnes of sewage sludge in 2021, a decarbonisation saving of 563,200 tonnes CO2 equivalent. There are numerous benefits to the work we propose to carry out with Yorkshire Water, which aims to reach Net Zero by 2030, with the primary impacts including:- Near-term solutions that can be deployed before 2025;- Providing medium-term options that can be planned for implementation over the five year Asset Management Period from 2025 (known as AMP8 or PR24 - the Ofwat 2024 Price Review that will consider whether Water Companies are performing as expected);- A long-term consideration of the opportunities offered by AD, including but not limited to: - recovery of volatile fatty acids (building block molecules) from sewage sludge for the production of bioplastics; - treatment of microplastics; - the future of wastewater treatment eg. genetic manipulation of biology to enable zero aeration (low energy) wastewater treatment in 10 years, wastewater treatment for carbon capture, and as an exemplar for biorefining.

全球人类活动每年产生1050亿吨有机废物。有机废物来源包括食物废物、作物和动物残留物（包括粪便）以及废水中的污水污泥。这种材料的无监督分解导致大量温室气体（GHG）释放到大气中。据估计，到2030年，广泛应用现有的厌氧消化（AD）技术对有机废物进行生物处理，可将全球温室气体排放量减少10%，并产生10,100至14,000太瓦时的能源。也就是说，占全球用电量的16-22%，或天然气使用量的26-37%。因此，AD可以在全球实现净零排放的努力中发挥关键作用。AD是一种基于生物的技术，它利用数百种不同种类的微生物群落从废物中回收资源。在厌氧消化器中发现的微生物有助于将有机物质分解成沼气，沼气是二氧化碳和甲烷的混合物，这两种温室气体导致了气候变化。与这些气体的化石来源相反，AD释放的碳来自最近被植物从大气中固定下来的二氧化碳。通过循环从大气中固定的二氧化碳，而不是从化石燃料中添加二氧化碳，AD可以被认为是一种净零碳技术。AD产生的沼气通常在燃烧之前被捕获，以产生热量、电力和净零二氧化碳，或者升级为生物甲烷，有时被称为可再生天然气，可以作为净零替代天然气注入电网。甲烷可以作为包括塑料在内的一系列重要化学品的基本原料，因此，AD可能有助于取代化石燃料，取代目前以石油为基础的塑料和其他产品。厌氧消化是英国政府对每年950万吨家庭食物垃圾的首选处理方式。英国将于今年（2023年）推出食物垃圾分类收集立法，以便更容易地从废物中回收更多资源。此外，英国水务公司在2021年处理了801,721吨污水污泥，减少了563,200吨二氧化碳当量的脱碳。我们提议与约克郡水务公司开展的工作有很多好处，该公司的目标是到2030年实现净零排放，主要影响包括：- 2025年之前可以部署的近期解决方案；-提供中期方案，计划在2025年起的5年资产管理期内实施（称为AMP8或PR24 -水务署2024年价格检讨，将考虑水务公司的表现是否符合预期）；-长期考虑AD提供的机会，包括但不限于：-从污水污泥中回收挥发性脂肪酸（构建块分子）用于生产生物塑料；-处理微塑料；-污水处理的未来；生物基因操纵实现10年内零曝气（低能耗）废水处理，废水处理实现碳捕获，并作为生物精制的范例。