Potential for Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal in an activated sludge system for greywater
(2022) VVAM01 20221Chemical Engineering (M.Sc.Eng.)
- Abstract
- As the world's population grows, concerns about water scarcity and rising pollution such as phosphorus and nitrogen have increased significantly. Greywater has been considered by researchers as an ideal alternative to fresh water for decades, and several projects have been implemented to treat and recycle it for various reuse purposes. Greywater, which makes up about 80% of household water consumption, is treated and reused by different treatment methods. One of the parameters that should be largely eliminated is phosphorus, the large amount of which causes many problems in human health and the environment, including eutrophication. Different treatment methods have been used to remove phosphorus. One of these most widely used methods is... (More)
- As the world's population grows, concerns about water scarcity and rising pollution such as phosphorus and nitrogen have increased significantly. Greywater has been considered by researchers as an ideal alternative to fresh water for decades, and several projects have been implemented to treat and recycle it for various reuse purposes. Greywater, which makes up about 80% of household water consumption, is treated and reused by different treatment methods. One of the parameters that should be largely eliminated is phosphorus, the large amount of which causes many problems in human health and the environment, including eutrophication. Different treatment methods have been used to remove phosphorus. One of these most widely used methods is the Enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) method, which can remove high levels of phosphorus. This method has been implemented in the Oceanhamnen project for greywater in Helsingborg. In this master thesis, the potential for phosphorus removal by using the EBPR process was investigated.
This was done by using one-year laboratory data provided by NSVA company along with two laboratory tests, P-release and 5-point titration experiments. In the early period of this master thesis, the concentration of sludge in aeration basin was significantly reduced and therefore re-inoculation process was performed by adding sludge from Öresundverket to accelerate the recovery operation. The experiments were done before and after the re-inoculation. Based on the results, despite the relatively high rate of phosphorus removal in the effluent, there was limited Bio-P activity in the system due to low sludge concentration as well as operational condition. Therefore, phosphorus removal might also occur by other mechanisms such as assimilation. Finally, by assuming that the sludge in Reco-Lab would be of the same quality of Öresundverket, the maximum potential for phosphorus removal was calculated and considered as maximum capacity of the EBPR system. However, this potential can only be considered for the Reco-Lab project with its specific condition as well as greywater characteristics. (Less) - Popular Abstract
- Greywater is gold
How greywater could save our planet from drought!
What if mankind no longer had to worry about water shortages and a drought crisis? Along with population growth and increasing water consumption, the amount of wastewater produced has also increased significantly, which if not controlled will create many challenges such as water shortages as well as environment problems. For instance, if the presence of nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen is not sufficiently removed from wastewater, it can lead to many problems including eutrophication and groundwater pollution that affect our lives. Hence, source separation as a solution has been proposed in the last two decades. The part of sewage that comes from the washing,... (More) - Greywater is gold
How greywater could save our planet from drought!
What if mankind no longer had to worry about water shortages and a drought crisis? Along with population growth and increasing water consumption, the amount of wastewater produced has also increased significantly, which if not controlled will create many challenges such as water shortages as well as environment problems. For instance, if the presence of nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen is not sufficiently removed from wastewater, it can lead to many problems including eutrophication and groundwater pollution that affect our lives. Hence, source separation as a solution has been proposed in the last two decades. The part of sewage that comes from the washing, kitchen and laundry sections is called greywater, which plays an important role since it constitutes about 80% of the household water consumption. Greywater pollution is far less than that of toilet water, which is called blackwater. Greywater as an exceptional opportunity can be treated and reused with easier and more cost-effective methods for different reuse applications, including agriculture, car wash, land wash-ing and even as drinking water!
However, in order to reuse this part, different types of pollution such as phosphorus, nitrogen as well as micro-pollutants which comes mostly from chemical products as well as contaminants that are produced in the kitchen should be greatly removed. A unique project in the city of Helsingborg, which is called Oceanhamnen, has carried out a full-scale separation process, so that the wastewater produced in this area is transported to the treatment facility through three separate pipes. These three pipes include greywater, black water, as well as food waste provide a good opportunity for nutrients recovery, energy production as well as recycling water. To fulfil the existing reuse water standards, greywater should be treated properly through different steps which is called treatment process. Phosphorus as an important parameter should be largely separated from greywater. Instead of adding different chemicals to re-move the contaminants, biological treatment methods can be successfully used to achieve high quality water in the effluent. One of the suitable methods in this section is Enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) which can remove phosphorus in greywater to a great extent.
The aim of this study was to investigate the potential for phosphorus removal from greywater by using this method. This was done through several laboratory experiments. By having high quality treated greywater, high portion of consumed water by people can be returned to the urban system and it is hoped to reduce water scarcity throughout the world. Therefore, the treatment processes should be selected carefully to meet the requirements. In the end, it can be said that greywater is the key to achieving this great goal! (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9089246
- author
- Ghassemi, Mehrzad LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- VVAM01 20221
- year
- 2022
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Greywater, EBPR, Phosphorus, Biological treatment, Water and environmental engineering
- language
- English
- id
- 9089246
- date added to LUP
- 2022-06-17 13:13:08
- date last changed
- 2022-06-17 13:13:08
@misc{9089246,
abstract = {{As the world's population grows, concerns about water scarcity and rising pollution such as phosphorus and nitrogen have increased significantly. Greywater has been considered by researchers as an ideal alternative to fresh water for decades, and several projects have been implemented to treat and recycle it for various reuse purposes. Greywater, which makes up about 80% of household water consumption, is treated and reused by different treatment methods. One of the parameters that should be largely eliminated is phosphorus, the large amount of which causes many problems in human health and the environment, including eutrophication. Different treatment methods have been used to remove phosphorus. One of these most widely used methods is the Enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) method, which can remove high levels of phosphorus. This method has been implemented in the Oceanhamnen project for greywater in Helsingborg. In this master thesis, the potential for phosphorus removal by using the EBPR process was investigated.
This was done by using one-year laboratory data provided by NSVA company along with two laboratory tests, P-release and 5-point titration experiments. In the early period of this master thesis, the concentration of sludge in aeration basin was significantly reduced and therefore re-inoculation process was performed by adding sludge from Öresundverket to accelerate the recovery operation. The experiments were done before and after the re-inoculation. Based on the results, despite the relatively high rate of phosphorus removal in the effluent, there was limited Bio-P activity in the system due to low sludge concentration as well as operational condition. Therefore, phosphorus removal might also occur by other mechanisms such as assimilation. Finally, by assuming that the sludge in Reco-Lab would be of the same quality of Öresundverket, the maximum potential for phosphorus removal was calculated and considered as maximum capacity of the EBPR system. However, this potential can only be considered for the Reco-Lab project with its specific condition as well as greywater characteristics.}},
author = {{Ghassemi, Mehrzad}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Potential for Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal in an activated sludge system for greywater}},
year = {{2022}},
}