Towards the wastewater treatment plant of the future: integration of carbon redirection and nitrogen recovery technologies

• Autores: Irene Sancho Lacalle
• Directores de la Tesis: José Luis Cortina Pallás (dir. tes.), Silvia López (codir. tes.), Nicolás De Arespacochaga Santiago (codir. tes.)
• Lectura: En la Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) ( España ) en 2018
• Idioma: español
• Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: Joan Mata-Álvarez (presid.), Xavier Gamisans Noguera (secret.), Ramón Barat Baviera (voc.)
• Programa de doctorado: Programa de Doctorado en Ingeniería de Procesos Químicos por la Universidad Politécnica de Catalunya
• Materias:
  • Ciencias tecnológicas
    • Ingeniería y tecnología químicas
      • Procesos químicos
      • Separación química
    • Ingeniería y tecnología del medio ambiente
      • Tecnología de aguas residuales
      • Control de la contaminación del agua
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• Resumen

  • Most of the urban wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), based on conventional activated sludge (CAS) systems, cannot be considered sustainable since the concept of resources (energy and nutrients) recovery is not taken into account. Notwithstanding, this paradigm can be changed by applying a new treatment concept. New technologies (or a combination of existing ones) are appearing on the scene in the recent years offering both a higher energy production and a recovery of essential nutrients present on water, such as nitrogen and phosphorus.

    This work is devoted to studying and validating of a new concept of WWTP, based on the enhancement of resources recovery from wastewater at lower cost and in a sustainable way. In a pilot plant installed in a WWTP in Spai, it was studied the integration of a pre­ concentration stage to redirect carbon through sludge to its valorisation as biogas (based on bio-sorption) and an ion-exchange unit with the purpose of recovering the inorganic nitrogen forms (e.g. ammonium) to produce fertilisers.

    The technical and economic assessment of the proposed scheme and its comparison with conventional configuration confirms the relevant role of new configurations to operate more sustainable and self-efficient plants.

    Today, the final justification for this change of concept needs to be found in performance and environmental issues as sorne improvements in the costs are still required in sorne technologies. Nonetheless, this thesis demonstrates that the economic viability for this new configuration is expected at short-term