Anaerobic Waste-Water Treatment

A Documentation on

Anaerobic waste water Treatment

Submitted to

Dr. Hamid Manzoor

Prepared by Muhammad Gulsher Jawaria 15-MPBT-13 16-MPBT-13

Institute of Molecular Biology and biotechnology

Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, Pakistan.

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History of Anaerobic Waste-water Treatment

Until the beginning of the 20th Century, common sewage treatment was landspreading. From this, trickling filter treatment was developed. Due to the increasing amount of concentrated sewage, scientists looked for intensive treatment without the aid of filters. The first anaerobic digester was built by a leper colony in Bombay, India, in 1859. Since 1890, both in the U.K. and the U.S., trials were made to relieve obnoxious conditions arising from wastewater, by blowing air through the water phase. In 1907, in Germany, a patent was issued for the Imhoff tank an early form of anaerobic digester. It was around 1912 that a big advance was made, not discharging the flocculent biological solids, but using them over and over again. Research on anaerobic digestion began in earnest in the 1930.The principle of "activated sludge" was first described by Ardern and Lockett (1914) and later by Sawyer (1965). Hence, all together, aerobic treatment is about 100 years old. Only in recent years the emphasis of aerobic wastewater treatment truly shifted from the technological hardware to the biotechnological software.

Shift & Advances Toward Anaerobic Waste-Water Treatment

At the end of the 19th Century, the important advance towards anaerobic treatment of the suspended solids of wastewater was made. The industrial approach of sludge digestion was realized at the turn of the century in the U.K. The first heated tank was installed in 1927 in Germany (McCarty 1982). In contrast to aerobic treatment, the recognition of the biological phenomena occurring in the digestion process started at the same time as this technology came to existence.

Anaerobic Wastewater Treatment

Anaerobic wastewater treatment uses biological agents in an oxygen-free environment to remove impurities from wastewater. After undergoing such a treatment, water can be safely released back into the environment.The biological agents used in the process are microorganisms that consume or break down biodegradable materials in sludge, or the solid portion of wastewater following its filtration from polluted water.Anaerobic wastewater treatment is also known as anaerobic digestion due to the action of the microorganisms. That is, they are essentially "digesting" the polluted parts of the water. An excellent way to decrease the amount of organic matter leftover in things such as sewage and leftover food, anaerobic digestion is typically a component of any biological wastewater treatment system. Anaerobic wastewater treatment is the biological treatment of wastewater without the use of air or elemental oxygen. Many applications are directed towards the removal of organic pollution in wastewater, slurries and sludges. The organic pollutants are converted by anaerobic microorganisms to a gas containing methane and carbon dioxide, known as "biogas" (see Figure 1 below).

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Figure 1. Conversion of Organic Pollutants to Biogas by Anaerobic Microorganisms

Types Of Bacteria Used Anaerobic Waste-Water Treatment

The three trophic groups broadly involved in the sequential biodegradation of the polluting material are as follows. 1 Fermentative/hydrolytic bacteria (group 1) A group of facultative and obligate bacteria able to secrete extracellular enzymes that hydrolyse complex polymers, such as proteins, lipids and polysaccharides. Their products include a range of volatile fatty acids (VFAs; mainly acetic, butyric and propionic acids), along with CO2, hydrogen, methanol and trace compounds. 2 Acetogenic bacteria (group 2) Including species of Syntrophomonas and Syntrophobacter. They metabolize the endproducts from the group 1 microorganisms, primarily forming acetic acid, CO2 and hydrogen. 3 Methanogenic bacteria (group 3) A selection of strict obligate anaerobes associated with methane production, classified into two types. The acetotrophs such as Methanosarcina break down acetic acid into methane and CO2, whereas the hydrogenotrophs reduce CO2 with the simultaneous oxidation of hydrogen to form methane and water. For example, Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum synthesizes methane from CO2 and hydrogen in seven steps.

Anaerobic digesters
Anaerobic digesters can be designed and engineered to operate using two important process configurations:

Batch Continuous

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Batch Anaerobic digestors:

In a batch system biomass is added to the reactor at the start of the process. The reactor is then sealed for the duration of the process. In its simplest form batch processing needs inoculation with already processed material to start the anaerobic digestion. In a typical scenario, biogas production will be formed with a normal distribution pattern over time. Operators can use this fact to determine when they believe the process of digestion of the organic matter has completed. There can be severe odour issues if a batch reactor is opened and emptied before the process is well completed. A more advanced type of batch approach has limited the odour issues by integrating anaerobic digestion with in-vessel composting. In this approach inoculation takes place through the use of recirculated degasified percolate. After anaerobic digestion has completed, the biomass is kept in the reactor which is then used for in-vessel composting before it is opened. As the batch digestion is simple and requires less equipment and lower levels of design work, it is typically a cheaper form of digestion. Using more than one batch reactor at a plant can ensure constant production of biogas.

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Continuous Digester:

In continuous digestion processes, organic matter is constantly added (continuous complete mixed) or added in stages to the reactor (continuous plug flow; first in first out). Here, the end products are constantly or periodically removed, resulting in constant production of biogas. A single or multiple digesters in sequence may be used. Examples of this form of anaerobic digestion include continuous stirred-tank reactors, upflow anaerobic sludge blankets, expanded granular sludge beds and internal circulation reactors

Steps Of Anaerobic Waste-Water Treatment

Municipal wastewater (sewage) can be treated in tropical countries with "high rate" anaerobic technologies. "High rate" anaerobic treatment is a mature technology. At least 1200 fullscale plants have been documented world-wide for the treatment of industrial effluents (the actual number is estimated at 2500).
The steps are:

Sulfate reduction Removal and recovery of heavy metals Sulfur removal and recovery Denitrification for the removal of nitrates Bioremediation for the breakdown of toxic priority pollutants to harmless products

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Sulfate Reduction: Sulfate reducing bacteria can be utilized to convert sulfate (SO42-) or sulfite (SO32-) to sulfide (S2-) as shown in Figure 3. The bacteria utilize electron-donating substrates present in wastewater (organic pollution) or added substrates for the reduction of sulfate. The substrates are either partially oxidized (eg. to acetate) or fully oxidized to carbon dioxide. Sulfate behaves as an alternative electron acceptor to support anaerobic respiration. The formation of biogenic sulfide is the first step in biotechnological processes directed at the removal and recovery of sulfur or heavy metals.

Figure3.Sulfatereductionprocess,resulting in the formation of biogenic sulfide.

Heavy metal removal and recovery: Biogenic sulfides form highly insoluble precipitates with heavy metals (such as copper or zinc). Thus the sulfides can precipitate soluble heavy metals in wastewater streams or polluted groundwater as shown in Figure 4. The resulting metal sulfides precipitates can be removed. Since the metals ions are highly concentrated in the precipitate, they can be recycled back into industry for reuse.

Figure 4. Precipitation of heavy metals by biogenic sulfides.

Sulfur removal and recovery: Biogenic sulfides can be partially reoxidized under microaerophilic conditions (low oxygen concentrations) by chemotrophic bacteria to form insoluble elemental sulfur (S0) as shown in Figure 5. The elemental sulfur sedimented from the wastewater and can be collected for reuse in industry. A microaerophilic sulfoxidation reactor is typically placed as a post-treatment to a sulfate reducing bioreactor in order to remove and recover sulfur. Sulfoxidation reactors can also be used to clean gas streams which contain hydrogen sulfide (H2S).

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Figure 5. Oxidation of sulfide under microaerophilic conditions by chemotrophic bacteria to elemental sulfur

Figure 6. Elemental sulfur

Denitrification: Denitrification is an anoxic process in which either an organic or inorganic electron-donating substrates are oxidized at the expense of reducing nitrate (NO3-) or nitrite (NO2-) to dinitrogen gas (N2) as shown in Figure 7. Dinitrogen is an inert gas which accounts for 70% of our atmosphere; thus the denitrification process converts nitrate- or nitrite- pollutants into a environmentally benign products. Denitrification processes are becoming popular as a post treatment method in order to remove nitrogen nutrients before treated effluents are discharged into environment. The removal of nitrogen nutrients is important to prevent eutrophication in receiving waters.

Effluents from anaerobic treatment will typically contain nitrogen in the form of ammonium (NH4+). The ammonium must first be oxidized by chemotrophic bacteria to nitrate with oxygen (known as nitrification), prior to applying the denitrification process.

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Figure 7. Denitrification process with organic substrates as electron donor, resulting in the formation of inert dinitrogen gas .

Bioremediation: Anaerobic technologies are not only suitable for the removal of bulk COD they can also be utilized for the biodegradation or biotransformation of toxic priority pollutants. Microbial communities in anaerobic environments can either cause the oxidation of the pollutants resulting in its mineralization to benign products (e.g. CO2) or they can cause the reductive biotransformation of pollutants to less toxic substances (e.g. dechlorination of polychlorinated hydrocarbons). Anaerobic bioremediation can take place in bioreactors, such as the case in the treatment of industrial effluents containing toxic pollutants. Or anaerobic bioremediation can take place in situ in groundwater or sediments at contaminated sites (Figure 8).

Figure 8. Example of a hazardous waste contaminated site

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Spectrum of Applications:
Most environmental engineers are aware that anaerobic processes are used to stabilize sludge such as a sludge digester at a municipal treatment plant. Less fully appreciated is the fact that "high rate" anaerobic wastewater treatment technologies can also be utilized to treat dilute to concentrated liquid organic wastewaters in distillery, brewery, paper manufacturing, petrochemical. Among the most successful applications of anaerobic treatment Is the oxidation of toxic pollutants is the case of the treatment of effluent in the plastic industry containing high concentrations of terephthalate. These effluents are generally high in COD and aerobic treatment would result in excessive sludge production. A complex microbial community of anaerobes is feasible to maintain in bioreactors permitting the total conversion of terephthalate to carbon dioxide and methane in high rate anaerobic bioreactors (Figure 9). Anaerobic technology has now been fully accepted as the main treatment technology for effluents of the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) industry.

Figure 9. Anaerobic biodegradation of terephthalate to carbon dioxide and methane by a complex microbial community

Comparison of Anaerobic and Aerobic Waste-Water Treatment Methods

Table 15.3 Comparison between aerobic and anaerobic waste-water treatment Aerobic Approximately 50% of biodegraded carbon is converted into new cells Approximately 50% of biodegraded carbon is converted into CO2 Fast growing (minutes to hours) No energy production Anaerobic 510% of biodegraded carbon is converted into new cells 9095% biodegraded carbon is is converted into methane and CO2 Slow growing (days) Energy produced in the form of methane

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Advantages Of Anaerobic Waste-Water Treatment

1. This inexpensive and effective means of organic waste disposal can be used as a startup waste treatment program. It can also be used to replace present systems or as a parallel adjunct to an existing system. 2. In MUNICIPAL applications, it can serve tiny communities of 500 or the largest metropolis. 3. In AGRICULTURE, the process can cleanse the waste from the largest dairy, poultry, swine or cattle farm. The effluent from the waste treatment reactor can be safely emptied into local waterways without the danger of pollution. 4. COMMERCIALLY, the Anaerobic techniques can process virtually any organic industrial waste. From hospitals to factories to large processing and manufacturing plants, the anaerobic bacterial reactor can digest and transform all organic materials into a safe, clean effluent. 5. Lower construction costs (less than 50% of conventional methods) 6. Very low maintenance 7. Conserves space 8. Odor Free 9. Expandable 10. Maximum biodegradable effectivness (over 90%) 11. Economical operation 12. No moving parts 13. Energy efficient 14. Little or no sludge 15. Easily upgrades older inefficient systems 16. Unlimited capacity 17. Reduction Of Green-House gasses emission..as Methane and Carbon Dioxide 18. Bio-gas resulting from anaerobic treatment can be harnessed, and used as an alternate energy source for cooking, lighting, heating and fuel.

Disadvantages Of Anaerobic Waste-Water Treatment

1. This process requires more heat input. 2. Anaerobic microbial communities used in process are specifically advantageous at high temperatures and high concentrations, of soluble, but particularly of insoluble, organic matter than aerobic ones. 3. The fate of various wastewater fractions in an anaerobic reactor must be examined, to determine what are the constituents which make up the influent and effluents from these reactors, and whether some pass through untreated. Much of the data in the literature shows that removal efficiencies for sewage have little correlation with organic volumetric loading rate, suggesting that certain constituents in sewage have such low degradation rates, an aerobically, that they are only slightly removed, even under the lowest loading conditions 4. Anaerobic digestion is assumed to be more sensitive to toxicants than its aerobic counterpart. 5. Though not a misconception, this assumption currently requires re-evaluation. Three main factors determine the capacity of a biological treatment system to cope with toxic and recalcitrant chemicals: The nature of the chemical conversions The ecophysiology of the microorganisms involved
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Process design and plant operation.

References:
http://www.anaerobictechnologies.com/AT_Analysis.htm http://www.fao.org/docrep/t0541e/T0541E08.htm http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-anaerobic-wastewater-treatment.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anaerobic_digestion http://www.alken-murray.com/anaerobic-biotreat.html http://www.ebsbiowizard.com/2011/08/aerobic-vs-anaerobic-treatment-in-wastewater-systemspart-2-2/

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