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A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "A4: Bio-Energy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2021) | Viewed by 39025

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Young Mo Kim

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Guest Editor

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul 04763, Korea
Interests: biological wastewater treatment; nutrient removal; anaerobic digestion; organic waste; resource recovery

Dr. Sungjun Bae

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Guest Editor

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, Konkuk University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Interests: energy/resource recovery from environmental pollutants using nanotechnology; development of Green-SMART remedial nano technology (soil and groundwater); development of redox catalysts for water and wastewater treatment; controlling fate and transport of radionuclides by geo-biochemical reactions
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We invite submissions to a Special Issue of the journal Energies on the topic of Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery.

The role of energy self-sufficiency in sustainable wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) has become a hot topic around the world. To achieve carbon-neutral operations, proposals have included resource and recovery from WWTPs. Pursuing sustainable processes involves the recovery of many useful resources such as chemicals, nutrients, energy, and even water itself. In this respect, wastewater can be viewed as a source of resources and energy. After extraction of nutrients and organic energy, effluent, as a byproduct, can be recycled. Recovery of organic matter recovery can contribute to lowering both sludge production and greenhouse gases emissions, while nutrient recovery can alleviate depletion of nutrient deposits on earth.

This Special Issue of Energies addresses state-of-the-art findings and improvements in wastewater treatment, resource recovery, anaerobic digestion, co-digestion, carbon capture, biofuels production, biogas upgrading, greenhouse gases emissions, and the microbial community. Original submissions focusing on fundamental and/or practical issues related to all subfields of wastewater treatment and resource recovery are welcome. This Special Issue will include but is not limited to:

Dr. Young Mo Kim
Prof. Dr. Sungjun Bae
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

Wastewater treatment
Resource recovery linked to wastewater treatment
Sustainability
Anaerobic digestion
Co-digestion
Technologies for enhance carbon capture
Microbial community
Sludge treatment
Innovative reactor
Biofuels production
Biogases
Modeling
Greenhouse gases emissions
Field-scale practices and case studies

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Published Papers (12 papers)

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Editorial

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4 pages, 190 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Carbon-Neutrality in Wastewater Treatment Plants: Advanced Technologies for Efficient Operation and Energy/Resource Recovery

by Sungjun Bae and Young Mo Kim

Energies 2021, 14(24), 8514; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14248514 - 17 Dec 2021

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2721

Abstract

Recently, “carbon neutrality”, the state of net-zero carbon dioxide emission, has been one of the most frequently used terms in the sustainable development of environmental and energy industries [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery)

Research

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12 pages, 3000 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Magnetic Steel Slag Biochar for Ammonium Nitrogen Removal from Aqueous Solution

by Gyuhyeon Kim, Young Mo Kim, Su Min Kim, Hyun Uk Cho and Jong Moon Park

Energies 2021, 14(9), 2682; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14092682 - 7 May 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2734

Abstract

In this study, magnetic steel slag biochar (MSSB) was synthesized from low-cost steel slag waste to investigate the effectiveness of steel slag biochar composite for NH₄-N removal and magnetic properties in aqueous solution. The maximum adsorption capacity of NH₄-N by MSSB was 4.366 mg/g according to the Langmuir model. The magnetic properties of MSSB indicated paramagnetic behavior and a saturation magnetic moment of 2.30 emu/g at 2 Tesla. The NH₄-N adsorption process was well characterized by the pseudo-second order kinetic model and Temkin isotherm model. This study demonstrated the potential of magnetic biochar synthesized from steel slag waste for NH₄-N removal in aqueous solution. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery)

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15 pages, 5469 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of NaOH Activation on Adsorptive Removal of Herbicides by Biochars Prepared from Ground Coffee Residues

by Yong-Gu Lee, Jaegwan Shin, Jinwoo Kwak, Sangwon Kim, Changgil Son, Kyung Hwa Cho and Kangmin Chon

Energies 2021, 14(5), 1297; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14051297 - 26 Feb 2021

Cited by 28 | Viewed by 2996

Abstract

In this study, the adsorption of herbicides using ground coffee residue biochars without (GCRB) and with NaOH activation (GCRB-N) was compared to provide deeper insights into their adsorption behaviors and mechanisms. The physicochemical characteristics of GCRB and GCRB-N were analyzed using Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction and the effects of pH, temperature, ionic strength, and humic acids on the adsorption of herbicides were identified. Moreover, the adsorption kinetics and isotherms were studied. The specific surface area and total pore volume of GCRB-N (405.33 m²/g and 0.293 cm³/g) were greater than those of GCRB (3.83 m²/g and 0.014 cm³/g). The GCBR-N could more effectively remove the herbicides (Q_e,exp of Alachlor = 122.71 μmol/g, Q_e,exp of Diuron = 166.42 μmol/g, and Q_e,exp of Simazine = 99.16 μmol/g) than GCRB (Q_e,exp of Alachlor = 11.74 μmol/g, Q_e,exp of Diuron = 9.95 μmol/g, and Q_e,exp of Simazine = 6.53 μmol/g). These results suggested that chemical activation with NaOH might be a promising option to make the GCRB more practical and effective for removing herbicides in the aqueous solutions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery)

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29 pages, 9193 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Life Cycle Assessment of Municipal Wastewater Treatment Processes Regarding Energy Production from the Sludge Line

by Paulina Szulc, Jędrzej Kasprzak, Zbysław Dymaczewski and Przemysław Kurczewski

Energies 2021, 14(2), 356; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14020356 - 12 Jan 2021

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3794

Abstract

The efficient and timely removal of organic matter and nutrients from water used in normal municipal functions is considered to be the main task of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Therefore, these facilities are considered to be essential units that are required to avoid pollution of the water environment and decrease the possibility of triggering eutrophication. Even though these benefits are undeniable, they remain at odds with the high energy demand of wastewater treatment and sludge processes. As a consequence, WWTPs have various environmental impacts, which can be estimated and categorized using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) analysis. In this study, a municipal WWTP based in Poznań, Poland, was examined using the method defined in ISO 14040. ReCiPe Endpoint and Midpoint (v1.11), in a hierarchical approach, were used to evaluate the environmental impacts regarding 18 different categories. All calculations were conducted using a detailed database from 2019, which describes each chosen facility. It was found that the energy component, related to the wastewater treatment process demand and electricity production, is the main determinant of the sum of the environmental impact indicators in light of the modelled energy mix. Therefore, it determines the entire process as an environmentally friendly activity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery)

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13 pages, 5302 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Cost Optimization of Wastewater and Septage Treatment Process

by Beata Karolinczak, Rafał Miłaszewski and Wojciech Dąbrowski

Energies 2020, 13(23), 6406; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13236406 - 3 Dec 2020

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2519

Abstract

Analysis of the current knowledge has revealed the lack of a method for increasing the cost-effectiveness of wastewater and septage treatment in plants overloaded by contamination. This was the premise for undertaking research on the process of septage pre-treatment in a subsurface vertical flow constructed wetland (SS-VF) prior to its input into the biological section of a municipal treatment plant. In previous research the authors have indicated that this allows for a significant reduction in the value of pollution indicators. The objective of this paper is to assess the cost-effectiveness of this process by means of an optimization model. The decision variable was the coefficient of septage stream distribution into the quantity directed to the SS-VF bed in relation to its total quantity. The optimization criterion was the minimization of the expected annual cost of wastewater and septage treatment. Verification of the model has shown that it is reasonable to subject all septage to the pre-treatment in a SS-VF bed for small wastewater treatment plant (WWTPs) located in rural areas. The bigger the septage pollution load is, the greater the reduction in the treatment costs. The proposed solution is less cost-effective in urban areas, where the construction of a SS-VF bed requires land purchase and additional costs of its adjustment. Optimization results largely depend on the cost function, so it is important to build it on reliable local data. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery)

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18 pages, 6089 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Synergistic Co-Digestion of Microalgae and Primary Sludge to Enhance Methane Yield from Temperature-Phased Anaerobic Digestion

by Mekdimu Mezemir Damtie, Jingyeong Shin, Hyun Min Jang and Young Mo Kim

Energies 2020, 13(17), 4547; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13174547 - 2 Sep 2020

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2692

Abstract

A two-stage temperature-phased mesophilic anaerobic digestion assay was carried out to study the interaction between various biological pretreatment conditions and the possible synergistic co-digestion of microalgae and primary sludge. The study of growth kinetics of the biochemical methane potential test revealed that a maximum of 36% increase in methane yield was observed from co-digestion of a substrate pretreated by thermophilic aerobic conditions (55 °C and HRT = 2 days) and an 8.3% increase was obtained from the anaerobic pretreated substrate (55 °C and HRT = 3 days). Moreover, no synergistic effects on methane yields were observed in co-digesting the substrate pretreated with high temperature (85 °C). The study also identified specific conditions in which interaction between biological pretreatment and co-digestion might substantially reduce methane yield. Careful optimization of operating conditions, both aerobic and anaerobic pretreatment at moderate thermophilic conditions, can be used as a biological pretreatment to enhance methane yield from the co-digestion of microalgae and primary sludge. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery)

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13 pages, 2947 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Modified Anodes on the Performance and Microbial Community of Microbial Fuel Cells Using Swine Wastewater

by Hongjun Ni, Kaixuan Wang, Shuaishuai Lv, Xingxing Wang, Jiaqiao Zhang, Lu Zhuo and Fei Li

Energies 2020, 13(15), 3980; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13153980 - 2 Aug 2020

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 2768

Abstract

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) have emerged as a sustainable technology for wastewater treatment that has potential to recycle bioelectricity from livestock wastewater. The performance of MFCs is influenced by the synergistic effect of anode material with nearby microorganisms. In this study, three identical double-chambered MFCs with different anode carbon clothes using swine wastewater are established. The optimization mechanism of MFC performance is analyzed by anode characteristics, cell performance, and microbial community, respectively. The results show that the surface structure and properties of the anode carbon cloth can be obviously improved by the acid–heat-modified treatment. The community structure of anodic biofilm, which varied with different modification methods, was mainly dominated by Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Bacteroidetes. These findings demonstrate efficient and simple methods for improving the performance of MFCs based on swine wastewater and may help to explore the influence mechanism of different modified anodes on the exoelectrogens. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery)

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19 pages, 5311 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Absorption of Cu(II) and Zn(II) from Aqueous Solutions onto Biochars Derived from Apple Tree Branches

by Shixiang Zhao, Na Ta and Xudong Wang

Energies 2020, 13(13), 3498; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13133498 - 7 Jul 2020

Cited by 30 | Viewed by 2805

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the adsorption of Cu(II) and Zn(II) onto apple tree branches biochar (BC) produced at 300, 400, 500 and 600 °C (BC300, BC400, BC500, and BC600), respectively. The effect of adsorbent dosage, pH value, contact time, initial concentration of Cu(II) or Zn(II), and temperature on the adsorption process were investigated. The result showed that 5 g BC·L⁻¹ was the optimal dosage to remove Cu(II) and Zn(II) from wastewater and the maximum adsorption efficiency was achieved at a pH of 5.0 for all the BCs when the initial concentration of Cu(II) and Zn(II) were 64 and 65 mg L⁻¹, respectively. Adsorption kinetics and isotherm experiments showed that the pseudo-second order equation and the Langmuir isotherm could best describe the adsorption process, indicating that the adsorption of Cu(II) and Zn(II) onto BCs were monolayer processes and chemisorption was the rate limiting step. The values of ΔG⁰ for the absorption of Cu(II) and Zn(II) on all BCs were negative, while the values of ΔH⁰ were positive, suggesting that the absorption was a spontaneous endothermic process. The mechanisms of BC adsorption of metal ions adsorption include surface precipitation, ion exchange, and minor contribution by cation-π interaction. BC500 had highest Cu(II) and Zn(II) adsorption capacity under various conditions (except at pH 2.0). The maximum adsorption capacities of Cu(II) and Zn(II) on BC500 were 11.41 and 10.22 mg·g⁻¹, respectively. Therefore, BC derived from apple tree branches produced at 500 °C can be used as an adsorbent to remove Cu(II) and Zn(II) from wastewater. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery)

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18 pages, 4292 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Hydrothermal Desorption of Cs with Oxalic Acid from Hydrobiotite and Wastewater Treatment by Chemical Precipitation

by Sung-Man Kim, In-Ho Yoon, Ilgook Kim, June-Hyun Kim and So-Jin Park

Energies 2020, 13(12), 3284; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13123284 - 25 Jun 2020

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3577

Abstract

A hydrobiotite (HBT) clay contains more cesium (Cs)-specific adsorption sites than illitic clay, and the capacity of frayed edge sites can increase as the weathering of micaceous minerals proceeds. Thus, Cs can be selectively adsorbed to HBT clay. In this study, we investigated the removal efficiency of non-radioactive (¹³³Cs) and radioactive (¹³⁷Cs) Cs from HBT, using oxalic acid. We found the minimum optimal concentration of 0.15 M oxalic acid removed more than 90% of Cs. Subsequently, cations and Cs ions were removed using Ca(OH)₂ and sodium tetraphenylborate (NaTPB) to treat the washing wastewater generated at the optimum concentration of the desorbent (0.15 M oxalic acid). In order to remove cations and heavy metal ions in the waste solution, Ca(OH)₂ was treated at a mass ratio of 0.025 g/mL and pH 9–10 to derive optimal conditions. As a final step, to remove Cs, NaTPB was treated with a mass ratio of 2 mg/mL and reduced to below 0.1 mg/L Cs to find the optimal dose. The novelty of this study is that the amount of radioactive waste can be drastically reduced by removing the non-radioactive cations and heavy metals separately in the first step and removing the remaining radioactive Cs in the second step. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery)

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11 pages, 2187 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Concentration Variations on the Performance and Microbial Community in Microbial Fuel Cell Using Swine Wastewater

by Hongjun Ni, Kaixuan Wang, Shuaishuai Lv, Xingxing Wang, Lu Zhuo and Jiaqiao Zhang

Energies 2020, 13(9), 2231; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13092231 - 3 May 2020

Cited by 34 | Viewed by 3025

Abstract

The variation of substrate concentration in anode chamber directly affects the power generation efficiency and decontamination performance of microbial fuel cell (MFC). In this study, three concentrations of swine wastewater with 800 mg/L, 1600 mg/L and 2500 mg/L were selected as substrates, and the performance of MFC and response characteristics of anode microbial community were investigated. The results show that the concentration of a selected substrate is positively correlated with the output voltage of MFC and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal rate. The microbial community diversity in the anode chamber and the performance of battery can be significantly affected when concentration changes in different ways, which helps to selectively cultivate the adaptable dominant bacteria to enhance the stability and decontamination performance of MFC. The community structure of anodic biofilm is mainly composed of Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Chloroflexi and Spirochaetae. These findings are meaningful to improve the treatment effects of swine wastewater and can help to find out the mechanism of varying concentration that influences the production of microorganisms in MFC. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery)

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11 pages, 2874 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Enhanced Degradation of Pharmaceutical Compounds by a Microbubble Ozonation Process: Effects of Temperature, pH, and Humic Acids

by Yong-Gu Lee, Yongeun Park, Gwanghee Lee, Yeongkwan Kim and Kangmin Chon

Energies 2019, 12(22), 4373; https://doi.org/10.3390/en12224373 - 17 Nov 2019

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 3156

Abstract

This study systematically investigated the feasibility of the microbubble ozonation process to degrade the 17α-ethinylestradiol, ibuprofen, and atenolol through the comparison with the millibubble ozonation process for elucidating the degradation behavior and mechanisms during the microbubble ozonation processes. The proportions of small microbubbles (diameter 1–25 μm) were increased with increasing the cavity pump frequency (40 Hz: 51.4%; 50 Hz: 57.5%; 60 Hz: 59.9%). The increased concentrations of O₃ and OH radicals due to the higher specific area of O₃ microbubbles compared to O₃ millibubbles could facilitate their mass transfer at the gas–water interface. Furthermore, the elevated reactivity of O₃ by increasing the temperature might improve the degradation of the pharmaceutical compounds, which was more pronounced for the microbubble ozonated waters than the millibubble ozonated waters. Although the degradation efficiency of the pharmaceutical compounds during the microbubble ozonation processes was significantly influenced by the existence of humic acids compared to the millibubble ozonation process, the increased solubilization rate of O₃ and OH radicals by collapsing O₃ microbubbles enhanced the degradation of the pharmaceutical compounds. Overall, these results clearly showed that the microbubble ozonation process could be an alternative option to conventional ozonation processes for the abatement of the pharmaceutical compounds. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery)

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Other

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28 pages, 3559 KiB

Open AccessCase Report

Advanced Wastewater Treatment to Eliminate Organic Micropollutants in Wastewater Treatment Plants in Combination with Energy-Efficient Electrolysis at WWTP Mainz

by Oliver Gretzschel, Michael Schäfer, Heidrun Steinmetz, Erich Pick, Kim Kanitz and Stefan Krieger

Energies 2020, 13(14), 3599; https://doi.org/10.3390/en13143599 - 13 Jul 2020

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4918

Abstract

To achieve the Paris climate protection goals there is an urgent need for action in the energy sector. Innovative concepts in the fields of short-term flexibility, long-term energy storage and energy conversion are required to defossilize all sectors by 2040. Water management is already involved in this field with biogas production and power generation and partly with using flexibility options. However, further steps are possible. Additionally, from a water management perspective, the elimination of organic micropollutants (OMP) is increasingly important. In this feasibility study a concept is presented, reacting to energy surplus and deficits from the energy grid and thus providing the needed long-term storage in combination with the elimination of OMP in municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The concept is based on the operation of an electrolyzer, driven by local power production on the plant (photovoltaic (PV), combined heat and power plant (CHP)-units) as well as renewable energy from the grid (to offer system service: automatic frequency restoration reserve (aFRR)), to produce hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen is fed into the local gas grid and oxygen used for micropollutant removal via upgrading it to ozone. The feasibility of such a concept was examined for the WWTP in Mainz (Germany). It has been shown that despite partially unfavorable boundary conditions concerning renewable surplus energy in the grid, implementing electrolysis operated with regenerative energy in combination with micropollutant removal using ozonation and activated carbon filter is a reasonable and sustainable option for both, the climate and water protection. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery)

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