Algae &
Wastewater Treatment
Putting Algae To
Work For Sludge Processing
By Peter Chawaga,
Associate Editor, Water Online
When the
general population thinks about biosolids and sludge, if they do at all, they
probably don’t have the full picture in mind.
As an
aspect of wastewater treatment that the public prefers not to think about,
sludge requires a huge amount of effort on the part of treatment plants to
process.
While that
procedure has always been labor-intensive, an innovative use of algae may
change things.
Ovivo, a
water and wastewater treatment technology provider, teamed up with researchers
from the University of Akron to develop its BioAlgaNyx technology, a
bioengineered algae for wastewater sludge management.
“Ovivo funded
fundamental research in order to establish BioAlgaNyx technology’s capabilities
for enhancing aerobic and anaerobic sludge stabilization and digestion and its
ability to capture organic carbon from high-strength wastewater,” said a company spokesperson.
“In addition, Ovivo
has been running field pilots to confirm the technology’s scalability and its
effectiveness under actual site conditions.”
Ovivo saw
an opportunity to improve the laborious process of sludge handling that has
long plagued wastewater treatment operations.
BioAlgaNyx
utilizes phagotrophic algae, which
feed by ingesting particles, as opposed to the phototrophic algae, which feed using photosynthesis, that are
typically leveraged for treatment solutions.
The
technology creates an environment low in dissolved oxygen which encourages the
algae to ingest bacteria and dissolved organics.
They store
the organic carbon as lipids and, without cell walls, can digest it quickly.
“Assuming that a 1 MGD
plant generates approximately one ton of waste sludge, the biosolids management
poses a significant challenge in terms of resource recovery, treatment, and
disposal for these facilities,” the spokesperson said.
“BioAlgaNyx provides
treatment plant operators a simple option for sludge pretreatment which leads
to enhanced digestion rates.”
Ovivo has
said that the technology leads to a 20 to 30 percent increase in volatile
solids destruction while providing a 50 to 75 percent reduction in sludge
holding tank volumes.
This can
help plants achieve Class B biosolids designation, a U.S. EPA label for treated
sewage sludge appropriate for use as fertilizer.
There are
other benefits as well, including the lower capital and O&M costs thanks to
a smaller digester footprint. Sludge hauling costs should also be reduced with
enhanced digestion.
Furthermore,
plants that adopt BioAlgaNyx have more potential for resource recovery.
“Plants with aerobic
or anaerobic digesters can expand their capacity using the existing tankage and
plants with co-digestion can now have the option of capturing organic carbon
from the sludge and food-grade waste,” said the
spokesperson.
“The organic carbon
can then be converted to phagotrophic algae with high lipid content, which can
be extracted and used for biofuel production.”
While many
operations turn to thermal hydrolysis to make sludge more digestible, Ovivo
claims that this technology is a simpler method for enhancing digester
performance.
It has run
BioAlgaNyx through multiple pilot studies and is confident in its enhancement
capabilities for aerobic digestion.
In some
initial anaerobic digestion runs, the company has seen clear improvement and
plans additional testing this summer.
https://www.wateronline.com/doc/betting-on-biogas-a-wastewater-plant-s-journey-0001https://www.wateronline.com/doc/betting-on-biogas-a-wastewater-plant-s-journey-0001
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