Deployment and Optimisation of a Pilot-Scale IASBR System for Treatment of Dairy Processing Wastewater

Peter Leonard, Eoghan Clifford, William Finnegan, Alma Siggins and Xinmin Zhan
Additional contact information
Peter Leonard: Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, National University of Ireland, H91 HX31 Galway, Ireland
Eoghan Clifford: Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, National University of Ireland, H91 HX31 Galway, Ireland
William Finnegan: Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, National University of Ireland, H91 HX31 Galway, Ireland
Alma Siggins: Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, National University of Ireland, H91 HX31 Galway, Ireland
Xinmin Zhan: Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, College of Science and Engineering, National University of Ireland, H91 HX31 Galway, Ireland

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 21, 1-17

Abstract: Increased pressure is being applied to industrial wastewater treatment facilities to adhere to more stringent regulations for the discharge of treated wastewater and to improve energy efficiency of the process. Nitrogen and phosphorous removal can be challenging to achieve efficiently, and in the case of phosphorous removal, can often necessitate the use of chemicals. There is a major drive globally to improve wastewater treatment infrastructure, whilst simultaneously reducing the carbon footprint of the process. The intermittently aerated sequencing batch reactor offers a modification of the well-known sequencing batch reactor process that can enable lower energy requirements than conventional sequencing batch reactor processes and can facilitate enhanced nutrient removal capacities. However, to date much of the previous literature has focused on relatively short laboratory-scale trials (often with synthetic wastewater) which may not be representative of larger scale system performance. This study explored the intermittently aerated sequencing batch reactor technology via a case-study deployment at a dairy production facility, in terms of treatment efficiency and energy efficiency with a focus on optimisation between phases. High treatment capacity and operational flexibility was achieved with NH 4 -N removals averaging >89%, PO 4 -P removal averaging >90% and total suspended solids removal averaging >97%. This research demonstrates the characteristics of intermittently aerated sequencing batch reactor technology at scale to effectively achieve biological nutrient removal. In addition, this study demonstrated that when effectively managed, energy savings and reductions in carbon emissions in the region of 36–68% are achievable through optimisation of reactor operation.

Keywords: activated sludge; aeration; biological nitrogen removal; biological phosphorus removal; dairy processing; energy efficiency; intermittently aerated sequencing batch reactor; sustainable built environment; waste management; wastewater treatment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/21/7365/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/21/7365/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:21:p:7365-:d:672765

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().