A microwave-enhanced advanced oxidation process to treat municipal wastewater sludge and as a pretreatment for anaerobic digestion
department or school: Applied Science, Faculty of
department or school: Civil Engineering, Department of
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCV
creator: Caufield, Christopher
issued: 2019-04-10T15:46:44Z
issued: 2019
related degree: Master of Applied Science - MASc
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Sewage sludge is a by-product of wastewater treatment. It is considered a waste product and is generally disposed of in landfills; yet sludge is rich in nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus â essential for plant life and valuable in agricultural fertilizers. However, getting these nutrients out of sludge is not always easy. The microwave-enhanced advanced oxidation process (MW-AOP) is a treatment method effective at releasing these nutrients from sewage sludge. The MW-AOP incorporates microwave irradiation with hydrogen peroxide, a combination that attacks the organic fraction of the sewage sludge and releases nutrients, proteins, and amino acids. MW-AOP-treated sludge also shows promise for anaerobic digestion, a process where organic matter is converted to methane. Previous studies in this research group used pilot-scale MW-AOP systems to treat sludge and other organic slurries. This current study focused on two aspects of MW-AOP: installing and operating a larger 25 kW MW-AOP system to treat municipal wastewater sludge; and studying the effects of MW-AOP-treated sludge used as a feed substrate for anaerobic digestion. The 25 kW MW-AOP system was consistent with expected results: volatile fatty acids (VFA) and solubilized chemical oxygen demand (COD) increased; total suspended solids (TSS) decreased; nitrogen and phosphorus were solubilized, as were calcium, magnesium, and potassium. The system was easily able to treat 100 litres of sludge, as opposed to 20 litres in past experiments using a 5 kW MW-AOP system. Based on the results of this study, the 25 kW MW-AOP system would be capable of treating larger quantities of sludge to desired standards. This study also showed that MW-AOP-treated sludge could be a good candidate for high-rate anaerobic digestion, especially in terms of sludge reduction. Using the MW-AOP-treated sludge as a feed substrate for anaerobic digestion showed that volatile solids (VS) and COD were greatly reduced when compared with raw sludge …
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/69556
note: A MICROWAVE-ENHANCED ADVANCED OXIDATION PROCESS TO TREAT MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER SLUDGE AND AS A PRETREATMENT FOR ANAEROBIC DIGESTION by Christopher Caufield B.A.Sc, The University of British Columbia, 2017 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF APPLIED SCIENCE in The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (Civil Engineering) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) April 2019 © Christopher Caufield, 2019 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, a thesis/dissertation entitled: A Microwave-Enhanced Advanced Oxidation Process to Treat Municipal Wastewater Sludge and as a Pretreatment for Anaerobic Digestion submitted by Christopher Caufield in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Applied Science in Civil Engineering Examining Committee: Victor Lo, Civil Engineering Supervisor Don Mavinic, Civil Engineering Supervisory Committee Member Supervisory Committee Member Additional Examiner Additional Supervisory Committee Members: Supervisory Committee Member Supervisory Committee Member iii Abstract Sewage sludge is a by-product of wastewater treatment. It is considered a waste product and is generally disposed of in landfills; yet sludge is rich in nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus â essential for plant life and valuable in agricultural fertilizers. However, getting these nutrients out of sludge is not always easy. The microwave-enhanced advanced oxidation process (MW-AOP) is a treatment method effective at releasing these nutrients from sewage sludge. The MW-AOP incorporates microwave irradiation with hydrogen peroxide, a combination that attacks the organic fraction of the sewage sludge and releases nutrients, proteins, and amino acids. MW-AOP-treated sludge also shows promise for anaerobic digestion, a process where organic matter is converted to methane. Previous studies in thi…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2019-05
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0378086
language: eng
degree discipline: Civil Engineering
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/69556