Pretreatment of hydrothermal liquefaction aqueous from municipal sludge by hydrogen peroxide for enhanced biological treatment
department or school: Applied Science, Faculty of
department or school: Engineering, School of (Okanagan)
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCO
creator: Rahman, Nahian
issued: 2024-10-31T20:54:45Z
issued: 2024
related degree: Master of Applied Science - MASc
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: Wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) generate mixed sludge (MS) containing high volumes of organic and inorganic matter, posing treatment and disposal challenges. Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) is a potential thermo-chemical technology for converting sludge to fuel (biocrude oil) offering a smaller footprint alternative to typical sludge digestion methods such as anaerobic digestion (AD) for treating high-volume sludge. However, the large amount of aqueous by-product (HTLaq) from the HTL poses challenges for industrial-scale use. Onsite biological treatment can be a low-cost and effective solution for HTLaq. Whereas, complex substances and highly soluble organic compounds in HTLaq inhibit downstream biological treatment processes, making pretreatment of HTLaq before biological treatment a necessity for commercializing HTL in sludge management. This study used hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) to pretreat HTLaq, derived from municipal sludge cake at HTL conditions of 350ºC for 15 min residence time, and the biodegradability efficiency of pretreated HTLaq was evaluated. Previous studies used HTLaq from other feedstocks. Quenchers, such as sodium carbonate (Na₂CO₃) and sodium sulphite (Na₂SO₃), were used to remove the residual H₂O₂ from the pretreated HTLaq, which caused discrepancies in total chemical oxygen demand (tCOD) results and additional inhibition in downstream biological treatment. Pretreatment of aqueous for 2 h at dosages of 0.25, 0.50, and 0.75 g H₂O₂/g COD of HTLaq, followed by a quencher addition (H₂O₂: quencher at 1:1 (w/w)) and 3 h waiting period, achieved the highest efficiency in tCOD removal from HTLaq. Approximately 18% of tCOD removal was achieved from pretreated HTLaq at 0.75 g H₂O₂/g COD with sodium carbonate as a quencher. Additionally, pretreated HTL at 0.5 g H₂O₂/g COD with Na₂CO₃ as a quencher achieved a reduction of phenolics by 50% compared to unpretreated HTLaq. Further biological degradability assessments using mesophilic and thermophilic biochemi…
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/89586
note: PRETREATMENT OF HYDROTHERMAL LIQUEFACTION AQUEOUS FROM MUNICIPAL SLUDGE BY HYDROGEN PEROXIDE FOR ENHANCED BIOLOGICAL TREATMENT by Nahian Rahman B.Sc., Islamic University of Technology, Bangladesh, 2020 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF APPLIED SCIENCE in THE COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Civil Engineering) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Okanagan) October 2024 © Nahian Rahman, 2024 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the College of Graduate Studies for acceptance, a thesis entitled: Pretreatment of Hydrothermal Liquefaction Aqueous from Municipal Sludge by Hydrogen Peroxide for Enhanced Biological Treatment submitted by Nahian Rahman in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Applied Science Examining Committee: Dr. Cigdem Eskicioglu, School of Engineering Supervisor Dr. Nicolas Peleato, School of Engineering Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Alyse Kiesser, School of Engineering Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Joshua Brinkerhoff, School of Engineering University Examiner iii Abstract Wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) generate mixed sludge (MS) containing high volumes of organic and inorganic matter, posing treatment and disposal challenges. Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) is a potential thermo-chemical technology for converting sludge to fuel (biocrude oil) offering a smaller footprint alternative to typical sludge digestion methods such as anaerobic digestion (AD) for treating high-volume sludge. However, the large amount of aqueous by-product (HTLaq) from the HTL poses challenges for industrial-scale use. Onsite biological treatment can be a low-cost and effective solution for HTLaq. Whereas, complex substances and highly soluble organic compounds in HTLaq inhibit downstream biological treatment processes, making pretreatment of HTLaq before biological treatment a necessity for commercializing HTL in sludge management. This study used hydro…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2025-02
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0447189
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
contributor: Eskicioglu, Cigdem
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/89586