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Applications of the microwave-enhanced advanced oxidation process

University of British Columbia

Municipal wastewater treatment using biological nutrient removal generates large amounts of waste sludge. An effort is made to solubilize nutrients from sludge and reuse them in subsequent processes. The microwave-enhanced advanced oxidation (MW/H₂O₂-AOP) process using hydrogen peroxide as the oxidant was applied to the treatment of different organic slurries including wasted sludge, blood meal, and fish silage. The factors controlling phosphates, ammonia, and COD release into solution included inorganic acid addition, hydrogen peroxide dosage, treatment times and temperatures. Higher dosages and treatment temperatures yielded better solubilization of phosphates and ammonia. It was found that approximately all of the COD was solubilized at a treatment temperature of 80°C. Volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentrations were also found to have increased with the amount of inorganic acid added into treatment. Up to 25% of soluble COD was composed of acetic acid. Higher irradiation levels tended to be more effective in the solubilization of nutrients. In terms of trends of particle size distribution, detectable particles increased in size in acidic conditions, with the largest fraction of larger particles in a given sample being the treatment with highest irradiation power. In neutral condition treatments, the higher the irradiation power provided to the samples, the more spread out the particle sizes range. In alkaline condition treatments, an increase in smaller particles were found after treatment; higher power irradiation yielded significantly higher numbers of smaller particles. This study provided an insight into the athermal effects of theMW/H₂O₂-AOP. Blood meal solubilization for the purpose of its application as an organic feritilizer was investigated using theMW/H₂O₂-AOP. It was found that over the treatment temperature range of 60 to l20C, solids particle reduction, ammonia and orthophosphate production were achieved. Maximum solubility of chemical oxygen demand (COD) occurred at 80°C. Without the addition of acid, soluble COD decreased due to protein denaturation and coagulation out of the solution. Fish silage is also a valuable fertilizer for organic greenhouse hydroponics operations, but a pretreatment step is required. It was found that up to 26% of total Kjeldahl nitrogen could be released as ammonia with 6% hydrogen peroxide dosage at 170°C. An increase of nitrate/nitrite concentration was observed with higher hydrogen peroxide dosage and higher microwave temperature.

Thesis/Dissertation

application/pdf

2009-02-02

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/4071

Civil Engineering

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/