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US 2018/0282189 A1Published application
Struvite precipitation and microbial fuel cell for recovery of nutrients and energy from digester effluent
AssigneeUniversity of South Florida
InventorsJeffrey Allen Cunningham, Kevin Daniel Orner, James R. Mihelcic
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Abstract
Provided are wastewater treatment processes that involves struvite precipitation and a microbial fuel cell for the recovery of nutrients and energy from a digester effluent.
Claims20
A wastewater treatment process comprising:
- forming struvite precipitation from a liquid influent processed through a wastewater digester to thereby generate a first liquid effluent with a phosphorus concentration of less than 5%;
- providing the first liquid effluent to a nitrification reactor to convert ammonium in the first liquid effluent to nitrate or nitrite thereby generating a second liquid effluent;
- providing the second liquid effluent to a microbial fuel cell, wherein the microbial fuel cell includes an anodic chamber for organic decomposition, a cathodic chamber for denitritation/denitrification;
- and
- the microbial fuel cell generating energy and a third liquid effluent substantially free of nitrogen and phosphorus.
2 more elements
A wastewater treatment process comprising:
- digesting waste activated sludge in an anaerobic digester to generate an digester effluent;
- centrifuging the digester effluent to produce a liquid influent;
- forming struvite precipitation from the liquid influent to thereby generate a first liquid effluent, wherein the phosphorus concentration in the first liquid effluent is reduced compared to the phosphorus concentration in the liquid influent;
- providing the first liquid effluent to a fixed-film nitrification reactor to convert ammonium in the first liquid effluent to nitrate or nitrite thereby generating a second liquid effluent comprising nitrate, nitrite, or a mixture thereof;
- and
- providing the second liquid effluent and an influent primary wastewater or other electron-donating organic substrate to a microbial fuel cell, wherein the microbial fuel cell comprises an anodic chamber for organic decomposition and a cathodic chamber for denitritation, denitrification, or both, wherein the second liquid effluent is provided to the cathodic chamber and the influent primary wastewater or other electron-donating organic substrate is provided to the anodic chamber, whereby the microbial fuel cell generates energy and a third liquid effluent is generated having reduced amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus compared to the waste activated sludge.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.