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Kogler A, Sharma N, Tiburcio D, Gong M, Miller DM, Williams KS, Chen X, Tarpeh WA. Long-Term Robustness and Failure Mechanisms of Electrochemical Stripping for Wastewater Ammonia Recovery. ACS ENVIRONMENTAL AU 2024; 4:89-105. [PMID: 38525023 PMCID: PMC10958661 DOI: 10.1021/acsenvironau.3c00058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2023] [Revised: 12/14/2023] [Accepted: 12/22/2023] [Indexed: 03/26/2024]
Abstract
Nitrogen in wastewater has negative environmental, human health, and economic impacts but can be recovered to reduce the costs and environmental impacts of wastewater treatment and chemical production. To recover ammonia/ammonium (total ammonia nitrogen, TAN) from urine, we operated electrochemical stripping (ECS) for over a month, achieving 83.4 ± 1.5% TAN removal and 73.0 ± 2.9% TAN recovery. With two reactors, we recovered sixteen 500-mL batches (8 L total) of ammonium sulfate (20.9 g/L TAN) approaching commercial fertilizer concentrations (28.4 g/L TAN) and often having >95% purity. While evaluating the operation and maintenance needs, we identified pH, full-cell voltage, product volume, and water flux into the product as informative process monitoring parameters that can be inexpensively and rapidly measured. Characterization of fouled cation exchange and omniphobic membranes informs cleaning and reactor modifications to reduce fouling with organics and calcium/magnesium salts. To evaluate the impact of urine collection and storage on ECS, we conducted experiments with urine at different levels of dilution with flush water, extents of divalent cation precipitation, and degrees of hydrolysis. ECS effectively treated urine under all conditions, but minimizing flush water and ensuring storage until complete hydrolysis would enable energy-efficient TAN recovery. Our experimental results and cost analysis motivate a multifaceted approach to improving ECS's technical and economic viability by extending component lifetimes, decreasing component costs, and reducing energy consumption through material, reactor, and process engineering. In summary, we demonstrated urine treatment as a foothold for electrochemical nutrient recovery from wastewater while supporting the applicability of ECS to seven other wastewaters with widely varying characteristics. Our findings will facilitate the scale-up and deployment of electrochemical nutrient recovery technologies, enabling a circular nitrogen economy that fosters sanitation provision, efficient chemical production, and water resource protection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Kogler
- Department
of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, United States
| | - Neha Sharma
- Stanford
Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, SLAC
National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94205, United States
- Department
of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, 443 Via Ortega, Room 387, Stanford, California 94305, United States
| | - Diana Tiburcio
- Department
of Mechanical Engineering, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122, United States
| | - Meili Gong
- Department
of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, 443 Via Ortega, Room 387, Stanford, California 94305, United States
| | - Dean M. Miller
- Department
of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, 443 Via Ortega, Room 387, Stanford, California 94305, United States
| | - Kindle S. Williams
- Department
of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, 443 Via Ortega, Room 387, Stanford, California 94305, United States
| | - Xi Chen
- Department
of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, 443 Via Ortega, Room 387, Stanford, California 94305, United States
| | - William A. Tarpeh
- Department
of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, 443 Via Ortega, Room 387, Stanford, California 94305, United States
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Ishida Y, Vyas R, Chauhan G, Delgado L, Kourai H. Bacterial Contamination Analysis of Residential Toilet Room Environment and Delivery of Residual Bacterial Growth Prevention Efficacy on Residential Toilet Permeable Surfaces Using Toilet Air Freshener Product. Biocontrol Sci 2021; 26:85-93. [PMID: 34092718 DOI: 10.4265/bio.26.85] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/01/2022]
Abstract
Toilet malodor is one of the most concerned malodor in residential houses, so that many technologies and products have been developed by which is aiming to remove or reduce such toilet malodor. Toilet malodour is generated from human faecal matters left inside of toilet bowl and from that deposited outside of toilet bowl such as toilet floors. In order to remove or prevent the malodor generated outside of toilet bowl, it is effective to do more frequent cleaning of toilet room surfaces or place a deodorizer which mask the malodour by perfume. We developed a toilet deodorizer which is preventing malodor generation outside of toilet bowl more effectively by delivering antibacterial efficacy on toilet room permeable surfaces. We analyzed microbiological quality of residential toilet rooms and found that toilet floor is the most contaminated location by bacteria, so that we developed a test method using materials frequently used for residential toilet floors such as vinyl cushion and using bacteria commonly found in toilet room environment. As the results, we found the product can provide bacterial growth prevention efficacy on permeable materials and prevent toilet malodor effectively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yoshiki Ishida
- Procter and Gamble International Operations SA Singapore branch
| | - Rahul Vyas
- Procter and Gamble International Operations SA Singapore branch
| | - Garima Chauhan
- Procter and Gamble International Operations SA Singapore branch
| | - Liliana Delgado
- Procter and Gamble International Operations SA Singapore branch
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Saetta D, Boyer TH. Mimicking and Inhibiting Urea Hydrolysis in Nonwater Urinals. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY 2017; 51:13850-13858. [PMID: 29095605 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.7b03571] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Nonwater urinals are critical in the implementation of building-scale water conservation and urine diversion systems. However, because of the composition of urine and the prevalence of the urease enzyme that hydrolyzes urea, minerals readily precipitate in nonwater urinals and pipes. This leads to clogging, malodor, and possible replacement of nonwater urinals with flush urinals. Accordingly, the goal of this research was to provide an improved understanding of the urea hydrolysis process in nonwater urinals to benefit water conservation and phosphate recovery efforts. Acetic acid addition was used in nonwater urinals to inhibit the urea hydrolysis reaction by lowering the pH, thereby making the precipitation of calcium- and magnesium-containing minerals less favorable. Of the acids tested, 2.5 mL of 2500 mequiv/L acetic acid added after every urination event was able to inhibit urea hydrolysis in synthetic urine and real urine as indicated by the pH and conductivity of the effluent urine. Acid addition also allowed for 43% more phosphate recovery via struvite precipitation in the acetic acid addition synthetic urine than the synthetic urine with no acid addition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniella Saetta
- Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure & Environment (ESSIE), University of Florida , P.O. Box 116450, Gainesville, Florida 32611-6450, United States
- School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment (SSEBE), Arizona State University , P.O. Box 873005, Tempe, Arizona 85287-3005, United States
| | - Treavor H Boyer
- School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment (SSEBE), Arizona State University , P.O. Box 873005, Tempe, Arizona 85287-3005, United States
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Hashemi S, Han M, Kim T. The effect of material and flushing water type on urine scale formation. WATER SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY : A JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION ON WATER POLLUTION RESEARCH 2015; 72:2027-2033. [PMID: 26606097 DOI: 10.2166/wst.2015.422] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/05/2023]
Abstract
One of the important challenges with current sanitation practices is pipe blockage in urinals caused by urine scale formation. Urinal material and flushing water type are the two most important factors affecting scale formation. This paper examines the scale formation process on different materials which are commonly used in urinal manufacturing and exposed to different urine-based aqua cultures. This study shows that urine scale formation is the greatest for carbon steel material, and the least for PVC. Additionally, material exposure to the urine-rainwater mixture resulted in the smallest amount of scale formation. Based on these results, two new methods for improving sanitation practices are proposed: (1) using PVC as production material for urinals and pipelines; and (2) using rainwater for flushing systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shervin Hashemi
- Waterfirst Laboratory, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea E-mail:
| | - Mooyoung Han
- Waterfirst Laboratory, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea E-mail:
| | - Tschungil Kim
- Integrated Research Institute of Construction and Environmental Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
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