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Badeti U, Jiang J, Almuntashiri A, Pathak N, Dorji U, Volpin F, Freguia S, Ang WL, Chanan A, Kumarasingham S, Shon HK, Phuntsho S. Impact of source-separation of urine on treatment capacity, process design, and capital expenditure of a decentralised wastewater treatment plant. Chemosphere 2022; 300:134489. [PMID: 35430202 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.134489] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2022] [Revised: 03/24/2022] [Accepted: 03/30/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
In this study, the impact of urine diversion on the treatment capacity, treatment process, and capital costs of a decentralised wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) was simulated using BioWin. The data for simulation including for economic analysis were obtained from a real decentralised WWTP at Sydney. Simulation was conducted for two alternative process design scenarios of a WWTP: membrane bioreactor (MBR) without denitrification and anaerobic MBR in place of aerobic MBR and compared to existing process design. The simulation shows that with about 75% urine diversion (through source separation), the treatment capacity of the existing WWTP can be doubled although above 40% urine diversion, the impact appears less rapid. When the urine diversion exceeds 75%, it was found that the anoxic tank for biological denitrification becomes redundant and the current wastewater treatment process could be replaced with a simpler and much less aeration intensive membrane bioreactor (MBR) producing similar effluent quality with a 24% reduction in capital expenditure (footprint) cost. Anaerobic MBR can be a potential alternative to aerobic MBR although pre-treatment becomes essential before reverse osmosis treatment for water reuse applications. Sensitivity analysis has revealed that by operating the bioreactor at higher mixed liquor suspended solids concentrations (9 g/L instead of 5 g/L) could help increase the WWTP treatment capacity by about 3.5 times at 75% urine diversion. Hence, urine diversion (until nitrogen-limiting conditions occur above 75% urine diversion) can increase the treatment capacity of an existing WWTP and reduce the capital expenses due to reduced plant footprint.
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Affiliation(s)
- Umakant Badeti
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), City Campus, Broadway, NSW, 2007, Australia
| | - Jiaxi Jiang
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), City Campus, Broadway, NSW, 2007, Australia
| | - Abdulaziz Almuntashiri
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), City Campus, Broadway, NSW, 2007, Australia
| | - Nirenkumar Pathak
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), City Campus, Broadway, NSW, 2007, Australia
| | - Ugyen Dorji
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), City Campus, Broadway, NSW, 2007, Australia
| | - Federico Volpin
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), City Campus, Broadway, NSW, 2007, Australia
| | - Stefano Freguia
- Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, 3010, Australia
| | - Wei Lun Ang
- Centre for Sustainable Process Technology (CESPRO), Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600, UKM Bangi, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
| | | | | | - Ho Kyong Shon
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), City Campus, Broadway, NSW, 2007, Australia
| | - Sherub Phuntsho
- School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), City Campus, Broadway, NSW, 2007, Australia.
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