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Process configuration of combined ozonolysis and anaerobic digestion for wastewater treatment

  • Benton Otieno ORCID logo EMAIL logo , Mervyn Khune , John Kabuba and Peter Osifo
Published/Copyright: March 23, 2023
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Physical Sciences Reviews
From the journal Physical Sciences Reviews Volume 9 Issue 3

Abstract

Industrial activities and increased human population have made wastewater streams not entirely amenable to conventional treatment methods. Anaerobic digestion (AD) can treat such wastewaters with the advantage of bioresource recovery. However, the presence of solids and recalcitrant compounds in most wastewater streams may affect the AD process. Thus, combining AD with advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) such as ozonolysis is necessary. Ozonolysis can improve the biodegradability of wastewater substrates or eliminate biorecalcitrant pollutants that escape the AD process. This study combined ozonolysis with AD to treat waste activated sludge (WAS) and distillery wastewater (DWW). When applied as a pre-treatment, ozonolysis caused the rigid cell walls in WAS to rupture and solubilised the extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), leading to increased biodegradability. For the DWW, ozonolysis pre-treatment reduced the biorecalcitrant aromatic compounds to simple aliphatic compounds, thereby increasing biodegradability. In the ensuing anaerobic process, the WAS pre-treatment improved TSS and COD reductions and a 230% increase in cumulative biogas production. For the DWW, the ozonolysis pre-treatment did not significantly impact COD reduction or biogas production; however, ozonolysis as a post-treatment removed the color causing biorecalcitrant melanoidins from the anaerobically digested effluent and solubilised the sludge (TSS) washed out from the AD unit. Therefore, the AD-ozonolysis process configuration depends on the substrate being treated. Ozonolysis is best applied pre-AD for WAS treatment and post-AD for DWW.

Keywords: distillery wastewater ; post-treatment ; pre-treatment ; sludge solubilisation ; waste activated sludge
Corresponding author: Benton Otieno, Research Centre for Renewable Energy and Water, Vaal University of Technology, Vanderbijlpark, South Africa; and Department of Chemical Engineering, Vaal University of Technology, Vanderbijlpark, South Africa, E-mail:

  1. Author contributions: All the authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this submitted manuscript and approved submission.

  2. Research funding: The research of this article was supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) within the framework of the climap Africa programme with funds from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Water Research Commission (WRC, Project no. C2020/2021-00426) of South Africa.

  3. Conflict of interest: There are no competing or conflicts of interest to declare.

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Received: 2022-11-03
Accepted: 2023-01-31
Published Online: 2023-03-23

© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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https://doi.org/10.1515/psr-2022-0340
Keywords for this article
distillery wastewater; post-treatment; pre-treatment; sludge solubilisation; waste activated sludge

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Reviews
  3. Modern analytical approach in biopolymer characterization
  4. Development of nanocellulose fiber reinforced starch biopolymer composites: a review
  5. Recent developments in sago starch thermoplastic bio-composites
  6. Mechanical degradation of sugar palm crystalline nanocellulose reinforced thermoplastic sugar palm starch (TPS)/poly (lactic acid) (PLA) blend bionanocomposites in aqueous environments
  7. Computational design of the novel building blocks for the metal-organic frameworks based on the organic ligand protected Cu4 cluster
  8. Highly functional nanocellulose-reinforced thermoplastic starch-based nanocomposites
  9. Spectral peak areas do not vary according to spectral averaging scheme used in functional MRS experiments at 3 T with interleaved visual stimulation
  10. Triterpenoids of antibacterial extracts from the leaves of Bersama abyssinica Fresen (Francoaceae)
  11. Immediate effects of atrazine application on soil organic carbon and selected macronutrients and amelioration by sawdust biochar pretreatment
  12. Process configuration of combined ozonolysis and anaerobic digestion for wastewater treatment
  13. Concentration levels and risk assessment of organochlorine and organophosphate pesticide residue in selected cereals and legumes sold in Anambra State, south-eastern Nigeria
  14. XRD and cytotoxicity assay of submitted nanomaterial industrial samples in the Philippines
  15. Comparative study of the photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline under visible light irradiation using Bi24O31Br11-anchored carbonaceous and silicates catalyst support
  16. Xanthoangelol, geranilated chalcone compound, isolation from pudau leaves (Artocarpus kemando Miq.) as antibacterial and anticancer
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  22. Wheat thermoplastic starch composite films reinforced with nanocellulose
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  28. Exploration of bioactive compounds from Mangifera indica (Mango) as probable inhibitors of thymidylate synthase and nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-Κb) in colorectal cancer management
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  32. Exploring the solvation of water molecules around radioactive elements in nuclear waste water treatment
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