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Accomplishing a N-E-W (nutrient-energy-water) synergy in a bioelectrochemical nitritation-anammox process
Umesh Ghimire1, Veera Gnaneswar Gude2
1Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, 39762, USA.
Abstract:
This study reports an investigation of the concept, application and performance of a novel bioelectrochemical nitritation-anammox microbial desalination cell (MDC) for resource-efficient wastewater treatment and desalination. Two configurations of anammox MDCs (anaerobic-anammox cathode MDC (AnAmoxMDC) and nitration-anammox cathode MDC (NiAmoxMDC)) were compared with an air cathode MDC (CMDC), operated in fed-batch mode. Results from this study showed that the maximum power density produced by NiAmoxMDC (1,007 mW/m3) was higher than that of AnAmoxMDC (444 mW/m3) and CMDC (952 mW/m3). More than 92% of ammonium-nitrogen (NH4+-N) removal was achieved in NiAmoxMDC, significantly higher than AnAmoxMDC (84%) and CMDC (77%). The NiAmoxMDC performed better than CMDC and AnAmoxMDC in terms of power density, COD removal and salt removal in desalination chamber. In addition, cyclic voltammetry analysis of anammox cathode showed a redox peak centered at -140 mV Vs Ag/AgCl confirming the catalytic activity of anammox bacteria towards the electron transfer process. Further, net energy balance of the NiAmoxMDC was the highest (NiAmoxMDC-0.022 kWh/m3 >CMDC-0.019 kWh/m3 >AnAmoxMDC-0.021 kWh/m3) among the three configurations. This study demonstrated, for the first time, a N-E-W synergy for resource-efficient wastewater treatment using nitritation-anammox process.
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