Integrated fixed bed biofilm reactor, ozonation, and electrodialysis for sustaining wastewater processing / Al-Amshawee, Sajjad Khudhur Abbas

Faculty of Chemical and Process Engineering Technology

Thesis (Doctor of Philosophy) -- Universiti Malaysia Pahang – 2021

Includes bibliographical references

Wastewater processing mediates industrial and domestic wastes and supports societal, ecological, and economic values. Unfortunately, no single process alone is able to sustain wastewater processing. Thus, Zero Waste System was devised combining fixed bed biofilm reactor (FBBR), ozonation, and electrodialysis. The objectives of the present study are to investigate the influence of different biofilm carriers on the FBBR performance, evaluate the combination ability (i.e., FBBR, ozone oxidation, electrodialysis) to treat anaerobic palm oil mill effluent (POME), and demonstrate the system compatibility for effective treatment and wastewater sustainability. The POME pollutants were biodegraded into simpler molecules inside the FBBR. This bioreactor was fully packed with Micro Media, Ultra Media, Kaldnes K1 micro, and green ammonia absorption stones (GRAS). Ozonation oxidized all the FBBR effluents at an ozone dose of 15 mg/L for 24 h before being discharged for electrodialysis because bioremediation definitely does not decompose all suspended solids. Then, the electrodialysis received the ozonated effluents and electrically separated the biodegraded substances. The effluents of FBBR, ozonation, and electrodialysis were mainly analyzed to find the chemical oxygen demand (COD), nitrogen ammonia (NH3–N), nitrite (NO2–), and nitrate (NO3– – N) concentrations. The Zero Waste System involving Micro Media-FBBR, ozonation, and 40 volts electrodialysis successfully produced a first-class effluent that had 0 mg COD/L and 0 mg/L nitrogen compounds. In addition, it had a 0 mg/L concentration of K, Ca, Mg, Mn, Fe, B, Zn, Cu, Br2, Cl2, O3, and SO42–. So, the final effluent would be expected to be appropriate for drinking, irrigation, discharging, and recycling purposes. The working microorganisms in the FBBR medium were methanogenesis and anaerobic ammonium oxidation (ANAMMOX), which occurred concurrently and biologically degraded solution pollutants. During the generation of clean water, the Zero Waste System achieved zero waste by transforming wastewater pollutants into valuable products (i.e., biogas and biomass from FBBR, nutrients recovery via ozonation foam, generation of concentrate stream by electrodialysis). The FBBR produced a biogas of 0.165–1.342 L, comprising of 5.894%–54.98% CH4. The concentrate stream of electrodialysis and nutrients recovery using ozonation foam involved a high concentration of various ions. The Zero Waste System has achieved excellent wastewater treatment and thus could improve the ecosystem by restoring solution nutrients. Future research will examine the performance of the Zero Waste System to treat various influents, which will assist to identify the system’s drawbacks and limitations. Finally, future studies will pursue significant developments in the biofilm carrier surface properties (e.g., wettability, iron ions coating)