Novel anaerobic sewage treatment and bioenergy production
This page displays all of the metadata information which describes this resource. This metadata information provides details of: the owners and creators of this resource; download links to any files which are available for downloading; geographical and temporal information about the datasets or project in general; other information such as a description of the project, experimental techniques used, data download restrictions, etc.
View other resources on SAFER owned/managed by the owner of this resource.
Files attached to this resource have been downloaded 148 times.
View Download Timeline Graphic
Resource or Project Abstract
Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a biological process of waste and wastewater treatment, which converts organic matter to biogas (a usable fuel) and a renewable energy source. The process occurs in bioreactors, where the microbes that carry out the process are retained as biofilms. Anaerobic digestion is an established, sustainable waste-treatment technology for residues from various sources, including industrial processes and agriculture. In addition to the generation of renewable energy, AD also has advantages over the conventional aerobic treatment approach, including lower capital and operating costs. To date, AD has not been applied for direct treatment of municipal wastewaters or domestic sewage in regions with a temperate climate, due mainly to concerns regarding the stability and efficiency of low-temperature AD. Recent advances in AD research and technology, however, have enabled high-rate, low-temperature anaerobic digestion (LTAD) as a feasible and potentially highly efficient approach. If proven feasible, an innovative municipal wastewater treatment approach, with AD as the core technology, could realise a major commercial and technological opportunity and facilitate future sustainable development in Ireland. This 36-month project evaluated, at laboratory scale and using state-of-the-art methodologies, the applicability and underlying microbiology of LTAD for municipal wastewater treatment under Irish conditions.
Go back to top of page
Top 
Contact Information for This Resource
Data, Files, Information Objects Related To This Project Resource
Please Read Carefully Before Downloading
It is important for the EPA and the Environmental Research Community to know that the data and information products we distribute are useful to the user community we support. One way of doing this is by tracking the use of data and information in publications. Parts of or all of the datasets, data, or digital information products available here can be freely downloaded for further use in scientific applications under the condition that the source will be properly quoted in published papers, journals, websites, presentations, books, etc. Whenever possible the EPA strongly urge you to cite the use of these data, information, and web resources in the reference section of your publications. For convenience an automatically generated citation is available below which can be used immediately for citation purposes.
EPA SAFER Data Download Disclaimer: Before downloading any of the data or information objects below you are kindly asked to read the data download disclaimer Read Disclaimer (Opens in New Window). Downloading data or information objects from SAFER-Data indicates an acceptance of the data download disclaimer and the conditions outlined within it.
| Attachment Name and Download Link |
|---|
| Offline Print Quality Version STRIVE_64_Hughes_anaerobic-sewage_prn.pdf (4.53 Mb) |
| Project Report Optimised For Online Viewing STRIVE_64_Hughes_anaerobic-sewage_web.pdf (2.14 Mb) |
Suggested Citation Information
The information supplied in the table below should be provided with all citations to this electronic resource. You are requested to format each of the fields below as required by the specific bibliographical style you are using.
| Author(s) | Hughes, D. |
| Title Of Website | Secure Archive For Environmental Research Data |
| Publication Information | Novel anaerobic sewage treatment and bioenergy production |
| Name of Organisation | Environmental Protection Agency Ireland |
| Electronic Address or URL | https://eparesearch.epa.ie/safer/resource?id=7ac4044c-619e-102f-8c70-b53a025bc1b8 |
| Unique Identifier | 7ac4044c-619e-102f-8c70-b53a025bc1b8 |
| Date of Access | Last Updated on SAFER: 2024-10-11 |
An example of this citation in proper usage:
Hughes, D. "Novel anaerobic sewage treatment and bioenergy production". Associated datasets and digitial information objects connected to this resource are available at: Secure Archive For Environmental Research Data (SAFER) managed by Environmental Protection Agency Ireland https://eparesearch.epa.ie/safer/resource?id=7ac4044c-619e-102f-8c70-b53a025bc1b8 (Last Accessed: 2024-10-11)
Go back to top of page Top
Access Information For This Resource
| SAFER-Data Display URL | https://eparesearch.epa.ie/safer/iso19115/display?isoID=240 |
| Resource Keywords | High-rate Anaerobic Digestion as a Core Technology |
| EPA/ERTDI/STRIVE Project Code | 2005-ET-MS-29-M3 |
| EPA/ERTDI/STRIVE Project Theme | Environmental Technologies |
| Resource Availability: |
 Public-Open |
| Limitations on the use of this Resource | Any attached datasets, data files, or information objects can be downloaded for further use in scientific applications under the condition that the source is properly quoted and cited in published papers, journals, websites, presentations, books, etc. Before downloading, users must agree to the "Conditions of Download and Access" from SAFER-Data. These appear before download. Users of the data should also communicate with the original authors/owners of this resource if they are uncertain about any aspect of the data or information provided before further usage. |
| Number of Attached Files (Publicly and Openly Available for Download): | 2 |
| Project Start Date | Saturday 1st January 2005 (01-01-2005) |
| Earliest Recorded Date within any attached datasets or digital objects | Saturday 1st January 2005 (01-01-2005) |
| Most Recent Recorded Date within any attached datasets or digital objects | Saturday 1st October 2011 (01-10-2011) |
| Published on SAFER | Wednesday 16th November 2011 (16-11-2011) |
| Date of Last Edit | Wednesday 16th November 2011 at 12:19:31 (16-11-2011) |
| Datasets or Files Updated On | Wednesday 16th November 2011 at 12:19:31 (16-11-2011) |
Go back to top of page
Top
Geographical and Spatial Information Related To This Resource
Description of Geographical Characteristics of This Project or Dataset
This project was based on the design and operation of laboratory-scale anaerobic treatment systems. The bioreactors (3.5 l) were inoculated with anaerobic sludge granules obtained from a full-scale, internal circulation (IC) bioreactor at Carberry Milk Products (Ballineen, Co. Cork, Ireland). A hybrid bioreactor configuration with biomass immobilised both as granular biofilms and on media as fixed-films was chosen for the trials. The bioreactors were employed to treat synthetic sewage and raw and primary settled sewage from the Mutton Island Wastewater Treatment Plant in Galway city in three long-term trials, ranging from 150-300 days in duration.
Go back to top of page
Top
Supplementary Information About This Resource
In this section some supplementary information about this resource is outlined. Lineage information helps us to understand why this project was carried out, what policy or research requirements did it fulfil, etc. Lineage is important in understanding the rationale behind the carrying out of a project or the collection of a specific dataset etc. Links to web sites, applications, papers, etc are outlined to provide you with additional information or supplementary reading about the project or dataset
| Lineage information about this project or dataset |
| This project was justified based on sound preliminary Irish and international research. Salient facts include: 1 Anaerobic digestion wastewater treatment technology is a well-established and highly successful industrial wastewater treatment (Lettinga, 1995; Lettinga et al., 2001; Grommen and Verstraete, 2002; McHugh et al., 2003a). 2 Anaerobic digestion has been implemented successfully for treating municipal wastewaters in sub-tropical regions (average temperature >20°C) for several years, with very positive performance and stability data (Leitão et al., 2005 and references therein). 3 High-rate, low-temperature anaerobic treatment of a wide variety of wastewaters has been demonstrated at laboratory-scale, with similar efficiency and loading rates to mesophilic trials ( McHugh et al., 2003a, b, c; Collins et al., 2004, 2005; McKeown et al., 2009). In addition, preliminary trials with low-strength wastewaters comparable to municipal or low-strength industrial streams in terms of COD strength were very positive (Connaughton et al., 2005). 4 Anaerobic consortia enriched from reactor sludge are capable of mineralising key anaerobic substrates, such as acetate, propionate and butyrate at temperatures as low as 4°C efficiently (Enright et al., 2005); 5 It is possible to evaluate the long-term microbial community dynamics, activity and biofilm structure in anaerobic bioreactors, and this information underpins the design and successful operation of anaerobic bioreactors (McHugh et al., 2003b; Collins et al., 2003; McHugh et al., 2005b; McKeown et al., 2009). |
| Supplementary Information |
| In order to test the research hypothesis, a number of laboratory-scale bioreactor trials were carried out, the results of which form the basis for this report. Section 2 describes a comparative long-term trial where three laboratory-scale EGSB/AF hybrid bioreactors were used to treat a synthetic sewage at low (250 mg CCOD-1); medium (500 mg COD l-1) and high (750 mg COD l-1) concentrations at 37°C, 15°C and 10°C. Section 2 outlines both reactor performance and biomass characteristics underpinning performance. Section 3 describes the investigation of the performance of a novel bioreactor during a long-term trial treating synthetic sewage (500 mg COD l-1) at 12°C. Section 4 discusses the implementation of laboratory-scale LTAD for the treatment of raw and primary settled sewage from the Mutton Island treatment plant. Section 5 summarises the main conclusions arising from this work and recommends the next actions with respect to the implementation of low-temperature anaerobic sewage treatment.
FULL LIST OF AUTHORS Dermot Hughes, Anne Marie Enright, Thérèse Mahony, Vincent O?Flaherty |
| Links To Other Related Resources |
| NONE |
Any links supplied by the resource owner are stored such that they will open in a new window. Following such a link may lead to a 3rd party website over which EPA has no control in regards to contents or suitability.
Go back to top of page
Top
The following is a list of similiar projects and resources on SAFER. Usually these resources share a similiar thematic area to the resource Novel anaerobic sewage treatment and bioenergy production you are currently viewing. You can view the full description for these projects and resources by using the links supplied.
- Variant galactokinase kinetic data View Full Metadata Description
- Emissions from IPPC Industry: Quantifying Pollution Trends and Regulatory Effectiveness View Full Metadata Description
- Recycling of Process Water with Heat Recovery View Full Metadata Description
- Web 2.0 - What it offers scientists who want to use the web to communicate View Full Metadata Description
- State of Knowledge Report: Zero Carbon Emission Micro Fuel Cell Design View Full Metadata Description
Go back to top of page
Top