Many municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) or water and resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) are striving to develop state-of-the-art and costeffective solutions for achieving energy self-sufficiency in their process operations, while continuously complying with permit requirements. Currently, less than 10% of US-WWTPs or WRRFs produce energy for beneficial use and only a handful of these plants are actually energy self-sufficient. This research seeks to assess the current state-of-knowledge on energy-positive WWTPs or WRRFs, based on the treatment train classification: Basic; Moderate or Advanced. A Simple Quantitative Mass-Balance Model (SQMM) is developed to evaluate the treatment train or technology classification in terms of removal and recovery of carbon-nutrient-energy components of municipal wastewater(s). The outcome of this research will include identification of potential challenges in the selection and implementation of resource and energy recovery and, finally propose a practically feasible, energy-positive WWTP process configuration. The key for energy recovery through biogas production is by increasing biodegradable feed solids/waste to the anaerobic digester(s); and, however, optimizing the aeration processes will reduce the energy needs of wastewater processing to the applicable environmental standards. The main alternative strategy for boosting energy recovery is by co-digestion of wastewater biosolids and locally available biodegradable wastes. A hypothetical (but practically feasible) WWTP or WRRF configuration proposed in this work represents an alternative energy-sufficient wastewater process train for future designs. A detailed quantitative analysis will be developed to recommend the ways in which the WTTPs or WRRFs could become energy-positive and achieve maximum resource recovery.

Wastewater and energy nexus – evaluation of resource recovery potential through quantitative mass balance models

255th National Meeting (2018)

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