Sustainable Odour and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Control in Wastewater Treatment Plant by Advanced Biotechnology-based System

• Main Authors: Vincenzo Senatore, Tiziano Zarra, Rekich Pahunang, Giuseppina Oliva, Vincenzo Belgiorno, Florencio Ballesteros, Vincenzo Naddeo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: AIDIC Servizi S.r.l. 2021-05-01
• Series: Chemical Engineering Transactions
• Online Access: https://www.cetjournal.it/index.php/cet/article/view/11396

Odours emissions from various facilities such as wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), are becoming one of the main issues to face down for the plant operators to avoid complaints and potential impact, especially for the plants located nearby to the residential areas. The need to implement odour control strategies, for instance by using treatment technologies, is therefore a key point in the management of the plant. Moreover, in a world increasingly concerned about sustainability and environmental preservation, the identification of environmentally friendly odour treatment technologies is to be recommended and prescribed. The research presents the development of an advanced sustainable biotechnology-based control system able to treat odour and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), with the aim to guarantee a sustainable process. The performance of the advanced biotechnology system is highlighted in terms of CO2 capture and reduction, by analysing different operating conditions (e.g. CO2 inlet load, L/G liquid:gas ratio and light intensity). The result shows that the proposed technology can capture up to 80% of CO2 concentration, produce microalgae biomass (742 mg l-1) and potentially biodegrade aromatic substances such as VOCs. The proposed advanced biotechnology system proves to be effective sustainable treatment process for the fixation of CO2, but further studies are necessary for evaluate the treatment efficiency of VOCs. The information presented in this research will be of interest to anyone involved with carbon capture and utilization (CCU) technology.