Fate of nutrients and heavy metals during two-stage digestion and aerobic post-treatment of municipal organic waste
Research output: Contribution to journal › Research article › Contributed › peer-review
Contributors
Abstract
The biogas technology is a promising approach for the recovery of energy and fertilizer from municipal organic waste (MOW). However, only scarce information on the development of initial nutrient and heavy metal loads during processing is available. Therefore, this study investigates properties of source-separated MOW during treatment in a semi-industrial scale two-stage biogas plant and subsequent digestate composting including impurities removal. Data from 15 batch experiments was investigated by material and substance flow analysis. Results of this study have shown that about 40% of nutrients contained in the MOW inflow are mineralized during anaerobic and subsequent aerobic treatment. A higher nutrient release was observed during the anaerobic treatment step. Additionally, impurities removal causes a significant reduction of final nutrient content. Heavy metal analysis confirmed a high heterogeneity of contamination levels. However, digestion and composting do not seem to significantly impact on total heavy metal loads in the substrate flow.
Details
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 238-248 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Bioresource technology |
Volume | 251 |
Publication status | Published - Mar 2018 |
Peer-reviewed | Yes |
External IDs
PubMed | 29278845 |
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ORCID | /0000-0001-5081-2558/work/160480076 |
Keywords
Sustainable Development Goals
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Keywords
- Composting, Digestate treatment, Heavy metals, MOW, Nutrient transfer, Substance flow analysis