Integrating Biological Polishing of Biogas

Integrating Biological Polishing of Biogas and Liquid Effluent into Wastewater Treatment Schemes

Presenter: Michael Cohen

Presenter Status: Faculty

Department: Biology

Funding Source/Sponsor: CEI, RSCAP

Screenshot URL: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1aWAH0csIKm8YiSJsjHAcTg376bBJBLhj

Abstract:
Modern wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are engineering marvels that condense a multitude of microbial degradative activities into a small footprint. However, there remains room for expanding the repertoire of compounds subject to microbial breakdown within WWTPs. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) can be metabolized by a variety of anaerobic respiratory bacteria and yet WWTPs are almost wholly reliant on chemical-based H2S removal technologies for removing this corrosive compound from biogas. Phenolic compounds in wastewaters are often not well catabolized by the microbiota within WWTPs, leaving them in the effluent at levels that can exert toxic effects. My research group has developed biologically-based technologies for improving the biogas and water outputs of WWTPs through incorporation of: (1) biogas scrubbers colonized with autotrophic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria to remove H2S; and (2) constructed wetlands and (3) vermifiltration to lower phenolics in the treated liquid effluent.