Disinfection of Digestate Effluents Using Photocatalytic Nanofiltration

Abstract

The disinfection properties of photocatalysis on liquid digestate derived from biogas plants have been investigated for the first time. The study presents the physiological characteristics of liquid digestate retrieved from various biogas plants based in northern Greece, revealing the heterogeneity of this matrix. Preliminary photocatalysis experiments conducted on inoculated liquid digestate samples showed that disinfection was possible when a pre-treated digestate underwent a combination of centrifuge–flocculation–μfiltration after 5.5 h with 0.7 g/L suspended TiO2 under UVA illumination. To explore the feasibility of an industrial application based on this concept, a novel design photocatalytic nanofiltration reactor was implemented for disinfection experiments on pre-treated liquid digestate. The synergistic action of photocatalysis during nanofiltration alleviated the leakage phenomena, and both the retentate and permeate effluents had lower concentrations of pathogens by approximately 1–2 log10 cfu/mL. This work sets out the basis for the efficient operation and engineering application of collaborative technology, with photocatalysis as the final step for liquid digestate sanitation and reusable water recovery.

Keywords

• disinfection
• indicator pathogens
• TiO₂ photocatalysis
• photocatalytic nanofiltration reactor
• membrane filtration
• anaerobic digestion