Effect of Engineered Biomaterials and Magnetite on Wastewater Treatment: Biogas and Kinetic Evaluation

Gloria Amo-Duodu; Emmanuel Kweinor Tetteh; Sudesh Rathilal; Edward Kwaku Armah; Jeremiah Adedeji; Martha Noro Chollom; Maggie Chetty

doi:10.3390/polym13244323

Polymers (Dec 2021)

Effect of Engineered Biomaterials and Magnetite on Wastewater Treatment: Biogas and Kinetic Evaluation

Gloria Amo-Duodu,
Emmanuel Kweinor Tetteh,
Sudesh Rathilal,
Edward Kwaku Armah,
Jeremiah Adedeji,
Martha Noro Chollom,
Maggie Chetty

Affiliations

Gloria Amo-Duodu: Green Engineering and Sustainability Research Group, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and The Built Environment, Durban University of Technology, Durban 4001, South Africa
Emmanuel Kweinor Tetteh: Green Engineering and Sustainability Research Group, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and The Built Environment, Durban University of Technology, Durban 4001, South Africa
Sudesh Rathilal: Green Engineering and Sustainability Research Group, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and The Built Environment, Durban University of Technology, Durban 4001, South Africa
Edward Kwaku Armah: Green Engineering and Sustainability Research Group, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and The Built Environment, Durban University of Technology, Durban 4001, South Africa
Jeremiah Adedeji: Green Engineering and Sustainability Research Group, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and The Built Environment, Durban University of Technology, Durban 4001, South Africa
Martha Noro Chollom: Green Engineering and Sustainability Research Group, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and The Built Environment, Durban University of Technology, Durban 4001, South Africa
Maggie Chetty: Green Engineering and Sustainability Research Group, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and The Built Environment, Durban University of Technology, Durban 4001, South Africa

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13244323
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 13, no. 24
p. 4323

Abstract

Read online

In this study, the principle of sustaining circular economy is presented as a way of recovering valuable resources from wastewater and utilizing its energy potential via anaerobic digestion (AD) of municipality wastewater. Biostimulation of the AD process was investigated to improve its treatability efficiency, biogas production, and kinetic stability. Addressing this together with agricultural waste such as eggshells (CE), banana peel (PB), and calcined banana peels (BI) were employed and compared to magnetite (Fe3O4) as biostimulation additives via 1 L biochemical methane potential tests. With a working volume of 0.8 L (charge with inoculum to substrate ratio of 3:5 v/v) and 1.5 g of the additives, each bioreactor was operated at a mesophilic temperature of 40 °C for 30 days while being compared to a control bioreactor. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray (SEM/EDX) analysis was used to reveal the absorbent’s morphology at high magnification of 10 kx and surface pore size of 20.8 µm. The results showed over 70% biodegradation efficiency in removing the organic contaminants (chemical oxygen demand, color, and turbidity) as well as enhancing the biogas production. Among the setups, the bioreactor with Fe3O4 additives was found to be the most efficient, with an average daily biogas production of 40 mL/day and a cumulative yield of 1117 mL/day. The kinetic dynamics were evaluated with the cumulative biogas produced by each bioreactor via the first order modified Gompertz and Chen and Hashimoto kinetic models. The modified Gompertz model was found to be the most reliable, with good predictability.

Published in Polymers

ISSN: 2073-4360 (Online)
Publisher: MDPI AG
Country of publisher: Switzerland
LCC subjects: Science: Chemistry: Organic chemistry
Website: http://www.mdpi.com/journal/polymers/

About the journal

Abstract

Keywords