Dewatering of source-separated human urine for nitrogen recovery by membrane distillation

Tun, Lat Lat; Jeong, Dawoon; Jeong, Seongpil; Cho, Kyungjin; Lee, Seockheon; Bae, Hyun-Joo

doi:10.1016/j.memsci.2016.04.004

Cited by 70 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…For both synthetic and real urine, an initial flux decay was observed at the outset of permeation, followed by the onset of a period of steady-state, despite the deposition noted on the membrane surface through direct observation (Figure 4). The attainment of steady-state flux is similar to earlier studies that have applied MD to complex wastewaters (12) (14). Following a period of steady-state, a considerable flux decline was noted, which did not influence permeate product quality ( Figure 6, Table 1).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Impact of fouling, cleaning and faecal contamination on the separation of water from urine using thermally driven membrane separation

Kamranvand

Davey

Sakar

et al. 2018

Separation Science and Technology

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In this study, membrane distillation is evaluated as a technology for non-sewered sanitation, using waste heat to enable separation of clean water from urine. Whilst membrane fouling was observed for urine, wetting was not evident and product water quality met the proposed discharge standard, despite concentration of the feed. Fouling was reversible using physical cleaning, which is similar to previous membrane studies operating without pressure as the driving force. High COD reduction was achieved following faecal contamination, but mass transfer was impeded and wetting occurred which compromised permeate quality, suggesting upstream intervention is demanded to limit the extent of faecal contamination.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 86%

Impact of fouling, cleaning and faecal contamination on the separation of water from urine using thermally driven membrane separation

Kamranvand

Davey

Sakar

et al. 2018

Separation Science and Technology

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“…Urine is an aqueous medium containing both organic and inorganic components. Urea, creatinine, uric acid, vitamins, hormones, nutrients (N, P, and K), chloride, and trace metals are some of the components excreted in urine [5][6][7][8]. Many studies have attempted to find a method to take advantage of the richness of urine in regards to macro and micronutrients and transform it into natural fertilizers that can be used in agricultural production [4,[9][10][11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electrolytic Oxidation as a Sustainable Method to Transform Urine into Nutrients

et al. 2020

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In this work, the transformation of urine into nutrients using electrolytic oxidation in a single-compartment electrochemical cell in galvanostatic mode was investigated. The electrolytic oxidation was performed using thin film anode materials: boron-doped diamond (BDD) and dimensionally stable anodes (DSA). The transformation of urine into nutrients was confirmed by the release of nitrate (NO3−) and ammonium (NH4+) ions during electrolytic treatment of synthetic urine aqueous solutions. The removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total organic carbon (TOC) during electrolytic treatment confirmed the conversion of organic pollutants into biocompatible substances. Higher amounts of NO3− and NH4+ were released by electrolytic oxidation using BDD compared to DSA anodes. The removal of COD and TOC was faster using BDD anodes at different current densities. Active chlorine and chloramines were formed during electrolytic treatment, which is advantageous to deactivate any pathogenic microorganisms. Larger quantities of active chlorine and chloramines were measured with DSA anodes. The control of chlorine by-products to concentrations lower than the regulations require can be possible by lowering the current density to values smaller than 20 mA/cm2. Electrolytic oxidation using BDD or DSA thin film anodes seems to be a sustainable method capable of transforming urine into nutrients, removing organic pollution, and deactivating pathogens.

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“…Significant water reduction was achieved by evaporation (> 96%) and the freeze-thraw process (75%), although these processes required unacceptably intensive energy. Furthermore, the dissolved ammonia contained in source-separated human urine can be easily evaporated to the atmosphere during the process (Tun et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nitrogen recovery from wastewater and human urine with hydrophobic gas separation membrane: experiments and modelling

2019

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In agriculture, the human urine could have been used as a natural fertilizer, although there are some problems with the direct utilization, such as the presence of micropollutants in urine, odour and storage of large volume of urine. Therefore, nutrients, such as nitrogen, can be recovered from urine. Continuous flow laboratory membrane reactor was built to investigate nitrogen recovery from wastewater and from human urine. Membrane gas separation method has not been investigated for ammonia recovery from human urine yet. Nitrogen as ammonia gas was recovered in acid using Zeus Aeos™ ePTFE gaspermeable hydrophobic membrane. Acid flux, operating pH, hydraulic retention time and effective membrane surface were experimentally determined. The aim of this work was to verify wastewater experiments in professional flowsheet environment, rigorously modelled with ChemCAD and optimized by dynamic programming optimization method: the membrane separation. Such nitrogen recovery membrane separation has not been published in this professional flowsheet environment yet. The objective function of the process is the ammonia harvesting efficiency. Eighty-five percentage ammonia harvesting efficiency can be reached with 60 membrane surface area/reactor volume ratio, at 35 °C feed temperature with 350 L/m 2 h acid and in 8 h' hydraulic retention time. It can be stated that this separation method is based on physical phenomena without any biological factors. The focus for nitrogen treatment in a wastewater treatment plant is removal instead of recovery. It can be determined that this system is capable for the nitrogen recovery from wastewater, and it can reduce the ammonia content of human urine too.

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Dewatering of source-separated human urine for nitrogen recovery by membrane distillation

Cited by 70 publications

References 32 publications

Impact of fouling, cleaning and faecal contamination on the separation of water from urine using thermally driven membrane separation

Impact of fouling, cleaning and faecal contamination on the separation of water from urine using thermally driven membrane separation

Electrolytic Oxidation as a Sustainable Method to Transform Urine into Nutrients

Nitrogen recovery from wastewater and human urine with hydrophobic gas separation membrane: experiments and modelling

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