Performance Evaluation of Four Field-Scale Agricultural Drainage Denitrification Bioreactors in Iowa

Christianson, Laura E.; Bhandari, Alok; Helmers, Matthew J.; Kult, Keegan; Sutphin, Todd; Wolf, Roger

doi:10.13031/2013.42508

Cited by 116 publications

(148 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…The nitrate removal percentage was similar to many reports in the literature, such as Christianson et al (2012b), who reported a range of 12 to 76% for four bioreactors in Iowa, and Verma et al (2010), who reported a range of 42 to 98% for three bioreactors in central Illinois. The percentage effectiveness and mass of nitrate removed decreased greatly in Year 2 (2013), with only 72 kg N removed from a large tile input of 2127 kg N. The mass and tile concentration of nitrate N in 2013 were high due to leftover nitrate on the field after the drought and failed seed corn in 2012.…”

Section: Bioreactor Performance and Controls On Nitrate Removalsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…A wide range of nitrate removal effectiveness (up to 98% nitrate reductions) in laboratory and field studies has been reported in the literature (Greenan et al, 2009;Chun et al, 2009Chun et al, , 2010Moorman et al, 2010;Verma et al, 2010;Woli et al, 2010;Christianson et al, 2012b;Bell et al, 2015). Most have been designed as plasticlined trenches, filled with mixed-species wood chips, that receive tile flow from fields ranging from 1 to 20 ha in size (e.g., Woli et al, 2010;Christianson et al, 2012b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Temperature and Substrate Control Woodchip Bioreactor Performance in Reducing Tile Nitrate Loads in East-Central Illinois

et al. 2016

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Tile drainage is the major source of nitrate in the upper Midwest, and end-of-tile removal techniques such as wood chip bioreactors have been installed that allow current farming practices to continue, with nitrate removed through denitrification. There have been few multiyear studies of bioreactors examining controls on nitrate removal rates. We evaluated the nitrate removal performance of two wood chip bioreactors during the first 3 yr of operation and examined the major factors that regulated nitrate removal. Bioreactor 2 was subject to river flooding, and performance was not assessed. ) in Years 2 and 3, overall removal efficiency was low (3 and 7% in Years 2 and 3, respectively). Based on a process-based bioreactor performance model, Bioreactor 1 would have needed to be 9 times as large as the current system to remove 50% of the nitrate load from this 20-ha field. et al., 2010b;Skaggs et al., 2012;Jaynes and Isenhart, 2014;David et al., 2015;Groh et al., 2015). The effectiveness of these practices is variable from location to location and temporally due to differing tile flow amounts and nitrate concentrations. Edgeof-field techniques have particular difficulty reducing nitrate loads during high-flow periods, when most transport occurs (Royer et al., 2006;Ikenberry et al., 2014;Moorman et al., 2015).Wood chip bioreactors have been installed at the end of tile lines from many fields in the Midwest. A wide range of nitrate removal effectiveness (up to 98% nitrate reductions) in laboratory and field studies has been reported in the literature (Greenan et al., 2009;Chun et al., 2009Chun et al., , 2010Moorman et al., 2010;Verma et al., 2010;Woli et al., 2010;Christianson et al., 2012b;Bell et al., 2015). Most have been designed as plasticlined trenches, filled with mixed-species wood chips, that receive tile flow from fields ranging from 1 to 20 ha in size (e.g., Woli et al., 2010;Christianson et al., 2012b). At low flow most of the tile water passes through the bioreactor, but at high flows they are designed so that water will bypass the wood chip bed (Christianson et al., 2012a). The published literature on the effectiveness of this technique is limited, and additional results are needed because bioreactors have been proposed in two state nutrient loss reduction strategies as a primary method for nitrate reductions (Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy, 2013; Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy, 2015).One concern with any engineered denitrification technique is that nitrous oxide (N 2 O) could be released (Groh et al., 2015), trading a water quality problem for a greenhouse gas problem Journal of Environmental Quality MOVING DENITRIFYING BIOREACTORS BEYOND PROOF OF CONCEPT SPECIAL SECTION Core Ideas• Bioreactor performance decreased greatly after Year 1.• Tile water temperature was limiting factor as wood chips aged.• Little N 2 O emitted from wood chip bed.• Bioreactor would need to be six times larger for this field and nitrate load.

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Section: Bioreactor Performance and Controls On Nitrate Removalsupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temperature and Substrate Control Woodchip Bioreactor Performance in Reducing Tile Nitrate Loads in East-Central Illinois

et al. 2016

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“…Among edge-of-field practices, woodchip bioreactors are recognized as one of the promising technologies to remove nitrate from tile drainage (IDALS, 2013). A comparative study of field bioreactors at four separate locations in Iowa reported an average nitrate removal of 43 percent for treated drainage water (Christianson et al, 2012), demonstrating that such systems could achieve reductions close to those targeted by the Hypoxia Task Force. However, the performance of bioreactors is highly variable, with lower removal efficiencies occurring when temperatures are low, or flow is high (i.e., when hydraulic retention time (HRT) are low) (Hoover et al, 2015;Robertson et al, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electrical stimulation for enhanced denitrification in woodchip bioreactors: Opportunities and challenges

Law

Soupir

Raman

et al. 2018

Ecological Engineering

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Woodchip bioreactors are being implemented for the removal of nitrates in groundwater and tile water drainage. However, low nitrate removals in denitrifying woodchip bioreactors have been observed for short hydraulic retention time (HRT) and low water temperature (°C). One potential approach to improve woodchip bioreactor performance is to provide an alternative and readily available electron source to the denitrifying microorganisms through electrical stimulation. Previous work has demonstrated the capability of bio-electrochemical reactors (BER) to remove a variety of water contaminants, including nitrate, in the presence of a soluble carbon source. The objective of this study was to evaluate the denitrification efficiency of electrically augmented woodchip bioreactors and conduct a simple techno-economic analysis (TEA) to understand the possibilities and limitations for full-scale BER implementation for treatment of agricultural drainage. Up-flow column woodchip bioreactors were studied included two controls (non-energized, and without electrodes), two electrically enhanced bioreactors, each using a single 316 stainless steel anode coupled with graphite cathodes, and two electrically enhanced bioreactors, each with graphite for both anode and cathodes. Both pairs of electrically enhanced bioreactors demonstrated higher denitrification efficiencies than controls when 500 mA of current was applied. While this technology appeared promising, the technoeconomic analysis showed that the normalized N removal cost ($/kg N) for BERs was 2-10 times higher than the base cost with no electrical stimulation. With our current reactor design, opportunities to make this technology cost effective require denitrification efficiency of 85% at 100 mA. This work informs the process and design of electrically stimulated woodchip bioreactors with optimized performance to achieve lower capital and maintenance costs, and thus lower N removal cost. RightsWorks produced by employees of the U.S. Government as part of their official duties are not copyrighted within the U.S. The content of this document is not copyrighted. A B S T R A C TWoodchip bioreactors are being implemented for the removal of nitrates in groundwater and tile water drainage. However, low nitrate removals in denitrifying woodchip bioreactors have been observed for short hydraulic retention time (HRT) and low water temperature (< 10°C). One potential approach to improve woodchip bioreactor performance is to provide an alternative and readily available electron source to the denitrifying microorganisms through electrical stimulation. Previous work has demonstrated the capability of bio-electrochemical reactors (BER) to remove a variety of water contaminants, including nitrate, in the presence of a soluble carbon source. The objective of this study was to evaluate the denitrification efficiency of electrically augmented woodchip bioreactors and conduct a simple techno-economic analysis (TEA) to understand the possibilities and limitations for full-scale BER im...

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“…Previous research has found riparian buffers to be ineffective in locations where agricultural fields are drained via tiles directly into streams and ditches (Kovacic et al, 2000;Lemke et al, 2012). Thus, additional engineered solutions at the end of tiles are recommended, such as constructed wetlands and bioreactors (Kovacic et al, 2000;Woli et al, 2010;Christianson et al, 2012). Seasonality of fertilizer applications and runoff rarely correlate with the timing of poor water quality, creating a complex management situation (Royer et al, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Navigating the Socio-Bio-Geo-Chemistry and Engineering of Nitrogen Management in Two Illinois Tile-Drained Watersheds

et al. 2015

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Reducing nitrate loads from corn and soybean, tile-drained, agricultural production systems in the Upper Mississippi River basin is a major challenge that has not been met. We evaluated a range of possible management practices from biophysical and social science perspectives that could reduce nitrate losses from tile-drained fields in the Upper Salt Fork and Embarras River watersheds of east-central Illinois. Long-term water quality monitoring on these watersheds showed that nitrate losses averaged 30.6 and 23.0 kg nitrate N ha -1 yr -1 (Embarras and Upper Salt Fork watersheds, respectively), with maximum nitrate concentrations between 14 and 18 mg N L -1 . With a series of on-farm studies, we conducted tile monitoring to evaluate several possible nitrate reduction conservation practices. Fertilizer timing and cover crops reduced nitrate losses (30% reduction in a year with large nitrate losses), whereas drainage water management on one tile system demonstrated the problems with possible retrofit designs (water flowed laterally from the drainage water management tile to the free drainage system nearby). Tile woodchip bioreactors had good nitrate removal in 2012 (80% nitrate reduction), and wetlands had previously been shown to remove nitrate (45% reductions) in the Embarras watershed. Interviews and surveys indicated strong environmental concern and stewardship ethics among landowners and farmers, but the many financial and operational constraints that they operate under limited their willingness to adopt conservation practices that targeted nitrate reduction. Under the policy and production systems currently in place, large-scale reductions in nitrate losses from watersheds such as these in east-central Illinois will be difficult.

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Performance Evaluation of Four Field-Scale Agricultural Drainage Denitrification Bioreactors in Iowa

Cited by 116 publications

References 34 publications

Temperature and Substrate Control Woodchip Bioreactor Performance in Reducing Tile Nitrate Loads in East-Central Illinois

Temperature and Substrate Control Woodchip Bioreactor Performance in Reducing Tile Nitrate Loads in East-Central Illinois

Electrical stimulation for enhanced denitrification in woodchip bioreactors: Opportunities and challenges

Navigating the Socio-Bio-Geo-Chemistry and Engineering of Nitrogen Management in Two Illinois Tile-Drained Watersheds

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