Overcoming organic matter limitation enables high nutrient recovery from sewage sludge reject water in a self-powered microbial nutrient recovery cell

Abstract

In order to meet the global demand of fertilizers for food production, there is an urgent need to recover macronutrients (such as NH4+, PO43−, Ca2+, K+, and Mg2+) from non-conventional sources (e.g., waste streams). Sludge reject water – a by-product produced during the dewatering of anaerobically-stabilized sewage sludge – is considered an ideal feedstock for bioelectrochemical nutrient recovery due to its high nutrient content. However, its low readily available organic matter and alkalinity usually limit electric current generation, resulting in low nutrient recovery. Here, we designed and operated self-powered microbial nutrient recovery cells (MNRCs) to test whether or not the addition of high-strength livestock wastewater could improve the macronutrients recovery from sludge reject water into a liquid concentrate. MNRCs fed with sludge reject water exhibited a low current density generation of 0.98 ± 0.31 A/m3 with approximately 24 ± 2% reduction in chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration. The NH4+ removal was only 37.1 ± 11% with an up-concentration factor of ~0.43 ± 0.15. Macronutrients recovery and up-concentration were optimized by mixing sludge reject water with livestock wastewater, which its content varied from 10 to 30%. Consequently, the current output and NH4+ up-concentration factor were remarkably increased, peaking at 14.10 ± 1.14 A/m3 and 2.19 ± 0.51, respectively, for MNRCs fed with sludge reject water:livestock wastewater = 70%:30% (v:v). Detailed analysis of the liquid concentrate revealed that it could be efficiently used as a liquid fertilizer to replace chemical fertilizers with comparable agricultural productivity at a lower cost. These results suggest that the MNRC can promote self-powered, chemical-free macronutrients recovery from sludge reject water (and other low-strength wastewater, too) by controlling the availability of organic matter in waste streams.