Petr Hlavínek

Brno University of Technology

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Jakub Raček

Brno University of Technology

Tomáš Chorazy

Brno University of Technology

Marco Carnevale Miino

University of Insubria

Tomáš Macsek

Brno University of Technology

Taťána Halešová

Brno University of Technology

JŠ

Jan Ševčı́k

University of Ostrava

Jiří Kučerík

Mendel University in Brno

Denisa Djordjevićová

Brno University of Technology

Renata Komendová

Brno University of Technology

Zuzana Vranayová

Technical University of Košice

Cooperative Institutions

Brno University of Technology

Delft University of Technology

University of Pavia

University of Belgrade

University of Exeter

Technical University of Košice

Norwegian Institute for Water Research

University of Insubria

Czech Academy of Sciences

RWTH Aachen University

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Influence of Cellulose on the Anoxic Treatment of Domestic Wastewater in Septic Tanks: Statistical Analysis of the Chemical and Physico-Chemical Parameters

Sustainability (2023)

Denisa Djordjevićová Marco Carnevale Miino Jakub Raček Petr Hlavínek Tomáš Chorazy

Cellulose is a very common polymer in domestic wastewater (WW), representing a not negligible part of the organic substance contained in sewage. To date, many studies have highlighted the feasibility of reusing this compound in several ways (e.g., building sector, wastewater treatment, energy production, etc.) after its separation from domestic WW. However, studies about the impact of the absence of cellulose on the chemical and physico-chemical parameters of a biological process are still lacking. In this work, two pilot-scale plants were used to simulate an anoxic treatment of WW in septic tanks, with and without cellulose (CWW and NCWW, respectively), for three months. The results of the monitoring highlighted that T, pH, and electrical conductivity (EC) remained almost constants, in both cases. The Spearman correlation coefficients (SCC) for turbidity (TUR), total suspended solids (TSS), and color (COL) indicated a higher removal in the case of CWW (65%, 66%, and 56%, respectively). Organic substance and nitrogen forms showed a similar behavior with and without cellulose, but in the case of CWW, N-NH3 was highly negatively correlated with TUR (SCC: −0.54), TSS (−0.49), and COL (−0.39). A biological denitrification process was highlighted in both cases. Despite these differences, when statistically analyzing the trends of the chemical and physico-chemical parameters for CWW and NCWW, a significant difference due to the absence of cellulose was excluded. These results will be useful to the scientific community, as they exclude that the operational parameters of anoxic treatments and the effectiveness on pollutants removal can be affected in the case of preliminary cellulose separation from domestic WW for recovery/reuse purposes.

Turbidity

10.3390/su15107990

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Citations (2)

Microwave pyrolysis full-scale application on sewage sludge

Desalination and Water Treatment (2018)

Jan Ševčı́k Jakub Raček Petr Hluštı́k Petr Hlavínek Karel Dvořák

This paper reviews microwave pyrolysis (MP) and then presents a full-scale application of this technology to treat sewage sludge.Disposal of sewage sludge is becoming one of the most important issues in wastewater management in European Union.The use of sludge in agriculture is becoming problematic due to the content of heavy metals (HM) in sludge.Sewage sludge contains valuable resources for further use transformed to pyrolysis output products which are: char (also called biochar), pyrolysis oil and pyrolysis gas (syngas).Sludge pre-treatment and following MP outputs can be influenced by catalysts, eventually other admixtures, its mixing ratios in order of optimization of the depolymerization and microwave processes.The examined output samples were produced using a "full-scale" MP technology with the required pelletization.The input mixtures included dried sewage sludge, dried sludge with a catalyst and dried sludge with more admixtures (catalyst, lignin, hay, sawdust).We roughly quantified depolymerization process in terms of performance and temperature monitoring over time.This research includes a number of analyses: the dry solids content, proportion of organic and mineral components of individual materials, weight and bulk density of the output components in dependence of the course of microwave depolymerization and the preparation of input mixtures.The addition of zeolite similar to ZSM-5 (2.0% wt of dry substance) achieves the best temperature increases mainly with lignin or lignocellulosic admixtures.Chemical analyses monitor the HM content of biochar.As regards biochar, the surface and size of pores were evaluated.The aim of this research step is to show that the MP is a good innovative method to treat sewage sludge.

Sewage sludge

Depolymerization

Sawdust

Biosolids

10.5004/dwt.2018.22108

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Citations (12)

Energy Recovery from Wastewater: A Study on Heating and Cooling of a Multipurpose Building with Sewage-Reclaimed Heat Energy

Sustainability (2019)

Daniele Cecconet Jakub Raček Arianna Callegari Petr Hlavínek

To achieve technically-feasible and socially-desirable sustainable management of urban areas, new paradigms have been developed to enhance the sustainability of water and its resources in modern cities. Wastewater is no longer seen as a wasted resource, but rather, as a mining ground from which to obtain valuable chemicals and energy; for example, heat energy, which is often neglected, can be recovered from wastewater for different purposes. In this work, we analyze the design and application of energy recovery from wastewater for heating and cooling a building in Brno (Czech Republic) by means of heat exchangers and pumps. The temperature and the flow rate of the wastewater flowing in a sewer located in the proximity of the building were monitored for a one-year period, and the energy requirement for the building was calculated as 957 MWh per year. Two options were evaluated: heating and cooling using a conventional system (connected to the local grid), and heat recovery from wastewater using heat exchangers and coupled heat pumps. The analysis of the scenarios suggested that the solution based on heat recovery from wastewater was more feasible, showing a 59% decrease in energy consumption compared to the conventional solution (respectively, 259,151 kWh and 620,475 kWh per year). The impact of heat recovery from wastewater on the kinetics of the wastewater resource recovery facility was evaluated, showing a negligible impact in both summer (increase of 0.045 °C) and winter conditions (decrease of 0.056 °C).

Energy Recovery

10.3390/su12010116

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Citations (56)

Heavy metal fixation in biochar after microwave pyrolysis of sewage sludge

Desalination and Water Treatment (2019)

Jakub Raček Jan Ševčı́k Renata Komendová Jiří Kučerik Petr Hlavínek

The sequestration of heavy metals (HMs) in sewage sludge (SS) caused by slow microwave pyrolysis (MP) treatment was studied.The MP was carried out using a full-scale unit working at 300°C and pressure 800 hPa with 3 kW magnetron at 2.45 GHz.To determine the efficiency of sequestration, a new methodology was used.The SS from three waste water treatment plants (WWTPs) differing in capacities, inflow and drying procedure were used to study the effect of pelletization and additives addition.The total HMs content in sludges and produced biochars was determined by extraction using Aqua Regia, while soluble fraction (bioavailable, potentially harmful fraction) was determined by extraction using deionized water.The analyses revealed significantly low concentration of biologically available HMs after MP process in biochars prepared by pelletization and with additives.Therefore, the slow MP showed its potential to immobilize most of HMs in biochar structure thereby preventing their fixation, solubilization, and bioavailability for plants and microorganisms and may enable its use in agriculture.We conclude that slow MP represents an eco-friendly way of SS disposal, which belongs among the important strategies of circular economy.

Pelletizing

Sewage sludge

Aqua regia

10.5004/dwt.2019.24282

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Citations (19)

Comparison of Trenchless and Excavation Technologies in the Restoration of a Sewage Network and Their Carbon Footprints

Resources (2024)

Tomáš Chorazy Petr Hlavínek Jakub Raček Katarzyna Pietrucha-Urbanik B. Tchórzewska-Cieślak

The restoration of aging sewer networks is a fundamental remediation approach with the aim of renewing or improving existing systems. Remediation methods include repair, renovation, and replacement (renewal). The restoration of a sewer network itself can be performed using either excavation or trenchless technologies. While these technologies offer various advantages, they also present disadvantages. The choice of a restoration technology depends on numerous parameters, including economic factors and local conditions (such as the construction of the existing sewage network, available working space, traffic load, and environmental safety restrictions). In addition to the parameters influencing the choice of restoration technology, recent considerations have been given to constraints related to greenhouse gas emissions and the corresponding carbon footprint. Carbon footprint serves as an indicator of the restoration activity’s dependence on fossil fuels, both during implementation and operation. In the 21st century, concerns regarding carbon footprints have rapidly escalated. The reduction in carbon footprints is a crucial objective from both an economic and an ecological point of view. This article specifically addresses the prospects of monitoring the carbon footprint concerning the partial restoration of a sewer network within the historical core of the city of Brno, located in the Czech Republic. This aspect constitutes the unique and innovative contribution of the paper. The intensity of the energy demand of excavation and trenchless technologies is utilized as a direct measure of the carbon footprint of each technology. The comparative assessment demonstrates that the trenchless technology used achieves a reduction of 59.2% in CO2 emissions compared to the excavation technology. The carbon footprint of Variant 1 (trenchless technology) is 9.91 t CO2 eq., while the carbon footprint of Variant 2 (excavation technology) is 24.29 t CO2 eq. The restoration of open pipelines produces more emissions due to the higher energy consumption, making it more expensive in terms of fuel costs, waste disposal costs, and the corresponding environmental hazards.

Trenchless technology

Carbon Footprint

10.3390/resources13010012

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Citations (3)

Pharmaceutical and narcotics monitoring in Brno wastewater system and estimation of seasonal effect on the abuse of illicit drugs by a wastewater-based epidemiology approach

The Science of The Total Environment (2023)

Marco Carnevale Miino Tomáš Macsek Taťána Halešová Tomáš Chorazy Petr Hlavínek

Drugs of abuse

Illicit drug

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.164386

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Citations (3)

Separation of Cellulose from Wastewater and Valorisation via Pyrolysis: A Case Study in the Czech Republic

Resources (2024)

Denisa Djordjevićová Marco Carnevale Miino Jakub Raček Tomáš Chorazy Petr Hlavínek

Currently, the recovery of resources from urban wastewater (WW) represents a priority. On this topic, the potential recovery of cellulose for its subsequent reuse in different sectors is gaining interest. In this work, a large-size conventional wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) was selected as a case study. A preliminary mechanical treatment was used, with the aim of separating, quantifying, and characterizing cellulose in WW. The results suggest that the per-capita production of dry primary cellulosic sludge (D-PCS) is equal to 1.46 ± 0.13 kgD-PCS PE−1 y−1, with an average calorific value of 21.04 MJ kg−1DM. Cellulosic fibres have an average length of >100 µm and a thickness of 2–5 µm. The D-PCS was subsequently treated via medium-temperature pyrolysis; a total of 29.5% of the initial D-PCS was converted into pyrolyzed primary cellulosic sludge (P-PCS) and only 26% into pyrolytic gas. More than 44.5% of the dried cellulose can be converted into pyrolytic oil. Moreover, three different scenarios of recovery have been considered, and the impact of cellulose separation in terms of COD fluxes entering the WWTP and potential energy recovery has been studied. The results suggested that, in this case study, the potential separation of the primary cellulosic sludge from the influent water flux would have no significant impact on COD load entering the biological treatments and biogas production in the anaerobic digestion of the secondary sludge.

Valorisation

10.3390/resources13040051

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Citations (0)

Is the reliability of wastewater-based epidemiology affected by season? Comparative analysis with pharmaceuticals prescriptions

Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2024)

Marco Carnevale Miino Tomáš Macsek Taťána Halešová Tomáš Chorazy Petr Hlavínek

Consumption

10.1007/s11356-024-32110-w

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Citations (2)

Drivers for wastewater reuse: regional analysis in the Czech Republic