Integration of membrane distillation as volume reduction technology for in-land desalination brines management: Pre-treatments and scaling limitations.

Management of in-land reverse osmosis (RO) desalination brines generated from surface brackish waters is a current challenge. Among the different near-Zero and Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) alternatives, Membrane Distillation (MD), in which the transport of water is thermally driven, appears as an attractive technology if a residual heat source is available. The aim of this study was to identify the limits of Direct Contact MD (DCMD) pre-treatments such as acidification and aeration, or the combination of both to quantify the scaling reduction potential when treating a RO brine from surface brackish water.

New concepts on carbon redirection in wastewater treatment plants: A review.

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are no longer considered pollution removal systems but rather resources (nutrients and energy) recovery plants. Legislation imposing more stringent effluent requirements and the need energy self-sufficient or even energy-positive plants are the main drivers for the research and development of new WWTP configurations. While a lot of effort has been focused on developing new processes for nutrient recovery, limited efforts have been allocated to maximizing energy recovery from the organic load.

Recovery of ammonia from domestic wastewater effluents as liquid fertilizers by integration of natural zeolites and hollow fibre membrane contactors.

The integration of up-concentration processes to increase the efficiency of primary sedimentation, as a solution to achieve energy neutral wastewater treatment plants, requires further post-treatment due to the missing ammonium removal stage. This study evaluated the use of zeolites as a post-treatment step, an alternative to the biological removal process. A natural granular clinoptilolite zeolite was evaluated as a sorbent media to remove low levels (up to 100mg-N/L) of ammonium from treated wastewater using batch and fixed bed columns.

Analytical methodology for sampling and analysing eight siloxanes and trimethylsilanol in biogas from different wastewater treatment plants in Europe.

Siloxanes and trimethylsilanol belong to a family of organic silicone compounds that are currently used extensively in industry. Those that are prone to volatilisation become minor compounds in biogas adversely affecting energetic applications. However, non-standard analytical methodologies are available to analyse biogas-based gaseous matrixes.