Efficient phosphate and hydrogen recovery from sludge fermentation liquid by sacrificial iron anode in electro-fermentation system

Haifeng Qiang; Zhihong Liu; Xiaoyun Yin; Zhengtong Guo; Yanqing Duan; Wenzong Liu; Xiuping Yue; Aijuan Zhou

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.121110

Efficient phosphate and hydrogen recovery from sludge fermentation liquid by sacrificial iron anode in electro-fermentation system

J Environ Manage. 2024 May 10:360:121110. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.121110. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Haifeng Qiang¹, Zhihong Liu², Xiaoyun Yin¹, Zhengtong Guo¹, Yanqing Duan³, Wenzong Liu⁴, Xiuping Yue⁵, Aijuan Zhou⁶

Affiliations

¹ College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, 030024, China.
² College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, 030024, China; Shanxi Academy of Advanced Research and Innovation, Taiyuan, 030006, China. Electronic address: liuzhihong@tyut.edu.cn.
³ Department of Environmental and Safety Engineering, Taiyuan Institute of Technology, Taiyuan, 030800, China.
⁴ Civil and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, China.
⁵ College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, 030024, China; Shanxi-Zheda Institute of Advanced Materials and Chemical Engineering, Taiyuan, 030000, China.
⁶ College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, 030024, China; Shanxi-Zheda Institute of Advanced Materials and Chemical Engineering, Taiyuan, 030000, China. Electronic address: zhouaijuan@tyut.edu.cn.

PMID: 38733846
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.121110

Abstract

Electro-fermentation (EF) has been extensively studied for recovering hydrogen and phosphorus from waste activated sludge (WAS), while was limited for the further application due to the low hydrogen yield and phosphorus recovery efficiency. This study proposed an efficient strategy for hydrogen and vivianite recovery from the simulated sludge fermentation liquid by sacrificial iron anode in EF. The optimum hydrogen productivity and the utilization efficiency of short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) reached 45.2 mmol/g COD and 77.6% at 5 d in pH 8. Phosphate removal efficiency achieved at 90.8% at 2 d and the high crystallinity and weight percentage of vivianite (84.8%) was obtained. The functional microbes, i.e., anaerobic fermentative bacteria, electrochemical active bacteria, homo-acetogens and iron-reducing bacteria were highly enriched and the inherent interaction between the microbial consortia and environmental variables was thoroughly explored. This work may provide a theoretical basis for energy/resource recovery from WAS in the further implementation.

Keywords: Electro-fermentation (EF); Hydrogen; Sacrificial iron anode; Vivianite; Waste activated sludge (WAS); pH.