Glucose conversion by aerobic granular sludge

Aerobic granular sludge (AGS) is an innovative biotechnology extensively applied for treating municipal wastewater, and it can potentially treat sugar industry wastewater. Glucose is a prevalent substrate in sugar industry wastewater; nevertheless, the effect of glucose on AGS systems remains unexplored. In this study, an AGS reactor using...

High phosphate concentrations due to VFA production from sieved activated sludge at WWTP Ommen: A source identification and resource recovery strategy

Environmental guidelines (EU WFD) impose a strict effluent phosphate target on wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). An abundance of phosphate (and other nutrients) in a water body is called eutrophication. Eutrophication can lead to algal blooms which result in very low oxygen concentrations in the water. Other species, like fish and aquatic...

On the Road to a Sustainable and Healthy Circular Economy in the Netherlands: A layered dynamic material flow analysis and a life cycle impact assessment of flame retardant additives in Dutch passenger vehicle plastics

Flame retardants are added to plastics in passenger vehicles to save lives. However, their releases can, in some cases, be accompanied by undesired impacts to human health and the environment. In the context of a transition to a Circular Economy, it is therefore important to keep track of the flow of flame retardants in passenger vehicle...

Influence of Hydrological Processes on Phosphate Leaching in Tile Drained Sandy Soils: A Case Study in the Bollenstreek

Leaching of phosphorus (P) from agricultural land is an important source of eutrophication in the Bollenstreek in the Netherlands. This is because floriculture has led to high P concentrations in the sandy soils with low organic carbon content, which are characterised by a low retention capacity for P. In this study, P concentrations in...

Modeling the energy trade-off between glycogen and polyphosphate use in phosphate accumulating organisms

Phosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs) perform a storage polymer metabolism within an anaerobic-aerobic cycle. Anaerobically, PAOs take up volatile fatty acids (VFA) and store them as poly-ẞ-hydroxyalkanoates (PHA). The energy (mainly ATP) necessary for the transport and storage of VFA (and general maintenance) is obtained through the cleavage...

Phosphate Removal from Wastewater by Mineral Wool Filters

According to the United Nations, eutrophication is the most prevalent water quality problem. Developing countries especially are struggling to manage the increasing volume of untreated wastewater. A preliminary study of a Dutch-Indian partnership, developing universal watermanagement (LOTUSHR), has shown some indication of ortho-phosphate...

Bioreceptive Urban Facades: Integration of Bryophytes Into Facades and Their Impact on Exterior Building Temperatures

Rapidly expanding urban developments are having an inverse relationship on the surrounding urban environment. Facades and the materials that they are composed of can have a large impact on the warming of urban microclimates. By reducing or cooling the external surfaces of a facade a building maybe able to offset its contribution to the urban...

Layer-by-layer modified anion-exchange membranes for phosphate recovery

Ion exchange membranes (IEMs) are used to selectively transport ions between two solutions. Most membranes are not selective to certain ion species. This study investigates the possibility of increasing phosphate selectivity (in the form of H2PO4 – ) of anion exchange membranes (AEM) by modifying commercial AEMs with a Layer-by-Layer (LbL)...

Meaningful Circular Metabolism

The main products of this graduation are a new pattern language to map difficult/technical interventions in spatial tiles, a GIS model for assessing urban metabolism potentials and restrictions and a new approach for applying urban metabolism measurements on neighbourhood level. A personal motivation for me is the relation between the urban...

The Fate of Phosphate in Full-Scale Aerobic Granular Sludge Systems

In previous works, biologically induced phosphate precipitation was observed in lab-scale aerobic granular sludge (AGS) reactors. In this study, the contribution of biologically induced phosphate precipitation to the total removal of phosphate was investigated in full-scale AGS installations in Utrecht and Garmerwolde, the Netherlands. A...

Model-Based Governance of Phosphate Market Imbalances: Mixing and Matching Model Building Blocks

Phosphorus is essential for all life on this planet. It is needed to provide for high productivity yields in modern agriculture: a key part of the Green Revolution that took place in the twentieth century. There is no substitute for phosphate rock and phosphate fertilizer in their agricultural role. Both the markets for phosphate rock and...

Phosphorus removal by ceramic tight ultra-filtration (CTUF) membranes for RO pre-treatment

gReverse Osmosis systems are wildly used for sea water desalination and water reclamation but they meet problems regarding bio-fouling. Bio-fouling increases their work pressure and operational costs and decreases their removal efficiencies. Phosphorus limitation is one strategy to control bio-fouling. This report focuses on phosphorus removal...