New Publication on removal of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in onsite wastewater treatment

Published

In this study, we investigated the potential of biochar filters as a replacement or complement for sand filters for removal of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances from wastewater in onsite sewage facilities. In a 22-weeks experiment, concentrations, removal and adsorption of nine perfluoroalkyl carboxylates (PFCAs; C3- 11) and three perfluoroalkane sulfonates (PFSAs; C4, 6, 8) and one perfluorooctanesulfonamide (FOSA; C8) were investigated in four treatments: biochar with active, biochar with inactive biofilm, biochar without biofilm and sand with active biofilm. We found that biochar with no biofilm achieved higher removal efficiency (90-99%) and the adsorption capacity (73 -168 ng g-1 ) for C7-C11 PFCAs, C6, C8 PFSAs and FOSA, than the other biochar and sand treatments. For all biochar treatments, shorter-chain PFASs were more resistant to removal than longer-chain PFASs.

TvÄ nya praktikanter för urinsorteringsprojektet

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Den senaste tillökningen i Kretsloppsteknik Àr tvÄ praktikanter, Chinmoy Deb och Anooj Ramanathan, som kommer hela vÀgen frÄn Indien för att arbeta med urinsortering för sin kandidatexamen. Under deras kandidatexamen har bÄde Chinmoy och Anooj forskat pÄ sanitet, arbetat med nÀringsÄtervinning samt borttagning av farmaceutiska rester frÄn mÀnsklig urin. Ett stort intresse för sanitets- och hygienteknologier har tagit dem till vÄr grupp pÄ SLU för en 3-mÄnaders lÄng praktik som började i december. Under praktikperioden kommer de att vara involverade i pÄgÄende projekt relaterade till processmodellering, intensifiering och optimering.

Two new interns for the urine drying project

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The latest additions to Kretsloppsteknik are two interns, Chinmoy Deb and Anooj Ramanathan, coming all the way from India to work on urine drying for their bachelor’s thesis. During their bachelors program, both Chinmoy and Anooj have been doing research on sanitation, working with nutrient recovery as well as removal of pharmaceutical residues from human urine. A keen interest in sanitation and hygiene technologies brings them to our group at SLU for a 3-months long internship that began in December. Over the course of the internship, they will be involved in ongoing projects related to process modelling, intensification, and optimization.

Water & Wastewater Speciality in the Journal Frontiers in Environmental Science

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A new section about water and wastewater has been launched as a speciality section in the journal, Frontiers in Environmental Science. Björn VinnerĂ„s together with the co-chief editor, Prof. Paolo Perona and the members of the editorial board welcome contributions to the journal.                                                                                                                                                            We aim at publishing pioneering, high-quality research in key areas of integrated and sustainable water and wastewater resources management. These include, for instance, uses and processes involving surface- and groundwater bodies, engineering techniques with a focus on upstream work, virtual water networks, innovative water and wastewater treatment solutions in humid, semiarid and arid regions, analytical and numerical modelling as well as the use of innovative algorithms devoted to the analysis of big-datasets. For more information see the following blog post: https://blog.frontiersin.org/2018/12/12/making-waves-paolo-perona-and-bjorn-vinneras-lead-new-water-related-section-in-frontiers-in-environmental-science/                  Or directly at the home of the section, available at this link

Insects fed on waste as fish feed

Published

As part of the result of the Vinnova financed project Five tonnes of fishes in different dishes that aims at producing fish reared exclusively on Swedish produced feed, fish reared on insect based protein were tested and evaluated against fish reared on conventional fish feed. The protein in the test feed comprised of a 1:1 mixture of pea and insect protein. The insects (black soldier fly larvae) were fed stale bread. In total, 25 kg of rainbow trout in this first trial. To the joy of all, the fish fed with insects tasted really well, which suggest that it is feasible that insect can be a part of sustainable Swedish fish feed in the future.                                                                

Nature awareness champions competition participants visit

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Participants of the “NaturvetarmĂ€starna” competition in knowledge in natural sciences from 9th grade of Rosendalsgymnasiet visited our group at the Fly Larvae Composting Laboratory.
Björn VinnerÄs, leader of the Environmental Engineering group, is introducing our vision and different directions of our research to the visitors. Photo: Evgheni Ermolaev.

The vision is to develop and evaluate technological solutions for safe and sustainable nutrient recycling from waste and wastewater to agriculture in a circular system.

The demonstration included two of several systems that the group is developing: organic waste management using black soldier fly larvae composting and sustainable fertilizer production through urine drying. Both system designs and components were presented and sparked multiple questions and discussions with the engaged pupils.

Working with K-12 pupils is a part of the ongoing group effort to introduce sustainable environmental engineering approaches to society and help in the effort of Sweden reaching the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Contact
Evgheni Ermolaev

Developing a serious game for resource recovery

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In the project “Gamification of Sanitation Planning”, we are developing a serious game to support sanitation planning and increase the recovery of nutrients from waste flows. This fall we have had a series of workshops focusing on developing the game concept. The target group for the game is politicians and officials in decision-making positions. Other target groups are property owners, community-based organizations, students and other officials involved in sanitation planning. The aim of the game is to get the target group to understand what nutrient cycles are and what can be done to facilitate the construction of resource-recovery systems, i.e. how can different groups take responsibility? The game should also be fun to play, engaging, be able to inform about new technologies and lead to increased understanding of other actors’ perspectives. The game itself will be developed in early 2019 and be ready to test with audiences before the summer.

Utveckling av kretsloppspelet pÄgÄr

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I projektet ” Gamification av sanitetsplanering” hĂ„ller vi pĂ„ att utveckla ett serious game för att stödja VA-planering och öka kretslopp.  Under hösten har vi haft flera utvecklingsworkshop som ska leda fram till ett spelkoncept. PrimĂ€rmĂ„lgruppen för spelet Ă€r politiker och tjĂ€nstemĂ€n i beslutsfattande stĂ€llning. Övriga mĂ„lgrupper Ă€r fastighetsĂ€gare, samfĂ€lligheter, studenter och tjĂ€nstemĂ€n inblandade i planlĂ€ggningen av en VA utbyggnad. MĂ„let med spelet Ă€r att fĂ„ mĂ„lgruppen att förstÄ vad kretslopp för vĂ€xtnĂ€ringsĂ€mne Àr och vad man kan göra för att underlĂ€tta att ett kretsloppsystem byggs upp, dvs. hur kan olika grupper ta ansvar? Spelet ska ocksĂ„ vara kul att spela, engagerande, kunna informera om ny teknik och leda till ökat förstĂ„else av andra aktörers perspektiv. SjĂ€lva spelet ska utvecklas under början av 2019 och vara fĂ€rdig för att testa med mĂ„lgrupper innan sommaren.