Stanford Nitrogen Group – Energy from Waste Nitrogen – Wastewater Treatment research

 When looking at sanitation/wastewater treatment and making it economically feasible for more parts of the world, this is very interesting research.   Some will say it has roots in the fact that there is “gold”  in out crap…

Related links to this research:

Wastewater as a Clean Energy Source:

  …On May 1, a panel of judges awarded the $100,000 National University Clean Energy Business Challenge prize to the Stanford team for its project to convert nitrogen waste into nitrous oxide that is then used for clean power generation….

Paper: Nitrogen removal with energy recovery through N₂O decomposition:

by Yaniv D. Scherson ,  George F. Wells ,  Sung-Geun Woo ,  Jangho Lee ,  Joonhong Park ,  Brian J. Cantwell and Craig S. Criddle

A new process for the removal of nitrogen from wastewater is introduced. The process involves three steps: (1) partial nitrification of NH₄⁺ to NO₂⁻; (2) partial anoxic reduction of NO₂⁻ to N₂O; and (3) N₂O conversion to N₂ with energy recovery by either catalytic decomposition to N₂ and O₂ or use of N₂O to oxidize biogas CH₄. Steps 1 and 3 have been previously established at full-scale. Accordingly, bench-scale experiments focused on step 2. Two strategies were evaluated and found to be effective: in the first, Fe(II) was used to abiotically reduce NO₂⁻ to N₂O; in the second, COD stored as polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) was used as the electron donor for partial heterotrophic reduction of NO₂⁻ to N₂O. ….

Researchers use rocket science for sustainable waste treatment process

Normally, we want to discourage these gases from forming,” said Craig Criddle, a professor of civil and environmental engineering and senior fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford. “But by encouraging the formation of nitrous oxide, we can remove harmful nitrogen from the water and simultaneously increase methane production for use as fuel.

• Yaniv D. Scherson’s profile
• The Criddle Research Group / Professor Craig S. Criddle
• Brian J. Cantwell’s profile
• George F. Wells’ profile
• The Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment

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• Major Advance in Generating Electricity From Wastewater (wakingtimes.com)
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“Sewage Fed Biorefineries A Foundation for Urban Sustainability”

This a great TEDX by Kartik Chandran at TEDxColumbiaEngineering

Redefining the model for urban sewage treatment / sanitation  addressing

Waste recover-  Key Chemicals

Energy Recovery

Sustainability

From the Youtube Site

“Kartik Chandran is an Environmental Engineer. He is currently Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Engineering at Columbia University, where he leads the Columbia University Biomolecular Environmental Science program and the Wastewater Treatment and Climate Change program. Under his stewardship, the research directions of biological wastewater treatment and biological nitrogen removal were established for the first time ever in the history of Columbia University. Chandran is keenly interested in developing novel models for sustainable sanitation and wastewater treatment, with a specific focus on managing the global nitrogen cycle (one of the grand challenges of the National Academy of Engineering) and linking it to the carbon cycle, the water cycle and the energy cycle. Chandran has received, among other awards, the NSF CAREER award and the Paul Busch Award. He was the recipient of a 2007 National Academies of Science Fellowship and a guest professorship at the Delft University of Technology. In 2011, Chandran began implementing a novel model for sanitation in Africa, supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Water Environment Federation.”

Related articles

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• Ivy League Brains Figure Out How to Make Biodegradable Plastic from Greenhouse Gases (cleantechnica.com)
• Sewage-powered hydrogen fueling station opens in CA (reviews.cnet.com)