Resource recovery: Nutrients, metals, biogas

At Fraunhofer IGB, we develop processes to create an added value from waste or residual materials. Biotechnological processes can be established economically and ecologically advantageous for the substance recycling along with waste and wastewater treatment.

The best known substance recycling process of organic materials such as biowaste or sewage sludge is the recovery of biogas as a renewable energy source. Organic residues that cannot be recycled further are particularly suitable for conversion by means of digestion. In this process, anaerobic microorganisms break down organic carbon compounds via various intermediate stages to produce biogas, a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide.  

By integrating further appropriate process steps, additional value substances such as fertilizer salts (from nitrogen and phosphate ingredients of sludge, sludge water, digestion residues and other waste) can be recovered.

Biogas – renewable energy with multifaceted potential

Fraunhofer IGB has developed a particularly efficient high-load process for the digestion of sewage sludge, but also other organic materials such as biowaste, kitchen waste or agricultural residues into biogas.

The generation of electricity from biogas, which is produced in biogas plants primarily from ensiled renewable raw materials, is an important pillar of renewable energies. Biogas occupies a special position in this context: While the generation of electricity from sun and wind is highly dependent on the weather, biogas can in principle be produced continuously, stored for a certain period of time and converted into electricity and heat in the combined heat and power plant by means of combined heat and power generation.

If biogas is purified accordingly, high-purity biomethane can be fed into the natural gas grid, used as a fuel (for natural gas vehicles) or used as a basic chemical substance.

Recovery of nutrients from wastewater, manure and residues

Nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and sulfur are essential components of fertilizers and thus indispensable for the world’s food supply. Nowadays, these nutrients are only partially recycled in agro-ecosystems, since human intervention has created a linear, dispersive system.

The key response to this lack of sustainability within agriculture and waste management is to recreate a cycle of nutrients. Not only liquid manure and digestion residues, but also municipal wastewater and residues from the food industry are rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium or calcium. Fraunhofer IGB develops sustainable and cost-effective technologies and processes to recover the valuable nutrients and process them into plant-available fertilizers and soil conditioners.

Applications

 

Sludge management on wastewater treatment plants

Our services in the area of sludge management on municipal and industrial sewage treatment plants cover various aspects and range from solutions for filamentous bulking and foaming, to process adaptation from aerobic to anaerobic sludge stabilization, to digester design and optimization of digester operation.  

 

Nutrient recovery from sewage plants

For more than 25 years Fraunhofer IGB has been developing biotechnological processes for the treatment of water and waste. In addition to the organic load, wastewater also contains larger quantities of nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, magnesium or potassium. Fraunhofer IGB is developing processes for the recovery of nutrients from wastewater streams.

 

Biogas from of organic waste and renewable raw materials

Organic substances rich in solid material with variable composition are found in several locations and processes. Fraunhofer IGB supplies customized, adapted solutions for the material and energetic use of by-products from the food industry and other organic material streams.

 

Digestate – raw material for nutrients and soil conditioner

In addition to valuable organic matter, digestate also contains important nutrients. At Fraunhofer IGB, methods are being developed to recover phosphorus and nitrogen. Furthermore, we develop soil improvers by processing the organic matter of the digestate.

 

Processing of liquid manure to mineral fertilizer and soil conditioner

Fraunhofer IGB develops technologies for the recovery of nutrients and other resources als well as organic components from agricultural waste such as manure to produce high-quality and compact organic and mineral fertilizers.

 

Nutrients from food and animal feed industry

In the food and animal feed industry, there is a great need for technologies for the sensible use of residues and waste. In this context, the researchers at Fraunhofer IGB develop methods for the preparation of production remains and the recovery of nutrients from these.

 

Plant and soil substrates

Due to intensive agriculture and the consequent soil contamination it is crucial to maintain the soil quality in arable areas. That is why there is a high demand for fertilizers. For this reason Fraunhofer IGB explores  sustainable production processes of fertilizers and soil conditioners, as well as of plant protection products on a biotechnological basis.

Technologies

 

Two-stage high load digestion

Th IGB has developed a particularly efficient high-load process for the digestion of sewage sludge into biogas. It was first put into operation in 1994 and has since been successfully operated by other municipal wastewater treatment plants. The process has an improved efficiency, a short residence time and a high degree of degradation. It is also used for the anaerobic conversion of organic substrates such as liquid manure or biowaste.

 

ePhos®: Electrochemical phosphorus recovery of phosphorus

For the recovery of phosphorus from municipal wastewater, we have developed an electrochemical process that delivers the high-quality fertilizer struvite without added chemicals.

 

BioEcoSIM® – Multi-stage process for the treatment of manure and digestate

For the treatment of liquid manure or fermentation residues, different procedural steps are required, which have been integrated as separate modules in a plant. Thus phosphorus fertilizer, nitrogen fertilizer and soil conditioner can be obtained.

 

Nutrient removal or recovery from process water and fermentation residues

In anaerobic sludge treatment, nutrients often remain in the aqueous phase. These nutrients can be removed or recovered from the resulting process water through appropriate process steps, e. g. for cultivation of microalgae or fertilizing watering in agriculture.

 

Drying of solid biological residues and active substances

At the IGB, fermentation residues, the organic liquid manure fraction or cyanobacteria are dried with a new type of dryer using superheated steam dryer (SHSD). This dryer, developed at Fraunhofer IGB, offers significant advantages over conventional dryers using hot air.

 

Bioleaching and biomining

Bioleaching processes use bacteria to mobilize metals from spoil heaps or waste. The focus at the IGB is on the extraction and recovery of dissolved metals by biological processes such as biosorption, bioaccumulation or bioprecipitation.

Range of services – biogas production from sludge and organic waste

For more than 40 years Fraunhofer IGB has been developing biotechnological processes for the treatment of water and waste – from the microbiological fundamentals to a technical and pilot scale plant.

The range of our services extends from digestion tests on laboratory scale to determine the degradability and the biogas yield, to investigations on pilot plant scale to determine design parameters for biogas plants, to the realization of plants on technical scale in cooperation with engineering offices. All developments are carried out with the aim of providing optimal and specific solutions for the user.

  • Feasibility studies: Investigation of the fermentability, quantification of the biogas yield of substrates / cosubstrates
  • Characterization of solids and substrates: Qualitative and quantitative biogas analysis, analysis of substrate ingredients
  • Specific analysis of processes with the aim of process improvements: elimination of faults, increase of efficiency, process optimization
  • Anaerobic processes as an alternative to aerobic processes
  • Determination of potential for increasing the performance of processes, e.g. wastewater treatment, biogas plants, sewage sludge digestion
  • Process development for anaerobic treatment of organic residues, e.g. from agriculture, food processing, production
  • Technical implementation up to pilot scale
  • Scientific support during the commissioning of processes on a technical scale

Range of services – nutrient recovery and production of fertilizers

Pellets aus Gärresten.
Pellets from digestate.
Pellets from olive oil production residues.
pellets of waste from the production of olive oil.

Nutrient recovery

  • Chemical and physical characterization of raw materials and residues with regard to their nutrient content
  • Development of strategies and technologies for optimum recovery of nutrients and organic matter
  • Modelling of processes, statistical experiment design, laboratory experiments, reactor design and scale-up
  • Feasibility studies, including experimentation with our struvite plant and superheated steam dryer
  • Thermodynamic and kinetic analysis of the precipitation of different salts for the assessment of competitive reactions

Product studies

  • Stability and altering studies of liquid fertilizer according to CIPAC
  • Online particle measurement (1 µm – 2.5 mm) of nutrient crystals

Formulation and processing of fertilizers

  • Development of multicomponent fertilizers
  • Formulation and processing of multicomponent fertilizer from liquid and solid residues with repellent properties
  • Production of organic liquid fertilizer and plant strengtheners by means of extraction and suspension processes
  • Developing methods of separating, drying and pelletizing fertilizing agents

Infrastructure and technical equipment

Biogas

 

  • Bioreactors of different types and sizes (laboratory, pilot and technical scale)
  • Pilot plant for environmental and bioprocess engineering
  • Mobile pilot plants in m3 scale for the generation of design data on site for the planning and construction of innovative demonstration plants

 

Nutrient recovery

 

Broschures Biogas from sludge and biomass / organic residues

 

Brochure “Energy-efficient wastewater treatment and biogas plants”

Brochures Nutrient Recovery

 

Brochure “Recovery of plant nutrients for a sustainable agriculture”

 

Product sheet “Manure valorization as fertilizers and organic soil improvers”

 

Brochure “Superheated steam drying at atmospheric pressure”

 

Product sheet “Superheated steam drying and torrefaction of biomass residues”

 

Brochure “Microalgae – a sustainable resource for valuable compounds and energy”

Publications Biogas and Sludge Management

Jahr
Year
Titel/Autor:in
Title/Author
Publikationstyp
Publication Type
2015 Anaerobe Batch-Fermentation mit Mais- und Amaranthsilagen: Biogasproduktion und molekulare Charakterisierung mikrobieller Gemeinschaften
Kempter-Regel, Brigitte; Grumaz, Christian; Wiese, Franziska; Scherge, Katharina; Birk, Carolin; Schließmann, Ursula; Stevens, Philip; Sohn, Kai; Bryniok, Dieter
Konferenzbeitrag
Conference Paper
2014 Power generation based on biomass by combined fermentation and gasification - A new concept derived from experiments and modelling
Methling, T.; Armbrust, N.; Haitz, T.; Speidel, M.; Poboss, N.; Braun-Unkhoff, M.; Dieter, H.; Kempter-Regel, B.; Kraaij, G.; Schliessmann, U.; Sterr, Y.; Wörner, A.; Hirth, Thomas; Riedel, U.; Scheffknecht, G.
Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Journal Article
2011 Potencial de otimização da produção de biogás gerado por uma digestão anaeróbia em etes
Waelkens, B.E.; Sternad, W.
Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Journal Article
2009 Mehr Energieeffizienz für kleinere Kläranlagen - Hochlastfaulung mit Mikrofiltration
Kempter-Regel, B.; Trösch, Walter
Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Journal Article
2008 Anaerobe Abwasserreinigung in Membranbioreaktoren unter -Verwendung des Rotationsscheibenfilters
Krischke, W.; Mohr, M.; Kempter-Regel, B.; Trösch, Walter
Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Journal Article
2003 Integration einer Hochlastfaulung in die herkömmliche Technik
Kempter-Regel, B.; Oehlke, M.; Weber, J.; Trösch, Walter
Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Journal Article
2002 Erfahrungen zur Ammoniakentfernung mit Membrankontaktoren
Chaumette, C.; Walitza, E.; Kempter, B.; Sternad, W.
Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Journal Article
2001 Verfahren zur Reinigung von Abwasser
Kempter, B.; Sternad, W.; Trösch, W.
Patent
2000 Optimiertes Vergärungsverfahren steigert Umsatz von organischen Abfällen
Kempter, B.; Trösch, Walter
Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Journal Article
2000 Verbesserter Abbau von kommunalen Klärschlämmen in einer zweistufigen Hochlast-Vergärungsanlage
Kempter, B.; Schmid-Staiger, U.; Trösch, Walter
Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Journal Article
1996 Aerober und anaerober Abbau von Abwässern aus der Wasserlackverarbeitung
Kempter, B.
Dissertation
Doctoral Thesis
Diese Liste ist ein Auszug aus der Publikationsplattform Fraunhofer-Publica

This list has been generated from the publication platform Fraunhofer-Publica

Publications Nutrient Recovery

Jahr
Year
Titel/Autor:in
Title/Author
Publikationstyp
Publication Type
2023 Elektrolytische Reaktoren
Krupp, Sebastian; Bohn, Michael; Egner, Siegfried
Patent
2019 Phosphates recycled from semi-liquid manure and digestate are suitable alternative fertilizers for ornamentals
Ehmann, Andrea; Bach, Inga-Mareike; Bilbao, Jennifer; Lewandowski, Iris; Müller, Torsten
Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Journal Article
2017 Can phosphate salts recovered from manure replace conventional phosphate fertilizer?
Ehmann, Andrea; Bach, Inga-Mareike; Laopeamthong, Sukhanes; Bilbao, Jennifer; Lewandowski, Iris
Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Journal Article
2014 Nährstoffrückgewinnung aus Gärprodukten im Rahmen des GoBi-Vorhabens
Frank, Daniel; Messmer, Johannes; Laopeamthong, Sukhanes; Bilbao, Jennifer; Egner, Siegfried
Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Journal Article
2014 Phosphorus recovery from wastewater filtrates through a novel electrochemical struvite precipitation process
Bilbao, Jennifer
Dissertation
Doctoral Thesis
2012 Nährstoffrückgewinnung mit elektrochemischer Fällung - Anwendungspotenzial in kommunalen Kläranlagen
Bilbao, Jennifer; Frank, Daniel; Egner, Siegfried; Trösch, Walter; Hirth, Thomas
Konferenzbeitrag
Conference Paper
2010 Verfahren Rückgewinnung von Phosphatsalzen aus einer Flüssigkeit
Bilbao, J.; Bryniok, D.; Frank, D.; Egner, Siegfried
Patent
2010 Nährstoff-Recycling als Schritt zur vollständigen Nutzung von Kulturpflanzen
Bilbao, Jennifer; Stoll, Maria Soledad
Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Journal Article
2010 Characterization and anaerobic digestion of olive-mill solid wastes
Bilbao, J.; Stoll, Maria Soledad; Bryniok, Dieter; Egner, S.; Trösch, Walter; Hirth, Thomas
Konferenzbeitrag
Conference Paper
2010 Closing the nutrients cycle
Bilbao, Jennifer; Stoll, Maria Soledad; Egner, S.
Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Journal Article
2010 Reaktor zur Rückgewinnung von Phosphatsalzen aus einer Flüssigkeit
Bilbao, J.; Bryniok, D.; Campos, A.; Egner, Siegfried
Patent
Diese Liste ist ein Auszug aus der Publikationsplattform Fraunhofer-Publica

This list has been generated from the publication platform Fraunhofer-Publica