Users of urban wastewater treatment for the production of coal with properties for biogas cleaning

Urban growth demands more water and generates greater amounts of wastewater that require some type of treatment. In Cuenca, both the current and projected treatment are based on aerobic technologies that generate high amounts of sludge, whose final use or disposition presents technological challenges and environmental and social impacts that require urgent attention. The presence of pathogens, toxins and heavy metals hinders their final use or disposition. This project proposes to use the sludge for the production of coal with properties designed for the cleaning of biogas produced from anaerobic wastewater degradation. This use offers opportunities because the presence of heavy metals does not limit the removal of unwanted compounds (for example, H2S) in biogas. For the study samples of different sludge of the Lagunar Treatment System of Ucubamba will be taken and, after drying, they will be used to produce coal (in an oven built for the purpose) with different retention times and temperatures. The use of coal use in biogas cleaning will be carried out at the laboratory scale, measuring H2S concentrations before and after passing through a coal column. To measure the H2S concentrations, gas chromatography will be used in line with the coal column. As a result, coal saturation curves will be obtained with H2S that will allow to assess the best conditions of production and use of coal, comparing their behavior with that of commercial activated carbon.

15th UNIVERSITY RESEARCH COMPETITION