Date of Award
Fall 9-19-2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
First Advisor
Daniel Zitomer
Second Advisor
Anne Schauer-Gimenez
Third Advisor
Christopher Marshall
Abstract
Management of water and energy resources represents pressing and complex challenges facing contemporary society. Anaerobic digestion (AD) in which specific microorganisms remove wastewater pollutants and produce biogas containing methane is a promising, energy-efficient alternative to promote sustainable wastewater management. This research aimed to predict and enhance anaerobic treatment of industrial wastewater and municipal sewage by developing microbial descriptors and a novel bioreactor configuration to support sustainable wastewater management. To predict AD performance, Monod kinetic constants for substrate utilization were correlated with microbial community relative abundance values using biomass from full-scale mesophilic digesters, a novel respirometry method, and amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. Specific microbes, Syntrophobacter and Proteiniphilum, that are beneficial and result in fast digestion were identified. Subsequently the anaerobic moving bed biofilm reactor (AnMBBR) and a novel bioreactor configuration were used to treat municipal wastewater that is often challenging to treat due to its dilute, cold characteristics. To address the challenge, floating biofilm carriers (FBCs) with zero-valent-iron (ZVI) were adopted to improve treatment performance. A quantitative relationship was established between the maximum specific substrate utilization rate for acetate and microbial community relative abundance values, which may be used as a tool for AD modeling, design, and control. ZVI FBCs enhanced methanogenesis and COD removal rates in AnMBBR at 25 °C, reaching the level of AnMBBR with non-conductive FBCs or control bioreactors with no FBCs at 35 °C. The developed bioreactor configuration represents an energy-efficient, novel configuration for dilute wastewater treatment at 25 °C as an alternative for conventional aerobic systems in water and resource recovery facilities.
Comments
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)