Wireless and powerless nitrogen removal from wastewaters by using sacrificial anodes.

RODRIGUEZ SIMÓN, CARLOS NORBERTO; BONANNI, PABLO SEBASTIAN; BUSALMEN, JUAN PABLO

Los Cocos

Congreso; XVII Congreso Argentino de Microbiología General (SAMIGE); 2022

SAMIGE

Excess nitrogen contained inwastewaters as ammonium, nitrate and nitrite is deleterious for naturalreceiving waterbodies. For avoiding negatively impacting the environment thesespecies must be removed to comply with local regulations before final disposal.Different methods are available for removing nitrogen from water, includingchemical, physicochemical and biological ones. Biological methods are the mostwidespread making use of nitrifying and denitrifying microorganisms, but aretypically limited by the availability of oxygen for nitrification or electrondonors for denitrification. In this work we present a new methodfor simultaneously removing ammonium, nitrate and nitrite from water, based onthe use of magnesium sacrificial anodes galvanically coupled to denitrifyingbiocathodes. In this method magnesium anodes dissolution provides both,electrons for fueling bioelectrochemical denitrification in microbiologicalcathodes, and magnesium cations for removing ammonium as struvite ((NH4)MgPO4),with the concomitant phosphorus removal andthe obtention of this valued fertilizer as extra benefits.Profiting on the natural potentialdifference between magnesium dissolution and biological denitrification, thenew method does not require an external power source and can be implementedtotally wireless. The content of this work isprotected through patent document INPI 1828981.