Mitigation of diffuse CH and HS emissions from the liquid phase of UASB-based sewage treatment plants: challenges, techniques, and perspectives.

Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors are considered to be a sustainable and well-established technology for sewage treatment in warm climate countries. However, gases dissolved in the effluent of these reactors, CH and HS in some instances, are a major drawback. These dissolved gases can be emitted into the atmosphere downstream of the anaerobic reactors, resulting in odour nuisance and, in the case of HS, corrosion, while in the case of CH, increasing greenhouse gas emissions with a significant loss of potentially recoverable energy. In this sense, this study aims to provide a critical review of the recent efforts to control CH and HS dissolved in UASB reactor effluents, with a focus on the different available techniques. Different desorption techniques have been tested for the removal/recovery of dissolved CH and HS: diffused aeration, simplified desorption chamber, packed desorption chamber, closed downflow hanging sponge reactor, membrane contactor, and vacuum desorption chamber. Other recent publications addressing the oxidation of these compounds in biological posttreatments with simultaneous nitrification/denitrification of ammonia were also discussed. Additionally, the rationale of CH recovery was determined by energy balance and carbon footprint approaches, and the HS removal was examined by modelling its emission and atmospheric dispersion.