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Purification of Wastewater Generated from Methane Fermentation Using a Semi-Closed System with Hydroponically Grown Lettuce Plants

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Abstract

As agriculture accounts for approximately 70% of global water consumption, water recycling (e.g., the use of wastewater) is required. Similar to water recycling, food recycling is a major concern in urban areas. Here, we aimed to investigate the water balance of a semi-closed system and the quality of recovered wastewater and collected water. From a semi-closed system in which lettuce plants (Lactuca sativa L.) were grown hydroponically using bio-oxidized wastewater (or digestate) from methane fermentation with food waste as the substrate, evapotranspirated water was recovered using cooling devices. The evapotranspiration and water recovery rates tended to increase with increasing photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD). During the 24-h experiment (performed in triplicate), approximately 50% of the evapotranspirated water was harvested. The electrical conductivity, pH, and relative illuminance of the adenosine triphosphate were lower in the recovered water than in the wastewater. The NO3-N PO4-P, K, Ca, Mg, SO4-S, Fe, Mn, and Mo concentrations were also lower in the recovered water than in the wastewater. Although a long-term experiment is required to draw more explicit conclusions, these results indicate the potential of wastewater recovery systems in producing plants and generating water with low contaminant levels.

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Data Availability

Data will be made available on request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Dr. Yoshiaki Kitaya for his advice on the experimental design. The authors also thank Iku Nishihara for technical support. The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.

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The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Sustainable System Sciences, Osaka Metropolitan University, 1-1 Gakuencho, Sakai, 599-8531, Osaka, Japan

    Katsumi Ohyama & Erdoo Paula Awai

  2. College of Sustainable System Sciences, Osaka Prefecture University, 1-1 Gakuencho, Sakai, 599-8531, Osaka, Japan

    Katsumi Ohyama, Kaho Sumino & Kaori Niki

  3. Graduate School of Agriculture, Osaka Metropolitan University, 1-1 Gakuencho, Sakai, 599-8531, Osaka, Japan

    Ryosuke Endo

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  1. Katsumi Ohyama
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Contributions

Katsumi Ohyama: Conceptualization, Supervision, Methodology, Writing, review, and editing. Kaho Sumino: Investigation. Erdoo Paula Awai: Investigation. Kaori Niki: Investigation. Ryosuke Endo: Writing, review, and editing.

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Correspondence to Katsumi Ohyama.

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Ohyama, K., Sumino, K., Awai, E.P. et al. Purification of Wastewater Generated from Methane Fermentation Using a Semi-Closed System with Hydroponically Grown Lettuce Plants. Waste Biomass Valor 15, 3147–3155 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-023-02358-3

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