Staff
Adriano Joss


Dr. Adriano Joss
Anammox in wastewater treatment: side-stream and main-stream
Anammox based processes bear the potential to improve energy efficiency of nitrogen removal in wastewater treatment. Sidestream applications (i.e. treating supernatant originating from the dewatering of digested sludge) have been implemented at full scale to avoid refurbishing of overloaded plants. A significant number of full scale Installation do feature process instabilities. Scope of this study based on direct cooperation with full scale plant operators is to improve the process understanding and make improved process design schemes publicly available.
The main stream application aims at achieving energy autarkic wastewater treatment, a relevant goal mainly for wastewater treatment sites facing regular issues with power supply. Since long term experiments at lab scale are yielding good results in terms of effluent quality, process performance and stability, Eawag has financed an upscaling to pilot scale (i.e. 8 m3 reactors). At both scales the feed wastewater is provided directly by the local sewer after primary settling.
Offgas measurement in wastewater treatment: N2O emission and O2 uptake
N2O Emission from municipal wastewater are very dynamic and seasonally variable. With isotope and isotopomere analysis it could be shown that multiple pathways are involved. Scope of the study is to characterize typical emission patterns, formulate an emission model and test emission reduction strategies.
Off gas measurement allows quantifying also the oxygen uptake with lower maintenance costs compared to state of the art measurement of soluble species. Scope of this project is to characterize the use of this signal (e.g. online control of nitrification activity).
Biological degradation of micropollutants: specialists at work
Within an ERC grant a relevant number of biological Treatment Options have been screened for their potential to achieve advanced micropollutant removal. After joining over 15 years of operation time of different process schemes, the conclusion is now drawn that only for a minority of compounds biological treatment bears the potential of removal Efficiency significantly beyond what is typically achieved with nitrification/denitrification. This supports the Swiss strategy on advanced removal of micropollutants primarily based on physico / chemical post-treatment after state-of-the-art biological wastewater treatment.
Selected publications
Joss, A., N. Derlon, et al. (2011). "Combined Nitritation-Anammox: Advances in Understanding Process Stability." Environmental Science & Technology 45(22): 9735-9742.
Eggen, R.I.L., Hollender, J., Joss, A., Schärer, M., Stamm, C., 2014. Reducing the discharge of micropollutants in the aquatic environment: The benefits of upgrading wastewater treatment plants. Environmental Science & Technology 48 (14), 7683-7689.
Harris, E., Joss, A., Emmenegger, L., Kipf, M., Wolf, B., Mohn, J., Wunderlin, P., 2015. Isotopic evidence for nitrous oxide production pathways in a partial nitritation-anammox reactor. Water Research 83, 258-270.
Laureni, M., Weissbrodt, D.G., Szivak, I., Robin, O., Nielsen, J.L., Morgenroth, E., Joss, A., 2015. Activity and growth of anammox biomass on aerobically pre-treated municipal wastewater. Water Research 80, 325-336.
Per Falas, Arne Wick, Sandro Castronovo, Jonathan Habermacher, Thomas A. Ternes, Adriano
Joss, Tracing the limits of organic micropollutant removal in biological
wastewater Treatment. Water Research, submitted
Address
E-Mail: | adriano.joss@cluttereawag.ch |
Phone: | +41 58 765 5408 |
Fax: | +41 58 765 5802 |
Address: | Eawag
Überlandstrasse 133 8600 Dübendorf |
Office: | BU B15 |