The potential use of treated brewery effluent as a water and nutrient source in irrigated crop production
Brewery effluent (BE) needs to be treated before it can be released into the environment, reused or used in down-stream activities. This study demonstrated that anaerobic digestion (AD) followed by treatment in an integrated tertiary effluent treatment system transformed BE into a suitable solution...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2018-06-01
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| Series: | Water Resources and Industry |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212371717300975 |
| _version_ | 1818491544260313088 |
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| author | Richard P. Taylor Clifford L.W. Jones Mark Laing Joanna Dames |
| author_facet | Richard P. Taylor Clifford L.W. Jones Mark Laing Joanna Dames |
| author_sort | Richard P. Taylor |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Brewery effluent (BE) needs to be treated before it can be released into the environment, reused or used in down-stream activities. This study demonstrated that anaerobic digestion (AD) followed by treatment in an integrated tertiary effluent treatment system transformed BE into a suitable solution for crop irrigation. Brewery effluent can be used to improve crop yields: Cabbage (Brassica oleracea cv. Star 3301), grew significantly larger when irrigated with post-AD, post-primary-facultative-pond (PFP) effluent, compared with those irrigated with post-constructed-wetland (CW) effluent or tap water only (p < 0.0001). However, cabbage yield when grown using BE was 13% lower than that irrigated with a nutrient-solution and fresh water; the electrical conductivity of BE (3019.05 ± 48.72 µs/cm2) may have been responsible for this. Post-CW and post-high-rate-algal-pond (HRAP) BE was least suitable due to their higher conductivity and lower nutrient concentration. After three months, soils irrigated with post-AD and post-PFP BE had a significantly higher sodium concentration and sodium adsorption ratio (3919 ± 94.77 & 8.18 ± 0.17 mg/kg) than soil irrigated with a commercial nutrient-solution (920.58 ± 27.46 & 2.20 ± 0.05 mg/kg). However, this was not accompanied by a deterioration in the soil's hydro-physical properties, nor a change in the metabolic community structure of the soil. The benefits of developing this nutrient and water resource could contribute to cost-reductions at the brewery, more efficient water, nutrient and energy management, and job creation. Future studies should investigate methods to reduce the build-up of salt in the soil when treated BE is used to irrigate crops. Keywords: Wastewater irrigation, Nutrient recovery, Agriculture, Brewery effluent |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T17:32:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0a3c0aecfe1543e4b2a4f5d1e65a16ba |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2212-3717 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T17:32:25Z |
| publishDate | 2018-06-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Water Resources and Industry |
| spelling | doaj.art-0a3c0aecfe1543e4b2a4f5d1e65a16ba2022-12-22T01:39:39ZengElsevierWater Resources and Industry2212-37172018-06-01194760The potential use of treated brewery effluent as a water and nutrient source in irrigated crop productionRichard P. Taylor0Clifford L.W. Jones1Mark Laing2Joanna Dames3Department of Ichthyology and Fisheries Science, Rhodes University, P.O. Box 94, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa; Corresponding author.Department of Ichthyology and Fisheries Science, Rhodes University, P.O. Box 94, Grahamstown 6140, South AfricaDepartment of Plant Pathology, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pvt Bag X01, Pietermaritzburg 3209, South AfricaDepartment of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rhodes University, P.O. Box 94, Grahamstown 6140, South AfricaBrewery effluent (BE) needs to be treated before it can be released into the environment, reused or used in down-stream activities. This study demonstrated that anaerobic digestion (AD) followed by treatment in an integrated tertiary effluent treatment system transformed BE into a suitable solution for crop irrigation. Brewery effluent can be used to improve crop yields: Cabbage (Brassica oleracea cv. Star 3301), grew significantly larger when irrigated with post-AD, post-primary-facultative-pond (PFP) effluent, compared with those irrigated with post-constructed-wetland (CW) effluent or tap water only (p < 0.0001). However, cabbage yield when grown using BE was 13% lower than that irrigated with a nutrient-solution and fresh water; the electrical conductivity of BE (3019.05 ± 48.72 µs/cm2) may have been responsible for this. Post-CW and post-high-rate-algal-pond (HRAP) BE was least suitable due to their higher conductivity and lower nutrient concentration. After three months, soils irrigated with post-AD and post-PFP BE had a significantly higher sodium concentration and sodium adsorption ratio (3919 ± 94.77 & 8.18 ± 0.17 mg/kg) than soil irrigated with a commercial nutrient-solution (920.58 ± 27.46 & 2.20 ± 0.05 mg/kg). However, this was not accompanied by a deterioration in the soil's hydro-physical properties, nor a change in the metabolic community structure of the soil. The benefits of developing this nutrient and water resource could contribute to cost-reductions at the brewery, more efficient water, nutrient and energy management, and job creation. Future studies should investigate methods to reduce the build-up of salt in the soil when treated BE is used to irrigate crops. Keywords: Wastewater irrigation, Nutrient recovery, Agriculture, Brewery effluenthttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212371717300975 |
| spellingShingle | Richard P. Taylor Clifford L.W. Jones Mark Laing Joanna Dames The potential use of treated brewery effluent as a water and nutrient source in irrigated crop production Water Resources and Industry |
| title | The potential use of treated brewery effluent as a water and nutrient source in irrigated crop production |
| title_full | The potential use of treated brewery effluent as a water and nutrient source in irrigated crop production |
| title_fullStr | The potential use of treated brewery effluent as a water and nutrient source in irrigated crop production |
| title_full_unstemmed | The potential use of treated brewery effluent as a water and nutrient source in irrigated crop production |
| title_short | The potential use of treated brewery effluent as a water and nutrient source in irrigated crop production |
| title_sort | potential use of treated brewery effluent as a water and nutrient source in irrigated crop production |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212371717300975 |
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