Source: UNIV OF WISCONSIN submitted to
INFEWS/T3: A MULTI-SCALE PLATFORM FOR TECHNOLOGY EVALUATION AND DECISION-MAKING IN THE DAIRY-WATER-ENERGY NEXUS
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
AFRI COMPETITIVE GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1010735
Grant No.
2017-67003-26055
Cumulative Award Amt.
$2,400,000.00
Proposal No.
2016-08429
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Jan 1, 2017
Project End Date
Dec 31, 2021
Grant Year
2017
Program Code
[A3151]- Interagency Climate Change
Project Director
Zavala Tejeda, V.
Recipient Organization
UNIV OF WISCONSIN
21 N PARK ST STE 6401
MADISON,WI 53715-1218
Performing Department
Chemical and Biological Engine
Non Technical Summary
The State of Wisconsin dairy sector is a 43 billion USD enterprise comprising 1,280,000 dairy cows that annually provide 29 billion pounds of milk and 2.8 billion pounds of cheese to urban and rural areas across the U.S The dairy sector is an integral part of the state's cultural identity and a major societal driver. At the same time, the sector annually produces 8.7 billion gallons of manure, which results in significant direct and indirect greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and nutrient accumulation in the soil. Nutrient (phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N)) accumulation increases the risk of their offsite migration in runoff and subsequent eutrophication of receiving waters. Eutrophication affects ecosystems and sources of potable water. The dairy industry is driven by food demands from urban areas and these areas also generate large amounts organic waste (biosolids and food waste). Notably, the USDA has estimated that 32% of all the dairy products supplied are wasted (Cuellar and Webber, 2010). Organic wastes are treated in WWTPs or disposed of in landfills. WWTPs produce biosolids, which are applied to agricultural land and thus create competition for land base with livestock manure sources. Dairy farms and WWTPs consume large amounts of energy for operations and thus rely on electricity and natural gas infrastructures. Anaerobic digestion (AD) installations at dairy, WWTPs, and landfill facilities can generate biogas to fuel combined heat and power (CHP) units and potentially become net-zero energy installations and support infrastructures. Economies of scale, transportation, and limited incentives, however, are major obstacles to achieve widespread deployment of biogas installations.The nature of the interactions in this dairy-water-energy nexus is complex and makes these systems difficult to navigate. The nexus is characterized by the exchange of multiple products among different sectors and across multiple spatial scales (from local to regional to national). The nexus can also exhibit highly localized impacts on soil and water quality and resource availability. Interdependencies make it difficult for stakeholders to identify suitable technology and infrastructure investments and for government agencies to design effective policies. Policies are also implemented at multiple spatial scales (federal, state, county) and must balance economic, environmental, and social impacts. A federal policy can, for instance, accelerate consolidation of small and medium dairy farms into large centralized operations and thus displace communities. This can result in dramatic changes for states like Wisconsin, where over 95% of the farms are family-owned and 11.9% of the state's employment is related to the agricultural industry.The presence of multiple scales makes nexus models intractable. To give an idea of the complexity involved, consider the 200 major cities/towns in Wisconsin, 60 landfills, 640 municipal WWTPs, 12,000 dairy farms, and 120 CHP plants. If we were to generate a nexus optimization model to investigate system layouts that exchange five products (e.g., manure, gas, electricity, food waste, water), it would be necessary to capture 845 million connections. Such model would also need to capture physical laws and constraints (e.g., gas and electric transport), easily reaching billions of variables and constraints. Complexity explodes as we move to a national scale. No existing optimization algorithm or tools can handle this level of complexity.We propose to tackle challenges arising in the dairy-water-energy nexus by combining multi-scale systems analysis and experimental research. We have assembled a team of two system researchers with expertise in computational optimization (PI Zavala) and environmental analysis (co-PI Hicks) as well as three experimental researchers with expertise in dairy waste separation (co-PI Larson), environmental science (co-PI Karthikeyan), and wastewater treatment (co-PI Noguera). Our research comprises scientific disciplines from USDA/NIFA, the NSF Directorate for Engineering, and the NSF Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering. Using a systems analysis perspective, the team will seek to perform fundamental advances in optimization algorithms and high-performance computing and fill knowledge gaps in specific technologies that support the nexus, culminating in the creation of PLASMO (Platform for Scalable Modeling and Optimization). PLASMO is a powerful technology evaluation and decision-making platform that enables the construction of nexus models that capture physical, economical, and social interdependencies between the sectors at multiple spatial scales. PLASMO will provide an integrative framework that guides experimental research by identifying technology performance and cost targets needed to achieve high societal impact. Critical technology areas under study include P recovery as struvite, N recovery as biochar, and co-digestion of complex waste streams. Experimental data will resolve key uncertainties on technology performance and system-level impact and will thus facilitate policy-making and investment. We will create user-friendly interfaces that inform negotiations between stakeholders from urban/rural communities and sectors by allowing them to understand interdependencies and trade-offs, and by allowing them to compare current practices and priorities. Grand-challenge questions that we seek to answer include:For how long can the dairy and agricultural sector sustain growth in dairy product demands? What are the necessary technology performance goals and investments?What are the effects of different policies on soil/water quality on dairy farm economics? What policies and at what level (federal, regional, local) can be used to drive investments or how should investments be socialized or prioritized?To what degree should the dairy industry and waste management be consolidated? What are key waste streams that must be separated and treated in isolation?Should society invest in biogas recovery and CHPs to achieve net-zero energy WWTPs and dairy farms or should biogas/electricity be distributed across the state?What is the inherent value of waste streams and derived byproducts (liquid/solid manure, struvite, biogas, biochar, bedding) given the system-level dependencies?The integrative nature of this project provides exciting opportunities to achieve broader impacts in technical areas as well as in education and community outreach. Experimental work on co-digestion and nutrient recovery will lead to new insights on mechanistic principles under complex waste treatment conditions. Fundamental advances in optimization algorithms and software tools will achieve high impact in other nexus systems and networks. Software tools developed will strengthen curricula and will enable more interaction between rural and urban communities and diverse stakeholders involved in the nexus. Ultimately, we seek to educate a new generation of scientists and engineers capable of using systems analysis and tools to guide investments, experimental research, and social change. To achieve our broader impacts we have created a collaboration plan that involves the Wisconsin Energy Institute, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District, and the Morgridge Center for Public Service.
Animal Health Component
25%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
50%
Applied
25%
Developmental
25%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
6093499208040%
1020399200030%
4033410202030%
Knowledge Area
403 - Waste Disposal, Recycling, and Reuse; 102 - Soil, Plant, Water, Nutrient Relationships; 609 - Economic Theory and Methods;

Subject Of Investigation
3499 - Dairy cattle, general/other; 0399 - Watersheds and river basins, general; 3410 - Dairy cattle, live animal;

Field Of Science
2020 - Engineering; 2080 - Mathematics and computer sciences; 2000 - Chemistry;
Goals / Objectives
The main goal of this project is to tackle challenges arising in the dairy-water-energy nexus by combining multi-scale systems analysis and experimental research. The specific goals are:Using a systems analysis perspective, the team will seek to perform fundamental advances in optimization algorithms and high-performance computing and fill knowledge gaps in specific technologies that support the nexus. We will create a software platform called PLASMO to implement these developments.Identify critical technologies and gather necessary experimental data. Technologies include: P recovery as struvite, N recovery as biochar, and co-digestion of complex waste streams. Experimental data will resolve key uncertainties on technology performance and system-level impact and will thus facilitate policy-making and investment.We will create user-friendly interfaces to our models that inform negotiations between stakeholders from urban/rural communities and sectors by allowing them to understand interdependencies and trade-offs, and by allowing them to compare current practices and priorities.Our objectives are to:Create PLASMO (Platform for Scalable Modeling and Optimization). PLASMO is a powerful technology evaluation and decision-making platform that enables the construction of nexus models that capture physical, economical, and social interdependencies between the sectors at multiple spatial scales. PLASMO will provide an integrative framework that guides experimental research by identifying technology performance and cost targets needed to achieve high societal impact.Answer the following specific questions:For how long can the dairy and agricultural sector sustain growth in dairy product demands? What are the necessary technology performance goals and investments?What are the effects of different policies on soil/water quality on dairy farm economics? What policies and at what level (federal, regional, local) can be used to drive investments or how should investments be socialized or prioritized?To what degree should the dairy industry and waste management be consolidated? What are key waste streams that must be separated and treated in isolation?Should society invest in biogas recovery and CHPs to achieve net-zero energy WWTPs and dairy farms or should biogas/electricity be distributed across the state?What is the inherent value of waste streams and derived byproducts (liquid/solid manure, struvite, biogas, biochar, bedding) given the system-level dependencies?
Project Methods
Here we provide a summary of the methods.Multi-Scale Modeling and Algorithms. We will investigate multi-scale network formulations for the nexus. The mathematical formulation will capture interactions within sectors and capture couplings at multiple spatial scales. The development of this framework is essential to manage complexity as well as to enable organized model conceptualization and analysis. In order to identify optimal system layouts that enable use of existing and new infrastructure, we will capture location of all the dairy farms, WWTPs, landfills, CHPs, and urban centers in the state. The network formulation proposed will consist of nodes, products, transport links, and technologies. Each node will host technologies that transform a set of input products into output products. Each technology will be described by a transfer graph, constructed from technology yield factors, and mass and energy balances. The interconnection between nodes through product links will be described by a multi-link transportation graph. The proposed formulation will also capture physical constraints on technology and transportation limits and costs, giving an optimization formulation. We note that a node can contain elements of different sectors (e.g., an AD receiving manure to generate biogas and sending power to the power grid) and, thus, can represent a coupling between sectors. This systems-level network formulation is not intended to capture physical details of soil and water bodies and of on-site technologies. We will investigate hierarchical network aggregation schemes to navigate scales. We will embed the multi-scale network model within multi-stakeholder optimization formulations.Experimental Technology Evaluation. Co-Digestion Technologies. In urban settings, co-digestion of food waste or co-digestion of high strength waste streams from food processing facilities are options to increase biogas production. Thus, lab-scale bioreactors will be operated with inputs from these sources. The main goal is to determine the limits of co-digestion in terms of pounds of waste per pound of sewage sludge that could be managed without affecting the operation of the reactors, which is hypothesized to be limited by high ammonia accumulation in the digester. The bioreactors will have a 6-liter capacity and will be maintained at 35 °C by placing them in a water bath. The reactors will be operated in semi-batch mode, by feeding once per day with a mixture of sewage sludge and food waste. After stability has been achieved, the reactors will be challenged again with food wastes at the maximum level tested, and this process of challenge/recovery will be continued for at least two years of continuous operation in order to experimentally determine the succession on microbial communities in the reactor as they adapt to the higher loads of food waste and ammonia. To study the dynamic changes in the microbial communities in the reactors, we will use tag sequencing targeting the small subunit ribosomal RNA (ssu-rRNA) gene and statistical approaches to correlate reactor performance with microbial community structure. For these experiments, the sewage sludge will be collected from the Nine Springs Wastewater Treatment Plant (Madison, WI), and the food waste will be either collected from a local restaurant (simulating mixed food waste scraps), or prepared in the laboratory to simulate residues from industries that operate within city limits (e.g., dairy, meat processing). Bioreactors will be sealed to the atmosphere and gas production will be measured with homemade electrochemical cells that register displacement of fixed volumes of biogas produced. Fine-tuned experiments with the communities that are enriched under high ammonia will allow addressing mechanistic questions of ammonia toxicity. Metagenomes of the adapted communities will be obtained using the Illumina HiSeq 2500 next-generation-sequencer at the UW-Madison Biotechnology Center.Nitrogen Recovery from Manure as Biochar: Biochar, produced by the pyrolysis of biomass, has shown an ability to capture N compounds. Sorption of NH4+ onto biochar is dependent on its cation exchange capacity (CEC). Biochar produced from agricultural feedstocks such as corn cobs and poultry manure as well as biochar produced at temperatures from 300-399°C appear to possess some of the highest measured CECs. The goal of this task is to quantify the ability of biochar systems to reduce N losses and to determine fertilizer value of biomass sources when processed into biochar products within the full dairy-water-energy nexus. Specifically, we seek to: (1) determine the N sorption capacity of biochar produced from biomass within the proposed nexus, (2) evaluate the impact of retention time on N sorption to biochar, (3) evaluate the N fertilizer value in small field plots, and (4) develop design recommendations for implementation at a larger scale. This research will build on current USDA research being conducted by Co-PI Larson investigating the integration of biochar in manure storage systems. For this study, biochars will be produced from agricultural biomass waste, manure solids, biosolids from the WWTP, and landfill wastes at 375 °C to determine the feedstock which produced a biochar with the greatest CEC. Batch ammonium sorption experiments will be conducted with the biochar and data will be fit to a Langmuir model to calculate the maximum sorption capacity. The biochar(s) from the feedstock(s) with the greatest batch sorption rate will be used in follow up analyses to assess the hydraulic residence time required to sorb NH4+to biochar. Once completed, biochar will be added to large manure drums and mixed for the most efficient contact time (as determined by the point where NH4+ sorption divided by time begins to stabilize). The biochar manure mix as well as separated biochar will be analyzed for N content and then applied to field plots at agronomic rates as recommended by UWEX A2809. Crop yields and soil characteristics during the field trials will be compared to conventional chemical fertilizers.Phosphorus Recovery as Struvite: We will analyze struvite recovery potential from the food-waste co-digestion experiments described previously. Solid-liquid separation of the AD effluent will be accomplished by centrifugation at 10,000 rpm for 15 min followed by sieving with a 0.56 mm mesh size screen. The liquid phase can be used directly for struvite precipitation. The two most important operational parameters of struvite precipitation are: pH and the Mg:NH4:P molar ratio (1:1:1 desirable). Solution pH will be adjusted by adding NaOH (or CO2 stripping) to pH 9. MgCl2 addition will be based on the ortho-P concentration. Equilibrium modeling using Visual Minteq will be used to predict the chemical addition requirements for struvite precipitation. The samples will then be centrifuged once again at 12,000 rpm for 20 min to remove the precipitate. The supernatant will be analyzed for ortho-P to calculate P recovery. Separated solids from co-digestion experiments need to be subjected to a dissolution process, which consists of: (1) dilution, (2) acid addition, (3) mixing, (4) solid-liquid separation. The liquid phase will be used for struvite recovery and the remaining solids will be discarded (Yilmazel & Demirer, 2013). For pilot-scale struvite recovery using digestate materials obtained from different full-scale sources (e.g., WWTPs, agricultural digesters), a continuous-flow reactor with a cubic column and pyramid bottom will be used. There will be a reacting zone (top) and a settling zone (bottom). Coarse-bubble aeration diffusers will be mounted at the bottom for aeration and pH increase. Operational parameters (e.g., hydraulic retention time, aeration density) will be based on kinetic modeling of struvite precipitation using Biowin® v4.1 (EnviroSim Associates Ltd., Envirosim, 2007).

Progress 01/01/17 to 12/31/21

Outputs
Target Audience:This INFEWS project was designed to be broad-reaching. Our goal was to develop computational frameworks that facilitate decision-making by diverse stakeholders (e.g., experimental and computational researchers, technology developers, farmers, policy makers). Our goal was also to use these tools to enable outreach and educational efforts (e.g., help develop curricula for high-school, undergraduate, and graduate students). Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project has provided an invaluable platform for training undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and to develop educational tools for high-school students. This training has also occured at the intersection of fields (e.g., agriculture, optimization, microbiology, physical chemistry, policy) and has enabled students and trainees to obtain a unique approach to training. The data collected as part of this project has also been leveraged in developing curricular materials for undergraduate education. For instance, ADAM has been actively used in undergraduate courses developed to teach students how to model and analyze supply chains. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have actively promoted our work through participation at conferences (e.g., AIChE Annual Meeting, Waste-to-Worth, and Midwest Manure Summit) and through invited seminars at diverse institutions. Moreover, the videogame developed under this project (Lakeland) is now being actively players by thousands of high-school students. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We have developed a comprehensive computational framework for analyzing complex INFEWS nexus systems. At the core of our framework is a new and powerful optimization modeling abstraction that enables capturing diverse products, technologies, transport, and stakeholders in a unifying manner. The key fundamental advance of this abstraction is that it casts the INFEWS problem as a coordinated market under which stakeholders bid products and services and seek to maximize their total profit in a competitive manner (this is analogous to how coordinated electricity markets operate in the US). The modeling abstraction is also powerful in that it captures all elements of the the system in the form of a graph (a network) that captures the product and geographical interdependencies of the diverse elements of the system. This graph representation facilitates the development of supporting theory and facilitates education (graphs are visual representations that are much easier to explain than mathematical equations). We believe that this formulation provides a paradigm shift in the way that we think and manage diverse products and technologies in highly complex INFEWS systems and also into how properly price products and remunerate stakeholders. Moreover, this framework enables capturing of diverse environmental impacts (e.g., carbon dioxide, ammonia, and nutrient release). Our computational framework serves as a repository of diverse technology types and associated performance data (both experimental and from the literature) that has been used to conduct a wide range of case studies that analyze the impacts of technology and policy development on environmental outcomes. For instance, we have used out framework to analyze the techno-economics of manure pretreatment and embedded real and validated experimental data in our analysis, we have analyzed the impact fo the order 2222 of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on the economies of manure-to-biogas systems, and we have analyzed the techno-economic potential of deploying algae harvesting systems to recover phosphorus from manure. Our computational framework also embeds powerful algorithms that enable the solution of INFEWS systems of high complexity that might span local, regional, and national scales. These algorithms use an innovative graph sampling and aggregation scheme that deliver high quality numerical solutions for our simulation models. We have demonstrated the scalability of this approach in case studies developed as part of this project. Moreover, we have demonstrated how to plug in our modeling tools with external simulation and analysis tools that conduct LCA analysis for farms, nutrient transport modeling, and algae bloom predictions. The developments Elements of our computational framework have been deployed as part of the ADAM platform. ADAM is a a web-based platform that facilitates the modeling of supply chains (as those arising in our project). ADAM uses a graph visualizations that enable users with limited expertise in optimization.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Tominac, P. A., Zhang, W., & Zavala, V. M. (2022). Spatio-Temporal Economic Properties of Multi-Product Supply Chains. Computers & Chemical Engineering, 107666.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2021 Citation: Ma, J., Tominac, P., Pfleger, B. F., & Zavala, V. M. (2021). Infrastructures for Phosphorus Recovery from Livestock Waste Using Cyanobacteria: Transportation, Techno-Economic, and Policy Implications. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 9(34), 11416-11426.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2022 Citation: Erickson, E., Tominac, P., & Zavala, V. (2021). Impacts of FERC Order No. 2222 on Dairy Manure Processing in Wisconsin.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2022 Citation: Ma, J., & Zavala, V. M. (2021). Solution of Large-Scale Supply Chain Models using Graph Sampling & Coarsening. arXiv preprint arXiv:2111.01249.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: REF1: Ingle, A.T., N.W. Fortney, K.A. Walters, T.J. Donohue, D.R. Noguera (2021). Mixed acid fermentation of carbohydrate-rich dairy manure hydrolysate. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 9:724304, https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2021.724304.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Kim, J.R., K.G. Karthikeyan. 2021. Effect of Severe Pretreatment Conditions and Lignocellulose-derived Furan Byproducts on Anaerobic Digestion of Dairy Manure. Bioresource Technology. 340:125632.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Kim, J.R., K.G. Karthikeyan. 2021. Solubilization of Lignocellulosic Biomass Using Pretreatments for Enhanced Methane Production During Anaerobic Digestion of Manure. ACS ES&T Eng. 1:753-760.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Hu, Y., Aguirre-Villegas, H., Larson, R. A., & Zavala, V. M. (2022). Managing Conflicting Economic and Environmental Metrics in Livestock Manure Management. ACS ES&T Engineering.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Mart�n-Hern�ndez, E., Hu, Y., Zavala, V. M., Mart�n, M., & Ruiz-Mercado, G. J. (2022). Analysis of incentive policies for phosphorus recovery at livestock facilities in the Great Lakes area. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 177, 105973.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Alcocer-Garcia, H., Segovia-Hernandez, J. G., Sanchez-Ramirez, E., Tominac, P., & Zavala, V. M. (2022). Coordinated markets for furfural and levulinic acid from residual biomass: A case study in Guanajuato, Mexico. Computers & Chemical Engineering, 156, 107568.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Larson, R.A. and J. Sanford. 2019. Impact of Biochar on Nitrogen Cycling: Impact of Oxidation and Application to Filter Strips. Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center: Waste to Worth 2019, April 22-26, 2019, Minneapolis, MN.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Aguirre-Villegas, H., M. Sharara, and R.A. Larson. 2019. Characterization of Nutrients and GHG Emissions from Separated Dairy Manure. Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center: Waste to Worth 2019, April 22-26, 2019, Minneapolis, MN.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Larson, R.A., H. Aguirre-Villegas, M. Sharara, V. Zavala, A. Sampat, and Y. Hu. 2019. Evaluating Manure Nutrient Density and Paths for Improved Distribution. Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center: Waste to Worth 2019, April 22-26, 2019, Minneapolis, MN
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Sharara, M., H. Aguirre-Villegas, and R.A. Larson. 2019. Comparison between Different Approaches to Estimating Nutrient Balances in Livestock Production Watersheds. Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center: Waste to Worth 2019, April 22-26, 2019, Minneapolis, MN.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Aguirre-Villegas, H., R.A. Larson, and M. Sharara. 2018.Developing nutrient and greenhouse gas inventory from separated manure. 2018 ASABE Annual International Meeting, July 29  August 1, 2018, Detroit, MI.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Sharara, M., H. Aguirre-Villegas, R.A. Larson, and T. Runge. Improving the spatial and temporal resolution of agricultural nutrient balances. 2018 ASABE Annual International Meeting, July 29  August 1, 2018, Detroit, MI.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Techno-Economic Evaluation of Manure Pre-Treatment Strategies for the Production of Biogas Y Hu, J Kim, K Karthikeyan, VM Zavala 2021 AIChE Annual Meeting
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Shao, Y., Hu, Y., & Zavala, V. M. (2021). Mitigating investment risk using modular technologies. Computers & Chemical Engineering, 153, 107424.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Conflict Resolution of Economic and Environmental Metrics in Dairy Waste Management Y Hu, H Aguirre-Villegas, R Larson, VM Zavala 2020 Virtual AIChE Annual Meeting
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Supply Chains As Coordinated Markets: Economic Properties and Applications to Waste Management P Tominac, VM Zavala - 2020 Virtual AIChE Annual Meeting, 2020 - aiche.confex.com
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: A Network-Sampling Algorithm for the Solution of Large-Scale Supply Chain Models J Ma, P Tominac, VM Zavala - 2021 AIChE Annual Meeting, 2021 - aiche.confex.com
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2022 Citation: ADAM: AWeb Platform for Graph-Based Modeling and Optimization of Supply Chains. Yicheng Hu, Weiqi Zhang, Philip Tominac, Margaret Shen, Dilara Goreke, Edgar Mart�?n-Hernandez, Mariano Mart?n, Gerardo Ruiz-Mercado, Victor M. Zavala.


Progress 01/01/20 to 12/31/20

Outputs
Target Audience:We have targeted academic audiences via scientific publications and software. Our "LakeLand" video game is also reaching K-12 educators. Changes/Problems:The COVID-19 pandemic delayed some of our researchefforts; as such,we requested an NCE to complete our work. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project currently involves: - 1 chemical engineering PhD studentworking on the development of ADAMand conducting systems-levelanalysis - two environmental engineering PhD students performing experimental work on the recoveryof high-value chemicals from different sources of organic waste and life-cycle analysis - one biological systems engineering PhD student performing experimentalwork on enzyme-enriched anaerobic digestion to improve the yields of biogas and struvite recovery from livestock waste. - one chemical engineering postdoctoral researcher performing work on systems-level analysis and waste markets. All the students attend the biweekly project progress meetings and are aware of all the developments in the project, thisexposes them to a unique interdisciplinary program. They also present a progress report to the entire group once a semester. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have published our work in technical journals and presented at technical conferences (e.g., AIChE Annual Meeting). Models, data, and software have been made available with our publications.We have also developed a video game that has been madeaccessible to K-12 students. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The goal for this final year of the projectis to conduct case studies that integrate the multiple components of the project; specifically, we will develop case studies that integrate techno-economic and life-cycle models to identify technologies that can create most impact. These case studies will be implemented in our Julia-based computing framework.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? PI Hicks and her group have been transitioning from applying life cycle assessment for struvite precipitation at the Nine Springs Wastewater Treatment plant to estimate the environmental impacts of struvite recovery from anaerobically digester manure. They published apaper on the environmental impacts from the wastewater treatment plant, and a paper on the environmental impacts from manure treatment, along with a paper on the environmental valuation of reducing the quantity of phosphorus in waterways. Moving forward, they plan to use a regional approach to estimate the potential benefit of recovering struvite at a statewide level and displacing phosphorus fertilizer production. PI Hicks also collaborated with PI Zavala in the valuation of economic impacts of nutrient pollution and in assessing system-level impacts by using a coordinated market model. PI Larson and her research group have completed and published multiple studies on biochar related to the nutrient availability and nutrient uptake for assessing integration into manure systems. They are currently completing the final biochar study looking at mineralization of pyrolyzed manure solids that was delayed by coronavirus research limitations that they aim to have completed by end of 2020 to be prepared for publication in January 2021. This data will be incorporated in system models developed by PI Zavala to explore system-wide impacts. In 2020, they were also able to complete the LCA of a manure processing system that results in clean water which is being integrated into an optimization assessment by PI Zavala's research group. A manuscript is under preparation. In addition, they conducted an LCA on landfill alternatives for organic waste streams and gathered the necessary data for a case study to be completed by PI Zavala's that has been submitted for publication. They aim to useremaining funds to complete two additional papers (biochar mineralization and a manure processing optimization model). PI Noguera and his group has completed experiments with chemical depolymerization of manure fibers followed by fermentation of the hydrolysate in short-term experiments. They are now in the process of data analysis and preparation of a manuscript from this work. During the pandemic period, when the labs were closed, they focused on creating ametabolic model that represents the microbial diversity in fermentation processes used for production of organic acids from waste streams. An initial general model was created and they are now focusing on evaluating its ability to represent the known fermentation metabolism of different microbial species. Remaining funds will be used to finalize this work and to integrate it with systems models developed by PI Zavala. PI Karthikeyan and his group conducted experiments to analyze different pretreatment methods for enhanced methanogenesis during anaerobic digestion of dairy manure, batch biochemical methane potential tests were continued along with the analyses of compositional and structural changes. Four different pretreatments were evaluated. Pretreatments allowed more than a 2-fold increase in CH4yield. In addition, a techno-economic analysis (TEA) is being performed to establish the feasibility of implementing the pretreatment technology in full-scale dairy farms (in collaboration with PI Zavala). PI Karthikeyan has also successfully developed and tested a lab-scale novel processing pipeline to precipitate struvite from dairy manure: manure dilution, followed by acidification and Ca chelation, then flocculation of Ca and organic solids in a single step, and finally struvite precipitation. A scheduled presentation at the WEF Residuals and Biosolids Conference was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A manuscript has been prepared for journal submission, and two additional manuscripts are currently in preparation. PI Zavala has created databases, models, and case studies to evaluate system-wide impacts of the different technology pathways evaluated in the project. This has been done using a graph-based modeling abstractions that have been implemented as open-source software (implemented in Julia).This Julia-based softwareframework has been made available through the web-basedplatform ADAM, which provides visualization and data management capabilities. A key innovation of thismodeling framework is that itcasts supply chain waste management problems ascoordinated markets. This enables direct valorization of different technologies and to evaluate potential market impacts of different technological advances and policy. Wehaveused this framework to assess the impact of diverse policy incentives on the technology landscape. Zavala has also developed a new algorithm for solving large scale supply chain market models that can potentially reach a national scale. This will allow him to analyze waste management strategies that span multiple domain boundaries.His work has resulted in 2 journal publications and 3 are currently under preparation.In collaboration with Field Day Lab, Zavala and Larson have successfully released the video game "Lakeland", which teaches K-12 students the impacts of nutrient pollution on the lakes. The game has been played thousands of times and is available at:https://fielddaylab.org/play/lakeland.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Tominac, P. A., & Zavala, V. M. (2020). Economic properties of multi-product supply chains. Computers & Chemical Engineering, 145, 107157.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Tominac, P., Aguirre-Villegas, H., Sanford, J., Larson, R., & Zavala, V. (2020). Evaluating Landfill Diversion Strategies for Municipal Organic Waste Management Using Environmental and Economic Factors. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Tominac, P. A., & Zavala, V. M. Corrigendum to Economic properties of multi-product supply chains[Computers and Chemical Engineering (Nov. 4, 2020) In Press]. Computers & Chemical Engineering, 107228.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Vineyard, D., Hicks, A., Karthikeyan, K. G., & Barak, P. (2020). Economic analysis of electrodialysis, denitrification, and anammox for nitrogen removal in municipal wastewater treatment. Journal of Cleaner Production, 262, 121145.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Sena, M., Seib, M., Noguera, D. R., & Hicks, A. (2021). Environmental impacts of phosphorus recovery through struvite precipitation in wastewater treatment. Journal of Cleaner Production, 280, 124222.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Sampat, A. M., Hicks, A., Ruiz-Mercado, G. J., & Zavala, V. M. (2020). Valuing economic impact reductions of nutrient pollution from livestock waste. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 164, 105199.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Temizel?Sekeryan, S., Wu, F., & Hicks, A. L. (2021). Life Cycle Assessment of Struvite Precipitation from Anaerobically Digested Dairy Manure: A Wisconsin Perspective. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, 17(1), 292-304.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Sanford, J. R., & Larson, R. A. (2020). Assessing nitrogen cycling in corncob biochar amended soil columns for application in agricultural treatment systems. Agronomy, 10(7), 979.


Progress 01/01/19 to 12/31/19

Outputs
Target Audience:Through our outreach efforts, we have targeted academic communities, K-12 students, and industry and policy makers. Specifically: We have created a workshop series on organic waste management (hosted by the Wisconsin Energy Institute). The purpose of the workshop is to bring together academics, industry, and policy makers to identify specific problems and by thinking about the problem under a systems approach. We have used our proposed market framework as an integrative framework that guides discussion. Examples of representative institutions include Digested Organics, LLC, Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District, Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas, UW-Extension, Diary Farmers of Wisconsin, Center for Dairy Research, and the City of Madison.This workshop is also used to communicate the work performed under this project.We have also disseminated our results at diverse conferences. In collaboration with Field Day Labhttps://fielddaylab.wisc.edu, we have successfully developed a video game called "Lakeland"https://fielddaylab.wisc.edu/play/lakeland.The video game is targeted towards high-school students and was developed with input from high-school teachers from across Wisconsin. The game is centered around the impact of farming and urban development on water quality of water bodies. Specifically, the player needs to strategically make decisions on crop growth and mil production to feed communities while maintaining water quality and maintain a sustainable economic budget.These decisions are affected by spatial location (e.g., geography) and environmental conditions (e.g., rainfall). The game seeks to help students develop a systems approach to solve the waste management problem and to highlight the complex trade-offs and constraints that arise in this problem. Changes/Problems:Experimental work is taking more time than expected and this has delayed data collection and integrative studies with systems models. We are requesting a no-cost extension to complete such studies. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project has created a great environment for interdisciplinary research. We have frequent meetings with all members of the team to exhcange ideas and measure progress. Graduate student and postdocs have developed the ability to integrate their research within a systems-wide framework to help them appreciate the impact of their research. Students and postdocs are also developing the ability to communicate to broad audiences. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?In collaboration with Field Day Labhttps://fielddaylab.wisc.edu, we have successfully developed a video game called "Lakeland"https://fielddaylab.wisc.edu/play/lakeland.The video game is targeted towards high-school students and was developed with input from high-school teachers from across Wisconsin. The game is centered around the impact of farming and urban development on water quality of water bodies. Specifically, the player needs to strategically make decisions on crop growth and mil production to feed communities while maintaining water quality and maintain a sustainable economic budget.These decisions are affected by spatial location (e.g., geography) and environmental conditions (e.g., rainfall). The game seeks to help students develop a systems approach to solve the waste management problem and to highlight the complex trade-offs and constraints that arise in this problem. As part of our research efforts, we have also created a workshop series on organic waste management (hosted by the Wisconsin Energy Institute). The purpose of the workshop is to bring academics, industry, and policy makers to identify specific problems and by thinking about the problem under a systems approach. We have used our proposed market framework as an integrative Examples of representative institutions include Digested Organics, LLC, Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District, Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas, UW-Extension, Diary Farmers of Wisconsin, Center for Dairy Research, and the City of Madison.This workshop is also used to communicate the work performed under this project.We have also disseminated our results at diverse conferences. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Our next steps are of integrate nature. We have made substantial progress on different dimensions of the problem and we are now seeking to integrate these components to address specific problems (integrative case studies). We will seek to address the problems of 1)landfill organic waste diversion to composting facilities, 2)biochar/struvite recovery from dairy waste, and 3) processing or alternative waste streams.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? A major goal of this project is to develop systems analysis tools that guide experimental data collection and decision-making. We have successfully completed two major (complementary) research goals: Coordinate Waste Management as Markets:We have created an integrative framework that analyses the organic waste management problem as a coordinated management problem. This enables the integration of all aspects of the waste management problem under a coherent framework that facilitates integration of all research in the team. Under the proposed framework, suppliers of waste streams (e.g., manure, food waste), consumers of such waste streams and derived products (e.g., natural gas, struvite), technology providers (e.g., anaerobic digestion, storage, struvite recovery, granulation), and transportation providers (e.g., waste haulers) are all treated as stakeholders in a market. Decisions on optimal allocations of waste and derived products as well as optimal transportation routes are obtained by a non-profit coordinator. Under this framework, we can treat the environment directlyas a stakeholder. The proposed market framework is scalable in that it can be used to handle different types of organic waste (e.g., rural and urban) under different spatial scales (e.g., local, regional, national) and temporal scales (e.g., monthly, yearly). Assessing Spatio-Temporal Impacts of Waste: Environmental impact is a major driver ofthe proposed coordinated market framework. Assessing this value requires of highly sophisticated studies that capture impact of waste on air and water at multiple temporal and spatial scales and that capture the impact of markets on farm operations. As a first study, we have created an integrative framework that captures impact of coordinated waste management on harmful algal blooms (HABs).This required the integration of our coordinated management framework with computational models for nutrient transport in watersheds (NEWS2) and algal bloom prediction (Protech). Another major goal of this project is to collect data on waste streams and technology performance that can inform systems analysis and help frame waste management settings of interest to rural and urban communities: Rural Waste Management:Manure processing has the potential to increase nutrient recovery and improved nutrient use efficiency.Unfortunately, scientific information on system integration (including costs and performance) and market development for the products is hindering growth in this sector.Manure processing can change the manure characteristics that can lead to improvements in costs associated with recovery and improved distribution while also increasing the sustainability of the livestock sector. Urban/Municipal Waste Management:Diversion of the organic fraction of municipal waste from landfills can reduce methane losses and extend the life of existing and future landfills.Many communities are attempting to increase diversion but are lacking information on methodologies that will allow them todevelop orexpandinitiatives for landfilldiversionof the organics. Assessments include alternatives of composting and digestion including evaluation of collection and transport alternatives and end-product market development. Motivated by challenges that arise in the proposed waste management settings, we have conducted the following experimental work: We are assessing the performance and environmental impacts of integrating biochar into livestock systems as well as producing biochar from manure solids use life cycle assessment models. Additionally,in the laboratorywe are measuring the nutrientavailabilitywhen integrating biochar into livestock production systems and measuring emissions produced from drying manure solids and producing biochar from manure solids to integrate into modeling efforts for assessment. The data produced from life cycle assessment models for dairy manure systems are also being integrated into optimization modeling to provide a method for environmental impact accounting in larger systems assessments. We are currently assessing nitrogenand carbonlostduring production. We have investigated if manure can be transformed to products of higher value than biogas. Specifically, we are investigating whether the organic material in manure can be converted to the medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA) hexanoic and octanoic acids using anaerobic fermentation. There are currently several examples of organic residues converted to MCFA, but in most cases an abundant source of carbohydrates is available. We hypothesized that the carbohydrates present in cellulosic fibers present in manure could be microbially transformed to MCFA. After several unsuccessful experiments trying to use microbial communities to transform manure fibers to MCFA, we decided to evaluate chemical pretreatment of the manure to decompose the lignocellulosic fibers and release the carbohydrates. We have identified that the most promising approach involves pretreatment under strong acidic conditions and mild temperatures. We have also conducted experiments to evaluate biological and thermochemical pretreatment methods to enhance biogas yield and phosphorus (P) solubilization during anaerobic digestion, and to develop an efficient treatment process sequence for precipitative recovery of P (as struvite) from anaerobically digested manure.Biochemical methane potential (BMP) tests were performed to assess different enzyme supplementations (with bacterial amylase, fungal amylase, protease, and cellulose) and various thermochemical (i.e., autoclaving, microwave digestion, acid or base addition) pretreatment methods. Enzyme supplementation enhanced biogas production while the opposite effect was observed with acid addition. All pretreatment methods tested showed an increased in P solubilization from dairy manure (compared to control). Struvite formation is attractive as a P sequestration strategy for dairy manure because of its high P density, relative insolubility (allowing it to be a slow-release fertilizer), and relatively inert chemical nature (allowing long term storage). We are optimizing a treatment sequence for dairy manure that would allow for struvite precipitation as part of a broader manure treatment strategy. Our treatment train consists of the following steps: dilution (1:4) of dairy manure, pH reduction (7.5 to 5), chelation with oxalic acid to prevent interactions between Ca and phosphate, flocculation with a polyacrylamide polymer to remove organic solids and chelated Ca from the liquid phase, and finally pH adjustment (to 8). Struvite precipitation is suggested by the stoichiometric reduction of soluble Mg, phosphate, and ammonium levels. Further direct verification of struvite products via scanning electron microscopy is ongoing. Motivated by challenges that arise in the proposed waste management settings, we have conducted the following data collection work based on life-cycle assessment techniques: We have completed our analysis of the struvite precipitation system at the Nine Springs Waste Water treatment plant, with respect to the environmental impacts of producing the struvite. We have also completed an economic analysis of the value of struvite, the cost to precipitate it, and the cost of the comparable environmental damages to discharging the phosphorus and nitrogen into the watershed. This work has resulted in a detailed economic analysis of the cost of producing struvite compared to the environmental damages that would be generated by discharging it through the biosolids and effluent. We have investigated landfill diversionstrategies; our first analysis uses the coordinated management framework to analyze break-even prices that force diversion from landfill to composting facilities.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Hu, Y., Sampat, A., Ruiz-Mercado, G., and Zavala, V.M.,�Logistics Network Management of Livestock�Waste for Spatiotemporal Control of Nutrient�Pollution in Water Bodies.�ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineerin, Accepted, 2019
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2019 Citation: Sanford, J.�and R.A. Larson. Nitrogen cycling in sandy loam soil columns amended with biochar.�Journal of Environmental Quality, 2019.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Walsh, J., J. Sanford, and R.A. Larson. 2019. Evaluation of biochar nitrate extraction methods.�Applied Sciences, 9:3514
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Aguirre-Villegas, H., R.A. Larson, and M. Sharara. 2019. Anaerobic digestion, solid-liquid separation, and drying of dairy manure: Measuring constituents and modeling emission.�Science of the Total Environment, 696:134059.�
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Wang, H., H.A. Aguirre-Villegas, R.A. Larson, and A.�Alkan-Ozkaynak. 2019. Physical Properties of Dairy Manure Pre and Post Digestion.�Applied Sciences, 9(13):2703
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Sampat, A., Y. Hu, M. Sharara, H. Aguirre-Villegas, G. Ruiz-Mercado, R.A. Larson, and V.M. Zavala. 2019. Coordinated Management of Organic Waste and Derived Products.�Computers and Chemical Engineering, 128(2):352-363.��
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Sharara, M.A., T. Runge, R.A. Larson, and J.G. Primm. 2018. Techno-economic optimization of community-based manure granulation.�Agricultural Systems, 161:117-123.��
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Hu, Yicheng, Gerardo Ruiz-Mercado, and Victor Zavala. Spatio-Temporal Control of Nutrient Pollution from Organic Waste. In�Computer Aided Chemical Engineering, vol. 46, pp. 1069-1074. Elsevier, 2019.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: L�pez-D�az, D.C., Hu, Y., Chan, W., Ponce-Ortega, J.M., and Zavala, V.M.,�Systems-Level Analysis of Phosphorus Flows in the Dairy Supply Chain.�In Press,�ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering,�2019.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Sena M., Hicks A.L. (2018) Life Cycle Assessment Review of Struvite Precipitation in Wastewater Treatment, Resources, Conservation, and Recycling,139, 194-204
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2019 Citation: Sena M. , Rodriguez M., Seib, M., Hicks A.L. (2019) An Exploration of Economic Valuation of Phosphorus in the Environment and its Implications in Decision Making for Resource Recovery, Water Research (Special Issue on Nutrient Recovery), Submitted June 19, 2019.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2019 Citation: Sena M. ,Seib M, Noguera D., Hicks A.L. (2019) Environmental Impacts of Phosphorus Recovery in Wastewater Treatment, submitted to Journal of Cleaner Production October 21, 2019.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: Larson, R.A. and J. Sanford. 2019.�Impact of Biochar on Nitrogen Cycling: Impact of Oxidation and Application to Filter Strips.�Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center:�Waste to Worth 2019, April�22-26, 2019,�Minneapolis, MN.�
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: Aguirre-Villegas, H., M. Sharara, and R.A. Larson. 2019.�Characterization of Nutrients and GHG Emissions from Separated Dairy Manure.�Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center: Waste to Worth 2019, April 22-26, 2019, Minneapolis, MN.�
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: Philip Tominac and Victor M. Zavala, A Market Clearing Framework for the Evaluation of Municipal Waste Management and Recycling Economies, AIChE Annual Meeting, 2019.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: Apoorva Sampat, Gerardo J. Ruiz-Mercado, and Victor M. Zavala, Hidden Economic Impacts of Nutrient Runoff from Livestock Waste, AIChE Annual Meeting, 2019.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: Sharara, M., H. Aguirre-Villegas, and R.A. Larson. 2019.�Comparison between Different Approaches to Estimating Nutrient Balances in Livestock Production Watersheds.�Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center: Waste to Worth 2019, April 22-26, 2019, Minneapolis, MN.�
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2018 Citation: Sena M, Hicks A, Sustainability of struvite precipitation systems in wastewater treatment, North American Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry Annual Meeting, Sacramento, CA, November 7, 2018 (poster)
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2019 Citation: Sampat, A.M., Ruiz-Mercado, G.J., and Zavala, V.M. Hidden Economic Impacts of Nutrient Runoff from Livestock Waste. Under Review, ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering (2019).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: Yicheng Hu, Apoorva Sampat, Gerardo J. Ruiz-Mercado, and Victor M. Zavala, Supply Chain Management of Livestock Waste for Spatio-Temporal Control of Nutrient Pollution in Water Bodies, AIChE Annual Meeting, 2019.
  • Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: https://fielddaylab.wisc.edu/play/lakeland
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2019 Citation: Larson, R.A., H. Aguirre-Villegas, M. Sharara, V. Zavala, A. Sampat, and Y. Hu. 2019. Evaluating Manure Nutrient Density and Paths for Improved Distribution.�Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center: Waste to Worth 2019, April 22-26, 2019, Minneapolis, MN.�


Progress 01/01/18 to 12/31/18

Outputs
Target Audience:We are currently targeting the academic INFEWS community and the larger community with interests in bid data analytics. We are accessing these communities by presenting in conferences such as the American Institute of Chemical Engineers,American Chemical Society, American Society for Environmental Toxicology,Chemistry Annual Meeting, and theASABE Annual International Meeting. We have also published manuscripts inAgricultural Systems,ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, andResources, Conservation and Recycling. Changes/Problems:We changed ourbroader impacts/outreach strategy.The educational group supporting our originalefforts (part of what we call the Wisconsin Energy Institute) no longer exists. The original idea was to have them host high school students during 3 summers so that they would develop educational materials and transfer our developments to classroom activities. We hosted a teacher last year as part of this. Our new strategy consists of developing aneducational game that will incorporate our dairy-water-energy nexus research. Specifically, the game will teach students impacts associated with nutrient pollution of water bodies that arise from the dairy sector and will teach them how technologies and optimal management strategies can be used to mitigate this.The gameis being developed by aUW-Madison group called Field Day (https://fielddaylab.wisc.edu). We already have a preliminary working prototype that was developed under input from high-school teachers from across Wisconsin. We are expecting a final release of the game in mid 2019. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project currently involves: - 1 chemical engineering PhD student (Yicheng Hu) working on the development of PLASMO and conducting systems-level analysis - two environmental engineering PhD students (Abel Ingle and Madeline Sena) performing experimental work on the recovery of high-value chemicals from different sources of organic waste and life-cycle analysis - one biological systems engineering PhD student (Joonrae Kim) and a master student (Ed Wagner) performing experimental work on enzyme-enriched anaerobic digestion to improve the yields of biogas and struvite recovery from livestock waste. - one chemicalengineering postdoctoral researcher (Philip Tominac) performing work on systems-level analysis and waste markets. All the students attend the biweekly project progress meetings and are aware of all the developments in the project, this exposes them to a unique interdisciplinary program. They also present a progress report to the entire group once a semester. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Through conference presentations and journal publications. The release of our Plasmo.jl software platform will be made available to students at UW-Madison and at the US EPA. We have also engaged high-school teachers in the design of our game. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to finalize the capabilities of our Plasmo.jl so that we can automate the analysis of diverse scenarios of interest in this project. In particular, we are interested in exploring impacts of enzymatic enrichment of anaerobic digestion on biogas production, impacts of different phosphorus removal incentives (through detailed LCA analysis), and infrastructures for urban waste management.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We proposed a coordination framework for managing urban and rural organic waste in a scalable manner by orchestrating waste exchange, transportation, and transformation into value-added products. The framework is inspired by coordinated management systems that are currently used to operate power grids across the world and that have been instrumental in achieving high levels of efficiency and technological innovation. In the proposed framework, suppliers and consumers of waste and derived products as well as transportation and technology providers bid into a coordination system that is operated by an independent system operator. Allocations and prices for waste and derived products are obtained by the operator by solving a dispatch problem that maximizes the social welfare and that balances supply and demand across a given geographical region. Coordination enables handling of complex constraints and interdependencies that arise from transportation and bio-physico-chemical transformations of waste into products. We prove that the coordination system delivers prices and product allocations that satisfy economic and efficiency properties of a competitive market. The framework is scalable in that it can provide open access that fosters transactions between small and large players in urban and rural areas and over wide geographical regions. Moreover, the framework provides a systematic approach to enable coordinated responses to externalities such as droughts and extreme weather events, to monetize environmental impacts and remediation, to achieve complex social goals such as geographical nutrient balancing, and to justify technology investment and development efforts. Furthermore, the framework can facilitate coordination with electrical, natural gas, water, and transportation, and food distribution infrastructures. This market framework is the mathematical backbone behind our Plasmo.jl software. Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been widely used to assess the environmental impacts of wastewater treatment, and has started to be applied to wastewater nutrient recovery technologies such as struvite precipitation. A small number of studies have been conducted thus far, and this review surveys several of those studies assessing the current state of knowledge with regards to the environmental impacts of struvite recovery in wastewater treatment. The focus is on analyzing trends, good practice, and identifying areas of discrepancy or concern by evaluating aspects of each of the four LCA steps as defined by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO): the definition of a goal and scope, inventory analysis, impact assessment, and interpretation of result. Evaluation of the studies considered here highlights the need for further LCA research of struvite recovery systems focusing on full scale operations outside of Europe. Additionally, there is a need for increased transparency and consistency in the boundaries of considered systems; specifically in quantifying an equivalent amount of fertilizer that is offset by struvite and with the infrastructure included and its lifespan. We investigated community-based processing of manure to produce organic fertilizer using granulation. We developed a mixed-integer optimization model to determine the minimum sale price of granulated manure, i.e., price corresponding to zero net present value (NPV = 0). We used dairy farms inventories for two regions in Wisconsin to develop case studies to evaluate community-based processing. Minimum sale price of granulated manure varied between $360 and $460 per ton based on the region and the imposed aggregation radius. Granulation facilities were located on the farm with the largest herd in each case. Selection of farms for participation in granulation facility relied on both proximity and herd size. Sensitivity analyses were performed to analyze the impacts of market changes and subsidies on the investment. Community-based manure processing was found to offer an opportunity to facilitate processing and export of nutrients due to economies of scale advantage. We are assessing the performance and environmental impacts of integrating biochar into livestock systems as well as producing biochar from manure solids use life cycle assessment models. Additionally, we are measuring the nutrient impacts, including availability and cycling, when integrating biochar into livestock production systems and measuring emissions produced from drying manure solids and producing biochar from manure solids to integrate into modeling efforts for assessment. The data produced from life cycle assessment models for dairy manure systems are also being integrated into optimization modeling to provide a method for environmental impact accounting in larger systems assessments. ?Diversion of the organic fraction of municipal waste from landfills can reduce methane losses and extend the life of existing and future landfills. Many communities are attempting to increase diversion but are lacking information on methodologies that will allow them to develop or expand initiatives for landfill diversion of the organics. An evaluation of community needs is underway to gather data and guide development of modeling efforts that can outline a systematic way for expansion of these efforts. Assessments will include alternatives of composting and digestion including evaluation of collection and transport alternatives and end-product market development. These outputs will be shared with a variety of stakeholders at state and local levels. In addition, this outreach and integration has developed a platform to increase data gathering and citizen science as well as extension programming to support the local development of these alternative systems. The USDA game design project began with a full-day kickoff meeting in July. Victor Zavala and Rebecca Larson joined David Gagnon's team of educational game developers to explore the farming, phosphorus and energy systems being researched, as well as the values, practices and learning environments of farming and industry professionals.Following the kickoff, Gagnon's team developed three paper prototypes as well as one digital prototype of initial game concepts. The team met with Zavala to discuss and critique each design and the audiences it would best serve. The team decided that the highest impact strategy would be with a digital game targeted and distributed to 11th and 12th grade biological science and ecology students with a secondary audience of Wisconsin farmers, industry and policy makers.To ensure adoption, value alignment and outreach goals, a cohort of high-school educators was recruited as part of a "Field Day Fellowship" professional development program in association with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. A dozen Wisconsin educators, equally distributed geographically, both rural and urban, Title 1 and affluent communities we selected from approximately two-dozen applicants. The program began with a full day event at the UW Madison Educational Sciences building in which educators learned about research, practices of research and game-based pedagogical approaches for science practices education. The educators worked with designers to develop game topics that would best align with the needs of standards-aligned high-school science and engineering classrooms, ensuring widespread adoption of the final product.The next prototypes are planned to be released and tested in WI classrooms iteratively from February until May. Based on student focus groups, educator interviews and game data analytics, a final version of the game will be delivered in the summer in time for Fall 2019 usage in classrooms nationwide. Based on distribution agreements with BrainPOP, a popular educational media company, it is expected that the game will see no less than 2,000 players weekly when school is in session.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Life cycle assessment of wastewater nutrient recovery through struvite precipitation
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Environmental Impacts in the Dairy-Energy-Water Nexus
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Sustainability of struvite precipitation systems in wastewater treatment
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Sustainability implications of nutrient removal and use in wastewater treatment systems
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Improving the spatial and temporal resolution of agricultural nutrient balances
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: A Coordinated Multi-Product Market for Organic Waste Management
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Life cycle assessment review of struvite precipitation in wastewater treatment
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Techno-economic optimization of community-based manure granulation
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2018 Citation: Coordinated Management of Organic Waste and Derived Products
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2018 Citation: Supply Chain Design for Spatio-Temporal Control of Nutrient Flows to waterbodies from Agricultural Lands


Progress 01/01/17 to 12/31/17

Outputs
Target Audience:We are currently targeting the academic INFEWS community and the larger community with interests in bid data analytics. We are accessing thesecommunities by presenting in conferences such as the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and USDA workshops. Inparticular, we have presented our work in the workshop "High-Throughput Phenotyping and Big Data Analytics in Livestock" (https://www.animalgenome.org/share/meetings/LivestockHTP) and in the AIChE session "Sustainable Management of Post Consumption/Use Biomaterials" (https://aiche.confex.com/aiche/2017/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/494564). We have also submitted a manuscript to the Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering Journal of the American Chemical Society. Changes/Problems:We do not have technical changes to report. The only change is on the schedule of the project activities. Inparticular, the project started in January 2017 and some graduate students and thepostdoc were not assigned in our departments until the middle of Fall 2017. To deal with this and mitigate delays, we began the project by focusing on tasks in which we had trained students. We are nowentering a solid phase in which graduate students are capable on conductingexperimental research so progress will stabilize in 2018. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project currently involves: - 1chemical engineering PhD student(Yicheng Hu) working on the development of PLASMO and conducting systems-level analysis - twoenvironmental engineeringPhD students (Abel Ingle and Madeline Sena) performing experimental workon the recovery of high-value chemicals from different sources of organic waste and life-cycle analysis - one biological systems engineering PhD student (Joonrae Kim) and a master student (Ed Wagner) performing experimental work on enzyme-enriched anaerobic digestion to improve the yields of biogas and struvite recovery from livestock waste. - one biological systems engineering postdoctoral researcher (Mahmoud Sharara) performing work on systems-level analysis and waste markets. All the students attend the biweekly project progress meetings and are aware of all the developments in the project, this exposes them to a unique interdisciplinary program. They also present a progress report to the entire group once a semester. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Through conference presentations and journal publications. The high-school teacher is also communicating our work through educational materials. Prof. Larson is currently starting the development of Extension materials. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We are now moving to finalize the implementation of PLASMO in order to be able to handle arbitrary numbers of technologies, stakeholders, different levels of spatial resolution, and environmental impacts. The framework will also have the ability to simulate coordinated markets to determine inherent value (prices) for different waste streams and to analyze how expernalities (incentives, policies, and new technologies) affect such prices.This will also allow us to construct more sophisticated case studies that can target specific regional areas such as the Yahara watershed or nationals cale. The experimental team is now beginning to conduct experiments to collect more data on the performance of technologies from different sources of waste (which is scarce in the literature). Such data will prove to be critical to validate the conclusions reached by systems-level analysis. In particular, yields for C6/C8 and struvite from livestock wasteare scarce.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We have a working prototype implementation of PLASMO, that allows us to easily construct case studies to analyze the interdependencies between the dairy, water, and energy nexus and to explore a diversity of scenarios on technology performance, economics, andpolicy. The framework is implemented in the programming language Julia. Using this framework, we have conducted two case studies: - Analysis oftechnologies for the recovery of nutrients from livestock waste. Here, we have found that the recovery of struvite (low-released fertilizer) and nutrient cakes are the most promising options to control nutrients. The economic viability of these routes, however, strongly depends on the perceived value of the recovered products. Moreover, the product yields from associated technologies is highly uncertain and limited experimental data is available in the literature. - Analysis of technologies for the recovery of biogas, liquified biomethane, and high-value fatty acids (caproic C6 and caprylic C8 acid) from livestock, wastewater, and food waste. Here, we have found that thedeployment of biogas recovery technologies offers the most environmental benefits but it is not economically viable while the deployment of C6/C8 recovery technologies is economically viable but provides limited envi- ronmental benefits. It also found that the simultaneous deployment of biogas/C6/C8 technologies (in the form of hybrid recovery systems) achieves both objectives. Consequently, it is important to synergize biogas recovery with the recovery of high-value products. We are currently collecting experimental data on C6/C8 yields from different sources of waste. We have also found that recovery of biogas for the production of electricity is not an economically sustainable option due to the low electricity prices that utility companies are currently offering. We are currently exploring if opening electricity sales to the wholesale markets can make this option more attractive.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Hu, Y., Noguera, D., and Zavala, V.M. Recovery of High-Value Chemicals from Organic Waste: Economic Potential and Logistical Issues, American Institute of Chemical Engineers Annual Meeting, 2017. https://aiche.confex.com/aiche/2017/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/494564
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2018 Citation: Hu, Y., Scarborough, M., Aguirre-Villegas, H., Larson, R.A., Noguera, D.R. and Zavala, V.M. A Supply Chain Framework for the Analysis of the Recovery of Valuable Chemicals from Organic Waste. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, Oct 31st, 2017. http://zavalab.engr.wisc.edu/publications/journalpubs/C6C8_Recovery.pdf?attredirects=0
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Larson, R.A., Noguera, D.R., Karthikeyan, K.G., and Zavala, V.M. Optimization of Agricultural Systems: Fusing Data, Models, and Decision-Making, Workshop on "Livestock High-Throughput Phenotyping and Big Data Analytics", Nov 13-14, 2017. https://www.animalgenome.org/share/meetings/LivestockHTP