Effect of activated sludge culture conditions on Waxberry wastewater

Science.gov (United States)

Shi, Liang; He, Lingfeng; Zhang, Yongli

2018-03-01

Treated activated sludge is suitable for the treatment of wastewater. Biochemical method is used to treat the wastewater, and the influence of time on the COD index is investigated. The results showed that time had a significant effect on COD, and then affected the performance of activated sludge. Under different time, according to the order of time from short to long, COD decreases in turn. Under the action of activated sludge, the degradation of myrica rubra wastewater samples, after 25 h aeration for 96 h, the effect is better. Under this condition, the COD value was reduced at 72 mg/L, and the COD removal efficiency of myrica rubra wastewater was up to 93.39 %, and reached the two level discharge standard of municipal wastewater treatment.

Effect of Using Effective Microorganisms EM-1 on the Performance of Extended Aeration Activated Sludge in Treating Domestic Wastewater

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Waleed M. Sheet

2013-05-01

Full Text Available       This research concerning with the effect of using the effective microorganisms on the efficiency of extended Aeration Activated Sludge Units which consist from many strain of Bacteria, Fungi and Actinomycetes  in addition to board spectrum of nutrient and elements which important to growth, The use of this product is practically applied by using two bench scale laboratory units where they are operated to treat the wastewater after completing and preparing the activated sludge units to work under the same conditions of temperature and detention time (DT.54One bench scale is fed with wastewater and the other is operated by using a mixture of EM-1 along with the wastewater. It is noticed that the use of EM-1 with wastewater has reduced the smell resulting from disintegration in the aeration basin. Further, the color of sludge in the unit where EM-1 is added is light brown which means more activity and vitality. Besides, the concentration of mixed liquor volatile suspended solids (MLVSS is increased by using EM-1 by 30% due to the increase of nutrients and a reduction in the sludge volume index (SVI which is an important factor in the performance of the secondary settling basins which means a reduction in bulking of sludge, which is considered one of the most notable operating problem in activated sludge units. As a result bulking of sludge reduced by25% when EM-1 is used. Thus, EM-1 has participated in solving three important operating problems suffered by operators of these treatment units easily and without using complicated technologies or appliances. Further, EM-1 improves the removal efficiency of the units about 6-8% due to the reduction in chemical oxygen demand in the treated wastewater leaving the unit by 32%.

Bacterial composition of activated sludge - importance for floc and sludge properties

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nielsen, Per H.; Thomsen, Trine R.; Nielsen, Jeppe L.

2003-07-01

Activated sludge flocs consist of numerous constituents which, together with other factors, are responsible for floc structure and floc properties. These properties largely determine the sludge properties such as flocculation, settling and dewaterability. In this paper we briefly review the present knowledge about the role of bacteria in relation to floc and sludge properties, and we present a new approach to investigate the identity and function of the bacteria in the activated sludge flocs. The approach includes identification of the important bacteria and a characterization of their physiological and functional properties. It is carried out by use of culture-independent molecular biological methods linked with other methods to study the physiology and function maintaining a single cell resolution. Using this approach it was found that floc-forming properties differed among the various bacterial groups, e.g. that different microcolony-forming bacteria had very different sensitivities to shear and that some of them deflocculated under anaerobic conditions. in our opinion, the approach to combine identity with functional analysis of the dominant bacteria in activated sludge by in situ methods is a very promising way to investigate correlations between presence of specific bacteria, and floc and sludge properties that are of interest. (author)

Influence of Pyrolytic Biochar on Settleability and Denitrification of Activated Sludge Process

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Xiao-feng Sima; Bing-bing Li; Hong Jiang

2017-01-01

Biochar is a massively produced by-product of biomass pyrolysis to obtain renewable energy and has not been fully used.Incomplete separation of sludge and effluent and insufficient denitrification of sewage are two of main factors that influence the efficiency of activated sludge process.In this work,we proposed a new utilization of biochar and investigated the effect of biochar addition on the performance of settleability and denitrification of activated sludge.Results show that the addition of biochar can improve the settleability of activated sludge by changing the physicochemical characteristics of sludge (e.g.,flocculating ability,zeta-potential,hydrophobicity,and extracellular polymeric substances constituents).Moreover,the dissolved organic carbon released from biochar obtained at lower pyrolysis temperature can improve the nitrate removal efficiency to a certain extent.

The role and control of sludge age in biological nutrient removal activated sludge systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Ekama, G A

2010-01-01

The sludge age is the most fundamental and important parameter in the design, operation and control of biological nutrient removal (BNR) activated sludge (AS) systems. Generally, the better the effluent and waste sludge quality required from the system, the longer the sludge age, the larger the biological reactor and the more wastewater characteristics need to be known. Controlling the reactor concentration does not control sludge age, only the mass of sludge in the system. When nitrification is a requirement, sludge age control becomes a requirement and the secondary settling tanks can no longer serve the dual purpose of clarifier and waste activated sludge thickeners. The easiest and most practical way to control sludge age is with hydraulic control by wasting a defined proportion of the reactor volume daily. In AS plants with reactor concentration control, nitrification fails first. With hydraulic control of sludge age, nitrification will not fail, rather the plant fails by shedding solids over the secondary settling tank effluent weirs.

Gravitational sedimentation of flocculated waste activated sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Chu, C P; Lee, D J; Tay, J H

2003-01-01

The sedimentation characteristics of flocculated wastewater sludge have not been satisfactorily explored using the non-destructive techniques, partially owing to the rather low solid content (ca. 1-2%) commonly noted in the biological sediments. This paper investigated, for the first time, the spatial-temporal gravitational settling characteristics of original and polyelectrolyte flocculated waste activated sludge using Computerized Axial Tomography Scanner. The waste activated sludge possessed a distinct settling characteristic from the kaolin slurries. The waste activated sludges settled more slowly and reached a lower solid fraction in the final sediment than the latter. Flocculation markedly enhanced the settleability of both sludges. Although the maximum achievable solid contents for the kaolin slurries were reduced, flocculation had little effects on the activated sludge. The purely plastic rheological model by Buscall and White (J Chem Soc Faraday Trans 1(83) (1987) 873) interpreted the consolidating sediment data, while the purely elastic model by Tiller and Leu (J. Chin. Inst. Chem. Eng. 11 (1980) 61) described the final equilibrated sediment. Flocculation produced lower yield stress during transient settling, thereby resulting in the more easily consolidated sludge than the original sample. Meanwhile, the flocculated activated sludge was stiffer in the final sediment than in the original sample. The data reported herein are valuable to the theories development for clarifier design and operation.

Can aquatic worms enhance methane production from waste activated sludge?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Serrano, Antonio; Hendrickx, Tim L.G.; Elissen, Hellen; Laarhoven, Bob; Buisman, Cees J.N.; Temmink, Hardy

2016-01-01

Although literature suggests that aquatic worms can help to enhance the methane production from excess activated sludge, clear evidence for this is missing. Therefore, anaerobic digestion tests were performed at 20 and at 30 °C with sludge from a high-loaded membrane bioreactor, the aquatic worm

Digested sludge-derived three-dimensional hierarchical porous carbon for high-performance supercapacitor electrode

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jia-Jia; Fan, Hao-Xiang; Dai, Xiao-Hu; Yuan, Shi-Jie

2018-04-01

Digested sludge, as the main by-product of the sewage sludge anaerobic digestion process, still contains considerable organic compounds. In this protocol, we report a facile method for preparing digested sludge-derived self-doped porous carbon material for high-performance supercapacitor electrodes via a sustainable pyrolysis/activation process. The obtained digested sludge-derived carbon material (HPDSC) exhibits versatile O-, N-doped hierarchical porous framework, high specific surface area (2103.6 m2 g-1) and partial graphitization phase, which can facilitate ion transport, provide more storage sites for electrolyte ions and enhance the conductivity of active electrode materials. The HPDSC-based supercapacitor electrodes show favourable energy storage performance, with a specific capacitance of 245 F g-1 at 1.0 A g-1 in 0.5 M Na2SO4; outstanding cycling stability, with 98.4% capacitance retention after 2000 cycles; and good rate performance (211 F g-1 at 11 A g-1). This work provides a unique self-doped three-dimensional hierarchical porous carbon material with a favourable charge storage capacity and at the same time finds a high value-added and environment-friendly strategy for disposal and recycling of digested sludge.

Specific methanogenic activity (SMA of industrial sludge from the aerobic and anaerobic biological treatment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Danieli Schneiders

2013-08-01

Full Text Available In this study, specific methanogenic activity (SMA tests were performed on textile sludge and food industry sludge. The textile sludge from an activated sludge was collected at the entrance of the secondary biologic clarifier and the food sludge was collected in a UASB reactor. Once collected, the sludges were characterized and tested for SMA. It was found that the microrganisms present in the food sludge had SMA of 0.17 gCOD-CH4 gSSV.d-1 and 337.05 mL of methane production, while the microrganisms of the textile sludge presented 0.10 gCOD-CH4 gSSV.d-1 of SMA and 3.04 mL of methane production. Therefore, the food sludge was more suitable to be used as a starting inoculum in UASB.

Mechanism, kinetics and application studies on enhanced activated sludge by interior microelectrolysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Xiaoyi; Xue, Yu; Wang, Wenna

2009-01-01

Enhanced activated sludge by interior microelectrolysis (EAIM) was studied to treat textile wastewater, kinetics, mechanism and application of which were also discussed in comparison with traditional activated sludge and interior microelectrolysis, respectively. The results of kinetics study indicated three different processes all followed first-order kinetics well. In EAIM, three impact factors take effects on COD removal, which are flocculation, activated sludge and electrophoresis and redox. In terms of assumption of no interaction among three COD removal mechanisms, 49.6% of the total COD removal is ascribed to flocculation, 30.1% to activated sludge and 20.3% to electrophoresis and redox. EAIM showed its advantages in COD removal efficiency, extensive adaptability to complex composition and wide range of pH. EAIM-aerobic process provided an efficient and economic performance for dealing with textile wastewater.

Consequences of sludge composition on combustion performance derived from thermogravimetry analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, Meiyan; Xiao, Benyi; Wang, Xu; Liu, Junxin, E-mail: jxliu@rcees.ac.cn

2015-01-15

Highlights: • Volatiles, particularly proteins, play a key role in sludge combustion. • Sludge combustion performance varies with different sludge organic concentrations. • Carbohydrates significantly affect the combustion rate in the second stage. • Combustion performance of digested sludge is more negative compared with others. - Abstract: Wastewater treatment plants produce millions of tons of sewage sludge. Sewage sludge is recognized as a promising feedstock for power generation via combustion and can be used for energy crisis adaption. We aimed to investigate the quantitative effects of various sludge characteristics on the overall sludge combustion process performance. Different types of sewage sludge were derived from numerous wastewater treatment plants in Beijing for further thermogravimetric analysis. Thermogravimetric–differential thermogravimetric curves were used to compare the performance of the studied samples. Proximate analytical data, organic compositions, elementary composition, and calorific value of the samples were determined. The relationship between combustion performance and sludge composition was also investigated. Results showed that the performance of sludge combustion was significantly affected by the concentration of protein, which is the main component of volatiles. Carbohydrates and lipids were not correlated with combustion performance, unlike protein. Overall, combustion performance varied with different sludge organic composition. The combustion rate of carbohydrates was higher than those of protein and lipid, and carbohydrate weight loss mainly occurred during the second stage (175–300 °C). Carbohydrates have a substantial effect on the rate of system combustion during the second stage considering the specific combustion feature. Additionally, the combustion performance of digested sewage sludge is more negative than the others.

Consequences of sludge composition on combustion performance derived from thermogravimetry analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Meiyan; Xiao, Benyi; Wang, Xu; Liu, Junxin

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Volatiles, particularly proteins, play a key role in sludge combustion. • Sludge combustion performance varies with different sludge organic concentrations. • Carbohydrates significantly affect the combustion rate in the second stage. • Combustion performance of digested sludge is more negative compared with others. - Abstract: Wastewater treatment plants produce millions of tons of sewage sludge. Sewage sludge is recognized as a promising feedstock for power generation via combustion and can be used for energy crisis adaption. We aimed to investigate the quantitative effects of various sludge characteristics on the overall sludge combustion process performance. Different types of sewage sludge were derived from numerous wastewater treatment plants in Beijing for further thermogravimetric analysis. Thermogravimetric–differential thermogravimetric curves were used to compare the performance of the studied samples. Proximate analytical data, organic compositions, elementary composition, and calorific value of the samples were determined. The relationship between combustion performance and sludge composition was also investigated. Results showed that the performance of sludge combustion was significantly affected by the concentration of protein, which is the main component of volatiles. Carbohydrates and lipids were not correlated with combustion performance, unlike protein. Overall, combustion performance varied with different sludge organic composition. The combustion rate of carbohydrates was higher than those of protein and lipid, and carbohydrate weight loss mainly occurred during the second stage (175–300 °C). Carbohydrates have a substantial effect on the rate of system combustion during the second stage considering the specific combustion feature. Additionally, the combustion performance of digested sewage sludge is more negative than the others

RESPIROMETRIC ACTIVITY OF ACTIVATED SLUDGE AND BIOFILM IN IFAS-MBBR SYSTEM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paula Piechna

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The aim of the presented study was: a assessment of activity of microorganisms developed in form of activated sludge and biofilm, b indirect assessment of the role of analyzed biocoenoses in removal of organic compounds in hybrid reactor with moving bed. Oxygen uptake rate tests (OUR have been used, and obtained results were presented as volumetric activity (expressed in mg O2/L · h and mass activity (expressed as mg O2/g VTS · h. Tests were conducted for three different variants, in which, as the biomass: 1 biofilm was used, 2 activated sludge was used, 3 biofilm and activated sludge were used. The biomass was collected from aerobic reactor from a wastewater treatment plant working in IFAS-MBBR system. The highest volumetric activity was observed for variant with biofilm and activated sludge, and the lowest for variant with biofilm only. Nonetheless, the highest value of oxygen uptake rate related to total volatile solids was observed for variant with biofilm and the lowest for activated sludge. Obtained results suggest, that during this research, at the wastewater treatment plant, the main role in removal of organic pollutants played the biomass developed in form of activated sludge.

Effect of sludge behavior on performance of centrifugal contactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sakamoto, A.; Sano, Y.; Takeuchi, M. [Japan Atomic Energy Agency - JAEA, 4-33 Muramatsu Tokai-mura Naka-gun Ibaraki-pref. 319-1194 (Japan)

2016-07-01

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency has been developing an annular centrifugal contactor for solvent extraction in spent fuel reprocessing, which allows the mixing of aqueous and organic phases in the annular area and their separation from the mixed phase in the rotor. The effects of sludge behavior on the performance of a centrifugal contactor were investigated. Sludge accumulation during the operation of the centrifugal contactor was observed only in the rotor. Based on the sludge accumulation behavior, the effects of rotor sludge accumulation on the performance of phase separation and extraction were investigated using several types of rotors, which simulated different sludge accumulation levels in the separation area. It was confirmed that rotor sludge accumulation would affect the phase separation performance but not the extraction performance. This can be explained by the structure of the centrifugal contactor, wherein the extraction reaction and phase separation mainly proceed in the housing and rotor, respectively.

Impact of sludge properties on solid-liquid separation of activated sludge

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Morten Lykkegaard

2016-01-01

Solid-liquid separation of activated sludge is important both directly after the biological treatment of wastewater and for sludge dewatering. The separation of solid from the treated wastewater can be done by clarifiers (conventional plants) or membrane (MBR). Further, part of the sludge is taken...... out from the proces and usually dewatered before further handling. The separation process is costly. Moreover, the separation process depends on the composition and the properties of the sludge. The best separation is obtained for sludge that contains strong, compact flocs without single cells...... and dissolved extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). Polyvalent ions improve the floc strangth and improve the separation whereas monovalent ions (e.g. from road salt, sea water intrusion and industry) reduces impair the separation. Further high pH impairs the separation process due to floc disintegration...

Nitrate control strategies in an activated sludge wastewater treatment process

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shen, Wenhao; Tao, Erpan; Chen, Xiaoquan; Liu, Dawei [South China University of Technology, Guangzhou (China); Liu, Hongbin [Kyung Hee University, Yongin (Korea, Republic of)

2014-03-15

We studied nitrate control strategies in an activated sludge wastewater treatment process (WWTP) based on the activated sludge model. Two control strategies, back propagation for proportional-integral-derivative (BP-PID) and adaptive-network based fuzzy inference systems (ANFIS), are applied in the WWTP. The simulation results show that the simple local constant setpoint control has poor control effects on the nitrate concentration control. However, the ANFIS (4*1) controller, which considers not only the local constant setpoint control of the nitrate concentration, but also three important indices in the effluent--ammonia concentration, total suspended sludge concentration and total nitrogen concentration--demonstrates good control performance. The results also prove that ANFIS (4*1) controller has better control performance than that of the controllers PI, BP-PID and ANFIS (2*1), and that the ANFIS (4*1) controller is effective in improving the effluent quality and maintaining the stability of the effluent quality.

Digested sludge-derived three-dimensional hierarchical porous carbon for high-performance supercapacitor electrode.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jia-Jia; Fan, Hao-Xiang; Dai, Xiao-Hu; Yuan, Shi-Jie

2018-04-01

Digested sludge, as the main by-product of the sewage sludge anaerobic digestion process, still contains considerable organic compounds. In this protocol, we report a facile method for preparing digested sludge-derived self-doped porous carbon material for high-performance supercapacitor electrodes via a sustainable pyrolysis/activation process. The obtained digested sludge-derived carbon material (HPDSC) exhibits versatile O-, N-doped hierarchical porous framework, high specific surface area (2103.6 m 2  g -1 ) and partial graphitization phase, which can facilitate ion transport, provide more storage sites for electrolyte ions and enhance the conductivity of active electrode materials. The HPDSC-based supercapacitor electrodes show favourable energy storage performance, with a specific capacitance of 245 F g -1 at 1.0 A g -1 in 0.5 M Na 2 SO 4 ; outstanding cycling stability, with 98.4% capacitance retention after 2000 cycles; and good rate performance (211 F g -1 at 11 A g -1 ). This work provides a unique self-doped three-dimensional hierarchical porous carbon material with a favourable charge storage capacity and at the same time finds a high value-added and environment-friendly strategy for disposal and recycling of digested sludge.

Effects of ultrasonic disintegration on sludge microbial activity and dewaterability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Huan; Jin Yiying; Mahar, Rasool Bux; Wang Zhiyu; Nie Yongfeng

2009-01-01

Ultrasonic treatment can disintegrate sludge, enhance microbial activity and improve sludge dewaterability at different energy inputs. To find their relationship, the three phenomena during ultrasonic treatment were investigated synchronously, and an experimental model was established to describe the process of ultrasonic sludge disintegration. Analysis results showed that the changes of sludge microbial activity and dewaterability were dependent on sludge disintegration degree during ultrasonic treatment. When sludge disintegration degree was lower than 20%, sludge flocs were disintegrated into micro-floc aggregates and the microbial activity increased over 20%. When sludge disintegration degree was over 40%, most cells were destroyed at different degree, and sludge activity decreased drastically. Only when sludge disintegration degree was 2-5%, sludge dewaterability was improved with the conditioning of FeCl 3 . It was also found that the sonication with low density and long duration was more efficient than sonication with high density and short duration at the same energy input for sludge disintegration, and a transmutative power function model can be used to describe the process of ultrasonic disintegration

Effects of ultrasonic disintegration on sludge microbial activity and dewaterability.

Science.gov (United States)

Huan, Li; Yiying, Jin; Mahar, Rasool Bux; Zhiyu, Wang; Yongfeng, Nie

2009-01-30

Ultrasonic treatment can disintegrate sludge, enhance microbial activity and improve sludge dewaterability at different energy inputs. To find their relationship, the three phenomena during ultrasonic treatment were investigated synchronously, and an experimental model was established to describe the process of ultrasonic sludge disintegration. Analysis results showed that the changes of sludge microbial activity and dewaterability were dependent on sludge disintegration degree during ultrasonic treatment. When sludge disintegration degree was lower than 20%, sludge flocs were disintegrated into micro-floc aggregates and the microbial activity increased over 20%. When sludge disintegration degree was over 40%, most cells were destroyed at different degree, and sludge activity decreased drastically. Only when sludge disintegration degree was 2-5%, sludge dewaterability was improved with the conditioning of FeCl(3). It was also found that the sonication with low density and long duration was more efficient than sonication with high density and short duration at the same energy input for sludge disintegration, and a transmutative power function model can be used to describe the process of ultrasonic disintegration.

Acclimation of aerobic-activated sludge degrading benzene derivatives and co-metabolic degradation activities of trichloroethylene by benzene derivative-grown aerobic sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Shizong; Yang, Qi; Bai, Zhiyong; Wang, Shidong; Wang, Yeyao; Nowak, Karolina M

2015-01-01

The acclimation of aerobic-activated sludge for degradation of benzene derivatives was investigated in batch experiments. Phenol, benzoic acid, toluene, aniline and chlorobenzene were concurrently added to five different bioreactors which contained the aerobic-activated sludge. After the acclimation process ended, the acclimated phenol-, benzoic acid-, toluene-, aniline- and chlorobenzene-grown aerobic-activated sludge were used to explore the co-metabolic degradation activities of trichloroethylene (TCE). Monod equation was employed to simulate the kinetics of co-metabolic degradation of TCE by benzene derivative-grown sludge. At the end of experiments, the mixed microbial communities grown under different conditions were identified. The results showed that the acclimation periods of microorganisms for different benzene derivatives varied. The maximum degradation rates of TCE for phenol-, benzoic acid-, toluene-, aniline- and chlorobenzene-grown aerobic sludge were 0.020, 0.017, 0.016, 0.0089 and 0.0047 mg g SS(-1) h(-1), respectively. The kinetic of TCE degradation in the absence of benzene derivative followed Monod equation well. Also, eight phyla were observed in the acclimated benzene derivative-grown aerobic sludge. Each of benzene derivative-grown aerobic sludge had different microbial community composition. This study can hopefully add new knowledge to the area of TCE co-metabolic by mixed microbial communities, and further the understanding on the function and applicability of aerobic-activated sludge.

Gravity Drainage of Activated Sludge on Reed Beds

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Morten Lykkegaard; Dominiak, Dominik Marek; Keiding, Kristian

and operation of reed beds and the efficiencies are often lower than predicted. One reason is that the sludge quality varies from plant to plant and even within plants from time to time. No good method exists for measuring the sludge quality with respect to drainage characteristics. A new experimental method...... has therefore been developed to measure relevant quality parameters: specific cake resistance, settling velocity and cake compressibility. It has been found that activated sludge form highly compressible cake even at the low compressive pressures obtained during drainage. Numerical simulation shows......Activated sludge is a by-product from waste water treatment plants, and the water content in the sludge is high (> 90%). Among several methods to remove the water, sludge drying reed beds are often used to dewater the sludge by drainage. There is, however, no well-defined criterion for design...

Improvement of sludge removal performance for steam generators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nishida, K.; Sakai, K.; Ito, H.; Tanahashi, A.; Nakao, F.

2002-01-01

Scale, mainly consisting of magnetite, flows on the secondary side of steam generators (SGs), causing the formation of concentrations of impurities on the tubesheet (TS), increasing the fouling of tube heat transfer, and blocking the broached egg crates (BEC) on the tube support plates (TSP). Accumulation of sludge on the tubesheet forms environment in which impurities are highly concentrated on the tubes. And we have experienced tube degradation, in the past, from the concentration of impurities. In Japan, the first tubesheet sludge lancing, via water jets, was done at the Mihama-2 plant in 1975. And that is why this pile sludge becomes hard depending on time, removal made an effort toward removal with CECIL* (in bundle cleaning system) us very difficulty. However, sludge remained in localized areas and it had possibility of concentration. So that we improve the CECIL for the purpose of removing it, and we improved removal performance of the device. In addition to the improvement of CECIL, we install a sludge collector in order to decrease accumulation of sludge on the tubesheet. This paper introduces these improvements in sludge removal performance. (authors)

Performance of Sandy Dry Beds for sludge dewatering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Al-Muzaini, S.

2003-01-01

Sludge produced by the Jahra treatment plant was assessed. The assessment was directed at determining the performance of sand drying beds. The assessment of quality of the sludge produced was based on the standards for land application of sewage sludge. Analyses were carried out for trace heavy metals and bacteria. The results of analyses showed that the sludge produced was high in organic matter and sand content but low in heavy metals. The collected data indicated that the sand drying beds at the Jahra treatment plant are at present inadequate to handle the projected sludge production. The investigation showed that the sand drying beds are fully used and the plant will require 3-4 times the capacity of the existing drying beds when the plant becomes fully operational. In addition, these sand drying beds are subjected to uncontrollable conditions such as temperature, rainfall and sludge drainage rate. Thus, sand drying beds have become less popular as a dewatering system. This paper evaluates the performance of the existing sand drying beds and suggests the most appropriate technology to alleviate the above mentioned problems. (author)

Use of Natural Zeolite to Upgrade Activated Sludge Process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hanife Büyükgüngör

2003-01-01

Full Text Available The objective of this study was to achieve better efficiency of phosphorus removal in an enhanced biological phosphorus removal process by upgrading the system with different amounts of natural zeolite addition. The system performance for synthetic wastewater containing different carbon sources applied at different initial concentrations of phosphorus, as well as for municipal wastewater, was investigated. Natural zeolite addition in the aerobic phase of the anaerobic/aerobic bioaugmented activated sludge system contributed to a significant improvement of phosphorus removal in systems with synthetic wastewater and fresh municipal wastewater. Improvement of phosphorus removal with regard to the control reactors was higher with the addition of 15 than with 5 g/L of natural zeolite. In reactors with natural zeolite addition with regard to the control reactors significantly decreased chemical oxygen demand, ammonium and nitrate, while higher increment and better-activated sludge settling were achieved, without changes in the pH-values of the medium. It was shown that the natural zeolite particles are suitable support material for the phosphate-accumulating bacteria Acinetobacter calcoaceticus (DSM 1532, which were adsorbed on the particle surface, resulting in increased biological activity of the system. The process of phosphorus removal in a system with bioaugmented activated sludge and natural zeolite addition consisted of: metabolic activity of activated sludge, phosphorus uptake by phosphate-accumulating bacteria adsorbed on the natural zeolite particles and suspended in solution, and phosphorus adsorption on the natural zeolite particles.

Response of aerobic granular sludge to the long-term presence to nanosilver in sequencing batch reactors: Reactor performance, sludge property, microbial activity and community

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Quan, Xiangchun, E-mail: xchquan@bnu.edu.cn; Cen, Yan; Lu, Fang; Gu, Lingyun; Ma, Jingyun

2015-02-15

The increasing use of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) raises concerns about their potential toxic effects on the environment. Granular shape sludge is a special type of microbial aggregate. The response of aerobic granular sludge (AGS) to the long-term presence of Ag NPs has not been well studied. In this study, AGS was exposed to 5 and 50 mg/L Ag NPs in sequence batch reactors (SBRs) for 69 days, and its response was evaluated based on the sludge properties, microbial activity and community, and reactor performance. The results showed that Ag NPs caused inhibition to microbial activities of AGS from Day 35. At the end of 69 days of Ag NPs exposure, the microbial activity of AGS was significantly inhibited in terms of inhibitions of the ammonia oxidizing rate (33.0%), respiration rate (17.7% and 45.6%) and denitrification rate (6.8%), as well as decreases in the ammonia mono-oxygenase and nitrate reductase activities. During the long-term exposure, the AGS maintained its granular shape and large granule size (approximately 900 μm); the microbial community of AGS slightly changed, but the dominant microbial population remained. Overall, the AGS tolerated the toxicity of Ag NPs well, but a long-term exposure may produce chronic toxicity to the AGS, which is concerning. - Highlights: • AGS demonstrated a good tolerance to the long-term presence of Ag NPs. • Ag NPs did not produce acute toxicity but cause chronic toxicity to AGS. • AGS maintained granular shape, granule size and good settling ability. • The microbial community of AGS slightly changed after long-term Ag NPs exposure.

Response of aerobic granular sludge to the long-term presence to nanosilver in sequencing batch reactors: Reactor performance, sludge property, microbial activity and community

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Quan, Xiangchun; Cen, Yan; Lu, Fang; Gu, Lingyun; Ma, Jingyun

2015-01-01

The increasing use of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) raises concerns about their potential toxic effects on the environment. Granular shape sludge is a special type of microbial aggregate. The response of aerobic granular sludge (AGS) to the long-term presence of Ag NPs has not been well studied. In this study, AGS was exposed to 5 and 50 mg/L Ag NPs in sequence batch reactors (SBRs) for 69 days, and its response was evaluated based on the sludge properties, microbial activity and community, and reactor performance. The results showed that Ag NPs caused inhibition to microbial activities of AGS from Day 35. At the end of 69 days of Ag NPs exposure, the microbial activity of AGS was significantly inhibited in terms of inhibitions of the ammonia oxidizing rate (33.0%), respiration rate (17.7% and 45.6%) and denitrification rate (6.8%), as well as decreases in the ammonia mono-oxygenase and nitrate reductase activities. During the long-term exposure, the AGS maintained its granular shape and large granule size (approximately 900 μm); the microbial community of AGS slightly changed, but the dominant microbial population remained. Overall, the AGS tolerated the toxicity of Ag NPs well, but a long-term exposure may produce chronic toxicity to the AGS, which is concerning. - Highlights: • AGS demonstrated a good tolerance to the long-term presence of Ag NPs. • Ag NPs did not produce acute toxicity but cause chronic toxicity to AGS. • AGS maintained granular shape, granule size and good settling ability. • The microbial community of AGS slightly changed after long-term Ag NPs exposure

Anaerobic digestion of industrial activated aerobic sludge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goodloe, J.G.; Roberts, R.S.

1990-04-01

The Tennessee Eastman Company manufactures a variety of organic chemicals, plastics and fibers at their Kingsport Tennessee Facility. The wastewater generated during the manufacture of these compounds is currently treated using an activated sludge process. The objective of the project is to evaluate the economic potential of an anaerobic digestion process to convert industrial sludge at the Tennessee Eastman Company into biogas. The evaluation will require collection and analysis of experimental data on the anaerobic digestion of industrial sludge obtained from Kingsport. Although the experiments will be conducted using Tennessee Eastman sludge, these results should be also generally applicable to similar industrial sludge

Protists as bioindicators in activated sludge: Identification, ecology and future needs.

Science.gov (United States)

Foissner, Wilhelm

2016-08-01

When the activated sludge process was developed, operators and scientists soon recognized protists as valuable indicators. However, only when Curds et al. (1968) showed with a few photographs the need of ciliates for a clear plant effluent, sewage protistology began to bloom but was limited by the need of species identification. Still, this is a major problem although several good guides are available. Thus, molecular kits should be developed for identification. Protists are indicators in two stages of wastewater treatment, viz., in the activated sludge and in the environmental water receiving the plant effluent. Continuous control of the protist and bacterial communities can prevent biological sludge foaming and bulking and may greatly save money for sludge oxygenation because several protist species are excellent indicators for the amount of oxygen present. The investigation of the effluent-receiving rivers gives a solid indication about the long term function of sewage works. The literature on protist bioindication in activated sludge is widely distributed. Thus, I compiled the data in a simple Table, showing which communities and species indicate good, mediocre, or poor plant performance. Further, many details on indication are provided, such as sludge loading and nitrifying conditions. Such specific features should be improved by appropriate statistics and more reliable identification of species. Then, protistologists have a fair chance to become important in wastewater works. Activated sludge is a unique habitat for particular species, often poorly or even undescribed. As an example, I present two new species. The first is a minute (∼30μm) Metacystis that makes an up to 300μm-sized mucous envelope mimicking a sludge floc. The second is a Phialina that is unique in having the contractile vacuole slightly posterior to mid-body. Finally, I provide a list of species which have the type locality in sewage plants. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights

Kinetic model of excess activated sludge thermohydrolysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Imbierowicz, Mirosław; Chacuk, Andrzej

2012-11-01

Thermal hydrolysis of excess activated sludge suspensions was carried at temperatures ranging from 423 K to 523 K and under pressure 0.2-4.0 MPa. Changes of total organic carbon (TOC) concentration in a solid and liquid phase were measured during these studies. At the temperature 423 K, after 2 h of the process, TOC concentration in the reaction mixture decreased by 15-18% of the initial value. At 473 K total organic carbon removal from activated sludge suspension increased to 30%. It was also found that the solubilisation of particulate organic matter strongly depended on the process temperature. At 423 K the transfer of TOC from solid particles into liquid phase after 1 h of the process reached 25% of the initial value, however, at the temperature of 523 K the conversion degree of 'solid' TOC attained 50% just after 15 min of the process. In the article a lumped kinetic model of the process of activated sludge thermohydrolysis has been proposed. It was assumed that during heating of the activated sludge suspension to a temperature in the range of 423-523 K two parallel reactions occurred. One, connected with thermal destruction of activated sludge particles, caused solubilisation of organic carbon and an increase of dissolved organic carbon concentration in the liquid phase (hydrolysate). The parallel reaction led to a new kind of unsolvable solid phase, which was further decomposed into gaseous products (CO(2)). The collected experimental data were used to identify unknown parameters of the model, i.e. activation energies and pre-exponential factors of elementary reactions. The mathematical model of activated sludge thermohydrolysis appropriately describes the kinetics of reactions occurring in the studied system. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Activated Sludge and Aerobic Biofilm Reactors

OpenAIRE

Von Sperling, Marcos

2007-01-01

"Activated Sludge and Aerobic Biofilm Reactors is the fifth volume in the series Biological Wastewater Treatment. The first part of the book is devoted to the activated sludge process, covering the removal of organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus.A detailed analysis of the biological reactor (aeration tank) and the final sedimentation tanks is provided. The second part of the book covers aerobic biofilm reactors, especially trickling filters, rotating biological contractors and submerged ae...

Toxic influence of silver and uranium salts on activated sludge of wastewater treatment plants and synthetic activated sludge associates modeled on its pure cultures.

Science.gov (United States)

Tyupa, Dmitry V; Kalenov, Sergei V; Skladnev, Dmitry A; Khokhlachev, Nikolay S; Baurina, Marina M; Kuznetsov, Alexander Ye

2015-01-01

Toxic impact of silver and uranium salts on activated sludge of wastewater treatment facilities has been studied. Some dominating cultures (an active nitrogen fixer Agrobacterium tumifaciens (A.t) and micromyces such as Fusarium nivale, Fusarium oxysporum, and Penicillium glabrum) have been isolated and identified as a result of selection of the activated sludge microorganisms being steadiest under stressful conditions. For these cultures, the lethal doses of silver amounted 1, 600, 50, and 300 µg/l and the lethal doses of uranium were 120, 1,500, 1,000, and 1,000 mg/l, respectively. A.tumifaciens is shown to be more sensitive to heavy metals than micromyces. Synthetic granular activated sludge was formed on the basis of three cultures of the isolated micromyces steadiest against stress. Its granules were much more resistant to silver than the whole native activated sludge was. The concentration of silver causing 50 % inhibition of synthetic granular activated sludge growth reached 160-170 μg/l as far as for the native activated sludge it came only to 100-110 μg/l.

Nitrogen removal from urban wastewater by activated sludge ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study deals with nitrogen removal from urban wastewater employing the activated sludge process at low temperature. It aims at determining the performances and rates of nitrification, and characterising the autotrophic biomass (concentration and kinetic parameters) at 11°C and for F/M ratios higher than the ...

The effect of operational conditions on the sludge specific methanogenic activity and sludge biodegradability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leitao, R. C.; Santaella, S. T.; Haandel, A. C. van; Zeeman, G.; Lettinga, G.

2009-01-01

The Specific Methanogenic Activity (SMA) and sludge biodegradability of an anaerobic sludge depends on various operational and environmental conditions imposed to the anaerobic reactor. However, the effects of hydraulic retention time (HRT), influent COD concentration (COD i nf) and sludge retention time (SRT) on those two parameters need to be elucidated. This knowledge about SMA can provide insights about the capacity of the UASB reactors to withstand organic and hydraulic shock loads, whereas the biodegradability gives information necessary for final disposal of the sludge. (Author)

The effect of operational conditions on the sludge specific methanogenic activity and sludge biodegradability

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Leitao, R. C.; Santaella, S. T.; Haandel, A. C. van; Zeeman, G.; Lettinga, G.

2009-07-01

The Specific Methanogenic Activity (SMA) and sludge biodegradability of an anaerobic sludge depends on various operational and environmental conditions imposed to the anaerobic reactor. However, the effects of hydraulic retention time (HRT), influent COD concentration (COD{sub i}nf) and sludge retention time (SRT) on those two parameters need to be elucidated. This knowledge about SMA can provide insights about the capacity of the UASB reactors to withstand organic and hydraulic shock loads, whereas the biodegradability gives information necessary for final disposal of the sludge. (Author)

Aerobic biodegradation of organotin compounds in activated sludge batch reactors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stasinakis, Athanasios S. [Department of Environmental Studies, Water and Air Quality Laboratory, University of the Aegean, University Hill, Mytilene 81 100 (Greece)]. E-mail: astas@env.aegean.gr; Thomaidis, Nikolaos S. [Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Zografou, Athens 157 71 (Greece); Nikolaou, Anastasia [Department of Environmental Studies, Water and Air Quality Laboratory, University of the Aegean, University Hill, Mytilene 81 100 (Greece); Kantifes, Andreas [Department of Environmental Studies, Water and Air Quality Laboratory, University of the Aegean, University Hill, Mytilene 81 100 (Greece)

2005-04-01

The biodegradation behavior of four organotin (OT) compounds, namely tributyltin (TBT), dibutyltin (DBT), monobutyltin (MBT) and triphenyltin (TPhT), was studied in lab-scale activated sludge batch reactors. The activated sludge was spiked with the OT compounds at a level of 100 {mu}g l{sup -1} as Sn. Determination of the OT compounds by GC-FPD after ethylation in the dissolved and particulate phase revealed that 24 h after the start of the experiments, almost the total of OT compounds has been removed from the dissolved phase and is associated with the suspended solids. Calculation of mass balance in batch reactors showed that OT compounds biodegradation was performed via a sequential dealkylation process. Removals due to biodegradation were differentiated according to the parent compound. In experiments with non-acclimatized biomass, a percentage of 27.1, 8.3, 73.8 and 51.3 was still present as TBT, DBT, MBT and TPhT, respectively, at the end of the experiment (18th day). Half-lives (t{sub 1/2}) of 10.2 and 5.1 days were calculated for TBT and DBT, respectively, whereas apparent t{sub 1/2} values could not be determined for MBT and TPhT (t{sub 1/2} > 18 days). The capacity of activated sludge to biodegrade OT compounds in the absence of supplemental substrate indicated that these compounds can be metabolized as single sources of carbon and energy in activated sludge systems. Excluding TBT, the presence of low concentrations of supplemental substrate did not affect the biodegradation potential of activated sludge. The acclimatization of biomass on OT compounds enhanced significantly biodegradation, resulting in significant decreases of half-lives of OT compounds. As a result in the presence of acclimatized biomass, half-lives of 1.4, 3.6, 9.8 and 5.0 days were calculated for TBT, DBT, MBT and TPhT, respectively. - The fate of organotins is assessed in activated sludge systems.

Aerobic biodegradation of organotin compounds in activated sludge batch reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stasinakis, Athanasios S.; Thomaidis, Nikolaos S.; Nikolaou, Anastasia; Kantifes, Andreas

2005-01-01

The biodegradation behavior of four organotin (OT) compounds, namely tributyltin (TBT), dibutyltin (DBT), monobutyltin (MBT) and triphenyltin (TPhT), was studied in lab-scale activated sludge batch reactors. The activated sludge was spiked with the OT compounds at a level of 100 μg l -1 as Sn. Determination of the OT compounds by GC-FPD after ethylation in the dissolved and particulate phase revealed that 24 h after the start of the experiments, almost the total of OT compounds has been removed from the dissolved phase and is associated with the suspended solids. Calculation of mass balance in batch reactors showed that OT compounds biodegradation was performed via a sequential dealkylation process. Removals due to biodegradation were differentiated according to the parent compound. In experiments with non-acclimatized biomass, a percentage of 27.1, 8.3, 73.8 and 51.3 was still present as TBT, DBT, MBT and TPhT, respectively, at the end of the experiment (18th day). Half-lives (t 1/2 ) of 10.2 and 5.1 days were calculated for TBT and DBT, respectively, whereas apparent t 1/2 values could not be determined for MBT and TPhT (t 1/2 > 18 days). The capacity of activated sludge to biodegrade OT compounds in the absence of supplemental substrate indicated that these compounds can be metabolized as single sources of carbon and energy in activated sludge systems. Excluding TBT, the presence of low concentrations of supplemental substrate did not affect the biodegradation potential of activated sludge. The acclimatization of biomass on OT compounds enhanced significantly biodegradation, resulting in significant decreases of half-lives of OT compounds. As a result in the presence of acclimatized biomass, half-lives of 1.4, 3.6, 9.8 and 5.0 days were calculated for TBT, DBT, MBT and TPhT, respectively. - The fate of organotins is assessed in activated sludge systems

Anaerobic bioleaching of metals from waste activated sludge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meulepas, Roel J.W.; Gonzalez-Gil, Graciela; Teshager, Fitfety Melese; Witharana, Ayoma; Saikaly, Pascal E.; Lens, Piet N.L.

2015-01-01

Heavy metal contamination of anaerobically digested waste activated sludge hampers its reuse as fertilizer or soil conditioner. Conventional methods to leach metals require aeration or the addition of leaching agents. This paper investigates whether metals can be leached from waste activated sludge during the first, acidifying stage of two-stage anaerobic digestion without the supply of leaching agents. These leaching experiments were done with waste activated sludge from the Hoek van Holland municipal wastewater treatment plant (The Netherlands), which contained 342 μg g −1 of copper, 487 μg g −1 of lead, 793 μg g −1 of zinc, 27 μg g −1 of nickel and 2.3 μg g −1 of cadmium. During the anaerobic acidification of 3 g dry weight L −1 waste activated sludge, 80–85% of the copper, 66–69% of the lead, 87% of the zinc, 94–99% of the nickel and 73–83% of the cadmium were leached. The first stage of two-stage anaerobic digestion can thus be optimized as an anaerobic bioleaching process and produce a treated sludge (i.e., digestate) that meets the land-use standards in The Netherlands for copper, zinc, nickel and cadmium, but not for lead. - Highlights: • Heavy metals were leached during anaerobic acidification of waste activated sludge. • The process does not require the addition of chelating or oxidizing agents. • The metal leaching efficiencies (66 to 99%) were comparable to chemical leaching. • The produced leachate may be used for metal recovery and biogas production. • The produced digested sludge may be used as soil conditioner

Efficiency of Worm Reactors in Reducing Sludge Volume in Activated Sludge Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Azam Naderi

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The activated sludge process is the most widely used on a global scale for the biological treatment of both domestic and industrial effluents. One problem associated with the process, however, is the high volume of sludge produced. Excess sludge treatment and disposal account for up to 60% of the total operating costs of urban wastewater treatment plants due to the stringent environmental regulations on excess sludge disposal. These strict requirements have encouraged a growing interest over the last few years in reducing sludge volumes produced at biological treatment plants and a number of physical, chemical, and mechanical methods have been accordingly developed for this purpose. The proposed methods are disadvantaged due to their rather high investment and operation costs. An alternative technology that avoids many of these limitations is the worm reactor. In this study, the characteristics of this technology are investigated while the related literature is reviewed to derive the optimal conditions for the operation of this process in different situations.

A review of modeling approaches in activated sludge systems

African Journals Online (AJOL)

use

Key words: Mathematical modeling, water, wastewater, wastewater treatment plants, activated sludge systems. INTRODUCTION ... sedimentation processes which take place in the aeration ...... activated sludge waste water treatment systems.

COMPARISON BETWEEN DIFFERENT MODELS FOR RHEOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF ACTIVATED SLUDGE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. H. Khalili Garakani

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Activated sludge flow rheology is a very complicated phenomenon. Studies related to activated sludge tend to classify sludge as non-Newtonian fluid. Until now, several theories have been built to describe the complex behavior of activated sludge with varying degrees of success. In this article, seven different models for viscosity of non-Newtonian fluids (i.e., Power law, Bingham plastic, Herschel-Bulkley, Casson, Sisko, Carreau and Cross were considered to evaluate their predictive capability of apparent viscosity of activated sludge. Results showed that although evaluating the constants in the four-parameter models is difficult, they provide the best prediction of viscosity in the whole range of shear rates for activated sludge. For easier prediction of viscosity at different mixed liquor suspended solids (2.74-31g/L, temperature (15-25°C and shear rate (1-1000/s, simple correlations were proposed. Comparing the results with the experimental data revealed that the proposed correlations are in good agreement with real apparent viscosities.

Filterability of membrane bioreactor (MBR) sludge: impacts of polyelectrolytes and mixing with conventional activated sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Yigit, Nevzat O; Civelekoglu, Gokhan; Cinar, Ozer; Kitis, Mehmet

2010-01-01

The main objective of this work was to investigate the filterability of MBR sludge and its mixture with conventional activated sludge (CAS). In addition, the impacts of type and dose of various polyelectrolytes, filter type and sludge properties on the filterability of both MBR and Mixed sludges were determined. Specific cake resistance (SCR) measured by the Buchner funnel filtration test apparatus and the solids content of the resulting sludge cake were used to assess the dewaterability of tested sludges. The type of filter paper used in Buchner tests affected the results of filterability for MBR, CAS and Mixed sludges. SCR values and optimum polyelectrolyte doses increased with increasing MLSS concentrations in the MBR, which suggested that increase in MLSS concentrations accompanied by increases in EPS and SMP concentrations and a shift toward smaller particles caused poorer dewaterability of the MBR sludge. The significant differences observed among the filterability of CAS and MBR sludges suggested that MLSS alone is not a good predictor of sludge dewaterability. Combining CAS and MBR sludges at different proportions generally improved their dewaterability. Combining MBR sludges having typically high MLSS and EPS concentrations with CAS having much lower MLSS concentrations may be an option for full-scale treatment plants experiencing sludge dewaterability problems. Better filterability and higher cake dry solids were achieved with cationic polyelectrolytes compared to anionic and non-ionic ones for all sludge types tested.

Anaerobic bioleaching of metals from waste activated sludge

KAUST Repository

Meulepas, Roel J W

2015-05-01

Heavy metal contamination of anaerobically digested waste activated sludge hampers its reuse as fertilizer or soil conditioner. Conventional methods to leach metals require aeration or the addition of leaching agents. This paper investigates whether metals can be leached from waste activated sludge during the first, acidifying stage of two-stage anaerobic digestion without the supply of leaching agents. These leaching experiments were done with waste activated sludge from the Hoek van Holland municipal wastewater treatment plant (The Netherlands), which contained 342μgg-1 of copper, 487μgg-1 of lead, 793μgg-1 of zinc, 27μgg-1 of nickel and 2.3μgg-1 of cadmium. During the anaerobic acidification of 3gdry weightL-1 waste activated sludge, 80-85% of the copper, 66-69% of the lead, 87% of the zinc, 94-99% of the nickel and 73-83% of the cadmium were leached. The first stage of two-stage anaerobic digestion can thus be optimized as an anaerobic bioleaching process and produce a treated sludge (i.e., digestate) that meets the land-use standards in The Netherlands for copper, zinc, nickel and cadmium, but not for lead.

Toxicity of carbon nanotubes to the activated sludge process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Luongo, Lauren A.; Zhang Xiaoqi

2010-01-01

The discharge of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) from industrial waste or disposal of such materials from commercial and/or domestic use will inevitably occur with increasing production and enter into wastewater treatment facilities with unknown consequences. Therefore, a better knowledge of the toxicity of CNTs to biological processes in wastewater treatment will be critical. This study examined the toxicity of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) on the microbial communities in activated sludge. A comparative study using the activated sludge respiration inhibition test was performed on both unsheared mixed liquor and sheared mixed liquor to demonstrate the potential toxicity posed by MWCNTs and to illustrate the extent of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in protecting the microorganisms from the toxicity of CNTs. Respiration inhibition was observed for both unsheared and sheared mixed liquor when MWCNTs were present, however, greater respiration inhibition was observed for the sheared mixed liquor. The toxicity observed by the respiration inhibition test was determined to be dose-dependent; the highest concentration of MWCNTs exhibited the highest respiration inhibition. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images demonstrated direct physical contact between MWCNTs and activated sludge flocs.

Enhancement of sludge reduction and methane production by removing extracellular polymeric substances from waste activated sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Minh Tuan; Mohd Yasin, Nazlina Haiza; Miyazaki, Toshiki; Maeda, Toshinari

2014-12-01

The management of waste activated sludge (WAS) recycling is a concern that affects the development of the future low-carbon society, particularly sludge reduction and biomass utilization. In this study, we investigated the effect of removing extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), which play important roles in the adhesion and flocculation of WAS, on increased sludge disintegration, thereby enhancing sludge reduction and methane production by anaerobic digestion. EPS removal from WAS by ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) significantly enhanced sludge reduction, i.e., 49 ± 5% compared with 27 ± 1% of the control at the end the digestion process. Methane production was also improved in WAS without EPS by 8881 ± 109 CH4 μmol g(-1) dry-weight of sludge. Microbial activity was determined by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and real-time polymerase chain reaction, which showed that the hydrolysis and acetogenesis stages were enhanced by pretreatment with 2% EDTA, with a larger methanogenic community and better methane production. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effect of Ionic Strength on Settling of Activated Sludge

OpenAIRE

M Ahmadi Moghadam, M Soheili, MM Esfahani

2005-01-01

Structural properties of activated sludge flocs were found to be sensitive to small changes in ionic strength. This study investigates the effect of ionic strength on settling of activated sludge. Samples were taken from activated sludge process of Ghazvin Sasan soft drink wastewater treatment plant, then treated with different ionic strengths of KCl and CaCl2 solution, after that the turbidity of supernatant was measured. The results indicated that low ionic strength resulted in a steeper sl...

Anaerobic bioleaching of metals from waste activated sludge

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Meulepas, Roel J.W., E-mail: roel.meulepas@wetsus.nl [UNESCO-IHE, Westvest 7, 2611 AX Delft (Netherlands); Gonzalez-Gil, Graciela [UNESCO-IHE, Westvest 7, 2611 AX Delft (Netherlands); King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Water Desalination and Reuse Center, Thuwal 13955-69000 (Saudi Arabia); Teshager, Fitfety Melese; Witharana, Ayoma [UNESCO-IHE, Westvest 7, 2611 AX Delft (Netherlands); Saikaly, Pascal E. [King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Water Desalination and Reuse Center, Thuwal 13955-69000 (Saudi Arabia); Lens, Piet N.L. [UNESCO-IHE, Westvest 7, 2611 AX Delft (Netherlands)

2015-05-01

Heavy metal contamination of anaerobically digested waste activated sludge hampers its reuse as fertilizer or soil conditioner. Conventional methods to leach metals require aeration or the addition of leaching agents. This paper investigates whether metals can be leached from waste activated sludge during the first, acidifying stage of two-stage anaerobic digestion without the supply of leaching agents. These leaching experiments were done with waste activated sludge from the Hoek van Holland municipal wastewater treatment plant (The Netherlands), which contained 342 μg g{sup −1} of copper, 487 μg g{sup −1} of lead, 793 μg g{sup −1} of zinc, 27 μg g{sup −1} of nickel and 2.3 μg g{sup −1} of cadmium. During the anaerobic acidification of 3 g{sub dry} {sub weight} L{sup −1} waste activated sludge, 80–85% of the copper, 66–69% of the lead, 87% of the zinc, 94–99% of the nickel and 73–83% of the cadmium were leached. The first stage of two-stage anaerobic digestion can thus be optimized as an anaerobic bioleaching process and produce a treated sludge (i.e., digestate) that meets the land-use standards in The Netherlands for copper, zinc, nickel and cadmium, but not for lead. - Highlights: • Heavy metals were leached during anaerobic acidification of waste activated sludge. • The process does not require the addition of chelating or oxidizing agents. • The metal leaching efficiencies (66 to 99%) were comparable to chemical leaching. • The produced leachate may be used for metal recovery and biogas production. • The produced digested sludge may be used as soil conditioner.

INFLUENCE OF SELECTED PHARMACEUTICALS ON ACTIVATED SLUDGE DEHYDROGENASE ACTIVITY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Agnieszka Tomska

2016-06-01

The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of selected antibiotics - sulfanilamide and erythromycin on activated sludge dehydrogenase activity with use of trifenyltetrazolinum chloride (TTC test. Dehydrogenases activity is an indicator of biochemical activity of microorganisms present in activated sludge or the ability to degrade organic compounds in waste water. TTC test is particularly useful for the regularity of the course of treatment, in which the presence of inhibitors of biochemical reactions and toxic compounds are present. It was observed that the dehydrogenase activity decreases with the increase of a antibiotics concentration. The lowest value of the dehydrogenase activity equal to 32.4 μmol TF / gMLSS obtained at sulfanilamide concentration 150mg / l. For this sample, an inhibition of dehydrogenase activity was 31%.

Effect of potassium ferrate on disintegration of waste activated sludge (WAS).

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, Fenxia; Ji, Haizhuang; Ye, Yangfang

2012-06-15

The activated sludge process of wastewater treatment results in the generation of a considerable amount of excess activated sludge. Increased attention has been given to minimization of waste activated sludge recently. This paper investigated the effect of potassium ferrate oxidation pretreatment on the disintegration of the waste activated sludge at various dosages of potassium ferrate. The results show that potassium ferrate pretreatment disintegrated the sludge particle, resulting in the reduction of total solid content by 31%. The solubility (SCOD/TCOD) of the sludge increased with the increase of potassium ferrate dosage. Under 0.81 g/g SS dosage of potassium ferrate, SCOD/TCOD reached 0.32. Total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorous (TP) concentrations in the solution all increased significantly after potassium ferrate pretreatment. The sludge particles reduced from 116 to 87 μm. The settleability of the sludge (SVI) was enhanced by 17%, which was due to the re-flocculation by the by-product, Fe(III), during potassium ferrate oxidation and the decrease of the viscosity. From the result of the present investigations, it can be concluded that potassium ferrate oxidation is a feasible method for disintegration of excess activated sludge. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Biohydrogen production using waste activated sludge disintegrated by gamma irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yin, Yanan; Wang, Jianlong

2015-01-01

Highlights: • The waste activated sludge could be disintegrated by gamma irradiation. • The disintegrated sludge could be used for biohydrogen production. • Combined alkali-irradiation treatment achieved the highest solubilization of sludge. - Abstract: The biohydrogen production using the disintegrated and dissolved sludge by gamma irradiation was studied. The experimental results showed that gamma irradiation and irradiation combined with alkali pretreatment could disintegrate and dissolve waste activated sludge for biohydrogen production. The alkali-irradiation treatment of the sludge at pH = 12 and 20 kGy achieved the highest disintegration and dissolution, i.e., it could destroy the cell walls and release organic matters (such as soluble COD, polysaccharides and protein) into the solution. The disintegrated sludge could be used as a low-cost substrate for biohydrogen production

Effect of potassium hydroxide activation in the desulfurization process of activated carbon prepared by sewage sludge and corn straw.

Science.gov (United States)

Zeng, Fan; Liao, Xiaofeng; Hu, Hui; Liao, Li

2018-03-01

Series sludge straw-based activated carbons were prepared by sewage sludge and corn straw with potassium hydroxide (KOH) activation, and the desulfurization performance of activated carbons was studied. To obtain the best desulfurization performance, the optimum ratio between the raw materials and the activator was investigated. The results showed that when the mass ratio of sewage sludge, corn straw, and KOH was 3:7:2, the activated carbon obtained the best breakthrough and saturation sulfur sorption capacities, which were 12.38 and 5.74 times, respectively, those of samples prepared by the nonactivated raw materials. The appropriate KOH could improve the microporosity and alkaline groups, meanwhile reducing the lactone groups, which were all beneficial to desulfurization performance. The chemical adsorption process of desulfurization can be simplified to four main steps, and the main desulfurization products are elemental sulfur and sulfate. Sewage sludge (SS) and corn straw (CS) both have great production and wide distribution and are readily available in China. Much attention has been paid on how to deal with them effectively. Based on the environment protection idea of waste treatment with waste and resource recycling, low-cost adsorbents were prepared by these processes. The proposed method can be expanded to the municipal solid waste recycling programs and renewable energy plan. Thus, proceeding with the study of preparing activated carbon by SS and straw as a carbon-based dry desulfurization agent could obtain huge social, economic, and environmental benefits.

Thermal activation of an industrial sludge for a possible valorization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lamrani Sanae

2014-04-01

Full Text Available This work fits within the framework of sustainable management of sludge generated from wastewater treatment in industrial network. The studied sludge comes from an industry manufacturing sanitary ware products.Physico-chemical and mineralogical characterization was performed to give an identity card to the sludge. We noted the absence of metal pollution.The industrial sludge has been subjected to thermal activation at various temperatures (650°C to 850°C. The pozzolanic activity was evaluated by physico- chemical and mechanical methods [1]. Pozzolanicity measurement was carried out based on Chapelle test and conductivity revealed the existence of pozzolanic properties of the calcined samples. The best pozzolanic reactivity was obtained for the sample calcined at 800°C. We noticed a decrease in the reactivity of the sample calcined at 850°C. In addition, analysis by means of X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy showed that sludge recrystallization begins at a temperature of 850°C. Pozzolanicity index of the thermally treated samples was determined by measuring the mechanical resistance of mortar specimens previously kept in a saturated lime solution for 28 days (ASTM C618 [2]. The best pozzolanic activity index was obtained for the sample calcined at 800°C (109.1%.This work is a contribution to the research for new supplying sources of raw materials and additives in the field of construction. It presents a proposition of a promising solution for the valorization of waste material as an additive instead of being discharged into open air dumps causing a major environmental problem.

Bacteriology of activated sludge

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gils, van H.W.

1964-01-01

The bacteriology and biochemistry of activated sludge grown in domestic waste water or fed with synthetic media were studied. The nature of the flocs was investigated by determining morphological and physiological characteristics of many strains isolated.

Predominant bacteria were

Predicting the degradability of waste activated sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Richard; Parker, Wayne; Zhu, Henry; Houweling, Dwight; Murthy, Sudhir

2009-08-01

The objective of this study was to identify methods for estimating anaerobic digestibility of waste activated sludge (WAS). The WAS streams were generated in three sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) treating municipal wastewater. The wastewater and WAS properties were initially determined through simulation of SBR operation with BioWin (EnviroSim Associates Ltd., Flamborough, Ontario, Canada). Samples of WAS from the SBRs were subsequently characterized through respirometry and batch anaerobic digestion. Respirometry was an effective tool for characterizing the active fraction of WAS and could be a suitable technique for determining sludge composition for input to anaerobic models. Anaerobic digestion of the WAS revealed decreasing methane production and lower chemical oxygen demand removals as the SRT of the sludge increased. BioWin was capable of accurately describing the digestion of the WAS samples for typical digester SRTs. For extended digestion times (i.e., greater than 30 days), some degradation of the endogenous decay products was assumed to achieve accurate simulations for all sludge SRTs.

Fate of return activated sludge after ozonation: an optimization study for sludge disintegration.

Science.gov (United States)

Demir, Ozlem; Filibeli, Ayse

2012-09-01

The effects of ozonation on sludge disintegration should be investigated before the application of ozone during biological treatment, in order to minimize excess sludge production. In this study, changes in sludge and supernatant after ozonation of return activated sludge were investigated for seven different ozone doses. The optimum ozone dose to avoid inhibition of ozonation and high ozone cost was determined in terms of disintegration degree as 0.05 g O3/gTS. Suspended solid and volatile suspended solid concentrations of sludge decreased by 77.8% and 71.6%, respectively, at the optimum ozone dose. Ozonation significantly decomposed sludge flocs. The release of cell contents was proved by the increase of supernatant total nitrogen (TN) and phosphorus (TP). While TN increased from 7 mg/L to 151 mg/L, TP increased from 8.8 to 33 mg/L at the optimum ozone dose. The dewaterability and filterability characteristics of the ozonated sludge were also examined. Capillary suction time increased with increasing ozone dosage, but specific resistance to filtration increased to a specific value and then decreased dramatically. The particle size distribution changed significantly as a result of floc disruption at an optimum dose of 0.05 gO3/gTS.

Sludge Batch 7B Qualification Activities With SRS Tank Farm Sludge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pareizs, J.; Click, D.; Lambert, D.; Reboul, S.

2011-01-01

projected noble metals content for SB7b. Characterization was performed on the Tank 51 SB7b samples and SRNL performed DWPF simulations using the Tank 40 SB7b material. This report documents: (1) The preparation and characterization of the Tank 51 SB7b and Tank 40 SB7b samples. (2) The performance of a DWPF Chemical Process Cell (CPC) simulation using the SB7b Tank 40 sample. The simulation included a Sludge Receipt and Adjustment Tank (SRAT) cycle, where acid was added to the sludge to destroy nitrite and reduce mercury, and a Slurry Mix Evaporator (SME) cycle, where glass frit was added to the sludge in preparation for vitrification. The SME cycle also included replication of five canister decontamination additions and concentrations. Processing parameters were based on work with a nonradioactive simulant. (3) Vitrification of a portion of the SME product and characterization and durability testing (as measured by the Product Consistency Test (PCT)) of the resulting glass. (4) Rheology measurements of the SRAT receipt, SRAT product, and SME product. This program was controlled by a Task Technical and Quality Assurance Plan (TTQAP), and analyses were guided by an Analytical Study Plan. This work is Technical Baseline Research and Development (R and D) for the DWPF. It should be noted that much of the data in this document has been published in interoffice memoranda. The intent of this technical report is bring all of the SB7b related data together in a single permanent record and to discuss the overall aspects of SB7b processing.

pH-dependent biotransformation of ionizable organic micropollutants in activated sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Gulde, Rebekka; Helbling, Damian E; Scheidegger, Andreas; Fenner, Kathrin

2014-12-02

Removal of micropollutants (MPs) during activated sludge treatment can mainly be attributed to biotransformation and sorption to sludge flocs, whereby the latter process is known to be of minor importance for polar organic micropollutants. In this work, we investigated the influence of pH on the biotransformation of MPs with cationic-neutral speciation in an activated sludge microbial community. We performed batch biotransformation, sorption control, and abiotic control experiments for 15 MPs with cationic-neutral speciation, one control MP with neutral-anionic speciation, and two neutral MPs at pHs 6, 7, and 8. Biotransformation rate constants corrected for sorption and abiotic processes were estimated from measured concentration time series with Bayesian inference. We found that biotransformation is pH-dependent and correlates qualitatively with the neutral fraction of the ionizable MPs. However, a simple speciation model based on the assumption that only the neutral species is efficiently taken up and biotransformed by the cells tends to overpredict the effect of speciation. Therefore, additional mechanisms such as uptake of the ionic species and other more complex attenutation mechanisms are discussed. Finally, we observed that the sorption coefficients derived from our control experiments were small and showed no notable pH-dependence. From this we conclude that pH-dependent removal of polar, ionizable organic MPs in activated sludge systems is less likely an effect of pH-dependent sorption but rather of pH-dependent biotransformation. The latter has the potential to cause marked differences in the removal of polar, ionizable MPs at different operational pHs during activated sludge treatment.

Examination into the gamma irradiation of activated sludge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mustapha, S.; Forster, C.F.

1985-01-01

This study has shown that the treatment of activated sludge by gamma irradiation resulted in a deterioration in the filterability, a decrease in the size of the floc particles and an increase in the organic matter present in the sludge supernatant. A significant difference was found between the results obtained for filamentous and non-filamentous sludges in relation to the amount of soluble polysaccharide produced. (author)

Effects of mechanical disintegration of activated sludge on the activity of nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria and phosphorus accumulating organisms.

Science.gov (United States)

Zubrowska-Sudol, Monika; Walczak, Justyna

2014-09-15

The purpose of the study was to analyse the impact of hydrodynamic disintegration of thickened excess activated sludge, performed at different levels of energy density (70, 140 and 210 kJ/L), on the activity of microorganisms involved in nutrient removal from wastewater, i.e. nitrifiers, denitrifiers and phosphorus accumulating organisms (PAOs). Ammonium and nitrogen utilisation rates and phosphorus release rates for raw and disintegrated sludge were determined using batch tests. The experiment also included: 1) analysis of organic and nutrient compound release from activated sludge flocs, 2) determination of the sludge disintegration degree (DD), and 3) evaluation of respiratory activity of the biomass by using the oxygen uptake rate (OUR) batch test. It was shown that the activity degree of the examined groups of microorganisms depended on energy density and related sludge disintegration degree, and that inactivation of individual groups of microorganisms occurred at different values of DD. Least resistant to the destruction of activated sludge flocs turned out to be phosphorus accumulating organisms, while the most resistant were denitrifiers. A decrease of 20-40% in PAO activity was noted already at DD equal to 3-5%. The threshold values of DD, after crossing which the inactivation of nitrifiers and denitrifiers occurred, were equal to 8% and 10%, respectively. At lesser DD values an increase in the activity of these groups of microorganisms was observed, averaging 20.2-41.7% for nitrifiers and 9.98-36.3% for denitrifiers. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ultrasonic reduction of excess sludge from the activated sludge system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Guangming; Zhang Panyue; Yang Jinmei; Chen Yanming

2007-01-01

Sludge treatment has long become the most challenging problem in wastewater treatment plants. Previous studies showed that ozone or chlorine effectively liquefies sludge into substrates for bio-degradation in the aeration tank, and thus reduces the excess sludge. This paper employs ultrasound to reduce the excess sludge from the sequential batch reactor (SBR) system. Partial sludge was disintegrated into dissolved substrates by ultrasound in an external sono-tank and was then returned to the SBR for bio-degradation. The results showed that ultrasound (25 kHz) effectively liquefied the sludge. The most effective conditions for sludge reduction were as following: sludge sonication ratio of 3/14, ultrasound intensity of 120 kW/kgDS, and sonication duration of 15 min. The amount of excess sludge was reduced by 91.1% to 17.8 mg/(L d); the organic content and settleability of sludge in the SBR were not impacted. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency was 81.1%, the total nitrogen (TN) removal efficiency was 17-66%, and high phosphorus concentration in the effluent was observed

Biofac, a microbiological multimedia tool to perform the analysis of activated sludge; Biofac, una herramienta de autoformacion microbiologica para el analisis del fango activo

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ferrer Torregrosa, C.; Llopis Nicolau, A.; Claramonte Santarrufina, J.; Alonso Hernandez, S.

2009-07-01

The composition and structure of the macrobiotic that is part of the active sludge, its temporal evolution, and the analysis of the macroscopic and microscopic characteristics of it are a source of information of great help in making decisions for plant operators. Lack of training and access to specific information linked to the missing standardization of analysis processes hinder the implementation and interpretation of them. Using a multimedia tool in DVD, Facsa has developed the Biofac, an application in which it is documented and illustrated the most relevant aspects that allow the user to perform the analysis of activated sludge. (Author)

An ecological vegetation-activated sludge process (V-ASP) for decentralized wastewater treatment: system development, treatment performance, and mathematical modeling.

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Jiajia; Dong, Wenyi; Sun, Feiyun; Li, Pu; Zhao, Ke

2016-05-01

An environment-friendly decentralized wastewater treatment process that is comprised of activated sludge process (ASP) and wetland vegetation, named as vegetation-activated sludge process (V-ASP), was developed for decentralized wastewater treatment. The long-term experimental results evidenced that the vegetation sequencing batch reactor (V-SBR) process had consistently stable higher removal efficiencies of organic substances and nutrients from domestic wastewater compared with traditional sequencing batch reactor (SBR). The vegetation allocated into V-SBR system could not only remove nutrients through its vegetation transpiration ratio but also provide great surface area for microorganism activity enhancement. This high vegetation transpiration ratio enhanced nutrients removal effectiveness from wastewater mainly by flux enhancement, oxygen and substrate transportation acceleration, and vegetation respiration stimulation. A mathematical model based on ASM2d was successfully established by involving the specific function of vegetation to simulate system performance. The simulation results on the influence of operational parameters on V-ASP treatment effectiveness demonstrated that V-SBR had a high resistance to seasonal temperature fluctuations and influent loading shocking.

CFD analysis of sludge accumulation and hydraulic performance of a waste stabilization pond.

Science.gov (United States)

Alvarado, Andres; Sanchez, Esteban; Durazno, Galo; Vesvikar, Mehul; Nopens, Ingmar

2012-01-01

Sludge management in waste stabilization ponds (WSPs) is essential for safeguarding the system performance. Sludge accumulation patterns in WSPs are strongly influenced by the pond hydrodynamics. CFD modeling was applied to study the relation between velocity profiles and sludge deposition during 10 years of operation of the Ucubamba WSP in Cuenca (Ecuador). One tracer experiment was performed and three sludge accumulation scenarios based on bathymetric surveys were simulated. A residence time distribution (RTD) analysis illustrated the decrease of residence times due to sludge deposition. Sludge accumulation rates were calculated. The influence of flow pattern on the sludge deposition was studied, enabling better planning of future pond operation and desludging.

Impact of accelerated electrons on activating process and foaming potential of sludge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cuba, V.; Pospisil, M.; Mucka, V.; Silber, R.; Jenicek, P.; Dohanyos, M.; Zabranska, J.

2002-01-01

Complete text of publication follows. Presently, anaerobic and/or aerobic biological treatment is the cheapest and the most effective method of wastewater and sludge processing. However, due to some non-biodegradable substances present in wastewater and also due to limited capacity of wastewater treatment plants, it is necessary to find effective processes, that would be complementary to existing sludge treatment methods. Beside chemical and physical processes, radiation technology seems to offer improvement of effectivity of biological treatment. The paper describes possibilities of irradiation in activating process. Activated sludge can be affected in all its parameters, including physico chemical properties, such as sedimentation rate, or resulting volume of sludge. For the purpose of this research, laboratory experimental reactors simulating activating process were operated. According to previous results, accelerated electrons were used for irradiation, for e-beam seems to be more expedient than gamma irradiation. Reactor with irradiated sludge has been compared with the one without irradiation. It is shown, that pre-irradiation of sludge can positively affect following process of activation. Beside the activating process, another goal has been pursued. Radiation can strongly affect sludge foaming potential. Biological foaming caused by surfactant microorganisms, represents quite serious problem in many wastewater treatment plants, especially in digesters. It was proved that after irradiation foaming potential of sludge decreases. Pre-irradiation of activated sludge with relatively low doses also results in reduction of number of pathogenic microorganisms, presented in sludge

Aged refuse enhances anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Jianwei; Gui, Lin; Wang, Qilin; Liu, Yiwen; Wang, Dongbo; Ni, Bing-Jie; Li, Xiaoming; Xu, Rui; Zeng, Guangming; Yang, Qi

2017-10-15

In this work, a low-cost alternative approach (i.e., adding aged refuse (AR) into waste activated sludge) to significantly enhance anaerobic digestion of sludge was reported. Experimental results showed that with the addition dosage of AR increasing from 0 to 400 mg/g dry sludge soluble chemical oxygen demand (COD) increased from 1150 to 5240 mg/L at the digestion time of 5 d, while the maximal production of volatile fatty acids (VFA) increased from 82.6 to 183.9 mg COD/g volatile suspended solids. Although further increase of AR addition decreased the concentrations of both soluble COD and VFA, their contents in these systems with AR addition at any concentration investigated were still higher than those in the blank, which resulted in higher methane yields in these systems. Mechanism studies revealed that pertinent addition of AR promoted solubilization, hydrolysis, and acidogenesis processes and did not affect methanogenesis significantly. It was found that varieties of enzymes and anaerobes in AR were primary reason for the enhancement of anaerobic digestion. Humic substances in AR benefited hydrolysis and acidogenesis but inhibited methanogenesis. The effect of heavy metals in AR on sludge anaerobic digestion was dosage dependent. Sludge anaerobic digestion was enhanced by appropriate amounts of heavy metals but inhibited by excessive amounts of heavy metals. The relative abundances of microorganisms responsible for sludge hydrolysis and acidogenesis were also observed to be improved in the system with AR addition, which was consistent with the performance of anaerobic digestion. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Simultaneous fluorescent gram staining and activity assessment of activated sludge bacteria.

Science.gov (United States)

Forster, Scott; Snape, Jason R; Lappin-Scott, Hilary M; Porter, Jonathan

2002-10-01

Wastewater treatment is one of the most important commercial biotechnological processes, and yet the component bacterial populations and their associated metabolic activities are poorly understood. The novel fluorescent dye hexidium iodide allows assessment of Gram status by differential absorption through bacterial cell walls. Differentiation between gram-positive and gram-negative wastewater bacteria was achieved after flow cytometric analysis. This study shows that the relative proportions of gram-positive and gram-negative bacterial cells identified by traditional microscopy and hexidium iodide staining were not significantly different. Dual staining of cells for Gram status and activity proved effective in analyzing mixtures of cultured bacteria and wastewater populations. Levels of highly active organisms at two wastewater treatment plants, both gram positive and gram negative, ranged from 1.5% in activated sludge flocs to 16% in the activated sludge fluid. Gram-positive organisms comprised Gram status and activity within activated sludge samples over a 4-day period showed significant differences over time. This method provides a rapid, quantitative measure of Gram status linked with in situ activity within wastewater systems.

Effect of the presence of Actinomycetes in the activated sludge on the quality of the treated wastewater

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bezak-Mazur Elżbieta

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of the study was to determine the effect of the Actinomycetes proliferation in the activated sludge on the quality of the treated wastewater and the sewage receiver. The river which is the sewage receiver flows near the wastewater treatment plant. The study was performed on the wastewater (raw and treated and on the river water samples (collected before and after wastewater discharge. The analysis of the research results, such as the content of total organic carbon (TOC, total phosphorus and oxygen consumption in the examined samples, permit the conclusion that the presence of relatively large population of the Actinomycetes in sewage sludge has a negative impact on the quality of the sewage receiver. Determining the effect of the Actinomycetes in the activated sludge on the wastewater treatment process involved the application of specific analyses, such as Sludge Biotic Index (SBI and the identification of filamentous bacteria in the activated sludge. The analysis of studies indicates that the presence of the Actinomycetes in the activated sludge adversely affects the efficiency of the wastewater treatment process.

Full-scale effects of addition of sludge from water treatment stations into processes of sewage treatment by conventional activated sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Luiz, Marguti André; Sidney Seckler, Ferreira Filho; Passos, Piveli Roque

2018-06-01

An emerging practice for water treatment plant (WTP) sludge is its disposal in wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), an alternative that does not require the installation of sludge treatment facilities in the WTP. This practice can cause both positive and negative impacts in the WWTP processes since the WTP sludge does not have the same characteristics as domestic wastewater. This issue gives plenty of information in laboratory and pilot scales, but lacks data from full-scale studies. The main purpose of this paper is to study the impact of disposing sludge from the Rio Grande conventional WTP into the ABC WWTP, an activated sludge process facility. Both plants are located in São Paulo, Brazil, and are full-scale facilities. The WTP volumetric flow rate (4.5 m³/s) is almost three times that of WWTP (1.6 m³/s). The data used in this study came from monitoring the processes at both plants. The WWTP liquid phase treatment analysis included the variables BOD, COD, TSS, VSS, ammonia, total nitrogen, phosphorus and iron, measured at the inlet, primary effluent, mixed liquor, and effluent. For the WWTP solids treatment, the parameters tested were total and volatile solids. The performance of the WWTP process was analyzed with and without sludge addition: 'without sludge' in years 2005 and 2006 and 'with sludge' from January 2007 to March 2008. During the second period, the WTP sludge addition increased the WWTP removal efficiencies for solids (93%-96%), organic matter (92%-94% for BOD) and phosphorus (52%-88%), when compared to the period 'without sludge'. These improvements can be explained by higher feed concentrations combined to same or lower effluent concentrations in the 'with sludge' period. No critical negative impacts occurred in the sludge treatment facilities, since the treatment units absorbed the extra solids load from the WTP sludge. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Gamma irradiation induced disintegration of waste activated sludge for biological hydrogen production

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yin, Yanan; Wang, Jianlong

2016-01-01

In this paper, gamma irradiation was applied for the disintegration and dissolution of waste activated sludge produced during the biological wastewater treatment, and the solubilized sludge was used as substrate for bio-hydrogen production. The experimental results showed that the solubilization of waste activated sludge was 53.7% at 20 kGy and pH=12, and the SCOD, polysaccharides, protein, TN and TP contents in the irradiated sludge solutions was 3789.6 mg/L, 268.3 mg/L, 1881.5 mg/L, 132.3 mg/L and 80.4 mg/L, respectively. The irradiated sludge was used for fermentative hydrogen production, and the hydrogen yield was 10.5±0.7 mL/g SCOD consumed . It can be concluded that the irradiated waste activated sludge could be used as a low-cost substrate for fermentative hydrogen production. - Highlights: • The waste activated sludge could be disintegrated by gamma irradiation. • The disintegrated sludge could be used for biohydrogen production. • The hydrogen yield was 10.5±0.7 mL/g SCOD consumed .

Enhanced waste activated sludge digestion using a submerged anaerobic dynamic membrane bioreactor: performance, sludge characteristics and microbial community

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Hongguang; Wang, Zhiwei; Wu, Zhichao; Zhu, Chaowei

2016-02-01

Anaerobic digestion (AD) plays an important role in waste activated sludge (WAS) treatment; however, conventional AD (CAD) process needs substantial improvements, especially for the treatment of WAS with low solids content and poor anaerobic biodegradability. Herein, we propose a submerged anaerobic dynamic membrane bioreactor (AnDMBR) for simultaneous WAS thickening and digestion without any pretreatment. During the long-term operation, the AnDMBR exhibited an enhanced sludge reduction and improved methane production over CAD process. Moreover, the biogas generated in the AnDMBR contained higher methane content than CAD process. Stable carbon isotopic signatures elucidated the occurrence of combined methanogenic pathways in the AnDMBR process, in which hydrogenotrophic methanogenic pathway made a larger contribution to the total methane production. It was also found that organic matter degradation was enhanced in the AnDMBR, thus providing more favorable substrates for microorganisms. Pyrosequencing revealed that Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes were abundant in bacterial communities and Methanosarcina and Methanosaeta in archaeal communities, which played an important role in the AnDMBR system. This study shed light on the enhanced digestion of WAS using AnDMBR technology.

[From waste to treasure: turning activated sludge into bioplastic poly-3-hydroxybutyrate].

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Jia'ni

2017-12-25

Large quantity of activated sludge is generated from wastewater treatment but without yet an appropriate deposition. High temperature can lyse the activate sludge so that nitrogen and phosphorus containing nutrients are released. Halomonas CJN was found to grow on the heat lysed activated sludge and glucose for production of bioplastic poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) in the absence of yeast extract, nitrogen and phosphorus sources as well as trace elements. This reduces the PHB production cost significantly. Furthermore, acetic acid formed from anaerobic fermentation of heat lysed activated sludge can be used to replace glucose for cell growth but not much for PHB production. After construction of an additional PHB synthesis pathway in Halomonas CJN, we can produce PHB entirely from heat lysed activated sludge, reducing production cost of PHB roughly from ¥ 30 000 Yuan/ton to ¥ 20 000 Yuan/ton, thus turning waste activated sludge to valuable raw material resource.

Effect of ultrasonic specific energy on waste activated sludge ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The effect of ultrasonic specific energy on waste activated sludge (WAS) solubilization and enzyme activity was investigated in this study. Experimental results showed that the increase of ultrasonic specific energy in the range of 0 - 90000 kJ/kg dried sludge (DS) benefited WAS particle size reduction and the solubilization ...

Improved PVDF membrane performance by doping extracellular polymeric substances of activated sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Guan, Yan-Fang; Huang, Bao-Cheng; Qian, Chen; Wang, Long-Fei; Yu, Han-Qing

2017-04-15

Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane has been widely applied in water and wastewater treatment because of its high mechanical strength, thermal stability and chemical resistance. However, the hydrophobic nature of PVDF membrane makes it readily fouled, substantially reducing water flux and overall membrane rejection ability. In this work, an in-situ blending modifier, i.e., extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) from activated sludge, was used to enhance the anti-fouling ability of PVDF membrane. Results indicate that the pure water flux of the membrane and its anti-fouling performance were substantially improved by blending 8% EPS into the membrane. By introducing EPS, the membrane hydrophilicity was increased and the cross section morphology was changed when it interacted with polyvinl pyrrolidone, resulting in the formation of large cavities below the finger-like pores. In addition, the fraction of pores with a size of 100-500 nm increased, which was also beneficial to improving membrane performance. Surface thermodynamic calculations indicate the EPS-functionalized membrane had a higher cohesion free energy, implying its good pollutant rejection and anti-fouling ability. This work provides a simple, efficient and cost-effective method to improve membrane performance and also extends the applications of EPS. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sludge accumulation and distribution impact the hydraulic performance in waste stabilisation ponds.

Science.gov (United States)

Coggins, Liah X; Ghisalberti, Marco; Ghadouani, Anas

2017-03-01

Waste stabilisation ponds (WSPs) are used worldwide for wastewater treatment, and throughout their operation require periodic sludge surveys. Sludge accumulation in WSPs can impact performance by reducing the effective volume of the pond, and altering the pond hydraulics and wastewater treatment efficiency. Traditionally, sludge heights, and thus sludge volume, have been measured using low-resolution and labour intensive methods such as 'sludge judge' and the 'white towel test'. A sonar device, a readily available technology, fitted to a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) was shown to improve the spatial resolution and accuracy of sludge height measurements, as well as reduce labour and safety requirements. Coupled with a dedicated software package, the profiling of several WSPs has shown that the ROV with autonomous sonar device is capable of providing sludge bathymetry with greatly increased spatial resolution in a greatly reduced profiling time, leading to a better understanding of the role played by sludge accumulation in hydraulic performance of WSPs. The high-resolution bathymetry collected was used to support a much more detailed hydrodynamic assessment of systems with low, medium and high accumulations of sludge. The results of the modelling show that hydraulic performance is not only influenced by the sludge accumulation, but also that the spatial distribution of sludge plays a critical role in reducing the treatment capacity of these systems. In a range of ponds modelled, the reduction in residence time ranged from 33% in a pond with a uniform sludge distribution to a reduction of up to 60% in a pond with highly channelized flow. The combination of high-resolution measurement of sludge accumulation and hydrodynamic modelling will help in the development of frameworks for wastewater sludge management, including the development of more reliable computer models, and could potentially have wider application in the monitoring of other small to medium water bodies

Degradation of PPCPs in activated sludge from different WWTPs in Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chen, Xijuan; Vollertsen, Jes; Nielsen, Jeppe Lund

2015-01-01

was performed to assess the removal of frequently occurring pharmaceuticals (Naproxen, Fenoprofen, Ketoprofen, Dichlofenac, Carbamazepine) and the biocide Triclosan in activated sludge from four different Danish WWTPs. The respective degradation constants were compared to operational parameters previous shown...... to be of importance for degradation of micropollutants such as biomass concentration, and sludge retention time (SRT). The most rapid degradation, was observed for NSAID pharmaceuticals (55–90 % for Fenoprofen, 77–94 % for Ketoprofen and 46–90 % for Naproxen), followed by Triclosan (61–91 %), while Dichlofenac...... and Carbamazepine were found to be persistent in the systems. Degradation rate constants were calculated as 0.0026–0.0407 for NSAID pharmaceuticals and 0.0022–0.0065 for triclosan. No relationships were observed between degradation rates and biomass concentrations in the diverse sludges. However...

Suspended biofilm carrier and activated sludge removal of acidic pharmaceuticals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Falås, Per; Baillon-Dhumez, Aude; Andersen, Henrik Rasmus

2012-01-01

Removal of seven active pharmaceutical substances (ibuprofen, ketoprofen, naproxen, diclofenac, clofibric acid, mefenamic acid, and gemfibrozil) was assessed by batch experiments, with suspended biofilm carriers and activated sludge from several full-scale wastewater treatment plants. A distinct...... and attached solids for the carriers) of diclofenac, ketoprofen, gemfibrozil, clofibric acid and mefenamic acid compared to the sludges. Among the target pharmaceuticals, only ibuprofen and naproxen showed similar removal rates per unit biomass for the sludges and biofilm carriers. In contrast...

Characterization and distribution of esterase activity in activated sludge

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Boczar, BA; Forney, LJ; Begley, WM; Larson, RJ; Federle, TW

2001-01-01

The location and activity of esterase enzymes in activated Sludge from three Municipal wastewater treatment plants were characterized using model Substrate, and denaturing and nondenaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) Of particulate, freeze thaw (primarily periplasmic enzymes and those

Evaluation of the influence of mechanical activation on physical and chemical properties of municipal solid waste incineration sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Caprai, V; Florea, M V A; Brouwers, H J H

2018-06-15

Despite numerous studies concerning the application of by-products in the construction field, municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) residues are not widely used as secondary building materials. In some European countries, washing treatment to the full bottom ash (BA) fraction (0-32 mm) is applied, isolating more contaminated particles, smaller than 0.063 mm. Therefore, a MWSI sludge is produced, having a high moisture content, and thus a limited presence of soluble species. In order to enhance its performance as building material, here, dry mechanical activation is applied on MSWI sludge. Thereafter, a reactivity comparison between reference BA and untreated and treated MSWI sludge is provided, evaluating their behaviour in the presence of cement and their pozzolanic activity. Moreover, the mechanical performances, as 25% substitution of Portland cement (PC) are assessed, based on the EN 450. Mechanical activation enhances MSWI sludge physically due to the improved particle morphology and packing. Chemically, the hydration degree of PC is enhanced by the MSWI sludge by ≈25%. The milling treatment proved to be beneficial to the residues performances in the presence of PC, providing 32% higher strength than untreated sample. Environmentally, the compliance with the unshaped material legislation is successfully verified, according to the Soil Quality Decree. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Application of the International Water Association activated sludge models to describe aerobic sludge digestion.

Science.gov (United States)

Ghorbani, M; Eskicioglu, C

2011-12-01

Batch and semi-continuous flow aerobic digesters were used to stabilize thickened waste-activated sludge at different initial conditions and mean solids retention times. Under dynamic conditions, total suspended solids, volatile suspended solids (VSS) and total and particulate chemical oxygen demand (COD and PCOD) were monitored in the batch reactors and effluent from the semi-continuous flow reactors. Activated Sludge Model (ASM) no. 1 and ASM no. 3 were applied to measured data (calibration data set) to evaluate the consistency and performances of models at different flow regimes for digester COD and VSS modelling. The results indicated that both ASM1 and ASM3 predicted digester COD, VSS and PCOD concentrations well (R2, Ra2 > or = 0.93). Parameter estimation concluded that compared to ASM1, ASM3 parameters were more consistent across different batch and semi-continuous flow runs with different operating conditions. Model validation on a data set independent from the calibration data successfully predicted digester COD (R2 = 0.88) and VSS (R2 = 0.94) concentrations by ASM3, while ASM1 overestimated both reactor COD (R2 = 0.74) and VSS concentrations (R2 = 0.79) after 15 days of aerobic batch digestion.

Activated sewage sludge, a potential animal foodstuff. Part I. Nutritional characteristics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tacon, A.G.J.

1979-08-01

The nutritive value of activated sewage sludge is discussed in terms of its amino acid N, non-amino acid N, carbohydrate, fat, mineral, vitamin and microbial content. Processed activated sewage sludge is described as a stable dark brown material of relatively uniform quality, having a nutritive value broadly equivalent to brewers yeast or a protein-rich cereal. The potential hazards associated with the use of activated sewage sludge as a feed ingredient are discussed. 29 references

Inhibition of total oxygen uptake by silica nanoparticles in activated sludge

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sibag, Mark [Department of Environment and Energy, Sejong University, 98 Gunja-Dong, Gwangjin-Gu, Seoul 143-747 (Korea, Republic of); Choi, Byeong-Gyu [School of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, Korea University, 145, Anam-ro, Sungbuk-ku, Seoul 136-701 (Korea, Republic of); Suh, Changwon [Energy Lab, Environment Group, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, 130 Samsung-ro, Yeongtong-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do 443-803 (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Kwan Hyung; Lee, Jae Woo [Department of Environmental Engineering and Program in Environmental Technology and Policy, Korea University, Sejong 339-700 (Korea, Republic of); Maeng, Sung Kyu [Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Sejong University, 98 Gunja-Dong, Gwangjin-Gu, Seoul 143-747 (Korea, Republic of); Cho, Jinwoo, E-mail: jinwoocho@sejong.edu [Department of Environment and Energy, Sejong University, 98 Gunja-Dong, Gwangjin-Gu, Seoul 143-747 (Korea, Republic of)

2015-02-11

Highlights: • Silica nanoparticles (SNP) inhibit total oxygen uptake in activated sludge. • Relatively smaller SNP are inhibitorier than larger SNP. • SNP alters C15:0, C16:0 and C18:0 in activated sludge fatty acid methyl ester profile. - Abstract: Nanoparticle toxicity to biological activities in activated sludge is largely unknown. Among the widely used nanoparticles, silica nanoparticles (SNP) have a limited number of studies associated with inhibition to the activated sludge process (ASP). We demonstrated SNP inhibition of activated sludge respiration through oxygen uptake rate (OUR) measurement. Based on the percentage inhibition of total oxygen consumption (I{sub T}), we observed that smaller SNPs (12 nm, I{sub T} = 33 ± 3%; 151 nm, I{sub T} = 23 ± 2%) were stronger inhibitors than larger SNPs (442 and 683 nm, I{sub T} = 5 ± 1%). Transmission electron micrographs showed that some of the SNPs were adsorbed on and/or apparently embedded somewhere in the microbial cell membrane. Whether SNPs are directly associated with the inhibition of total oxygen uptake warrants further studies. However, it is clear that SNPs statistically significantly altered the composition of microbial membrane lipids, which was more clearly described by principal component analysis and weighted Euclidian distance (PCA-ED) of the fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) data. This study suggests that SNPs potentially affect the biological activity in activated sludge through the inhibition of total oxygen uptake.

Low intensity surplus activated sludge pretreatment before anaerobic digestion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suschka Jan

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Sewage sludge (municipal, or industrial treatment is still a problem in so far that it is not satisfactorily resolved in terms of cost and final disposal. Two common forms of sludge disposal are possible; the first being direct disposal on land (including agriculture and the second being incineration (ash production, although neither of these methods are universally applied. Simplifying the issue, direct sludge disposal on land is seldom applied for sanitary and environmental reasons, while incineration is not popular for financial (high costs reasons. Very often medium and large wastewater treatment plants apply anaerobic digestion for sludge hygiene principles, reducing the amount to be disposed and for biogas (energy production. With the progress in sewage biological treatment aiming at nutrient removal, primary sludge has been omitted in the working processes and only surplus activated sludge requires handling. Anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge (WAS is more difficult due to the presence of microorganisms, the decomposition of which requires a relatively long time for hydrolysis. In order to upgrade the hydrolysis effects, several different pre-treatment processes have already been developed and introduced. The additional pre-treatment processes applied are aimed at residual sludge bulk mass minimization, shortening of the anaerobic digestion process or higher biogas production, and therefore require additional energy. The water-energy-waste Nexus (treads of of the benefits and operational difficulties, including energy costs are discussed in this paper. The intensity of pre-treatment processes to upgrade the microorganism’s hydrolysis has crucial implications. Here a low intensity pre-treatment process, alkalisation and hydrodynamic disintegration - hybrid process - were presented in order to achieve sufficient effects of WAS anaerobic digestion. A sludge digestion efficiency increase expressed as 45% biogas additional

Enhancement of activated sludge disintegration and dewaterability by Fenton process

Science.gov (United States)

Heng, G. C.; Isa, M. H.

2016-06-01

Municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plants produce large amounts of sludge. This excess sludge is an inevitable drawback inherent to the activated sludge process. In this study, the waste activated sludge was obtained from the campus wastewater treatment plant at Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP), Malaysia. Fenton pretreatment was optimized by using the response surface methodology (RSM) to study the effects of three operating conditions including the dosage of H2O2 (g H2O2/kg TS), the molar ratio of H2O2/Fe2+ and reaction time. The optimum operating variables to achieve MLVSS removal 65%, CST reduction 28%, sCOD 11000 mg/L and EPS 500 mg/L were: 1000 g H2O2/kg TS, H2O2/Fe2+ molar ratio 70 and reaction time 45 min. Fenton process was proved to be able to enhance the sludge disintegration and dewaterability.

Synergetic pretreatment of waste activated sludge by hydrodynamic cavitation combined with Fenton reaction for enhanced dewatering.

Science.gov (United States)

Cai, Meiqiang; Hu, Jianqiang; Lian, Guanghu; Xiao, Ruiyang; Song, Zhijun; Jin, Micong; Dong, Chunying; Wang, Quanyuan; Luo, Dewen; Wei, Zongsu

2018-04-01

The dewatering of waste activated sludge by integrated hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) and Fenton reaction was explored in this study. We first investigated the effects of initial pH, sludge concentration, flow rate, and H 2 O 2 concentration on the sludge dewaterability represented by water content, capillary suction time and specific resistance to filtration. The results of dewatering tests showed that acidic pH and low sludge concentration were favorable to improve dewatering performance in the HC/Fenton system, whereas optimal flow rate and H 2 O 2 concentration applied depended on the system operation. To reveal the synergism of HC/Fenton treatment, a suite of analysis were implemented: three-dimensional excitation emission matrix (3-DEEM) spectra of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) such as proteins and polysaccharides, zeta potential and particle size of sludge flocs, and SEM/TEM imaging of sludge morphology. The characterization results indicate a three-step mechanism, namely HC fracture of different EPS in sludge flocs, Fenton oxidation of the released EPS, and Fe(III) re-flocculation, that is responsible for the synergistically enhanced sludge dewatering. Results of current study provide a basis to improve our understanding on the sludge dewatering performance by HC/Fenton treatment and possible scale-up of the technology for use in wastewater treatment plants. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Influence of sludge properties and hydraulic loading on the performance of secondary settling tanks--full-scale operational results.

Science.gov (United States)

Vestner, R J; Günthert, F Wolfgang

2004-01-01

Full-scale investigations at a WWTP with a two-stage secondary settling tank process revealed relationships between significant operating parameters and performance in terms of effluent suspended solids concentration. Besides common parameters (e.g. surface overflow rate and sludge volume loading rate) feed SS concentration and flocculation time must be considered. Concentration of the return activated sludge may help to estimate the performance of existing secondary settling tanks.

The location and nature of accumulated phosphorus in seven sludges from activated sludge plants which exhibited enhanced phosphorus removal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buchan, L.

1981-01-01

Electron microscopy combined with the energy dispersive analysis of X-rays (EDX) has been used to examine the nature of the phosphorus accumulated in sludges from seven activated sludge plants exhibiting enhanced phosphorus removal. Large phosphorus accumulations were located in identical structures in the sludges examined. The phosphorus was located in large electron-dense bodies, within large bacterial cells which were characteristically grouped in clusters. The calcium:phosphorus ratio of these electron-dense bodies precluded them from being any form of calcium phosphate precipitate. Quantitative analysis indicated that the electron-dense bodies contained in excess of 30% phosphorus. The results obtained are supportive of a biological mechanism of enhanced phosphorus uptake in activated sludge

Evaluation of anaerobic digestion processes for short sludge-age waste activated sludge combined with anammox treatment of digestate liquor.

Science.gov (United States)

Ge, Huoqing; Batstone, Damien; Keller, Jurg

2016-01-01

The need to reduce energy input and enhance energy recovery from wastewater is driving renewed interest in high-rate activated sludge treatment (i.e. short hydraulic and solids retention times (HRT and SRT, respectively)). This process generates short SRT activated sludge stream, which should be highly degradable. However, the evaluation of anaerobic digestion of short SRT sludge has been limited. This paper assesses anaerobic digestion of short SRT sludge digestion derived from meat processing wastewater under thermophilic and mesophilic conditions. The thermophilic digestion system (55°C) achieved 60 and 68% volatile solids destruction at 8 day and 10 day HRT, respectively, compared with 50% in the mesophilic digestion system (35°C, 10 day HRT). The digestion effluents from the thermophilic (8-10 day HRT) and mesophilic systems were stable, as assessed by residual methane potentials. The ammonia rich sludge dewatering liquor was effectively treated by a batch anammox process, which exhibited comparable nitrogen removal rate as the tests using a control synthetic ammonia solution, indicating that the dewatering liquor did not have inhibiting/toxic effects on the anammox activity.

Modelling Cr(VI) removal by a combined carbon-activated sludge system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Orozco, A. Micaela Ferro; Contreras, Edgardo M.; Zaritzky, Noemi E.

2008-01-01

The combined carbon-activated sludge process has been proposed as an alternative to protect the biomass against toxic substances in wastewaters; however, the information about the effect of powdered-activated carbon (PAC) addition in activated sludge reactors for the treatment of wastewaters containing Cr(VI) is limited. The objectives of the present study were: (a) to evaluate the removal of hexavalent chromium by (i) activated sludge microorganisms in aerobic batch reactors, (ii) powdered-activated carbon, and (iii) the combined action of powdered-activated carbon and biomass; (b) to propose mathematical models that interpret the experimental results. Different Cr(VI) removal systems were tested: (S1) biomass (activated sludge), (S2) PAC, and (S3) the combined activated carbon-biomass system. A Monod-based mathematical model was used to describe the kinetics of Cr(VI) removal in the system S1. A first-order kinetics with respect to Cr(VI) and PAC respectively, was proposed to model the removal of Cr(VI) in the system S2. Cr(VI) removal in the combined carbon-biomass system (S3) was faster than both Cr(VI) removal using PAC or activated sludge individually. Results showed that the removal of Cr(VI) using the activated carbon-biomass system (S3) was adequately described by combining the kinetic equations proposed for the systems S1 and S2

Influence of copper nanoparticles on the physical-chemical properties of activated sludge.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hong Chen

Full Text Available The physical-chemical properties of activated sludge, such as flocculating ability, hydrophobicity, surface charge, settleability, dewaterability and bacteria extracellular polymer substances (EPS, play vital roles in the normal operation of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs. The nanoparticles released from commercial products will enter WWTPs and can induce potential adverse effects on activated sludge. This paper focused on the effects of copper nanoparticles (CuNPs on these specific physical-chemical properties of activated sludge. It was found that most of these properties were unaffected by the exposure to lower CuNPs concentration (5 ppm, but different observation were made at higher CuNPs concentrations (30 and 50 ppm. At the higher CuNPs concentrations, the sludge surface charge increased and the hydrophobicity decreased, which were attributed to more Cu2+ ions released from the CuNPs. The carbohydrate content of EPS was enhanced to defense the toxicity of CuNPs. The flocculating ability was found to be deteriorated due to the increased cell surface charge, the decreased hydrophobicity, and the damaged cell membrane. The worsened flocculating ability made the sludge flocs more dispersed, which further increased the toxicity of the CuNPs by increasing the availability of the CuNPs to the bacteria present in the sludge. Further investigation indicated that the phosphorus removal efficiency decreased at higher CuNPs concentrations, which was consistent with the deteriorated physical-chemical properties of activated sludge. It seems that the physical-chemical properties can be used as an indicator for determining CuNPs toxicity to the bacteria in activated sludge. This work is important because bacteria toxicity effects to the activated sludge caused by nanoparticles may lead to the deteriorated treatment efficiency of wastewater treatment, and it is therefore necessary to find an easy way to indicate this toxicity.

Performance of a continuously operated flocculent sludge UASB reactor with slaughterhouse wastewater

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sayed, S.; Zeeuw, W. de

1988-01-01

This investigation was carried out to assess the performance of a continuously operated, one-stage, flocculent sludge upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor treating slaughterhouse wastewater at a process temperature of 30/sup 0/C. The results indicate that the type of substrate ingredients, coarse suspended solids, colloidal and soluble compounds in the wastewater, affect the performance of the reactor because of different mechanisms involved in their removal and their subsequent conversion into methane. Two different mechanisms are distinguished. An entrapment mechanism prevails for the elimination of coarse suspended solids while an adsorption mechanism is involved in the removal of the colloidal and soluble fractions of the wastewater. The results obtained lead to the conclusion that the system can satisfactorily handle organic space loads up to 5 kg COD m/sup -3/ day/sup -1/ at 30/sup 0/C. The data indicate, however, that continuing heavy accumulation of substrate components in the reactor is detrimental to the stability of the anaerobic treatment process as the accumulation can lead to sludge flotation and consequently to a complete loss of the active biomass from the reactor.

Successful bioaugmentation of an activated sludge reactor with Rhodococcus sp. YYL for efficient tetrahydrofuran degradation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yao, Yanlai; Lu, Zhenmei; Zhu, Fengxiang; Min, Hang; Bian, Caimiao

2013-01-01

Highlights: • Rhodococcus sp. YYL is an efficient tetrahydrofuran-degrading strain. • Strain YYL was used to augment an activated sludge system for THF degradation. • Successful bioaugmentation was achieved only by coinoculation of strain YYL and the two bacilli. • Successful bioaugmentation of the system resulted in efficient THF degradation. -- Abstract: The exchange of tetrahydrofuran (THF)-containing wastewater should significantly affect the performance of an activated sludge system. In this study, the feasibility of using THF-degrading Rhodococcus sp. strain YYL to bioaugment an activated sludge system treating THF wastewater was explored. As indicated by a DGGE analysis, strain YYL alone could not dominate the system, with the concentration of mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) decreasing to nearly half of the initial concentration after 45 d, and the microbial diversity was found to be significantly reduced. However, after the reactor was augmented with the mixed culture of strain YYL and two bacilli initially coexisting in the enriched isolation source, strain YYL quickly became dominant in the system and was incorporated into the activated sludge. The concentration of MLSS increased from 2.1 g/L to 7.3 g/L in 20 d, and the efficiency of THF removal from the system was remarkably improved. After the successful bioaugmentation, more than 95% of THF was completely removed from the wastewater when 20 mM THF was continuously loaded into the system. In conclusion, our research first demonstrates that bioaugmentation of activated sludge system for THF degradation is feasible but that successful bioaugmentation should utilize a THF-degrading mixed culture as the inoculum, in which the two bacilli might help strain YYL colonize in activated sludge by co-aggregation

Adverse effects of erythromycin on the structure and chemistry of activated sludge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Louvet, J.N.; Giammarino, C.; Potier, O.; Pons, M.N.

2010-01-01

This study examines the effects of erythromycin on activated sludge from two French urban wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Wastewater spiked with 10 mg/L erythromycin inhibited the specific evolution rate of chemical oxygen demand (COD) by 79% (standard deviation 34%) and the specific N-NH 4 + evolution rate by 41% (standard deviation 25%). A temporary increase in COD and tryptophan-like fluorescence, as well as a decrease in suspended solids, were observed in reactors with wastewater containing erythromycin. The destruction of activated sludge flocs was monitored by automated image analysis. The effect of erythromycin on nitrification was variable depending on the sludge origin. Erythromycin inhibited the specific nitrification rate in sludge from one WWTP, but increased the nitrification rate at the other facility. - Erythromycin toxicity on activated sludge is expected to reduce pollution removal.

Activated sludge model No. 2d, ASM2d

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Henze, M.

1999-01-01

The Activated Sludge Model No. 2d (ASM2d) presents a model for biological phosphorus removal with simultaneous nitrification-denitrification in activated sludge systems. ASM2d is based on ASM2 and is expanded to include the denitrifying activity of the phosphorus accumulating organisms (PAOs......). This extension of ASM2 allows for improved modeling of the processes, especially with respect to the dynamics of nitrate and phosphate. (C) 1999 IAWQ Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved....

Roles of magnetite and granular activated carbon in improvement of anaerobic sludge digestion.

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Hong; Zhang, Yaobin; Tan, Dongmei; Zhao, Zhiqiang; Zhao, Huimin; Quan, Xie

2018-02-01

Granular activated carbon (GAC) or magnetite could promote methane production from organic wastes, but their roles in enhancing anaerobic sludge digestion have not been clarified. GAC, magnetite and their combination were complemented into sludge digesters, respectively. Experimental results showed that average methane production increased by 7.3% for magnetite, 13.1% for GAC, and 20% for the combination of magnetite and GAC, and the effluent TCOD of the control, magnetite, GAC and magnetite-GAC digesters on day 56 were 53.2, 49.6, 48.0 and 46.6 g/L, respectively. Scanning electron microscope (SEM), nitrogen adsorption, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and microbial analysis indicated that magnetite enriched iron-reducing bacteria responsible for sludge hydrolysis while GAC enhanced syntrophic metabolism between iron-reducing bacteria and methanogens due to its high electrical conductivity and large surface area. Supplementing magnetite and GAC together into an anaerobic digester simultaneously accelerated sludge hydrolysis and methane production, resulting in better sludge digestion performance. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effect of powdered activated carbon dosage on sludge properties and membrane bioreactor performance in a hybrid MBR-PAC system.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Shi; Zuo, Xingtao; Xiong, Juan; Ma, Cong; Hu, Bo

2017-12-22

An improved insight into the effect of powdered activated carbon (PAC) on membrane fouling is crucial to the MBR performance. Sludge key property, soluble microbial products (SMP) and transmembrane pressure (TMP) were monitored. The membrane fouling rate in the MBRs was also analyzed based on TMP profile and resistance-in-series model. PAC reduced the membrane filtration resistance and significantly decreased the fouling rate. The sludge filterability was improved by extending the filtration time by almost twofold. PAC affected the SMP release and protein/polysaccharide (carbohydrate) was in a lower ratio. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis indicated that PAC decreased the impact of organic carbon, and reduced the proteins' and polysaccharides' absorption and deposition on the membrane surface and in the pores. The degree of reversible and irreversible fouling was related to the PAC content added into the MBRs. At the optimum dosage of 2 g/L, the results signified the PAC potential as a mitigation strategy of membrane fouling.

Effect of granular activated carbon on the aerobic granulation of sludge and its mechanism.

Science.gov (United States)

Tao, Jia; Qin, Lian; Liu, Xiaoying; Li, Bolin; Chen, Junnan; You, Juan; Shen, Yitian; Chen, Xiaoguo

2017-07-01

The granulation of activated sludge and effect of granular activated carbon (GAC) was investigated under the alternative anaerobic and aerobic conditions. The results showed that GAC accelerated the granulation, but had no obvious effect on the bacterial community structure of granules. The whole granulation process could be categorized into three phases, i.e. lag, granulation and granule maturation phase. During lag period GAC provided nuclei for sludge to attach, and thus enhanced the morphological regularization of sludge. During granulation period the granule size increased significantly due to the growth of bacteria in granules. GAC reduced the compression caused by the inter-particle collisions and thus accelerate the granulation. GAC has no negative effect on the performance of SBR, and thus efficient simultaneous removal of COD, nitrogen and phosphorus were obtained during most of the operating time. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Development of a model describing virus removal process in an activated sludge basin

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, T.; Shiragami, N. Unno, H. [Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo (Japan)

1995-06-20

The virus removal process from the liquid phase in an activated sludge basin possibly consists of physicochemical processes, such as adsorption onto sludge flocs, biological processes such as microbial predating and inactivation by virucidal components excreted by microbes. To describe properly the virus behavior in an activated sludge basin, a simple model is proposed based on the experimental data obtained using a poliovirus type 1. A three-compartments model, which include the virus in the liquid phase and in the peripheral and inner regions of sludge flocs is employed. By using the model, the Virus removal process was successfully simulated to highlight the implication of its distribution in the activated sludge basin. 17 refs., 8 figs.

A novel membrane bioreactor inoculated with symbiotic sludge bacteria and algae: Performance and microbial community analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Li; Tian, Yu; Zhang, Jun; Li, Lipin; Zhang, Jian; Li, Jianzheng

2018-03-01

This study combined sludge MBR technology with algae to establish an effective wastewater treatment and low membrane fouling system (ASB-MBR). Compared with control-MBR (C-MBR), the amelioration of microbial activity and the improvement of sludge properties and system environment were achieved after introducing algae resulting in high nutrients removal in the combined system. Further statistical analysis revealed that the symbiosis of algae and sludge displayed more remarkable impacts on nutrients removal than either of them. Additionally, membrane permeability was improved in ASB-MBR with respect to the decreased concentration, the changed of characteristics and the broken particular functional groups of extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs). Moreover, the algae inoculation reduced sludge diversity and shifted sludge community structure. Meantime, the stimulated bacteria selectively excite algal members that would benefit for the formation of algal-bacterial consortia. Consequently, the stimulated or inhibited of some species might be responsible for the performance of ASB-MBR. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

MiDAS: the field guide to the microbes of activated sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

McIlroy, Simon Jon; Saunders, Aaron Marc; Albertsen, Mads; Nierychlo, Marta; McIlroy, Bianca; Hansen, Aviaja Anna; Karst, Søren Michael; Nielsen, Jeppe Lund; Nielsen, Per Halkjær

2015-01-01

The Microbial Database for Activated Sludge (MiDAS) field guide is a freely available online resource linking the identity of abundant and process critical microorganisms in activated sludge wastewater treatment systems to available data related to their functional importance. Phenotypic properties of some of these genera are described, but most are known only from sequence data. The MiDAS taxonomy is a manual curation of the SILVA taxonomy that proposes a name for all genus-level taxa observed to be abundant by large-scale 16 S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing of full-scale activated sludge communities. The taxonomy can be used to classify unknown sequences, and the online MiDAS field guide links the identity to the available information about their morphology, diversity, physiology and distribution. The use of a common taxonomy across the field will provide a solid foundation for the study of microbial ecology of the activated sludge process and related treatment processes. The online MiDAS field guide is a collaborative workspace intended to facilitate a better understanding of the ecology of activated sludge and related treatment processes--knowledge that will be an invaluable resource for the optimal design and operation of these systems. © The Author(s) 2015. Published by Oxford University Press.

A novel rotation generator of hydrodynamic cavitation for waste-activated sludge disintegration.

Science.gov (United States)

Petkovšek, Martin; Mlakar, Matej; Levstek, Marjetka; Stražar, Marjeta; Širok, Brane; Dular, Matevž

2015-09-01

The disintegration of raw sludge is very important for enhancement of the biogas production in anaerobic digestion process as it provides easily degradable substrate for microorganisms to perform maximum sludge treatment efficiency and stable digestion of sludge at lower costs. In the present study the disintegration was studied by using a novel rotation generator of hydrodynamic cavitation (RGHC). At the first stage the analysis of hydrodynamics of the RGHC were made with tap water, where the cavitation extent and aggressiveness was evaluated. At the second stage RGHC was used as a tool for pretreatment of a waste-activated sludge (WAS), collected from wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). In case of WAS the disintegration rate was measured, where the soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) and soluble Kjeldahl nitrogen were monitored and microbiological pictures were taken. The SCOD increased from initial 45 mg/L up to 602 mg/L and 12.7% more biogas has been produced by 20 passes through RGHC. The results were obtained on a pilot bioreactor plant, volume of 400 L. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Effects of ozonation on disinfection and microbial activity in waste activated sludge for land application

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ahn, Kyu-Hong; Maeng, Sung Kyu; Hong, Jun-Seok; Lim, Byung-Ran

2003-07-01

Effects of ozonation on microbial biomass activity and community structure in waste activated sludges from various treatment plants were investigated. The densities of viable cells and microbial community structure in the sludges treated with ozone at 0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 gO{sub 3}/gDS were measured on the basis of the respiratory quinone profile and LIVE/DEAD Backlight(TM). The results from the bacterial concentration and quinone profiles of the waste activated sludge showed that respiratory activities of microorganisms were detected at the ozone dose of 0.4 gO{sub 3}/gDS. However, fecal coliform, fecal streptococcus and Salmonella sp. in the ozonized sludge were not detected. This result implies that some microorganisms might be more tolerant to ozonation than the pathogenic indicators. The pathogens reduction requirements for Class A biosolids were still met by the ozonation at 0.4 gO{sub 3}/gDS.

[Using Excess Activated Sludge Treated 4-Chlorophenol Contained Waste Water to Cultivate Chlorella vulgaris].

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Lu; Chen, Xiu-rong; Yan, Long; He, Yi-xuan; Shi, Zhen-dong

2015-04-01

Using different rations of sludge extracts and supernate from 4-Chlorophenol (4-CP) simulated wastewater's excess sludge after centrifugation to cultivate the Chlorella vulgaris to achieve the goal of excess sludge utilization together with chlorella cultivating. The experiments were performed in 500 mL flasks with different rations of sludge extracts & BG-11 and supernate & BG-11 in a light growth chamber respectively. Number of algal cells, Chlorophyll, enzyme activity, oil and water total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), total organic carbon (TOC), toxicity index were investigated. Result showed that the nutrition supplies and toxicity in the excess sludge were removed efficiently via Chlorella vulgaris, the removal rates of TN and TP were at least 40% and 90% respectively; After 10 days cultivation, the density growth of 50% sludge extracts was 20 times higher of the beginning while its chlorophyll content was lower than that of the blank group. Sludge extracts could promote the proliferation of algae, but were not conducive to the synthesis of chlorophyll. The quantity of SOD in per cell showed Chlorella vulgaris gave a positive response via stimulation from toxicant in sludge extracts and supernate. The best time for collecting chlorella vulgaris was the fifth day of cultivation, taking neutral oil accumulation as the evaluating indicator for its utilization combined with the removal of supplies and toxicity.

Wastewater treatment in a hybrid activated sludge baffled reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tizghadam, Mostafa [Laboratoire des Sciences de l' Eau et de l' Environnement, Universite de Limoges, ENSIL, Parc ESTER, 16 Rue Atlantis, F-87068 Limoges Cedex (France); Dagot, Christophe [Laboratoire des Sciences de l' Eau et de l' Environnement, Universite de Limoges, ENSIL, Parc ESTER, 16 Rue Atlantis, F-87068 Limoges Cedex (France)], E-mail: dagot@ensil.unilim.fr; Baudu, Michel [Laboratoire des Sciences de l' Eau et de l' Environnement, Universite de Limoges, ENSIL, Parc ESTER, 16 Rue Atlantis, F-87068 Limoges Cedex (France)

2008-06-15

A novel hybrid activated sludge baffled reactor (HASBR), which contained both suspended and attached-growth biomass perfect mixing cells in series, was developed by installing standing and hanging baffles and introducing plastic brushes into a conventional activated sludge (CAS) reactor. It was used for the treatment of domestic wastewater. The effects on the operational performance of developing the suspended and attached-growth biomass and reactor configuration were investigated. The change of the flow regime from complete-mix to plug-flow, and the addition of plastic brushes as a support for biofilm, resulted in considerable improvements in the COD, nitrogen removal efficiency of domestic wastewater and sludge settling properties. In steady state, approximately 98 {+-} 2% of the total COD and 98 {+-} 2% of the ammonia of the influent were removed in the HASBR, when the influent wastewater concentration was 593 {+-} 11 mg COD/L and 43 {+-} 5 mg N/L, respectively, at a HRT of 10 h. These results were 93 {+-} 3 and 6 {+-} 3% for the CAS reactor, respectively. Approximately 90 {+-} 7% of the total COD was removed in the HASBR, when the influent wastewater concentration was 654 {+-} 16 mg COD/L at a 3 h HRT, and in the organic loading rate (OLR) of 5.36 kg COD m{sup -3} day{sup -1}. The result for the CAS reactor was 60 {+-} 3%. Existing CAS plants can be upgraded by changing the reactor configuration and introducing biofilm support media into the aeration tank.

Unravelling the protein preference of aquatic worms during waste activated sludge degradation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Valk, S.L.; Khadem, A.F.; van Lier, J.B.; de Kreuk, M.K.

2017-01-01

Worm predation (WP) by Tubifex tubifex was investigated using waste activated sludge (WAS) as the substrate. In order to better understand the sludge degradation mechanisms during WP, the activity of five common hydrolytic enzymes was determined and compared among the initial feed activated

Functions and requirements for 105-KE Basin sludge retrieval and packaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feigenbutz, L.V.

1994-01-01

Sludge, and the clouding due to sludge, interferes with basin operation and maintenance activities. This document defines the overall functions and requirements for sludge retrieval and packaging activities to be performed in the 105-KE Basin

Effect of chemical composition on the flocculation dynamics of latex-based synthetic activated sludge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tan Phong Nguyen; Hankins, Nicholas P.; Hilal, Nidal

2007-01-01

This study investigates the effect of calcium, alginate, fibrous cellulose, and pH on the flocculation dynamics and final properties of synthetic activated sludges. A laboratory-scale batch reactor, fed with standard synthetic sludges was used. The effects of varying calcium concentration (5-25 mM), alginate concentration (25-125 mg/L), fibrous cellulose concentration (0.2-0.8 g/L) and pH (3-9) on the sludge characteristics were studied by varying one parameter whilst keeping the others constant. The results from experiments indicated that the calcium, alginate, fibrous cellulose, and pH had the critical effect on the aggregation rate, flocs size, and made the improvement of the final properties of sludge. Dynamic measurements have established the optimum conditions for floc formation and can accurately reflect the state of formation of the synthetic activated sludge flocs. These correlate well with measurements of settleability and turbidity of the synthetic activated sludge. The results of this study support the bonding theory and indicate that formation of cations-polymer complexes and polymer gelation are important means of flocculation. The development of synthetic activated sludges is suggested also to be a possible surrogate for studying the final properties of activated sludge

Activated sludge characterization through microscopy: A review on quantitative image analysis and chemometric techniques

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mesquita, Daniela P. [IBB-Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Centre of Biological Engineering, Universidade do Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga (Portugal); Amaral, A. Luís [IBB-Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Centre of Biological Engineering, Universidade do Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga (Portugal); Instituto Politécnico de Coimbra, ISEC, DEQB, Rua Pedro Nunes, Quinta da Nora, 3030-199 Coimbra (Portugal); Ferreira, Eugénio C., E-mail: ecferreira@deb.uminho.pt [IBB-Institute for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Centre of Biological Engineering, Universidade do Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057 Braga (Portugal)

2013-11-13

Graphical abstract: -- Highlights: •Quantitative image analysis shows potential to monitor activated sludge systems. •Staining techniques increase the potential for detection of operational problems. •Chemometrics combined with quantitative image analysis is valuable for process monitoring. -- Abstract: In wastewater treatment processes, and particularly in activated sludge systems, efficiency is quite dependent on the operating conditions, and a number of problems may arise due to sludge structure and proliferation of specific microorganisms. In fact, bacterial communities and protozoa identification by microscopy inspection is already routinely employed in a considerable number of cases. Furthermore, quantitative image analysis techniques have been increasingly used throughout the years for the assessment of aggregates and filamentous bacteria properties. These procedures are able to provide an ever growing amount of data for wastewater treatment processes in which chemometric techniques can be a valuable tool. However, the determination of microbial communities’ properties remains a current challenge in spite of the great diversity of microscopy techniques applied. In this review, activated sludge characterization is discussed highlighting the aggregates structure and filamentous bacteria determination by image analysis on bright-field, phase-contrast, and fluorescence microscopy. An in-depth analysis is performed to summarize the many new findings that have been obtained, and future developments for these biological processes are further discussed.

Electrochemical pretreatment of waste activated sludge: effect of process conditions on sludge disintegration degree and methane production.

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, Caihong; Yuan, Haiping; Dai, Xiaohu; Lou, Ziyang; Zhu, Nanwen

2016-11-01

Waste activated sludge (WAS) requires a long digestion time because of a rate-limiting hydrolysis step - the first phase of anaerobic digestion (AD). Pretreatment can be used prior to AD to facilitate the hydrolysis step and improve the efficiency of WAS digestion. This study evaluated a novel application of electrochemical (EC) technology employed as the pretreatment method prior to AD of WAS, focusing on the effect of process conditions on sludge disintegration and subsequent AD process. A superior process condition of EC pretreatment was obtained by reaction time of 30 min, electrolysis voltage of 20 V, and electrode distance of 5 cm, under which the disintegration degree of WAS ranged between 9.02% and 9.72%. In the subsequent batch AD tests, 206 mL/g volatile solid (VS) methane production in EC pretreated sludge was obtained, which was 20.47% higher than that of unpretreated sludge. The AD time was 19 days shorter for EC pretreated sludge compared to the unpretreated sludge. Additionally, the EC + AD reactor achieved 41.84% of VS removal at the end of AD. The analysis of energy consumption showed that EC pretreatment could be effective in enhancing sludge AD with reduced energy consumption when compared to other pretreatment methods.

Diversity of Dominant Bacterial Taxa in Activated Sludge Promotes Functional Resistance following Toxic Shock Loading

KAUST Repository

Saikaly, Pascal

2010-12-14

Examining the relationship between biodiversity and functional stability (resistance and resilience) of activated sludge bacterial communities following disturbance is an important first step towards developing strategies for the design of robust biological wastewater treatment systems. This study investigates the relationship between functional resistance and biodiversity of dominant bacterial taxa by subjecting activated sludge samples, with different levels of biodiversity, to toxic shock loading with cupric sulfate (Cu[II]), 3,5-dichlorophenol (3,5-DCP), or 4-nitrophenol (4-NP). Respirometric batch experiments were performed to determine the functional resistance of activated sludge bacterial community to the three toxicants. Functional resistance was estimated as the 30 min IC50 or the concentration of toxicant that results in a 50% reduction in oxygen utilization rate compared to a referential state represented by a control receiving no toxicant. Biodiversity of dominant bacterial taxa was assessed using polymerase chain reaction-terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-T-RFLP) targeting the 16S ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA) gene. Statistical analysis of 30 min IC50 values and PCR-T-RFLP data showed a significant positive correlation (P<0.05) between functional resistance and microbial diversity for each of the three toxicants tested. To our knowledge, this is the first study showing a positive correlation between biodiversity of dominant bacterial taxa in activated sludge and functional resistance. In this system, activated sludge bacterial communities with higher biodiversity are functionally more resistant to disturbance caused by toxic shock loading. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Anammox biofilm in activated sludge swine wastewater treatment plants.

Science.gov (United States)

Suto, Ryu; Ishimoto, Chikako; Chikyu, Mikio; Aihara, Yoshito; Matsumoto, Toshimi; Uenishi, Hirohide; Yasuda, Tomoko; Fukumoto, Yasuyuki; Waki, Miyoko

2017-01-01

We investigated anammox with a focus on biofilm in 10 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) that use activated sludge treatment of swine wastewater. In three plants, we found red biofilms in aeration tanks or final sedimentation tanks. The biofilm had higher anammox 16S rRNA gene copy numbers (up to 1.35 × 10 12 copies/g-VSS) and higher anammox activity (up to 295 μmoL/g-ignition loss/h) than suspended solids in the same tank. Pyrosequencing analysis revealed that Planctomycetes accounted for up to 17.7% of total reads in the biofilm. Most of them were related to Candidatus Brocadia or Ca. Jettenia. The highest copy number and the highest proportion of Planctomycetes were comparable to those of enriched anammox sludge. Thus, swine WWTPs that use activated sludge treatment can fortuitously acquire anammox biofilm. Thus, concentrated anammox can be detected by focusing on red biofilm. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Toxicities of triclosan, phenol, and copper sulfate in activated sludge.

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Neumegen, Rosalind A; Fernández-Alba, Amadeo R; Chisti, Yusuf

2005-04-01

The effect of toxicants on the BOD degradation rate constant was used to quantitatively establish the toxicity of triclosan, phenol, and copper (II) against activated sludge microorganisms. Toxicities were tested over the following ranges of concentrations: 0-450 mg/L for phenol, 0-2 mg/L for triclosan, and 0-35 mg/L for copper sulfate (pentahydrate). According to the EC(50) values, triclosan was the most toxic compound tested (EC(50) = 1.82 +/- 0.1 mg/L), copper (II) had intermediate toxicity (EC(50) = 18.3 +/- 0.37 mg/L), and phenol was the least toxic (EC(50) = 270 +/- 0.26 mg/L). The presence of 0.2% DMSO had no toxic effect on the activated sludge. The toxicity evaluation method used was simple, reproducible, and directly relevant to activated sludge wastewater treatment processes.

Unraveling the Long-Term Effects of Cr(VI on the Performance and Microbial Community of Nitrifying Activated Sludge System

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Xingang Wang

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The long-term effects of different influent Cr(VI concentrations (0–0.5 mg L−1 on the nitrification activities and microbial community structures of nitrifying activated sludge system were investigated in this study. Results showed that the performance of ammonia oxidation was significantly inhibited, and the effluent concentration of ammonia nitrogen (NH4+-N increased markedly when the influent Cr(VI loading was equal or greater than 0.2 mg L−1. The specific oxygen utilization rate (SOUR, specific ammonium oxidation rate (SAOR, and specific nitrite oxidation rate (SNOR of the system decreased from 53.24, 6.31, and 7.33 mg N g−1 VSS h−1 to 18.17, 1.68, and 2.88 mg N g−1 VSS h−1, respectively, with an increase of Cr(VI concentration from 0 to 0.5 mg L−1. The protein/polysaccharide (PN/PS ratio increased with the increasing Cr(VI concentration, indicating that excessive PN secreted by microorganisms was conducive to resisting the toxicity of Cr(VI. High-throughput sequencing revealed that the relative abundance of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (Nitrospira and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (Nitrosomonas and Nitrosospira all decreased with the increasing Cr(VI concentration, and ammonia-oxidizing bacteria were more sensitive to heavy metal toxicity than nitrite-oxidizing bacteria. The activities of nitrifying activated sludge system could not be completely recovered after a 30-d recovery process.

Settling properties of aerobic granular sludge (AGS) and aerobic granular sludge molasses (AGSM)

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Mat Saad, Azlina; Aini Dahalan, Farrah; Ibrahim, Naimah; Yasina Yusuf, Sara; Aqlima Ahmad, Siti; Khalil, Khalilah Abdul

2018-03-01

Aerobic granulation technology is applied to treat domestic and industrial wastewater. The Aerobic granular sludge (AGS) cultivated has strong properties that appears to be denser and compact in physiological structure compared to the conventional activated sludge. It offers rapid settling for solid:liquid separation in wastewater treatment. Aerobic granules were developed using sequencing batch reactor (SBR) with intermittent aerobic - anaerobic mode with 8 cycles in 24 hr. This study examined the settling velocity performance of cultivated aerobic granular sludge (AGS) and aerobic granular sludge molasses (AGSM). The elemental composition in both AGS and AGSM were determined using X-ray fluorescence (XRF). The results showed that AGSM has higher settling velocity 30.5 m/h compared to AGS.

Production and characterization of granular activated carbon from activated sludge

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Z. Al-Qodah

2009-03-01

Full Text Available In this study, activated sludge was used as a precursor to prepare activated carbon using sulfuric acid as a chemical activation agent. The effect of preparation conditions on the produced activated carbon characteristics as an adsorbent was investigated. The results indicate that the produced activated carbon has a highly porous structure and a specific surface area of 580 m²/g. The FT-IR analysis depicts the presence of a variety of functional groups which explain its improved adsorption behavior against pesticides. The XRD analysis reveals that the produced activated carbon has low content of inorganic constituents compared with the precursor. The adsorption isotherm data were fitted to three adsorption isotherm models and found to closely fit the BET model with R² equal 0.948 at pH 3, indicating a multilayer of pesticide adsorption. The maximum loading capacity of the produced activated carbon was 110 mg pesticides/g adsorbent and was obtained at this pH value. This maximum loading was found experimentally to steeply decrease as the solution pH increases. The obtained results show that activated sludge is a promising low cost precursor for the production of activated carbon.

Membrane bioreactor (MBR) sludge inoculation in a hybrid process scheme concept to assist overloaded conventional activated sludge (CAS) process operations.

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Fenu, A; Roels, J; Van Damme, S; Wambecq, T; Weemaes, M; Thoeye, C; De Gueldre, G; Van De Steene, B

2012-01-01

This study analyzes the effect of inoculating membrane bioreactor (MBR) sludge in a parallel-operated overloaded conventional activated sludge (CAS) system. Modelling studies that showed the beneficial effect of this inoculation were confirmed though full scale tests. Total nitrogen (TN) removal in the CAS increased and higher nitrate formation rates were achieved. During MBR sludge inoculation, the TN removal in the CAS was proven to be dependent on MBR sludge loading. Special attention was given to the effect of inoculation on sludge quality. The MBR flocs, grown without selection pressure, were clearly distinct from the more compact flocs in the CAS system and also contained more filamentous bacteria. After inoculation the MBR flocs did not evolve into good-settling compact flocs, resulting in a decreasing sludge quality. During high flow conditions the effluent CAS contained more suspended solids. Sludge volume index, however, did not increase. Laboratory tests were held to determine the threshold volume of MBR sludge to be seeded into the CAS reactor. Above 16-30%, supernatant turbidity and scum formation increased markedly.

Management experience on microthrix parvicella bulking in an activated sludge wastewater treatment plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

De Bortoli, N.; Mion, M.; Di Giorgio, G.; Goi, D.

2005-01-01

Activated sludge wastewater treatment processes may give inefficiencies due to biological imbalances involving biomass. In fact, external causes as temperature lowering can increase the proliferation of the filamentous bacterium Microthrix parvicella into activated sludge flocks. Microthrix parvicella increases may create dangerous bulking phenomena compromising secondary settling without varying bio-kinetic parameters. In this case of study, a method to defeat growth of Microthrix parvicella has been set up. Aluminium poly-chloride (PAC) has been added to activated sludge contained into oxidation tanks of a municipal wastewater treatment plant, where a large growth of Microthrix parvicella has been periodically observed. It has been demonstrated that a definite PAC concentration can reduce Microthrix parvicella proliferation into activated sludge flocks so bulking phenomena can be well reduced [it

The role of diatomite particles in the activated sludge system for treating coal gasification wastewater

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, W.Q.; Rao, P.H.; Zhang, H.; Xu, J.L. [Shanghai University of Engineering Science, Shanghai (China)

2009-02-15

Diatomite is a kind of natural low-cost mineral material. It has a number of unique physical properties and has been widely used as an adsorbent in wastewater treatment. This study was conducted to investigate the aerobic biodegradation of coal gasification wastewater with and without diatomite addition. Experimental results indicated that diatomite added in the activated sludge system could promote the biomass and also enhance the performance of the sludge settling. The average mixed-liquor volatile suspended solids (MLVSS) is increased from 4055 mg.L{sup -1} to 4518 mg.L{sup -1} and the average settling volume (SV) are changed only from 45.9% to 47.1%. Diatomite additive could enhance the efficiency of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total phenols removal from the wastewater. The COD removal increased from 73.3% to near 80% and the total phenols removal increased from 81.4% to 85.8%. The mechanisms of the increase of biomass and pollutants removal may correlated to the improvement of bioavailability and sludge settlement characteristics by diatomite added. Micrograph of the sludge in the diatomite-activated sludge system indicated that the diatomite added could be the carrier of the microbe and also affect the biomass and pollutant removal.

Improving the biogas production performance of municipal waste activated sludge via disperser induced microwave disintegration.

Science.gov (United States)

Kavitha, S; Rajesh Banu, J; Vinoth Kumar, J; Rajkumar, M

2016-10-01

In this study, the influence of disperser induced microwave pretreatment was investigated to analyze the proficiency of floc disruption on subsequent disintegration and biodegradability process. Initially, the flocs in the sludge was disrupted through disperser at a specific energy input of 25.3kJ/kgTS. The upshot of the microwave disintegration presents that the solids reduction and solubilization of floc disrupted (disperser induced microwave pretreated) sludge was found to be 17.33% and 22% relatively greater than that achieved in microwave pretreated (9.3% and 16%) sludge alone. The biodegradability analysis, affords an evaluation of parameter confidence and correlation determination. The eventual biodegradability of microwave pretreated, and floc disrupted sludges were computed to be 0.15(gCOD/gCOD) and 0.28(gCOD/gCOD), respectively. An economic assessment of this study offers a positive net profit of about 104.8USD/ton of sludge in floc disrupted sample. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Modeling Aspects of Activated Sludge Processes Part l l: Mathematical Process Modeling and Biokinetics of Activated Sludge Processes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

AbdElHaleem, H S [Cairo Univ.-CivlI Eng. Dept., Giza (Egypt); EI-Ahwany, A H [CairoUlmrsity- Faculty ofEngincering - Chemical Engineering Department, Giza (Egypt); Ibrahim, H I [Helwan University- Faculty of Engineering - Biomedical Engineering Department, Helwan (Egypt); Ibrahim, G [Menofia University- Faculty of Engineering Sbebin EI Kom- Basic Eng. Sc. Dept., Menofia (Egypt)

2004-07-01

Mathematical process modeling and biokinetics of activated sludge process were reviewed considering different types of models. It has been evaluated the task group models of ASMI. and 2, and 3 versioned by Henze et al considering the conditions of each model and the different processes of which every model consists. It is revealed that ASMI contains some defects avoided in ASM3. Relied on homogeneity, Models can be classified into homogenous models characterized by taking the activated sludge process as one phase. In this type of models, the internal mass transfer inside the floes was neglected.. Hence, the kinetic parameter produces can be considered inaccurate. The other type of models is the heterogeneous model This type considers the mass transfer operations in addition to the biochemical reaction processes; hence, the resulted kinetic parameters can be considered more accurate than that of homogenous type.

Modeling Aspects of Activated Sludge Processes Part l l: Mathematical Process Modeling and Biokinetics of Activated Sludge Processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

AbdElHaleem, H.S.; EI-Ahwany, A. H.; Ibrahim, H.I.; Ibrahim, G.

2004-01-01

Mathematical process modeling and biokinetics of activated sludge process were reviewed considering different types of models. It has been evaluated the task group models of ASMI. and 2, and 3 versioned by Henze et al considering the conditions of each model and the different processes of which every model consists. It is revealed that ASMI contains some defects avoided in ASM3. Relied on homogeneity, Models can be classified into homogenous models characterized by taking the activated sludge process as one phase. In this type of models, the internal mass transfer inside the floes was neglected.. Hence, the kinetic parameter produces can be considered inaccurate. The other type of models is the heterogeneous model This type considers the mass transfer operations in addition to the biochemical reaction processes; hence, the resulted kinetic parameters can be considered more accurate than that of homogenous type

A critical comparison of systematic calibration protocols for activated sludge models: a SWOT analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Sin, Gürkan; Van Hulle, Stijn W H; De Pauw, Dirk J W; van Griensven, Ann; Vanrolleghem, Peter A

2005-07-01

Modelling activated sludge systems has gained an increasing momentum after the introduction of activated sludge models (ASMs) in 1987. Application of dynamic models for full-scale systems requires essentially a calibration of the chosen ASM to the case under study. Numerous full-scale model applications have been performed so far which were mostly based on ad hoc approaches and expert knowledge. Further, each modelling study has followed a different calibration approach: e.g. different influent wastewater characterization methods, different kinetic parameter estimation methods, different selection of parameters to be calibrated, different priorities within the calibration steps, etc. In short, there was no standard approach in performing the calibration study, which makes it difficult, if not impossible, to (1) compare different calibrations of ASMs with each other and (2) perform internal quality checks for each calibration study. To address these concerns, systematic calibration protocols have recently been proposed to bring guidance to the modeling of activated sludge systems and in particular to the calibration of full-scale models. In this contribution four existing calibration approaches (BIOMATH, HSG, STOWA and WERF) will be critically discussed using a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis. It will also be assessed in what way these approaches can be further developed in view of further improving the quality of ASM calibration. In this respect, the potential of automating some steps of the calibration procedure by use of mathematical algorithms is highlighted.

Nitrogen in the Process of Waste Activated Sludge Anaerobic Digestion

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Suschka Jan

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Primary or secondary sewage sludge in medium and large WWTP are most often processed by anaerobic digestion, as a method of conditioning, sludge quantity minimization and biogas production. With the aim to achieve the best results of sludge processing several modifications of technologies were suggested, investigated and introduced in the full technical scale. Various sludge pretreatment technologies before anaerobic treatment have been widely investigated and partially introduced. Obviously, there are always some limitations and some negative side effects. Selected aspects have been presented and discussed. The problem of nitrogen has been highlighted on the basis of the carried out investigations. The single and two step - mesophilic and thermophilic - anaerobic waste activated sludge digestion processes, preceded by preliminary hydrolysis were investigated. The aim of lab-scale experiments was pre-treatment of the sludge by means of low intensive alkaline and hydrodynamic disintegration. Depending on the pretreatment technologies and the digestion temperature large ammonia concentrations, up to 1800 mg NH4/dm3 have been measured. Return of the sludge liquor to the main sewage treatment line means additional nitrogen removal costs. Possible solutions are discussed.

Treatment of coke-oven wastewater with the powdered activated carbon-contact stabilization activated sludge process. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Suidan, M.T.; Deady, M.A.; Gee, C.S.

1983-11-01

The objective of the study was to determine optimum parameters for the operation of an innovative process train used in the treatment of coke-over wastewater. The treatment process train consisted of a contact-stabilization activated sludge system with powdered activated carbon (PAC) addition, followed by activated sludge nitrification, followed by denitrification in an anoxic filter. The control and operating parameters evaluated during the study were: (a) the average mixed-liquor PAC concentration maintained in the contact-stabilization system, (b) the solids retention time practiced in the contact-stabilization system, and (c) the hydraulic detention time maintained in the contact aeration tank. Three identical treatement process trains were constructed and employed in this study. The coke-oven wastewater used for this investigation was fed to the treatment units at 30% strength. The first part of the study was devoted to determining the interactions between the mixed liquor PAC concentration and the solids retention time in the contact-stabilization tanks. Results showed that optimum overall system performance is attainable when the highest sludge age (30 day) and highest mixed liquor PAC concentration were practiced. During the second phase of the study, all three systems were operated at a 30 day solids retention time while different detention times of 1, 2/3 and 1/3 day were evaluated in the contact tank. PAC addition rates were maintained at the former levels and, consequently, reduced contact times entailed higher mixed liquor carbon concentrations. Once again, the system receiving the highest PAC addition rate of PAC exhibited the best overall performance. This system exhibited no deterioration in process performance as a result of decreased contact detention time. 72 references, 41 figures, 24 tables.

Enhancing anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge by the combined use of NaOH and Mg(OH)2: Performance evaluation and mechanism study.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Cheng; Lai, Jia; Sun, Xiuyun; Li, Jiansheng; Shen, Jinyou; Han, Weiqing; Wang, Lianjun

2016-11-01

In this study, the combination treatment of NaOH and Mg(OH)2 was applied to anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge (WAS) for simultaneously enhancement of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) production, nutrients removal and sludge dewaterability. The maximum VFAs production (461mg COD/g VSS) was obtained at the NaOH/Mg(OH)2 ratio of 75:25, which was much higher than that of the blank or sole NaOH. Moreover, nutrients removal and sludge dewaterability were improved by the combined using of NaOH and Mg(OH)2. Mechanism investigations revealed that the presence of Mg(OH)2 could maintain alkaline environment, which contributed to inhibit the activity of methanogens. Also, the bridging between Mg(2+) and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) plays an important role in the solubilization and dewatering of sludge. High-throughput sequencing analysis demonstrated that the abundance of bacteria involved in sludge hydrolysis and VFAs accumulation was greatly enriched with the mixtures of NaOH and Mg(OH)2. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Adsorption of Phthalates on Municipal Activated Sludge

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Hongbo Wang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Phthalates (PAEs are commonly detected in discharge of municipal wastewater treatment plants. This study investigated the removal of six typical PAEs with activated sludge and the results revealed that concentrations of aqueous PAEs decreased rapidly during the beginning 15 min and reached equilibrium within 2 hours due to the adsorption of activated sludge. The process followed first-order kinetic equation, except for dioctyl phthalate (DOP. The factors influencing the adsorption were also evaluated and it was found that higher initial concentrations of PAEs enhanced the removal but affected little the adsorption equilibrium time. The adsorption of PAEs favored lower operating temperature (the optimum temperature was approximately 25°C in this research, which could be an exothermic process. Additionally, lower aqueous pH could also benefit the adsorption.

Case study II: application of the divalent cation bridging theory to improve biofloc properties and industrial activated sludge system performance-using alternatives to sodium-based chemicals.

Science.gov (United States)

Higgins, Matthew J; Sobeck, David C; Owens, Steven J; Szabo, Lynn M

2004-01-01

The objective of this study was to investigate the application of the divalent cation bridging theory (DCBT) as a tool in the chemical selection process at an activated sludge plant to improve settling, dewatering, and effluent quality. According to the DCBT, to achieve improvements, the goal of chemical selection should be to reduce the ratio of monovalent-to-divalent (M/D) cations. A study was conducted to determine the effect of using magnesium hydroxide [Mg(OH)2] as an alternative to sodium hydroxide (NaOH) at a full-scale industrial wastewater treatment plant. Floc properties and treatment plant performance were measured for approximately one year during two periods of NaOH addition and Mg(OH)2 addition. A cost analysis of plant operation during NaOH and Mg(OH)2 use was also performed. During NaOH addition, the M/D ratio was 48, while, during Mg(OH)2 addition, this ratio was reduced to an average of approximately 0.1. During the Mg(OH)2 addition period, the sludge volume index, effluent total suspended solids, and effluent chemical oxygen demand were reduced by approximately 63, 31, and 50%, respectively, compared to the NaOH addition period. The alum and polymer dose used for clarification was reduced by approximately 50 and 60%, respectively, during Mg(OH)2 addition. The dewatering properties of the activated sludge improved dewatering as measured by decreased capillary suction time and specific resistance to filtration (SRF), along with an increase in cake solids from the SRF test. This corresponded to a reduction in the volume of solids thickened by centrifuges at the treatment plant, which reduced the disposal costs of solids. Considering the costs for chemicals and solids disposal, the annual cost of using Mg(OH)2 was approximately 30,000 dollars to 115,000 dollars less than using NaOH, depending on the pricing of NaOH. The results of this study confirm that the DCBT is a useful tool for assessing chemical-addition strategies and their potential effect

Wastewater treatment in a hybrid activated sludge baffled reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tizghadam, Mostafa; Dagot, Christophe; Baudu, Michel

2008-01-01

A novel hybrid activated sludge baffled reactor (HASBR), which contained both suspended and attached-growth biomass perfect mixing cells in series, was developed by installing standing and hanging baffles and introducing plastic brushes into a conventional activated sludge (CAS) reactor. It was used for the treatment of domestic wastewater. The effects on the operational performance of developing the suspended and attached-growth biomass and reactor configuration were investigated. The change of the flow regime from complete-mix to plug-flow, and the addition of plastic brushes as a support for biofilm, resulted in considerable improvements in the COD, nitrogen removal efficiency of domestic wastewater and sludge settling properties. In steady state, approximately 98 ± 2% of the total COD and 98 ± 2% of the ammonia of the influent were removed in the HASBR, when the influent wastewater concentration was 593 ± 11 mg COD/L and 43 ± 5 mg N/L, respectively, at a HRT of 10 h. These results were 93 ± 3 and 6 ± 3% for the CAS reactor, respectively. Approximately 90 ± 7% of the total COD was removed in the HASBR, when the influent wastewater concentration was 654 ± 16 mg COD/L at a 3 h HRT, and in the organic loading rate (OLR) of 5.36 kg COD m -3 day -1 . The result for the CAS reactor was 60 ± 3%. Existing CAS plants can be upgraded by changing the reactor configuration and introducing biofilm support media into the aeration tank

Analysis of sewage sludge and cover soil by neutron activation analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moon, J.H.; Lim, J.M.; Kim, S.H.; Chung, Y.S.

2008-01-01

The Korean government reported that in 2005, 4395 tons/day of sewage sludge were generated from sewage disposal facilities in Korea and only 11.03% of it was reused. In addition, as a direct landfill of sewage sludge was forbidden from June 2003, research for a relevant disposal technique has been increasing. In this study, the aims were to analyze the collected sewage sludge samples and to evaluate the possibility for their reuse by a comparison of the elemental contents from a sewage sludge and a cover soil. Sludge samples were collected from a sewage disposal plant in Daejeon city and the cover soil was produced by a dilution of a sewage sludge with quicklime. Instrumental neutron activation analysis was employed to determine the elemental contents in the samples. Twenty seven elements were analyzed and their concentrations were compared. (author)

Textile wastewater treatment: aerobic granular sludge vs activated sludge systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Lotito, Adriana Maria; De Sanctis, Marco; Di Iaconi, Claudio; Bergna, Giovanni

2014-05-01

Textile effluents are characterised by high content of recalcitrant compounds and are often discharged (together with municipal wastewater to increase their treatability) into centralized wastewater treatment plants with a complex treatment scheme. This paper reports the results achieved adopting a granular sludge system (sequencing batch biofilter granular reactor - SBBGR) to treat mixed municipal-textile wastewater. Thanks to high average removals in SBBGR (82.1% chemical oxygen demand, 94.7% total suspended solids, 87.5% total Kjeldahl nitrogen, 77.1% surfactants), the Italian limits for discharge into a water receiver can be complied with the biological stage alone. The comparison with the performance of the centralized plant treating the same wastewater has showed that SBBGR system is able to produce an effluent of comparable quality with a simpler treatment scheme, a much lower hydraulic residence time (11 h against 30 h) and a lower sludge production. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Micropollutant degradation via extracted native enzymes from activated sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Krah, Daniel; Ghattas, Ann-Kathrin; Wick, Arne; Bröder, Kathrin; Ternes, Thomas A

2016-05-15

A procedure was developed to assess the biodegradation of micropollutants in cell-free lysates produced from activated sludge of a municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). This proof-of-principle provides the basis for further investigations of micropollutant biodegradation via native enzymes in a solution of reduced complexity, facilitating downstream protein analysis. Differently produced lysates, containing a variety of native enzymes, showed significant enzymatic activities of acid phosphatase, β-galactosidase and β-glucuronidase in conventional colorimetric enzyme assays, whereas heat-deactivated controls did not. To determine the enzymatic activity towards micropollutants, 20 compounds were spiked to the cell-free lysates under aerobic conditions and were monitored via LC-ESI-MS/MS. The micropollutants were selected to span a wide range of different biodegradabilities in conventional activated sludge treatment via distinct primary degradation reactions. Of the 20 spiked micropollutants, 18 could be degraded by intact sludge under assay conditions, while six showed reproducible degradation in the lysates compared to the heat-deactivated negative controls: acetaminophen, N-acetyl-sulfamethoxazole (acetyl-SMX), atenolol, bezafibrate, erythromycin and 10,11-dihydro-10-hydroxycarbamazepine (10-OH-CBZ). The primary biotransformation of the first four compounds can be attributed to amide hydrolysis. However, the observed biotransformations in the lysates were differently influenced by experimental parameters such as sludge pre-treatment and the addition of ammonium sulfate or peptidase inhibitors, suggesting that different hydrolase enzymes were involved in the primary degradation, among them possibly peptidases. Furthermore, the transformation of 10-OH-CBZ to 9-CA-ADIN was caused by a biologically-mediated oxidation, which indicates that in addition to hydrolases further enzyme classes (probably oxidoreductases) are present in the native lysates. Although the

Ozonation of return activated sludge for disintegration and solubilisation with synthesized titanium oxide as catalyst

Science.gov (United States)

Sarif, S. F. Z. Mohd; Alias, S. S.; Ridwan, F. Muhammad; Salim, K. S. Ku; Abidin, C. Z. A.; Ali, U. F. Md.

2018-03-01

Ozonation of activated sludge in the present of titanium dioxide (TiO2) as catalyst to enhance the production of hydroxyl radical was evaluated in comparison to the sole ozonation process. In this process, the catalytic ozontion showed improvement in increasing ozone consumption and improving activated sludge disintegration and solubilisation. The reduction of total suspended solid (TSS), volatile suspended solid (VSS) and soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) solubilisation was better in the catalytic ozonation system. Initial pH 7 of activated sludge was found best to disintegrate and solubilise the sludge flocs. However upon additional of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) in pH adjustment enhanced the solubilisation of organic matter from the flocs and cells, making the initial pH 9 is the best condition for activated sludge solubilisation. Yet the initial pH 7 of activated sludge supernatant was the best condition to achieve SCOD solubilisation due to sludge floc disintegration, when it had stronger correlation between TSS reduction and SCOD solubilisation (R2=0.961). Lower amount of catalyst of 100 mgTiO2/gTSS was found to disintegrate and solubilise the activated sludge better with 30.4% TSS reduction and 25.2% SCOD solubilisation efficiency, compared to 200 mgTiO2/gTSS with 21.9% and 17.1% TSS reduction and SCOD solubilisation, respectively.

Factors influencing suspended solids concentrations in activated sludge settling tanks.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Y; Pipes, W O

1999-05-31

A significant fraction of the total mass of sludge in an activated sludge process may be in the settling tanks if the sludge has a high sludge volume index (SVI) or when a hydraulic overload occurs during a rainstorm. Under those conditions, an accurate estimate of the amount of sludge in the settling tanks is needed in order to calculate the mean cell residence time or to determine the capacity of the settling tanks to store sludge. Determination of the amount of sludge in the settling tanks requires estimation of the average concentration of suspended solids in the layer of sludge (XSB) in the bottom of the settling tanks. A widely used reference recommends averaging the concentrations of suspended solids in the mixed liquor (X) and in the underflow (Xu) from the settling tanks (XSB=0. 5{X+Xu}). This method does not take into consideration other pertinent information available to an operator. This is a report of a field study which had the objective of developing a more accurate method for estimation of the XSB in the bottom of the settling tanks. By correlation analysis, it was found that only 44% of the variation in the measured XSB is related to sum of X and Xu. XSB is also influenced by the SVI, the zone settling velocity at X and the overflow and underflow rates of the settling tanks. The method of averaging X and Xu tends to overestimate the XSB. A new empirical estimation technique for XSB was developed. The estimation technique uses dimensionless ratios; i.e., the ratio of XSB to Xu, the ratio of the overflow rate to the sum of the underflow rate and the initial settling velocity of the mixed liquor and sludge compaction expressed as a ratio (dimensionless SVI). The empirical model is compared with the method of averaging X and Xu for the entire range of sludge depths in the settling tanks and for SVI values between 100 and 300 ml/g. Since the empirical model uses dimensionless ratios, the regression parameters are also dimensionless and the model can be

Bacteriological studies on dairy waste activated sludge

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Adamse, A.D.

1966-01-01

Dairy-waste activated sludge was examined for bacterial composition and response to different conditions. Strains isolated were classified mainly into three groups: predominantly coryneform bacteria (largely Arthrobacter), some Achromobacteraceae and a small groups of Pseudomonadaceae.

Optimal design of an activated sludge plant: theoretical analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Islam, M. A.; Amin, M. S. A.; Hoinkis, J.

2013-06-01

The design procedure of an activated sludge plant consisting of an activated sludge reactor and settling tank has been theoretically analyzed assuming that (1) the Monod equation completely describes the growth kinetics of microorganisms causing the degradation of biodegradable pollutants and (2) the settling characteristics are fully described by a power law. For a given reactor height, the design parameter of the reactor (reactor volume) is reduced to the reactor area. Then the sum total area of the reactor and the settling tank is expressed as a function of activated sludge concentration X and the recycled ratio α. A procedure has been developed to calculate X opt, for which the total required area of the plant is minimum for given microbiological system and recycled ratio. Mathematical relations have been derived to calculate the α-range in which X opt meets the requirements of F/ M ratio. Results of the analysis have been illustrated for varying X and α. Mathematical formulae have been proposed to recalculate the recycled ratio in the events, when the influent parameters differ from those assumed in the design.

Respirometry techniques and activated sludge models

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Benes, O.; Spanjers, H.; Holba, M.

2002-01-01

This paper aims to explain results of respirometry experiments using Activated Sludge Model No. 1. In cases of insufficient fit of ASM No. 1, further modifications to the model were carried out and the so-called "Enzymatic model" was developed. The best-fit method was used to determine the effect of

The Application of Active Sewage Sludge on the Vermicomposting of Agricultural Waste

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

seyyedeh maryam kharrazi

2015-11-01

Full Text Available In this experiment, active sewage sludge was inoculated in organic waste. The objective was to study its effect on nutrient dynamics during vermicomposting. Active sewage sludge, as a source of nitrogen fixing and phosphorous solubilizing bacteria, was added in four combinations to the vermicomposting substrate. Prior to inoculation with active sludge, the treatments were precomposted for 30 days and finally vermicomposted for 40 days. Results showed that inoculation of microorganisms in the substrate accompanied by earthworms’ activity enhances the organic waste biodegradation rate. Increasing sludge concentration from 0 to 6000 mg/l led to reduced Total Organic Carbon from 32.76 to 29.91%, Total Volatile Solids from 49.85 to 48/02%, and C/N ratio from 19.59 to 16.06 but increased Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen from 1.68 to 1.87%, nitrate from 1476.75 to 1699.60 mg/kg, Total Phosphorous from 1.66 to 1.77 g/kg, and Electrical Conductivity from 3.10 to 3.48 mS/cm. By increasing the concentration of sewage sludge, heavy metals content also increased significantly due to the enhanced organic matter biodegradation. Finally, the results showed that, among the treatments, the one with an active sewage sludge concentration of 6000 mg/l had more desirable effects on the final vermicompost quality. Based on the reproducibility of the process and the quality of the final products, this experimental procedure may be proposed for studies requiring a mass reduction in the initial composted waste mixtures.

Treatment of real wastewater using co-culture of immobilized Chlorella vulgaris and suspended activated sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Mujtaba, Ghulam; Lee, Kisay

2017-09-01

The use of algal-bacterial symbiotic association establishes a sustainable and cost-effective strategy in wastewater treatment. Using municipal wastewater, the removal performances of inorganic nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and organic pollutants were investigated by the co-culture system having different inoculum ratios (R) of suspended activated sludge to alginate-immobilized microalgae Chlorella vulgaris. The co-culture reactors with lower R ratios obtained more removal of nitrogen than in pure culture of C. vulgaris. The reactor with R = 0.5 (sludge/microalgae) showed the highest performance representing 66% removal after 24 h and 95% removal after 84 h. Phosphorus was completely eliminated (100%) in the co-culture system with inoculum ratios of 0.5 and 1.0 after 24 h and in the pure C. vulgaris culture after 36 h. The COD level was greatly reduced in the activated sludge reactor, while, it was increasing in pure C. vulgaris culture after 24 h of incubation. However, COD was almost stabilized after 24 h in the reactors with high R ratios such as 2.0, 5.0, and 10 due to the higher concentration of activated sludge. The growth of C. vulgaris was promoted from 0.03 g/L/d to 0.05 g/L/d in the co-culture of low inoculum ratios such as R = 0.5, implying that there exist an optimum inoculum ratio in the co-culture system in order to achieve efficient removal of nutrients. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Enhancement of aerobic biodegradability potential of municipal waste activated sludge by ultrasonic aided bacterial disintegration.

Science.gov (United States)

Kavitha, S; Jessin Brindha, G M; Sally Gloriana, A; Rajashankar, K; Yeom, Ick Tae; Rajesh Banu, J

2016-01-01

An investigation was performed to study the influence of ultrasonic aided bacterial disintegration on the aerobic degradability of sludge. In first phase of the study, effective floc disruption was achieved at an ultrasonic specific energy input of 2.45kJ/kg TS with 44.5mg/L of Extracellular Polymeric Substance (EPS) release including 0.035U/mL and 0.025U/mL protease and amylase activity respectively. In second phase, experimental outcomes revealed bacterial disintegration of floc disrupted-sludge showing a maximum solubilization of about 23% and was observed to be superior to bacterially disintegrated (11%) and control (6%), respectively. The result of aerobic biodegradability of ultrasonic aided bacterially pretreated sludge showed volatile solids (VS) degradation of about 40.2%. The kinetic study of aerobic biodegradability through non linear regression modelling reveals that floc disrupted sludge showed better biodegradability with decay constant of about 0.19d(-1) relatively higher than the control (0.14d(-1)) and bacterially disintegrated (0.17d(-1)) sludges. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fate of linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS) in activated sludge plants

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Temmink, B.G.; Klapwijk, A.

2004-01-01

Monitoring data were collected in a pilot-scale municipal activated sludge plant to assess the fate of the C12-homologue of linear alkyl benzene sulfonate (LAS-C12). The pilot-plant was operated at influent LAS-C12 concentrations between 2 and 12 mg/l and at sludge retention times of 10 and 27

Performance of a system with full- and pilot-scale sludge drying reed bed units treating septic tank sludge in Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Calderón-Vallejo, Luisa Fernanda; Andrade, Cynthia Franco; Manjate, Elias Sete; Madera-Parra, Carlos Arturo; von Sperling, Marcos

2015-01-01

This study investigated the performance of sludge drying reed beds (SDRB) at full- and pilot-scale treating sludge from septic tanks in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The treatment units, planted with Cynodon spp., were based on an adaptation of the first-stage of the French vertical-flow constructed wetland, originally developed for treating sewage. Two different operational phases were investigated; in the first one, the full-scale unit was used together with six pilot-scale columns in order to test different feeding strategies. For the second phase, only the full-scale unit was used, including a recirculation of the filtered effluent (percolate) to one of the units of the French vertical wetland. Sludge application was done once a week emptying a full truck, during 25 weeks. The sludge was predominantly diluted, leading to low solids loading rates (median values of 18 kgTS m(-2) year(-1)). Chemical oxygen demand removal efficiency in the full-scale unit was reasonable (median of 71%), but the total solids removal was only moderate (median of 44%) in the full-scale unit without recirculation. Recirculation did not bring substantial improvements in the overall performance. The other loading conditions implemented in the pilot columns also did not show statistically different performances.

Ecological and kinetic aspects of amylolysis and proteolysis in activated sludge

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Janssen, J.M.A.

1979-01-01

An investigation has been made of the enzymic degradation of biopolymers by activated sludge. Starch was chosen as the model substrate; it was administered continuously at different sludge loading values which covered the entire range of loadings applied in sewage purification plants. The

Adsorption of Heavy Metals on Biologically Activated Brown Coal Sludge

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mária Praščáková

2005-11-01

Full Text Available Adsorption of cooper (II and zinc (II ions from aqueous solutions on a biologically activated brown coal sludge was investigated. Four families of adsorbents were prepared from the brown coal sludge bya microorganism’s activity. There were used microscopic fungi such as Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus clavatus, Penicillium glabrum and Trichoderma viride. Prepared sorbents were capable of removing Cu (II and Zn (II. The sorption isotherm has been constructed and the specific metal uptake and the maximum capacity of the adsorbent have been determined.

Anaerobic co-digestion of waste activated sludge and greasy sludge from flotation process: batch versus CSTR experiments to investigate optimal design.

Science.gov (United States)

Girault, R; Bridoux, G; Nauleau, F; Poullain, C; Buffet, J; Peu, P; Sadowski, A G; Béline, F

2012-02-01

In this study, the maximum ratio of greasy sludge to incorporate with waste activated sludge was investigated in batch and CSTR experiments. In batch experiments, inhibition occurred with a greasy sludge ratio of more than 20-30% of the feed COD. In CSTR experiments, the optimal greasy sludge ratio was 60% of the feed COD and inhibition occurred above a ratio of 80%. Hence, batch experiments can predict the CSTR yield when the degradation phenomenon are additive but cannot be used to determine the maximum ratio to be used in a CSTR configuration. Additionally, when the ratio of greasy sludge increased from 0% to 60% of the feed COD, CSTR methane production increased by more than 60%. When the greasy sludge ratio increased from 60% to 90% of the feed COD, the reactor yield decreased by 75%. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Parameters affecting the degradation of benzothiazoles and benzimidazoles in activated sludge systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vos, D de [Catholic Univ. of Leuven, Heverlee (Belgium). Lab. of Industrial Microbiology and Biochemistry; Wever, H de [Catholic Univ. of Leuven, Heverlee (Belgium). Lab. of Industrial Microbiology and Biochemistry; Verachtert, H [Catholic Univ. of Leuven, Heverlee (Belgium). Lab. of Industrial Microbiology and Biochemistry

1993-07-01

It was found that benzothiazole, 2-oxybenzothiazole and 2-benzothiazolesulphonate were degraded in activated sludge systems. 2-Mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT) was more resistant, although the first step in MBT degradation seemed to be transformation to the sulphonate form. At higher MBT concentrations, it was transformed into a disulphide, which accumulated in the sludge. MBT was also found to be mainly responsible for the toxicity of rubber chemical waste-water towards activated sludges. It inhibited the degradation of the other heterocycles. Only at concentrations of around 20 ppm was MBT degraded. Mercaptobenzimidazole ranked second in resistance to degradation. (orig.)

Comparison of the Modeling Approach between Membrane Bioreactor and Conventional Activated Sludge Processes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jiang, Tao; Sin, Gürkan; Spanjers, Henri

2009-01-01

Activated sludge models (ASM) have been developed and largely applied in conventional activated sludge (CAS) systems. The applicability of ASM to model membrane bioreactors (MBR) and the differences in modeling approaches have not been studied in detail. A laboratory-scale MBR was modeled using ASM...

Ultrasonic waste activated sludge disintegration for recovering multiple nutrients for biofuel production.

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Guo-Jun; Liu, Bing-Feng; Wang, Qilin; Ding, Jie; Ren, Nan-Qi

2016-04-15

Waste activated sludge is a valuable resource containing multiple nutrients, but is currently treated and disposed of as an important source of pollution. In this work, waste activated sludge after ultrasound pretreatment was reused as multiple nutrients for biofuel production. The nutrients trapped in sludge floc were transferred into liquid medium by ultrasonic disintegration during first 30 min, while further increase of pretreatment time only resulted in slight increase of nutrients release. Hydrogen production by Ethanoligenens harbinense B49 from glucose significantly increased with the concentration of ultrasonic sludge, and reached maximum yield of 1.97 mol H2/mol glucose at sludge concentration of 7.75 g volatile suspended solids/l. Without addition of any other chemicals, waste molasses rich in carbohydrate was efficiently turned into hydrogen with yield of 189.34 ml H2/g total sugar by E. harbinense B49 using ultrasonic sludge as nutrients. The results also showed that hydrogen production using pretreated sludge as multiple nutrients was higher than those using standard nutrients. Acetic acid produced by E. harbinense B49 together with the residual nutrients in the liquid medium were further converted into hydrogen (271.36 ml H2/g total sugar) by Rhodopseudomonas faecalis RLD-53 through photo fermentation, while ethanol was the sole end product with yield of 220.26 mg/g total sugar. Thus, pretreated sludge was an efficient nutrients source for biofuel production, which could replace the standard nutrients. This research provided a novel strategy to achieve environmental friendly sludge disposal and simultaneous efficient biofuel recovery from organic waste. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

More than a decade of experience of landfill leachate treatment with a full-scale anammox plant combining activated sludge and activated carbon biofilm.

Science.gov (United States)

Azari, Mohammad; Walter, Uwe; Rekers, Volker; Gu, Ji-Dong; Denecke, Martin

2017-05-01

The performance of biological treatment for high ammonium removal from landfill leachate has been demonstrated. The plant was upgraded combining the activated sludge process followed by activated carbon reactor. Based on a long-term analysis of data collected from 2006 to 2015, the average total nitrogen removal efficiency of 94% was achieved for wastewaters with a C: N ratio varying from 1 to 5 kg-COD kg-TN -1 . But without the presence of activated carbon reactor, the average of biological removal efficiency for total nitrogen was only 82% ± 6% for the activated sludge stage. It means that up to 20% of the nitrogen in the influent can only be eliminated by microorganisms attached to granular activated carbon. After upgrades of the plant, the energy efficiency showed a reduction in the specific energy demand from 1.6 to less than 0.2 kWh m -3 . Methanol consumption and sludge production was reduced by 91% and 96%, respectively. Fluorescent in situ Hybridization was used for microbial diversity analysis on floccular sludge and granular biofilm samples. Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) bacteria and nitrifiers were detected and Candidatus Scalindua was found in two forms of flocs and biofilms. Due to stochastic risk assessment based on the long-term data analysis given in this research, the treatment criteria were achieved and the combination of granular activated carbon biofilm process and activated sludge can be a novel and sought approach to better enrich anammox biomass for full-scale treatment applications to reduce operating costs and promote nutrient removal stability and efficiency. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A methodology to quantify the aerobic and anaerobic sludge digestion performance for nutrient recycling in aquaponics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Delaide, B.

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Description of the subject. This research note presents a methodology to quantify the tilapia sludge digestion performance in aerobic and anaerobic reactors for aquaponic purpose. Both organic reduction and macro- and microelements mineralization performances were addressed. Objectives. To set up an appropriate methodology to quantify sludge digestion performance in aquaponics. To describe the methodology and illustrate it with some results as example. Method. Equations were adapted to quantify (1 the organic reduction performance in terms of chemical oxygen demand (COD and total suspended solids (TSS reduction, and (2 the nutrient recycling performance in terms of macro- and microelements mineralization. Results. The equations were applied to data obtained from experimental aerobic and anaerobic reactors as example. Reactors were able to remove at least 50% of the TSS and COD input. The nutrient mineralization was consistent with a 10 — 60% range for all macro- and micronutrients. Conclusions. The methodology provides explicit indicators on the sludge treatment performances for aquaponics. Treating aquaponic sludge onsite is promising to avoid sludge spillage, improve nutrient recycling and save water.

Effect of acetic acid on lipid accumulation by glucose-fed activated sludge cultures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mondala, Andro; Hernandez, Rafael; French, Todd; McFarland, Linda; Sparks, Darrell; Holmes, William; Haque, Monica

2012-01-01

The effect of acetic acid, a lignocellulose hydrolysis by-product, on lipid accumulation by activated sludge cultures grown on glucose was investigated. This was done to assess the possible application of lignocellulose as low-cost and renewable fermentation substrates for biofuel feedstock production. Results: Biomass yield was reduced by around 54% at a 2 g L -1 acetic acid dosage but was increased by around 18% at 10 g L -1 acetic acid dosage relative to the control run. The final gravimetric lipid contents at 2 and 10 g L -1 acetic acid levels were 12.5 + 0.7% and 8.8 + 3.2% w/w, respectively, which were lower than the control (17.8 + 2.8% w/w). However, biodiesel yields from activated sludge grown with acetic acid (5.6 + 0.6% w/w for 2 g L -1 acetic acid and 4.2 + 3.0% w/w for 10 g L -1 acetic acid) were higher than in raw activated sludge (1-2% w/w). The fatty acid profiles of the accumulated lipids were similar with conventional plant oil biodiesel feedstocks. Conclusions: Acetic acid enhanced biomass production by activated sludge at high levels but reduced lipid production. Further studies are needed to enhance acetic acid utilization by activated sludge microorganisms for lipid biosynthesis.

Simultaneous addition of zero-valent iron and activated carbon on enhanced mesophilic anaerobic digestion of waste-activated sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Tongyu; Qin, Yujie; Cao, Yan; Han, Bin; Ren, Junyi

2017-10-01

The performance of biogas generation and sludge degradation was studied under different zero-valent iron/activated carbon (ZVI/AC) ratios in detail in mesophilic anaerobic digestion of sludge. A good enhancement of methane production was obtained at the 10:1 ZVI/AC ratio, and the cumulative methane production was 132.1 mL/g VS, 37.6% higher than the blank. The methane content at the 10:1 ZVI/AC ratio reached 68.8%, which was higher than the blank (55.2%) and the sludge-added AC alone (59.6%). For sludge degradation, the removal efficiencies of total chemical oxygen demand (TCOD), proteins, and polysaccharides were all the highest at the 10:1 ZVI/AC ratio. The concentration of available phosphorus (AP) decreased after anaerobic digestion process. On the other hand, the concentrations of available nitrogen (AN) and available potassium (AK) increased after the anaerobic digestion process and showed a gradually decreasing trend with increasing ZVI/AC ratio. The concentrations of AN and AK were 2303.1-4200.3 and 274.7-388.3 mg/kg, showing a potential for land utilization.

Experiences with automatic N and P measurements of an activated sludge process in a research environment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Isaacs, Steven Howard; Temmink, H.

1996-01-01

Some of the advantages of on-line automatic measurement of ammonia, nitrate and phosphate for studying activated sludge systems are pointed out with the help of examples of batch experiments. Sample taking is performed by cross-flow filtration and measurement of all three analytes is performed by...

Inhibition of Anaerobic Phosphate Release by Nitric Oxide in Activated Sludge

Science.gov (United States)

Van Niel, E. W. J.; Appeldoorn, K. J.; Zehnder, A. J. B.; Kortstee, G. J. J.

1998-01-01

Activated sludge not containing significant numbers of denitrifying, polyphosphate [poly(P)]-accumulating bacteria was grown in a fill-and-draw system and exposed to alternating anaerobic and aerobic periods. During the aerobic period, poly(P) accumulated up to 100 mg of P · g of (dry) weight. When portions of the sludge were incubated anaerobically in the presence of acetate, 80 to 90% of the intracellular poly(P) was degraded and released as orthophosphate. Degradation of poly(P) was mainly catalyzed by the concerted action of polyphosphate:AMP phosphotransferase and adenylate kinase, resulting in ATP formation. In the presence of 0.3 mM nitric oxide (NO) in the liquid-phase release of phosphate, uptake of acetate, formation of poly-β-hydroxybutyrate, utilization of glycogen, and formation of ATP were severely inhibited or completely abolished. In cell extracts of the sludge, adenylate kinase activity was completely inhibited by 0.15 mM NO. The nature of this inhibition was probably noncompetitive, similar to that with hog adenylate kinase. Activated sludge polyphosphate glucokinase was also completely inhibited by 0.15 mM NO. It is concluded that the inhibitory effect of NO on acetate-mediated phosphate release by the sludge used in this study is due to the inhibition of adenylate kinase in the phosphate-releasing organisms. The inhibitory effect of nitrate and nitrite on phosphate release is probably due to their conversion to NO. The lack of any inhibitory effect of NO on adenylate kinase of the poly(P)-accumulating Acinetobacter johnsonii 210A suggests that this type of organism is not involved in the enhanced biological phosphate removal by the sludges used. PMID:9687452

IDENTIFICATION AND ECOPHYSIOLOGY OF ACTIVE DENITRIFIERS IN ACTIVATED SLUDGE

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Aviaja Anna; Le-Quy, Vang; Nielsen, Kåre Lehmann

reactor studies. To obtain better identification of active denitrifying communities in full-scale wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) we applied DNA-SIP with 13C-labelled substrates, and RT-PCR of expressed denitrification genes (nirS, nirK and nosZ) upon various substrate-inductions. To come around...... were determined with quantitative FISH, while their active metabolic pathways were investigated directly in activated sludge with a tag-based metatranscriptomic approach under acetate-utilizing and denitrifying conditions. The different methods revealed a majority of denitrifiers in all WWTPs belonging...

The effect of operational conditions on the sludge specific methanogenic activity and sludge biodegradability

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Leitao, R.; Santaellla, S.T.; Haandel, van A.C.; Zeeman, G.; Lettinga, G.

2009-01-01

The effects of hydraulic retention time (HRT) and influent COD concentration (CODInf) on Specific Methanogenic Activity (SMA) and the biodegradability of an anaerobic sludge need to be elucidated because of the discordant results available in literature. This information is important for the

Hygienization performances of innovative sludge treatment solutions to assure safe land spreading.

Science.gov (United States)

Levantesi, C; Beimfohr, C; Blanch, A R; Carducci, A; Gianico, A; Lucena, F; Tomei, M C; Mininni, G

2015-05-01

The present research aims at the evaluation of the hygienization performances of innovative sludge treatment processes applied for the separated treatment of secondary sludge. Namely, two digestion pretreatments (sonication and thermal hydrolysis) and two sequential biological processes (mesophilic/thermophilic and anaerobic/aerobic digestion) were compared to the mesophilic (MAD) and thermophilic anaerobic digestion (TAD). Microbial indicators (Escherichia coli, somatic coliphages and Clostridium perfringens spores) and pathogens (Salmonella and enteroviruses), which show different resistances to treatment processes, were monitored in untreated and treated sludge. Overall, microbial load in secondary sludge was shown to be similar or lower than previously reported in literature for mixed sludge. Notably, the anaerobic/aerobic digestion process increased the removal of E. coli and somatic coliphages compared to the simple MAD and always achieved the hygienization requirement (2-log-unit removal of E. coli) proposed by EU Commission in the 3rd Working Document on sludge (April 2000) for the use of treated sludges in agriculture with restriction on their application. The microbial quality limits for the unrestricted use of sludge in agriculture (no Salmonella in 50 g wet weight (WW) and E. coli <500 CFU/g) were always met when thermal digestion or pretreatment was applied; however, the required removal level (6-log-unit removal of E. coli) could not be assessed due to the low level of this microorganism in raw sludge. Observed levels of indicator removal showed a higher resistance of viral particles to thermal treatment compared with bacterial cells and confirmed the suitability of somatic coliphages as indicators in thermal treatment processes.

Anaerobic bioleaching of metals from waste activated sludge

KAUST Repository

Meulepas, Roel J W; Gonzalez-Gil, Graciela; Teshager, Fitfety Melese; Witharana, Ayoma; Saikaly, Pascal; Lens, Piet Nl L

2015-01-01

Heavy metal contamination of anaerobically digested waste activated sludge hampers its reuse as fertilizer or soil conditioner. Conventional methods to leach metals require aeration or the addition of leaching agents. This paper investigates whether

Impact of solid retention time and nitrification capacity on the ability of activated sludge to remove pharmaceuticals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Falås, Per; Andersen, Henrik Rasmus; Ledin, Anna

2012-01-01

Removal of five acidic pharmaceuticals (ibuprofen, ketoprofen, naproxen, diclofenac and clofibric acid) by activated sludge from five municipal activated sludge treatment processes, with various sludge ages and nitrification capacities, was assessed through batch experiments. The increase...... in aerobic sludge age from 1-3 to 7 days seemed to be critical for the removal of naproxen and ketoprofen, with markedly higher rates of removal at sludge ages of 7 days or more. No removal was shown for diclofenac and clofibric acid, while high rates were observed for ibuprofen in all investigated sludges...

Application of contact stabilization activated sludge for enhancing biological phosphorus removal (EBPR in domestic wastewater

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ehab M. Rashed

2014-04-01

Full Text Available The experiment has been performed in order to investigate the effect of using contact stabilization activated sludge as an application of enhancing biological phosphorous removal (EBPR by using contact tank as a phosphorus uptake zone and using thickening tank as a phosphorus release zone. The study involved the construction of a pilot plant which was setup in Quhafa waste water treatment plant (WWTP that included contact, final sedimentation, stabilization and thickening tanks, respectively with two returns sludge in this system one of them to contact tank and another to stabilization tank. Then observation of the uptake and release of total phosphorus by achievement through two batch test using sludge samples from thickener and final sedimentations. Results showed the removal efficiencies of COD, BOD and TP for this pilot plant with the range of 94%, 85.44% and 80.54%, respectively. On the other hand the results of batch tests showed that the reason of high ability of phosphorus removal for this pilot plant related to the high performance of microorganisms for phosphorus accumulating. Finally the mechanism of this pilot plant depends on the removal of the phosphorus from the domestic waste water as a concentrated TP solution from the supernatant above the thickening zone not through waste sludge like traditional systems.

Anaerobic co-digestion of waste activated sludge and greasy sludge from flotation process: Batch versus CSTR experiments to investigate optimal design

OpenAIRE

Girault , R.; Bridoux , G.; Nauleau , F.; Poullain , C.; Buffet , J.; Peu , P.; Sadowski , A.G.; Béline , F.

2012-01-01

In this study, the maximum ratio of greasy sluvdge to incorporate with waste activated sludge was investigated in batch and CSTR experiments. In batch experiments, inhibition occurred with a greasy sludge ratio of more than 20-30% of the feed COD. In CSTR experiments, the optimal greasy sludge ratio was 60% of the feed COD and inhibition occurred above a ratio of 80%. Hence, batch experiments can predict the CSTR yield when the degradation phenomenon are additive but cannot be used to determi...

Tetrazolium Reduction-Malachite Green Method for Assessing the Viability of Filamentous Bacteria in Activated Sludge

Science.gov (United States)

Bitton, Gabriel; Koopman, Ben

1982-01-01

A method was developed to assess the activity of filamentous bacteria in activated sludge. It involves the incubation of activated sludge with 2(p-iodophenyl)-3-(p-nitrophenyl)-5-phenyl tetrazolium chloride followed by staining with malachite green. Both cells and 2(p-iodophenyl)-3-(p-nitrophenyl)-5-phenyl tetrazolium chloride-formazan crystals can be observed in prepared specimens by using bright-field microscopy. This procedure allowed us to distinguish between inactive and actively metabolizing filaments after chlorine application to control the bulking of activated sludge. Images PMID:16345999

Biodegradation of triclosan and formation of methyl-triclosan in activated sludge under aerobic conditions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chen, Xijuan; Nielsen, Jeppe Lund; Furgal, Karolina

2011-01-01

of triclosan- methyl was investigated in activated sludge from a standard activated sludge WWTP equipped with enhanced biological phosphorus removal. The removal was found to occur mainly under aerobic conditions while under anoxic (nitrate reducing) and anaerobic conditions rather low removal rates were...... determined. In a laboratory-scale activated sludge reactor 75% of the triclosan was removed under aerobic conditions within 150 h, while no removal was observed under anaerobic or anoxic conditions. One percent of the triclosan was converted to triclosan-methyl under aerobic conditions, less under anoxic...

Fate and distribution of pharmaceuticals in wastewater and sewage sludge of the conventional activated sludge (CAS) and advanced membrane bioreactor (MBR) treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Radjenović, Jelena; Petrović, Mira; Barceló, Damià

2009-02-01

In this paper we report on the performances of full-scale conventional activated sludge (CAS) treatment and two pilot-scale membrane bioreactors (MBRs) in eliminating various pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) belonging to different therapeutic groups and with diverse physico-chemical properties. Both aqueous and solid phases were analysed for the presence of 31 pharmaceuticals included in the analytical method. The most ubiquitous contaminants in the sewage water were analgesics and anti-inflammatory drugs ibuprofen (14.6-31.3 microg/L) and acetaminophen (7.1-11.4 microg/L), antibiotic ofloxacin (0.89-31.7 microg/L), lipid regulators gemfibrozil (2.0-5.9 microg/L) and bezafibrate (1.9-29.8 microg/L), beta-blocker atenolol (0.84-2.8 microg/L), hypoglycaemic agent glibenclamide (0.12-15.9 microg/L) and a diuretic hydrochlorothiazide (2.3-4.8 microg/L). Also, several pharmaceuticals such as ibuprofen, ketoprofen, diclofenac, ofloxacin and azithromycin were detected in sewage sludge at concentrations up to 741.1, 336.3, 380.7, 454.7 and 299.6 ng/g dry weight. Two pilot-scale MBRs exhibited enhanced elimination of several pharmaceutical residues poorly removed by the CAS treatment (e.g., mefenamic acid, indomethacin, diclofenac, propyphenazone, pravastatin, gemfibrozil), whereas in some cases more stable operation of one of the MBR reactors at prolonged SRT proved to be detrimental for the elimination of some compounds (e.g., beta-blockers, ranitidine, famotidine, erythromycin). Moreover, the anti-epileptic drug carbamazepine and diuretic hydrochlorothiazide by-passed all three treatments investigated. Furthermore, sorption to sewage sludge in the MBRs as well as in the entire treatment line of a full-scale WWTP is discussed for the encountered analytes. Among the pharmaceuticals encountered in sewage sludge, sorption to sludge could be a relevant removal pathway only for several compounds (i.e., mefenamic acid, propranolol, and loratidine). Especially in the

Lipase and protease extraction from activated sludge

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gessesse, Amare; Dueholm, Thomas; Petersen, Steffen B.

2003-01-01

of gentle and efficient enzyme extraction methods from environmental samples is very important. In this study we present a method for the extraction of lipases and proteases from activated sludge using the non-ionic detergent Triton X-100, EDTA, and cation exchange resin (CER), alone or in combination...

Accurate evaluation for the biofilm-activated sludge reactor using graphical techniques

Science.gov (United States)

Fouad, Moharram; Bhargava, Renu

2018-05-01

A complete graphical solution is obtained for the completely mixed biofilm-activated sludge reactor (hybrid reactor). The solution consists of a series of curves deduced from the principal equations of the hybrid system after converting them in dimensionless form. The curves estimate the basic parameters of the hybrid system such as suspended biomass concentration, sludge residence time, wasted mass of sludge, and food to biomass ratio. All of these parameters can be expressed as functions of hydraulic retention time, influent substrate concentration, substrate concentration in the bulk, stagnant liquid layer thickness, and the minimum substrate concentration which can maintain the biofilm growth in addition to the basic kinetics of the activated sludge process in which all these variables are expressed in a dimensionless form. Compared to other solutions of such system these curves are simple, easy to use, and provide an accurate tool for analyzing such system based on fundamental principles. Further, these curves may be used as a quick tool to get the effect of variables change on the other parameters and the whole system.

Use of hydrodynamic disintegration to accelerate anaerobic digestion of surplus activated sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Grübel, Klaudiusz; Machnicka, Alicja

2009-12-01

Hydrodynamic disintegration of activated sludge resulted in organic matter and polymers transfer from the solid phase into the liquid phase. Disintegration by hydrodynamic cavitation had a positive effect on the degree and rate of excess sludge anaerobic digestion. Also, addition of a part of anaerobic digested sludge containing adapted microorganisms resulted in acceleration of the process. The disruption of cells of foam microorganisms and addition to the digestion process led to an increase of biogas production.

Potential and optimization of two-phase anaerobic digestion of oil refinery waste activated sludge and microbial community study

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Qinghong; Liang, Ying; Zhao, Peng; Li, Qing X.; Guo, Shaohui; Chen, Chunmao

2016-01-01

Oil refinery waste activated sludge produced from oil wastewater biological treatment is a major industrial sludge. Two-phase anaerobic digestion of oil refinery waste activated sludge was studied for the first time. Thermal pretreatment under 170 °C is effective on sludge solubilization. At the optimum hydrolytic-acidogenic condition which was pH of 6.5, temperature of 55 °C and HRT of 2 days, 2754 mg/L volatile fatty acids (VFAs) were produced and acetic acid and butyric acid were the key components. Comparative studies of single-phase and two-phase anaerobic digestion in terms of organic removal, biogas production and methane concentration were conducted. The cumulative methane production and soluble COD (SCOD) removal efficiency in the two-phase system were 228 mL/g COD added and 77.8%, respectively, which were 1.6 and 2.1 times higher than those in single-phase anaerobic digestion. Such improved performance is attributed to intensification of dominant microbial population in separated reactors. Caloramator, Ureibacillus, Dechloromonas, Petrobacter, and T78 played important roles in hydrolytic-acidification and oil-organics degradation. Syntrophic bacteria in the family Porphyromonadaceae and the genus Anaerobranca provide acetate for methanogen. The results demonstrated the potential and operating condition of two-phase anaerobic digestion in treatment of oil refinery waste activated sludge. PMID:27905538

Transesterification of Waste Activated Sludge for Biosolids Reduction and Biodiesel Production.

Science.gov (United States)

Maeng, Min Ho; Cha, Daniel K

2018-02-01

  Transesterification of waste activated sludge (WAS) was evaluated as a cost-effective technique to reduce excess biosolids and recover biodiesel feedstock from activated sludge treatment processes. A laboratory-scale sequencing batch reactor (SBR) was operated with recycling transesterification-treated WAS back to the aeration basin. Seventy percent recycling of WAS resulted in a 48% reduction of excess biosolids in comparison with a conventional SBR, which was operated in parallel as the control SBR. Biodiesel recovery of 8.0% (dried weight basis) was achieved at an optimum transesterification condition using acidic methanol and xylene as cosolvent. Average effluent soluble chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total suspended solids (TSS) concentrations from the test SBR and control SBR were comparable, indicating that the recycling of transesterification-treated WAS did not have detrimental effect on the effluent quality. This study demonstrated that transesterification and recycling of WAS may be a feasible technique for reducing excess biosolids, while producing valuable biodiesel feedstock from the activated sludge process.

Adsorption of mercury by activated carbon prepared from dried sewage sludge in simulated flue gas.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Jeongmin; Lee, Sang-Sup

2018-04-25

Conversion of sewage sludge to activated carbon is attractive as an alternative method to ocean dumping for the disposal of sewage sludge. Injection of activated carbon upstream of particulate matter control devices has been suggested as a method to remove elemental mercury from flue gas. Activated carbon was prepared using various activation temperatures and times and was tested for their mercury adsorption efficiency using lab-scale systems. To understand the effect of the physical property of the activated carbon, its mercury adsorption efficiency was investigated as a function of their Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area. Two simulated flue gas conditions: (1) without hydrogen chloride (HCl) and (2) with 20 ppm HCl, were used to investigate the effect of flue gas composition on the mercury adsorption capacity of activated carbon. Despite very low BET surface area of the prepared sewage sludge activated carbons, their mercury adsorption efficiencies were comparable under both simulated flue gas conditions to those of pinewood and coal activated carbons. After injecting HCl into the simulated flue gas, all sewage sludge activated carbons demonstrated high adsorption efficiencies, i.e., more than 87%, regardless of their BET surface area. IMPLICATIONS We tested activated carbons prepared from dried sewage sludge to investigate the effect of their physical properties on their mercury adsorption efficiency. Using two simulated flue gas conditions, we conducted mercury speciation for the outlet gas. We found that the sewage sludge activated carbon had comparable mercury adsorption efficiency to pinewood and coal activated carbons, and the presence of HCl minimized the effect of physical property of the activated carbon on its mercury adsorption efficiency.

Critical operational parameters for zero sludge production in biological wastewater treatment processes combined with sludge disintegration.

Science.gov (United States)

Yoon, Seong-Hoon; Lee, Sangho

2005-09-01

Mathematical models were developed to elucidate the relationships among process control parameters and the effect of these parameters on the performance of anoxic/oxic biological wastewater processes combined with sludge disintegrators (A/O-SD). The model equations were also applied for analyses of activated sludge processes hybrid with sludge disintegrators (AS-SD). Solubilization ratio of sludge in the sludge disintegrator, alpha, hardly affected sludge reduction efficiencies if the biomass was completely destructed to smaller particulates. On the other hand, conversion efficiency of non-biodegradable particulates to biodegradable particulates, beta, significantly affected sludge reduction efficiencies because beta was directly related to the accumulation of non-biodegradable particulates in bioreactors. When 30% of sludge in the oxic tank was disintegrated everyday and beta was 0.5, sludge reduction was expected to be 78% and 69% for the A/O-SD and AS-SD processes, respectively. Under this condition, the sludge disintegration number (SDN), which is the amount of sludge disintegrated divided by the reduced sludge, was calculated to be around 4. Due to the sludge disintegration, live biomass concentration decreased while other non-biodegradable particulates concentration increased. As a consequence, the real F/M ratio was expected to be much higher than the apparent F/M. The effluent COD was maintained almost constant for the range of sludge disintegration rate considered in this study. Nitrogen removal efficiencies of the A/O-SD process was hardly affected by the sludge disintegration until daily sludge disintegration reaches 40% of sludge in the oxic tank. Above this level of sludge disintegration, autotrophic biomass concentration decreases overly and TKN in the effluent increases abruptly in both the A/O-SD and AS-SD processes. Overall, the trends of sludge reduction and effluent quality according to operation parameters matched well with experimental results

Chitosan use in chemical conditioning for dewatering municipal-activated sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Zemmouri, H; Mameri, N; Lounici, H

2015-01-01

This work aims to evaluate the potential use of chitosan as an eco-friendly flocculant in chemical conditioning of municipal-activated sludge. Chitosan effectiveness was compared with synthetic cationic polyelectrolyte Sedipur CF802 (Sed CF802) and ferric chloride (FeCl₃). In this context, raw sludge samples from Beni-Messous wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) were tested. The classic jar test method was used to condition sludge samples. Capillary suction time (CST), specific resistance to filtration (SRF), cakes dry solid content and filtrate turbidity were analyzed to determine filterability, dewatering capacity of conditioned sludge and the optimum dose of each conditioner. Data exhibit that chitosan, FeCl₃and Sed CF802 improve sludge dewatering. Optimum dosages of chitosan, Sed CF802 and FeCl₃allowing CST values of 6, 5 and 9 s, were found, respectively, between 2-3, 1.5-3 and 6 kg/t ds. Both polymers have shown faster water removal with more permeable sludge. SRF values were 0.634 × 10¹², 0.932 × 10¹² and 2 × 10¹² m/kg for Sed CF802, chitosan and FeCl₃respectively. A reduction of 94.68 and 87.85% of the filtrate turbidity was obtained with optimal dosage of chitosan and Sed CF802, respectively. In contrast, 54.18% of turbidity abatement has been obtained using optimal dosage of FeCl₃.

Synthesis, characterization, and secondary sludge dewatering performance of a novel combined silicon–aluminum–iron–starch flocculant

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lin, Qintie, E-mail: qintlin@163.com; Peng, Huanlong; Zhong, Songxiong; Xiang, Jiangxin

2015-03-21

Highlights: • Silicon, aluminum, and iron were grafted onto starch chains to synthesize CSiAFS. • The sludge dewatering performance of CSiAFS was superior to PAC, PAM, and FeCl{sub 3}. • CSiAFS exhibited a good dewatering efficiency over a wide range of pH (3.0–11.0). • CSiAFS had a discontinuous surface with channels which helped to sludge dewatering. - Abstract: Flocculation is one of the most widely used cost-effective pretreatment method for sludge dewatering, and a novel environmentally friendly and efficient flocculant is highly desired in the sludge dewatering field. In this study, a novel combined silicon–aluminum–ferric–starch was synthesized by grafting silicon, aluminum, and iron onto a starch backbone. The synthesized starch flocculant was characterized using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, and thermogravimetric analysis. The dewatering performance of secondary sludge was evaluated according to the capillary suction time, settling volume percentage, and specific resistance to filtration. The results indicated that the copolymer exhibited: (1) a good dewatering efficiency over a wide pH range of 3.0–11.0, (2) superior sludge dewatering performance compared to those of polyaluminum chloride (PACl), polyacrylamide (PAM), ferric chloride, and (3) a discontinuous surface with many channels or voids that helps to mobilize the impermeable thin layer of secondary sludge during filter pressing. Such a novel copolymer is a promising green flocculant for secondary sludge dewatering applications.

Evaluation of activated sludge treatment and settleability in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

DRINIE

2003-07-03

Jul 3, 2003 ... separation, on-site applications of such processes (especially fat traps) are often ... edible oil effluent treatment on sludge settleability, floc structure and activity of .... Poor FOG removal was noted in the MLE system as just 7%.

Application of Fast Neutron Activation to Determinate of N, P and K Element Contents in the Sludge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Supriyatni E; Yazid M; Nuraini E; Sunardi

2003-01-01

The application of fast neutron activation to determinate of N, P and K element contents in the sludge has been performed. The aim of this research is to determine the content of N, P and K elements in the sludge for the possibility of reuse as organic fertilizer. Sludge sample was taken from waste water retainer at Bantul Waste Water Treatment Plant. The sample was dried and ground, then irradiated using 14.7 MeV fast neutron from neutron generator. Result was qualitatively and quantitatively analyses using gamma spectrometer. The result showed that the sludge contains N with energy 511 keV, P with energy 1778 keV and K with energy 1273 keV. The concentration of N is (4.101 ± 0.007) mg/g, P is = (640.510 ± 14.34) mg/g and K = (3.045 ± 0.064) mg/g. (author)

Bioproducts for Sludge Reduction in Activated Sludge Systems Treating Oil Refinery Wastewater

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandre V.M.F.

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The use of bioproducts that change the cellular metabolism and reduce microbial growth without affecting the organic matter removal is very promising for reducing the amount of sludge in wastewater treatment systems. In this study, two bioproducts were evaluated and compared with a well-known chemical (2,4-DiNitroPhenol – DNP in activated sludge treating petroleum refinery wastewater. In batch experiments, 10 mg/L of DNP, 0.8 mg/L of a bioproduct based on Folic Acid (FA and 10 mg/L of a bioproduct based on Stress Proteins (SP led to 30.6%, 43.2% and 29.8% lower disposal of total solids, respectively. Operating on a continuous regimen, the addition of 10 mg/L of the bioproduct based on SP led to 45.7% lower disposal for 50 days. In all cases, no loss of efficiency in the Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD removal was observed.

Characterization and performance of carbonaceous materials obtained from exhausted sludges for the anaerobic biodecolorization of the azo dye Acid Orange II

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Athalathil, S.; Stüber, F.; Bengoa, C.; Font, J. [Departament d’Enginyeria Quimica, ETSEQ, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Av. Paisos Catalans 26, 43007 Tarragona, Catalunya (Spain); Fortuny, A. [Departament d’Enginyeria Quimica, EPSEVG, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Av. Victor Balaguer s/n, 08800 Vilanova i la Geltru, Catalunya (Spain); Fabregat, A., E-mail: azael.fabregat@urv.cat [Departament d’Enginyeria Quimica, ETSEQ, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Av. Paisos Catalans 26, 43007 Tarragona, Catalunya (Spain)

2014-02-01

Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • Carbonaceous materials were prepared from exhausted sludge materials. • High surface area and good physicochemical properties were achieved. • Utilization of waste sludge materials and mixed anaerobic cultures were used in a continuous anaerobic UPBR system (upflow packed bed biological reactor). • Effective treatment of dye contaminated wastewater in a cheapest and environmental friendly method was demonstrated. - Abstract: This work presents the preliminary study of new carbonaceous materials (CMs) obtained from exhausted sludge, their use in the heterogeneous anaerobic process of biodecolorization of azo dyes and the comparison of their performance with one commercial active carbon. The preparation of carbonaceous materials was conducted through chemical activation and carbonization. Chemical activation was carried out through impregnation of sludge-exhausted materials with ZnCl{sub 2} and the activation by means of carbonization at different temperatures (400, 600 and 800 °C). Their physicochemical and surface characteristics were also investigated. Sludge based carbonaceous (SBC) materials SBC400, SBC600 and SBC800 present values of 13.0, 111.3 and 202.0 m{sup 2}/g of surface area. Biodecolorization levels of 76% were achieved for SBC600 and 86% for SBC800 at space time (τ) of 1.0 min, similar to that obtained with commercial activated carbons in the continuous anaerobic up-flow packed bed reactor (UPBR). The experimental data fit well to the first order kinetic model and equilibrium data are well represented by the Langmuir isotherm model. Carbonaceous materials show high level of biodecolorization even at very short space times. Results indicate that carbonaceous materials prepared from sludge-exhausted materials have outstanding textural properties and significant degradation capacity for treating textile effluents.

Disintegration of excess activated sludge--evaluation and experience of full-scale applications.

Science.gov (United States)

Zábranská, J; Dohányos, M; Jenícek, P; Kutil, J

2006-01-01

Anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge can be improved by introducing a disintegration of excess activated sludge as a pretreatment process. The disintegration brings a deeper degradation of organic matter and less amount of output sludge for disposal, a higher production of biogas and consequently energy yield, in some cases suppression of digesters foaming and better dewaterability. The full-scale application of disintegration by a lysate-thickening centrifuge was monitored long term in three different WWTPs. The evaluation of contribution of disintegration to biogas production and digested sludge quality was assessed and operational experience is discussed. Increment of specific biogas production was evaluated in the range of 15-26%, organic matter in digested sludge significantly decreased to 48-49%. Results proved that the installation of a disintegrating centrifuge in WWTPs of different sizes and conditions would be useful and beneficial.

The impact of peroxydisulphate and peroxymonosulphate on disintegration and settleability of activated sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Wacławek, Stanisław; Grübel, Klaudiusz; Černík, Miroslav

2016-01-01

Chemical treatment processes have mostly been considered as an efficient way for biosolid minimization. The improvement of sludge dewatering was more a welcome side-effect of these sequential processes. In this study, heat-activated sodium peroxydisulphate (PDS) and potassium peroxymonosulphate (MPS) were applied in order to disintegrate waste activated sludge (WAS). PDS and MPS treatment of WAS results in the polymer transfer of organic matter from the solid phase to the liquid phase. Our research work was done for chemical disintegration of WAS by PDS and MPS in doses of 0.2%, 0.4%, 0.6%, 0.8% and 1% (169.5, 339.0, 508.5, 678.0 and 847.5 mg [Formula: see text]) activated at temperatures of 60°C and 90°C for 30 min. The application of these methods causes the soluble chemical oxygen demand value to increase in the supernatant. In addition, there was a positive influence on the sludge volume index which decreased for the highest doses of PDS of over 63% and 77% and MPS of over 78% and 82% through heat activation at temperatures of 60°C and 90°C, respectively. Furthermore, MPS was more successful in the floc particle destruction, therefore it caused a higher sludge settlement acceleration (sedimentation/compaction speed) than PDS. The experimental results demonstrated that the application of heat-activated PDS and MPS may become a novel effective way of processing sewage sludge.

Modeling effects of DO and SRT on activated sludge decay and production.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Guoqiang; Wang, Jianmin

2015-09-01

The effect of dissolved oxygen (DO) on the endogenous decay of active heterotrophic biomass and the hydrolysis of cell debris were studied. With the inclusion of a hydrolysis process for the cell debris, mathematical models that are capable of quantifying the effects of DO and sludge retention time (SRT) on concentrations of active biomass and cell debris in activated sludge are presented. By modeling the biomass cultivated with unlimited DO, the values of endogenous decay coefficient for heterotrophic biomass, the hydrolysis constant of cell debris, and the fraction of decayed biomass that became cell debris were determined to be 0.38 d(-1), 0.013 d(-1), and 0.28, respectively. Results from modeling the biomass cultivated under different DO conditions suggested that the experimental low DO (∼0.2 mg/L) did not inhibit the endogenous decay of heterotrophic biomass, but significantly inhibited the hydrolysis of cell debris with a half-velocity constant value of 2.1 mg/L. Therefore, the increase in sludge production with low DO was mainly contributed by cell debris rather than the active heterotrophic biomass. Maximizing sludge production during aerobic wastewater treatment could reduce aeration energy consumption and improve biogas energy recovery potential. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Pandemic pharmaceutical dosing effects on wastewater treatment: no adaptation of activated sludge bacteria to degrade the antiviral drug oseltamivir (Tamiflu®) and loss of nutrient removal performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Slater, Frances R; Singer, Andrew C; Turner, Susan; Barr, Jeremy J; Bond, Philip L

2011-02-01

The 2009-2010 influenza pandemic saw many people treated with antivirals and antibiotics. High proportions of both classes of drugs are excreted and enter wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in biologically active forms. To date, there has been no study into the potential for influenza pandemic-scale pharmaceutical use to disrupt WWTP function. Furthermore, there is currently little indication as to whether WWTP microbial consortia can degrade antiviral neuraminidase inhibitors when exposed to pandemic-scale doses. In this study, we exposed an aerobic granular sludge sequencing batch reactor, operated for enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR), to a simulated influenza-pandemic dosing of antibiotics and antivirals for 8 weeks. We monitored the removal of the active form of Tamiflu(®), oseltamivir carboxylate (OC), bacterial community structure, granule structure and changes in EBPR and nitrification performance. There was little removal of OC by sludge and no evidence that the activated sludge community adapted to degrade OC. There was evidence of changes to the bacterial community structure and disruption to EBPR and nitrification during and after high-OC dosing. This work highlights the potential for the antiviral contamination of receiving waters and indicates the risk of destabilizing WWTP microbial consortia as a result of high concentrations of bioactive pharmaceuticals during an influenza pandemic. © 2010 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.

Important operational parameters of membrane bioreactor-sludge disintegration (MBR-SD) system for zero excess sludge production.

Science.gov (United States)

Yoon, Seong-Hoon

2003-04-01

In order to prevent excess sludge production during wastewater treatment, a membrane bioreactor-sludge disintegration (MBR-SD) system has been introduced, where the disintegrated sludge is recycled to the bioreactor as a feed solution. In this study, a mathematical model was developed by incorporating a sludge disintegration term into the conventional activated sludge model and the relationships among the operational parameters were investigated. A new definition of F/M ratio for the MBR-SD system was suggested to evaluate the actual organic loading rate. The actual F/M ratio was expected to be much higher than the apparent F/M ratio in MBR-SD. The kinetic parameters concerning the biodegradability of organics hardly affect the system performance. Instead, sludge solubilization ratio (alpha) in the SD process and particulate hydrolysis rate constant (k(h)) in biological reaction determine the sludge disintegration number (SDN), which is related with the overall economics of the MBR-SD system. Under reasonable alpha and k(h) values, SDN would range between 3 and 5 which means the amount of sludge required to be disintegrated would be 3-5 times higher for preventing a particular amount of sludge production. Finally, normalized sludge disintegration rate (q/V) which is needed to maintain a certain level of MLSS in the MBR-SD system was calculated as a function of F/V ratio.

Optimization of activated carbon from sewage sludge using response surface methodology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Muhammad Salleh Abustan; Hamidi Abdul Aziz; Mohd Azmier Ahmad

2010-01-01

Wastewater sludge cake was used to prepare activated carbon using physical activation method. The effects of three preparation variables; the activation temperature, activation time and carbon dioxide gas flow rate on chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonia removal from leachate solutions were investigated. Based on the central composite design (CCD), two quadratic models were developed to correlate the preparation variables to the COD and ammonia removal. From the analysis of variance (ANOVA), the significant factors on each experimental design response were identified. The optimum activated carbon prepared from wastewater sludge cake was obtained by using activation temperature of 510 degree Celsius, activation time of 30 min and carbon dioxide flow rate of 500 ml/ min. The optimum activated carbon showed COD and ammonia removal of 26 and 13 %, respectively. (author)

Evaluation of the functional activity of activated sludge from local waste water treatment plant in the Arctic region

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Il'inskiy V. V.

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The paper considers characteristics of the activated sludge in the local wastewater treatment plant (LWTP and its ability to purify fully domestic sewage water in the Far North. Biochemical process of destruction of organic pollutants is influenced by a microbial complex functioning in aeration tanks. Taking into account climatic conditions of the region where the organic matter degradation processes are slowed, and lack of control over the operation, efficiency and occupational safety of LWTPs, it seems to be important to study the physiological characteristics of the bacteria used in bioremediation, and their ability to maximize the purifying domestic sewage in the Arctic region. Undue intervention in the biosphere systems leads to disruption of the balance of internal and external ecosystems communications. The goal of research is studying structural determination and functioning of activated sludge bacteriocenosis of LWTP TOPAS-5 (GK "Topol-ECO" in certain physical and chemical conditions of the habitat, and establishing completeness of cleaning process in this treatment plant. The paper considers the structure (quantitative and qualitative composition and function of LWTP activated sludge bacteriocenosis functioning in the Arctic region. The estimation of the activated sludge of full waste water treatment process of the LWTP has been given. The research's results have allowed to identify and determine the bacterial count of physiological groups of microorganisms purified domestic sewage; to isolate from activated sludge the bioflocculant-producing microorganisms' on the experimental medium; to evaluate efficiency of LWTP work in the Arctic region

Enhancing anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge by pretreatment: effect of volatile to total solids.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xiao; Duan, Xu; Chen, Jianguang; Fang, Kuo; Feng, Leiyu; Yan, Yuanyuan; Zhou, Qi

2016-01-01

In this study the effect of volatile to total solids (VS/TS) on anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge (WAS) pretreated by alkaline, thermal and thermal-alkaline strategies was studied. Experimental results showed that the production of methane from sludge was increased with VS/TS. When anaerobic digesters were fed with sludge pretreated by the thermal-alkaline method, the average methane yield was improved from 2.8 L/d at VS/TS 0.35 to 4.7 L/d at VS/TS 0.56. Also, the efficiency of VS reduction during sludge anaerobic digestion varied between 18.9% and 45.6%, and increased gradually with VS/TS. Mechanism investigation of VS/TS on WAS anaerobic digestion suggested that the general activities of anaerobic microorganisms, activities of key enzymes related to sludge hydrolysis, acidification and methanogenesis, and the ratio of Archaea to Bacteria were all increased with VS/TS, showing good agreement with methane production.

Global Perspectives on Activated Sludge Community Composition analyzed using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nierychlo, Marta; Saunders, Aaron Marc; Albertsen, Mads

communities, and in this study activated sludge sampled from 32 Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) around the world was described and compared. The top abundant bacteria in the global activated sludge ecosystem were found and the core population shared by multiple samples was investigated. The results......Activated sludge is the most commonly applied bioprocess throughout the world for wastewater treatment. Microorganisms are key to the process, yet our knowledge of their identity and function is still limited. High-througput16S rRNA amplicon sequencing can reliably characterize microbial...

Adsorption of organic stormwater pollutants onto activated carbon from sewage sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Björklund, Karin; Li, Loretta Y

2017-07-15

Adsorption filters have the potential to retain suspended pollutants physically, as well as attracting and chemically attaching dissolved compounds onto the adsorbent. This study investigated the adsorption of eight hydrophobic organic compounds (HOCs) frequently detected in stormwater - including four polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), two phthalates and two alkylphenols - onto activated carbon produced from domestic sewage sludge. Adsorption was studied using batch tests. Kinetic studies indicated that bulk adsorption of HOCs occurred within 10 min. Sludge-based activated carbon (SBAC) was as efficient as tested commercial carbons for adsorbing HOCs; adsorption capacities ranged from 70 to 2800 μg/g (C initial  = 10-300 μg/L; 15 mg SBAC in 150 mL solution; 24 h contact time) for each HOC. In the batch tests, the adsorption capacity was generally negatively correlated to the compounds' hydrophobicity (log K ow ) and positively associated with decreasing molecule size, suggesting that molecular sieving limited adsorption. However, in repeated adsorption tests, where competition between HOCs was more likely to occur, adsorbed pollutant loads exhibited strong positive correlation with log K ow . Sewage sludge as a carbon source for activated carbon has great potential as a sustainable alternative for sludge waste management practices and production of a high-capacity adsorption material. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

STUDY ON MAXIMUM SPECIFIC SLUDGE ACIVITY OF DIFFERENT ANAEROBIC GRANULAR SLUDGE BY BATCH TESTS

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

无

2001-01-01

The maximum specific sludge activity of granular sludge from large-scale UASB, IC and Biobed anaerobic reactors were investigated by batch tests. The limitation factors related to maximum specific sludge activity (diffusion, substrate sort, substrate concentration and granular size) were studied. The general principle and procedure for the precise measurement of maximum specific sludge activity were suggested. The potential capacity of loading rate of the IC and Biobed anaerobic reactors were analyzed and compared by use of the batch tests results.

Characterization of the heterotrophic biomass and the endogenous residue of activated sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Ramdani, Abdellah; Dold, Peter; Gadbois, Alain; Déléris, Stéphane; Houweling, Dwight; Comeau, Yves

2012-03-01

The activated sludge process generates an endogenous residue (X(E)) as a result of heterotrophic biomass decay (X(H)). A literature review yielded limited information on the differences between X(E) and X(H) in terms of chemical composition and content of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). The objective of this project was to characterize the chemical composition (x, y, z, a, b and c in C(x)H(y)O(z)N(a)P(b)S(c)) of the endogenous and the active fractions and EPS of activated sludge from well designed experiments. To isolate X(H) and X(E) in this study, activated sludge was generated in a 200L pilot-scale aerobic membrane bioreactor (MBR) fed with a soluble and completely biodegradable synthetic influent of sodium acetate as the sole carbon source. This influent, which contained no influent unbiodegradable organic or inorganic particulate matter, allowed the generation of a sludge composed essentially of two fractions: heterotrophic biomass X(H) and an endogenous residue X(E), the nitrifying biomass being negligible. The endogenous decay rate and the active biomass fraction of the MBR sludge were determined in 21-day aerobic digestion batch tests by monitoring the VSS and OUR responses. Fractions of X(H) and X(E) were respectively 68% and 32% in run 1 (MBR at 5.2 day SRT) and 59% and 41% in run 2 (MBR at 10.4 day SRT). The endogenous residue was isolated by subjecting the MBR sludge to prolonged aerobic batch digestion for 3 weeks, and was characterized in terms of (a) elemental analysis for carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulphur; and (b) content of EPS. The MBR sludge was characterized using the same procedures (a and b). Knowing the proportions of X(H) and X(E) in this sludge, it was possible to characterize X(H) by back calculation. Results from this investigation showed that the endogenous residue had a chemical composition different from that of the active biomass with a lower content of inorganic matter (1:4.2), of nitrogen (1:2.9), of phosphorus (1

Grout and Glass Performance in Support of Stabilization/Solidification of the MVST Tank Sludges

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gilliam, T.M.; Spence, R.D.

1998-11-01

Wastewater at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is collected, evaporated, and stored in the Melton Valley Storage Tanks (MVST) pending treatment for disposal. The waste separates into two phases: sludge and supematant. Some of the supematant from these tanks has been decanted, solidified into a grout, and stored for disposal as a solid low-level waste. The sludges in the tank bottoms have been accumulating ,for several years. Some of the sludges contain a high amount of gamma activity (e.g., `37CS concentration range of 0.01 3-11 MBq/g) and contain enough transuranic (TRU) radioisotopes to be classified as TRU wastes. Some Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) metal concentrations are high enough in the available total constituent analysis for the MVST sludge to be classified as RCRA hazardous; therefore, these sludges are presumed to be mixed TRU waste.

Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) producing bacterial strains of municipal wastewater sludge: isolation, molecular identification, EPS characterization and performance for sludge settling and dewatering.

Science.gov (United States)

Bala Subramanian, S; Yan, S; Tyagi, R D; Surampalli, R Y

2010-04-01

Wastewater treatment plants often face the problems of sludge settling mainly due to sludge bulking. Generally, synthetic organic polymer and/or inorganic coagulants (ferric chloride, alum and quick lime) are used for sludge settling. These chemicals are very expensive and further pollute the environment. Whereas, the bioflocculants are environment friendly and may be used to flocculate the sludge. Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) produced by sludge microorganisms play a definite role in sludge flocculation. In this study, 25 EPS producing strains were isolated from municipal wastewater treatment plant. Microorganisms were selected based on EPS production properties on solid agar medium. Three types of EPS (slime, capsular and bacterial broth mixture of both slime and capsular) were harvested and their characteristics were studied. EPS concentration (dry weight), viscosity and their charge (using a Zetaphoremeter) were also measured. Bioflocculability of obtained EPS was evaluated by measuring the kaolin clay flocculation activity. Six bacterial strains (BS2, BS8, BS9, BS11, BS15 and BS25) were selected based on the kaolin clay flocculation. The slime EPS was better for bioflocculation than capsular EPS and bacterial broth. Therefore, extracted slime EPS (partially purified) from six bacterial strains was studied in terms of sludge settling [sludge volume index (SVI)] and dewatering [capillary suction time (CST)]. Biopolymers produced by individual strains substantially improved dewaterability. The extracted slime EPS from six different strains were partially characterized. Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Zero-valent iron enhanced methanogenic activity in anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge after heat and alkali pretreatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yaobin; Feng, Yinghong; Quan, Xie

2015-04-01

Heat or alkali pretreatment is the effective method to improve hydrolysis of waste sludge and then enhance anaerobic sludge digestion. However the pretreatment may inactivate the methanogens in the sludge. In the present work, zero-valent iron (ZVI) was used to enhance the methanogenic activity in anaerobic sludge digester under two methanogens-suppressing conditions, i.e. heat-pretreatment and alkali condition respectively. With the addition of ZVI, the lag time of methane production was shortened, and the methane yield increased by 91.5% compared to the control group. The consumption of VFA was accelerated by ZVI, especially for acetate, indicating that the acetoclastic methanogenesis was enhanced. In the alkali-condition experiment, the hydrogen produced decreased from 27.6 to 18.8 mL when increasing the ZVI dosage from 0 to 10 g/L. Correspondingly, the methane yield increased from 1.9 to 32.2 mL, which meant that the H2-utilizing methanogenes was enriched. These results suggested that the addition of ZVI into anaerobic digestion of sludge after pretreated by the heat or alkali process could efficiently recover the methanogenic activity and increase the methane production and sludge reduction. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Rain events and their effect on effluent quality studied at a full scale activated sludge treatment plant.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilén, B M; Lumley, D; Mattsson, A; Mino, T

2006-01-01

The effect of rain events on effluent quality dynamics was studied at a full scale activated sludge wastewater treatment plant which has a process solution incorporating pre-denitrification in activated sludge with post-nitrification in trickling filters. The incoming wastewater flow varies significantly due to a combined sewer system. Changed flow conditions have an impact on the whole treatment process since the recirculation to the trickling filters is set by the hydraulic limitations of the secondary settlers. Apart from causing different hydraulic conditions in the plant, increased flow due to rain or snow-melting, changes the properties of the incoming wastewater which affects process performance and effluent quality, especially the particle removal efficiency. A comprehensive set of on-line and laboratory data were collected and analysed to assess the impact of rain events on the plant performance.

Evaluation of Control Parameters for the Activated Sludge Process

Science.gov (United States)

Stall, T. Ray; Sherrard, Josephy H.

1978-01-01

An evaluation of the use of the parameters currently being used to design and operate the activated sludge process is presented. The advantages and disadvantages for the use of each parameter are discussed. (MR)

APPLICATION OF RESPIROMETRIC TESTS FOR ASSESSMENT OF METHANOGENIC BACTERIA ACTIVITY IN WASTEWATER SLUDGE PROCESSING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Małgorzata Cimochowicz-Rybicka

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Production of a methane-rich gas (‘biogas’ is contemporary popular sludges processing technology which allows to generate thermal and/or electric energy. Formal requirements issued by the European Union to promote so called renewable energy resources made these process more attractive leading to its application in WWTPs which were designed based on different sludge handling processes. Authors (as active design engineers noted that dimensioning sludge digestion chamber is usually based on SRT assessment without any emphasis on sludge characteristics. Bio-mass characteristics and the estimation of its activity with respect to methane production are of great importance, from both scientific and practical points of view, as anaerobic digestion appears to be one of crucial processes in municipal wastewater handling and disposal. The authors propose respirometric tests to estimate a biomass potential to produce ‘a biogas’ and several years’ laboratory and full scale experience proved its usefulness and reliability both as a measurement and a design tool applicable in sludge handling. Dimensioning method proposed by authors, allows to construct and optimize operation of digestion chambers based on a methanogenic activity.

[Harvest of the carbon source in wastewater by the adsorption and desorption of activated sludge].

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Hong-Bo; Wen, Xiang-Hua; Zhao, Fang; Mei, Yi-Jun

2011-04-01

The carbon source in municipal wastewater was adsorbed by activated sludge and then harvested through the hydrolysis of activated sludge. Results indicated that activated sludge had high absorbing ability towards organic carbon and phosphorus under continuous operation mode, and the average COD and TP absorption rate reached as high as 63% and 76%, respectively. Moreover, about 50% of the soluble carbon source was outside of the sludge cell and could be released under mild hydrolysis condition. Whereas the absorbed amount of nitrogen was relatively low, and the removal rate of ammonia was only 13% . Furthermore, the releases of organic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus from the sludge absorbing pollutants in the wastewater were studied. By comparing different hydrolysis conditions of normal (pH 7.5, 20 degrees C), heating (pH 7.5, 60 degrees C) and the alkaline heating (pH 11, 60 degrees C), the last one presented the optimum hydrolysis efficiency. Under which, the release rate of COD could reach 320 mg/g after 24 hours, whereas nitrogen and phosphorus just obtained low release rates of 18 mg/g and 2 mg/g, respectively. Results indicate that the carbon source in wastewater could be harvested by the adsorption and desorption of activated sludge, and the concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus are low and would not influence the reuse of the harvested carbon source.

Relationships between waste physicochemical properties, microbial activity and vegetation at coal ash and sludge disposal sites.

Science.gov (United States)

Woch, Marcin W; Radwańska, Magdalena; Stanek, Małgorzata; Łopata, Barbara; Stefanowicz, Anna M

2018-06-11

The aim of the study was to assess the relationships between vegetation, physicochemical and microbial properties of substrate at coal ash and sludge disposal sites. The study was performed on 32 plots classified into 7 categories: dried ash sedimentation ponds, dominated by a grass Calamagrostis epigejos (AH-Ce), with the admixture of Pinus sylvestris (AH-CePs) or Robinia pseudoacacia (AH-CeRp), dry ash landfill dominated by Betula pendula and Pinus sylvestris (AD-BpPs) or Salix viminalis (AD-Sv) and coal sludge pond with drier parts dominated by Tussilago farfara (CS-Tf) and the wetter ones by Cyperus flavescens (CS-Cf). Ash sites were covered with soil layer imported as a part of technical reclamation. Ash had relatively high concentrations of some alkali and alkaline earth metals, Mn and pH, while coal sludge had high water and C, S, P and K contents. Concentrations of heavy metals were lower than allowable limits in all substrate types. Microbial biomass and, particularly, enzymatic activity in ash and sludge were generally low. The only exception were CS-Tf plots characterized by the highest microbial biomass, presumably due to large deposits of organic matter that became available for aerobic microbial biomass when water level fell. The properties of ash and sludge adversely affected microbial biomass and enzymatic activity as indicated by significant negative correlations between the content of alkali/alkaline earth metals, heavy metals, and macronutrients with enzymatic activity and/or microbial biomass, as well as positive correlations of these parameters with metabolic quotient (qCO 2 ). Plant species richness and cover were relatively high, which may be partly associated with alleviating influence of soil covering the ash. The effect of the admixture of R. pseudoacacia or P. sylvestris to stands dominated by C. epigejos was smaller than expected. The former species increased NNH 4 , NNO 3 and arylsulfatase activity, while the latter reduced activity of

Activated sludge and activated carbon treatment of a wood preserving effluent containing pentachlorophenol

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Guo, P. H. M

1980-01-01

...; however, PCP removal averaged only 35% and the effluent was toxic to rainbow trout. Treatment of the activated sludge effluent by carbon adsorption resulted in effective PCP removal and non-toxic effluents...

Degradation of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) / hydrolyzed collagen (HC) blends active sludge test.

Science.gov (United States)

Agafiţei, Gabriela-Elena; Pascu, Mihaela; Cazacu, Georgeta; Vasile, Cornelia

2008-01-01

Biodegradable polymers represent a solution for the environment protection: they decrease the landfill space, by declining the petrochemical sources, and offer also an alternative solution for the recycling. The behavior during degradation in the presence of active sludge of some polyvinyl chloride (PVC) based blends with variable content of hydrolyzed collagen (HC) has been followed. Some samples were subjected to UV irradiation, for 30 hours. The modifications induced in the environment by the polymer systems (pH variation, bacterial composition), as well as the changes of the properties of the blends (weight losses, aspect etc.) were studied. During the first moments of degradation in active sludge, all the samples absorbed water, behavior which favored the biodegradation. The bacteriological analysis of the sludge indicates the presence of some microbiological species. Generally, the populations of microorganisms decrease, excepting the sulphito-reducing anaerobic bacteria, the actinomycetes and other anaerobic bacteria. PVC/HC blends are degraded with a significant rate in active sewage sludge. More susceptible for the degradation are the UV irradiated blends. After the migration of the components with a small molecular mass in the environment, the natural polymer is degraded. The degradation effect increases with the content in the natural polymer.

Use of a water treatment sludge in a sewage sludge dewatering process

Science.gov (United States)

Górka, Justyna; Cimochowicz-Rybicka, Małgorzata; Kryłów, Małgorzata

2018-02-01

The objective of the research study was to determine whether a sewage sludge conditioning had any impact on sludge dewaterability. As a conditioning agent a water treatment sludge was used, which was mixed with a sewage sludge before a digestion process. The capillary suction time (CST) and the specific filtration resistance (SRF) were the measures used to determine the effects of a water sludge addition on a dewatering process. Based on the CST curves the water sludge dose of 0.3 g total volatile solids (TVS) per 1.0 g TVS of a sewage sludge was selected. Once the water treatment sludge dose was accepted, disintegration of the water treatment sludge was performed and its dewaterability was determined. The studies have shown that sludge dewaterability was much better after its conditioning with a water sludge as well as after disintegration and conditioning, if comparing to sludge with no conditioning. Nevertheless, these findings are of preliminary nature and future studies will be needed to investigate this topic.

Summary of Pilot-Scale Activities with Mercury Contaminated Sludges (U)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cicero, C.A.; Hutson, N.D.; Zamecnik, J.R.; Smith, M.E.; Miller, D. H.; Ritter, J.A.; Hardy, B.J.; Jantzen, C.M.

1995-01-01

Technologies for treatment of low level mixed wastes (LLMW) are currently being investigated by the Mixed Waste Focus Area (MWFA) of the Department of Energy (DOE). The Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) has been chartered by the MWFA to study vitrification treatment of the wastes through an Office of Technology Development (OTD) Technical Task Plan (TTP). SRTC's efforts have included crucible-scale studies and pilot-scale testing on simulated LLMW sludges, resins, soils, and other solid wastes. Results from the crucible-scale studies have been used as the basis for the pilot-scale demonstrations. One of the streams to be investigated in fiscal year (FY) 1995 by SRTC was a mercury waste. In FY 1995, SRTC performed crucible-scale studies with mercury contaminated soil. This waste stream was selected because of the large number of DOE sites that have an inventory of contaminated or hazardous soil. More importantly, it was readily available for treatment. Pilot-scale studies were to be completed in FY 1995, but could not be completed due to a reduction in funding. Since the main driver for focusing on a mercury waste stream was to determine how the mercury could be treated, a compilation of pilot-scale tests with mercury sludges performed under the guidance of SRTC is provided in this report. The studies summarized in this report include several pilot-scale vitrification demonstrations with simulated radioactive sludges that contained mercury. The pilot-scale studies were performed at the SRTC in the Integrated Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) Melter System (IDMS). The studies involved complete glass and offgas product characterization. Future pilot-scale studies with mercury streams will likely be performed with mercury contaminated soils, sediments, or sludges because of the need to dispose of this technically challenging waste stream. (Abstract Truncated)

Activated sludge process simulator ASP-Sim, Part-1: Bod and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The most commonly used biological treatment of municipal and industrial wastewater is the Activated Sludge Process. The design of activated process is usually done manually; this is ... is a useful tool for predicting the effect of temperature on design and operation of completely mixed activated plant design and operation.

Integral study of sewage sludges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1994-01-01

Sewage sludges are the by-product generated during the treatment process of waste water, and they are conformed by a solid phase which origin is the accumulation of pollutant materials which has been added to water during natural and anthropogenic activities. Its handling is one of the most serious problems faced by water treatment plants which involve the production, gathering, transportation, re utilization and final disposal of sewage sludges. The main purpose of this project is to perform a technical evaluation of the process of sewage sludge irradiation for its possible application as a choice for treatment and final disposal. Irradiation with gammas from Cobalt-60 shows effectiveness in disinfestation of sewage sludges, since they reduce six times the microbial population with a 7 KGy dose. In like manners with doses of 10 KGy is possible to bring down in 70 % the concentration of organic compounds, as well as to eliminate the presence of 6 to 22 organic compounds on samples of sewage sludges. The whole content of this work is presented in six sections: Introduction, Antecedents, Methodology, Conclusions, Suggestions and Bibliography. (Author)

Effect of process variables on the production of Polyhydroxyalkanoates by activated sludge

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mokhtarani Nader

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract Polyhydroxyalkanoates are known to be temporarily stored by microorganisms in activated sludge, especially in anaerobic-aerobic processes. Due to the problems resulted from the disposals of plastic wastes and excess sludge of wastewater treatment plants, the production of polyhydroxyalkanoates by treating activated sludge and determining the effect of process variables were the main issues of this paper. In this research, an anaerobic-aerobic sequencing batch reactor was used to make microorganism adapted and a batch aerobic reactor was used for enriching them. The variables affecting polyhydroxyalkanoates production including aeration time, sludge retention time, and volatile fatty acids concentration of the influent in sequencing batch reactor, and also carbon to nitrogen ratio and cultivation time in polymer production reactor, were investigated using Taguchi statistical approach to determine optimum conditions. The maximum polymer production of 29% was achieved at sludge retention time of 5–10 days, aeration time of 2 hours, supplementation of 40% of volatile fatty acids in the influent and increasing of carbon to nitrogen ratio of polymer production reactor to above 25 g/g. Based on the results, in optimum conditions, the volatile fatty acids concentration which increased the production of polyhydroxyalkanoates up to 49% was the most effective variable. Carbon to nitrogen ratio, sludge retention time and aeration time were ranked as the next affecting parameters. Although the polyhydroxyalkanoates content achieved in present study is much lower than that by pure culture, but the proposed method may still serve well as an environmental friendly means to convert waste into valuable product.

Effect of Process Variables on the Production of Polyhydroxyalkanoates by Activated Sludge

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nader Mokhtarani

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Polyhydroxyalkanoates are known to be temporarily stored by microorganisms in activated sludge, especially in anaerobic-aerobic processes. Due to the problems resulted from the disposals of plastic wastes and excess sludge of wastewater treatment plants, the production of polyhydroxyalkanoates by treating activated sludge anddetermining the effect of process variables were the main issues of this paper. In this research, an anaerobic-aerobic sequencing batch reactor was used to make microorganism adapted and a batch aerobic reactor was used for enriching them. The variables affecting polyhydroxyalkanoates production including aeration time, sludge retention time, and volatile fatty acids concentration of the influent in sequencing batch reactor, and also carbon to nitrogenratio and cultivation time in polymer production reactor, were investigated using Taguchi statistical approach to determine optimum conditions. The maximum polymer production of 29% was achieved at sludge retention time of 5–10 days, aeration time of 2 hours, supplementation of 40% of volatile fatty acids in the influent and increasing of carbon to nitrogen ratio of polymer production reactor to above 25 g/g. Based on the results, in optimum conditions, the volatile fatty acids concentration which increased the production of polyhydroxyalkanoates up to 49% was the most effective variable. Carbon to nitrogen ratio, sludge retention time and aeration time were ranked as the next affecting parameters. Although the polyhydroxyalkanoates content achieved in present study is muchlower than that by pure culture, but the proposed method may still serve well as an environmental friendly means to convert waste into valuable product.

Isolation and Molecular Characterization of Biofouling Bacteria and Profiling of Quorum Sensing Signal Molecules from Membrane Bioreactor Activated Sludge

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Harshad Lade

2014-02-01

Full Text Available The formation of biofilm in a membrane bioreactor depends on the production of various signaling molecules like N-acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs. In the present study, a total of 200 bacterial strains were isolated from membrane bioreactor activated sludge and screened for AHLs production using two biosensor systems, Chromobacterium violaceum CV026 and Agrobacterium tumefaciens A136. A correlation between AHLs production and biofilm formation has been made among screened AHLs producing strains. The 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed the dominance of Aeromonas and Enterobacter sp. in AHLs production; however few a species of Serratia, Leclercia, Pseudomonas, Klebsiella, Raoultella and Citrobacter were also identified. The chromatographic characterization of sludge extract showed the presence of a broad range of quorum sensing signal molecules. Further identification of sludge AHLs by thin layer chromatography bioassay and high performance liquid chromatography confirms the presence of C4-HSL, C6-HSL, C8-HSL, 3-oxo-C8-HSL, C10-HSL, C12-HSL, 3-oxo-C12-HSL and C14-HSL. The occurrence of AHLs in sludge extract and dominance of Aeromonas and Enterobacter sp. in activated sludge suggests the key role of these bacterial strains in AHLs production and thereby membrane fouling.

Isolation and molecular characterization of biofouling bacteria and profiling of quorum sensing signal molecules from membrane bioreactor activated sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Lade, Harshad; Paul, Diby; Kweon, Ji Hyang

2014-02-04

The formation of biofilm in a membrane bioreactor depends on the production of various signaling molecules like N-acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs). In the present study, a total of 200 bacterial strains were isolated from membrane bioreactor activated sludge and screened for AHLs production using two biosensor systems, Chromobacterium violaceum CV026 and Agrobacterium tumefaciens A136. A correlation between AHLs production and biofilm formation has been made among screened AHLs producing strains. The 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed the dominance of Aeromonas and Enterobacter sp. in AHLs production; however few a species of Serratia, Leclercia, Pseudomonas, Klebsiella, Raoultella and Citrobacter were also identified. The chromatographic characterization of sludge extract showed the presence of a broad range of quorum sensing signal molecules. Further identification of sludge AHLs by thin layer chromatography bioassay and high performance liquid chromatography confirms the presence of C4-HSL, C6-HSL, C8-HSL, 3-oxo-C8-HSL, C10-HSL, C12-HSL, 3-oxo-C12-HSL and C14-HSL. The occurrence of AHLs in sludge extract and dominance of Aeromonas and Enterobacter sp. in activated sludge suggests the key role of these bacterial strains in AHLs production and thereby membrane fouling.

THE EFFECT OF THE SLUDGE RECYCLE RATIO IN AN ACTIVATED SLUDGE SYSTEM FOR THE TREATMENT OF AMOL'S INDUSTRIAL PARK WASTEWATER

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

BAHAR HOSSEINI

2008-09-01

Full Text Available An activated sludge aeration tank and a sedimentation basin were used to treat Amol’s industrial park effluents originating from all industrial units. A continuous system was implemented and the kinetic parameters were measured.The parameters such as rate constant, substrate utilization rate constant, yield and decay coefficient were 2.12 d-1, 232.4 mg l-1, 0.33 g/g of substrate and 0.096 d−1, respectively. The hydraulic retention times (HRT were in the range of 9 to 27 h. The sludge recycle ratios in the range from 0.3 to 1 were considered. The COD removal, SVI and DO were determined and the optimal values were obtained. It was observed that at HRT of 16 h and the sludge recycle ratio of 0.85, the COD removal and SVI were 95 and 85 %, respectively. The sludge recycle ratio greater than 0.85 had no significant effect on the COD removal.

Radioactivity in sludge: tank cleaning procedures and sludge disposal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bradley, D.A.

1995-01-01

In the oil and gas industry management of alpha-active sludge is made more complex by the presence of hydrocarbons and heavy metals. This presentation discusses the origin of radioactivity in sludge, management of risk in terms of safe working procedures, storage and possible disposal options. The several options will generally involve aspects of dilution or of concentration; issues to be discussed will include sludge farming, bioremediation and incineration. (author)

Aerobic composting of waste activated sludge: Kinetic analysis for microbiological reaction and oxygen consumption

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamada, Y.; Kawase, Y.

2006-01-01

In order to examine the optimal design and operating parameters, kinetics for microbiological reaction and oxygen consumption in composting of waste activated sludge were quantitatively examined. A series of experiments was conducted to discuss the optimal operating parameters for aerobic composting of waste activated sludge obtained from Kawagoe City Wastewater Treatment Plant (Saitama, Japan) using 4 and 20 L laboratory scale bioreactors. Aeration rate, compositions of compost mixture and height of compost pile were investigated as main design and operating parameters. The optimal aerobic composting of waste activated sludge was found at the aeration rate of 2.0 L/min/kg (initial composting mixture dry weight). A compost pile up to 0.5 m could be operated effectively. A simple model for composting of waste activated sludge in a composting reactor was developed by assuming that a solid phase of compost mixture is well mixed and the kinetics for microbiological reaction is represented by a Monod-type equation. The model predictions could fit the experimental data for decomposition of waste activated sludge with an average deviation of 2.14%. Oxygen consumption during composting was also examined using a simplified model in which the oxygen consumption was represented by a Monod-type equation and the axial distribution of oxygen concentration in the composting pile was described by a plug-flow model. The predictions could satisfactorily simulate the experiment results for the average maximum oxygen consumption rate during aerobic composting with an average deviation of 7.4%

Design and simulation of an activated sludge unit associated to a continuous reactor to remove heavy metals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

D` Avila, J S; Nascimento, R R [Ambientec Consultoria Ltda., Aracaju, SE (Brazil)

1994-12-31

A software was developed to design and simulate an activated sludge unit associated to a new technology to remove heavy metals from wastewater. In this process, a continuous high efficiency biphasic reactor operates by using particles of activated peat in conjugation with the sludge unit. The results obtained may be useful to increase the efficiency or to reduce the design and operational costs involved in a activated sludge unit. (author). 5 refs., 2 tabs.

Design and simulation of an activated sludge unit associated to a continuous reactor to remove heavy metals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

D`Avila, J.S.; Nascimento, R.R. [Ambientec Consultoria Ltda., Aracaju, SE (Brazil)

1993-12-31

A software was developed to design and simulate an activated sludge unit associated to a new technology to remove heavy metals from wastewater. In this process, a continuous high efficiency biphasic reactor operates by using particles of activated peat in conjugation with the sludge unit. The results obtained may be useful to increase the efficiency or to reduce the design and operational costs involved in a activated sludge unit. (author). 5 refs., 2 tabs.

Biodegradation of pharmaceuticals in hospital wastewater by a hybrid biofilm and activated sludge system (Hybas)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Escola Casas, Monica; Chhetri, Ravi Kumar; Ooi, Gordon Tze Hoong

2015-01-01

TM is a hybrid process, based on the integrated fixed-film activated sludge technology, where plastic carriers for biofilm growth are suspended within activated sludge. To investigate the potential of a hybrid system for the removal of pharmaceuticals in hospital wastewater a pilot plant consisting of a series...

Pressurised electro-osmotic dewatering of activated and anaerobically digested sludges: electrical variables analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Citeau, M; Olivier, J; Mahmoud, A; Vaxelaire, J; Larue, O; Vorobiev, E

2012-09-15

Pressurised electro-osmotic dewatering (PEOD) of two sewage sludges (activated and anaerobically digested) was studied under constant electric current (C.C.) and constant voltage (C.V.) with a laboratory chamber simulating closely an industrial filter. The influence of sludge characteristics, process parameters, and electrode/filter cloth position was investigated. The next parameters were tested: 40 and 80 A/m², 20, 30, and 50 V-for digested sludge dewatering; and 20, 40 and 80 A/m², 20, 30, and 50 V-for activated sludge dewatering. Effects of filter cloth electric resistance and initial cake thickness were also investigated. The application of PEOD provides a gain of 12 points of dry solids content for the digested sludge (47.0% w/w) and for the activated sludge (31.7% w/w). In PEOD processed at C.C. or at C.V., the dewatering flow rate was similar for the same electric field intensity. In C.C. mode, both the electric resistance of cake and voltage increase, causing a temperature rise by ohmic effect. In C.V. mode, a current intensity peak was observed in the earlier dewatering period. Applying at first a constant current and later on a constant voltage, permitted to have better control of ohmic heating effect. The dewatering rate was not significantly affected by the presence of filter cloth on electrodes, but the use of a thin filter cloth reduced remarkably the energy consumption compared to a thicker one: 69% of reduction energy input at 45% w/w of dry solids content. The reduction of the initial cake thickness is advantageous to increase the final dry solids content. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of activated sludge treatment and settleability in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Wastewater discharged from the edible oil industry contains a very concentrated amalgamation of organic and inorganic materials making it a problematic effluent to treat. The aim of this study was to evaluate the activated sludge treatment of edible oil effluent from a sunflower oil processing company in KwaZulu-Natal.

Hydrazine Determination in Sludge Samples by High Performance Liquid Chromatography

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

G. Elias; G. A. Park

2006-02-01

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method using ultraviolet (UV) detection was developed to detect and quantify hydrazine in a variety of environmental matrices. The method was developed primarily for sludge samples, but it is also applicable to soil and water samples. The hydrazine in the matrices was derivatized to their hydrazones with benzaldehyde. The derivatized hydrazones were separated using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with a reversed-phase C-18 column in an isocratic mode with methanol-water (95:5, v/v), and detected with UV detection at 313 nm. The detection limit (25 ml) for the new analytical method is 0.0067 mg ml-1of hydrazine. Hydrazine showed low recovery in soil samples because components in soil oxidized hydrazine. Sludge samples that contained relatively high soil content also showed lower recovery. The technique is relatively simple and cost-effective, and is applicable for hydrazine analysis in different environmental matrices.

Identification and quantification of nitrogen nutrient deficiency in the activated sludge process using respirometry

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ning, Z.; Patry, G.G.; Spanjers, H.

2000-01-01

Experimental protocols to identify and quantify nitrogen nutrient deficiency in the activated sludge process were developed and tested using respirometry. Respirometric experiments showed that when a nitrogen nutrient deficient sludge is exposed to ammonia nitrogen, the oxygen uptake rate (OUR) of

Comparison of bioindicator eukaryotes of activated sludge biocenoses on two water-treatment plants: a case study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Achmadulina Farida Y.

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Activated sludge biocenoses were compared on waste-water treatment plants in the city of Kazan, Russian Federation and the city of Teplice, Czech Republic. Based on Palia-Kovnatski index, Acanthamoeba in Kazan, Epistylis in Teplice, and Acanthamoeba and Centropyxis were dominant genera in both plants. The major subdominant generas identified were Arcella, Opercularia and Aspidisca. This indicates high nitrification ability, high water purification potential and matured activated sludge. Chemical composition of the waste-water was identified as the main factor determining the sludge biocenoses diversity. Higher sludge biodiversity (Shannon, Margalef, and Sorensen indexes was found in Kazan corresponding to more concentrated inflow water.

Toxicity evaluation and prediction of toxic chemicals on activated sludge system.

Science.gov (United States)

Cai, Bijing; Xie, Li; Yang, Dianhai; Arcangeli, Jean-Pierre

2010-05-15

The gaps of data for evaluating toxicity of new or overloaded organic chemicals on activated sludge system resulted in the requirements for methodology of toxicity estimation. In this study, 24 aromatic chemicals typically existed in the industrial wastewater were selected and classified into three groups of benzenes, phenols and anilines. Their toxicity on activated sludge was then investigated. Two indexes of IC(50-M) and IC(50-S) were determined respectively from the respiration rates of activated sludge with different toxicant concentration at mid-term (24h) and short-term (30min) time intervals. Experimental results showed that the group of benzenes was the most toxic, followed by the groups of phenols and anilines. The values of IC(50-M) of the tested chemicals were higher than those of IC(50-S). In addition, quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSARs) models developed from IC(50-M) were more stable and accurate than those of IC(50-S). The multiple linear models based on molecular descriptors and K(ow) presented better reliability than single linear models based on K(ow). Among these molecular descriptors, E(lumo) was the most important impact factor for evaluation of mid-term toxicity. Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Impacts of aeration and active sludge addition on leachate recirculation bioreactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dong Jun; Zhao Yongsheng; Henry, Rotich K.; Hong Mei

2007-01-01

Stabilization of municipal solid waste (MSW) is affected by moisture, nutrients, oxygen, pH and accumulation of inhibitory fermentation products, etc. Optimization of these parameters could create a favorable environment that promotes the rapid development of the desired microbial population and acceleration of decomposition of MSW. The objectives of this work was to determine the feasibility of enhancing phase separation through intermittent aeration strategy throughout the treatment process; to demonstrate the potential of active sludge for in situ nitrogen removal; to examine the efficiency and evaluate the possibility of in situ removal of contaminants from leachate. The results indicate that the removal ratio of COD, BOD 5 , NH 4 + and total nitrogen are over 80, 81, 75, and 74%, respectively, in the leachate recirculation reactors with aeration; the removal efficiency of NH 4 + and total nitrogen of the reactor which were added active sludge were 88 and 84%, respectively. Therefore, aeration strategy has positive impacts on the solid waste stabilization; addition of active sludge in reactor is favorable for the remediation of the nitrogen; using landfill itself for in situ attenuating the contaminants from leachate is feasible

Pick up of cesium and cobalt activity by oxide sludge in steam generator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rufus, A.L.; Subramanian, H.; Velmurugan, S.; Santanu Bera; Narasimhan, S.V.; Reddy, G.L.N.; Sankara Sastry, V.

2002-01-01

A pinhole developed near the tube sheet in the steam generator (SG) tube of a pressurised heavy water reactor (PHWR) caused leak of primary coolant containing radioactive contaminants ( 137 Cs, 134 Cs and 60 Co) to the shell side. The sludge collected from the tube sheet region was found to have adsorbed these radionuclides at the high temperature (230-240 deg C) that prevailed in the SG. An attempt has been made to evaluate the quantity of activity retained in the various oxide phases that constitute the sludge and their mode of pick-up. The sludge was characterized by XRD and XPS, which showed the presence of various oxides of iron, copper and nickel along with the silicates of calcium, magnesium and aluminium. Gamma-spectrometry of the sludge confirmed the presence of 137 Cs, 134 Cs and 60 Co to an extent of 7.6, 1.3 and 0.9 μCi/g of sludge, respectively. Selective dissolution in various EDTA based formulations and equilibration with nitric acid and magnesium chloride solutions helped to understand the quantity of activity adsorbed by various constituents of the sludge. It was concluded that a major portion of cesium was picked up by a reversible ion exchange process on various oxide constituents and about 10% by an irreversible specific adsorption process on insoluble silicates. Also, it was proved that 60 Co was specifically adsorbed over the oxides of iron and nickel. (author)

Effects of Metal Nanoparticles on Methane Production from Waste-Activated Sludge and Microorganism Community Shift in Anaerobic Granular Sludge

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Tao; Zhang, Dong; Dai, Lingling; Chen, Yinguang; Dai, Xiaohu

2016-05-01

Extensive use of nanoparticles (NPs) in consumer and industrial products has led to concerns about their potential environmental impacts; however, the influences of different NPs (e.g., nZVI (nano zero-valent iron), Ag NPs, Fe2O3 NPs and MgO NPs) on the anaerobic digestion of sludge have not yet been studied in depth. Additionally, a new guideline or the use of different NPs in the anaerobic digestion of sludge should be established to improve the anaerobic digestion of sludge and avoid inhibitory effects. This study investigated the effects of four representative NPs (i.e., nZVI, Ag NPs, Fe2O3 NPs and MgO NPs) on methane production during the anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge (WAS). The presence of 10 mg/g total suspended solids (TSS) nZVI and 100 mg/g TSS Fe2O3 NPs increased methane production to 120% and 117% of the control, respectively, whereas 500 mg/g TSS Ag NPs and 500 mg/g TSS MgO NPs generated lower levels of methane production (73.52% and 1.08% that of the control, respectively). These results showed that low concentrations of nZVI and Fe2O3 NPs promoted the amount of microbes (Bacteria and Archaea) and activities of key enzymes but that higher concentrations of Ag NPs and MgO NPs inhibited them.

Visible light photocatalytic disintegration of waste activated sludge for enhancing biogas production.

Science.gov (United States)

Anjum, Muzammil; Al-Talhi, Hasan A; Mohamed, Saleh A; Kumar, Rajeev; Barakat, M A

2018-06-15

Biogas production using waste activated sludge (WAS) is one of the most demanding technologies for sludge treatment and generating energy in sustainable manner. The present study deals with the photocatalytic pretreatment of WAS using ZnO-ZnS@polyaniline (ZnO-ZnS@PANI) nanocomposite as means for increasing its degradability for improved biogas production by anaerobic digestion (AD). Photocatalysis accelerated the hydrolysis of WAS and increased the sCOD by 6.7 folds after 6 h and transform tCOD into bioavailable sCOD. After the AD of WAS, a removal of organic matter (60.6%) and tCOD (69.3%) was achieved in photocatalytic pretreated sludge. The biogas production was 1.6 folds higher in photocatalytic sludge with accumulative biogas up to 1645.1 ml L -1 vs after 45 days compared with the raw sludge (1022.4 ml L -1 VS ). Moreover, the photocatalysis decrease the onset of methanogenesis from 25 to 12 days while achieve the maximum conversion rate of reducing sugars into organic acids at that time. These results suggested that photocatalysis is an efficient pretreatment method and ZnO-ZnS@PANI can degrade sludge efficiently for enhance biogas production in anaerobic digestion process. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Can activated sludge treatments and advanced oxidation processes remove organophosphorus flame retardants?

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cristale, Joyce [Department of Environmental Chemistry, IDAEA-CSIC, Jordi Girona 18-2, 08034 Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain); Ramos, Dayana D. [Institute of Chemistry, Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, Av. Senador Filinto Muller, 1555, CP 549, CEP 79074-460 Campo Grande, MS (Brazil); Dantas, Renato F. [Department of Chemical Engineering, University de Barcelona, Marti i Franques 1, 08028 Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain); School of Technology, University of Campinas-UNICAMP, Paschoal Marmo 1888, 13484-332 Limeira, SP (Brazil); Machulek Junior, Amilcar [Institute of Chemistry, Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, Av. Senador Filinto Muller, 1555, CP 549, CEP 79074-460 Campo Grande, MS (Brazil); Lacorte, Silvia [Department of Environmental Chemistry, IDAEA-CSIC, Jordi Girona 18-2, 08034 Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain); Sans, Carme; Esplugas, Santiago [Department of Chemical Engineering, University de Barcelona, Marti i Franques 1, 08028 Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain)

2016-01-15

This study aims to determine the occurrence of 10 OPFRs (including chlorinated, nonchlorinated alkyl and aryl compounds) in influent, effluent wastewaters and partitioning into sludge of 5 wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) in Catalonia (Spain). All target OPFRs were detected in the WWTPs influents, and the total concentration ranged from 3.67 µg L{sup −1} to 150 µg L{sup −1}. During activated sludge treatment, most OPFRs were accumulated in the sludge at concentrations from 35.3 to 9980 ng g{sup −1} dw. Chlorinated compounds tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP), tris(2-chloroisopropyl) phosphate (TCIPP) and tris(2,3-dichloropropyl) phosphate (TDCPP) were not removed by the conventional activated sludge treatment and they were released by the effluents at approximately the same inlet concentration. On the contrary, aryl compounds tris(methylphenyl) phosphate (TMPP) and 2-ethylhexyl diphenyl phosphate (EHDP) together with alkyl tris(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate (TEHP) were not detected in any of the effluents. Advanced oxidation processes (UV/H{sub 2}O{sub 2} and O{sub 3}) were applied to investigate the degradability of recalcitrant OPFRs in WWTP effluents. Those detected in the effluent sample (TCEP, TCIPP, TDCPP, tributyl phosphate (TNBP), tri-iso-butyl phosphate (TIBP) and tris(2-butoxyethyl) phosphate (TBOEP)) had very low direct UV-C photolysis rates. TBOEP, TNBP and TIBP were degraded by UV/H{sub 2}O{sub 2} and O{sub 3}. Chlorinated compounds TCEP, TDCPP and TCIPP were the most recalcitrant OPFR to the advanced oxidation processes applied. The study provides information on the partitioning and degradability pathways of OPFR within conventional activated sludge WWTPs. - Highlights: • OPFRs were detected in wastewater and sludge of all studied WWTPs. • Alkyl and chloroalkyl phosphates were present in secondary treatment effluents. • TBOEP, TNBP and TIBP were degraded by UV/H{sub 2}O{sub 2} and O{sub 3} treatment. • TCEP, TCIPP and TDCPP were

The application of different techniques to determine activated sludge ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The application of different techniques to determine activated sludge kinetic parameters in a food industry wastewater. ... method) and a respirometric technique based on oxygen consumption measurements, were used to compare microbial parameters using a wastewater model system of a potato processing plant.

Aerobic storage under dynamic conditions in activated sludge processes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Majone, M.; Dircks, K.

1999-01-01

In activated sludge processes, several plant configurations (like plug-flow configuration of the aeration tanks, systems with selectors, contact-stabilization processes or SBR processes) impose a concentration gradient of the carbon sources to the biomass. As a consequence, the biomass grows unde...

Sewage sludge ash (SSA in high performance concrete: characterization and application

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. M. A. Fontes

Full Text Available ABSTRACT Sewage sludge originated from the process of treatment of wastewater has become an environmental issue for three main reasons: contains pathogens, heavy metals and organic compounds that are harmful to the environmental and human health; high volumes are daily generated; and shortage of landfill sites for proper disposal. This research deals with the viability study of sewage sludge utilization, after calcination process, as mineral admixture in the production of concrete. High-performance concretes were produced with replacement content of 5% and 10% by weight of Portland cement with sewage sludge ash (SSA. The influence of this ash was analyzed through physical and mechanical tests. Analysis showed that the mixtures containing SSA have lower values of compressive strength than the reference. The results of absorptivity, porosity and accelerated penetration of chloride ions, presents that mixtures containing ash showed reductions compared to the reference. This indicates that SSA provided refinement of the pore structure, which was confirmed by mercury intrusion porosimetry test.

Effects of black liquor shocks on activated sludge treatment of bleached kraft pulp mill wastewater.

Science.gov (United States)

Morales, Gabriela; Pesante, Silvana; Vidal, Gladys

2015-01-01

Kraft pulp mills use activated sludge systems to remove organic matter from effluents. Process streams may appear as toxic spills in treatment plant effluents, such as black liquor, which is toxic to microorganisms of the activated sludge. The present study evaluates the effects of black liquor shocks in activated sludge systems. Four black liquor shocks from 883 to 3,225 mg chemical oxygen demand-COD L(-1) were applied during 24 hours in a continuously operating lab-scale activated sludge system. Removal efficiencies of COD, color and specific compounds were determined. Moreover, specific oxygen uptake rate (SOUR), sludge volumetric index (SVI) and indicator microorganisms were evaluated. Results show that the addition of black liquor caused an increase in COD removal (76-67%) immediately post shock; followed two days later by a decrease (-19-50%). On the other hand, SOUR ranged between 0.152 and 0.336 mgO2 g(-1) volatile suspended solids-VSS• min(-1) during shocks, but the initial value was reestablished at hour 24. When the COD concentration of the shock was higher than 1,014 mg/L, the abundance of stalked ciliates and rotifers dropped. Finally, no changes in SVI were observed, with values remaining in the range 65.8-40.2 mL g(-1) total suspended solids-TSS during the entire operating process. Based on the results, the principal conclusion is that the activated sludge system with the biomass adapted to the kraft pulp effluent could resist a black liquor shock with 3,225 mgCOD L(-1) of concentration during 24 h, under this study's conditions.

Toxicity formation and distribution in activated sludge during treatment of N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) wastewater

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yang, Na; Chen, Xiurong, E-mail: xrchen@ecust.edu.cn; Lin, Fengkai; Ding, Yi; Zhao, Jianguo; Chen, Shanjia

2014-01-15

Highlights: • We studied mechanism of sludge organic toxicity formation in wastewater treatment. • The organic toxicity distributed mainly in the inner section of sludge flocs. • The organic toxicity of sludge increased with DMF initial concentrations increments. • The property of bacteria community correlates significantly with sludge toxicity. -- Abstract: The organic toxicity of sludge in land applications is a critical issue; however, minimal attention has been given to the mechanism of toxicity formation during high-strength wastewater treatment. To investigate the relevant factors that contribute to sludge toxicity, synthetic wastewater with N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) was treated in a sequential aerobic activated sludge reactor. The acute toxicity of sludge, which is characterised by the inhibition rate of luminous bacteria T3, is the focus of this study. Using an operational time of 28 days and a hydraulic retention time of 12 h, the study demonstrated a positive relationship between the acute toxicity of sludge and the influent DMF concentration; the toxicity centralised in the intracellular and inner sections of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in sludge flocs. Due to increased concentrations of DMF, which ranged from 40 to 200 mg L{sup −1}, the sludge toxicity increased from 25 to 45%. The organic toxicity in sludge flocs was primarily contributed by the biodegradation of DMF rather than adsorption of DMF. Additional investigation revealed a significant correlation between the properties of the bacterial community and sludge toxicity.

Dosing of anaerobic granular sludge bioreactors with cobalt: Impact of cobalt retention on methanogenic activity

KAUST Repository

Fermoso, Fernando G.

2010-12-01

The effect of dosing a metal limited anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor with a metal pulse on the methanogenic activity of granular sludge has thus far not been successfully modeled. The prediction of this effect is crucial in order to optimize the strategy for metal dosage and to prevent unnecessary losses of resources. This paper describes the relation between the initial immobilization of cobalt in anaerobic granular sludge cobalt dosage into the reactor and the evolution of methanogenic activity during the subsequent weeks. An operationally defined parameter (A0· B0) was found to combine the amount of cobalt immobilized instantaneously upon the pulse (B0) and the amount of cobalt immobilized within the subsequent 24. h (A0). In contrast with the individual parameters A0 and B0, the parameter A0· B0 correlated significantly with the methanogenic activity of the sludge during the subsequent 16 or 35. days. This correlation between metal retention and activity evolution is a useful tool to implement trace metal dosing strategies for biofilm-based biotechnological processes. © 2010.

Influence of deflocculation on microwave disintegration and anaerobic biodegradability of waste activated sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Ebenezer, A Vimala; Kaliappan, S; Adish Kumar, S; Yeom, Ick-Tae; Banu, J Rajesh

2015-06-01

In the present study, the potential benefits of deflocculation on microwave pretreatment of waste activated sludge were investigated. Deflocculation in the absence of cell lysis was achieved through the removal of extra polymeric substances (EPS) by sodium citrate (0.1g sodium citrate/g suspended solids), and DNA was used as a marker for monitoring cell lysis. Subsequent microwave pretreatment yielded a chemical oxygen demand (COD) solubilisation of 31% and 21%, suspended solids (SS) reduction of 37% and 22%, for deflocculated and flocculated sludge, respectively, with energy input of 14,000kJ/kg TS. When microwave pretreated sludge was subjected to anaerobic fermentation, greater accumulation of volatile fatty acid (860mg/L) was noticed in deflocculated sludge, indicating better hydrolysis. Among the samples subjected to BMP (Biochemical methane potential test), deflocculated microwave pretreated sludge showed better amenability towards anaerobic digestion with high methane production potential of 0.615L (gVS)(-1). Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Production from Activated Sludge Process of Sago Industry Wastewater Using Central Composite Design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. Subha

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Sago industries effluent containing large amounts of organic content produced excess sludge which is a serious problem in wastewater treatment. In this study ozonation has been employed for the reduction of excess sludge production in activated sludge process. Central composite design is used to study the effect of ozone treatment for the reduction of excess sludge production in sago effluent and to optimise the variables such as pH, ozonation time, and retention time. ANOVA showed that the coefficient determination value (R2 of VSS and COD reduction were 0.9689 and 0.8838, respectively. VSS reduction (81% was achieved at acidic pH 6.9, 12 minutes ozonation, and retention time of 10 days. COD reduction (87% was achieved at acidic pH 6.7, 8 minutes of ozonation time, and retention time of 6 days. Low ozonation time and high retention time influence maximum sludge reduction, whereas low ozonation time with low retention time was effective for COD reduction.

Effect of TiO2 nanoparticles on UASB biomass activity and dewatered sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Yadav, Tushar; Mungray, Alka A; Mungray, Arvind K

2017-02-01

The accumulation of the nanowastes in the wastewater treatment plants has raised several concerns; therefore, it is an utmost priority to study the nanoparticle (NP) toxicity in such systems. In this work, the effect of TiO 2 NPs on up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) microflora and their photocatalytic effect on dewatered sludge were studied. We observed 99.98% removal of TiO 2 NPs by sludge biomass within 24 h, though negligible toxicity was found up to 100 mg/L TiO 2 concentration on extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), volatile fatty acid and biogas generation. The low toxicity corresponds to the agglomeration of TiO 2 NPs in UASB sludge. Alterations in dewatered sludge biochemical composition and increase in cell damage were observed upon exposure to sunlight as evidenced by FTIR and fluorescent microscopy, respectively. Results suggest the negligible toxicity of TiO 2 NPs on UASB biomass activity; however, once exposed to open environment and sunlight, they may exert detrimental effects.

Factors impacting biotransformation kinetics of trace organic compounds in lab-scale activated sludge systems performing nitrification and denitrification

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Su, Lijuan; Aga, Diana [Department of Chemistry, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14260 (United States); Chandran, Kartik [Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027 (United States); Khunjar, Wendell O., E-mail: wkhunjar@hazenandsawyer.com [Hazen and Sawyer P.C., Fairfax, VA 22030 (United States)

2015-01-23

Highlights: • We examined TOrC biotransformation kinetics in nitrifying and denitrifying reators. • TOrC biotransformation was linked to heterotrophic and autotrophic activity. • TOrC biotransformation rates were not sensitive to the initial TOrC concentration. • Readily biodegradable organic matter suppressed TOrC biotransformation rates. - Abstract: To predict TOrC fate in biological activated sludge systems, there is a need to accurately determine TOrC biodegradation kinetics in mixed microbial cultures. Short-term batch tests with salicylic acid, 17α-ethinylestradiol, nonylphenol, trimethoprim and carbamazepine were conducted with lab-scale activated sludge cultures in which the initial TOrC concentration (1 mg/L and 0.0005 mg/L) and readily biodegradable substrate concentrations were varied. The results indicate that pseudo-first order kinetic estimates of TOrC are not sensitive (p > 0.05) to the initial TOrC concentration as long as the initial TOrC concentration (S{sub 0}) to biomass (X{sub 0}) ratio (on COD basis) is below 2 × 10{sup −3}. The presence of readily biodegradable organic matter suppresses TOrC biotransformation rates under nitrifying and denitrifying conditions, and this impact can be adequately described using a reversible non-competitive inhibition equation. These results demonstrate the importance of closely mimicking parent reactor conditions in batch testing because biotransformation parameters are impacted by in-situ carbon loading and redox conditions.

Factors impacting biotransformation kinetics of trace organic compounds in lab-scale activated sludge systems performing nitrification and denitrification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Su, Lijuan; Aga, Diana; Chandran, Kartik; Khunjar, Wendell O.

2015-01-01

Highlights: • We examined TOrC biotransformation kinetics in nitrifying and denitrifying reators. • TOrC biotransformation was linked to heterotrophic and autotrophic activity. • TOrC biotransformation rates were not sensitive to the initial TOrC concentration. • Readily biodegradable organic matter suppressed TOrC biotransformation rates. - Abstract: To predict TOrC fate in biological activated sludge systems, there is a need to accurately determine TOrC biodegradation kinetics in mixed microbial cultures. Short-term batch tests with salicylic acid, 17α-ethinylestradiol, nonylphenol, trimethoprim and carbamazepine were conducted with lab-scale activated sludge cultures in which the initial TOrC concentration (1 mg/L and 0.0005 mg/L) and readily biodegradable substrate concentrations were varied. The results indicate that pseudo-first order kinetic estimates of TOrC are not sensitive (p > 0.05) to the initial TOrC concentration as long as the initial TOrC concentration (S 0 ) to biomass (X 0 ) ratio (on COD basis) is below 2 × 10 −3 . The presence of readily biodegradable organic matter suppresses TOrC biotransformation rates under nitrifying and denitrifying conditions, and this impact can be adequately described using a reversible non-competitive inhibition equation. These results demonstrate the importance of closely mimicking parent reactor conditions in batch testing because biotransformation parameters are impacted by in-situ carbon loading and redox conditions

Activated sludge filterability and full-scale membrane bioreactor operation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Krzeminski, P.

2013-01-01

Despite continuous developments in the field of MBR technology, membrane fouling together with the associated energy demand and related costs issues remain major challenges. The efficiency of the filtration process in an MBR is governed by the activated sludge filterability, which is still limitedly

Sorption and release of organics by primary, anaerobic, and aerobic activated sludge mixed with raw municipal wastewater.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Oskar Modin

Full Text Available New activated sludge processes that utilize sorption as a major mechanism for organics removal are being developed to maximize energy recovery from wastewater organics, or as enhanced primary treatment technologies. To model and optimize sorption-based activated sludge processes, further knowledge about sorption of organics onto sludge is needed. This study compared primary-, anaerobic-, and aerobic activated sludge as sorbents, determined sorption capacity and kinetics, and investigated some characteristics of the organics being sorbed. Batch sorption assays were carried out without aeration at a mixing velocity of 200 rpm. Only aerobic activated sludge showed net sorption of organics. Sorption of dissolved organics occurred by a near-instantaneous sorption event followed by a slower process that obeyed 1st order kinetics. Sorption of particulates also followed 1st order kinetics but there was no instantaneous sorption event; instead there was a release of particles upon mixing. The 5-min sorption capacity of activated sludge was 6.5±10.8 mg total organic carbon (TOC per g volatile suspend solids (VSS for particulate organics and 5.0±4.7 mgTOC/gVSS for dissolved organics. The observed instantaneous sorption appeared to be mainly due to organics larger than 20 kDa in size being sorbed, although molecules with a size of about 200 Da with strong UV absorbance at 215-230 nm were also rapidly removed.

Sludge reduction by predatory activity of aquatic oligochaetes in wastewater treatment plants: Science or fiction? A review

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ratsak, C.H.; Verkuijlen, J.

2006-01-01

Biological aerobic wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) produce a lot of excess sludge. The costs for handling this residual product are increasing, so the search for alternative techniques to reduce the amount of sludge has to be continued. Activated sludge consists of inorganic and organic

Enhancing the functional and economical efficiency of a novel combined thermo chemical disperser disintegration of waste activated sludge for biogas production.

Science.gov (United States)

Kavitha, S; Jayashree, C; Adish Kumar, S; Kaliappan, S; Rajesh Banu, J

2014-12-01

In this investigation, an effort was made to pretreat surplus waste activated sludge (WAS) inexpensively by a novel combined process involving thermo chemical disperser pretreatment. This pretreatment was found to be efficient at a specific energy (SE) consumption of 3360.94 kJ/kg TS, with the chemical oxygen demand (COD) solubilization of 20%. This was comparatively higher than thermo chemically treated sludge where the solubilization was found to be 15.5% at a specific energy consumption of 10,330 kJ/kg TS respectively. Higher production of volatile fatty acids (VFA) (675 mg/L) in anaerobic fermentation of pretreated WAS indicates better hydrolysis performance. The biogas production potential of sludge pretreated through this combined technique was found to be 0.455 (L/gVS) and comparatively higher than thermo chemically pretreated sludge. Economic investigation provides 90% net energy savings in this combined pretreatment. Therefore, this combined process was considered to be potentially effective and economical in sludge disintegration. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Improved waste-activated sludge dewatering using sludge/oil ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2014-10-07

Oct 7, 2014 ... 2Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimni-Ro, Seongdong-Gu, Seoul 133-791, ... conventional heating methods in chemical reactions is becom- ... the dewaterability of sludge and reduces the organic matter ..... It is unlikely that this technique will be applied in.

Applicability and trends of anaerobic granular sludge treatment processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lim, Seung Joo; Kim, Tak-Hyun

2014-01-01

Anaerobic granular sludge treatment processes have been continuously developed, although the anaerobic sludge granulation process was not clearly understood. In this review, an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB), an expanded granule sludge blanket (EGSB), and a static granular bed reactor (SGBR) were introduced as components of a representative anaerobic granular sludge treatment processes. The characteristics and application trends of each reactor were presented. The UASB reactor was developed in the late 1970s and its use has been rapidly widespread due to the excellent performance. With the active granules, this reactor is able to treat various high-strength wastewaters as well as municipal wastewater. Most soluble industrial wastewaters can be efficiently applied using a UASB. The EGSB reactor was developed owing to give more chance to contact between wastewater and the granules. Dispersed sludge is separated from mature granules using the rapid upward velocity in this reactor. The EGSB reactor shows the excellent performance in treating low-strength and/or high-strength wastewater, especially under low temperatures. The SGBR, developed at Iowa State University, is one of anaerobic granular sludge treatment processes. Although the configuration of the SGBR is very simple, the performance of this system is similar to that of the UASB or EGSB reactor. The anaerobic sludge granulation processes showed excellent performance for various wastewaters at a broad range of organic loading rate in lab-, pilot-scale tests. This leads to erect thousands of full-scale granular processes, which has been widely operated around the world. -- Highlights: • Anaerobic sludge granulation is a key parameter for maintaining granular processes. • Anaerobic granular digestion processes are applicable for various wastewaters. • The UASB is an economic high-rate anaerobic granular process. • The EGSB can treat high-strength wastewater using expanding granules. • The SGBR is

Comparative study of wastewater treatment and nutrient recycle via activated sludge, microalgae and combination systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Liang; Liu, Jinli; Zhao, Quanyu; Wei, Wei; Sun, Yuhan

2016-07-01

Algal-bacterial synergistic cultivation could be an optional wastewater treatment technology in temperate areas. In this study, a locally screened vigorous Chlorella strain was characterized and then it was used in a comparative study of wastewater treatment and nutrient recycle assessment via activated sludge (AS), microalgae and their combination systems. Chlorella sp. cultured with AS in light showed the best performance, in which case the removal efficiencies of COD, NH3-N and TP were 87.3%, 99.2% and 83.9%, respectively, within a short period of 1day. Algal-bacterial combination in light had the best settleability. Chlorella sp. contained biomass, could be processed to feed, fertilizer or fuel due to the improved quality (higher C/H/N) compared with sludge. PCR-DGGE analysis shows that two types of rhizobacteria, namely, Pseudomonas putida and Flavobacterium hauense were enriched in sludge when cultured with algae in light, serving as the basics for artificial consortium construction for improved wastewater treatment. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Co-fermentation of sewage sludge with ryegrass for enhancing hydrogen production: Performance evaluation and kinetic analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Guang; Wang, Jianlong

2017-11-01

The low C/N ratio and low carbohydrate content of sewage sludge limit its application for fermentative hydrogen production. In this study, perennial ryegrass was added as the co-substrate into sludge hydrogen fermentation with different mixing ratios for enhancing hydrogen production. The results showed that the highest hydrogen yield of 60mL/g-volatile solids (VS) added was achieved when sludge/perennial ryegrass ratio was 30:70, which was 5 times higher than that from sole sludge. The highest VS removal of 21.8% was also achieved when sludge/perennial ryegrass ratio was 30:70, whereas VS removal from sole sludge was only 0.7%. Meanwhile, the co-fermentation system simultaneously improved hydrogen production efficiency and organics utilization of ryegrass. Kinetic analysis showed that the Cone model fitted hydrogen evolution better than the modified Gompertz model. Furthermore, hydrogen yield and VS removal increased with the increase of dehydrogenase activity. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Organics removal from landfill leachate and activated sludge production in SBR reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Klimiuk, Ewa; Kulikowska, Dorota

2006-01-01

This study is aimed at estimating organic compounds removal and sludge production in SBR during treatment of landfill leachate. Four series were performed. At each series, experiments were carried out at the hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 12, 6, 3 and 2 d. The series varied in SBR filling strategies, duration of the mixing and aeration phases, and the sludge age. In series 1 and 2 (a short filling period, mixing and aeration phases in the operating cycle), the relationship between organics concentration (COD) in the leachate treated and HRT was pseudo-first-order kinetics. In series 3 (with mixing and aeration phases) and series 4 (only aeration phase) with leachate supplied by means of a peristaltic pump for 4 h of the cycle (filling during reaction period) - this relationship was zero-order kinetics. Activated sludge production expressed as the observed coefficient of biomass production (Y obs ) decreased correspondingly with increasing HRT. The smallest differences between reactors were observed in series 3 in which Y obs was almost stable (0.55-0.6 mg VSS/mg COD). The elimination of the mixing phase in the cycle (series 4) caused the Y obs to decrease significantly from 0.32 mg VSS/mg COD at HRT 2 d to 0.04 mg VSS/mg COD at HRT 12 d. The theoretical yield coefficient Y accounted for 0.534 mg VSS/mg COD (series 1) and 0.583 mg VSS/mg COD (series 2). In series 3 and 4, it was almost stable (0.628 mg VSS/mg COD and 0.616 mg VSS/mg COD, respectively). After the elimination of the mixing phase in the operating cycle, the specific biomass decay rate increased from 0.006 d -1 (series 3) to 0.032 d -1 (series 4). The operating conditions employing mixing/aeration or only aeration phases enable regulation of the sludge production. The SBRs operated under aerobic conditions are more favourable at a short hydraulic retention time. At long hydraulic retention time, it can lead to a decrease in biomass concentration in the SBR as a result of cell decay. On the contrary

Exploiting the energy potential of waste activated sludge with MicroSludge[Manure, biosolids, and organic industrial/commercial residuals in land applications programs : improving beneficial reuse and protection of water quality

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stephenson, R.; Laliberte, S. [Paradigm Environmental Technologies, Vancouver, BC (Canada); Nemeth, L. [Earth Tech Canada Inc., Burnaby, BC (Canada)

2007-07-01

When waste activated sludge (WAS) is efficiently converted to biogas through anaerobic digestion, the energy potential and economic value of WAS can be exploited. This paper discussed the chemical and pressure pre-treatment process using MicroSludge. MicroSludge uses alkaline pre-treatment to weaken cell membranes and a high-pressure homogenizer to liquefy the cells, enabling the anaerobic digester to work at a higher rate and more efficiently, destroying pathogens and generating less biosolids for disposal, with corresponding higher volumes of methane from which to generate added electrical power and/or produce added heat. MicroSludge was demonstrated at the Chilliwack waste water treatment plant (WWTP), located 115 km east of Vancouver. The paper provided a description of the Chilliwack WWTP and discussed the application of MicroSludge at a full-scale prototype plant. The MicroSludge plant was capable of pre-treating all of the waste secondary sludge generated at the Chilliwack WWTP prior to anaerobic digestion. The paper also discussed digester hydraulic retention time; scanning electron microscope images; temperature; pH; mass loading of primary sludge and waste activated sludge; total volatile solids concentrations; and digester gas composition. Operating and maintenance costs were also outlined along with electrical power costs, maintenance costs and chemical costs. Last, the paper presented the energy benefits for WWTPs when using MicroSludge. It was concluded that the economic benefits of MicroSludge are greater for plants with higher biosolids disposal costs and higher electrical utility costs. 6 refs., 8 tabs., 10 figs.

Enhancement of biogas production from sewage sludge by addition of grease trap sludge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grosser, A.; Neczaj, E.

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Addition of grease trap sludge is interesting option for sewage sludge digestion. • Co-digestion of grease trap sludge and sewage sludge improved efficiency of process. • The anaerobic digestion can be carried out at short hydraulic retention time. • Long chain fatty acids concentration was below the ranges for inhibition of anaerobic digestion. - Abstract: Despite having many benefits, a low degree of volatile solids removal as well as long retention time are the main factors limiting the performance of the anaerobic digestion. Co-digestion of sewage sludge with other organic waste (for example fat rich materials) is one of the few potential ways to enhance the performance of the anaerobic digestion. In this article, the effects of adding fatty rich materials on the performance and stability of semi-continuous anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge were investigated on a 6 l laboratory-scale reactor (working volume equal to 5.5 l). The reactor was operated in a semi-continuous mode with a hydraulic retention time of 10 days. The data presented in this paper relate to the period in which the grease trap sludge accounted for 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18% of the mixture on the volatile solids basis. The results clearly indicate that the addition of fat rich materials like grease trap sludge can lead to a satisfactory increase in biogas yield in digester treating sewage sludge. The results showed that co-digestion can enhance the biogas yield by 28–82% compared to anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge alone (control sample). Moreover, the addition of grease trap sludge to digesters resulted in increased volatile solids removal from 44.38% (control sample) to 57.77% (feedstock with 14% addition of grease trap sludge). It was found that the increase of grease trap sludge in the feedstock had a direct impact on the biogas production and methane yield. This proposal has also been confirmed by statistical analysis such as Pearson correlation coefficients and

Application of electrochemical peroxidation (ECP) process for waste-activated sludge stabilization and system optimization using response surface methodology (RSM).

Science.gov (United States)

Gholikandi, Gagik Badalians; Kazemirad, Khashayar

2018-03-01

In this study, the performance of the electrochemical peroxidation (ECP) process for removing the volatile suspended solids (VSS) content of waste-activated sludge was evaluated. The Fe 2+ ions required by the process were obtained directly from iron electrodes in the system. The performance of the ECP process was investigated in various operational conditions employing a laboratory-scale pilot setup and optimized by response surface methodology (RSM). According to the results, the ECP process showed its best performance when the pH value, current density, H 2 O 2 concentration and the retention time were 3, 3.2 mA/cm 2 , 1,535 mg/L and 240 min, respectively. In these conditions, the introduced Fe 2+ concentration was approximately 500 (mg/L) and the VSS removal efficiency about 74%. Moreover, the results of the microbial characteristics of the raw and the stabilized sludge demonstrated that the ECP process is able to remove close to 99.9% of the coliforms in the raw sludge during the stabilization process. The energy consumption evaluation showed that the required energy of the ECP reactor (about 1.8-2.5 kWh (kg VSS removed) -1 ) is considerably lower than for aerobic digestion, the conventional waste-activated sludge stabilization method (about 2-3 kWh (kg VSS removed) -1 ). The RSM optimization process showed that the best operational conditions of the ECP process comply with the experimental results, and the actual and the predicted results are in good conformity with each other. This feature makes it possible to predict the introduced Fe 2+ concentrations into the system and the VSS removal efficiency of the process precisely.

Lipid profiling in sewage sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Fenfen; Wu, Xuemin; Zhao, Luyao; Liu, Xiaohui; Qi, Juanjuan; Wang, Xueying; Wang, Jiawei

2017-06-01

High value-added reutilization of sewage sludge from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is essential in sustainable development in WWTPs. However, despite the advantage of high value reutilization, this process must be based on a detailed study of organics in sludge. We used the methods employed in life sciences to determine the profile of lipids (cellular lipids, free fatty acids (FFAs), and wax/gum) in five sludge samples obtained from three typical WWTPs in Beijing; these samples include one sludge sample from a primary sedimentation tank, two activated sludge samples from two Anaerobic-Anoxic-Oxic (A2/O) tanks, and two activated sludge samples from two membrane bioreactor tanks. The percentage of total raw lipids varied from 2.90% to 12.3%. Sludge from the primary sedimentation tank showed the highest concentrations of lipid, FFA, and wax/gum and the second highest concentration of cellular lipids. All activated sludge contained an abundance of cellular lipids (>54%). Cells in sludge can from plants, animals, microbes and so on in wastewater. Approximately 14 species of cellular lipids were identified, including considerable high value-potential ceramide (9567-38774 mg/kg), coenzyme (937-3897 mg/kg), and some phosphatidylcholine (75-548 mg/kg). The presence of those lipid constituents would thus require a wider range of recovery methods for sludge. Both cellular lipids and FFAs contain an abundance of C16-C18 lipids at high saturation level, and they serve as good resources for biodiesel production. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dosing of anaerobic granular sludge bioreactors with cobalt: Impact of cobalt retention on methanogenic activity

KAUST Repository

Fermoso, Fernando G.; Bartacek, Jan; Manzano, Ramon; van Leeuwen, Herman P.; Lens, Piet N.L.

2010-01-01

The effect of dosing a metal limited anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor with a metal pulse on the methanogenic activity of granular sludge has thus far not been successfully modeled. The prediction of this effect is crucial in order to optimize

Application of a novel functional gene microarray to probe the functional ecology of ammonia oxidation in nitrifying activated sludge.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael D Short

Full Text Available We report on the first study trialling a newly-developed, functional gene microarray (FGA for characterising bacterial and archaeal ammonia oxidisers in activated sludge. Mixed liquor (ML and media biofilm samples from a full-scale integrated fixed-film activated sludge (IFAS plant were analysed with the FGA to profile the diversity and relative abundance of ammonia-oxidising archaea and bacteria (AOA and AOB respectively. FGA analyses of AOA and AOB communities revealed ubiquitous distribution of AOA across all samples - an important finding for these newly-discovered and poorly characterised organisms. Results also revealed striking differences in the functional ecology of attached versus suspended communities within the IFAS reactor. Quantitative assessment of AOB and AOA functional gene abundance revealed a dominance of AOB in the ML and approximately equal distribution of AOA and AOB in the media-attached biofilm. Subsequent correlations of functional gene abundance data with key water quality parameters suggested an important functional role for media-attached AOB in particular for IFAS reactor nitrification performance and indicate possible functional redundancy in some IFAS ammonia oxidiser communities. Results from this investigation demonstrate the capacity of the FGA to resolve subtle ecological shifts in key microbial communities in nitrifying activated sludge and indicate its value as a tool for better understanding the linkages between the ecology and performance of these engineered systems.

MiDAS Field Guide – a Comprehensive Online Source of Information About the Microbes of Activated Sludge

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nierychlo, Marta; McIlroy, Simon Jon; Saunders, Aaron Marc

this information in MiDAS field guide (www.midasfieldguide.org). MiDAS taxonomy gives a solid foundation for the study of microbial ecology of the wastewater treatment processes. The online MiDAS field guide links the identity of genera that are important for the wastewater treatment process to details about...... guide to the microbes of activated sludge by comparing microbial community composition in 32 WWTPs located worldwide. This will facilitate a better understanding of the ecology of the ecosystem of activated sludge. Reference: McIlroy et al. MiDAS: the field guide to the microbes of activated sludge...... on a survey of 25 full-scale Danish wastewater treatment plants over 6 years and using MiDAS taxonomy, we have collected more than 150 key organisms in activated sludge wastewater treatment systems, linked their identity with available information on their function and distribution and included...

Influence of microbial acitivity on the stability of activated sludge flocs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wilén, Britt-Marie; Nielsen, Jeppe Lund; Keiding, Kristian

2000-01-01

. These results strongly suggested that microorganisms using oxygen and/or nitrate as electron acceptors were important for maintaining the floc strength. The increase in turbidity under deflocculation was well correlated with the number of bacteria and concentration of protein, humic substances and carbohydrates...... sludge. Furthermore, the importance of Fe(III) for the floc strength was illustrated by removal of Fe(III) from the sludge matrix by adding sulphide, which resulted in strong deflocculation. Thus, the deflocculation observed could be either directly due to lack of aerobic microbial activity or indirectly...

Use of Lecane rotifers for limiting Thiothrix filamentous bacteria in bulking activated sludge in a dairy wastewater treatment plant

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kowalska Ewa

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Excessive growth of filamentous bacteria is a serious problem in many dairy wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs. The objective of the study was to determine whether Lecane inermis rotifers were able to reduce the density of Thiothrix bacteria in activated sludge originating from a dairy WWTP, as well as to identify the impact of rotifers on other organisms in sludge. On a laboratory scale, three experiments were conducted in which activated sludge with a predominance of Thiothrix was inoculated with rotifers at an initial concentration of app. 600 individuals/mL. The results showed that the rotifers, by feeding on the bacterium filaments, are able to reduce significantly the quantity of Thiothrix. A decline in Thiothrix abundance coincided with an improvement of the sedimentation properties of activated sludge. In addition, it was proven that Lecane inermis did not negatively affect the number of Protozoa and Metazoa in activated sludge.

Calibration of a complex activated sludge model for the full-scale wastewater treatment plant

OpenAIRE

Liwarska-Bizukojc, Ewa; Olejnik, Dorota; Biernacki, Rafal; Ledakowicz, Stanislaw

2011-01-01

In this study, the results of the calibration of the complex activated sludge model implemented in BioWin software for the full-scale wastewater treatment plant are presented. Within the calibration of the model, sensitivity analysis of its parameters and the fractions of carbonaceous substrate were performed. In the steady-state and dynamic calibrations, a successful agreement between the measured and simulated values of the output variables was achieved. Sensitivity analysis revealed that u...

New insights into co-digestion of activated sludge and food waste: Biogas versus biofertilizer.

Science.gov (United States)

Ma, Yingqun; Yin, Yao; Liu, Yu

2017-10-01

This study explored two holistic approaches for co-digestion of activated sludge and food waste. In Approach 1, mixed activated sludge and food waste were first hydrolyzed with fungal mash, and produced hydrolysate without separation was directly subject to anaerobic digestion. In Approach 2, solid generated after hydrolysis of food waste by fungal mash was directly converted to biofertilizer, while separated liquid with high soluble COD concentration was further co-digested with activated sludge for biomethane production. Although the potential energy produced from Approach 1 was about 1.8-time higher than that from Approach 2, the total economic revenue generated from Approach 2 was about 1.9-fold of that from Approach 1 due to high market value of biofertilizer. It is expected that this study may lead to a paradigm shift in biosolid management towards environmental and economic sustainability. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comparison between ozone and ultrasound disintegration on sludge anaerobic digestion.

Science.gov (United States)

Braguglia, C M; Gianico, A; Mininni, G

2012-03-01

This paper deals with the comparison of ultrasound (mechanical) and ozone (chemical) pre-treatment on the performances of excess sludge semi-continuous digestion. Sludge solubilisation has been investigated by varying specific energy input. For each pre-treatment, long anaerobic digestion tests were carried out by two parallel digesters: one reactor, as control unit, was fed with untreated waste activated sludge, and the other one was fed with disintegrated sludge. To evaluate and compare the efficacy of both pre-treatments, the specific energy was maintained approximately the same. The digestion tests were carried out to investigate the feasibility of anaerobic digestion performance (total biogas production, volatile solids removal, sludge dewaterability) and to assess the heat balance. Results obtained from the digestion of sonicated sludge at 4% disintegration degree (≈ 2500 kJ/kg TS) showed that the ultrasound pre-treatment may be effective both in increasing VS destruction (+19%) and cumulative biogas production (+26%). On the contrary, the digestion test with ozonized sludge (ozone dose of 0.05 g O(3)/g TS corresponding to ≈ 2000 kJ/kg TS) did not indicate a significant improvement on the digestion performances. By doubling the ozone dose an improvement in the organics removal and cumulative biogas production was observed. Relevant differences in terms of colloidal charge and filterability were discussed. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development of a test method to access the sludge reduction potential of aquatic organisms in activated sludge

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Buijs, B.R.; Klapwijk, A.; Elissen, H.J.H.; Rulkens, W.H.

2008-01-01

This article shows the development of a quantitative sludge reduction test method, which uses the sludge consuming aquatic worm Lumbriculus variegatus (Oligochaeta, Lumbriculidae). Essential for the test are sufficient oxygen supply and the presence of a non-stirred layer of sludge for burrowing of

Combining high-rate aerobic wastewater treatment with anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge at a pulp and paper mill.

Science.gov (United States)

Magnusson, Björn; Ekstrand, Eva-Maria; Karlsson, Anna; Ejlertsson, Jörgen

2018-05-01

The activated sludge process within the pulp and paper industry is generally run to minimize the production of waste activated sludge (WAS), leading to high electricity costs from aeration and relatively large basin volumes. In this study, a pilot-scale activated sludge process was run to evaluate the concept of treating the wastewater at high rate with a low sludge age. Two 150 L containers were used, one for aeration and one for sedimentation and sludge return. The hydraulic retention time was decreased from 24 hours to 7 hours, and the sludge age was lowered from 12 days to 2-4 days. The methane potential of the WAS was evaluated using batch tests, as well as continuous anaerobic digestion (AD) in 4 L reactors in mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. Wastewater treatment capacity was increased almost four-fold at maintained degradation efficiency. The lower sludge age greatly improved the methane potential of the WAS in batch tests, reaching 170 NmL CH 4 /g VS at a sludge age of 2 days. In addition, the continuous AD showed a higher methane production at thermophilic conditions. Thus, the combination of high-rate wastewater treatment and AD of WAS is a promising option for the pulp and paper industry.

Effect of Dissolved Air Flotation Process on Thickening of Activated Sludge

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Atamaleki A.

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Aims: Sludge is an inescapable component of all wastewaters that originated from their treatment. dissolved air flotation (DAF process as an alternative clarifier is used in treatment of drinking water, pretreatment of wastewater, and as a phase separator in sludge activation processes. This study aimed to calibrated the usage of DAF process in a laboratory scale and under various conditions, to achieve the optimum efficiency in recycling the activated sludge. Instrument & Methods: In this experimental study, of Kashan's Shahid Beheshti hospital and immediately transported to the laboratory. The optimal dose of polyaluminum chloride coagulant and pH was determined and then applied in DAF process. Finally turbidity, electrical conductivity (EC and total solids (TS parameters were measured and compared with control sample. Findings: The optimal pH and optimal dose of coagulant were 6.5 and 25mg/l, respectively. Also Optimal process efficiency to reduce EC, TS and turbidity parameters were 23.4, 44.5 and 88%, respectively. Conclusion: Dissolved air flotation process removes the turbidity, EC and TS effectively; however, it has minimal impact on EC and TS.

Free nitrous acid pre-treatment of waste activated sludge enhances volatile solids destruction and improves sludge dewaterability in continuous anaerobic digestion.

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Wei; Wang, Qilin; Zhang, Liguo; Laloo, Andrew; Duan, Haoran; Batstone, Damien J; Yuan, Zhiguo

2018-03-01

Previous work has demonstrated that pre-treatment of waste activated sludge (WAS) with free nitrous acid (FNA i.e. HNO 2 ) enhances the biodegradability of WAS, identified by a 20-50% increase in specific methane production in biochemical methane potential (BMP) tests. This suggests that FNA pre-treatment would enhance the destruction of volatile solids (VS) in an anaerobic sludge digester, and reduce overall sludge disposal costs, provided that the dewaterability of the digested sludge is not negatively affected. This study experimentally evaluates the impact of FNA pre-treatment on the VS destruction in anaerobic sludge digestion and on the dewaterability of digested sludge, using continuously operated bench-scale anaerobic digesters. Pre-treatment of full-scale WAS for 24 h at an FNA concentration of 1.8 mg NN/L enhanced VS destruction by 17 ± 1% (from 29.2 ± 0.9% to 34.2 ± 1.1%) and increased dewaterability (centrifuge test) from 12.4 ± 0.4% to 14.1 ± 0.4%. Supporting the VS destruction data, methane production increased by 16 ± 1%. Biochemical methane potential tests indicated that the final digestate stability was also improved with a lower potential from FNA treated digestate. Further, a 2.1 ± 0.2 log improvement in pathogen reduction was also achieved. With inorganic solids representing 15-22% of the full-scale WAS used, FNA pre-treatment resulted in a 16-17% reduction in the volume of dewatered sludge for final disposal. This results in significantly reduced costs as assessed by economic analysis. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sludge busters

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pichon, Max

2010-07-15

Full text: A few years ago, For Earth developed low energy sub-surface aeration systems to increase the biological activity in the wastewater sludge ponds. Then came the idea to introduce probiotic bacteria to really ramp up the process, which promises massive time and cost savings in sludge management. Increasing the volumes of specific bacteria reactivates the sludge, accelerating biological nutrient removal in general and, by tailoring the bacteria, targeting specific organic waste types. The technology is already running at more than 30 councils across NSW and in some commercial settings, such as dairy farms. Shane McKibbin, GM of For Earth, said the 'Probiotic, Low Energy Aeration System' offers considerable upside. “The cost savings have been enormous with some councils, including the work done at Woolgoolga Water Reclamation Plant at Coffs Harbour,” he said. Sludge settling in wastewater treatment plant lagoons is typically pumped out, centrifuged to remove water and then landfilled. In Woolgoolga's case that process was costing Coffs Harbour Water $150 a cubic metre; McKibbin said they've slashed that to a measly $5 a cubic metre. An array of 'industrial air stones' is dropped 1m below the surface to create an oxygenated blanket across the surface, overcoming the tendency of sludge ponds to stagnate. The key though is floating probiotic dosing lines across the surface, which kick-starts the probiotics process. “Previously, some operators just wanted to throw it on with a bucket, so the bacteria would get thrown into one corner of the pond. But since we introduced the dosing system it has really improved the overall performance,” said McKibbin.The dosing pump system automatically applies the bacteria into the dosing line according to a specified program, ensuring the probiotics are spread out across the pond and across the week. “I would say it improves and accelerates the result by 30 per cent,” he adds. “The biggest problem was that

Sludge busters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pichon, Max

2010-01-01

Full text: A few years ago, For Earth developed low energy sub-surface aeration systems to increase the biological activity in the wastewater sludge ponds. Then came the idea to introduce probiotic bacteria to really ramp up the process, which promises massive time and cost savings in sludge management. Increasing the volumes of specific bacteria reactivates the sludge, accelerating biological nutrient removal in general and, by tailoring the bacteria, targeting specific organic waste types. The technology is already running at more than 30 councils across NSW and in some commercial settings, such as dairy farms. Shane McKibbin, GM of For Earth, said the 'Probiotic, Low Energy Aeration System' offers considerable upside. “The cost savings have been enormous with some councils, including the work done at Woolgoolga Water Reclamation Plant at Coffs Harbour,” he said. Sludge settling in wastewater treatment plant lagoons is typically pumped out, centrifuged to remove water and then landfilled. In Woolgoolga's case that process was costing Coffs Harbour Water $150 a cubic metre; McKibbin said they've slashed that to a measly $5 a cubic metre. An array of 'industrial air stones' is dropped 1m below the surface to create an oxygenated blanket across the surface, overcoming the tendency of sludge ponds to stagnate. The key though is floating probiotic dosing lines across the surface, which kick-starts the probiotics process. “Previously, some operators just wanted to throw it on with a bucket, so the bacteria would get thrown into one corner of the pond. But since we introduced the dosing system it has really improved the overall performance,” said McKibbin.The dosing pump system automatically applies the bacteria into the dosing line according to a specified program, ensuring the probiotics are spread out across the pond and across the week. “I would say it improves and accelerates the result by 30 per cent,” he adds. “The biggest problem was that

Fate of xenobiotic compounds and plants activity in reed bed sludge treatment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chen, Xijuan; Pauli, Udo; Rehfus, Stefan

different plants: bulrush (Typha), reed (Phragmites australis) and reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea) were planted into 12 containers with a size of 1m Х 1m X 1m which were builded with 20cm gravel and 50cm sludge to study the plants activity in sludge degradation process, 4 containers were left...

Effects of chemical sludge disintegration on the performances of wastewater treatment by membrane bioreactor.

Science.gov (United States)

Oh, Young-Khee; Lee, Ki-Ryong; Ko, Kwang-Baik; Yeom, Ick-Tae

2007-06-01

A new wastewater treatment process combining a membrane bioreactor (MBR) with chemical sludge disintegration was tested in bench scale experiments. In particular, the effects of the disintegration treatment on the excess sludge production in MBR were investigated. Two MBRs were operated. In one reactor, a part of the mixed liquor was treated with NaOH and ozone gas consecutively and was returned to the bioreactor. The flow rate of the sludge disintegration stream was 1.5% of the influent flow rate. During the 200 days of operation, the MLSS level in the bioreactor with the disintegration treatment was maintained relatively constant at the range of 10,000-11,000 mg/L while it increased steadily up to 25,000 mg/L in the absence of the treatment. In the MBR with the sludge disintegration, relatively constant transmembrane pressures (TMPs) could be maintained for more than 6 months while the MBR without disintegration showed an abrupt increase of TMP in the later phase of the operation. In conclusion, a complete control of excess sludge production in the membrane-coupled bioreactor was possible without significant deterioration of the treated water quality and membrane performances.

Cr(Vi) reduction capacity of activated sludge as affected by nitrogen and carbon sources, microbial acclimation and cell multiplication

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ferro Orozco, A.M.; Contreras, E.M.; Zaritzky, N.E.

2010-01-01

The objectives of the present work were: (i) to analyze the capacity of activated sludge to reduce hexavalent chromium using different carbon sources as electron donors in batch reactors, (ii) to determine the relationship between biomass growth and the amount of Cr(VI) reduced considering the effect of the nitrogen to carbon source ratio, and (iii) to determine the effect of the Cr(VI) acclimation stage on the performance of the biological chromium reduction assessing the stability of the Cr(VI) reduction capacity of the activated sludge. The highest specific Cr(VI) removal rate (q Cr ) was attained with cheese whey or lactose as electron donors decreasing in the following order: cheese whey ∼ lactose > glucose > citrate > acetate. Batch assays with different nitrogen to carbon source ratio demonstrated that biological Cr(VI) reduction is associated to the cell multiplication phase; as a result, maximum Cr(VI) removal rates occur when there is no substrate limitation. The biomass can be acclimated to the presence of Cr(VI) and generate new cells that maintain the ability to reduce chromate. Therefore, the activated sludge process could be applied to a continuous Cr(VI) removal process.

Extraction of bioflocculants from activated sludge and their application to wastewater treatment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vasilieva Zh. V.

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS – biopolymers produced by the microorganisms – are effective flocculants of wastewater pollution and lack the shortcomings of traditional coagulants and flocculants, which can pose direct threat to health and human life, as well as to the sustainable existence of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. EPS do not form secondary contamination of their degradation intermediates, are biodegradable and eco-friendly. Industrial production of bacterial EPS is associated with high cost of growing specific microbial biomass and the functioning of technologies for the synthesis of microbial products. At the same time, there is an underused resource of excess activated sludge, which can be used as cheap substrate for producing bioflocculants and a possible measure to reduce costs. The conducted researches have shown the prospects of extracting EPS from excess activated sludge for their subsequent use as wastewater treatment bioflocculants. EPS extraction has been conducted using three methods: combination of centrifugation processes, extraction using the aqueous solution of disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, and precipitation with isopropyl alcohol (the EDTA method; combination of centrifugation, extraction with (NH22CO, precipitation and ethanol reprecipitation (the (NH22CO method; combination of activated sludge ultrasonic treatment, centrifugation, extraction with glacial acetic acid, and precipitation with acetone (the CH3COOH method. The research has shown that the extraction method affects not only the efficiency of EPS extraction, but also the possibility of EPS application for the purification of certain types of sewage. The (NH22CO method has shown the best extraction efficiency, but at the same time EPSs produced have not be able to perform fish processing wastewater treatment. The EDTA and CH3COOH methods are more preferable for producing efficient bioflocculants for fish processing wastewater

Color pollution control in textile dyeing industry effluents using tannery sludge

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sajjala Sreedhar Reddy

2008-12-01

Full Text Available Effective treatment of dyestuff containing textile dyeing industry effluents require advanced treatment technologies such as adsorption for the removal of dyestuffs. Powdered commercial coal based activated carbon has been the most widely used adsorbent for the removal of dyestuffs from dyeing industry effluents. As an alternative to commercial coal based activated carbon, activated carbon prepared from dried tannery sludge was used as an adsorbent for dyestuff removal from simulated textile dying industry effluent in this study. The color removal performance of tannery sludge derived activated carbon and commercial coal based activated carbon has been investigated using parameters such as adsorbent dosage, initial dye concentration, pH and temperature. It was found that tannery sludge derived activated carbon exhibits dye removal efficiency that is about 80–90 % of that observed with commercial coal based activated carbon. The amount of dye adsorbed on to tannery sludge derived activated carbon is lower compared with commercial activated carbon at equilibrium and dye adsorption capacity increased with increase of initial dye concentration and temperature, and deceasing pH. It was found that the Langmuir isotherm appears to fit the isotherm data better than the Freundlich isotherm. The leachate of heavy metals from tannery sludge derived activated carbon to the environment is very low, which are within the standard limit of industrial effluent and leachable substances.

Short Horizon Control Strategies for an Alternating Activated Sludge Process

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Isaacs, Steven Howard

1996-01-01

Three control strategies allowing improved operational flexibility of an alternating type activated sludge process are presented in a unified model based framework. The control handles employed are the addition rate of an external carbon source to denitrification, the cycle length, and the dissol...

Influence of nanoparticles on the polymer-conditioned dewatering of wastewater sludges.

Science.gov (United States)

Boyle, N J; Evans, G M

2013-01-01

The effect of using small-scale, high surface area, nanoparticles to supplement polymer-conditioned wastewater sludge dewatering was investigated. Aerobically digested sludge and waste activated sludge sourced from the Hunter Valley, NSW, Australia, were tested with titanium dioxide nanoparticles. The sludge samples were dosed with the nanoparticles in an attempt to adsorb a component of the charged biopolymer surfactants present naturally in sludge. The sludge was conditioned with a cationic polymer. The dewatering characteristics were assessed by measuring the specific resistance to filtration through a modified time-to-filter testing apparatus. The solids content of the dosed samples was determined by a mass balance and compared to the original solids content in the activated sludge. Test results indicated that nanoparticle addition modified the structure of the sludge and provided benefits in terms of the dewatering rate. The samples dosed with nanoparticles exhibited faster water removal, indicating a more permeable filter cake and hence more permeable sludge. A concentration of 2-4% nanoparticles was required to achieve a noticeable benefit. As a comparison, the sludge samples were also tested with a larger particle size, powdered activated carbon (PAC). It was found that the PAC did provide some minor benefits to sludge dewatering but was outperformed by the nanoparticles. The solids content of the final sludge was increased by a maximum of up to 0.6%. The impact of the order sequence of particles and polymer was also investigated. It was found that nanoparticles added before polymer addition provided the best dewatering performance. This outcome was consistent with current theories and previous research through the literature. An economic analysis was undertaken to confirm the viability of the technology for implementation at a full-scale plant. It was found that, currently, this technology is unlikely to be favourable unless the nanoparticles can be

Electron beam disinfection of sewage sludge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hashimoto, Shoji

1992-01-01

Electron beam treatment of dehydrated sewage sludge for safe reutilization was performed. Ranges of total bacterial counts and total coliforms in the sludge were from 1.5 x 10 8 to 1.6 x 10 9 and from 2.2 x 10 7 to 1.5 x 10 8 per wet gram, respectively. Total bacterial counts decreased about 5 log cycles after irradiating 5 kGy and irradiation with 2 kGy was enough to kill all coliforms in sewage sludge. The survival curves of total bacteria, obtained by irradiation in oxygen atmosphere, approached to that in nitrogen atmosphere with the increase of sludge thickness. No effects of dose rate and electron energy were found when the sludge layers were thin enough. Continuous disinfection of sewage sludge cake, with the maximum feed rate of 300 kg-sludge/hr, was successfully performed with a Cockcroft-Walton type electron accelerator, a sludge pump and a flat nozzle. (J.P.N.)

Is polymeric substrate in influent an indirect impetus for the nitrification process in an activated sludge system?

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Bin-Bin; Gu, Ya-Wei; Chen, Jian-Meng; Yao, Qian; Li, Hui-Juan; Peng, Dang-Cong; He, Feng

2017-06-01

Different from monomeric substrate, polymeric substrate (PS) needs to undergo slow hydrolysis process before becoming available for consumption by bacteria. Hydrolysis products will be available for the heterotrophs in low concentration, which will reduce competitive advantages of heterotrophs to nitrifiers in mixed culture. Therefore, some links between PS and nitrification process can be expected. In this study, three lab-scale sequencing batch reactors with different PS/total substrate (TS) ratio (0, 0.5 or 1) in influent were performed in parallel to investigate the influence of PS on nitrification process in activated sludge system. The results showed that with the increase of PS/TS ratio, apparent sludge yields decreased, while NO 3 - -N concentration in effluent increased. The change of PS/TS ratio in influent also altered the cycle behaviors of activated sludge. With the increase of PS/TS ratio from 0 to 0.5 and 1, the ammonium and nitrite utilization rate increased ∼2 and 3 times, respectively. The q-PCR results showed that the abundance of nitrifiers in activated sludge for PS/TS ratio of 0.5 and 1 were 0.7-0.8 and 1.4-1.5 orders of magnitude higher than that for PS/TS ratio of 0. However, the abundance of total bacteria decreased about 0.5 orders of magnitude from the former two to the latter. The FISH observation confirmed that the nitrifiers' microcolony became bigger and more robust with the increase of PS/TS ratio. This paper paves a path to understand the role of PS/TS in affecting the nitrification process in biological wastewater treatment systems. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Water reduction in waste-activated sludge by resettling and filtration in batch. Phase (1): pilot-scale experiments to optimize performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Trapote, Arturo; Jover, Margarita; Cartagena, Pablo; El Kaddouri, Marouane; Prats, Daniel

2014-08-01

This article describes an effective procedure for reducing the water content of excess sludge production from a wastewater treatment plant by increasing its concentration and, as a consequence, minimizing the volume of sludge to be managed. It consists of a pre-dewatering sludge process, which is used as a preliminary step or alternative to the thickening. It is made up of two discontinuous sequential stages: the first is resettling and the second, filtration through a porous medium. The process is strictly physical, without any chemical additives or electromechanical equipment intervening. The experiment was carried out in a pilot-scale system, consisting of a column of sedimentation that incorporates a filter medium. Different sludge heights were tested over the filter to verify the influence ofhydrostatic pressure on the various final concentrations of each stage. The results show that the initial sludge concentration may increase by more than 570% by the end of the process with the final volume of sludge being reduced in similar proportions and hydrostatic pressure having a limited effect on this final concentration. Moreover, the value of the hydrostatic pressure at which critical specific cake resistance is reached is established.

Model assisted startup of anaerobic digesters fed with thermally hydrolysed activated sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Batstone, D J; Balthes, C; Barr, K

2010-01-01

This paper presents the use of the IWA ADM1 to predict and interpret results from two full-scale anaerobic digesters fed with thermal hyrolysate (waste activated sludge with a long upstream sludge age) from a Cambi hydrolysis process operating at 165°C and 6 bar-g. The first digester was fed conventionally-though intermittently, while the second was heavily diluted through a substantial component of the evaluation period (110 days). There were a number of important outcomes-related to both model application, and model predictions. Input and inert COD: mass ratio was very important, and was considerably higher than the 1.42 g g⁻¹ used for biomass throughout the IWA activated sludge and anaerobic digestion models. Input COD: VS ratio was 1.6 g g⁻¹, and inert COD: VS ratio was 1.7 g g⁻¹. The model succeeded on a number of levels, including effective prediction of important outputs (degradability, gas flow and composition, and final solids), clarification of the substantial data scatter, prediction of recovery times during operationally poor periods, and cross-validation of the results between digester 1 and digester 2. Key failures in model performance were related to an early incorrect assumption of the COD: VS ratio of 1.42 g g⁻¹, and intermittent high acetate levels, most likely caused by inhibition, and rapid acclimatisation to ammonia. The acute free ammonia limit was found to be 0.008 M NH(3)-N, while the chronic inhibition constant (K(I,NH₃,ac)) was 0.007 ± 0.001 M NH₃-N. Overall, this is a complex system, and application of the model added significant confidence to the initial operational decisions during an aggressive startup on an atypical feed.

Operation performance and granule characterization of upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor treating wastewater with starch as the sole carbon source.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Xueqin; Zhen, Guangyin; Estrada, Adriana Ledezma; Chen, Mo; Ni, Jialing; Hojo, Toshimasa; Kubota, Kengo; Li, Yu-You

2015-03-01

Long-term performance of a lab-scale UASB reactor treating starch wastewater was investigated under different hydraulic retention times (HRT). Successful start-up could be achieved after 15days' operation. The optimal HRT was 6h with organic loading rate (OLR) 4g COD/Ld at COD concentration 1000mg/L, attaining 81.1-98.7% total COD removal with methane production rate of 0.33L CH4/g CODremoved. Specific methane activity tests demonstrated that methane formation via H2-CO2 and acetate were the principal degradation pathways. Vertical characterizations revealed that main reactions including starch hydrolysis, acidification and methanogenesis occurred at the lower part of reactor ("main reaction zone"); comparatively, at the up converting acetate into methane predominated ("substrate-shortage zone"). Further reducing HRT to 3h caused volatile fatty acids accumulation, sludge floating and performance deterioration. Sludge floating was ascribed to the excess polysaccharides in extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). More efforts are required to overcome sludge floating-related issues. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Study on Adsorption of Chromium (VI) by Activated Carbon from Cassava Sludge

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Jinhui; Li, Chuanshu; Yang, Bin; Kang, Sijun; Zhang, Zhen

2018-03-01

In this paper, a new type of adsorbent prepared by waste sludge from alcohol production industry was used to adsorb Cr (VI) in activated carbon from cassava sludge. A series of static adsorption experiments were carried out on the initial concentration of solution Cr (VI), pH value of solution, adsorption time and dosage of adsorbent. The results of single factor experiments show that the removal rate of Cr (VI) increases with the initial concentration of Cr(VI), while the adsorption amount is opposite. When the pH value of the solution is low, the adsorption effect of activated carbon is better.The adsorption time should be controlled within 40-60min. When the activated carbon dosage is increased, the removal rate increases but the adsorption capacity decreases.

Sludge derived fuel technique of sewage sludge by oil vacuum evaporation drying

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Seokhwan; Lim, Byungran; Lee, Sookoo

2010-01-01

Sewage sludge contains high content of organic materials and its water content is also very high about 80% even after filtration process. Landfill as a sludge treatment methods can cause odor problem and leachate production which can derive the secondary contamination of soil and groundwater. The ocean dumping will be prohibited according to the London Convention and domestic stringent environmental regulation. Based on domestic agenda on organic sewage sludge treatment, the ocean disposal will be prohibited from 2012, thus alternative methods are demanded. Sludge derived fuel (SDF) technology can alleviate the emission of greenhouse gas and recover energy from sludge. For proper treatment and SDF production from sludge, the vacuum evaporation and immersion frying technology was adopted in this research. This technology dries moisture in sludge after mixing with oil such as Bunker C oil, waste oil or waste food oil etc. Mixing sludge and oil secures liquidity of organic sludge to facilitate handling throughout the drying process. The boiling temperature could be maintained low through vacuum condition in whole evaporation process. This study was performed to find the optimum operating temperature and pressure, the mixing ratio of sludge and oil. Finally, we could obtained SDF which moisture content was less than 5%, its heating value was over 4,500 kcal/ kg sludge. This heating value could satisfy the Korean Fuel Standard for the Recycle Products. Assessed from the perspective of energy balance and economic evaluation, this sludge drying system could be widely used for the effective sludge treatment and the production of SDF. (author)

METHANOL REMOVAL FROM METHANOL-WATER MIXTURE USING ACTIVATED SLUDGE, AIR STRIPPING AND ADSORPTION PROCESS: COMPARATIVE STUDY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

SALAM K. AL-DAWERY

2015-12-01

Full Text Available An experimental research has been carried out in order to examine the removal of methanol from methanol-water mixtures using three different methods; activated sludge; activated carbon and air stripping. The results showed that the methanol was totally consumed by the bacteria as quickly as the feed entered the activated sludge vessel. Air stripping process has a limited ability for removing of methanol due to strong intermolecular forces between methanol and water; however, the results showed that the percentage of methanol removed using air pressure at 0.5 bar was higher than that of using air pressure of 0.25 bar. Removal of methanol from the mixture with a methanol content of 5% using activated carbon was not successful due to the limited capacity of the of the activated carbon. Thus, the activated sludge process can be considered as the most suitable process for the treatment of methanol-water mixtures.

Substrate utilization and VSS relations in activated sludge processes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Droste, R L; Fernandes, L; Sun, X [Ottawa Univ., ON (Canada). Dept. of Civil Engineering

1994-12-31

A new empirical substrate removal model for activated sludge in continuous flow stirred tank reactor (CFSTR) and sequencing batch reactor (SBR) was developed in this study. This model includes an exponential function of volatile suspended solids to express the active biomass which is actually involved in substrate utilization. Results indicate that the proposed exponential models predict more accurately effluent COD in CFSTR and SBR systems than the first or zero order models. (author). 7 refs., 1 fig., 4 tabs.

Substrate utilization and VSS relations in activated sludge processes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Droste, R.L.; Fernandes, L.; Sun, X. [Ottawa Univ., ON (Canada). Dept. of Civil Engineering

1993-12-31

A new empirical substrate removal model for activated sludge in continuous flow stirred tank reactor (CFSTR) and sequencing batch reactor (SBR) was developed in this study. This model includes an exponential function of volatile suspended solids to express the active biomass which is actually involved in substrate utilization. Results indicate that the proposed exponential models predict more accurately effluent COD in CFSTR and SBR systems than the first or zero order models. (author). 7 refs., 1 fig., 4 tabs.

Sensitivity study of reduced models of the activated sludge process ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2009-08-07

Aug 7, 2009 ... Sensitivity study of reduced models of the activated sludge process, for the purposes of parameter estimation and process optimisation: Benchmark process with ASM1 and UCT reduced biological models. S du Plessis and R Tzoneva*. Department of Electrical Engineering, Cape Peninsula University of ...

REDUCTION OF EXCESS SLUDGE PRODUCTION IN AN ACTIVATED SLUDGE SYSTEM BASED ON LYSIS-CRYPTIC GROWTH, UNCOUPLING METABOLISM AND FOLIC ACID ADDITION

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V. F. Velho

Full Text Available Abstract The following sludge reduction alternatives were tested in wastewater biological reactors: oxic-settling-anaerobic (OSA-process; ultrasonic disintegration (UD; chlorination (CH; 3,3',4',5-tetrachlorosalicylanilide (TCS; and folic acid (FA. Compared to the control system, UD reduced 55% of the sludge production, and greater substrate and nutrient removal efficiency was achieved. CH worsened the sludge settleability and increased the SVI values; the system achieved 25% of sludge reduction. OSA showed 50% and 60% of sludge reduction after 16 and 10 hours under anaerobic conditions, respectively. The observed sludge yield during TCS addition was decreased by 40%, and the sludge settleability worsened. FA presented the highest sludge reduction (75%, and the system improved the nutrient removal efficiency by 30% compared to the control system and maintained the sludge properties. Acute toxicity conducted with Daphnia magna classified the effluent from the sludge reduction systems as non-toxic for discharge into water sources.

Simulation and optimization of a coking wastewater biological treatment process by activated sludge models (ASM).

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Xiaohui; Yang, Yang; Wu, Gaoming; Mao, Juan; Zhou, Tao

2016-01-01

Applications of activated sludge models (ASM) in simulating industrial biological wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are still difficult due to refractory and complex components in influents as well as diversity in activated sludges. In this study, an ASM3 modeling study was conducted to simulate and optimize a practical coking wastewater treatment plant (CWTP). First, respirometric characterizations of the coking wastewater and CWTP biomasses were conducted to determine the specific kinetic and stoichiometric model parameters for the consecutive aeration-anoxic-aeration (O-A/O) biological process. All ASM3 parameters have been further estimated and calibrated, through cross validation by the model dynamic simulation procedure. Consequently, an ASM3 model was successfully established to accurately simulate the CWTP performances in removing COD and NH4-N. An optimized CWTP operation condition could be proposed reducing the operation cost from 6.2 to 5.5 €/m(3) wastewater. This study is expected to provide a useful reference for mathematic simulations of practical industrial WWTPs. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Preparation of thiol-functionalized activated carbon from sewage sludge with coal blending for heavy metal removal from contaminated water.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Juan; Xing, Xing; Li, Jiao; Shi, Mei; Lin, Aijun; Xu, Congbin; Zheng, Jianzhong; Li, Ronghua

2018-03-01

Sewage sludge produced from wastewater treatment is a pressing environmental issue. Mismanagement of the massive amount of sewage sludge would threat our valuble surface and shallow ground water resources. Use of activated carbon prepared from carbonization of these sludges for heavy metal removal can not only minimize and stabilize these hazardous materials but also realize resources reuse. In this study, thiol-functionalized activated carbon was synthesized from coal-blended sewage sludge, and its capacity was examined for removing Cu(II), Pb(II), Cd(II) and Ni(II) from water. Pyrolysis conditions to prepare activated carbons from the sludge and coal mixture were examined, and the synthesized material was found to achieve the highest BET surface area of 1094 m 2 /g under 500 °C and 30 min. Batch equilibrium tests indicated that the thiol-functionalized activated carbon had a maximum sorption capacity of 238.1, 96.2, 87.7 and 52.4 mg/g for Pb(II), Cd(II), Cu(II) and Ni(II) removal from water, respectively. Findings of this study suggest that thiol-functionalized activated carbon prepared from coal-blended sewage sludge would be a promising sorbent material for heavy metal removal from waters contaminated with Cu(II), Pb(II), Cd(II) and Ni(II). Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Long term effects on petrochemical activated sludge on plants and soil. Plant growth and metal absorption

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tedesco, M J; Gianello, C [Rio Grande do Sul Univ., Porto Alegre, RS (Brazil). Dept. de Solos; Ribas, P I.F.; Carvalho, E B [CORSAN-SITEL, Triunfo, RS (Brazil). Polo Petroquimico do Sul. Dept. de Operacao e Manutencao

1994-12-31

An experiment to study the effects of several application rates of excess activated sludge on plants, soil and leached water was started in 1985. Sludge was applied for six years and increased plant growth due to its nitrogen and phosphorous contribution, even though the decomposition rate in soil is low. Plant zinc, cadmium and nickel content increased with sludge application, while liming decreased the amounts of these metals taken up by plants. 9 refs., 8 tabs.

Long term effects on petrochemical activated sludge on plants and soil. Plant growth and metal absorption

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tedesco, M.J.; Gianello, C. [Rio Grande do Sul Univ., Porto Alegre, RS (Brazil). Dept. de Solos; Ribas, P.I.F.; Carvalho, E.B. [CORSAN-SITEL, Triunfo, RS (Brazil). Polo Petroquimico do Sul. Dept. de Operacao e Manutencao

1993-12-31

An experiment to study the effects of several application rates of excess activated sludge on plants, soil and leached water was started in 1985. Sludge was applied for six years and increased plant growth due to its nitrogen and phosphorous contribution, even though the decomposition rate in soil is low. Plant zinc, cadmium and nickel content increased with sludge application, while liming decreased the amounts of these metals taken up by plants. 9 refs., 8 tabs.

Sensitivity study of reduced models of the activated sludge process ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The problem of derivation and calculation of sensitivity functions for all parameters of the mass balance reduced model of the COST benchmark activated sludge plant is formulated and solved. The sensitivity functions, equations and augmented sensitivity state space models are derived for the cases of ASM1 and UCT ...

An activated sludge model for xenobiotic organic micro-pollutants (ASM-X)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Plósz, Benedek; Lehnberg, K.; Dott, W.

2010-01-01

In this paper, we present an evaluation of the process model developed by Plósz et al. (2010a) to predict the fate of antibiotics xenobiotic organic micro-pollutants (XOMs) in activated sludge systems. Instead of spiking the batch reactors with reference substances, observations were made using...... the XOMs content of pre-clarified municipal sewage. Evaluation of the model structure is carried out in dynamic simulations using data obtained in samples taken in a measuring campaign in a full-scale activated sludge wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). Our results suggest that the sorption...... deteriorate; thereby hindering the effluent quality of secondary treatment step, and thereby increasing the XOM mass load on the tertiary treatment step. Besides the impact of different redox conditions, divalent iron-salt dosing used for enhanced phosphorus removal and pH have been identified as potential...

Inoculum development by using activated sludge to remove hydrogen sulphide (H2S through biofiltration*

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Alejandra Mora

2005-07-01

Full Text Available Different activated sludges were used for developing an inoculum able to degrade hydrogen sulphide in a pilot scale biofiltration plant using two different support materials: sugarcane bagasse and this bagasse mixed with pumice stone. Adapting and selecting microbial species which degrade hydrogen sulphide (H2S was aided by adding nutrients plus a specific substrate to the activated sludge. Population variation was monitored within the different trophic groups in the biofiter medium during pilot scale plant operation, a general trend towards sulphur-oxidising bacteria (SOB growth being observed as was a decrease in heterotrophic bacteria, molds and yeasts. The activated sludge which showed the highest substrate degradation speed was selected for standardising inoculum preparation; the different nutritional mediums were evaluated during this process. Measuring some variables for controlling the process led to choosing the pH for determining the proper point of inoculum adaptation for this specific substrate. The inoculation procedure and support characteristics in terms of establishing and developing the microbial species increased biofilter removal efficiency by up to 99% from start-up. Key words: biofilter, activated sludge, adapted microorganisms, sulphur-oxidising bacteria, respirometry. Este artículo es el resultado de un proyecto cofinanciado por Colciencias y desarrollado por un grupo de investigadores vinculados al proyecto a través de las entidades Corporación

K basins sludge removal sludge pretreatment system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chang, H.L.

1997-01-01

The Spent Nuclear Fuels Program is in the process of planning activities to remove spent nuclear fuel and other materials from the 100-K Basins as a remediation effort for clean closure. The 105 K- East and K-West Basins store spent fuel, sludge, and debris. Sludge has accumulated in the 1 00 K Basins as a result of fuel oxidation and a slight amount of general debris being deposited, by settling, in the basin water. The ultimate intent in removing the sludge and fuel is to eliminate the environmental risk posed by storing fuel at the K Basins. The task for this project is to disposition specific constituents of sludge (metallic fuel) to produce a product stream through a pretreatment process that will meet the requirements, including a final particle size acceptable to the Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS). The purpose of this task is to develop a preconceptual design package for the K Basin sludge pretreatment system. The process equipment/system is at a preconceptual stage, as shown in sketch ES-SNF-01 , while a more refined process system and material/energy balances are ongoing (all sketches are shown in Appendix C). Thus, the overall process and 0535 associated equipment have been conservatively selected and sized, respectively, to establish the cost basis and equipment layout as shown in sketches ES- SNF-02 through 08

Radioactivity of sludge in Finland in 1987

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Puhakainen, M.; Rahola, T.

1989-05-01

Sewage sludge from municipal wastewater treatment plants was studied to determine its radionuclide concentrations. Measurements were made to find out whether any radionuclides from the nuclear power stations at Loviisa and Olkiluoto and from hospitals and medical laboratories could be detected in sludge additional to those originating from global and Chernobyl fallout. In the treatment process of water, aluminium sulphate sludge is developed at treatment plants using surface water. This kind of sludge was measured since it also concentrates radionuclides. Fallout nuclides from the Chernobyl nuclear power station after the accident predominated in all sewage sludge samples in Finland. In 1987 six different radionuclides originating from the Chernobyl fallout were detected in sewage sludge. In spring when the snow melted and large quantities of run off water flowed into the treatment plants, the activity concentrations clearly increased, but then started decreasing again. At the end of the year the highest measured 137 Cs activity concentrations were below 1000 Bq kg -1 dry weight. The highest activity concentration in sludge originated from iodine used fro medical purposes

Effects of alkali types on waste activated sludge (WAS) fermentation and microbial communities.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xiaoling; Peng, Yongzhen; Li, Baikun; Wu, Changyong; Zhang, Liang; Zhao, Yaqian

2017-11-01

The effects of two alkali agents, NaOH and Ca(OH) 2 , on enhancing waste activated sludge (WAS) fermentation and short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) accumulation were studied in semi-continuous stirred tank reactors (semi-CSTR) at different sludge retention time (SRT) (2-10 d). The optimum SRT for SCFAs accumulation of NaOH and Ca(OH) 2 adding system was 8 d and 10 d, respectively. Results showed that the average organics yields including soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD), protein, and carbohydrate in the NaOH system were as almost twice as that in the Ca(OH) 2 system. For Ca(OH) 2 system, sludge hydrolysis and protein acidification efficiencies were negatively affected by Ca 2+ precipitation, which was revealed by the decrease of Ca 2+ concentration, the rise of zeta potential and better sludge dewaterability in Ca(OH) 2 system. In addition, Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria were the main microbial functional groups in both types of alkali systems. NaOH system obtained higher microbial quantities which led to better acidification. For application, however, Ca(OH) 2 was more economically feasible owning to its lower price and better dewaterability of residual sludge. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Stoichiometry and kinetics of poly-{beta}-hydroxybutyrate metabolism in aerobic, slow growing, activated sludge cultures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Beun, J.J.; Paletta, F.; Loosdrecht, M.C.M. Van; Heijnen, J.J.

2000-02-20

This paper discusses the poly-{beta}-hydroxybutyrate (PHB) metabolism in aerobic, slow growing, activated sludge cultures, based on experimental data and on a metabolic model. The dynamic conditions which occur in activated sludge processes were simulated in a 2-L sequencing batch reactor (SBR) by subjecting a mixed microbial population to successive periods of external substrate availability (feast period) and no external substrate availability (famine period). Under these conditions intracellular storage and consumption of PHB was observed. It appeared that in the feast period, 66% to almost 100% of the substrate consumed is used for storage of PHB, the remainder is used for growth and maintenance processes. Furthermore, it appeared that at high sludge retention time (SRT) the growth rate in the feast and famine periods was the same. With decreasing SRT the growth rate in the feast period increased relative to the growth rate in the famine period. Acetate consumption and PHB production in the feast period both proceeded with a zero-order rate in acetate and PHB concentration respectively. PHB consumption in the famine period could best be described kinetically with a nth order degradation equation in PHB concentration. The obtained results are discussed in the context of the general activated sludge models.

Microscopic Analysis of Plankton, Periphyton, and Activated Sludge. Training Manual.

Science.gov (United States)

Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC. Office of Water Programs.

This manual is intended for professional personnel in the fields of water pollution control, limnology, water supply and waste treatment. Primary emphasis is given to practice in the identification and enumeration of microscopic organisms which may be encountered in water and activated sludge. Methods for the chemical and instrumental evaluation…

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the conventional activated sludge treatment process: fate and mass balance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Katsoyiannis, Athanasios; Samara, Constantini

2005-01-01

The fate and the mass balance of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) during the conventional activated sludge treatment process were investigated in the wastewater treatment plant of the city of Thessaloniki, northern Greece. The POPs of interest were 7 polychlorinated biphenyls and 19 organochlorine pesticides. Target compounds were determined at six different points across the treatment system: the influent, the effluent of the primary sedimentation tank, the effluent of the secondary sedimentation tank, the primary sludge, the activated sludge from the recirculation stream, and the digested/dewatered sludge. The distribution of POPs between the dissolved and the adsorbed phases of wastewater and sludge was investigated. A good linear relationship between the distribution coefficients, K d , and the octanol-water partition coefficients, K ow , of the solutes was observed only in raw wastewater, suggesting that other factors affect the phase distribution of organic compounds in treated wastewater. For all POPs, a significant increase in partitioning with a decreasing solids concentration was observed, revealing an effect from non-settling microparticles remaining in the 'dissolved' phase during the separation procedure. A good linear relationship was also revealed between logK d and the dissolved organic carbon (DOC) content of wastewater, suggesting that DOC favors the advective transport of POPs in the dissolved phase. Almost all POPs showed good mass balance agreements at both the primary and the secondary treatment. The losses observed for some species could be attributed to biodegradation/biotransformation rather than volatilization. The relative distribution between the treated effluent and the waste sludge streams varied largely among different compounds, with p-p'-DDE being highly accumulated in the waste sludge (98%) but almost 60% of α-HCH remaining in the treated effluent

The effects of modification for contact stabilization activated sludge on EBPR

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hamdy I. Ali

2015-04-01

Available design and research information for the EBPR process were directly related to organic strength, solids and phosphorus content in wastewater. The success of excess biological phosphorus removal (EBPR process is largely dependent on the characteristics of organic carbon present in wastewater. The COD and BOD5 content of wastewater will also determine whether a phosphorus removal EBPR system is required. For this paper, the performance of EBPR was investigated using modified contact stabilization activated sludge pilot plant. The study involved the construction of pilot plant which was setup in Quhafa WasteWater Treatment Plant (WWTP, Al Fayoum, Egypt. Results showed average removal efficiencies of COD, BOD5 and TP are 91%, 92% and 85% respectively.

Rapid adaptation of activated sludge bacteria into a glycogen accumulating biofilm enabling anaerobic BOD uptake.

Science.gov (United States)

Hossain, Md Iqbal; Paparini, Andrea; Cord-Ruwisch, Ralf

2017-03-01

Glycogen accumulating organisms (GAO) are known to allow anaerobic uptake of biological oxygen demand (BOD) in activated sludge wastewater treatment systems. In this study, we report a rapid transition of suspended activated sludge biomass to a GAO dominated biofilm by selective enrichment using sequences of anaerobic loading followed by aerobic exposure of the biofilm to air. The study showed that within eight weeks, a fully operational, GAO dominated biofilm had developed, enabling complete anaerobic BOD uptake at a rate of 256mg/L/h. The oxygen uptake by the biofilm directly from the atmosphere had been calculated to provide significant energy savings. This study suggests that wastewater treatment plant operators can convert activated sludge systems readily into a "passive aeration" biofilm that avoids costly oxygen transfer to bulk wastewater solution. The described energy efficient BOD removal system provides an opportunity to be coupled with novel nitrogen removal processes such as anammox. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Comparison and analysis of membrane fouling between flocculent sludge membrane bioreactor and granular sludge membrane bioreactor.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wang Jing-Feng

Full Text Available The goal of this study is to investigate the effect of inoculating granules on reducing membrane fouling. In order to evaluate the differences in performance between flocculent sludge and aerobic granular sludge in membrane reactors (MBRs, two reactors were run in parallel and various parameters related to membrane fouling were measured. The results indicated that specific resistance to the fouling layer was five times greater than that of mixed liquor sludge in the granular MBR. The floc sludge more easily formed a compact layer on the membrane surface, and increased membrane resistance. Specifically, the floc sludge had a higher moisture content, extracellular polymeric substances concentration, and negative surface charge. In contrast, aerobic granules could improve structural integrity and strength, which contributed to the preferable permeate performance. Therefore, inoculating aerobic granules in a MBR presents an effective method of reducing the membrane fouling associated with floc sludge the perspective of from the morphological characteristics of microbial aggregates.

Fate of sulfonamide antibiotics in contact with activated sludge--sorption and biodegradation.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Sheng-Fu; Lin, Cheng-Fang; Wu, Chien-Ju; Ng, Kok-Kwang; Lin, Angela Yu-Chen; Hong, Pui-Kwan Andy

2012-03-15

The sorption and biodegradation of three sulfonamide antibiotics, namely sulfamethoxazole (SMX), sulfadimethoxine (SDM), and sulfamonomethoxine (SMM), in an activated sludge system were investigated. Experiments were carried out by contacting 100 μg/L of each sulfonamide compound individually with 2.56 g/L of MLSS at 25±0.5 °C, pH 7.0, and dissolved oxygen of 3.0±0.1 mg/L in a batch reactor over different periods of 2 d and 14 d. All sulfonamides were removed completely over 11-13 d. Sorptive equilibrium was established well within the first few hours, followed by a lag period of 1-3 days before biodegradation was to deplete the antibiotic compounds linearly in the ensuing 10 days. Apparent zeroth-order rate constants were obtained by regression analysis of measured aqueous concentration vs. time profiles to a kinetic model accounting for sorption and biodegradation; they were 8.1, 7.9, and 7.7 μg/L/d for SDM, SMX, and SMM, respectively, at activated sludge concentration of 2.56 g/L. The measured kinetics implied that with typical hydraulic retention time (e.g. 6 h) provided by WWTP the removal of sulfonamide compounds from the wastewater during the activated sludge process would approximate 2 μg/L. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Thermo-alkaline pretreatment of waste activated sludge at low-temperatures: effects on sludge disintegration, methane production, and methanogen community structure.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Jaai; Yu, Youngseob; Lee, Changsoo

2013-09-01

Low-temperature thermo-alkaline pretreatment of waste activated sludge (WAS) was studied, within the region of 0-0.2 M NaOH and 60-90°C, for the effects of NaOH concentration and temperature on sludge degradability in anaerobic digestion (AD). Significant disintegration of sludge solids (up to 75.6%) and an increase in methane production (up to 70.6%) were observed in the pretreatment trials. Two quadratic models were successfully generated by response surface analysis (R(2)>0.9, pdisintegration (SD) and methane production (MP) respond to changes in the pretreatment conditions. The maximum responses of SD (77.8%) and MP (73.9% increase over the control) were shown at [0.16 M NaOH, 90°C] and [0.10 M NaOH, 73.7°C], respectively. NaOH addition showed a significant influence on the evolution of methanogen community structure during AD, whereas temperature did not. Aceticlastic Methanosaeta and Methanosarcina speceies were likely the major methanogens. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effect of thermal pretreatment on the biogas production and microbial communities balance during anaerobic digestion of urban and industrial waste activated sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Ennouri, Hajer; Miladi, Baligh; Diaz, Soraya Zahedi; Güelfo, Luis Alberto Fernández; Solera, Rosario; Hamdi, Moktar; Bouallagui, Hassib

2016-08-01

The effect of thermal pre-treatment on the microbial populations balance and biogas production was studied during anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge (WAS) coming from urban (US: urban sludge) and industrial (IS: industrial sludge) wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). The highest biogas yields of 0.42l/gvolatile solid (VS) removed and 0.37l/gVS removed were obtained with urban and industrial sludge pre-treated at 120°C, respectively. Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) was used to quantify the major Bacteria and Archaea groups. Compared to control trails without pretreatment, Archaea content increased from 34% to 86% and from 46% to 83% for pretreated IS and US, respectively. In fact, the thermal pre-treatment of WAS enhanced the growth of hydrogen-using methanogens (HUMs), which consume rapidly the H2 generated to allow the acetogenesis. Therefore, the stable and better performance of digesters was observed involving the balance and syntrophic associations between the different microbial populations. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

INTEGRATED WASTE WATER TREATMENT ACCOMPANIED BY MINIMAL GENERATION OF EXCESSIVE ACTIVATED SLUDGE OR SEDIMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Makisha Nikolay Alekseevich

2012-12-01

ments held. A combination of aerobic and anaerobic processes helps provide the proper quality of integrated biological treatment. Chambers of the aeration reactor are also equipped with the polymer feed of various compositions. Sludge treatment that is also strongly needed was performed by means of aerobic stabilization accompanied by ejecting aeration. The experiment findings demonstrate its substantial effect in terms of both components, including sewage and sludge treatment.

Influence of different anoxic time exposures on active biomass, protozoa and filamentous bacteria in activated sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodriguez-Perez, S; Fermoso, F G; Arnaiz, C

Medium-sized wastewater treatment plants are considered too small to implement anaerobic digestion technologies and too large for extensive treatments. A promising option as a sewage sludge reduction method is the inclusion of anoxic time exposures. In the present study, three different anoxic time exposures of 12, 6 and 4 hours have been studied to reduce sewage sludge production. The best anoxic time exposure was observed under anoxic/oxic cycles of 6 hours, which reduced 29.63% of the biomass production compared with the oxic control conditions. The sludge under different anoxic time exposures, even with a lower active biomass concentration than the oxic control conditions, showed a much higher metabolic activity than the oxic control conditions. Microbiological results suggested that both protozoa density and abundance of filamentous bacteria decrease under anoxic time exposures compared to oxic control conditions. The anoxic time exposures 6/6 showed the highest reduction in both protozoa density, 37.5%, and abundance of filamentous bacteria, 41.1%, in comparison to the oxic control conditions. The groups of crawling ciliates, carnivorous ciliates and filamentous bacteria were highly influenced by the anoxic time exposures. Protozoa density and abundance of filamentous bacteria have been shown as promising bioindicators of biomass production reduction.

A review on sludge dewatering indices.

Science.gov (United States)

To, Vu Hien Phuong; Nguyen, Tien Vinh; Vigneswaran, Saravanamuth; Ngo, Huu Hao

2016-01-01

Dewatering of sludge from sewage treatment plants is proving to be a significant challenge due to the large amounts of residual sludges generated annually. In recent years, research and development have focused on improving the dewatering process in order to reduce subsequent costs of sludge management and transport. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to establish reliable indices that reflect the efficiency of sludge dewatering. However, the evaluation of sludge dewaterability is not an easy task due to the highly complex nature of sewage sludge and variations in solid-liquid separation methods. Most traditional dewatering indices fail to predict the maximum cake solids content achievable during full-scale dewatering. This paper reviews the difficulties in assessing sludge dewatering performance, and the main techniques used to evaluate dewatering performance are compared and discussed in detail. Finally, the paper suggests a new dewatering index, namely the modified centrifugal index, which is demonstrated to be an appropriate indicator for estimating the final cake solids content as well as simulating the prototype dewatering process.

Impact of Coagulant and Flocculant Addition to an Anaerobic Dynamic Membrane Bioreactor (AnDMBR) Treating Waste-Activated Sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Kooijman, Guido; Lopes, Wilton; Zhou, Zhongbo; Guo, Hongxiao; de Kreuk, Merle; Spanjers, Henri; van Lier, Jules

2017-03-23

In this work, we investigated the effects of flocculation aid (FA) addition to an anaerobic dynamic membrane bioreactor (AnDMBR) (7 L, 35 °C) treating waste-activated sludge (WAS). The experiment consisted of three distinct periods. In period 1 (day 1-86), the reactor was operated as a conventional anaerobic digester with a solids retention time (SRT) and hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 24 days. In period 2 (day 86-303), the HRT was lowered to 18 days with the application of a dynamic membrane while the SRT was kept the same. In period 3 (day 303-386), a cationic FA in combination with FeCl₃ was added. The additions led to a lower viscosity, which was expected to lead to an increased digestion performance. However, the FAs caused irreversible binding of the substrate, lowering the volatile solids destruction from 32% in period 2 to 24% in period 3. An accumulation of small particulates was observed in the sludge, lowering the average particle size by 50%. These particulates likely caused pore blocking in the cake layer, doubling the trans-membrane pressure. The methanogenic consortia were unaffected. Dosing coagulants and flocculants into an AnDMBR treating sludge leads to a decreased cake layer permeability and decreased sludge degradation.

Sorption of biodegradation end products of nonylphenol polyethoxylates onto activated sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Hung, Nguyen Viet; Tateda, Masafumi; Ike, Michihiko; Fujita, Masanori; Tsunoi, Shinji; Tanaka, Minoru

2004-01-01

Nonylphenol(NP), nonylphenoxy acetic acid (NP1EC), nonylphenol monoethoxy acetic acid (NP2EC), nonylphenol monoethoxylate (NP1EO) and nonylphenol diethoxylate (NP2EO) are biodegradation end products (BEPs) of nonionic surfactant nonylphenolpolyethoxylates (NPnEO). In this research, sorption of these compounds onto model activated sludge was characterized. Sorption equilibrium experiments showed that NP, NP1EO and NP2EO reached equilibrium in about 12 h, while equilibrium of NP1EC and NP2EC were reached earlier, in about 4 h. In sorption isotherm experiments, obtained equilibrium data at 28 degrees C fitted well to Freundlich sorption model for all investigated compounds. For NP1EC, in addition to Freundlich, equilibrium data also fitted well to Langmuir model. Linear sorption model was also tried, and equilibrium data of all NP, NP1EO, NP2EO and NP2EC except NP1EC fitted well to this model. Calculated Freundlich coefficient (K(F)) and linear sorption coefficient (K(D)) showed that sorption capacity of the investigated compounds were in order NP > NP2EO > NP1EO > NP1EC approximately NP2EC. For NP, NP1EO and NP2EO, high values of calculated K(F) and K(D) indicated an easy uptake of these compounds from aqueous phase onto activated sludge. Whereas, NP1EC and NP2EC with low values of K(F) and K(D) absorbed weakly to activated sludge and tended to preferably remain in aqueous phase.

Effect of Volatile Fatty Acids and Trimethylamine on Denitrification in Activated Sludge

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Eilersen, Ann Marie; Henze, Mogens; Kløft, Lene

1995-01-01

The effect of volatile fatty acids and trimethylamine on denitrification activity of activated sludge was studied in laboratory batch experiments. Formic acid had no effect on the denitrification rates. Acetic acid, n-butyric acid and trimethylamine all enhanced the rates. Acetate is the compound...... wastewaters from fish, potato and onion industries all stimulated denitrification. Reject water from anaerobic treatment of excess sludge had no significant effect on the denitrification processes. For isobutyric, isovaleric and n-valeric acid the undissociated compounds appear to act as the inhibitor...... with the strongest effect, n-butyric acid has a moderate effect, while TMA only have a small effect in stimulating the rates. Propionic, isobutyric, n-valeric, isovaleric and caproic acid inhibit denitrification, nitrate reduction being more inhibited than nitrite reduction. The inhibitor concentration, KI, at which...

Enhanced treatment of waste frying oil in an activated sludge system by addition of crude rhamnolipid solution.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Hongzi; Xiang, Hai; Zhang, Guoliang; Cao, Xia; Meng, Qing

2009-08-15

The presence of high-strength oil and grease (O&G) in wastewater poses serious challenges for environment. Addition of surfactant into the activated sludge bioreactor is feasible in reducing high concentrations of O&G via enhancing its bioavailability. In this paper, an aqueous biosurfactant solution of rhamnolipid as a cell-free culture broth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa zju.um1 was added into a batch of aerobic activated sludge system for treatment of the waste frying oil. This treatment was conducted on both bench and pilot-scales, whereas the removal efficiency of frying oil was determined by analyzing the residue concentration of O&G and chemical oxygen demand (COD). In the presence of varying concentrations of rhamnolipid from 22.5 mg/L to 90 mg/L, aerobic treatment for 30 h was enough to remove over 93% of O&G while this biodegradability was only 10% in the control system with the absence of rhamnolipids. The equivalent biodegradability was similarly obtained on COD under addition of rhamnolipid. Compared with bench studies, a higher treatment efficiency with the presence of rhamnolipids was achieved on a pilot-scale of activated sludge system, in which a short time of 12h was required for removing approximately 95% of O&G while the control treatment attained a low efficiency of 17%. Finally, foaming and biodegradability of rhamnolipids in activated sludge system were further examined in the whole treatment process. It seems that the addition of rhamnolipid-containing culture broth showed great potential for treatment of oily wastewater by activated sludge.

Enhanced treatment of waste frying oil in an activated sludge system by addition of crude rhamnolipid solution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Hongzi; Xiang Hai; Zhang Guoliang; Cao Xia; Meng Qing

2009-01-01

The presence of high-strength oil and grease (O and G) in wastewater poses serious challenges for environment. Addition of surfactant into the activated sludge bioreactor is feasible in reducing high concentrations of O and G via enhancing its bioavailability. In this paper, an aqueous biosurfactant solution of rhamnolipid as a cell-free culture broth of Pseudomonas aeruginosa zju.um1 was added into a batch of aerobic activated sludge system for treatment of the waste frying oil. This treatment was conducted on both bench and pilot-scales, whereas the removal efficiency of frying oil was determined by analyzing the residue concentration of O and G and chemical oxygen demand (COD). In the presence of varying concentrations of rhamnolipid from 22.5 mg/L to 90 mg/L, aerobic treatment for 30 h was enough to remove over 93% of O and G while this biodegradability was only 10% in the control system with the absence of rhamnolipids. The equivalent biodegradability was similarly obtained on COD under addition of rhamnolipid. Compared with bench studies, a higher treatment efficiency with the presence of rhamnolipids was achieved on a pilot-scale of activated sludge system, in which a short time of 12 h was required for removing approximately 95% of O and G while the control treatment attained a low efficiency of 17%. Finally, foaming and biodegradability of rhamnolipids in activated sludge system were further examined in the whole treatment process. It seems that the addition of rhamnolipid-containing culture broth showed great potential for treatment of oily wastewater by activated sludge.

Investigation on ultrasonication mediated biosurfactant disintegration method in sludge flocs for enhancing hydrolytic enzymes activity and polyhydroxyalkanoates.

Science.gov (United States)

Sethupathy, A; Sivashanmugam, P

2018-06-04

In this study, a novel biosurfactant potential bacterial strain Pseudomonas pachastrellae RW43 was isolated from pulp and paper sludge and the biosurfactant namely rhamnolipid produced by Pseudomonas pachastrellae RW43 was investigated by varying pH and incubation time in batch liquid fermentation process. The maximal yield of rhamnolipid was found to be 12.1 g/L at an optimized condition of pH 7 and incubation time of 168 h. NMR analysis was performed for identification of molecular structure of produced rhamnolipid and its results concluded that the product was identified as di rhamnolipid. Then, statistically the global optimum conditions for hydrolytic enzymes extraction parameters (sonication power (100 W), extraction time (15 min) and rhamnolipid dosage (2% v/v)) were established. At 30,456 kJ/kg TS specific energy, ultrasonication with rhamnolipid disintegration method extracted maximal consortium activity of hydrolytic enzymes from mixed sludge (municipal and pulp & paper sludge) and the maximum observed were found to be 42.22, 51.75, 34.26, 24.21, 11.35 Units/g VSS respectively for protease, α-amylase, cellulase, lipase and α-glucosidase. Polyhydroxyalkanoates was recovered from enzymes extracted sludge using various solvents namely chloroform, sodium hypochlorite with chloroform and sodium lauryl sulfate with sodium hypochlorite. The maximum recovery was found to be 74 g/kg using sodium hypochlorite and chloroform extraction solvents.

Multiresistant Bacteria Isolated from Activated Sludge in Austria

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Herbert Galler

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Wastewater contains different kinds of contaminants, including antibiotics and bacterial isolates with human-generated antibiotic resistances. In industrialized countries most of the wastewater is processed in wastewater treatment plants which do not only include commercial wastewater, but also wastewater from hospitals. Three multiresistant pathogens—extended spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL-harbouring Enterobacteriaceae (Gram negative bacilli, methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA and vancomycin resistant Enterococci (VRE—were chosen for screening in a state of the art wastewater treatment plant in Austria. Over an investigation period of six months all three multiresistant pathogens could be isolated from activated sludge. ESBL was the most common resistance mechanism, which was found in different species of Enterobacteriaceae, and in one Aeromonas spp. Sequencing of ESBL genes revealed the dominance of genes encoding members of CTX-M β-lactamases family and a gene encoding for PER-1 ESBL was detected for the first time in Austria. MRSA and VRE could be isolated sporadically, including one EMRSA-15 isolate. Whereas ESBL is well documented as a surface water contaminant, reports of MRSA and VRE are rare. The results of this study show that these three multiresistant phenotypes were present in activated sludge, as well as species and genes which were not reported before in the region. The ESBL-harbouring Gram negative bacilli were most common.

Multiresistant Bacteria Isolated from Activated Sludge in Austria

Science.gov (United States)

Feierl, Gebhard; Petternel, Christian; Reinthaler, Franz F.; Haas, Doris; Habib, Juliana; Kittinger, Clemens; Luxner, Josefa

2018-01-01

Wastewater contains different kinds of contaminants, including antibiotics and bacterial isolates with human-generated antibiotic resistances. In industrialized countries most of the wastewater is processed in wastewater treatment plants which do not only include commercial wastewater, but also wastewater from hospitals. Three multiresistant pathogens—extended spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-harbouring Enterobacteriaceae (Gram negative bacilli), methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin resistant Enterococci (VRE)—were chosen for screening in a state of the art wastewater treatment plant in Austria. Over an investigation period of six months all three multiresistant pathogens could be isolated from activated sludge. ESBL was the most common resistance mechanism, which was found in different species of Enterobacteriaceae, and in one Aeromonas spp. Sequencing of ESBL genes revealed the dominance of genes encoding members of CTX-M β-lactamases family and a gene encoding for PER-1 ESBL was detected for the first time in Austria. MRSA and VRE could be isolated sporadically, including one EMRSA-15 isolate. Whereas ESBL is well documented as a surface water contaminant, reports of MRSA and VRE are rare. The results of this study show that these three multiresistant phenotypes were present in activated sludge, as well as species and genes which were not reported before in the region. The ESBL-harbouring Gram negative bacilli were most common. PMID:29522474

THE INFLUENCE OF CALCIUM HYPOCHLORITE DOSAGE ADJUSTMENT ON TAPIOCA WASTEWATER PRE-CHLORINATION TOWARD EFFICIENCY OF ACTIVATED SLUDGE TREATMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Happy Mulyani

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The objectives of this research are to study about influence of calcium hypochlorite dosage adjustment on tapioca wastewater chlorination toward efficiency of activated sludge treatment especially at MLVSS profile and percentage of COD removal. This research mainly divided into pre-chlorination and activated sludge treatment. Pre-chlorination taken place for 60 minutes at pH 8. The variation of calcium hypochlorite dosages which used are 58, 59, and 60 mg/L. Pre-chlorination effluent with no free chlorine residual then becomes activated sludge treatment influent. Sampling has done each aeration time interval 0, 2, 4, and 6 hour for analysis of COD and MLVSS content. Research result generally shows that addition of aeration time for each variation of calcium hypochlorite dosage will increase MLVSS and decrease COD content. Smallest value of COD effluent could achieved in the activated sludge treatment with calcium hipochlorite dosage 60 mg/L addition at influent during 4 hours aeration time. Addition of 58 mg/l calcium hypochlorite results highest MLVSS and percentage of COD removal.

Mechanisms and kinetics models for ultrasonic waste activated sludge disintegration.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Fen; Wang, Yong; Ji, Min

2005-08-31

Ultrasonic energy can be applied as pre-treatment to disintegrate sludge flocs and disrupt bacterial cells' walls, and the hydrolysis can be improved, so that the rate of sludge digestion and methane production is improved. In this paper, by adding NaHCO3 to mask the oxidizing effect of OH, the mechanisms of disintegration are investigated. In addition, kinetics models for ultrasonic sludge disintegration are established by applying multi-variable linear regression method. It has been found that hydro-mechanical shear forces predominantly responsible for the disintegration, and the contribution of oxidizing effect of OH increases with the amount of the ultrasonic density and ultrasonic intensity. It has also been inferred from the kinetics model which dependent variable is SCOD+ that both sludge pH and sludge concentration significantly affect the disintegration.

Effect of vitamin B12 pulse addition on the performance of cobalt deprived anaerobic granular sludge bioreactors

KAUST Repository

Fermoso, Fernando G.

2010-07-01

The effect of a pulse addition of vitamin B12 as cobalt source to restore the performance of cobalt depleted methanol-fed bioreactors was investigated. One upflow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactor was supplied with a pulse of vitamin B12, and its operation was compared to that of another cobalt depleted UASB reactor to which a pulse of CoCl2 was given. The addition of cobalt in the form of CoCl2 supplies enough cobalt to restore methanogenesis and maintain full methanol degradation coupled to methane production during more than 35 days after the CoCl2 pulse. Similar to CoCl2, pulse addition of vitamin B12 supplies enough cobalt to maintain full methanol degradation during more than 35 days after the pulse. However, the specific methanogenic activities (SMAs) of the sludge in the vitamin B12 supplied reactor were around 3 times higher than the SMA of the sludge from the CoCl2 supplied reactor at the same sampling times. An appropriate dosing strategy (repeated pulse dosing) combined with the choice of vitamin B12 as the cobalt species is suggested as a promising dosing strategy for methanol-fed anaerobic bioreactors limited by the micronutrient cobalt. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Research for waste water treatment technology with low production of excessive active sludge

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Makisha Nikolay

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The article reflects the possibility to create a technological scheme of waste water treatment of domestic and similar type of sewage within minimal amount of excessive active sludge by means of bioreactors with immobilized feed. There are various aspects to be considered: technical, economic, social and ecological. According to the above it is strongly needed to provide a combination of proper waste water treatment, minimal sludge formation and the possibility for a further use of the sludge. One of the ways to achieve the goal above is to use an immobilized feed in the aeration tank. The necessary experiments were carried out in the department of waste water treatment and water ecology. The article includes the scheme of the facility and other parameters of the experiments, which has been carried. The combination of aerobic and anaerobic processes helps to provide proper quality of integrated biological treatment. Chambers of the aeration reactor were also equipped with the polymer feed of various structures. The sludge treatment that was also strongly needed was made by means of aerobic stabilization with the use of ejecting aeration. The results of experiment showed a good effect in both components – sewage and sludge treatment. Afterwards there was also an industrial model launched which confirmed the results of the previous stage.

A comparison of aerobic granular sludge with conventional and compact biological treatment technologies.

Science.gov (United States)

Bengtsson, Simon; de Blois, Mark; Wilén, Britt-Marie; Gustavsson, David

2018-03-20

The aerobic granular sludge (AGS) technology is growing towards becoming a mature option for new municipal wastewater treatment plants and capacity extensions. A process based on AGS was compared to conventional activated sludge processes (with and without enhanced biological phosphorus removal), an integrated fixed-film activated sludge (IFAS) process and a membrane bioreactor (MBR) by estimating the land area demand (footprint), electricity demand and chemicals' consumption. The process alternatives compared included pre-settling, sludge digestion and necessary post-treatment to achieve effluent concentrations of 8 mg/L nitrogen and 0.2 mg/L phosphorus at 7°C. The alternative based on AGS was estimated to have a 40-50% smaller footprint and 23% less electricity requirement than conventional activated sludge. In relation to the other compact treatment options IFAS and MBR, the AGS process had an estimated electricity usage that was 35-70% lower. This suggests a favourable potential for processes based on AGS although more available experience of AGS operation and performance at full scale is desired.

AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON THE RHEOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF CONDITIONED MUNICIPAL ACTIVATED SLUDGE

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SALAM K. AL-DAWERY

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This research work was focused on the rheological characteristics of conditioned fresh activated sludge using TA rheometer HR-2. The effect of cationic polyelectrolyte conditioner has been investigated for floc size, surface properties and yield stress at different pH values in a comparative fashion. Our approach was to reveal the effect of polymer on the municipal activated sludge with high organic contents up to 80%. The results indicated an improvement of 50% in settling properties by addition polyelectrolyte up to 4 mg/g solid/l. Rheological data analysis showed that responses of shear stress - shear rate were found to be closest to Bingham model and gave almost similar and smaller k values of average 6.2×10-3. The results of shear creep indicated that all sludge samples have less rigid structures with no reconstruction behavior. The optical analyses of the samples indicated that the floc sizes were increased with successive addition of polyelectrolyte. The increase of floc sizes caused large stresses especially for solution with pH=9. As the flocculation accorded despite the negative zeta potential, this phenomenon can be referred to that interparticles hydrogen bridging was governing flocculation rather than charge neutralization. Also, during the experiment, bacterial growth showed an adaption despite the conditioning with polyelectrolyte.

Utilization of molasses spentwash for production of bioplastics by waste activated sludge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khardenavis, Anshuman A.; Vaidya, Atul N.; Kumar, M. Suresh; Chakrabarti, Tapan

2009-01-01

Present study describes the treatment of molasses spentwash and its use as a potential low cost substrate for production of biopolymer polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) by waste activated sludge. Fluorescence microscopy revealed the presence of PHB granules in sludge biomass which was further confirmed by fourier transform-infra-red spectroscopy (FT-IR) and 13 C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The processing of molasses spentwash was carried out for attaining different ratios of carbon and nitrogen (C:N). Highest chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal and PHB accumulation of 60% and 31% respectively was achieved with raw molasses spentwash containing inorganic nitrogen (C:N ratio = 28) followed by COD removal of 52% and PHB accumulation of 28% for filtered molasses containing inorganic nitrogen (C:N ratio = 29). PHB production yield (Y p/s ) was highest (0.184 g g -1 COD consumed) for deproteinized spentwash supplemented with nitrogen. In contrast, the substrate consumption and product formation were higher in case of raw spentwash. Though COD removal was lowest from deproteinized spentwash, evaluation of kinetic parameters suggested higher rates of conversion of available carbon to biomass and PHB. Thus the process provided dual benefit of conversion of two wastes viz. waste activated sludge and molasses spentwash into value-added product-PHB.

Utilization of molasses spentwash for production of bioplastics by waste activated sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Khardenavis, Anshuman A; Vaidya, Atul N; Kumar, M Suresh; Chakrabarti, Tapan

2009-09-01

Present study describes the treatment of molasses spentwash and its use as a potential low cost substrate for production of biopolymer polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) by waste activated sludge. Fluorescence microscopy revealed the presence of PHB granules in sludge biomass which was further confirmed by fourier transform-infra-red spectroscopy (FT-IR) and (13)C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The processing of molasses spentwash was carried out for attaining different ratios of carbon and nitrogen (C:N). Highest chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal and PHB accumulation of 60% and 31% respectively was achieved with raw molasses spentwash containing inorganic nitrogen (C:N ratio=28) followed by COD removal of 52% and PHB accumulation of 28% for filtered molasses containing inorganic nitrogen (C:N ratio=29). PHB production yield (Y(p/s)) was highest (0.184 g g(-1) COD consumed) for deproteinized spentwash supplemented with nitrogen. In contrast, the substrate consumption and product formation were higher in case of raw spentwash. Though COD removal was lowest from deproteinized spentwash, evaluation of kinetic parameters suggested higher rates of conversion of available carbon to biomass and PHB. Thus the process provided dual benefit of conversion of two wastes viz. waste activated sludge and molasses spentwash into value-added product-PHB.

Reduction of excess sludge production using mechanical disintegration devices.

Science.gov (United States)

Strünkmann, G W; Müller, J A; Albert, F; Schwedes, J

2006-01-01

The usability of mechanical disintegration techniques for the reduction of excess sludge production in the activated sludge process was investigated. Using three different disintegration devices (ultrasonic homogeniser, stirred media mill, high pressure homogeniser) and different operational parameters of the disintegration, the effect of mechanical disintegration on the excess sludge production and on the effluent quality was studied within a continuously operated, laboratory scale wastewater treatment system with pre-denitrification. Depending on the operational conditions and the disintegration device used, a reduction of excess sludge production of up to 70% was achieved. A combination of mechanical disintegration with a membrane bioreactor process with high sludge age is more energy effective concerning reduction of sludge production than with a conventional activated sludge process at lower sludge ages. Depending on the disintegration parameters, the disintegration has no, or only minor, negative effect on the soluble effluent COD and on the COD-removal capacity of the activated sludge process. Nitrogen-removal was slightly deteriorated by the disintegration, whereas the system used was not optimised for nitrogen removal before disintegration was implemented.

Degradation of slime extracellular polymeric substances and inhibited sludge flocs destruction contribute to sludge dewaterability enhancement during fungal treatment of sludge using filamentous fungus Mucor sp. GY-1.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Zhenyu; Zheng, Guanyu; Zhou, Lixiang

2015-09-01

Mechanisms responsible for the sludge dewaterability enhanced by filamentous fungi during fungal treatment of sludge were investigated in the present study. The filamentous fungus Mucor sp. GY-1, isolated from waste activated sludge, enhanced sludge dewaterability by 82.1% to achieve the lowest value of normalized sludge specific resistance to filtration (SRF), 8.18 × 10(10) m · L/kg · g-TSS. During the fungal treatment of sludge, 57.8% of slime extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and 51.1% of polysaccharide in slime EPS were degraded, respectively, by Mucor sp. GY-1, contributing to the improvement of sludge dewaterability. Slime EPS is much more available for Mucor sp. GY-1 than either LB-EPS or TB-EPS that bound with microbial cells. In addition, filamentous fungus Mucor sp. GY-1 entrapped small sludge particles and inhibited the destruction of sludge flocs larger than 100 μm, thus enhancing sludge dewaterability, during fungal treatment of sludge using Mucor sp. GY-1. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Adsorption of a dye by sludges and the roles of extracellular polymeric substances].

Science.gov (United States)

Kong, Wang-sheng; Liu, Yan

2007-12-01

This paper investigated the adsorption of a dye, acid turquoise blue A, by four kinds of sludges including activated sludge, anaerobic sludge, dried activated sludge, and dried anaerobic sludge, respectively. The roles of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) including the soluble EPS (SEPS) and bound EPS (BEPS) for the biosorption of activated sludge and anaerobic sludge were further studied. Results show that the relation between four kinds of sludge adsorption amount and remained concentration of the dye fitted well both Freundlich model (R2: 0.921-0.995) and Langmuir model (R2: 0.958-0.993), but not quite fitted BET model (R2: 0.07-0.863). The adsorption capability of dried anaerobic sludge ranked the highest, and dried activated sludge was the lowest. According to Langmuir isotherm, the maximum adsorption amount of dried anaerobic, anaerobic, activated, and dried activated sludge was 104 mg/g, 86 mg/g, 65 mg/g, 20 mg/g, respectively. The amount of the dye found in EPS for both activated sludge and anaerobic sludge were over 50%, illustrating that EPS adsorption was predominant in adsorption of the dye by sludge. The amount of adsorbed dye by BEPS was greater than that by SEPS for anaerobic sludge, but for activated sludge the result was quite opposite. The amount of adsorbed dye by unit mass SEPS was much higher than the corresponding values of BEPS for both sludges. The average amount of adsorbed dye by unit mass SEPS was 52 times of the corresponding value of BEPS for activated sludge, and 10 times for anaerobic sludge. The relation between adsorption amount of dye by BEPS from anaerobic sludge and remained concentration of the dye in mixed liquor was best fitted to Langmuir model (R2: 0.9986).

MiDAS Field Guide – a Comprehensive Online Source of Information About the Microbes of Activated Sludge

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nierychlo, Marta; McIlroy, Simon Jon; Saunders, Aaron Marc

activated sludge wastewater treatment systems, linking their identity with available information on their function and distribution. The guide includes the approx. 100 abundant genera that are present in most treatment plants (based on a survey of 25 full-scale Danish wastewater treatment plants...... are provided. The MiDAS Field Guide is a continuously developing resource where all working in the field are invited to contribute....... that would be otherwise excluded from analyses. The MiDAS database importantly provides a common taxonomy for the field that gives a solid foundation for the study of microbial ecology of the activated sludge process and related wastewater treatment processes, such as biofilms and granular sludge. Each genus...

Sorption and biodegradation of sulfonamide antibiotics by activated sludge: experimental assessment using batch data obtained under aerobic conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Sheng-Fu; Lin, Cheng-Fang; Lin, Angela Yu-Chen; Hong, Pui-Kwan Andy

2011-05-01

This study investigated the adsorption, desorption, and biodegradation characteristics of sulfonamide antibiotics in the presence of activated sludge with and without being subjected to NaN(3) biocide. Batch experiments were conducted and the relative contributions of adsorption and biodegradation to the observed removal of sulfonamide antibiotics were determined. Three sulfonamide antibiotics including sulfamethoxazole (SMX), sulfadimethoxine (SDM), and sulfamonomethoxine (SMM), which had been detected in the influent and the activated sludge of wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) in Taiwan, were selected for this study. Experimental results showed that the antibiotic compounds were removed via sorption and biodegradation by the activated sludge, though biodegradation was inhibited in the first 12 h possibly due to competitive inhibition of xenobiotic oxidation by readily biodegradable substances. The affinity of sulfonamides to sterilized sludge was in the order of SDM > SMM > SMX. The sulfonamides existed predominantly as anions at the study pH of 6.8, which resulted in a low level of adsorption to the activated sludge. The adsorption/desorption isotherms were of a linear form, as well described by the Freundlich isotherm with the n value approximating unity. The linear distribution coefficients (K(d)) were determined from batch equilibrium experiments with values of 28.6 ± 1.9, 55.7 ± 2.2, and 110.0 ± 4.6 mL/g for SMX, SMM, and SDM, respectively. SMX, SMM, and SDM desorb reversibly from the activated sludge leaving behind on the solids 0.9%, 1.6%, and 5.2% of the original sorption dose of 100 μg/L. The sorbed antibiotics can be introduced into the environment if no further treatments were employed to remove them from the biomass. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Substrate-dependent denitrification of abundant probe-defined denitrifying bacteria in activated sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Morgan-Sagastume, Fernando; Nielsen, Jeppe Lund; Nielsen, Per Halkjaer

2008-11-01

The denitrification capacity of different phylogenetic bacterial groups was investigated on addition of different substrates in activated sludge from two nutrient-removal plants. Nitrate/nitrite consumption rates (CRs) were calculated from nitrate and nitrite biosensor, in situ measurements. The nitrate/nitrite CRs depended on the substrate added, and acetate alone or combined with other substrates yielded the highest rates (3-6 mg N gVSS(-1) h(-1)). The nitrate CRs were similar to the nitrite CRs for most substrates tested. The structure of the active denitrifying population was investigated using heterotrophic CO2 microautoradiography (HetCO2-MAR) and FISH. Probe-defined denitrifiers appeared as specialized substrate utilizers despite acetate being preferentially used by most of them. Azoarcus and Accumulibacter abundance in the two different sludges was related to differences in their substrate-specific nitrate/nitrite CRs. Aquaspirillum-related bacteria were the most abundant potential denitrifiers (c. 20% of biovolume); however, Accumulibacter (3-7%) and Azoarcus (2-13%) may have primarily driven denitrification by utilizing pyruvate, ethanol, and acetate. Activated sludge denitrification was potentially conducted by a diverse, versatile population including not only Betaproteobacteria (Aquaspirillum, Thauera, Accumulibacter, and Azoarcus) but also some Alphaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria, as indicated by the assimilation of 14CO2 by these probe-defined groups with a complex substrate mixture as an electron donor and nitrite as an electron acceptor in HetCO2-MAR-FISH tests.

Modeling of Activated Sludge Process Using Sequential Adaptive Neuro-fuzzy Inference System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mahsa Vajedi

2014-10-01

Full Text Available In this study, an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS has been applied to model activated sludge wastewater treatment process of Mobin petrochemical company. The correlation coefficients between the input variables and the output variable were calculated to determine the input with the highest influence on the output (the quality of the outlet flow in order to compare three neuro-fuzzy structures with different number of parameters. The predictions of the neuro-fuzzy models were compared with those of multilayer artificial neural network models with similar structure. The comparison indicated that both methods resulted in flexible, robust and effective models for the activated sludge system. Moreover, the root mean square of the error for neuro-fuzzy and neural network models were 5.14 and 6.59, respectively, which means the former is the superior method.

DETERMINATION OF ACTIVATED SLUDGE MODEL ASDM PARAMETERS FOR WASTE WATER TREATMENT PLANT OPERATING IN THE SEQUENTIAL–FLOW TECHNOLOGY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dariusz Zdebik

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a method for calibration of activated sludge model with the use of computer program BioWin. Computer scheme has been developed on the basis of waste water treatment plant operating in the sequential – flow technology. For calibration of the activated sludge model data of influent and treated effluent from the existing object were used. As a result of conducted analysis was a change in biokinetic model and kinetic parameters parameters of wastewater treatment facilities. The presented method of study of the selected parameters impact on the activated sludge biokinetic model (including autotrophs maximum growth rate, the share of organic slurry in suspension general operational, efficiency secondary settling tanks can be used for conducting simulation studies of other treatment plants.

A Novel Method of Biological Start-up in Arak Activated Sludge Wastewater Treatment Plant

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Abdolreza Khalili

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Startup is one of the most important stages in the operation of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP. In this paper, a novel method is presented for the startup of Arak Activated Sludge WWTP, which is shown to contain more advantages than other common methods. In this method, a portion of the inflow is initially allowed to enter gradually into an aeration basin prior to seeding. Under these conditions, less seeding is required due to the low flow of the influent and the low volume of the aeration basin. Once MLSS in the basin reaches the desired level, the rest of the system comes into operation and the sludge developed in the system is used for further seeding. In the case of the WWPT in Arak, it took about 2 months for the total MLSS to be developed and wasting the sludge to start because of the cold weather conditions in the region. The wasted sludge was controlled by the F/M ratio at a constant sludge age. During the start-up, the MLSS increase exhibited a linear trend and the low loading allowed for the variation in influent contaminants to be controlled. The effluent contaminants were below the standard levels recommended by the Environment Protection Organization. BOD5 and COD removals increased from 40% and 60% to 90% and TSS removal increased from 70% to 96%. Lower loading levels, better process control, and lower sludge processing costs are the benefits of this system

Nutritional Evaluation of Distillery Sludge and Its Effect as a Substitute of Canola Meal on Performance of Broiler Chickens

Science.gov (United States)

Sharif, M.; Shahzad, M. A.; Rehman, S.; Khan, S.; Ali, R.; Khan, M. L.; Khan, K.

2012-01-01

The study was conducted to investigate the chemical composition of distillery yeast sludge and its inclusion in broiler diets to replace canola meal. Raw distillery yeast sludge was washed with water using water and sludge in the ratio 6:1, respectively. Proximate analysis of raw distillery yeast sludge and washed distillery sludge was carried out for crude protein (CP), true protein (TP), ether extract (EE), ash, acid insoluble ash and nitrogen free extract (NFE) determination. Mineral contents and amino acid profile of raw distillery yeast sludge and washed distillery sludge were also determined. After chemical evaluation, four iso-caloric and iso-nitrogenous broiler starter and finisher diets were prepared in mash form using 0 (control), 4, 8 and 12% levels of washed distillery sludge replacing canola meal. One hundred and twenty day-old broiler chicks were randomly distributed into 12 experimental units in such a way that each diet was offered to three experimental units, each comprising of 10 chicks. It was observed that washing affected the nutrients either by decreasing or increasing their concentration. It decreased the total mineral contents whereas CP, TP, EE and NFE contents increased. Washing also increased amino acid profile. Average feed intake and weight gain were higher in birds fed diet containing 8% washed distillery sludge and lower in birds fed diet containing 0% washed distillery sludge. Feed cost per kg live weight gain decreased significantly as the level of washed distillery sludge was increased in the diet. Average heart, liver and pancreas weights decreased with increased level of washed distillery sludge in the diet. The study revealed that after washing, distillery yeast sludge can be used successfully in broiler diets up to the level of 8% without any adverse effect on broiler’s performance. PMID:25049579

Nutritional Evaluation of Distillery Sludge and Its Effect as a Substitute of Canola Meal on Performance of Broiler Chickens

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Sharif

2012-03-01

Full Text Available The study was conducted to investigate the chemical composition of distillery yeast sludge and its inclusion in broiler diets to replace canola meal. Raw distillery yeast sludge was washed with water using water and sludge in the ratio 6:1, respectively. Proximate analysis of raw distillery yeast sludge and washed distillery sludge was carried out for crude protein (CP, true protein (TP, ether extract (EE, ash, acid insoluble ash and nitrogen free extract (NFE determination. Mineral contents and amino acid profile of raw distillery yeast sludge and washed distillery sludge were also determined. After chemical evaluation, four iso-caloric and iso-nitrogenous broiler starter and finisher diets were prepared in mash form using 0 (control, 4, 8 and 12% levels of washed distillery sludge replacing canola meal. One hundred and twenty day-old broiler chicks were randomly distributed into 12 experimental units in such a way that each diet was offered to three experimental units, each comprising of 10 chicks. It was observed that washing affected the nutrients either by decreasing or increasing their concentration. It decreased the total mineral contents whereas CP, TP, EE and NFE contents increased. Washing also increased amino acid profile. Average feed intake and weight gain were higher in birds fed diet containing 8% washed distillery sludge and lower in birds fed diet containing 0% washed distillery sludge. Feed cost per kg live weight gain decreased significantly as the level of washed distillery sludge was increased in the diet. Average heart, liver and pancreas weights decreased with increased level of washed distillery sludge in the diet. The study revealed that after washing, distillery yeast sludge can be used successfully in broiler diets up to the level of 8% without any adverse effect on broiler’s performance.

Heterogeneous catalytic ozonation of biologically pretreated Lurgi coal gasification wastewater using sewage sludge based activated carbon supported manganese and ferric oxides as catalysts.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhuang, Haifeng; Han, Hongjun; Hou, Baolin; Jia, Shengyong; Zhao, Qian

2014-08-01

Sewage sludge of biological wastewater treatment plant was converted into sewage sludge based activated carbon (SBAC) with ZnCl₂ as activation agent, which supported manganese and ferric oxides as catalysts (including SBAC) to improve the performance of ozonation of real biologically pretreated Lurgi coal gasification wastewater. The results indicated catalytic ozonation with the prepared catalysts significantly enhanced performance of pollutants removal and the treated wastewater was more biodegradable and less toxic than that in ozonation alone. On the basis of positive effect of higher pH and significant inhibition of radical scavengers in catalytic ozonation, it was deduced that the enhancement of catalytic activity was responsible for generating hydroxyl radicals and the possible reaction pathway was proposed. Moreover, the prepared catalysts showed superior stability and most of toxic and refractory compounds were eliminated at successive catalytic ozonation runs. Thus, the process with economical, efficient and sustainable advantages was beneficial to engineering application. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Experience with a pilot plant for the irradiation of sewage sludge: Results on the effect of differently treated sewage sludge on plants and soil

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suess, A.; Rosopulo, A.; Borchert, H.; Beck, Th.; Bauchhenss, J.; Schurmann, G.

1975-01-01

Since hygienization of sewage sludge will be important for an agricultural application it is necessary to study the effect of differently treated sewage sludge on plants and soil. In bean and maize experiments in 1973 and 1974 it was found that the treatment of sewage sludge is less important than soil properties and water capacity. Analysis on the efficiency of nutrients, minor elements and heavy metals from differently treated sewage sludge to plants were performed. Microbiological greenhouse studies indicated that there is a distinct tendency for different reactions, that irradiated sewage sludge gives a slightly better effect than untreated sludge, while the heat-treated sewage sludge indicates always a decrease, especially with the increase of applied amounts (respiration, protease and nitrification). In the field experiments there were almost no differences between untreated and irradiated sewage sludge, whereas there was always a smaller microbial activity after application of heat-treated sewage sludge. Studies on soil fauna (especially on Collemboles and Oribatidae) in the field trials indicate the influences of abiotic factors on the different locations. Besides these influences there was a decrease in the number of Collemboles and mites (in comparison with a normal fertilized plot) on the plots with 800 m 3 /ha treated sewage sludge. There was a remarkably large decrease in the plots with irradiated sewage sludge after an application of 800 m 3 /ha. Depending on the soil type, physical and chemical studies indicated an increase in the effective field capacity after the application of sewage sludge, and sometimes the best effects occurred with irradiated sewage sludge. Relative high aggregate values were observed (6-2, 6-5 mm diameter) in the plots with irradiated sewage sludge. (author)

An Operations Manual for Achieving Nitrification in an Activated Sludge Plant.

Science.gov (United States)

Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Toronto.

In Ontario, the attainment of nitrification (oxidation of ammonia) in activated sludge plants is receiving increased attention. Nitrification of waste water is a necessary requirement because it reduces plant discharge of nitrogenous oxygen demand and/or toxic ammonia. However, this new requirement will result in added responsibility for…

The enzymatic degradation of excess activated sludge : A tale of worms

NARCIS (Netherlands)

De Valk, S.L.

2013-01-01

The activated sludge process is the most used process to remove organic carbon, nutrients and other pollutants from sewage and also from many industrial waste waters. The organic fraction of waste water is aerobically respired and partly converted into biomass. The surplus biomass is a by-product of

Protein corona between nanoparticles and bacterial proteins in activated sludge: Characterization and effect on nanoparticle aggregation.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Peng; Xu, Xiao-Yan; Chen, You-Peng; Xiao, Meng-Qian; Feng, Bo; Tian, Kai-Xun; Chen, Yue-Hui; Dai, You-Zhi

2018-02-01

In this work, the protein coronas of activated sludge proteins on TiO 2 nanoparticles (TNPs) and ZnO nanoparticles (ZNPs) were characterized. The proteins with high affinity to TNPs and ZNPs were identified by shotgun proteomics, and their effects of on the distributions of TNPs and ZNPs in activated sludge were concluded. In addition, the effects of protein coronas on the aggregations of TNPs and ZNPs were evaluated. Thirty and nine proteins with high affinities to TNPs and ZNPs were identified, respectively. The proteomics and adsorption isotherms demonstrated that activated sludge had a higher affinity to TNPs than to ZNPs. The aggregation percentages of ZNPs at 35, 53, and 106 mg/L of proteins were 13%, 14%, and 18%, respectively, whereas those of TNPs were 21%, 30%, 41%, respectively. The proteins contributed to ZNPs aggregation by dissolved Zn ion-bridging, whereas the increasing protein concentrations enhanced the TNPs aggregation through macromolecule bridging flocculation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Overall effect of carbon production and nutrient release in sludge holding tank on mainstream biological nutrient removal efficiency.

Science.gov (United States)

Jabari, Pouria; Yuan, Qiuyan; Oleszkiewicz, Jan A

2017-09-11

The potential of hydrolysis/fermentation of activated sludge in sludge holding tank (SHT) to produce additional carbon for the biological nutrient removal (BNR) process was investigated. The study was conducted in anaerobic batch tests using the BNR sludge (from a full-scale Westside process) and the mixture of BNR sludge with conventional non-BNR activated sludge (to have higher biodegradable particulate chemical oxygen demand (bpCOD) in sludge). The BioWin 4.1 was used to simulate the anaerobic batch test of the BNR sludge. Also, the overall effect of FCOD production and nutrient release on BNR efficiency of the Westside process was estimated. The experimental results showed that the phosphorous uptake of sludge increased during hydrolysis/ fermentation condition up to the point when poly-P was completely utilized; afterwards, it decreased significantly. The BioWin simulation could not predict the loss of aerobic phosphorous uptake after poly-P was depleted. The results showed that in the case of activated sludge with relatively higher bpCOD (originating from plants with short sludge retention time or without primary sedimentation), beneficial effect of SHT on BNR performance is feasible. In order to increase the potential of SHT to enhance BNR efficiency, a relatively low retention time and high sludge load is recommended.

Technology for improving sludge concentration; Odei noshukusei kaizen gijutsu

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1999-03-10

Sludge generating in a sewage treatment plant is disposed through the processes such as concentration, dehydration, and incineration in sludge disposal facilities. In recent years, there has been a trend that this sludge increases in volume as well as worsens in the concentration. A case is predictable where the sludge load to the dehydrating process is so large that the sludge can no longer be processed in sufficient quantity. In the meantime, if sludge is ozone-treated, viscous substance on the surface of sludge particles can be separated with a comparatively small amount of ozone, with sludge concentration enhanced. At Meidensha, an experimental plant was set up for the ozone treatment of sludge in a sludge intensive treatment plant of a metropolis, with a verification experiment carried out for a sludge concentration improving system by ozone. As a result of comparison of the treatment performance between an assessment system for performing ozone treatment and a reference system for not performing, the average value of the sludge concentration of a gravity concentration tank was 1.9% of the reference system against 1.7% of the assessment system in a continuous treatment experiment in the summer, while the solid collection ratio was 65.8% of the reference system against 95.5% of the assessment system, enabling a superior improving effect to be obtained. (NEDO)

Comparison between chemical and mechanical disintegration on sludge anaerobic digestion performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Braguglia, C. M.; Mininni, G.; Gianico, A.

2009-01-01

The sustainable management of sewage sludge, as regards economical and environmental aspects, is one of the critical issues of the last decades. The concern is related to the very fast increase in sludge production coupled with increased difficulties in properly locating disposal works and complying even more stringent environmental quality requirements imposed by legislation. It is therefore important con consider the full range of alternatives for sludge handing and disposal when planning sewage management strategies. (Author)

Radioactive contamination of sewage sludge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Soeder, C.J.; Zanders, E.; Raphael, T.

1986-01-01

Because of the radioactivity released through the explosion of the nuclear reactor near Chernobyl radionuclides have been accumulated to a significant extent in sewage sludge in the Federal Republic of Germany. This is demonstrated for samples from four activated sludge plants according to a recent recommendation of the German Commission for Radiation Protection, there is until now no reason to deviate from the common practices of sludge disposal or incineration. The degree of radioactive contamination of plant materials produced on farm lands on which sewage sludge is being spread cannot be estimated with sufficient certainty yet. Additional information is required. (orig.) [de

The use of hydrodynamic disintegration as a means to improve anaerobic digestion of activated sludge

OpenAIRE

Machnicka, A; Grűbel, K; Suschka, J

2009-01-01

Disintegration by hydrodynamic cavitation has a positive effect on the degree and rate of sludge anaerobic digestion. By applying hydrodynamic disintegration the lysis of cells occurs in minutes instead of days. The intracellular and extracellular components are set free and are immediately available for biological degradation which leads to an improvement of the subsequent anaerobic process. Hydrodynamic disintegration of the activated sludge results in organic matter and a polymer transfer ...

Biodegradation of pharmaceuticals in hospital wastewater by a hybrid biofilm and activated sludge system (Hybas)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Escolà Casas, Mònica [Environmental Science, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgsvej 399, 4000 Roskilde (Denmark); Chhetri, Ravi Kumar [Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Miljøvej 113, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby (Denmark); Ooi, Gordon [Environmental Science, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgsvej 399, 4000 Roskilde (Denmark); Hansen, Kamilla M.S. [Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Miljøvej 113, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby (Denmark); Litty, Klaus [Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Danish Technological Institute, Kongsvang Allé 29, 8000 Aarhus C (Denmark); Christensson, Magnus [AnoxKaldnes, Klosterängsvägen 11A, 226 47 Lund (Sweden); Kragelund, Caroline [Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Danish Technological Institute, Kongsvang Allé 29, 8000 Aarhus C (Denmark); Andersen, Henrik R. [Department of Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, Miljøvej 113, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby (Denmark); Bester, Kai, E-mail: kb@envs.au.dk [Environmental Science, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgsvej 399, 4000 Roskilde (Denmark)

2015-10-15

Hospital wastewater contributes a significant input of pharmaceuticals into municipal wastewater. The combination of suspended activated sludge and biofilm processes, as stand-alone or as hybrid process (hybrid biofilm and activated sludge system (Hybas™)) has been suggested as a possible solution for hospital wastewater treatment. To investigate the potential of such a hybrid system for the removal of pharmaceuticals in hospital wastewater a pilot plant consisting of a series of one activated sludge reactor, two Hybas™ reactors and one moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) has been established and adapted during 10 months of continuous operation. After this adaption phase batch and continuous experiments were performed for the determination of degradation of pharmaceuticals. Removal of organic matter and nitrification mainly occurred in the first reactor. Most pharmaceuticals were removed significantly. The removal of pharmaceuticals (including X-ray contrast media, β-blockers, analgesics and antibiotics) was fitted to a single first-order kinetics degradation function, giving degradation rate constants from 0 to 1.49 h{sup −1}, from 0 to 7.78 × 10{sup −1} h{sup −1}, from 0 to 7.86 × 10{sup −1} h{sup −1} and from 0 to 1.07 × 10{sup −1} h{sup −1} for first, second, third and fourth reactors respectively. Generally, the highest removal rate constants were found in the first and third reactors while the lowest were found in the second one. When the removal rate constants were normalized to biomass amount, the last reactor (biofilm only) appeared to have the most effective biomass in respect to removing pharmaceuticals. In the batch experiment, out of 26 compounds, 16 were assessed to degrade more than 20% of the respective pharmaceutical within the Hybas™ train. In the continuous flow experiments, the measured removals were similar to those estimated from the batch experiments, but the concentrations of a few pharmaceuticals appeared to increase

Biodegradation of pharmaceuticals in hospital wastewater by a hybrid biofilm and activated sludge system (Hybas)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Escolà Casas, Mònica; Chhetri, Ravi Kumar; Ooi, Gordon; Hansen, Kamilla M.S.; Litty, Klaus; Christensson, Magnus; Kragelund, Caroline; Andersen, Henrik R.; Bester, Kai

2015-01-01

Hospital wastewater contributes a significant input of pharmaceuticals into municipal wastewater. The combination of suspended activated sludge and biofilm processes, as stand-alone or as hybrid process (hybrid biofilm and activated sludge system (Hybas™)) has been suggested as a possible solution for hospital wastewater treatment. To investigate the potential of such a hybrid system for the removal of pharmaceuticals in hospital wastewater a pilot plant consisting of a series of one activated sludge reactor, two Hybas™ reactors and one moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) has been established and adapted during 10 months of continuous operation. After this adaption phase batch and continuous experiments were performed for the determination of degradation of pharmaceuticals. Removal of organic matter and nitrification mainly occurred in the first reactor. Most pharmaceuticals were removed significantly. The removal of pharmaceuticals (including X-ray contrast media, β-blockers, analgesics and antibiotics) was fitted to a single first-order kinetics degradation function, giving degradation rate constants from 0 to 1.49 h −1 , from 0 to 7.78 × 10 −1 h −1 , from 0 to 7.86 × 10 −1 h −1 and from 0 to 1.07 × 10 −1 h −1 for first, second, third and fourth reactors respectively. Generally, the highest removal rate constants were found in the first and third reactors while the lowest were found in the second one. When the removal rate constants were normalized to biomass amount, the last reactor (biofilm only) appeared to have the most effective biomass in respect to removing pharmaceuticals. In the batch experiment, out of 26 compounds, 16 were assessed to degrade more than 20% of the respective pharmaceutical within the Hybas™ train. In the continuous flow experiments, the measured removals were similar to those estimated from the batch experiments, but the concentrations of a few pharmaceuticals appeared to increase during the first treatment step

Determination of the kinetic and stoichiometric constant in a conventional bioreactor of activated sludge, to scale

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rodriguez Chaparro, Tatiana; Perez Navarrete, Eddie Albert; Vivas Mora, Eneydi

2003-01-01

The activated sludge process is the one of the most efficient process, when it comes to removal of organic matter. Implementing in the lab is quite easy, economic technically feasible, and simultaneously offers the possibility of using the results obtained in the lab to be applied in field by determining the kinetic and stoichiometric constants. The activated sludge system was designed, built and operated in the water quality lab, at the Military University in Bogota, Colombia. The bioreactor has an aeration chamber, a sedimentation tank and a feeding source with wastewater taken from a meat packing plant in Bogota. The research was carried out for 3 months, in two stages as follows: in the first stage and in order to obtain a high concentration of biomass the acclimatizing process was carried out. This step allows the bioreactor to run in a continuous flow. In the second stage, the bioreactor was taken in to operation and fed with the acclimated sludge at different sludge ages. This would allow us to determine the kinetics, and the stoichiometric constants. The bioreactor was run with a hydraulic retention time of 8 hours and for different sludge ages (5, 10, and 15 days). The system was monitored with a daily grab samples, and pH, temperature as well as the DBO 5 and suspended volatile solids were terminated

Cost estimation and economical evaluation of three configurations of activated sludge process for a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) using simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Jafarinejad, Shahryar

2017-09-01

The activated sludge (AS) process is a type of suspended growth biological wastewater treatment that is used for treating both municipal sewage and a variety of industrial wastewaters. Economical modeling and cost estimation of activated sludge processes are crucial for designing, construction, and forecasting future economical requirements of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). In this study, three configurations containing conventional activated sludge (CAS), extended aeration activated sludge (EAAS), and sequencing batch reactor (SBR) processes for a wastewater treatment plant in Tehran city were proposed and the total project construction, operation labor, maintenance, material, chemical, energy and amortization costs of these WWTPs were calculated and compared. Besides, effect of mixed liquor suspended solid (MLSS) amounts on costs of WWTPs was investigated. Results demonstrated that increase of MLSS decreases the total project construction, material and amortization costs of WWTPs containing EAAS and CAS. In addition, increase of this value increases the total operation, maintenance and energy costs, but does not affect chemical cost of WWTPs containing EAAS and CAS.

Energy recovery from wastewater treatment plants through sludge anaerobic digestion: effect of low-organic-content sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yuyao; Li, Huan

2017-09-18

During anaerobic digestion, low-organic-content sludge sometimes is used as feedstock, resulting in deteriorated digestion performance. The operational experience of conventional anaerobic digestion cannot be applied to this situation. To investigate the feature of low-organic-content sludge digestion and explain its intrinsic mechanism, batch experiments were conducted using designed feedstock having volatile solids (VS) contents that were 30-64% of total solids (TS). The results showed that the accumulative biogas yield declined proportionally from 173.7 to 64.8 ml/g VS added and organic removal rate decreased from 34.8 to 11.8% with decreasing VS/TS in the substrate. The oligotrophic environment resulting from low-organic-content substrates led to decreased microbial activity and a switch from butyric fermentation to propionic fermentation. A first-order model described the biogas production from the batch experiments very well, and the degradation coefficient decreased from 0.159 to 0.069 day -1 , exhibiting a positive relation with organic content in substrate. The results observed here corroborated with data from published literature on anaerobic digestion of low-organic-content sludge and showed that it may not be feasible to recover energy from sludge with an organic content lower than 50% through mono digestion.

Ignored fungal community in activated sludge wastewater treatment plants: diversity and altitudinal characteristics.

Science.gov (United States)

Niu, Lihua; Li, Yi; Xu, Lingling; Wang, Peifang; Zhang, Wenlong; Wang, Chao; Cai, Wei; Wang, Linqiong

2017-02-01

Fungi are important contributors to the various functions of activated sludge wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs); however, the diversity and geographic characteristics of fungal populations have remained vastly unexplored. Here, quantitative polymerase chain reaction and 454 pyrosequencing were combined to investigate the abundance and diversity of the activated sludge fungal communities from 18 full-scale municipal WWTPs in China. Phylogenetic taxonomy revealed that the members of the fungal communities were assigned to 7 phyla and 195 genera. Ascomycota and Basidiomycota were the most abundant phyla, dominated by Pluteus, Wickerhamiella, and Penicillium. Twenty-three fungal genera, accounting for 50.1 % of the total reads, were shared by 18 WWTPs and constituted a core fungal community. The fungal communities presented similar community diversity but different community structures across the WWTPs. Significant distance decay relationships were observed for the dissimilarity in fungal community structure and altitudinal distance between WWTPs. Additionally, the community evenness increased from 0.25 to 0.7 as the altitude increased. Dissolved oxygen and the C/N ratio were determined to be the most dominant contributors to the variation in fungal community structure via redundancy analysis. The observed data demonstrated the diverse occurrence of fungal species and gave a marked view of fungal community characteristics based on the previously unexplored fungal communities in activated sludge WWTPs.

Characterization of cefalexin degradation capabilities of two Pseudomonas strains isolated from activated sludge.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Bokun; Lyu, Jinling; Lyu, Xian-jin; Yu, Han-qing; Hu, Zhong; Lam, James C W; Lam, Paul K S

2015-01-23

Pharmaceuticals have recently been regarded as contaminants of emerging concern. To date, there is limited knowledge about antibiotic-degrading microorganisms in conventional activated sludge treatment systems and their characteristics toward antibiotic degradation especially in the presence of a pharmaceutical mixture. As such, antibiotic-degrading microorganisms were investigated and isolated from the activated sludge, and their degradation capabilities were evaluated. Two strains of cefalexin-degrading bacteria CE21 and CE22 were isolated and identified as Pseudomonas sp. in the collected activated sludge. Strain CE22 was able to degrade over 90% of cefalexin, while CE21 was able to remove 46.7% of cefalexin after incubation for 24h. The removal efficiency of cefalexin by CE22, different from that of CE21, was not significantly affected by an increase in cefalexin concentration, even up to 10ppm, however the presence of 1ppm of other pharmaceuticals had a significant effect on the degradation of cefalexin by CE22, but no significant effect on CE21. The degradation product of cefalexin by the two strains was identified to be 2-hydroxy-3-phenyl pyrazine. Our results also indicated that CE21 and CE22 were able to degrade caffeine, salicylic acid and chloramphenicol. Moreover, CE21 was found to be capable of eliminating sulfamethoxazole and naproxen. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Comparative Analysis of Performance and Microbial Characteristics Between High-Solid and Low-Solid Anaerobic Digestion of Sewage Sludge Under Mesophilic Conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Qin; Yi, Jing; Yang, Dianhai

2016-01-01

High-solid anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge achieves highly efficient volatile solid reduction, and production of volatile fatty acid (VFA) and methane compared with conventional low-solid anaerobic digestion. In this study, the potential mechanisms of the better performance in high-solid anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge were investigated by using 454 high-throughput pyrosequencing and real-time PCR to analyze the microbial characteristics in sewage sludge fermentation reactors. The results obtained by 454 high-throughput pyrosequencing revealed that the phyla Chloroflexi, Bacteroidetes, and Firmicutes were the dominant functional microorganisms in high-solid and low-solid anaerobic systems. Meanwhile, the real-time PCR assays showed that high-solid anaerobic digestion significantly increased the number of total bacteria, which enhanced the hydrolysis and acidification of sewage sludge. Further study indicated that the number of total archaea (dominated by Methanosarcina) in a high-solid anaerobic fermentation reactor was also higher than that in a low-solid reactor, resulting in higher VFA consumption and methane production. Hence, the increased key bacteria and methanogenic archaea involved in sewage sludge hydrolysis, acidification, and methanogenesis resulted in the better performance of high-solid anaerobic sewage sludge fermentation.

Mesophilic and thermophilic activated sludge post-treatment of paper mill process water

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vogelaar, J.C.T.; Bouwhuis, E.; Klapwijk, A.; Spanjers, H.; Lier, van J.B.

2002-01-01

Increasing system closure in paper mills and higher process water temperatures make the applicability of thermophilic treatment systems increasingly important. The use of activated sludge as a suitable thermophilic post-treatment system for anaerobically pre-treated paper process water from a paper

Comparing cost and process performance of activated sludge (AS) and biological aerated filters (BAF) over ten years of full sale operation.

Science.gov (United States)

Hansen, R; Thogersen, T; Rogalla, F

2007-01-01

In the early 1990s, the Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) of Frederikshavn, Denmark, was extended to meet new requirements for nutrient removal (8 mg/L TN, 1.5 mg TP/L) as well as to increase its average daily flow to 16,500 m(3)/d (4.5 MGD). As the most economical upgrade of the existing activated sludge (AS) plant, a parallel biological aerated filter (BAF) was selected, and started up in 1995. Running two full scale processes in parallel for over ten years on the same wastewater and treatment objectives enabled a direct comparison in relation to operating performance, costs and experience. Common pretreatment consists of screening, an aerated grit and grease removal and three primary settlers with chemical addition. The effluent is then pumped to the two parallel biological treatment stages, AS with recirculation and an upflow BAF with floating media. The wastewater is a mixture of industrial and domestic wastewater, with a dominant discharge of fish processing effluent which can amount to 50% of the flow. The maximum hydraulic load on the pretreatment section as a whole is 1,530 m(3)/h. Approximately 60% of the sewer system is combined with a total of 32 overflow structures. To avoid the direct discharge of combined sewer overflows into the receiving waters, the total hydraulic wet weather capacity of the plant is increased to 4,330 m(3)/h, or 6 times average flow. During rain, some of the raw sewage can be directed through a stormwater bypass to the BAF, which can be modified in its operation to accommodate various treatment needs: either using simultaneous nitrification/denitrification in all filters with recirculation introducing bottom aeration with full nitrification in some filters for storm treatment and/or post-denitrification in one filter. After treatment, the wastewater is discharged to the Baltic Sea through a 500 m outfall. The BAF backwash sludge, approximately 1,900 m(3) per 24 h in dry weather, is redirected to the AS plant. Primary settler

How Does Poly(hydroxyalkanoate) Affect Methane Production from the Anaerobic Digestion of Waste-Activated Sludge?

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Dongbo; Zhao, Jianwei; Zeng, Guangming; Chen, Yinguang; Bond, Philip L; Li, Xiaoming

2015-10-20

Recent studies demonstrate that, besides being used for production of biodegradable plastics, poly(hydroxyalkanoate) (PHA) that is accumulated in heterotrophic microorganisms during wastewater treatment has another novel application direction, i.e., being utilized for enhancing methane yield during the anaerobic digestion of waste-activated sludge (WAS). To date, however, the underlying mechanism of how PHA affects methane production remains largely unknown, and this limits optimization and application of the strategy. This study therefore aims to fill this knowledge gap. Experimental results showed that with the increase of sludge PHA levels from 21 to 184 mg/g of volatile suspended solids (VSS) the methane yield linearly increased from 168.0 to 246.1 mL/g of VSS (R(2) = 0.9834). Compared with protein and carbohydrate (the main components of a cell), PHA exhibited a higher biochemical methane potential on a unit VSS basis. It was also found that the increased PHA not only enhanced cell disruption of PHA cells but also benefited the soluble protein conversion of both PHA- and non-PHA cells. Moreover, the reactor fed with higher PHA sludge showed greater sludge hydrolysis and acidification than those fed with the lower PHA sludges. Further investigations using fluorescence in situ hybridization and enzyme analysis revealed that the increased PHA enhanced the abundance of methanogenic Archaea and increased the activities of protease, acetate kinase, and coenzyme F420, which were consistent with the observed methane yield. This work provides insights into PHA-involved WAS digestion systems and may have important implications for future operation of wastewater treatment plants.

Optimal policies for activated sludge treatment systems with multi effluent stream generation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gouveia R.

2000-01-01

Full Text Available Most industrial processes generate liquid waste, which requires treatment prior to disposal. These processes are divided into sectors that generate effluents with time dependent characteristics. Each sector sends the effluent to wastewater treatment plants through pumping-stations. In general, activated sludge is the most suitable treatment and consists of equalization, aeration and settling tanks. During the treatment, there is an increase in the mass of microorganisms, which needs to be removed. Sludge removal represents the major operating costs for wastewater treatment plants. The objective of this work is to propose an optimization model to minimize sludge generation using a superstructure in which the streams from pumping-stations can be sent to the equalization tank. In addition, the aeration tank is divided into cells that can be fed in series and parallel. The model relies on mass balances, kinetic equations, and the resulting Nonlinear Programming problem generates the best operational strategy for the system feed streams with a high substrate removal. Reductions of up to 30 % can be achieved with the proposed strategy maintened BOD efficiency removal upper than 98 %.

Aerobic activated sludge transformation of vincristine and identification of the transformation products.

Science.gov (United States)

Kosjek, Tina; Negreira, Noelia; Heath, Ester; López de Alda, Miren; Barceló, Damià

2018-01-01

This study aims to identify (bio)transformation products of vincristine, a plant alkaloid chemotherapy drug. A batch biotransformation experiment was set-up using activated sludge at two concentration levels with and without the addition of a carbon source. Sample analysis was performed on an ultra-high performance liquid chromatograph coupled to a high-resolution hybrid quadrupole-Orbitrap tandem mass spectrometer. To identify molecular ions of vincristine transformation products and to propose molecular and chemical structures, we performed data-dependent acquisition experiments combining full-scan mass spectrometry data with product ion spectra. In addition, the use of non-commercial detection and prediction algorithms such as MZmine 2 and EAWAG-BBD Pathway Prediction System, was proven to be proficient for screening for transformation products in complex wastewater matrix total ion chromatograms. In this study eleven vincristine transformation products were detected, nine of which were tentatively identified. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Study on Effects of Electron Donors on Phosphine Production from Anaerobic Activated Sludge

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Jianping Cao

2017-07-01

Full Text Available The effects of different types and concentrations of electron donors (glucose, starch, methanol and sodium acetate on the formation of phosphine from anaerobic activated sludge that has been domesticated for a prolonged period were studied in small batch experiments. The results show that types and concentrations of electron donor have significant effects on the production of phosphine from anaerobic activated sludge. Among them, glucose was the most favourable electron donor, whereas sodium acetate was the least favourable electron donor for the removal of phosphorus and the production of phosphine. Higher concentrations of electron donors were more favourable for the reduction of phosphate into phosphine, and supplying more than nine times the amount of electron donor as theoretically required for the reduction of phosphate into phosphine was favourable for the production of phosphine.

The use of municipal sewage sludge for the stabilization of soil contaminated by mining activities.

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Theodoratos, P; Moirou, A; Xenidis, A; Paspaliaris, I

2000-10-02

The ability of municipal sewage sludge to immobilize Pb, Zn and Cd contained in contaminated soil originating from a former mining area in Lavrion, Greece was investigated. The soil was cured with sewage sludge in various proportions. The stabilization was evaluated primarily by applying chemical tests and complemented by the performance of additional biological tests. Application of the U.S. EPA Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) on the stabilized mixtures proved that Pb, Zn and Cd solubility was reduced by 84%, 64% and 76%, respectively, at 15% w/w sludge addition, while a 10% w/w addition was sufficient to reduce Pb solubility below the U.S. EPA TCLP regulatory limit. The results of the extraction using EDTA solution showed the same trend, resulting in 26%, 36% and 53% reduction in the Pb, Zn and Cd extractable fractions, respectively. Speciation analysis of the treated soils revealed a significant decrease in the mobile fractions of heavy metals, which was attributed to their retention in sewage sludge by adsorption and organic complexation mechanisms. For the assessment of possible phytotoxicity, experiments including growing dwarf beans in the treated soil was carried out. It was found that sewage sludge addition had a positive effect on plant growth. Furthermore, the Pb and Zn uptake of plant leaves and roots was reduced, while Cd uptake was unaffected by the sludge treatment. The results of this study support the hypothesis that municipal sewage sludge is a potential effective stabilizing agent for contaminated soil containing Pb, Zn and Cd.

Understanding the impact of cationic polyacrylamide on anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge.

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Wang, Dongbo; Liu, Xuran; Zeng, Guangming; Zhao, Jianwei; Liu, Yiwen; Wang, Qilin; Chen, Fei; Li, Xiaoming; Yang, Qi

2018-03-01

Previous investigations showed that cationic polyacrylamide (cPAM), a flocculant widely used in wastewater pretreatment and waste activated sludge dewatering, deteriorated methane production during anaerobic digestion of sludge. However, details of how cPAM affects methane production are poorly understood, hindering deep control of sludge anaerobic digestion systems. In this study, the mechanisms of cPAM affecting sludge anaerobic digestion were investigated in batch and long-term tests using either real sludge or synthetic wastewaters as the digestion substrates. Experimental results showed that the presence of cPAM not only slowed the process of anaerobic digestion but also decreased methane yield. The maximal methane yield decreased from 139.1 to 86.7 mL/g of volatile suspended solids (i.e., 1861.5 to 1187.0 mL/L) with the cPAM level increasing from 0 to 12 g/kg of total suspended solids (i.e., 0-236.7 mg/L), whereas the corresponding digestion time increased from 22 to 26 d. Mechanism explorations revealed that the addition of cPAM significantly restrained the sludge solubilization, hydrolysis, acidogenesis, and methanogenesis processes. It was found that ∼46% of cAPM was degraded in the anaerobic digestion, and the degradation products significantly affected methane production. Although the theoretically biochemical methane potential of cPAM is higher than that of protein and carbohydrate, only 6.7% of the degraded cPAM was transformed to the final product, methane. Acrylamide, acrylic acid, and polyacrylic acid were found to be the main degradation metabolites, and their amount accounted for ∼50% of the degraded cPAM. Further investigations showed that polyacrylic acid inhibited all the solubilization, hydrolysis, acidogenesis, and methanogenesis processes while acrylamide and acrylic acid inhibited the methanogenesis significantly. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effect of ultrasound, low-temperature thermal and alkali pre-treatments on waste activated sludge rheology, hygienization and methane potential.

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Ruiz-Hernando, M; Martín-Díaz, J; Labanda, J; Mata-Alvarez, J; Llorens, J; Lucena, F; Astals, S

2014-09-15

Waste activated sludge is slower to biodegrade under anaerobic conditions than is primary sludge due to the glycan strands present in microbial cell walls. The use of pre-treatments may help to disrupt cell membranes and improve waste activated sludge biodegradability. In the present study, the effect of ultrasound, low-temperature thermal and alkali pre-treatments on the rheology, hygienization and biodegradability of waste activated sludge was evaluated. The optimum condition of each pre-treatment was selected based on rheological criteria (reduction of steady state viscosity) and hygienization levels (reduction of Escherichia coli, somatic coliphages and spores of sulfite-reducing clostridia). The three pre-treatments were able to reduce the viscosity of the sludge, and this reduction was greater with increasing treatment intensity. However, only the alkali and thermal conditioning allowed the hygienization of the sludge, whereas the ultrasonication did not exhibit any notorious effect on microbial indicators populations. The selected optimum conditions were as follows: 27,000 kJ/kg TS for the ultrasound, 80 °C during 15 min for the thermal and 157 g NaOH/kg TS for the alkali. Afterward, the specific methane production was evaluated through biomethane potential tests at the specified optimum conditions. The alkali pre-treatment exhibited the greatest methane production increase (34%) followed by the ultrasonication (13%), whereas the thermal pre-treatment presented a methane potential similar to the untreated sludge. Finally, an assessment of the different treatment scenarios was conducted considering the results together with an energy balance, which revealed that the ultrasound and alkali treatments entailed higher costs. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Reduction of excess sludge production in sequencing batch reactor through incorporation of chlorine dioxide oxidation

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Wang Guanghua; Sui Jun; Shen Huishan; Liang Shukun; He Xiangming; Zhang Minju; Xie Yizhong; Li Lingyun; Hu Yongyou

2011-01-01

In this study, chlorine dioxide (ClO 2 ) instead of chlorine (Cl 2 ) was proposed to minimize the formation of chlorine-based by-products and was incorporated into a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) for excess sludge reduction. The results showed that the sludge disintegrability of ClO 2 was excellent. The waste activated sludge at an initial concentration of 15 g MLSS/L was rapidly reduced by 36% using ClO 2 doses of 10 mg ClO 2 /g dry sludge which was much lower than that obtained using Cl 2 based on similar sludge reduction efficiency. Maximum sludge disintegration was achieved at 10 mg ClO 2 /g dry sludge for 40 min. ClO 2 oxidation can be successfully incorporated into a SBR for excess sludge reduction without significantly harming the bioreactor performance. The incorporation of ClO 2 oxidation resulted in a 58% reduction in excess sludge production, and the quality of the effluent was not significantly affected.

Durability and Mechanical Performance of PMMA/Stone Sludge Nanocomposites for Acrylic Solid Surface Applications

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Samah EL-Bashir

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Acrylic solid surface sheets were prepared by mixing different kinds of stone sludge fillers (SSF in Poly (methyl methacrylate (PMMA nanocomposites. PMMA nanocomposite syrups were made using free radical polymerization of methylmethacrylate (MMA, then two kinds of nanofillers were added, namely, hydrophilic nanosilica and clay Halloysite nanotubules (HNTs. Acrylic solid surface sheets were manufactured by mixing the syrups with SSFs. The morphology of the produced sheets was studied using optical, and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM that revealed the uniform distribution of stone sludge in the polymeric matrix. The study of the physical properties showed promising mechanical performance and durability of PMMA/SSF nanocomposites for acrylic solid surface applications.

Recovery and reuse of sludge from active and passive treatment of mine drainage-impacted waters: a review.

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Rakotonimaro, Tsiverihasina V; Neculita, Carmen Mihaela; Bussière, Bruno; Benzaazoua, Mostafa; Zagury, Gérald J

2017-01-01

The treatment of mine drainage-impacted waters generates considerable amounts of sludge, which raises several concerns, such as storage and disposal, stability, and potential social and environmental impacts. To alleviate the storage and management costs, as well as to give the mine sludge a second life, recovery and reuse have recently become interesting options. In this review, different recovery and reuse options of sludge originating from active and passive treatment of mine drainage are identified and thoroughly discussed, based on available laboratory and field studies. The most valuable products presently recovered from the mine sludge are the iron oxy-hydroxides (ochre). Other by-products include metals, elemental sulfur, and calcium carbonate. Mine sludge reuse includes the removal of contaminants, such as As, P, dye, and rare earth elements. Mine sludge can also be reused as stabilizer for contaminated soil, as fertilizer in agriculture/horticulture, as substitute material in construction, as cover over tailings for acid mine drainage prevention and control, as material to sequester carbon dioxide, and in cement and pigment industries. The review also stresses out some of the current challenges and research needs. Finally, in order to move forward, studies are needed to better estimate the contribution of sludge recovery/reuse to the overall costs of mine water treatment.

Metabolic factors affecting enhanced phosphorus uptake by activated sludge.

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Boughton, W H; Gottfried, R J; Sinclair, N A; Yall, I

1971-10-01

Activated sludges obtained from the Rilling Road plant located at San Antonio, Tex., and from the Hyperion treatment plant located at Los Angeles, Calif., have the ability to remove all of the orthophosphate normally present in Tucson sewage within 3 hr after being added to the waste water. Phosphorus removal was independent of externally supplied sources of energy and ions, since orthophosphate and (32)P radioactivity were readily removed from tap water, glass-distilled water, and deionized water. Phosphorus uptake by Rilling sludge in the laboratory appears to be wholly biological, as it has an optimum pH range (7.7 to 9.7) and an optimum temperature range (24 to 37 C). It was inhibited by HgCl(2), iodoacetic acid, p-chloromercuribenzoic acid, NaN(3), and 2, 4-dinitrophenol (compounds that affect bacterial membrane permeability, sulfhydryl enzymes, and adenosine triphosphate synthesis). Uptake was inhibited by 1% NaCl but was not affected by 10(-3)m ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium salt (a chelating agent for many metallic ions).

Obtaining a pozzolanic addition from the controlled calcination of paper mill sludge. Performance in cement matrices

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San José, J. T.

2006-09-01

Full Text Available Mineralogically, the paper mill sludge consists essentially of calcite, kaolinite, talc and other philosilicates (illite, chlorite. When such sludge is subjected to controlled thermal treatment, its kaolinite component may be transformed into metakaolin, yielding a product with high pozzolanic reactivity. This study was designed to analyze a number of scientific questions around the production of pozzolanic additions via controlled thermal activation of paper mill sludge and to evaluate the performance of such additions when included in a cement matrix. The findings show that paper mill waste activation is optimal when the sludge is calcined for 2 hours at 700 ºC in the 700-800 ºC interval. A comparative study between the cement made with the new addition and a commercial cement (CEM I-42.5R used as a reference led to highlight the scientific and technical viability of this waste as a cementing secondary material.Los lodos de destintado del papel están constituidos,mineralógicamente, por calcita, caolinita, talco y otros filosilicatos (ilita, clorita. Cuando al lodo se le somete aun tratamiento térmico controlado, la caolinita puede transformarse en metacaolín, dando origen a un producto de alta reactividad puzolánica.El objeto de este trabajo es analizar diferentes aspectos científicos relativos al proceso de obtención de una adiciónpuzolánica a partir de la activación térmica controlada de lodos de destintado del papel, así como evaluar el comportamiento de la nueva adición cuando se incorpora en una matriz de cemento. Los resultados obtenidos ponen de manifiesto la recomendación de utilizar 700 ºC durante 2 horas de permanencia en el horno, como condiciones más óptimas para activar los residuos de lodos de papel en el intervalo 700-800 ºC. Del estudio comparativo del cemento elaborado con la nueva adición con respecto a un cemento comercial (CEM I-42,5R, se puede destacar la viabilidad científica y técnica de

Impacts of multiwalled carbon nanotubes on nutrient removal from wastewater and bacterial community structure in activated sludge.

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Reti Hai

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The increasing use of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs will inevitably lead to the exposure of wastewater treatment facilities. However, knowledge of the impacts of MWCNTs on wastewater nutrient removal and bacterial community structure in the activated sludge process is sparse. AIMS: To investigate the effects of MWCNTs on wastewater nutrient removal, and bacterial community structure in activated sludge. METHODS: Three triplicate sequencing batch reactors (SBR were exposed to wastewater which contained 0, 1, and 20 mg/L MWCNTs. MiSeq sequencing was used to investigate the bacterial community structures in activated sludge samples which were exposed to different concentrations of MWCNTs. RESULTS: Exposure to 1 and 20 mg/L MWCNTs had no acute (1 day impact on nutrient removal from wastewater. After long-term (180 days exposure to 1 mg/L MWCNTs, the average total nitrogen (TN removal efficiency was not significantly affected. TN removal efficiency decreased from 84.0% to 71.9% after long-term effects of 20 mg/L MWCNTs. After long-term exposure to 1 and 20 mg/L MWCNTs, the total phosphorus removal efficiencies decreased from 96.8% to 52.3% and from 98.2% to 34.0% respectively. Further study revealed that long-term exposure to 20 mg/L MWCNTs inhibited activities of ammonia monooxygenase and nitrite oxidoreductase. Long-term exposure to 1 and 20 mg/L MWCNTs both inhibited activities of exopolyphosphatase and polyphosphate kinase. MiSeq sequencing data indicated that 20 mg/L MWCNTs significantly decreased the diversity of bacterial community in activated sludge. Long-term exposure to 1 and 20 mg/L MWCNTs differentially decreased the abundance of nitrifying bacteria, especially ammonia-oxidizing bacteria. The abundance of PAOs was decreased after long-term exposure to 20 mg/L MWCNTs. The abundance of glycogen accumulating organisms (GAOs was increased after long-term exposure to 1 mg/L MWCNTs. CONCLUSION: MWCNTs have adverse effects on