Anaerobic Biodegradation of Polyhydroxybutyrate in Municipal Sewage Sludge

Anaerobic biodegradation in sewage sludge of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) was investigated. Evolved gaseous carbon was measured to assess biodegradability according to ASTM D5210. Mass-loss experiments were performed to determine degradation kinetics. Changes in the polymer properties were investigated. The impact of a natural plasticizer [tributyl citrate (TBC)] on biodegradation was determined. Polylactic acid was also biodegraded for comparison. Melt-pressed plates of PHB (with thicknesses of 0.24, 0.5, 1.2, 3.5, and 5.0 mm) were biodegraded to investigate the relationship between initial mass:initial surface area ratios and decay rates. Scanning electron microscopy micrographs of degraded specimens were recorded for visual illustration of the degradation process. A relationship between initial mass:initial surface area and degradation rates indicates that the thickness and surface area of the material affect its degradation. The degradation rates were impacted by the sewage sludge activity. TBC additive hindered PHB’s rate of degradation. Thermal properties, molecular bonding, and molecular weight measured by differential scanning calorimetry, Fourier transform infrared, and size exclusion chromatography, respectively, were only slightly affected by biodegradation, indicating that recycling PHB will not affect its performance.     

Nitrification in Pure Oxygen Activated Sludge Systems

Mixed liquor pH and temperature are two parameters that affect the growth rate of nitrifying bacteria and therefore the minimum solids retention time required to achieve nitrification. The objective of this study was to determine the consequence of low mixed liquor pH, and to determine if pH depression could be alleviated by recovering alkalinity through denitrification in a pure oxygen activated sludge system. The study was conducted at the University of Manitoba using laboratory scale, pure oxygen activated sludge reactors, fed with primary effluent. The results indicated that when denitrification was not included in the process, the concentration of CO2 in the headspace of the pure oxygen reactors increased to as high as 15% due to carbon oxidation and endogenous respiration. The high CO2 concentration in the headspace combined with low alkalinity caused by nitrification resulted in bulk mixed liquor pHs below 5.5. In order to maintain complete nitrification at a temperature of 24°C and a mixed liquor pH of 5.5, a solids retention time (SRT) of 12 days was required. In comparison, when denitrification was included in the process the pH of the mixed liquor was increased to 6.4 allowing for full nitrification at an SRT of 5.6 days at a temperature of 24°C. The increase in pH in the denitrification trains was attributed to three factors: recovery of alkalinity through the denitrification process, the conversion of influent carbon to CO2 in the anoxic reactor allowing the CO2 to escape to the atmosphere, and the recycle of mixed liquor super saturated with CO2 from the pure oxygen reactor to the anoxic reactor allowing the CO2 to escape to the open atmosphere. It was determined that the nitrifier growth rate at 12°C was approximately 50% of the rate measured at 24°C. At mixed liquor pHs between 6.0 and 6.3 at a temperature of 12°C, the specific nitrifier growth rate was between 0.12 and 0.15?d?1, while at 24°C, the specific nitrifier growth rate was between 0.25 and 0.30?d?1 at pHs ranging from 5.0 to 6.1     

Adsorption of Perfluorinated Compounds onto Activated Carbon and Activated Sludge

The adsorption of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) onto powdered activated carbon (PAC) was investigated in the presence and absence of effluent organic matter (EfOM) at an environmentally relevant concentration range (0.1–500??μg/L). Adsorption of PFOS and PFOA to PAC fitted the Freundlich model well (r2>0.98), and adsorption capacity of PFOS (KF = 17.48) and PFOA (KF = 10.03) in the absence of EfOM was more than one order of magnitude higher than that in the presence of EfOM (KF = 0.66 for PFOS, KF = 0.20 for PFOA), indicating that EfOM greatly reduces the adsorption capacity of PAC. Moreover, EfOM was characterized by ultrafiltration, and fractions of nominal molecular weights were obtained to investigate their effect on the PFOS and PFOA adsorption. The fraction of <1??kDa had greater effect on adsorption than the fraction of >30??kDa, indicating that the similar molecular size of target compounds was the major contributor to adsorption competition. Additionally, biosorption of PFOS and PFOA to activated sludge fitted the linear isotherm (r2>0.9) within a concentration range of 50–400??μg/L. On the basis of our data, the estimated partition coefficient, Kd, was 729??L/kg for PFOS and 154??L/kg for PFOA, respectively, suggesting that PFOS and especially PFOA have a low tendency to partition onto sludge.     

Value of Monod's Affinity Constant in Activated Sludge

In mixed species, mixed substrate cultures represented by aggregate variables such as biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, or volatile suspended solids, the magnitude of Monod's affinity constant Ks is an indicator of the number of species and substrates present.     

2种微生物絮凝剂高效产生菌的筛选和培养条件的优化

[目的]筛选微生物絮凝剂高效产生菌,并优化其培养条件.[方法]从活性污泥中分离纯化絮凝剂产生菌株,考察它们对焦化废水的絮凝效果,并探讨了利用糖蜜废液作为廉价培养基扩大培养菌株的可行性.[结果]从活性污泥中共得到4株絮凝率>70%且絮凝特性稳定的菌株.其中,J-Y1和J-Y2菌液的絮凝活性最好,对高岭土悬浊液的絮凝率分别为94.4%和98.9%,在处理焦化废水时絮凝率最高分别也达到88.4%和93.9%.J-Y1和J-Y2在糖蜜废液中均生长良好,且糖蜜浓度未对絮凝率产生显著抑制.[结论]糖蜜废液可为J-Y1和J-Y2的扩大培养提供廉价的营养,并且这两个菌株在优化的试验条件下均具有相当高的絮凝能力,表明它们在废水处理中有巨大的应用潜力.     

Robust Optimal Design of Activated Sludge Bioreactors

This paper proposes an algorithm for a robust optimal design of the biological reactor and secondary settling facilities in suspended growth nitrogen and phosphorus removal systems. Robust optimization includes uncertainty in the decision-making procedure and seeks a solution that remains “close” to optimal for all potential operation scenarios. It thus differs fundamentally from the deterministic and stochastic approaches, where uncertainty is ignored or a solution based on either the most likely scenario or the average performance over all potential scenarios is produced. The robust optimization of a suspended growth system is a multiobjective optimization problem concerned with minimization of the global costs and variability of the system’s performance around the optimal. The proposed robust optimization approach uses the ASM3 model, making use of its performance prediction capabilities to produce a powerful tool for designing activated sludge systems. The algorithm was applied to the design of the biological reactor and secondary settling facilities for the Vila Real municipal wastewater treatment plant (Portugal).     

Simulating Activated Sludge System by Simple-to-Advanced Models

Models ranging through simple, intermediate, and International Water Association complex activated sludge models (ASMs) were evaluated to compare their ability to describe biomass growth and substrate removal in an activated sludge system. A membrane-activated sludge bench-scale system was used to treat a complex synthetic wastewater over a wide range of operating conditions, ranging from 1 to 15 days solids retention time and 4 to 12 h hydraulic retention time. Total suspended solids, volatile suspended solids (VSSs), and total and soluble chemical oxygen demands (CODs) were monitored in the influent, the reactor, and the effluent. A variety of substrate removal formulations were used with the simple and intermediate models. Although all models provide excellent prediction of biomass growth, the intermediate model was best. Prediction of substrate removal was good with models that incorporated a nonbiodegradable component in the influent. ASM3 was the best model for predicting effluent soluble COD, but overall, the intermediate model was judged best for prediction of mixed liquor VSS and effluent soluble COD.     

焦化废水中苯胺和萘等物质在厌氧条件下去除规律的研究

在实验室保证厌氧条件下,通过恒温摇床试验,研究焦化废水中芳烃类物质苯胺、萘和茚的降解去除规律,同时对这三种芳烃类有机物在水相和泥相中的含量进行了测定。研究结果表明：苯胺的厌氧去除主要通过生物降解,但微生物需要一个适应过程;萘和茚的厌氧去除途径是吸附在污泥上进行降解,茶经过48h可降解完全,茚的吸附属物理吸附,是可逆的。     

Thermogravimetric Analysis of Activated Sludge Flocculated with Polyelectrolyte

This work examines the thermal pyrolysis characteristics of polyelectrolyte-flocculated activated sludge at a heating rate up to 873 K by means of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Although the polyelectrolyte does not affect the pyrolysis rate of the sludge at a temperature of 8 or 14 K∕min, using polyelectrolyte flocculation to charge neutralization appears to accelerate the pyrolysis process at 20 K∕min. TGA∕mass spectrometer tests were performed to identify the species released during pyrolysis of the sludges. A parallel-reaction kinetic model (Reactions 1 and 2) was applied to interpret the experimental data, with Reaction 1 corresponding to the release of C7H14 equivalents or lighter, and Reaction 2 corresponding to the heavier compounds. Using polyelectrolyte flocculation to change the neutralization point enhances Reaction 1 by transforming the heavier organics that are originally released at elevated temperature (Reaction 2) to the lighter compounds in the low-temperature regime (Reaction 1).     

Density and Activity Characterization of Activated Sludge Flocs

Activated sludge flocs are made up of a conglomerate of materials including microorganisms, exocellular polymers, inert particulates, slow and nonbiodegradable organic particles, and water. The goal of this study was to determine if inert/unbiodegradable aggregates had higher densities than active biomass. It was also desired to determine whether mixed liquor could be gravimetrically settled to differentially stratify flocs based on density and biological activity. In this manner, if activity stratification is possible, then less active biomass could be wasted preferentially during wastewater treatment operations (e.g., during daily wastage), thereby increasing the effective solids retention time and improving process performance. This paper reports the initial set of results, which focused on establishing density values of inert/unbiodegradable fractions of activated sludge floc, and the heterotrophic activity measurements of faster settling flocs compared to slower settling flocs. The results indicate that activated sludge from a local wastewater treatment plant had aggregate densities as low as 1.038?g/mL for slower settling floc particles and as high as 1.065?g/mL for faster settling floc particles. Primary effluent “inert+unbiodegradable particulate organic” fractions, which ultimately accumulate in mixed liquor and contribute to the inactive activated sludge floc fraction, had densities of approximately 1.24?g/mL. Mixed liquor that was digested in excess of 90 days to reduce any degradable organics revealed aggregate densities between 1.11 and 1.12?g/mL. Settling column experiments indicated that floc particles settled at rates ranging from less than 5?m/h to greater than 30?m/h. Specific oxygen uptake rates signified that the heterotrophic activity was homogeneous across all settling velocities except those flocs with a settling velocity of less than 5?m/h. These flocs exhibited a specific oxygen uptake rate of between 31 and 110% higher than the remaining floc. Determination of the mass fraction of these flocs indicates that they account for approximately 2% of the overall biomass. This low fraction limits the usefulness of differentially settling unaltered waste activated sludge to recover portions with higher activity.     

Activated Sludge Process Modification for Sludge Yield Reduction Using Pulp and Paper Wastewater

Implications of conventional activated sludge (CAS) process modification to a low sludge production (LSP) process have been studied for treating pulp and paper wastewaters. The activated sludge process is modified to a two-stage design to establish a microbial food chain that would result in reduced sludge production. The return activated sludge in the LSP process bypasses the first (dispersed growth) stage to be received only by the second (predatory) stage. The resulting once-through operation of the dispersed growth (DG) stage makes it potentially susceptible to bacterial washout under hydraulic shock conditions. A sensitivity analysis of the DG stage operation was performed by varying its hydraulic residence time. The experimental data revealed that the optimal DG stage hydraulic residence is between 3 and 5?h, with bacterial washout likely to be initiated within 2?h. Based on laboratory results, it appears that a well-designed LSP system is likely to be able to handle day-to-day variations in hydraulic and organic loading rates. The LSP process produced 36% less sludge than the CAS process while consuming approximately 25% more oxygen. The treatment performance of the two systems was comparable except that the LSP sludge had much better settling and dewatering properties.     

Dynamic Growth Rates of Microbial Populations in Activated Sludge Systems

Results of mathematical modeling and whole cell 16S ribosomal RNA-targeted fluorescence in situ hybridizations challenge the widely held perception that microbial populations in “steady-state” activated sludge systems share a common net growth rate that is proportional to the inverse of the mean cell residence time. Our results are significant because they encourage bioprocess engineers to appreciate the differences in growth physiology among individual microbial populations in complex mixed microbial communities such as suspended growth activated sludge bioreactor systems.     

Modeling VOC Emissions in the High-Purity Oxygen Activated Sludge Process

Mass balances for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were added to a structured mathematical model of the high-purity oxygen activated sludge (HPO-AS) process. The model was sized to correspond to two large existing HPO-AS treatment plants. The stripping of ten different VOCs was modeled and compared to stripping from conventional air activated sludge process. The results show that the covered aeration tanks can reduce stripping by more than 90%, depending on the specific VOC. If biodegradation is considered, the HPO-AS process degrades more than the conventional process due to the higher liquid-phase concentrations that result because of reduced stripping. The increase in biodegradation depends on the VOCs degradability but should increase to nearly 100% for highly volatile but biodegradable VOCs.     

Chemical Oxygen Demand and the Mechanism of Excess Sludge Reduction in an Oxic-Settling-Anaerobic Activated Sludge Process

A modified activated sludge process, called the oxic-settling-anaerobic (OSA) process, achieved effective reduction in excess sludge production. Its key feature is the insertion of a sludge holding tank in the sludge return circuit to provide an anaerobic sludge zone. Our previous studies suggested that such excess sludge reduction might be associated with an increased sludge decay rate and the effective consumption of organic substrates generated during the retention of the thickened sludge in the sludge holding tank under a low oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) at ?250?mV. To confirm this suggestion, we analyzed the chemical oxygen demand (COD) balance in the sludge holding tank through batch experiments to simulate the sludge concentration, ORP level, and retention time in the sludge holding tank. The COD generated from the sludge reduction in the tank was utilized by organic gas (mainly CH4) production, denitrification, sulfate reduction, and phosphorus release, among which the gas production accounted for 50% of the COD utilization. We confirmed that the mechanism of the excess sludge reduction in the OSA process is through enhancement of the sludge decay rate in the anaerobic sludge zone, which increases the soluble COD level, which in turn is mainly transformed into methane gas and carbon dioxide during denitrification.     

Conditioning, Filtering, and Expressing Waste Activated Sludge

In this study, the applied liquid pressure was used to characterize the rate and extent of activated sludge dewatering in the expression phase. By characterizing the liquid pressure, three important features of expression phase dewatering were determined. First, as the depth of sludge cake increased, the ability to express water from the sludge cake was greatly reduced. Second, iron and lime were found to be superior to polymer, especially as the applied pressure increased. Third, for either type of conditioner, increased pressure resulted in a decreased rate of expression. This was probably due to the highly compressible nature of activated sludge, which responds to pressure by becoming less porous.     

Mathematical Model for the Biofilm–Activated Sludge Reactor

A steady state mathematical model is developed for describing the completely mixed biofilm–activated sludge reactor (hybrid reactor). The model is derived by simultaneously considering Monod kinetics expressions and Fickian’s diffusion theory for substrate in biofilm. In addition, it includes the basic concepts, which describe both culture (suspended and attached) and the competition between them for limiting substrate. By using this model the suspended biomass concentration can be obtained for this system. Subsequently, the other remaining parameters of the system can be computed. Therefore it helps to design and operate the hybrid reactor under different conditions for any given set of kinetic parameters. The utility of the model has been explained for a given set of data and verified by comparing with another solution. It is found that for the same set of data, the model is accurate in the results. The model has been presented in more than one form, each form having an explicit solution of the system. Compared with other solutions of such a system, the model provides a good tool for describing such a system based on fundamental principles.     

Assessing Parameter Identifiability of Activated Sludge Model Number 1

The main difficulties reported in the identification of biokinetic models describing the activated sludge process are related to poor convergence or nonconvergence of the identification algorithms and nonuniqueness of the parameter estimates (i.e., different values for the parameters produce approximately the same response from the model). In the present paper, we assessed the identifiability of the Activated Sludge Model Number 1 parameters for a simulated full-scale WWTP calibrating situation, using both noise-free and noise-corrupted simulated data, and analyzed the efficiency of different optimization methods in the identification process. We began by comparing the performance, in terms of the rate of convergence, for different identification algorithms based on three distinct optimization methods. Finally, a procedure based on the information content of the Fisher and covariance matrices was applied in order to define the set of best identifiable parameters in different calibration situations.     

Thermal Treatment of Waste Activated Sludge Using Liquid Boiling

In this work we investigated the use of a short time, low superheat boiling process to treat biological sludge. The treated sludge would exhibit a deteriorated filterability, and a marked increase in soluble organics content. A large portion of extracellular polymers was released from the solid phase by boiling. The microbial density levels of the total coliform bacteria and the heterotrophic bacteria were reduced after treatment. Dilution in sludge concentration could allow more organic compounds to be hydrolyzed and a greater fraction of microbes to be disinfected when compared with the undiluted samples.     

Biodegradation of Mixtures of Phenolic Compounds in an Upward-Flow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Reactor

The anaerobic biodegradability of mixtures of phenolic compounds was studied under continuous and batch systems. Continuous experiments were carried out in up-flow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactors degrading a mixture of phenol and p-cresol as the main carbon and energy sources. The total chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal above 90% was achieved even at organic loading rates as high as 7 kg COD/m3/day. Batch experiments were conducted with mixtures of phenolic compounds (phenol, p-cresol, and o-cresol) to determine the specific biodegradation rates using unadapted and adapted anaerobic granular sludge. Phenol and p-cresol were mineralized by adapted sludge with rates several orders of magnitude higher than unadapted sludge. Additionally, an UASB reactor was operated with the mixture phenol, p-cresol, and o-cresol. After 54 days of operation, 80% of o-cresol (supplied at 132 mg/L) was eliminated. The phenol biodegradation was not affected by the presence of o-cresol. These results demonstrate that major phenolic components in petrochemical effluents can be biodegraded simultaneously during anaerobic treatment.     

Biodegradation of Phenol with Wastewater as a Cosubstrate in Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket

Anaerobic degradation of phenol mixed with a readily degradable synthetic wastewater (DSWW) as a cosubstrate was studied in a 12?L upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor at 30±2°C over a period of 632?days. DSWW was prepared by diluting sugar cane based molasses. The biomass was acclimatized to high phenol concentration by gradually decreasing the DSWW chemical oxygen demand (COD) of 4,000?mg/L. Feed made up of phenol COD and DSWW COD in the ratio of 7:3 (phenol concentration = 1,176?mg/L) was successfully treated at a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 12?h and organic loading rate (OLR) of 8?g?COD/L?day. Phenol removal ranged from 99.9 to 84% at phenol COD varying from 10 to 70% in the feed. During the entire operation, COD removal varied from about 74 to 91.3%. The influent COD was distributed into CH4–COD ( ～ 72%), effluent COD ( ～ 17%), and sludge and unaccounted COD ( ～ 11%). The process failure occurred at 4:1 phenol COD: DSWW COD. Specific methanogenic activity of granular sludge exhibited uniform activity up to phenol COD of 70%. The performance of the reactor could not be maintained beyond 70% phenol COD even by reducing the sludge loading rate, increasing HRT, or decreasing OLR.