Copper (II) adsorption by the extracellular polymeric substance extracted from waste activated sludge after short-time aerobic digestion

The extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) extracted from waste activated sludge (WAS) after short-time aerobic digestion was investigated to be used as a novel biosorbent for Cu²⁺ removal from water. The EPS consisted of protein (52.6 %, w/w), polysaccharide (30.7 %, w/w), and nucleic acid (16.7 %, w/w). Short-time aerobic digestion process of WAS for about 4 h promoted the productivity growth of the EPS for about 10 %. With a molecular weight of about 1.9?×?10⁶ Da, the EPS showed a linear structure with long chains, and contained carboxyl, hydroxyl, and amino groups. The sorption kinetics was well fit for the pseudo-second-order model, and the maximum sorption capacity of the EPS (700.3 mg Cu²⁺/g EPS) was markedly greater than those of the reported biosorbents. Both Langmuir model and Freundlich model commendably described the sorption isotherm. The Gibbs free energy analysis of the adsorption showed that the sorption process was feasible and spontaneous. According to the complex results of multiple analytical techniques, including scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, etc., the adsorption process took place via both physical and chemical sorption, but the electrostatic interaction between sorption sites with the functional groups and Cu²⁺ is the major mechanism.     

Enhancing aerobic digestion potential of municipal waste-activated sludge through removal of extracellular polymeric substance

A protease-secreting bacteria was used to pretreat municipal sewage sludge to enhance aerobic digestion. To enhance the accessibility of the sludge to the enzyme, extracellular polymeric substances were removed using citric acid thereby removing the flocs in the sludge. The conditions for the bacterial pretreatment were optimized using response surface methodology. The results of the bacterial pretreatment indicated that the suspended solids reduction was 18 % in sludge treated with citric acid and 10 % in sludge not treated with citric acid whereas in raw sludge, suspended solids reduction was 5.3 %. Solubilization was 10.9 % in the sludge with extracellular polymeric substances removed in contrast to that of the sludge with extracellular polymeric substances, which was 7.2 %, and that of the raw sludge, which was just 4.8 %. The suspended solids reduction in the aerobic reactor containing pretreated sludge was 52.4 % whereas that in the control reactor was 15.3 %. Thus, pretreatment with the protease-secreting bacteria after the removal of extracellular polymeric substances is a cost-effective and environmentally friendly method.     

低强度超声波强化剩余活性污泥好氧消化的研究

污泥是城市污水处理厂的副产物,若处理不当,将会带来一系列严重的环境问题.实验采用低强度超声波对剩余活性污泥(WAS)的好氧消化过程进行强化,选取超声强度、超声时间、超声间隔3个因素设计正交实验.结果表明,经超声辐照的WAS,其好氧消化时间最短仅约为13 d,比未经超声辐照的缩短了18.00 d.对实验结果的极差分析和方差分析表明,低强度超声波强化WAS好氧消化的最佳参数为:超声强度1.0 W/cm2、超声时间10 min、超声间隔8 h.实验还研究了WAS达标前后溶解性化学需氧量(SCOD)和总化学需氧量(TCOD)的变化情况,发现在相对较短的处理时间内,经低强度超声波强化处理的WAS的TCOD降解率仍然能与对照相近甚至高于对照,主要原因是低强度超声波强化了微生物的新陈代谢,促进了其对有机物的吸收分解.     

污泥加热预处理对中温厌氧消化的影响

对污泥加热预处理给中温厌氧混合消化和污泥单独消化带来的影响进行了研究.研究结果表明,污泥加热预处理有利于提高混合消化对 COD 的去除率,尤其是 SCOD 的去除率由 77%增长到 93%,但不利于 TS 和 VS 的去除;而对污泥单独消化,预处理则不利于有机物的去除.采用加热预处理后的污泥进样,混合消化和污泥单独消化的甲烷产气量均有所提高.     

Comparison of mechanical pretreatment methods for the enhancement of anaerobic digestion of pulp and paper waste activated sludge

The conventional anaerobic digestion process, requiring long solids retention times (SRTs) to digest solids, is currently viewed as impractical for the pulp and paper industry because of high capital costs associated with the construction of new digesters. Recent developments in sludge solubilization technology could be promising in reducing digester size, which also allows for the potential use of decommissioned tanks, both of which can reduce the capital cost. Three pretreatment technologies for use with anaerobic digestion were tested on laboratory-scale to investigate their feasibility. The SRTs in all three digesters systematically decreased from 20 to 3 days. The reference digester was fed waste activated sludge (WAS) to serve as the control at the same SRTs. The other digesters were fed WAS that had been preconditioned using mechanical shearing, sonication, or high-pressure homogenization technology. Anaerobic digestion with high-pressure homogenization produced as much methane at 3-day mean SRT as that from the reference digester operated at 20-day SRT. Therefore, a new digester can theoretically be 85% smaller than a conventional digester. An added benefit of WAS to methane conversion is the recovery of nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus.     

Performance of anaerobic waste activated sludge digesters after microwave pretreatment.

Effects of microwave pretreatment on waste activated sludge (WAS) in mesophilic semicontinuous digesters with acclimatized inoculum at solids retention times (SRTs) of 5, 10, and 20 days are presented. Batch digesters determined optimum microwave temperature, intensity, WAS concentration, and percentage of WAS pretreated for highest WAS solubilization (soluble to total chemical oxygen demand ratio [SCOD:TCOD]) and biogas production. Pretreatment results indicated the potential to damage floc structure and release 4.2-, 4.5-, and 3.6-fold higher soluble proteins, sugars, and SCOD:TCODs compared with controls, with nucleic acid release. Pretreatment increased dewaterability and bioavailability of WAS with 20% higher biogas production compared with controls in batch digestion. In semicontinuous digesters, relative (to control) improvements in removals dramatically increased, as SRT was shortened from 20 to 10 to 5 days, with 23 and 26% higher volatile solids removals for WAS pretreated to 96 degrees C by microwave and conventional heating at a 5-day SRT.     

The digestibility of waste activated sludges.

Laboratory digestion studies using waste activated sludges (WAS) were conducted to compare the digestion performance between anaerobic and aerobic processes. Nine samples of WAS from seven wastewater treatment plants were collected and batch-digested under both anaerobic and aerobic conditions for 30 days at 25 degrees C. The cation content of wastewater (both floc and solution phases) and solution biopolymer (protein and polysaccharide) was measured before and after digestion and compared with volatile solids destruction data. The study revealed that each digestion process was associated with a distinct biopolymer fraction, which accounted for differences in volatile solids reduction under anaerobic and aerobic conditions. The anaerobic digestion data showed strong correlations between soluble protein generation, ammonium production, percent volatile solids reduction, and floc iron (Fe). These data suggest that the amount of volatile solids destroyed by anaerobic digestion depends on the Fe content of floc. In aerobic digestion, polysaccharide accumulated in solution along with calcium and magnesium. For aerobic digestion, correlations between divalent cation release and the production of inorganic nitrogen were found. This implies that divalent cation-bound biopolymer, thought to be lectin-like protein, was the primary organic fraction degraded under aerobic conditions. The results of the study show that the cation content in wastewater is an important indicator of the material that will digest under anaerobic or aerobic conditions and that some of the volatile solids will digest only under either anaerobic or aerobic conditions.     

Enhancement of batch waste activated sludge digestion by microwave pretreatment.

Batch anaerobic digesters were used to stabilize microwave (MW)-irradiated waste activated sludge (WAS). A low temperature range (50-96 degrees C) MW irradiation was applied. Effects of pretreatment temperature (T) and intensity (I), concentration (C) and percentage of sludge pretreated (PT) were investigated in a multilevel factorial statistical design containing 54 mesophilic batch reactors by monitoring cumulative biogas production (CBP). Variance analysis (ANOVA) determined that the most important factors affecting WAS solubilization were temperature, intensity, and sludge concentration. Improvements in CBP from WAS were significantly affected by sludge percentage pretreated, temperature, and concentration. Pretreatment resulted in 3.6 +/- 0.6 and 3.2 +/- 0.1 fold increases in soluble to total chemical oxygen demand (SCOD/TCOD) at high and low sludge concentrations, respectively. WAS, microwaved to 96 degrees C, produced the greatest improvement in CBP with 15 +/- 0.5 and 20 +/- 0.3% increases over controls after 19 d of digestion at low and high WAS concentrations. Dewaterability of microwaved sludge was enhanced after anaerobic digestion.     

Novel insights into enhanced dewatering of waste activated sludge based on the durable and efficacious radical generating

This study aims to develop a high-efficiency radical oxidation process for enhancing the dewaterability of waste activated sludge (WAS). Radical scavenging studies combined with electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) were carried out for the direct radical identification and effectiveness evaluation of radical oxidation. The results indicated that Fe(II)-activated CaO₂ can pose a superior effect on dewatering WAS due to its distinctive capacity of stable ?OH production and the high reaction efficiency of regulated-released ?OH with water-holding organics. The mechanism for the enhanced dewatering performance was also explored. The rupture of sludge colloidal flocs and the reduction of hydrophilic functional groups in loosely bound extracellular polymeric substances (LB-EPS) were found to be mainly responsible for the release of interstitial water and improved dewaterability, respectively. In addition, an inference about the relationship between interfacial water and zeta potential of different EPS fractions was established by the simultaneous measurement of the binding affinities of Ca²⁺ and Fe²⁺/Fe³⁺ for EPS and bound water content. All these results provide the direct evidence that Fe(II)-activated CaO₂ is a promising pretreatment reagent for sludge disposal.

Implications: Fe(II)-activated CaO₂ was first proposed to be highly effective in enhancing the dewaterability of waste activated sludge. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy provided the direct evidence for the specific advantages of CaO₂, especially the capacity of durable and efficacious ?OH production leading to the excellent conditioning performance.     

活性污泥胞外聚合物提取方法研究

考察4种方法(蒸气法、EDTA法、NaOH法和搅拌法)对3种活性污泥(可乐厌氧活性污泥、可乐好氧活性污泥和市政污水污泥)胞外聚合物的提取效率,对比分析了各提取方法对不同样品提取所得胞外聚合物的组成影响,结果表明,EDTA法提取多糖的效率最高,提取市政污水污泥、可乐好氧活性污泥和可乐厌氧活性污泥胞外聚合物糖分别在8.3、16.7和9.7 mg/g VSS左右;NaOH提取蛋白质的效率最高,提取市政污水污泥、可乐好氧活性污泥和可乐厌氧活性污泥胞外聚合物蛋白质分别为:3.15、0.55和5.57 mg/g VSS.对于3种不同种类污泥,EDTA法提取EPS总量效率最高,分别为市政污水污泥10.7 mg/g VSS、可乐好氧活性污泥16.8 mg/g VSS和可乐厌氧活性污泥9.97 mg/g VSS,分别比效率最低的搅拌法高出5倍、5倍和3倍.     

超声波促进城市生活污泥缺氧/好氧消化的研究

本研究将超声波预处理引入城市生活污泥缺氧/好氧消化工艺中，自主设计了容积为30 L的生活污泥超声波-缺氧/好氧消化中试系统并用以实验研究。超声波预处理的参数为超声频率28 kHz，声能密度0.15 W/mL，超声时间10 min，超声间隔12 h，污泥超声比例30%。结果表明，引入超声预处理后，缩短了污泥的稳定时间，提高了污泥的消化效率。污泥消化10 d就已经达到了稳定标准，比未引入超声预处理时缩短了12 d，而MLVSS最大去除率提高了11%，达到了55.10%。超声波的引入，对污泥缺氧/好氧消化系统中污泥上清液溶解性COD（SCOD）的变化趋势影响比较明显，而对上清液的pH、氨氮和TP的变化趋势没有明显影响。     

The effect of Mg<Superscript>2+</Superscript> on digestion performance and microbial community structures in sludge digestion systems

The important criteria in anaerobic digestion is the rate-limiting step which decides the fate of value-added products especially from waste-activated sludge (WAS). Hence, the present study investigated the effect of magnesium (Mg²⁺) addition on anaerobic digestion of WAS. The lab-scale experiments were conducted at 25 °C with Mg²⁺ doses ranging from 0.01 to 0.2 mol/L. Maximum total volatile fatty acids (VFAs) production (372.78 mg COD/L) occurred at a Mg²⁺ dose of 0.2 mol/L, which was about eight times higher than the control tests. Further, Mg²⁺ addition facilitated sludge dewaterability and phosphorus removal. The mechanism of improved VFAs generation was analyzed from the view of both chemical and biological effects. Chemical effect significantly enhanced the release of calcium and iron in WAS, resulting in the disintegration of WAS, which benefited hydrolysis and acidification processes. Illumina MiSeq sequencing analysis revealed that enrichment of functional bacteria and the increase of bacterial diversity were obtained in the 0.2 mol Mg²⁺/L experiment, while the influence was negative on the reactor with 0.025 mol/L Mg²⁺. Meanwhile, methanogens were accordantly inhibited in the experiments with Mg²⁺ addition.     

Recovery of polyhydroxyalkanoate from activated sludge in an enhanced biological phosphorus removal bench-scale reactor.

A sequencing batch reactor was used to study the possibility of harvesting polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) from enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) processes without compromising treatment quality. Because, in EBPR, the highest PHA concentrations are observed after exposure of the sludge to anaerobic conditions, PHA accumulation was evaluated with collection of waste activated sludge (WAS) at the end of the anaerobic stage, in addition to the traditional removal after the aerobic stage. The system achieved good phosphorus removal, regardless of the point of WAS collection. When sludge was harvested at the end of the anaerobic stage, the PHA content of the sludge ranged from 7 to 16 mg PHA/100 mg mixed liquor volatile suspended solids. Although this level of PHA production is below levels obtained with pure cultures, the demonstrated ability to harvest PHA, while simultaneously satisfying phosphorus removal in an EBPR process, is a key initial step towards of the use of wastewater treatment plants for PHA production.     

Microalgae growth using high-strength wastewater followed by anaerobic co-digestion

Integration of algal biofuel production to wastewater anaerobic digestion infrastructure has the potential to increase biogas production, decrease high and variable internal nitrogen loads, and improve sludge digestibility and dewaterability. In this research, two species of microalgae, Spirulina platensis and Chlorella sp., were grown on sludge centrate and a centrate and nitrified wastewater effluent mixture. Harvested algae were co-digested with waste activated sludge (WAS) at varying ratios. High-growth (6.8 g m(-2) x d(-1)), nitrogen (36.5 g m(-3) x d(-1)), and phosphorus (6.5 g m(-3) x d(-1)) uptake rates were achieved with Chlorella on centrate. No growth was observed with S. platensis under the same conditions; however, both organisms grew well on the centrate and effluent mixture. Co-digestion of algae with WAS improved volatile solids reduction. Although co-digestion with S. platensis improved biosolids dewaterability, Chlorella had a slight negative effect on dewaterability compared to WAS alone. The efficiency of energy conversion from photons to biogas generated from Chlorella was estimated at 1.4%.     

Aerobic sludge digestion under low dissolved oxygen concentrations.

Low dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations occur commonly in aerobic digesters treating thickened sludge, with benefits of smaller digester size, much reduced aeration cost, and higher digestion temperature (especially important for plants in colder areas). The effects of low DO concentrations on digestion kinetics were studied using the sludge from municipal wastewater treatment plants in Akron, Ohio, and Los Lunas, New Mexico. The experiments were conducted in both batch digestion and a mixed mode of continuous, fed-batch, and batch operations. The low DO condition was clearly advantageous in eliminating the need for pH control because of the simultaneous occurrence of nitrification and denitrification. However, when compared with fully aerobic (high DO) systems under constant pH control (rare in full-scale plants), low DO concentrations and a higher solids loading had a negative effect on the specific volatile solids (VS) digestion kinetics. Nonetheless, the overall (volumetric) digestion performance depends not only on the specific digestion kinetics, but also the solids concentration, pH, and digester temperature. All of the latter factors favor the low DO digestion of thickened sludge. The significant effect of temperature on low DO digestion was confirmed in the mixed-mode study with the Akron sludge. When compared with the well-known empirical correlation between VS reduction and the product (temperature x solids retention time), the experimental data followed the same trend, but were lower than the correlation predictions. The latter was attributed to the lower digestible VS in the Akron sludge, the slower digestion at low DO concentrations, or both. Through model simulation, the first-order decay constant (kd) was estimated as 0.004 h(-1) in the mixed-mode operations, much lower than those (0.011 to 0.029 h(-1)) obtained in batch digestion. The findings suggested that the interactions among sludges with different treatment ages may have a substantially negative effect on digestion kinetics. The use of multistage digesters, especially with small front-end reactors, may be advantageous in both "process" kinetics and "biological reaction" kinetics for sludge digestion.     

好氧颗粒污泥降解苯酚

以人工配水启动SBR,逐步提高进水苯酚浓度,探究好氧颗粒污泥对苯酚的降解能力,同时分析苯酚对好氧颗粒污泥特性的影响。经过55 d的运行,进水苯酚浓度逐渐增到3 000 mg/L,苯酚、COD及NH+4-N去除率分别达到了98.33%、97.27%和57.58%,好氧颗粒污泥表现出对苯酚的良好的去除能力。扫描电镜照片显示投加苯酚后的颗粒污泥表面更加光滑,结构更为紧凑。胞外聚合物红外光谱分析表明投加苯酚前后好氧颗粒污泥EPS的主要组分没有明显改变。苯酚毒性刺激了颗粒污泥分泌更多胞外聚合物,胞外聚合物中多糖含量由初始的12.70 mg/g VSS增加到35.17 mg/g VSS,蛋白含量由4.93 mg/g VSS增加到8.01 mg/g VSS。投加苯酚后的污泥粒径明显增大,主要污泥粒径由0.5~2.0 mm增大到2.0 mm以上。     

An analysis of nitrification during the aerobic digestion of secondary sludges

Investigations were undertaken to study the occurrence and progress of nitrification during aerobic digestion of activated sludge in a wide range of initial concentrations of total solids (1000 to 80 000 mg litre(-1), initial pH range of 4.5 to 10.4 and digestion temperature range of 5 degrees to 60 degrees C. Batch aerobic digestion studies on activated sludge grown on wastewater (enriched with organic solids from human excretal material) indicate that almost complete elimination of the 'biodegradable' matter of the activated sludge was one of the essential prerequisites to initiate nitrification. Favourable ranges of temperature and pH for nitrification were observed to be 25 degrees to 30 degrees C and 6.0 to 8.3, respectively. With all favourable conditions, a minimum period of about 2 days was necessary for population build-up of genera Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter, and to initiate nitrification. Nitrate formation invariably lagged behind nitrite formation, but under certain conditions both phases of nitrification were observed to progress hand in hand.     

Combined anaerobic/aerobic digestion: effect of aerobic retention time on nitrogen and solids removal

A combined anaerobic/aerobic sludge digestion system was studied to determine the effect of aerobic solids retention time (SRT) on its solids and nitrogen removal efficiencies. After the anaerobic digester reached steady state, effluent from the anaerobic digester was fed to aerobic digesters that were operated at 2- to 5-day SRTs. The anaerobic system was fed with a mixture of primary and secondary sludge from a local municipal wastewater treatment plant. Both systems were fed once per a day. The aerobic reactor was continuously aerated with ambient air, maintaining dissolved oxygen level at 1.1 +/- 0.3 mg/L. At a 4-day or longer SRT, more than 11% additional volatile solids and 90% or greater ammonia were removed in the aerobic digester, while 32.8 mg-N/L or more nitrite/nitrate also was measured. Most total Kjeldahl nitrogen removal was via ammonia removal, while little organic nitrogen was removed in the aerobic digester.     

臭氧预处理—厌氧消化工艺促进剩余污泥减量化的研究

主要研究了臭氧氧化对剩余污泥的破解效果及污泥厌氧消化效率的影响.结果表明,随着臭氧投加量的增加,悬浮物(SS)、可挥发性悬浮物(VSS)逐步减少,而剩余污泥上清液中的溶解性COD(SCOD)、总有机碳(TOC)、蛋白质和多糖则明显增加.经臭氧预处理(臭氧投加量为0.050 g(以每克SS计))后,剩余污泥中温(35℃)厌氧消化效率明显提高,经65d稳定运行后,总挥发性固体(TVS)去除率为67.58％,与未经臭氧预处理的剩余污泥相比提高50.61％;甲烷平均产率为0.303 L(以每克TVS计),与未经臭氧预处理的剩余污泥相比提高54.59％.可见,臭氧预处理能有效促进污泥厌氧消化,从而达到污泥减量的目的.     

Synthesis of polyhydroxyalkanoates in municipal wastewater treatment.

Biologically derived polyesters known as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) represent a potentially "sustainable" replacement to fossil-fuel-based thermoplastics. However, current commercial practices that produce PHA with pure microbial cultures grown on renewable, but refined, feedstocks (i.e., glucose) under sterile conditions do not represent a sustainable commodity. Here, we report on PHA production with a mixed microbial consortium indigenous to an activated sludge process on carbon present in municipal wastewaters. Reactors operated under anaerobic/aerobic and aerobic-only mode and fed primary solids fermenter liquor maintained a mixed microbial consortium capable of synthesizing PHA at 10 to 25% (w/w), while reducing soluble COD by approximately 62 to 71%. More critically, an aerobic batch reactor seeded from the anaerobic/aerobic reactor and fed fermenter liquor achieved approximately 53% PHA (w/w). Results presented suggest that environmentally benign production of biodegradable polymers is feasible. We further used PHA-rich biomass to produce a natural fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composite that can be used to offset advanced wastewater treatment costs.