Degradation of polyacrylamide (PAM) and methane production by mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic digestion: Effect of temperature and concentration

• PAM degradation in thermophilic AD in comparison with mesophilic AD. • PAM degradation and its impact on thermophilic and mesophilic AD. • Enhanced methane yield in presence of PAM during thermophilic and mesophilic AD. • PAM degradation and microbial community analysis in thermophilic and mesophilic AD. Polyacrylamide (PAM) is generally employed in wastewater treatment processes such as sludge dewatering and therefore exists in the sludge. Furthermore, it degrades slowly and can deteriorate methane yield during anaerobic digestion (AD). The impact or fate of PAM in AD under thermophilic conditions is still unclear. This study mainly focuses on PAM degradation and enhanced methane production from PAM-added sludge during 15 days of thermophilic (55°C) AD compared to mesophilic (35°C) AD. Sludge and PAM dose from 10 to 50 g/kg TSS were used. The results showed that PAM degraded by 76% to 78% with acrylamide (AM) content of 0.2 to 3.3 mg/L in thermophilic AD. However, it degraded only 27% to 30% with AM content of 0.5 to 7.2 mg/L in mesophilic AD. The methane yield was almost 230 to 238.4 mL/g VSS on the 8th day in thermophilic AD but was 115.2 to 128.6 mL/g VSS in mesophilic AD. Mechanism investigation revealed that thermophilic AD with continuous stirring not only enhanced PAM degradation but also boosted the organics release from the sludge with added PAM and gave higher methane yield than mesophilic AD.     

混合酸消解变化对土壤和沉积物中痕量硒分析影响

基于各3种采集环境样本、国家标准物质的土壤和沉积物,以当前环境监测行业常用的3种消解方法,探讨20种混合酸系统条件在消解条件变化中对复杂样本硒元素测定的影响。确定了最佳土壤和沉积物消解的组合为王水系统(盐酸∶硝酸∶氢氟酸∶过氧化氢∶高氯酸=3∶1∶1∶1∶1),各消解法的处理结果部分(n=5)∶水浴法消解时间仅需0.5h,总处理时间2h,准确度回收率达101%~104%,精密度RSD为1.95%~2.20%;电热板法总处理时间较长(7.5h),回收率106%,RSD偏高为8.46%,不推荐使用;微波法处理的总时间亦长达7.0h,回收率93.8%,但精密度亦偏高为8.24%,因此采用水浴法应用于环境样本的测定。该优化消解方法已直接应用于环境中农业、建筑用土和管道淤泥沉积物的3种样品类型前处理,利用同一优化条件即可快速对应土壤和沉积物性质样品,单次可批量处理72~84个样本,解决高通量样品痕量硒测定需求,提供环境污染监测和检测行业一参考依据。     

Aerobic treatment of swine manure to enhance anaerobic digestion and microalgal cultivation

Aerobic treatment of swine manure was coupled with anaerobic digestion and microalgal cultivation. A 14-day aerobic treatment reduced the total solid content of swine manure by >15%. Ammonia and carbon dioxide were stripped by the air supplied, and this off-gas was further used to aerate the culture of Chlorella vulgaris. The microalgal growth rates in Bristol medium and the wastewater with the off-gas increased from 0.08 to 0.22 g/L/d and from 0.15 to 0.24 g/L/d, respectively. Meanwhile, the aerobically treated swine manure showed a higher methane yield during anaerobic digestion. The experimental results were used to establish a demonstration unit consisting of a 100 L composter, a 200 L anaerobic digester, a 60 L tubular photobioreactor, and a 300 L micro-open raceway pond.     

Biohythane production from pineapple peel using Methanosarcina mazei enhanced with palm oil mill effluent (POME) sludge in single-stage anaerobic digestion

Biohythane production via single-stage anaerobic digestion (AD) is an effective way for sustainable energy recovery from lignocellulosic biomass. In this paper, biohythane was produced through the AD process from pineapple peel waste substrate using purely cultured Methanosarcina mazei with the enhancement of palm oil mill effluent (POME) sludge as the inoculum. This study focuses on the effects of the lignocellulosic pre-treatment method, the addition of POME sludge into M. mazei culture medium as inoculum, and various operational conditions (food to microorganisms (F/M) ratios, temperature, pH) on gas production performances. The experimental results indicate that these parameters influenced the efficiency of biohythane production by producing the peak maximum biohythane production rate values (HPR_max) and (MPR_max), H₂:CH₄ = 1.93:0.67 L/L-d, and biohythane yield (HY) and (MY), H₂:CH₄ = 1.18:0.55 mL/L-substrate. This study demonstrates that biohythane gas (H₂ + CH₄ + CO₂) production from pineapple waste can be accelerated by M. mazei only with the enhancement of POME sludge through single-stage AD system under mesophilic batch process conditions.     

水中总氮测定方法存在问题的研究及改进

碱性过硫酸钾消解紫外分光光度法测定水中总氮采用的消解器皿是玻璃比色管,易造成空白偏高、结果偏低等问题。采用双圆柱状的消解杯对水样进行消解。结果表明,消解杯消解水中总氮,线性相关系数均大于0.999,检出限为0.05 mg/L,相对标准偏差小于5%,相对误差为0.88%~1.00%;改进后的消解器皿具有较好的精密度和准确度,能够更加准确测定水中总氮的含量。     

Potential energy production from organic waste and its environmental and economic impacts at a tertiary institution in Palestine

Municipal solid waste (MSW) is one of the most well-known biomass resources that can be utilized to produce renewable energy. Numerous countries are plagued by the proliferation of waste, particularly organic waste that can be utilized for energy recovery. Palestine suffers from inefficient solid waste management, and only recently have a few projects focused on bioenergy production been implemented. Throughout the years, the city of Tulkarm experiences power outages which cause a challenge to the Palestine Technical University-Kadoorie campus in Tulkarm. Thus, the possibility of energy recovery from the organic portion in Palestine Technical University-Kadoorie was evaluated. The analysis of an economic impact included discussions of a number of economic aspects, including Levelized cost of energy, internal rate of return, present worth, annual worth, and payback period. On the other hand, a carbon dioxide savings analysis and gas emission were evaluated. The outcomes of the energy optimization demonstrated that the suggested system could supply the institution with an average of roughly 7 MWh of electrical energy. According to the economic study, this project offers 0.25 million dollars in present value, 0.144 million dollars in annual value, a 13 percent internal rate of return, a payback period of 6 years, and a levelized cost of energy of 0.11 dollars for each kWh generated. Additionally, the environmental assessment revealed that this system might reduce CO₂ emissions by around 8,343,778 tons. For effective waste management, energy recovery, and emission reduction, it is advised to implement anaerobic digestion technology.     

Identification and characterization of extracted microplastics from agricultural soil near industrial area: FTIR and X-ray diffraction method

Microplastics have been found in large quantities in agricultural soil and now become a major global issue. Different types of microplastic have adverse effects on agricultural soil. The most widely used method for the extraction of microplastics in agricultural soil is the density floatation method by using saturated NaCl solution. This method includes the pre-digestion of soil samples with H₂O₂ to remove all the organic matter present in the soil. Different types of microplastic particles were extracted and identified by using ATR-FTIR viz polypropylene, polybutylene tetrapthalate, polyethylene, polystyrene, and polyethylene tetrapthalate. The crystalline nature of extracted microplastic was checked by employing XRD analytical technique. Floatation with higher density saturated sodium chloride (NaCl) solution recovered approximately 80% MPs from soil. Floatation methods were found to be effective for extracting microplastics from soils.     

有机固体废弃物厌氧干发酵机制研究进展

利用厌氧干发酵技术处理固体有机废物与传统的湿发酵相比具有许多优势,但厌氧干发酵机制的研究存在许多困难,在一定程度上限制了厌氧干发酵技术的发展。文章在对国内外研究现状进行文献调查后,总结概括了厌氧干发酵理论模型从"两点模型"和"区反应模型"到"浓度波扩散模型"和"反应前沿假说"的发展进程,讨论了其各自特点和对厌氧干发酵机制研究的意义以及其不完善之处;并分别从微生物生长、底物水解和生物气产生三个方面综述了近年来国内外对厌氧干发酵动力学的研究进展。然而,目前的研究仅是针对某些物料进行的特异性研究,还没有一个普遍适用的关于有机固体废弃物厌氧干发酵的理论模型被发展出来,因此对干发酵传质传热机制的探索和数学模拟成为当前对于干发酵机制研究的主要方向。     

手提式蒸汽消毒器同时消解总磷总氮实验分析

水体中总磷、总氮的增多,会造成藻类的滋生,使水环境质量降低。因此,对总磷、总氮的监测十分必要。国标方法测定水中总磷总氮,都要用手提式蒸汽消毒器进行消解,且消解温度和时间相同。为建立一种快速的测定方法,将总磷、总氮同时放入蒸汽消毒器中进行消解,将此方法与标准消解法进行了对比分析。结果表明:同时消解法的精密度、准确度、回收率、工作曲线等均符合总磷总氮的测定要求,标准物质的测定结果和相对误差均在规范范围内,说明此方法可靠。在总磷、总氮都需检测时,大大缩短了实验时间,减少了蒸汽消毒器的使用频率,是一种快速、简便测定水中总磷总氮的方法。     

发酵液回流对餐厨垃圾厌氧消化的影响

针对厌氧发酵液回流可提高厌氧系统性能,而不适的回流比例又会造成系统酸化的现象,采用单相连续反应器研究了发酵液回流及不同回流比对餐厨垃圾厌氧消化过程的影响。结果表明:在1 gVS/L的有机负荷下进行三种比例(10%、30%、50%)的发酵液回流使系统日平均产气量比不回流阶段分别提高0.7%、13.0%、4.9%,且对气体甲烷含量无显著影响。回流使VFA降解更充分,也使系统缓冲能力得到调节,但在较高的回流比(50%)下会造成Na+积累从而抑制系统产气性能。