Depletion of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors during sewage sludge composting

Sewage and sewage sludge is known to contain pharmaceuticals, and since sewage sludge is often used as fertilizer within agriculture, the reduction of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) Citalopram, Sertraline, Paroxetine, Fluvoxamine and Fluoxetine during composting has been investigated. Sewage sludge was spiked with the SSRIs before the composting experiment started, and the concentration of the SSRIs in the sludge during a 21 day composting period was measured by liquid phase microextraction (LPME) and high-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry. All the SSRIs had a significant decrease in concentration during the composting process. The highest reduction rates were measured for Fluoxetine and Paroxetine and the lowest for Citalopram. In addition three out of four known SSRI metabolites were found in all the samples, and two of them showed a significant increase in concentration during the composting period.     

Heavy metals fractionation before, during and after composting of sewage sludge with natural zeolite

The main limiting factor, in order to use compost in agriculture, is the total concentration of heavy metals. Natural zeolites, such as clinoptilolite, have the ability to take up and remove those metals by utilizing ion exchange. However, it is important to know about the fractionation of the heavy metals during the thermophilic phase and the maturation phase. The purpose of this work was to determine the changes in the fraction of heavy metals in sewage sludge compost in which clinoptilolite is used as a bulking agent to remove metals. The final result indicates that a significant (p < 0.05) percentage of the metals, which is not removed by the zeolite, is associated with the residual fraction which is considered as an inert form.     

Experimental study of the bio-oil production from sewage sludge by supercritical conversion process

Environment-friendly treatment of sewage sludge has become tremendously important. Conversion of sewage sludge into energy products by environment-friendly conversion process, with its energy recovery and environmental benefits, is being paid significant attention. Direct liquefaction of sewage sludge into bio-oils with supercritical water (SCW) was therefore put forward in this study, as de-water usually requiring intensive energy input is not necessary in this direct liquefaction. Supercritical water may act as a strong solvent and also a reactant, as well as catalyst promoting reaction process. Experiments were carried out in a self designed high-pressure reaction system with varying operating conditions. Through orthogonal experiments, it was found that temperature and residence time dominated on bio-oil yield compared with other operating parameters. Temperature from 350 to 500 °C and reaction residence time of 0, 30, 60 min were accordingly investigated in details, respectively. Under supercritical conversion, the maximum bio-oil yield could achieve 39.73%, which was performed at 375 °C and 0 min reaction residence time. Meanwhile, function of supercritical water was concluded. Fuel property analysis showed the potential of bio-oil application as crude fuel.     

The important role of microwave receptors in bio-fuel production by microwave-induced pyrolysis of sewage sludge

Microwave receptor plays an important role in the microwave pyrolysis of sewage sludge in view of its significant influence on the yield and property of bio-fuel products. The yield and the chemical compositions of bio-fuels (gases and oils) obtained from sewage sludge mixed with different receptors (graphite, residue char, active carbon or silicon carbide) were investigated in this study by Gas Chromatography (GC), Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS), and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The results showed that the use of silicon carbide gave rise to the highest final temperature of 1130 °C, resulting in the highest yield of gas fraction (up to 63.2 wt.%). The low heating rate (200 °C/min) which was attributed to the addition of residue char promoted condensation reactions and resulted in an increase in solid yield. The existence of active carbon could prolong the resistance time of volatiles in the hot zone owing to its porous structure, generating the maximum concentration of H₂ + CO (60%) in the pyrolysis gas. When graphite was used, the final low temperature favoured the cyclization of the alkenes, giving rise to a higher concentration of mononuclear aromatics in the pyrolysis oils. The model established in this study revealed that the quantity and quality of the products obtained from the microwave pyrolysis highly depended on the process conditions, which were influenced by the receptor significantly.     

Adsorption of Pb2+ by insolubilized humic acid extracted from sewage sludge

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - This study used excess sludge from a sewage treatment plant as raw material to extract humic acid (HA) and explore the ability of HA to adsorb Pb2+...     

Increasing biogas production from sewage sludge anaerobic co-digestion process by adding crude glycerol from biodiesel industry

In an effort to convert waste streams to energy in a green process, glycerol from biodiesel manufacturing has been used to increase the gas production and methane content of biogas within a mesophilic anaerobic co-digestion process using primary sewage sludge. Glycerol was systematically added to the primary digester from 0% to 60% of the organic loading rate (OLR). The optimum glycerol loading range was from 25% to 60% OLR. This resulted in an 82–280% improvement in specific gas production. Following the feeding schedule described, the digesters remained balanced and healthy until inhibition was achieved at 70% glycerol OLR. This suggests that high glycerol loadings are possible if slow additions are upheld in order to allow the bacterial community to adjust properly. Waste water treatment plant operators with anaerobic digesters can use the data to increase loadings and boost biogas production to enhance energy conversion. This process provides a safe, environmentally friendly method to convert a typical waste stream to an energy stream of biogas.     

Kinetics assessment and modeling of biogas production by anaerobic digestion of food wastes and acclimated sewage sludge

Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management - In this work, food wastes (FWs) and domestic sewage sludge (DSS) were used as raw materials for energy recovery by anaerobic digestion (AD). AD was...     

H2O2协同TiO2光催化处理模拟苯胺废水

采用TiO2光催化处理模拟苯胺废水.实验结果表明,最佳反应条件为:初始苯胺质量浓度10 mg/L,纳米TiO2加入量100 mg/L,光催化反应时间60 min,废水pH 7.5.加入20 mg/L的H2O2协同TiO2光催化处理苯胺废水,光催化反应24 min后,苯胺去除率达99％.H2O2协同TiO2光催化降解苯胺过程符合二级动力学方程.     

超声波-H2O2协同作用处理孔雀绿废水

采用超声波（US）-H2O2协同作用处理含孔雀绿的废水（简称废水）;考察了H2O2加入量、US功率、反应温度、反应时间对废水色度、COD去除率的影响,并对US-H2O2体系降解孔雀绿的机理进行了探讨。实验结果表明：在US作用下,H2O2加入量对废水色度、COD去除率的影响较大;废水色度、COD去除率均随US功率和反应时问的增加而提高;在US～H2O2体系中,低温对处理废水有利,高温反而不利;US—H2O2处理废水具有协同作用。在废水量为100mL、pH为7．3、反应温度为40℃、H2O2加入量为10mL、US功率为240W、反应时间60min的条件下对废水进行处理,废水COD、色度去除率分别为97．5％,98．8％。     

氮气气提法去除油田废水中的H2S

以氮气为载气,采用气提法去除油田废水中的H2S.实验结果表明,氮气气提法去除油田废水中的H2S效果显著,在水浴温度为45℃、氮气流量为3 L/min、通气时间为30min、油田废水pH为5.0的条件下,废水中H2S的去除率可达98％以上,升高水浴温度和降低废水中的含油量有助于提高H2S去除率.经氮气气提法处理后废水pH提高到7.5,碳钢的腐蚀速率降至0.02 mm/a,废水达到SY/T5329-1994《碎屑岩油藏注水水质推荐指标及分析方法》的指标.     

铜渣催化H2O2氧化处理棉浆黑液

采用铜渣催化H2O2类Fenton氧化反应处理棉浆黑液,研究了酸析pH、H2O2投加量、铜渣投加量对棉浆黑液COD和TOC去除率及溶出Fe2+质量浓度的影响,考察了铜渣重复使用性能,讨论了铜渣催化作用机制.结果表明:在酸析pH为2、H2O2投加量为25 mmol/L、铜渣投加量为2.5 g/L条件下,反应180 min...     

活性炭/H2O2催化氧化-絮凝法预处理化工有机废水

用活性炭作催化剂、H2O2作氧化剂催化氧化预处理高浓度化工有机废水,考察了各种因素对COD去除率的影响。实验结果表明,在H2O2加入量为0．8mL／L、活性炭与H2O2质量比为0．7、废水pH为4的条件下,反应120min后,调废水pH至8,加入絮凝剂聚合氯化铝进行絮凝沉淀,废水COD去除率达70％以上,色度去除率达80％以上。通过色谱-质谱仪对处理前后废水中的有机物进行分析,初步探讨了活性炭／H2O2催化氧化-絮凝法预处理化工有机废水的作用机理。     

Photochemical oxidation of p-chlorophenol by UV/H2O2 and photo-Fenton process. A comparative study

In this study, photochemical advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) utilizing the combinations of UV/H2O2 and the photo-Fenton reaction (UV + classical Fenton reaction) were investigated in lab-scale experiments for the degradation of p-chlorophenol. The study showed that the photo-Fenton process, (a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and ferrous or ferric ion), was the most effective treatment process under acidic conditions and produced a higher rate of degradation of p-chlorophenol at a very short radiation time. It accelerated the oxidation rate by 5-9 times the rate for the UV/H2O2 process. The reaction was found to follow the first order, the reaction was influenced by the pH, the input concentration of H2O2 and the amount of the iron catalyst and the type of iron salt. The experimental results showed that the optimum conditions were obtained at a pH value of 3, with 0.03 mol/l H2O2, and 1 mmol/l Fe(II) for the UV/H2O2/Fe(II) system and 0.01 mol/l H2O2 and, 0.4 mmol/l Fe(III) for the UV/H2O2/Fe(III) system. The reactions were accompanied by the generation of Cl- which reached its maximum value at a short reaction time when using the photo-Fenton process. Finally a rough comparison of the specific energy consumption shows that photo-Fenton process reduced the energy consumption by at least 73 to 83% compared with the UV/H2O2 process.     

An experimental study on fermentative H2 production from food waste as affected by pH

Batch dark fermentation experiments were performed on food waste and mixtures of food waste and wastewater activated sludge to evaluate the influence of pH on biological H₂ production and compare the process performance with and without inoculum addition. The effect of a preliminary thermal shock treatment of the inoculum was also investigated as a means to harvest the hydrogenogenic biomass. The best performance in terms of both H₂ generation potential and process kinetics was observed at pH = 6.5 under all experimental conditions (no inoculum, and untreated or thermally treated inoculum added). H₂ production from food waste was found to be feasible even without inoculum addition, although thermal pre-treatment of the inoculum notably increased the maximum production and reduced the lag phase duration. The analysis of the fermentation products indicated that the biological hydrogen production could be mainly ascribed to a mixed acetate/butyrate-type fermentation. However, the presence of additional metabolites in the digestate, including propionate and ethanol, also indicated that other metabolic pathways were active during the process, reducing substrate conversion into hydrogen. The plateau in H₂ generation was found to mirror the condition at which soluble carbohydrates were depleted. Beyond this condition, homoacetogenesis probably started to play a role in the degradation process.     

Influence of aeration on CH4, N2O and NH3 emissions during aerobic composting of a chicken manure and high C/N waste mixture

Co-composting of chicken manure, straw and dry grasses was investigated in a forced aeration system to estimate the effect of aeration rates on NH₃, CH₄ and N₂O emissions and compost quality. Continuous measurements of gas emissions were carried out and detailed gas emission patterns were obtained using an intermittent-aeration of 30 min on/30 min off at rates of 0.01 (A1), 0.1 (A2) and 0.2 (A3) m³ min⁻¹ m⁻³. Concentrations of CH₄ and N₂O at the low aeration rate (A1) were significantly greater than those at the other two rates, but there was no significant difference between the A2 and A3 treatments. CH₄ and N₂O emissions for this mixture could be controlled when the composting process was aerobic and ammonia emissions were reduced at a lower aeration rate. Comparison of CH₄, N₂O, NH₃ emissions and compost quality showed that the aeration rate of the A2 treatment was superior to the other two aeration rates.     

日光/H2O2/草酸铁络合物光解水溶液中的直接耐酸大红

以H2O2/草酸铁络合物作光氧化剂,利用太阳光对水溶液中的直接耐酸大红进行了光氧化降解试验研究。结果表明,在日光照射下,H2O2/草酸铁络合物能使溶液中直接耐酸大红迅速光解,晴天光照15min或阴天光照30-40min,溶液（直接耐酸大红的质量浓度为50mg/L）可褪至无色;溶液的初始pH对染料光解有显著影响;pH为2-4时光解效果最佳;提高H2O2浓度可以提高光解速率,但H2O2的利用率会降低。