Development and application of kinetic model on biological anoxic/aerobic filter

An up-flow biological anoxic filter (BANF) has been developed to achieve high removal performance of suspended solids and BOD removal as well as nitrogen. With a view to understand treatment mechanisms, we developed a filtration model that incorporates filtration, deposit scoring and biological reactions simultaneously. The biological reactions consist of four types of reaction; dissolution of organic particles; utilization of dissolved organic matter; denitrification; and self-degradation of bacteria. Whereas the reactor is generally assumed to be a plug flow reactor in the filtration model, it is assumed a continuous-flow stirred tank reactor (CSTR) in the model of biological reactions. The hydrodynamics is supposed that the filter bottom (the portion sludge settled) is a CSTR and the filter bed (the portion filled with filter media) consists of number of CSTR of equal size arranged in series. The model obtained in this study was verified and simulated using experimental results taken from a pilot-scale plant and predicted the experimental data well, applying to design and operate BANF.     

Demonstration of Microfiltration Technology

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in cooperation with E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Company, Inc. (DuPont) and the Oberlin Filter Company (Oberlin), undertook a field demonstration project to evaluate microfiltration technology for removal of zinc and suspended solids from wastewater. The microfiltration system utilized DuPont's Tyvek T-980 membrane filter media in conjunction with the Oberlin automatic pressure filter. The project was undertaken at the Palmerton Zinc Superfund site in April 1990 to verify the ability of the technology to remove dissolved zinc from the site's shallow groundwater. Pretreatment of the groundwater with lime for pH adjustment to precipitate dissolved zinc and other metals was included as part of the technology demonstration program. Analysis of the treated filtrate indicated that the system removed precipitated zinc and other suspended solids at an efficiency greater than 99.9 percent. The filter cake produced during the study passed both the Extraction Procedure (EP) Toxicity and the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) tests.     

Modeling depth filtration of activated sludge effluent using a compressible medium filter.

A new filter, using a compressible-filter medium, has been evaluated for the filtration of secondary effluent. The ability to adjust the properties of the filter medium by altering the degree of the medium compression is a significant departure from conventional depth-filtration technology. Unlike conventional filters, it is possible to optimize the performance of the compressible-medium filter (CMF) by adjusting the medium properties (i.e., collector size, porosity, and depth) to respond to the variations in influent quality. Because existing filter models cannot be used to predict the performance of the CMF, a new predictive model has been developed to describe the filtration performance of the CMF and the effect of medium-compression ratio. The model accounts for the fact that the properties of the filter medium change with time and depth. The model, developed for heterodisperse suspensions and variable influent total suspended solids concentrations, can be used to predict all possible phases of filtration (i.e., ripening, constant removal, and breakthrough). A hyperbolic-type, second-order, nonlinear, partial-differential equation was derived to model the CMF. The equation was solved using the finite-difference numerical method. The accuracy of the numerical method was tested by a sensitivity analysis and a convergence test. The model is first-order accurate with respect to medium depth and time. Field data were obtained for the filtration of settled secondary effluent using a CMF with a capacity of 1200 m3/d. Model predictions were compared with observed performance from filter runs conducted at medium-compression ratios between 15 and 40% and filtration rates from 410 to 820 L/m2 min. The difference between the observed and the predicted values was found to be within 0 to 15%.     

Evaluation of the operating performance of conventional versus flocculator secondary clarifiers at the Kuwahee Wastewater Treatment Plant, Knoxville, Tennessee.

The difference in performance of three differently designed circular secondary clarifiers in the same wastewater treatment plant was analyzed in this paper. Data obtained using flocculated suspended solids and disperse suspended solids tests were analyzed using statistical tools. The conventional clarifier showed more variability in the average effluent suspended solids concentration when compared with the flocculator-clarifiers. Furthermore, a difference in performance among the two different flocculator-clarifiers was found.     

污水颗粒尺寸分布对深度过滤中雌激素去除的影响

采用两根平行运行的小试下向流砂滤柱以研究雌酮(E1)、雌二醇(E2)和炔雌醇(EE2)的去除与污水中悬浮颗粒粒度分布(PSD)的相互关系。研究表明,80%雌激素以溶解状态吸附在悬浮颗粒之上。平均粒径与颗粒的比表面积呈指数函数关系(R2>0.9)。随着滤池进水中悬浮颗粒平均粒径从1.493μm增至226.784μm,E1、E2和EE2在固相的吸附率分别从58.8%、56.3%和60.0%降至7.0%、1.3%和4.0%。砂滤池中雌激素的去除率与进水悬浮颗粒的平均粒径呈负相关,并可以用对数曲线拟合(R2>0.9)。砂滤池因拦截了活性污泥絮体因而具有一定的生物活性,使得部分E2被生物降解(pp>0.05),其去除主要依靠砂滤池所拦截的细微颗粒的絮体吸附作用。     

Improved computational model (AQUIFAS) for activated sludge, integrated fixed-film activated sludge, and moving-bed biofilm reactor systems, part III: analysis and verification

Research was undertaken to analyze and verify a model that can be applied to activated sludge, integrated fixed-film activated sludge (IFAS), and moving-bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) systems. The model embeds a biofilm model into a multicell activated sludge model. The advantage of such a model is that it eliminates the need to run separate computations for a plant being retrofitted from activated sludge to IFAS or MBBR. The biofilm flux rates for organics, nutrients, and biomass can be computed by two methods-a semi-empirical model of the biofilm that is relatively simpler, or a diffusional model of the biofilm that is computationally intensive. Biofilm support media can be incorporated to the anoxic and aerobic cells, but not the anaerobic cells. The model can be run for steady-state and dynamic simulations. The model was able to predict the changes in nitrification and denitrification at both pilot- and full-scale facilities. The semi-empirical and diffusional models of the biofilm were both used to evaluate the biofilm flux rates for media at different locations. The biofilm diffusional model was used to compute the biofilm thickness and growth, substrate concentrations, volatile suspended solids (VSS) concentration, and fraction of nitrifiers in each layer inside the biofilm. Following calibration, both models provided similar effluent results for reactor mixed liquor VSS and mixed liquor suspended solids and for the effluent organics, nitrogen forms, and phosphorus concentrations. While the semi-empirical model was quicker to run, the diffusional model provided additional information on biofilm thickness, quantity of growth in the biofilm, and substrate profiles inside the biofilm.     

长纤维过滤器过滤过程的数值模拟

在长纤维束过滤器动力学模型和现场实验数据的基础上,利用Comsol Mulitiphysics仿真软件对长纤维束过滤器过滤过程进行数值模拟。将3类仿真曲线(滤出水颗粒浓度随时间的变化曲线、滤液浓度沿滤层的变化曲线、滤床各层比积泥量的变化曲线)与实验所得的真实曲线分别进行对比,两者比较接近。说明该过滤过程模型可用于影响长纤维束过滤器运行特性中单个或多个变化因素(初始滤速、纤维束装填密度、流入浓度和纤维丝直径等)实验结果的估算,可作为长纤维过滤器的实验研究、操作优化和结构设计的参考。     

褶型筒式空气过滤器过滤压降的数值模拟

基于计算流体力学（CFD）,采用FLUENT中的多孔介质模型对褶型空气过滤器进行数值模拟研究,通过模拟计算和实验研究得到了空气过滤器的一些阻力性能。结果表明,褶型空气过滤器在过滤气体中的杂质时,过滤器的阻力随着进口风量的增大而增大;而增加过滤器的褶数会增大过滤器的过滤面积,过滤器的过滤面积增大之后过滤器的过滤速度会相应减小,由此可以减小过滤器的阻力。但是增加过滤器的褶数之后会相应的改变过滤器滤芯的褶间距,褶间距的大小会对气流的流动产生影响。气流的流动会影响过滤器的阻力。这些研究可以为过滤器滤芯的设计及应用提供一定的依据。     

超声辅助La-TiO_2/膨胀珍珠岩的吸附与光催化性能

以膨胀珍珠岩（expanded perlite,EP）为载体,以钛酸正丁酯和硝酸镧为前驱体,采用浸渍法制备出掺杂镧的漂浮型La-TiO2/EP光催化剂,采用X-射线粉末衍射研究了催化剂的形态结构。以正辛烷为模拟水面烃类污染物,通过超声波辅助对此催化剂的吸附与光催化性能进行了研究。结果表明：以20～40目的膨胀珍珠岩为载体制备的5%La-TiO2/EP,经500℃焙烧2 h后对辛烷的去除效果最好。超声波可促进辛烷在催化剂表面的吸附与迁移,超声辅助下辛烷去除率可提高11.08%。     

超声辅助La-TiO2/膨胀珍珠岩的吸附与光催化性能

以膨胀珍珠岩(expanded perlite,EP)为载体,以钛酸正丁酯和硝酸镧为前驱体,采用浸渍法制备出掺杂镧的漂浮型La-TiO2/EP光催化剂,采用X-射线粉末衍射研究了催化剂的形态结构。以正辛烷为模拟水面烃类污染物,通过超声波辅助对此催化剂的吸附与光催化性能进行了研究。结果表明:以20～40目的膨胀珍珠岩为载体制备的5%La-TiO2/EP,经500℃焙烧2 h后对辛烷的去除效果最好。超声波可促进辛烷在催化剂表面的吸附与迁移,超声辅助下辛烷去除率可提高11.08%。     

Volatilization of contaminants from suspended sediment in a water column during dredging

Remedial dredging of contaminated bed sediments in rivers and lakes results in the suspension of sediment solids in the water column, which can potentially be a source for evaporation of hydrophobic organic compounds (HOCs) associated with the sediment solids. Laboratory experiments were conducted in an oscillating grid chamber to simulate the suspension of contaminated sediments and flux to air from the surface of the water column. A contaminated field sediment from Indiana Harbor Canal (IHC) and a laboratory-inoculated University Lake (UL) sediment, Baton Rouge, LA, were used in the experiments, where water and solids concentration and particle size distribution were measured in addition to contaminant fluxes to air. A transient model that takes into account contaminant desorption from sediment to water and evaporation from the water column was used to simulate water and sediment concentrations and air fluxes from the solids suspension. In experiments with both sediments, the total suspended solids (TSS) concentration and the average particle diameter of the suspended solids decreased with time. As expected, the evaporative losses were higher for compounds with higher vapor pressure and lower hydrophobicity. For the laboratory-inoculated sediment (UL), the water concentrations and air fluxes were high initially and decreased steadily implying that contaminant release to the water column from the suspended solids was rapid, followed by evaporative decay. For the field sediments (IHC), the fluxes and water concentrations increased initially and subsequently decreased steadily. This implied that the initial desorption to water was slow and that perhaps the presence of oil and grease and aging influenced the contaminant release. Comparison of the model and experimental data suggested that a realistic determination of the TSS concentration that can be input into the model was the most critical parameter for predicting air emission rates.     

Microbial growth and transport in porous media under denitrification conditions: experiments and simulations

Soil column experiments were conducted to study bacterial growth and transport in porous media under denitrifying conditions. The study used a denitrifying microbial consortium isolated from aquifer sediments sampled at the U.S. Department of Energy's Hanford site. One-dimensional, packed-column transport studies were conducted under two substrate loading conditions. A detailed numerical model was developed to predict the measured effluent cell and substrate concentration profiles. First-order attachment and detachment models described the interphase exchange processes between suspended and attached biomass. Insignificantly different detachment coefficient values of 0.32 and 0.43 day⁻¹, respectively, were estimated for the high and low nitrate loading conditions (48 and 5 mg l⁻¹ NO₃, respectively). Comparison of these values with those calculated from published data for aerobically growing organisms shows that the denitrifying consortium had lower detachment rate coefficients. This suggests that, similar to detachment rates in reactor-grown biofilms, detachment in porous media may increase with microbial growth rate. However, available literature data are not sufficient to confirm a specific analytical model for predicting this growth dependence.     

A long-term survey on anthropogenic impacts to the water quality of coral reefs, southern Taiwan

Before 2001, the ecological protection area in the Kenting National Park (KTNP), southern Taiwan, was poorly described. In this study, a set of four-year data (2001-2004) of seawater qualities at 19 sampling sites around the Nanwan Bay in the KTNP was used to explore anthropogenic impacts to ecological environment, especially coral reefs. The parameters of water quality were analyzed immediately after collection. The results showed that higher values of nutrients and suspended solids were attributed to the higher run-off around Nanwan Bay. The fluxes of nutrients and suspended solids were consistently correlated to rainfall. Hence, equations were developed to calculate nutrient fluxes and suspended solids by using only rainfall data. Our results show that suspended solids and ammonia were the dominant factors leading to the drop in coral coverage. In summary, the water quality in the intertidal zone of Nanwan Bay has been degraded and required greater attention.     

Application of an empirical transport model to simulate retention of nanocrystalline titanium dioxide in sand columns

Nanocrystalline titanium dioxide was injected into sand columns to simulate subsurface injection for creation of a permeable treatment barrier. Past usage of this material as an ex situ pilot scale treatment filter has shown that it has a high adsorption capacity for a number of heavy metals and therefore would be a good candidate for injection technology. Three suspension concentrations (50, 75 and 100 mg l(-1)) were pumped through packed sand columns at different flow velocities (3.0, 6.8 and 14.1 cm min(-1)). Little to no particles was detected in the effluent. Most of the nanoparticles remained in the sand columns, with an increasing then decreasing retained solids pattern. Application of a one-dimensional advection-dispersion flow model, that included two empirical kinetic terms to account for particle retention in the porous media, produced data fits that followed the general trend of the data, but did not truly capture the concentration maxima in the data sets. Discussion of these results highlights the limited ability of existing models to aid in predicting particle retention of non-ideal materials for engineering purposes.     

旋流诱导介质振荡再生增强含油污水微通道分离

受微通道分离介质再生后截滤残留污染物影响,常规微通道分离效率持续衰减,成为抑制微通道分离广泛高效应用的关键瓶颈。通过开发旋流振荡再生单元,研究了旋流振荡再生强度和振荡再生结构对微通道分离装置过滤介质再生效率的影响,由此集成研发沸腾床分离器,考察了装置对实际含油污水的分离效率,并分析了微通道振荡再生对沸腾床分离的强化原理以及装置的分离经济性。结果表明,当再生强度为5.0 L·(s·m²)⁻¹时、再生15 min后采用轴向振荡再生结构,沸腾床分离器达到最佳再生工况。在最佳再生工况下开展10 m³·h⁻¹实际含油污水连续处理实验,针对油质量浓度为30~200 mg·L⁻¹、悬浮物质量浓度为25~200 mg·L⁻¹的来水,装置出水平均油分和悬浮物质量浓度分别降至11.4 mg·L⁻¹和23.5 mg·L⁻¹,并可在来水最高油质量浓度和悬浮物质量浓度接近50 000 mg·L⁻¹的冲击工况下,确保出水平均油分和悬浮物质量浓度降至15.9 mg·L⁻¹和29.8 mg·L⁻¹。利用沸腾床分离器再生结构中旋流诱导的过滤介质表界面污染物振荡运动,分离过程中截滤残留的油分和悬浮物等污染物被及时脱附,实现颗粒介质表界面彻底更新,确保装置长周期稳定运行。以200 m³·h⁻¹规模实际含油污水处理为例,沸腾床分离工艺相对涡凹气浮和溶气气浮的组合工艺,可完全取消化学絮凝药剂消耗且不产生化学浮渣,且具有显著的经济环保效益。     

Improvement of upflow anaerobic sludge bed performance using chitosan.

Chitosan, with a degree of deacetylation of 85% and a molecular weight of 2.5 x 10(5) Da, yielding high flocculation efficiency (85 to 100% flocculation) and a broad flocculation region (2 to 45 mg/g suspended solids), was selected for accelerating granulation in a 30-L upflow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) used to treat wastewater from a tropical fruit-processing industry. Compared with other studies, smaller amounts of chitosan were applied (two injections with 2 mg chitosan/g suspended solids in the reactor at each injection). Comparison with the UASB without chitosan addition, the UASB had a 24 to 37% larger particle size and a 6 to 41% longer solids retention time. In addition, the reactor performances were also enhanced. The UASB with chitosan addition had a 9 to 59% lower effluent chemical oxygen demand (COD), 4 to 10% higher COD removal, up to 35% higher biogas production rate, and a 16 to 68% lower biomass washout. The paired t-test analysis indicated that these performance parameters were significantly different (P < 0.05).     

Stormwater quality benefits of a porous friction course and its effect on pollutant removal by roadside shoulders.

This project has two main objectives; the first is to documents the effect of a porous friction course overlay on the quality of highway stormwater runoff, and the second is to assess pollutant removal of a vegetated area along the side of a road from both conventional and porous pavements. The quantity and quality of stormwater runoff from a four-lane divided highway in the Austin, Texas, area was monitored before and after the installation of a porous friction course (PFC). Observed concentrations of suspended solids and pollutants associated with particulate material were much lower in the runoff from the PFC compared with runoff from the conventional asphalt surface. The vegetated highway shoulder reduced the concentrations of many stormwater constituents from the conventional asphalt surface; however, the concentrations of these constituents in runoff produced by the PFC were so low that the vegetated area produced no further reduction in concentration.     

粉煤灰合成沸石去除城市暴雨径流中氨氮

采用粉煤灰为原料,通过耦合碱熔-两步合成法制得3种合成沸石产品,并以合成沸石制备大粒径的功能填料。通过氨氮吸附速率实验和等温吸附实验探讨了合成沸石及功能填料的氨氮吸附速率和最大吸附容量(Qm),以功能填料构建模拟人工快速渗滤系统,研究其对城市暴雨径流中氨氮的去除效果。结果表明,合成沸石对氨氮的吸附速率极快,5min去除率约达到75%,氨氮最大吸附容量为11.36～16.13 mg/g;功能填料对氨氮的最大吸附容量有所下降,但氨氮吸附速率仍较快,应用于模拟人工快速渗滤系统时能在较高的水力负荷下快速去除城市暴雨径流中的氨氮。碱处理再生法更适于进行合成沸石功能填料原位再生,氨氮吸附容量一次再生率达到67%～87%。     

Performance of RBC coupled to a polyurethane foam to biodegrade petroleum refinery wastewater

Biological treatment of petroleum refinery wastewater was studied in a rotating biological contactor (RBC) coupled to a polyurethane foam (PUF) as a porous biomass support. The PUF was attached on both sides of biodisks. The biodegradation studies were carried out at varying hydraulic and organic loadings. COD removal efficiency of up to 87% was achieved. The results obtained in terms of biodegradation of COD, NH3-N, phenol, hydrocarbons and suspended solids in this study were compared with those in the literature. The RBC-PUF bioreactor was found to have a better performance than a conventional RBC for the biodegradation of the above mentioned parameters. A higher concentration of active biomass (77 g TVS/m2) was observed in the RBC-PUF as compared to other treatment systems. A linear relationship between COD applied and COD removed was observed for the combined four stage system as well as for the individual stages.     

Performance of a constructed wetland-pond system for treatment and reuse of wastewater from campus buildings.

A constructed wetland-pond system consisting of two free-water-surface-flow (FWS) wetland cells, a scenic pond, and a slag filter in series was used for reclamation of septic tank effluent from a campus building. The results show that FWS wetlands effectively removed major pollutants under a hydraulic loading rate between 2.1 and 4.2 cm/d, with average efficiencies ranging from 74 to 78% for total suspended solids, 73 to 88% for 5-day biochemical oxygen demand, 42 to 49% for total nitrogen, 34 to 70% for total phosphorous, 64 to 79% for total coliforms, and 90 to 99.9% for Escherichia coli. After passing through the scenic pond and slag filter, the reclaimed water was used for landscape irrigation. There were a variety of ornamental plants and aquatic animals established in the second FWS cell and scenic pond with good water quality, thus enhancing landscape and ecology amenity in campuses.