Enhanced nitrogen removal upon the addition of volatile fatty acids from activated sludge by combining calcium peroxide and low-thermal pretreatments

This study investigated a combined low-thermal and CaO₂ pretreatment to enhance the volatile fatty acid (VFA) production from waste activated sludge (WAS). The fermentative product was added to a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) as an external carbon source to enhance nitrogen removal. The results showed that the combined pretreatment improved WAS solubilization, releasing more biodegradable substrates, such as proteins and polysaccharides, from TB-EPS to LB-EPS and S-EPS. The maximum VFA production of 3529 ± 188 mg COD/L was obtained in the combined pretreatment (0.2 g CaO₂/g VS + 70 °C for 60 min), which was 2.1 and 1.4-fold of that obtained from the sole low-thermal pretreatment and the control test, respectively. Consequently, when the fermentative liquid was added as an external denitrification carbon source, the effluent total nitrogen decreased to Class A of the discharge standard for pollutants in rural wastewater treatment plants in most areas of China.     

Flow analysis of major and trace elements in residues from large-scale sewage sludge incineration

Increase of sewage sludge (SS) has led to the construction of more incineration plants, exacerbating to the production of SS incineration residues. However, few studies have considered the mass balance of elements in large-scale SS incineration plants, affecting the residues treatment and utilization. In this study, flow analysis was conducted for major and trace elements in the SS, the fly ash (sewage sludge ash, SSA) and bottom ash from two large-scale SS incineration plants. The elemental characteristics were compared with those of coal fly ash (CFA), and air pollution control residues from municipal solid waste incineration (MSWIA), as well as related criteria. The results showed that the most abundant major element in SSA was Si, ranging from 120 to 240 g/kg, followed by Al (76–348 g/kg), Ca (26–113 g/kg), Fe (35–80 g/kg), and P (26–104 g/kg), and the trace elements were mainly Zn, Ba, Cu, and Mn. Not all the major elements were derived from SS. Most trace elements in the SS incineration residues accounted for 82.4%–127% of those from SS, indicating that SS was the main source of trace elements. The partitioning of heavy metals in the SS incineration residues showed that electrostatic precipitator ash or cyclone ash with high production rates were the major pollutant sinks. The differences in some major and trace elements could be indicators to differentiate SSA from CFA and MSWIA. Compared with related land criteria, the pollutants in SSA should not be ignored during disposal and utilization.     

Isolation and characterization of a strain with high microbial attachment in aerobic granular sludge

Aerobic granule is a special microbial aggregate associated with biofilm structure. The formation of aerobic granular sludge is primarily depending on its bacterial community and relevant microbiological properties. In this experiment, a strain with high microbial attachment was isolated from aerobic granular sludge, and the detailed characteristics were examined. Its high attachment ability could reach 2.34 (OD_600nm), while other low attachment values were only around 0.06-0.32, which indicated a big variation among the different bacteria. The strain exhibited a very special morphology with many fibric fingers under SEM observation. A distinctive behaviour was to form a spherical particle by themselves, which would be very beneficial for the formation and development of granular sludge. The EPS measurement showed that its PN content was higher than low attachment bacteria, and 3D-EEM confirmed that there were some different components. Based on the 16S rRNA analysis, it was identified to mostly belong to Stenotrophomonas. Its augmentation to particle sludge cultivation demonstrated that the strain could significantly promote the formation of aerobic granule. Conclusively, it was strongly suggested that it might be used as a good and potential model strain or chassis organism for the aerobic granular sludge formation and development.     

厌氧氨氧化颗粒污泥快速培养及其抑制动力学

为实现厌氧氨氧化颗粒污泥(ANAMMOX granular sludge,AGS)的快速培养,采用上流式厌氧污泥床(up-flow anaerobic sludge bed,UASB)工艺,在添加少量絮状厌氧氨氧化污泥(flocculent ANAMMOX sludge,FAS)的反应器内填充生物流离球作为填料,对ANAMMOX的启动及FAS的颗粒化进行研究.同时利用Haldane模型研究AGS的基质抑制动力学特性.结果表明,利用生物流离球作为填料,实现了ANAMMOX的启动,总氮去除率达85%以上,总氮容积负荷为0. 72 kg·(m3·d)-1,并在127 d内成功培养出直径1. 0～3. 0 mm的AGS.动力学研究表明,反应器内AGS对氨和亚硝酸盐的最大反应速率分别为1. 46 kg·(kg·d)-1和1. 76 kg·(kg·d)-1,半抑制速率分别是852. 2 mmol·L-1和108. 2 mmol·L-1.与絮状污泥相比,AGS能承受更高的氨和亚硝酸盐抑制浓度,并保持较高的反应速率.采用含有海绵的生物流离球作为填料,能有效加速反应器的启动,加快AGS的形成,对厌氧氨氧化工艺的实际运行具有积极的意义.     

城市污水处理过程中溶解性有机物及荧光物质的变化规律

以锦州市W污水处理厂为研究对象,利用三维荧光光谱分析技术和荧光区域积分(FRI)方法考察了城市污水处理过程中溶解性有机物及荧光物质的去除状况.利用XAD树脂将DOM分为5个部分:疏水性有机酸(HPO-A)、疏水性中性有机物(HPO-N)、过渡亲水性有机酸(TPIA)、过渡亲水性中性有机物(TPI-N)和亲水性有机物(HPI).结果表明,HPO-A和HPI是该污水处理厂进水中的主要DOM组分,并且DOM中的荧光物质主要为类芳香族蛋白质荧光物质和类富里酸荧光物质.在该污水处理厂内,生物降解作用是TPI-A和HPI的主要去除机制,HPO-N和TPI-N主要是由深度处理工艺(絮凝-沉淀-过滤)去除的,生物处理工艺和深度处理工艺对HPO-A的去除能力接近,而生物处理工艺和深度处理工艺对TPI-N的去除效果均较差.生物处理工艺对HPO-A、TPI-A和HPI中的荧光物质有较强的去除能力,而对HPO-N和TPI-N中荧光物质的去除效果较差.深度处理工艺能够有效去除HPO-A和HPO-N中的荧光物质,而对TPI-A、TPI-N和HPI中的荧光物质无明显去除作用.     

粉煤灰和活性污泥对好氧填埋渗滤液组分的影响

通过在好氧反应器中添加粉煤灰和活性污泥来加速固体废物的降解。实验结果表明,添加粉煤灰不但改善了氧气扩散,而且增强了反应器对各种污染物的去除能力,对渗滤液中COD、NH4+、NO3-的去除率分别达到75%、68%和65%以上;添加活性污泥引入了一定量的微生物,也有利于固体废物的降解,渗滤液中COD、NH4+、NO3-的去除率分别达到了90%、65%和77%。因此,通过添加粉煤灰和活性污泥来加速固体废物降解是可行的。     

曝气生物滤池反冲洗污泥特性研究

研究了曝气生物滤池(BAF)反冲洗污泥的生物相组成、生物活性、沉降特性及絮凝性能。结果表明,BAF反冲洗污泥具有较强的生物活性和絮凝性能,将其作为生物絮凝剂预处理生活污水时,最佳投加量为0.05～0.1体积比(反冲水占混合液体积比),对污水中COD和SS的去除率分别为21.2%～26.8%和34.2%～37.5%,能够达到预处理目的。     

阴离子型聚丙烯酰胺相对分子质量和水解度对污泥脱水性能影响的研究

通过对污泥絮凝颗粒粒径分布、污泥比阻、泥饼含固率、上清液体积及其中核酸、蛋白质和总糖浓度的测定,研究了不同剂型和剂量阴离子型聚丙烯酰胺（PAM）对城市污泥沉降性能和脱水性能的影响及机制.结果表明,当PAM相对分子质量相同时,提高水解度能改善污泥的沉降和脱水性能;当PAM水解度相同时,提高相对分子质量亦可改善其沉降和脱水...     

Biotoxicity evaluation of zinc oxide nanoparticles on bacterial performance of activated sludge at COD,nitrogen, and phosphorus reduction

• ZnO-NP disrupted metabolic/catabolic balance of bacteria by affecting DHA activity. • ZnO-NPs toxicity was related to Zn²⁺ ion, interaction with cell and ROS generation. • Exposure to ZnO-NPs resulted in changed bacterial community structure at sludge. • The change in the EPS content was observed during exposure to ZnO-NPs. The unique properties and growing usage of zinc oxide nanoparticles increase their release in municipal wastewater treatment plants. Therefore, these nanoparticles, by interacting with microorganisms, can fail the suitable functioning of biological systems in treatment plants. For this reason, research into the toxicity of ZnO is urgent. In the present study, the toxicity mechanism of ZnO-NPs towards microbial communities central to granular activated sludge (GAS) performance was assessed over 120-day exposure. The results demonstrate that the biotoxicity of ZnO-NPs is dependent upon its dosage, exposure time, and the extent of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. Furthermore, GAS performance and the extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) content were significantly reduced at 50 mg/L ZnO-NPs. This exposure led to decreases in the activity of ammonia monooxygenase (25.2%) and nitrate reductase (11.9%) activity. The Field emission scanning electron microscopy images confirmed that ZnO-NPs were able to disrupt the cell membrane integrity and lead to cell/bacterial death via intracellular ROS generation which was confirmed by the Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy analysis. After exposure to the NPs, the bacterial community composition shifted to one dominated by Gram-positive bacteria. The results of this study could help to develop environmental standards and regulations for NPs applications and emissions.     

Co-pyrolysis of oil sludge with hydrogen-rich plastics in a vertical stirring reactor: Kinetic analysis,emissions, and products

● Collaborative treatment of plastics and OS was established to improve oil quality. ● PE addition successfully improved OS pyrolysis process by deploying H/C_eff ratio. ● Higher H/C_eff ratio promoted cracking to obtain more gas and light oil fractions. ● The degradation of PE and OS was promoted each other under their temperature range. Pyrolysis is an effective method to treat oily sludge (OS) due to its balance between oil recovery and nonhazardous disposal. However, tank bottom OS contains a high content of heavy fractions, which creates obstacles for pyrolysis due to the high activation energy. The incomplete cracking of macromolecules and secondary polymerization decreases the oil quality and causes coking during the operation process. This study introduced polyethylene (PE) into OS to deploy the H/C_eff ratio of feedstocks for pyrolysis. A strong interaction between OS and PE during copyrolysis could be observed from the TG/DTG curves. PE tightly participated in OS degradation, while OS also promoted PE degradation at high temperature. Apparent pits were generated in solid residues from copyrolysis, which was attributed to the uniform and violent gas release. In addition to HCN, other nitrogenous and sulphurous pollutants were inhibited. Accordingly, more gas products were attained after PE addition with more value-added compositions of alkanes and alkenes. Although the oil yield decreased after PE addition, the oil products from copyrolysis possessed higher heating values and higher contents of light fractions with short chains as well as paraffins. Consequently, copyrolysis of OS and PE significantly improved the pyrolysis process and resulted in high oil quality.