Qualitatively and quantitatively assessing the aggregation ability of sludge during aerobic granulation process combined XDLVO theory with physicochemical properties

Inexact mechanism of aerobic granulation still impedes optimization and application of aerobic granules. In this study, the extended Derjaguin, Landau, Verwey, and Overbeek(XDLVO) theory and physicochemical properties were combined to assess the aggregation ability of sludge during aerobic granulation process qualitatively and quantitatively. Results show that relative hydrophobicity of sludge and polysaccharide content of extracellular polymeric substances(EPS) increased, while electronegativity of sludge decreased during acclimation phase. After 20 days' acclimation, small granules began to form due to high aggregation ability of sludge. Since then, coexisted flocs and granules possessed distinct physicochemical properties during granulation and maturation phase. The relative hydrophobicity decreased while electronegativity increased for flocs, whereas that for granules presented reverse trend. Through analyzing the interaction energy using the XDLVO theory, small granules tended to self-grow rather than self-aggregate or attach of flocs due to poor aggregation ability between flocs and granules during the granulation phase. Besides, remaining flocs were unlikely to self-aggregate owing to poor aggregation ability, low hydrophobicity and high electronegativity.     

Magnetic micro-particle conditioning–pressurized vertical electro-osmotic dewatering (MPEOD) of activated sludge: Role and behavior of moisture and organics

In this study, a magnetic micro-particle conditioning–pressurized vertical electro-osmotic dewatering (MPEOD) process with magnetic micro-particle conditioning–drainage under gravity–mechanical compression–electrical compression (MMPC–DG–MC–EC) stages was established to study the distribution and migration of water, extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), and other organic matter in the activated sludge (AS) matrix at each stage. Results showed that the MPEOD process could attain 53.52% water content (WC) in dewatered AS with bound water (BW) and free water (FW) reduction rates of 82.97% and 99.67%, respectively. The coagulation and time-delayed magnetic field effects of magnetic micro-particles (MMPs) along the MMPC–DG–MC stages initiated the transformation of partial BW to FW in AS. EC had a coupling driving effect of electro-osmosis and pressure on BW, and the changes in pH and temperature at EC stage induced the aggregation of AS flocs and the release of partial BW. Additionally, MMPs dosing further improved the dewatering performance of AS by acting as skeleton builders to provide water passages. Meanwhile, MMPs could disintegrate sludge cells and EPS fractions, thereby reducing tryptophan-like protein and byproduct-like material concentrations in LB-EPS as well as protein/polysaccharide ratio in AS matrix, which could improve AS filterability. At EC stage, the former four Ex/Em regions of fluorescence regional integration analysis for EPS were obviously reduced, especially the protein-like substances in LB- and TB-EPS, which contributed to improvement of AS dewaterability.     

Enhanced dewaterability of waste activated sludge by UV assisted ZVI-PDS oxidation

Ultraviolet（UV） assisted zero-valent iron（ZVI）-activated sodium persulfate（PDS） oxidation（UV-ZVI-PDS） was used to treat waste activated sludge（WAS） in this study.The dewaterability performance and mechanism of WAS dewatering were analyzed.The results showed that UV-ZVI-PDS can obtain better sludge dewatering performance in a wide pH range（2.0-8.0）.When the molar ratio of ZVI/PDS was 0.6,UV was 254 nm,PDS dosage was 200 mg/g TS（total solid）,pH was 6.54,reaction time was 20 min,the CST（capillary s...     

Simultaneous Feammox and anammox process facilitated by activated carbon as an electron shuttle for autotrophic biological nitrogen removal

• The autotrophic nitrogen removal combining Feammox and Anammox was achieved. • Activated carbon can be used as an electron shuttle to enhance Feammox activity. • Fe(III) was reduced to Fe(II) and the secondary Fe(II) mineral (FeOOH) was obtained. • The iron-reducing bacteria and Anammox consortium was enriched simultaneously. Ferric iron reduction coupled with anaerobic ammonium oxidation (Feammox) is a novel ferric-dependent autotrophic process for biological nitrogen removal (BNR) that has attracted increasing attention due to its low organic carbon requirement. However, extracellular electron transfer limits the nitrogen transformation rate. In this study, activated carbon (AC) was used as an electron shuttle and added into an integrated autotrophic BNR system consisting of Feammox and anammox processes. The nitrogen removal performance, nitrogen transformation pathways and microbial communities were investigated during 194 days of operation. During the stable operational period (days 126–194), the total nitrogen (TN) removal efficiency reached 82.9%±6.8% with a nitrogen removal rate of 0.46±0.04 kg-TN/m³/d. The contributions of the Feammox, anammox and heterotrophic denitrification pathways to TN loss accounted for 7.5%, 89.5% and 3.0%, respectively. Batch experiments showed that AC was more effective in accelerating the Feammox rate than the anammox rate. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses showed the presence of ferric iron (Fe(III)) and ferrous iron (Fe(II)) in secondary minerals. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns indicated that secondary iron species were formed on the surface of iron-AC carrier (Fe/AC), and Fe(III) was primarily reduced by ammonium in the Feammox process. The phyla Anaerolineaceae (0.542%) and Candidatus Magasanikbacteria (0.147%) might contribute to the Feammox process, and Candidatus Jettenia (2.10%) and Candidatus Brocadia (1.18%) were the dominative anammox phyla in the bioreactor. Overall, the addition of AC provided an effective way to enhance the autotrophic BNR process by integrating Feammox and anammox.     

Effects of alkalinity on interaction between EPS and hydroxy-aluminum with different speciation in wastewater sludge conditioning with aluminum based inorganic polymer flocculant

Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) form a stable gel-like structure to combine with water molecules through steric hindrance, making the mechanical dewatering of wastewater sludge considerably difficult. Coagulation/flocculation has been widely applied in improving the sludge dewatering performance, while sludge properties (organic fraction and solution chemistry conditions) are highly changeable and have important effects on sludge flocculation process. In this work, the alkalinity effects on sludge conditioning with hydroxy-aluminum were comprehensively investigated, and the interaction mechanisms between EPS and hydroxy-aluminum with different speciation were unraveled. The results showed that the effectiveness of hydroxy-aluminum conditioning gradually deteriorated with increase in alkalinity. Meanwhile, the polymeric hydroxy-aluminum (Al₁₃) and highly polymerized hydroxy-aluminum (Al₃₀) were hydrolysed and converted into amorphous aluminum hydroxide (Al(OH)₃), which changed the flocculation mechanism from charge neutralization and complexing adsorption to hydrogen bond interaction. Additionally, both Al₁₃ and Al₃₀ showed higher binding capacity for proteins and polysaccharides in EPS than monomeric aluminum and Al(OH)₃. Al₁₃ and Al₃₀ coagulation changed the secondary structure of proteins in EPS, which caused a gelation reaction to increase molecular hydrophobicity of proteins and consequently sludge dewaterability. This study provided a guidance for optimizing the hydroxy-aluminum flocculation conditioning of sludge with high solution alkalinity.     

Lead and cadmium biosorption by extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) extracted from activated sludges: pH-sorption edge tests and mathematical equilibrium modelling

The sorption of Cd and Pb by extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) extracted from activated sludges originated from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) or Lab-scale bioreactors was investigated as a function of pH. The study was carried out using a polarographic method in the SMDE (stripping mercury dropping electrode) mode which is suited to determine labile metals in solution containing soluble ligands such as EPS. The results obtained provide evidence of the presence of a pH-sorption/desorption edge for Cd and Pb by EPS. The use of Kurbatov’s model gives information on the mechanisms involved through the determination of “relative complexation constants” (operationally defined) and the number of protons exchanged. The use of this model demonstrates that proton exchange with metals is not the only mechanism involved in metal biosorption by EPS. Other mechanisms such as cation exchange with Ca or Mg, global electric field surrounding the ligand or micro-precipitation of metals could be involved in metal sorption by EPS. The position of the pH-sorption edge curves and the “relative complexation constants” show that Pb displays a greater affinity for EPS than Cd. The studied EPS have large differences regarding binding strength of Cd and Pb. These differences are not correlated with the organic parameters measured to characterize the EPS, however the mineral fraction of the EPS could be involved to a large extent in the sorption of metal.     

Influences of influent carbon source on extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and physicochemical properties of activated sludge

It is necessary to understand the bioflocculation, settling and dewatering characteristics in the activated sludge process in order to establish more efficient operational strategies. The influences of carbon source on the extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and flocculation, settling and dewatering properties of the activated sludge were investigated. Laboratory-scale completely mixed activated sludge processes were used to grow the activated sludge with different carbon sources of starch, glucose and sodium acetate. The sludge fed with acetate had highest loosely bound EPS (LB-EPS) and that fed with starch lowest. The amount of tightly bound EPS (TB-EPS), protein content in LB-EPS, polysaccharide content and protein contents in TB-EPS, were independent of the influent carbon source. The polysaccharide content in LB-EPS of the activated sludge fed with sodium acetate was lower slightly than those of starch and glucose. The sludge also had a nearly consistent flocs size and the sludge volume index (SVI) value. ESS content of the sludge fed with sodium acetate was higher initially, although it was similar to those fed with glucose and starch finally. However, the specific resistance to filtration and normalized capillary suction time fluctuated first, but finally were stable at around 5.0 × 10⁸ m kg⁻¹ and 3.5 s L g⁻¹ SS, respectively. Only the protein content in LB-EPS weakly correlated with the flocs size and SVI of the activated sludge. But there was no correlation between any other EPS contents or components and the physicochemical properties of the activated sludge.     

Performance and role of N-acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL)-based quorum sensing (QS) in aerobic granules

The present study investigated the relationship between N-acyl-homoserine lactone（AHL）-based quorum sensing（QS） and the physico-chemical properties of aerobic granules.Stable mature granules were observed in SBR2 and SBR3 with average diameters of 0.96,and1.49 mm,respectively. The sludge densities of aerobic granules in SBR2 and SBR3 were1.0246,and 1.0201 g/mL,respectively,which were higher than that of flocculent sludge in SBR1（1.0065 g/mL）. The results showed that the activity of AHL-based QS in SBR2 and SBR3 amounted to 2.4- and 2.1-fold induction,however,that in SBR1 with flocculent sludge was1.6-fold induction. In addition,the results also showed that the activity of AHL-based QS in the three reactors rose in the feast condition,and then dropped with the consumption of substrate. However,the activity of AHL-based QS in these three reactors recovered again in prolonged starvation. Furthermore,the results showed that the enhancement of AHL-based QS favored the extracellular polymeric substance production of microorganisms in activated sludge. Thus,it could be concluded that aerobic granules showed higher AHL-based QS than flocculent sludge,which resulted from the higher sludge density of aerobic granules than flocculent sludge. AHL-based QS was related to the metabolism energy in the feast condition; however,in prolonged starvation,microorganisms would emit more AHL-like molecules to protect themselves to resist starvation. Moreover,the enhancement of AHL-based QS favored the EPS component productivity of the microorganisms in activated sludge,which contributed to maintain the aerobic granular structure.     

Effect of Mn2+ on the phosphorus removal and bioflocculation under anoxic condition

Manganese ion (Mn²⁺) generated from metallurgical, steel making and chemical industries enters sewage treatment plants and affects the sludge activity and flocculation. The effect of Mn²⁺ on the removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total phosphorus (TP) and sludge activity were investigated in anoxic zone of an anaerobic/anoxic/oxic (A²O) process. The compositions and structures of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) were characterized using three-dimensional excitation emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy (3D-EEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) to reveal the relationship among Mn²⁺, EPS and sludge flocculation.The results showed that low concentration of Mn²⁺ (<5 mg/L) improved removal efficiencies of COD and TP and increased the activity of alkaline phosphatase, acid phosphatase and dehydrogenase. Meanwhile, the addition of Mn²⁺ increased total EPS, sludge contact angle, Zeta potential and sludge particle size, and thus enhanced sludge flocculation. However, high concentration of Mn²⁺ (>10 mg/L) hindered microbial flocculation and reduced removal efficiencies of the pollutants. When Mn²⁺was 5 mg/L, removal efficiencies of COD and TP reached 65% and 90%, respectively. Sludge flocculation was the best and SVI was 70.56 mL/g. The changes of Mn²⁺ concentration caused deviation of groups’ compositions in LB-EPS and TB-EPS, where the main components were always protein (PN) and polysaccharide (PS). The addition of Mn²⁺ resulted in the degradation of humic acids. However, it did not give rise to significant morphology changes of EPS.