Anaerobic rotating disc batch reactor nutrient removal process enhanced by volatile fatty acid addition.

RBC effluent needs further treatment because of water-quality standards requiring low nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations. It may be achieved by using reactors with biomass immobilized on the filling's surface as post-denitrification biofilm reactors. Due to the lack of organic matter in treated wastewater, the introduction of external carbon sources becomes necessary. The new attached growth bioreactor--anaerobic rotating disc batch reactor (ARDBR)--was examined as a post-denitrification reactor. The impact of selected volatile fatty acids on nutrient removal efficiency in an ARDBR was studied. The biofilm was developing on totally submerged discs mounted coaxially on a vertical shaft. Acetic, propionic, butyric and caproic acids were applied. Wastewaters were removed from the reactors after 24-h treatment, together with the excess solids. In the ARDBR tank, there was no biomass in the suspended form at the beginning of the treatment process. Acids with a higher number of carbon atoms (butyric and caproic) were the most efficient in denitrification process. The highest phosphorus removal efficiency was noted in the ARDBR with butyric and propionic acids. The lowest unitary consumption of the external source of carbon in denitrification was recorded for acetic acid, whereas the highest one for caproic acid.

Nitrogen and phosphorus distribution in a constructed wetland fed with treated swine slurry from an anaerobic lagoon.

Nitrogen and phosphorus distribution in a constructed wetland fed with treated swine slurry from an anaerobic lagoon were studied. The methodology considered a daily meteorological monitoring site. During 2011 to 2012, water, soil and plants (Schoenoplectus californicus (C.A. Méyer) Sójak, Typha angustifolia (L.)) were seasonally sampled (spring and fall) into the constructed wetland. During study period, results showed that rainfall was the main factor of maintenance hydraulic conditions, while evapotranspiration was driver of variations in water storage level. Nitrogen and phosphorus removal from the water phase were up to 54% and 37%, respectively. Onto soil were adsorbed over 70% nitrogen and 65% phosphorus. Phosphorus was less mobile than nitrogen, since it was bound to oxides Fe-Mn. Inorganic nitrogen species were affected by level water and seasonal vegetable maturation. During spring, N-NH4(+) was the predominant soil species, while in the fall, N-NO3(-) was dominant near the belowground part of Sc and NH4(+) near to the belowground zone of Ta. In addition, nutrients uptake was less than 30% with 64% aboveground-spring and 85% belowground-fall for both plants. Findings showed nitrification process evidences when water levels are below 0.1 m.

Simultaneous recovery and purification of rice protein and phosphorus compounds from full-fat and defatted rice bran with organic solvent-free process.

We studied a process that enables simultaneous recovery of protein and phosphorus compounds from rice bran. Phosphorus substances in full-fat and defatted rice bran such as phytic acid and inorganic ions were solubilized under acidic conditions in the first step. After that, inorganic and/or organic phosphate salts were recovered in insoluble form under weak alkaline conditions. Furthermore, protein fractions obtained after phosphorus compounds had been removed were solubilized under alkaline conditions. After solubilization, protein fractions with high content were recovered by isoelectric precipitation (IP) followed by electrolyzed water treatment (EWT). The highest protein content (52.3 w/w%) was attained when machine defatted rice bran was treated through the process. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) analyses demonstrated efficient desalting from the protein fractions by EWT and higher phosphorus contents (15.1-16.4 w/w% P) in the phosphorus fractions compared with commercial phosphate rock. In addition, no heavy metal ions in either protein or phosphorus fractions were detected. These results suggest that the newly developed process is suitable for practical recovery of highly concentrated protein and phosphorus compounds from rice bran without enzymes or chemicals such as organic solvents, buffering agents, and surfactants.

Characterization of microorganisms responsible for phosphorus removal linking operation performance with microbial community structure at low temperature.

Two enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) reactors were started up at low temperatures to obtain microorganisms responsible for aerobic and anoxic phosphorus removal, namely polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (PAO) and denitrifying PAO (DPAO), and their operational performance and microbial community were together investigated in the hope of assessment of the effectiveness of the EBPR process at low temperature by combining chemical analysis and microbial community structure evolution based on polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis. When two reactors reached the steady state after 40 and 80 days for the anaerobic-aerobic (AO) and anaerobic-anoxic (AA) reactor operation in AO and AA modes, respectively, a good ability of anaerobic phosphorus release and aerobic or anoxic phosphorus uptake was present both in these two reactors. During this start-up process, a total of 22 bands were detected in seed, AA and AO sludge samples, including Alpha-, Beta-, Gamma- and Deltaproteobacteria, as well as Chlorobi, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria. Of all the bands, only four bands were present in all the lanes, suggesting that shift in microbial community occurred greatly depending on the electron acceptors in this study. From evolutionary tree, it was found that microorganisms related to DPAO mostly belong to the phylum Betaproteobacteria, while microbes corresponding to PAO were present in several phyla. Overall, the new strategy proposed here was shown to be feasible for the enrichment of PAO and DPAO at low temperature, and may be regarded as a new guidance for the application of EBPR technology to practice, especially in winter.

Research on the treatment of phosphoric wastewater by ultrasound-assisted microelectrolysis method.

In this research work, ultrasound was introduced to the microelectrolysis (ME) method to improve the treatment efficiency for phosphoric wastewater. The effects of treatment time, Fe/C ratio (v/v) and iron filings dosage on the efficiency of phosphorus removal from wastewater with different initial pH values were investigated. The results showed that the phosphorus removal efficiency by the ME method was significantly enhanced in the presence of ultrasound. The maximum removal rate of phosphorus (RRP) for the wastewater with an initial pH value of 4.0 was 92.4% after 60 min of treatment when the Fe/C and Fe/H2O volume ratio were 2/1 and 1/10, respectively. The reaction kinetics analysis indicated that the phosphorus degradation processes for the ultrasonic and ME methods as well as the ultrasonically assisted ME method (UME) were in accordance with the pseudo-first-order kinetic model. The synergetic effect of the combined ultrasound and ME method for phosphorus removal was also studied by reaction kinetics analysis.

[Difference of P content in different area substrate of constructed wetland].

Adsorption of substrate is the main removal mechanisms of phosphorus in constructed wetland. It is easily impacted by various environmental factors existing in the wetland bed. The contents of substrate TP and the main inorganic P in different areas of both horizontal sub-surface flow constructed wetland with plant and one without plant were measured after treating wastewater five months. Different areas of the wetland with plant differed greatly in the substrate TP. Rhizosphere substrate in front area had the highest TP content and achieved 0.75 g x kg(-1), and the TP content of non-rhizosphere substrate in back area was only 0.21 g x kg(-1). The TP content of substrate in different areas of the wetland without plant had a little variety and ranged only between 0.21 and 0.27 g x kg(-1). Averagely, the substrate TP content in the wetland with plant was higher than the one in the wetland without plant. The phosphorous with Fe-bound (Fe-P), Al-bound (Al-P), and Ca-bound (Ca-P) were main inorganic phosphorous existing in the substrate in both wetlands, their contents in different areas substrate all increased, compared with the one before experiment. Fe-P and Al-P in different substrates in both wetlands had a similar variety. Their content between rhizosphere and intermediate substrate of front area in the wetland with plant and other area substrate in both wetlands differed greatly because the former increased greatly. Compared with Fe-P and Al-P, the variety of Ca-P in different substrates in both wetlands was low. But the content of Ca-P in rhizosphere substrate in wetland with plant was higher than other two parts respectively in front and back areas. Obviously, the plant root had an impact on the phosphorous content of substrate in constructed wetland. For TP, Fe-P, Al-P, Ca-P and loosely sorbed phosphorous in substrate, it increased with distance of the root.

Application of natural zeolite for phosphorus and ammonium removal from aqueous solutions.

Removal of both nutrients ammonium and phosphorus by natural zeolite has been studied in lab scale by using a mechanically stirred batch system (1000 ml). Zeolite, a mean particle size of 13 microm, was used as an adsorbent for the removal of ammonium and then as a seed material for the precipitation of calcium phosphate. A relationship was established between the uptake of ammonium by zeolite and the ratio of initial ammonium concentration to zeolite dosage. Ammonium uptake of zeolite was almost completed within initial 5 min of adsorption period. There is no pronounced effect of zeolite and ammonium, neither positive nor negative on the amount of calcium phosphate precipitation. The extent of the precipitation of phosphate increased with rising pH. It was also observed that when the system was allowed to relax at constant pH (i.e. under relatively low super saturations), a certain lag time was noted to elapse at the onset of the precipitation. At the pH 7.2, the amount of initial fast precipitation within 5 min and total precipitation within 120 min were around 34% and 93%, respectively. Precipitation of calcium phosphate on to ammonium-loaded zeolite was achieved at low super saturations (< pH 7.5) through secondary nucleation and crystal growth, leading to an increase in particle size.

Response surface optimization of phosphorus species adsorption onto powdered alum sludge.

The purpose of this study is to optimize adsorption conditions of powdered alum sludge (PAS) as low-cost adsorbent for the removal of three P-species (ortho-P, poly-P and organic-P) from wastewater using the response surface methodology (RSM). Initially, RSM in the basis of a 3-variable Box-Behnken design was used to determine the effect of pH (from 4 to 7), PAS mass (from 0.1 to 0.5 g) and PAS particle size (from 125 to 420 microm) on the response levels (removal efficiencies of the three P-species). Three response surface quadratic models in terms of three factors were then obtained from an analysis of the experimental data using a SAS computer package. Thereafter, the effect of each of the parameters on P removal for each of the three species was examined using the three-dimensional response surface. All three parameters (pH, PAS mass and PAS particle size) had a significant effect on the removal of each of the P species. Finally, optimal conditions for P species removal were determined at which the P-removals of 99.8% (for ortho-P), 94.9% (for poly-P) and 94.8% (for organic-P) were achieved, respectively. The results derived from the verification experiments agreed with that predicted by the models, confirming the suitability of the established models and the success of RSM in optimizing the PAS adsorption conditions.

Biological nutrient removal in simple dual sludge system with an UMBR (upflow multi-layer bioreactor) and aerobic biofilm reactor.

In this study, a simple dual sludge process was developed for small sewage treatment. It is a hybrid system that consists of upflow multi-layer bioreactor (UMBR) as anaerobic and anoxic reactor with suspended growth microorganisms and post aerobic biofilm reactor with inclined plates. UMBR is a multifunction reactor that acts as primary sedimentation tank, anaerobic reactor, anoxic reactor, and thickener. The sludge blanket in the UMBR is maintained at a constant level by automatic control so that clear water (30 mg-SS/L) can flow into the post aerobic biofilm reactor. It leads to improving performance of the biofilm reactor due to preventing of excess microbial attachment on the media surface and no requirment for a large clarifier caused by low solid loading. The HRT in the UMBR and the aerobic biofilm reactor were about 5.8 h and 6.4 h, respectively. The temperature in the reactor during this study varied from 12.5 degrees C to 28.3 degrees C. The results obtained from this study show that effluent concentrations of TCOD, TBOD, SS, TN, and TP were 29.7 mg/L, 6.0 mg/L, 10.3 mg/L, 12.0 mg/L, and 1.8 mg/L, which corresponded to a removal efficiency of 92.7%, 96.4%, 96.4%, 74.9%, and 76.5%, respectively. The sludge biomass index (SBI) of the excess sludge in the UMBR was about 0.55, which means that the sludge in the UMBR was sufficiently stabilized and may not require further treatment prior to disposal.

Outcomes of a 2-year investigation on enhanced biological nutrients removal and trace organics elimination in membrane bioreactor (MBR).

Two configurations of membrane bioreactors were identified to achieve enhanced biological phosphorus and nitrogen removal, and assessed over more than two years with two parallel pilot plants of 2m3 each. Both configurations included an anaerobic zone ahead of the biological reactor, and differed by the position of the anoxic zone: standard pre-denitrification, or post-denitrification without dosing of carbon source. Both configurations achieved improved phosphorus removal. The goal of 50 microgP/L in the effluent could be consistently achieved with two types of municipal wastewater, the second site requiring a low dose of ferric salt ferric salt < 3 mgFe/L. The full potential of biological phosphorus removal could be demonstrated during phosphate spiking trials, where up to 1 mg of phosphorus was biologically eliminated for 10 mg BOD5 in the influent. The post-denitrification configuration enabled a very good elimination of nitrogen. Daily nitrate concentration as low as 1 mgN/L could be monitored in the effluent in some periods. The denitrification rates, greater than those expected for endogenous denitrification, could be accounted for by the use of the glycogene pool, internally stored by the denitrifying microorganisms in the anaerobic zone. Pharmaceuticals residues and steroids were regularly monitored on the two parallel MBR pilot plants during the length of the trials, and compared with the performance of the Berlin-Ruhleben WWTP. Although some compounds such as carbamazepine were persistent through all the systems, most of the compounds could be better removed by the MBR plants. The influence of temperature, sludge age and compound concentration could be shown, as well as the significance of biological mechanisms in the removal of trace organic compounds.

Biomass concentration and biofilm characteristics in high-performance fluidized-bed biofilm reactors.

Two laboratory scale fluidized-bed biofilm reactors (FBBRs) were used to investigate the biomass concentration and the biofilm characteristics in a high performance FBBR used for the denitrification of exceptionally high-nitrate wastewater (1000 mg-N/L). Reported correlations by other workers for predicting the biomass concentration in FBBR were examined for their validity in comparison with the experimental results of this study and the best set of applicable correlations was recommended. The effects of the two main operational parameters, the superficial velocity and nitrogen loading rate on the biomass concentration in the FBBR were also studied. Correlations for the drag coefficient and the expansion index from the literature, together with the biofilm dry density correlation produced from this study were found to produce the best prediction of the FBBR biomass concentration compared to other reported correlations. The average biomass concentration in the FBBR decreased with the increase of the superficial velocity in the range of 45 to 65 m/h at all the applied nitrogen loadings (i.e. 6, 8, 12 and 16 kg-N/m3(bed).d).

A comparison between the theory and reality of full-scale step-feed nutrient removal systems.

Capacity enhancement and volume reduction benefits of step-feeding fully aerobic bioreactors has been well documented. Application of step-feed technology to biological nutrient removal (BNR) systems, particularly those removing nitrogen alone or both nitrogen and phosphorus, is relatively new to the industry. In recent years, a number of full-scale step-feed facilities have been brought into service. This paper reviews nine full-scale step-feed biological nutrient removal systems--both nitrogen removal alone, and nitrogen and phosphorus removal. The objective is to compare the theoretical benefits of such systems with their actual operation. The predicted benefits of reduced bioreactor volume or increased process capacity, reduced energy usage, more robust nitrification performance, and the flexibility to tune (or de-tune) nitrification efficiency were verified in full-scale systems. Equations are also presented that may be used in the prediction of step-feed benefits. There are two primary drivers for considering a step-feed biological reactor system: 1. Reduced bioreactor volume for a defined capacity or performance or increased process capacity given a fixed bioreactor volume. 2. More robust nitrification performance. Full-scale operation of these step-feed nutrient removal systems provides a real world basis for the claimed benefits of step-feed operation. These systems have uniformly shown additional capacity. A number of them have also exhibited more robust performance, especially during storms. Where possible, side-by-side comparisons of full-scale step-feed systems with non-step-feed systems have exhibited greater process reliability and flexibility.

Phosphorus compounds in sequential extracts of animal manures: chemical speciation and a novel fractionation procedure.

Pollution of water bodies by phosphorus in runoff from soil amended with animal manures is one of the greatest threats to water quality in developed countries. The environmental fate of manure phosphorus is determined in part by its chemical composition, yet extraction procedures to assess this are poorly developed and provide no structural information. We used solution 31P NMR spectroscopy to quantify phosphorus compounds in sequential extracts of three contrasting manures (broiler litter, beef-cattle manure, swine manure). Using a procedure originally developed for soils, but commonly applied to manures, phosphorus was extracted sequentially with deionized water, 0.5 M NaHCO3, 0.1 M NaOH, and 0.5 M HCl. Water and NaHCO3 extracted readily soluble compounds, including phosphate, phospholipids, DNA, and simple phosphate monoesters, which are mobile in soil and biologically available. In contrast, NaOH and HCl extracted poorly soluble compounds, including phytic acid (myoinositol hexakisphosphate). The latter is immobile in soil and of limited biological availability. Based on these results, we developed a simplified two-step fractionation procedure involving extraction of readily soluble phosphorus in 0.5 M NaHCO3 followed by extraction of stable phosphorus in a solution containing 0.5 M NaOH and 50 mM EDTA. This revised procedure separates manure phosphorus into structurally defined fractions with environmental relevance and will facilitate research on this important aspect of environmental science.

[Undecatungstophosphate sensitized strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus to beta-lactams].

Previously, a factor (Factor T) was found in aged mixtures of tungstate and phosphate, which greatly sensitizes strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus to beta-lactams. Factor T was purified and identified as undecatungstophosphate([PW11O39]7-). Undecatungstosilicate([SiW11O39]8-), a compound closely related to undecatungstophosphate, showed a similar enhancing effect. Chemically, these compounds are classified as "polyoxotungstates", and it is expected that these tungsten compounds will be useful as a "tool" in laboratory tests: i.e., in screening media for highly resistant MRSA strains. They may be also useful to investigate the resistant mechanism of the bacterial cells.

Purification of a factor that enhances the antibacterial activity of beta-lactams against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus: its identification as undecaphosphotungstate.

Previously, a factor (Factor T) was found in aged mixtures of tungstate and phosphate, which greatly enhances the antibacterial effects of beta-lactam antibiotics on methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Factor T was purified and identified as undecaphosphotungstate ([PW11O39]7-). Undecasilicotungstate ([SiW11O39]8-), a compound closely related to undecaphosphotungstate, showed a similar enhancing effect.