Performance of denitrifying microbial fuel cell subjected to variation in pH, COD concentration and external resistance.

The effects of pH, chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration and external resistance on denitrifying microbial fuel cell were evaluated in terms of electricity generation characteristics and pollutant removal performance. The results showed that anodic influent with weakly alkaline or neutral pH and cathodic influent with weakly acidic pH favored pollutant removal and electricity generation. The suitable influent pH of the anode and cathode were found to be 7.5-8.0 and 6.0-6.5, respectively. In the presence of sufficient nitrate in the cathode, higher influent COD concentration led to more electricity generation and greater pollutant removal rates. With an anodic influent pH of 8.0 and a cathodic influent pH of 6.0, an influent COD concentration of 400 mg/L was deemed to be appropriate. Low external resistance favored nitrate and COD removal. The results suggest that operation of denitrifying microbial fuel cell at a lower external resistance would be desirable for pollutant removal but not electricity generation.

Transformation of heavy metal forms during sewage sludge bioleaching.

The transformation of heavy metal forms during sewage sludge bioleaching with elemental sulfur as substrate was investigated. The sequential selective extraction procedure was an effective way to reflect the variation in heavy metal forms. The exchangeable form of Cu, Pb and Zn after bioleaching accounted for 81.6, 40.2 and 75.8%, respectively. Cu at initial sludge mainly existed as sulfide precipitate form, most of which turned to exchangeable form during bioleaching, and was solubilized mostly by direct mechanism. The original forms of Pb and Zn were mainly carbonate precipitate and organically bound. Most of the carbonate precipitate Pb transformed into exchangeable form but a little of organically bound Pb. Pb was dissolved from the sludge due to transformation of carbonate precipitated and sulfide precipitated to exchangeable form by cooperation of both direct and indirect mechanisms. A majority of exchangeable Zn was transformed from organically bound and carbonate precipitated forms, and the bioleaching mechanism of Zn was mainly indirect. After bioleaching, the sewage sludge could be applied to land more safely because the heavy metals mainly existed in stable forms. The exchangeable Cu and Pb achieved an obvious increase at pH about 2, while exchangeable Zn showed higher percentage at pH about 3. The transformation of chemical forms for Cu had good relationship with ORP during bioleaching, but Zn was not influenced by ORP of sludge, which appeared to have high bioleaching efficiency at ORP less than 200 mV.

Nitrogen removal from sludge dewatering effluent through anaerobic ammonia oxidation process.

Anaerobic ammonia oxidation(Anammox) process is a novel and promising wastewater nitrogen removal process. The feasibility of transition of Anammox from denitrification and the performance of lab-scale Anammox biofilm reactor were investigated with sludge dewatering effluent. The results showed that Anammox process could be successfully started up after cultivation of denitrification biofilm and using it as inoculum. The transition of Anammox from denitrification was accomplished within 85 d. Anammox process was found suitable to remove ammonia from sludge dewatering effluent. The effluent ammonia concentration was detected to be 23.11 mgN/L at HRT of 28 h when influent ammonia concentration was fed 245 mgN/L, which was less than that for the national discharge standard II (25 mgN/L) of China. Volumetric total nitrogen loading rate was up to 584.99 mg TN/(L x d) at HRT of 17 h, while influent concentrations were kept 243.25 mg NH4(+) -N/L and 288.31 mg NO2(-) -N/L.

[Pollution Characteristics of Surface Runoff of Typical Town in Chongqing City].

Six kinds of impermeable underlying surface, cement tile roof, asbestos roof, cement flat roof, residential concrete pavement, asphalt pavement of restaurants, asphalt pavement of oil depot, and a combined sewer overflow canal in the Jiansheng town of Dadukou district in Chongqing city were chosen as sample plots to study the characteristics of nutritional pollutants and heavy metals in town runoff. The research showed that the average mass concentrations of TSS, COD, TN, TP in road runoff were (1681.2 +/- 677.2), (1154.7 +/- 415.5), (12.07 +/- 2.72), (3.32 +/- 1.15) mgL(-1), respectively. These pollutants were higher than those in roof runoff which were (13.3 +/- 6.5), (100.4 +/- 24.8), (3.58 +/- 0.70), (0.10 +/- 0.02) mg x L(-1), respectively. TDN accounted for 62.60% +/- 34.38% of TN, and TDP accounted for 42.22% +/- 33.94% of TP in the runoff of impermeable underlying surface. Compared with the central urban runoff, town runoff in our study had higher mass concentrations of these pollutants. The mass concentrations of TSS, COD, TDN, TN, TDP and TP in the combined sewer overflow were (281.57 +/- 308.38), (231.21 +/- 42.95), (8.16 +/- 2.78), (10.60 +/- 3.94), (0.38 +/- 0.23) and (1.51 +/- 0.75) mg x L(-1), respectively. The average levels of heavy metals in this kind of runoff did not exceed the class VI level of the surface water environmental quality standard. Most pollutants in the combined sewer overflow had first flush. However, this phenomenon was very rare for TSS. There was a significant positive correlation between TSS and COD, TP in the combined sewer overflow. And this correlation was significant between NH4+ -N and TP, TDP, TN, TDP. However, a negative correlation existed between NO3- -N and all other indicators.

Anammox transited from denitrification in upflow biofilm reactor.

Anammox was successfully transited from heterotrophic denitrification and autotrophic denitrification in two upflow biofilm reactors, respectively. The results showed that the volumetric loading rate and nitrogen removal efficiency in the reactor transited from heterotrophic denitrification were higher than that in its counterpart. When the hydraulic retention time was 12 h or so, the total nitrogen loading rate was about 0.609 kg N/(m3 x d), and the effluent ammonia and nitrite concentrations were less than 8.5 mg/L and 2.5 mg/L, respectively. The upflow anammox biofilm reactor was capable of keeping and accumulating the slow-growing bacteria efficiently. During operation of the reactor, the biomass color was gradually turned from brownish to red, and the ratio of ammonia consumption, nitrite consumption and nitrate production approached the theoretical one. These changes could be used as an indicator for working state of the reactor.

Effect of substrate concentration on the bioleaching of heavy metals from sewage sludge.

The effect of elemental sulfur concentration on bioleaching of Cu, Zn and Pb and loss of fertilizer value from sewage sludge was investigated in flasks by batch experiments. The results showed that the ultimate pH of sludges with 3-5 g/L of sulfur added was about 1.3 and the production of SO4(2-) had good correlation with the elemental sulfur concentration. The sensitivity of removal efficiency of metals to sulfur concentration was: Pb > Cu > Zn. The sulfur concentration except for 3-5 g/L had significant effect on the solubilization of Cu, Pb and Zn. The highest solubilization efficiency for sludge with 3 g/L of sulfur was 87.86% for Cu, 32.72% for Pb and 92.14% for Zn, which could make the treated sludge easily meet the metal limitations for land application. The sulfur concentration of 3 g/L was enough for the solubilization of all three heavy metals. The influence of sulfur concentration on solubilization of total nitrogen and potassium from sludge was negligible, but that on solublization of total phosphorus was of great importance. The loss of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium of sludge with 3 g/L of sulfur by bioleaching was 38.2%, 52.1% and 42.8% respectively, and the sludge still remained satisfactory fertilizer value after bioleaching.

[Response of phosphorus components in sediments from eutrophic lake to external sulfate].

A six week experiment under indoor simulated condition was carried out to investigate the external sulfate transformation between the sediments and overlying water from Lake Nanhu in Wuhan, China, and the influence of sulfate on the phosphorus components was also studied. The results showed that the sulfate input increased the pH and lowered the Eh in the overlying water. The sulfate concentration in the overlying water decreased with time, and it was assumed that there existed an obvious transformation of sulfate to other forms of sulfur compounds according to the variation of sulfate concentration in the pore water. The sulfate reduction index increased with higher input content of sulfate. The amount of sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) in the sediments achieved the peak value in the second week, and the SRB amounts of S500 and S1000 were much higher than that of the control. 31P-NMR was used to characterize the relative quantity of phosphorus compounds in the sediment extracts leached by NaOH-EDTA. The components of phosphorus in Nanhu Lake sediment were mainly orthophosphate, phosphate monoester, phosphodiester and pyrophosphate. The predominant one was orthophosphate (84.10%-95.54% of total phosphorus). The contents of other phosphorus components were followed: phosphate monoester > phosphodiester > pyrophosphate, and they increased due to the input of sulfate during the first four weeks, and decreased in the last two weeks. The external sulfate accelerated the release of orthophosphate from sediments to overlying water in a whole, and increased the contents of phosphate monoester, phosphodiester and pyrophosphate in sediments when the amounts of sulfate reducing bacteria were high.

Denitrifying dephosphatation over nitrite: effects of nitrite concentration, organic carbon, and pH.

The effects of nitrite concentration, organic carbon and pH on denitrifying dephosphatation over nitrite were studied with batch tests. The results showed that anoxic initial phosphate uptake rate increased as nitrite concentration increased. For an initial phosphate of 8.5mgPL(-1) and an initial COD of 350mgL(-1), a nitrite level of 15.2mgN(gMLSS)(-1) was found to be appropriate. The anaerobic phosphate release rate decreased as anaerobic nitrite addition increased. The results suggest that to ensure effective phosphate release and subsequent phosphate uptake, anaerobic nitrite should be lower than 2mgNL(-1). Very high and very low initial COD concentrations both resulted in an adverse effect on denitrifying dephosphatation. The anaerobic phosphate release with different carbon sources followed the order: acetate>butyric acid>glucose. The suitable pH for anaerobic phosphate release and anoxic phosphate uptake was approximately 7.0 and 8.0, respectively.