Applying sheet iron to enhance the treatment efficiency of digested effluent with continuous flow and the corresponding mechanism.

Because of the unstable wastewater quantity and quality, the biological treatment efficiency of digested effluent was not as expected. A convenient and effective way was eagerly required to improve the efficiency of biological treatment. By sheet iron addition (R1), the COD and TN removal efficiencies under continuous flow condition increased by 59% and 37% respectively. The bulk pH maintained at around 7.5 which benefited most bacteria, while in the control (R0, without sheet iron addition) the pH decreased to 5.0. Both chemical and bio-removal of COD existed in R1, but the chemical removal dominated (63.71%). The enhanced COD removal efficiency came from the chemical oxidation by Fe3+ (47.43%) and Fe0 (10.86%). For the TN removal, the enhancement mainly came from the improvement of anammox activity by Fe3+ (14.87%), the bio-oxidation of ammonium with Fe3+ as electron acceptor (8.78%), and the bio-reduction of nitrate/nitrite with Fe2+ and H2 as electron donor (35.76%). By the first-order kinetic fitting analysis, the COD and TN removal rate in R1 was higher than that in R0. Thus, for a quick and high COD and TN removal from digested effluent, the addition of Fe0/Fe2+/Fe3+ was suggested, and the best form should be Fe0 (e.g., sheet iron). The addition of sheet iron reduces the cost of nitrogen removal and improves the efficiency of COD and TN removal. Comparing with the combined processes, this novel approach has potential advantages with simple operation and high efficiency. It endows the biological process much broader application in digested effluent treatment.

Effect of air mixing on high-solids anaerobic digestion of cow manure: Performance and mechanism.

This study aimed to further investigate the effect of air mixing on the performance of a high-solids anaerobic digestion system and reveal its underlying mechanisms via analyses of carbon conversion, microbial communities and key functional genes. When the air mixing intensity was 12.5, 37.5 and 62.5 mL/(L‧min), compared with the anaerobic digestion without air mixing, the methane yield was increased by 6 %, 13 % and 6 %, respectively. The improved performance was partly attributed to the increased hydrolysis rate of macromolecular substances by 5 %-16 % and carbon recovery in the form of methane by 6 %-7% compared with the controls. Functional flora (Magnetospirillum, Synergistaceae) and hydrolytic metabolism-related enzymes (cellulose, α-amylase) demonstrated higher abundance under air mixing condition, thus promoting the degradation of organic matter and methane production. This work provides some new insights into the use of air mixing to improve anaerobic digestion of high-solids waste.

Promotion of nitrogen removal in a zero-valent iron-mediated nitrogen removal system operated in co-substrate mode.

In this study, the performance and mechanism of nitrogen removal were investigated in a zero-valent iron-mediated nitrogen removal system operated in co-substrate mode with sodium acetate as the organic carbon source. The results showed that the additional organic matter had the capacity to promote NH4+-N and total inorganic nitrogen (TIN) removal with efficiencies of 91.09% and 84.10%, and increases of 60.06% and 75.32% compared with the control group, respectively. The organic matter also stimulated the production of extracellular polymer substances that reduced the passivation and toxicity of iron to microorganisms. The ammonia oxidation activity was 2.5 times higher than that in the control group, and the anammonia oxidation activity and denitrification activity were substantially higher than in the control group with TIN removal efficiencies of 1.02 and 1.19 mgN/(gVSS·d), respectively. In addition, the organic matter increased the enrichment of the heterotrophic denitrification bacterium Diaphorobacter and facultative iron salt-based bacterium Dechloromonas.

Intermittent air mixing system for anaerobic digestion of animal wastewater: Operating conditions and full-scale validation.

An air mixing system for anaerobic digestion has been proved to be beneficial for methane production. The aim of the present study was to further investigate the appropriate conditions for air mixing. The effective methane production time (EMPT) was defined to determine the air mixing time in the article. The results indicated that the appropriate aeration intensity was 66.7 mL air per volume of reactor per min and mixing time was 1.5 min. When air mixing time exceeded 3 min on each occasion, total CH4 production was less than that achieved under the no mixing condition due to a decrease in the EMPT. In addition, the possibility of air mixing was evaluated in an anaerobic full-scale plant comprising a continuous stirred tank reactor. One year of operating data validated the feasibility of air mixing during the anaerobic digestion of swine wastewater.

Construction of autotrophic nitrogen removal system based on zero-valent iron (ZVI): performance and mechanism.

In this study, the performance and mechanism of nitrogen removal in sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) with and without zero-valent iron (ZVI) was investigated. The results showed that ZVI had a capacity to promote NH4+-N conversion, NO2--N accumulation and total inorganic nitrogen (TIN) removal, with the TIN removal rate being increased by 29.45%. The ZVI also had a significant impact on microbial community structure by means of high-throughput pyrosequencing, increasing the enrichment of Anammox (anaerobic ammonium oxidation) bacteria Candidatus Brocadia and Feammox (anaerobic ferric ammonium oxidation) bacteria Ignavibacterium. With ZVI addition, the main pathway of nitrogen removal was changed from nitrification-heterotrophic denitrification to Anammox and Feammox.

Remedying acidification and deterioration of aerobic post-treatment of digested effluent by using zero-valent iron.

This study presents a novel strategy for remedying acidification and improving the removal efficiency of pollutants from digested effluent by using Zero-Valent Iron (iron scraps) in a sequencing batch reactor. Through this strategy, the pH increased from 5.7 (mixed liquid in the reactor without added ZVI) to 7.8 (reactors with added ZVI) because of Fe0 oxidation and NO3- reduction. The removal efficiencies of COD increased from 11.5% to 77.5% because of oxidation of ferric ion and OH produced in chemical reactions of ZVI with oxygen and because of flocculation of iron ions. The removal efficiencies of total nitrogen rose from 1.83% to 93.3% probably because of autotrophic denitrification using electron donors produced by the corrosion of iron, as well as the favorable conditions for anammox due to iron ions. Total phosphorus increased from -25.8% to 77.1% because of the increase in pH and the precipitation with iron ions.

Co-digestion of tobacco waste with different agricultural biomass feedstocks and the inhibition of tobacco viruses by anaerobic digestion.

Tobacco is widely planted across the world especially in China, which means that a large amount of tobacco waste needs to be treated. This study investigated the biogas fermentation of tobacco stalks co-digested with different biomass feedstocks and the inactivation of Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) by anaerobic digestion. Results showed that the maximum methane yield of tobacco stalks at 35 °C was 0.163 m(3) CH4 ⋅ kg VS(-1), which was from the co-digestion of tobacco stalks, wheat stalks and pig manure. The largest VS removal rate of tobacco stalks was 59.10%. Proven by indicator paper stripe, half-leaf lesion and RT-PCR, CMV could be inactivated by mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic digestion, whereas TMV could be only inactivated by thermophilic anaerobic digestion over 20 days. These results suggested that using tobacco stalks as feedstock for anaerobic digestion and applying the digested residue and slurry to Solanaceae crop land are feasible.