Low-cost physicochemical treatment for removal of ammonia, phosphate and nitrate contaminants from landfill leachate.

Four low-cost materials, oyster shells, pumice stone, sand and zeolite were employed as adsorbents in an adsorption batch assays investigating the removal of ammonia, phosphate and nitrate from an aqueous solution. These compounds were chosen as they represent typical compounds found in landfill leachate (LFL). Assay performance was evaluated by the Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms. The top two materials, oyster shells and pumice stone, were employed as adsorbents in a fixed-bed column trial examining the effect of bed height and flow rate on the treatment of a synthetic LFL. The trial concluded that the highest rates of adsorption were achieved using bed heights of 20 cm with a flow rate of 5 mL min-1. After optimization, the system was employed for the treatment of LFL from Powerstown landfill, Carlow, Ireland. Ammonia and nitrate were effectively removed by both adsorption materials resulting in a reduction of influent ammonia and nitrate concentrations to below the national discharge limits set for these compounds of ≤4 mg L-1 and ≤50 mg L-1, respectively. In contrast, although similar high removal efficiencies were observed for phosphate, these rates were not maintained during the test period with overall results indicating reduced phosphate adsorption in comparison to the other compounds tested.

Combined UMBAF-MBAF process treating detergent wastewater.

A combined process of the upflow multimedium biological aerated filter (UMBAF) and the multimedia biological aerated filter (MBAF) treating detergent wastewater was investigated in this study. Results showed that the optimal filtration rate of the combined system was 1.4 m/hr while the optimized performance was observed at air to water ratio of 2:1. The average removal rate of chemical oxygen demand (COD), linear alkyl benzene sulfonate sodium (LAS), and total phosphate (TP) was up to 91.4%, 88.5%, and 40%, respectively, while the average effluent concentrations of COD, LAS, and TP under stable operation states were 35.0 mg/L, 7.0 mg/L, and 4.4 mg/L, respectively. UMBAF played a major role in TP removal; the removal of COD in the combined UMBAF and MBAF process was consistent with the general formula C = C0 e -(ah + b) , while the kinetic model of LAS removal in the combined UMBAF and MBAF process could be expressed by L = L0 e-(mh + n) . The combined UMBAF-MBAF process provides a promising technology for the treatment of detergent wastewater. The kinetic model of LAS removal in the UMBAF and MBAF units is helpful for the prediction of the treatment efficiency of organic pollutants. PRACTITIONER POINTS: A novel UMBAF-MBAF process was developed treating detergent wastewater. The average removal rate of COD, LAS, and TP by the combined process was up to 91.4%, 88.5%, and 40%, respectively. Kinetic models for the UMBAF-MBAF process were investigated.

Removal of phosphorus by a high rate membrane adsorption hybrid system.

Membrane adsorption hybrid system (MAHS) was evaluated for the removal of phosphate from a high rate membrane bioreactor (HR-MBR) effluent. The HR-MBR was operated at permeate flux of 30L/m(2)h. The results indicated that the HR-MBR could eliminate 93.1±1.5% of DOC while removing less than 53% phosphate (PO4-P). Due to low phosphate removal by HR-MBR, a post-treatment of strong base anion exchange resin (Dowex(∗)21K-XLT), and zirconium (IV) hydroxide were used as adsorbent in MAHS for further removal of phosphate from HR-MBR effluent. It was found that the MAHS enabled to eliminate more than 85% of PO4-P from HR-MBR effluent. Hence, HR-MBR followed by MAHS lead to simultaneous removal of organics and phosphate in a reliable manner. The experiments were conducted only for a short period to investigate the efficiency of these resins/adsorbents on the removal of phosphorus and high rate MBR for organic removal.

Recovering Valuable Phosphates: Chemical Biotechnology as a Problem Solver for the Environment.

Researchers from the HES-SO Valais/Wallis have demonstrated how to extract phosphate from sewage sludge on the laboratory scale using renewable energy sources from a microbial fuel cell. The mobilized phosphate barely contains heavy metals and can be used to produce fertilizer of marketable quality. The necessary energy comes from a sewage treatment plant and causes no additional costs.

Moving towards sustainable resources: Recovery and fractionation of nutrients from dairy manure digestate using membranes.

The fractionation of nitrogen (as ammonia/ammonium) and phosphorus (as phosphate ions) present in the dairy manure digestate was investigated using a nanofiltration membrane NF270. The filtration and separation efficiencies were correlated to pH across the range 3 < pH < 11. Filtration at pH 11 enabled higher permeate flux of 125-150 LMH at 20 bar, however rejection of ammonia was high at 30-36% and phosphate was 96.4-97.2%. At pH 3 and pH 7, electrostatic charge effects led to higher permeation of ammonium and thus more efficient separation of nitrogen. The rejection of phosphorus was relatively constant at any given pH and determined as 83% at pH 3, 97% at pH 7 and 95% at pH 11. The fractionation of nitrogen and phosphorus from complex aqueous solutions was demonstrated to be highly dependent on the charge of the membrane and ionic speciation. Solutions rich in nitrogen (as ammonia/ammonium) were obtained with almost no phosphorus present (<1 ppm) whilst the purification of the PO4-P was achieved by series of diafiltration (DF) operations which further separated the nitrogen. The separation of nutrients benefited from an advantageous membrane process with potential added value for a wide range of industries. The analysis of the process economics for a membrane based plant illustrates that the recovery of nutrients, particularly NH3-N, may be commercially feasible when compared to manufactured anhydrous NH3.

A new algorithm for design, operation and cost assessment of struvite (MgNH4PO4) precipitation processes.

Deliberate struvite (MgNH4PO4) precipitation from wastewater streams has been the topic of extensive research in the last two decades and is expected to gather worldwide momentum in the near future as a P-reuse technique. A wide range of operational alternatives has been reported for struvite precipitation, including the application of various Mg(II) sources, two pH elevation techniques and several Mg:P ratios and pH values. The choice of each operational parameter within the struvite precipitation process affects process efficiency, the overall cost and also the choice of other operational parameters. Thus, a comprehensive simulation program that takes all these parameters into account is essential for process design. This paper introduces a systematic decision-supporting tool which accepts a wide range of possible operational parameters, including unconventional Mg(II) sources (i.e. seawater and seawater nanofiltration brines). The study is supplied with a free-of-charge computerized tool (http://tx.technion.ac.il/~agrengn/agr/Struvite_Program.zip) which links two computer platforms (Python and PHREEQC) for executing thermodynamic calculations according to predefined kinetic considerations. The model can be (inter alia) used for optimizing the struvite-fluidized bed reactor process operation with respect to P removal efficiency, struvite purity and economic feasibility of the chosen alternative. The paper describes the algorithm and its underlying assumptions, and shows results (i.e. effluent water quality, cost breakdown and P removal efficiency) of several case studies consisting of typical wastewaters treated at various operational conditions.

Assessment of wild mint from Tunceli as source of bioactive compounds, and its antioxidant Activity.

The types of wild mint (Mentha spicata L.) were sampled from different geographical regions in Tunceli (Turkey) in order to find out their vitamin, mineral, phenolic contents and their antioxidant properties. The total phenol varied from 77.7±0.242 to 52.34±0.351 mg of GAEs/g of dry mint. The highest radical effect of scavenging was observed in Mazgirt parting of the ways 7.5 km with 6.17±0.245 mg/mL. The highest reducing power and metal chelating were observed in the mint from Cicekli parting of the ways 6.5 km Demirkapi. Among the various macronutrients which were estimated in the plant samples, potassium was presented in the highest quantity followed by calcium and phosphate. Although rutin and resveratrol were not determined in any samples, kaempferol and catechin levels were found out in almost all samples. The concentrations of vitamin A ranged between 42,14±5.70 and 13.61±3.00 (mg/kg dry weight). These results show that plants of mint are quite rich in phenolic compounds, and these have been appeared to have antioxidant activity, which agrees with this work, since the extract showed a higher content of phenolic compounds and higher antioxidant activity and mint may be considered as a natural alternative source for food, pharmacology and medicine sectors.

Effects of pH control and concentration on microbial oil production from Chlorella vulgaris cultivated in the effluent of a low-cost organic waste fermentation system producing volatile fatty acids.

The objective of this study was to investigate the feasibility of applying volatile fatty acids (VFAs) produced from low-cost organic waste to the major carbon sources of microalgae cultivation for highly efficient biofuel production. An integrated process that consists of a sewage sludge fermentation system producing VFAs (SSFV) and mixotrophic cultivation of Chlorella vulgaris (C. vulgaris) was operated to produce microbial lipids economically. The effluents from the SSFV diluted to different concentrations at the level of 100%, 50%, and 15% were prepared for the C. vulgaris cultivation and the highest biomass productivity (433±11.9 mg/L/d) was achieved in the 100% culture controlling pH at 7.0. The harvested biomass included lipid contents ranging from 12.87% to 20.01% under the three different effluent concentrations with and without pH control. The composition of fatty acids from C. vulgaris grown on the effluents from the SSFV complied with the requirements of high-quality biodiesel. These results demonstrated that VFAs produced from the SSFV are favorable carbon sources for cultivating C. vulgaris.

Membrane-integrated physico-chemical treatment of coke-oven wastewater: transport modelling and economic evaluation.

A modelling and simulation study with economic evaluation was carried out for an advanced membrane-integrated hybrid treatment process that ensures reuse of water with recovery of ammoniacal nitrogen as struvite from coke-oven wastewater. Linearized transport model was developed based on extended Nernst-Plank and concentration polarization modulus equation. Effects of pH, transmembrane pressure and cross-flow rate of interest on membrane charge density, solute rejection and solvent flux were investigated. The membrane module was successful in yielding a pure water flux as high as 120 L m(-2) h(-1) removing more than 95 and 96% of the cyanide and phenol, respectively, while permeating more than 90% NH4 (+)-N at a transmembrane pressure of only 15 × 10(2) KPa and at a pH of 10 for a volumetric cross-flow rate of 800 L h(-1). The Fenton's reagents were used to degrade more than 99% of pollutants present in the concentrated stream. The developed model could successfully predict the plant performance as reflected in the very low relative error (0.01-0.12) and overall high correlation coefficient (R(2) > 0.96). Economic analysis indicated that such a membrane-integrated hybrid system could be quite promising in coke wastewater treatment at low cost i.e. $0.934/m(2) of wastewater.

Recovery and removal of ammonia-nitrogen and phosphate from swine wastewater by internal recycling of struvite chlorination product.

The recovery of the total orthophosphate (PT) and removal of the total ammonia-nitrogen (TAN) from swine wastewater were investigated through a combined technology of using bittern as the magnesium source in struvite precipitation along with internal recycling of the chlorination product of the recovered struvite. Results revealed that the PT recovery efficiency and the struvite purity was mainly depended on the wastewater pH and the Mg:PT molar ratio. Co-precipitations of Mg3(PO4)2, MgKPO4, Ca3(PO4)2, and Mg(OH)2 (pH>9) were confirmed to be responsible for the decrease in the purity of struvite. The decomposition of recovered struvite by sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) was feasible. The TAN concentration of the swine wastewater was decreased to 63mg/L by internal recycling of the chlorination decomposition product for seven cycles. An economic evaluation showed that 37% of the treatment cost of the proposed process could be saved as compared with struvite precipitation using pure chemicals.

Selectivity of a lithium-recovery process based on LiFePO4.

The demand for lithium will increase in the near future to 713,000 tonnes per year. Although lake brines contribute to 80% of the production, existing methods for purification of lithium from this source are expensive, slow, and inefficient. A novel electrochemical process with low energy consumption and the ability to increase the purity of a brine solution to close to 98% with a single-stage galvanostatic cycle is presented.

Development of USEtox characterisation factors for dishwasher detergents using data made available under REACH.

Because of the more and more stringent regulations and customer demand, dishwasher detergent manufacturers are constantly improving the composition of the products towards better environmental performances. In order to quantify the pros and cons of these changes on the lifecycle of detergents, as compared to conventional products, the use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a meaningful opportunity. However, the application of the methodology is hampered by the lack of Characterisation Factors (CFs) relative to the specific chemical substances included in the detergents composition, which cannot be included in the impact assessment of the effluent discharge. In this study we have tackled this problem, taking advantage of the specific case of three dishwasher detergents produced by the Chemolux/McBride group: phosphate-based, eco-labelled and phosphate-free formulations. Nine CFs for freshwater ecotoxicity and seven CFs for human toxicity have been developed, using the USEtox methodology and data made available under the REACH regulation. As a result, the dishwasher effluent composition could be characterised by more than 95% for freshwater ecotoxicity whereas for human toxicity the percentage was less than 36%, due to the lack of adequate and reliable repeated dose toxicity studies. The main contributing substances to freshwater ecotoxicity were found to be sodium percarbonate and sodium triphosphate, the latter confirming the pertinence of phosphates banning in the detergent industry. Regarding human toxicity, zinc shows the highest contribution. Further comparison to previous studies and sensitivity analysis substantiated the robustness of these conclusions.

A strategy for urban outdoor production of high-concentration algal biomass for green biorefining.

The present study was to investigate the feasibility of carrying out effective microalgae cultivation and high-rate tertiary wastewater treatment simultaneously in a vertical sequencing batch photobioreactor with small areal footprint, suitable for sustainable urban microalgae production. For 15 consecutive days, Chlorella sorokiniana was cultivated in synthetic wastewater under various trophic conditions. A cycle of 12-h heterotrophic: 12-h mixotrophic condition produced 0.98 g l(-1) d(-1) of algal biomass in tandem with a 94.7% removal of 254.4 mg l(-1) C-acetate, a 100% removal of 84.7 mg l(-1) N-NH4 and a removal of 15.0 mg l(-1) P-PO4. The cells were harvested via cost-effective chitosan flocculation with multiple dosing (3 times) applying established chitosan:cell ratio (1:300 w/w) and pH control (6.3-6.8). Reproducible flocculation efficiencies of greater than 99% and high-concentration algal broths (>20% solids) were achieved.

Investigation of phosphate removal using sulphate-coated zeolite for ion exchange.

Sulphate-coated zeolite (SCZ) was characterized and employed for the removal of phosphate from aqueous solutions using both batch and column tests. Batch experiments were conducted to assess the sulphate dilution ratio, reaction time for coating, surface washing and calcination temperature during the synthesis of SCZ. Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-first-order models were suitable to explain the sorption characteristics of phosphate onto the SCZ. Equilibrium tests showed that SCZ was capable of removing phosphate, with a maximum binding energy beta = 30.2 mg g(-1), compared to other adsorbents, such as activated alumina and ion exchange resin. The Thomas model was applied to the adsorption of phosphate to predict the breakthrough curves and the parameters of a column test. The model was found to be suitable for describing the adsorption process of the dynamic behaviour of the SCZ column. The total adsorbed quantity and equilibrium uptake ofphosphate related to the effluent volumes were determined by evaluating the breakthrough curves obtained under the allowed conditions. The results of batch and column experiments, as well as the low cost of the adsorbent, suggested that SCZ could be used as an adsorbent for the efficient and cost-effective removal of phosphate from aqueous solution.

Recycle of electrolytically dissolved struvite as an alternative to enhance phosphate and nitrogen recovery from swine wastewater.

Operational parameters such as electric voltage, NaCl, reaction time (RT) and initial struvite amount were optimized for struvite dissolution with a designed electrolysis reactor, and the effect of recycling the dissolved solution on the performance of struvite crystallization was also assessed. The electrolytic reactor was made of plexiglas having titanium plate coated with iridium oxide as anode (surface area: 400 cm(2)) and stainless steel plates as cathodes. For reutilization of dissolved struvite, four runs were conducted with different recycle ratio of the solution. Optimum conditions for the electric voltage, NaCl, RT and initial struvite amount were 7 V, 0.06%, 1.5h and 1.25 g/L, respectively. At the above optimized conditions, 49.17 mg/L phosphate (PO(4)(3-)-P) was dissolved and ammonium-nitrogen (NH(4)-N) got completely removed from the solution. When 0.0, 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 moles of the dissolved struvite with respect to PO(4)(3-)-P in swine wastewater were recycled along with 0.5M magnesium chloride (MgCl(2)), the PO(4)(3-)-P removal was 63, 69, 71 and 79%, and NH(4)-N was 9, 31, 40 and 53%, respectively. Hence, the performance of struvite formation process was proportionally increased. It is concluded that struvite can be re-dissolved by electrolysis and reused as a source of P and Mg.

Posidonia oceanica (L.) fibers as a potential low-cost adsorbent for the removal and recovery of orthophosphate.

Adsorption efficiency of orthophosphate from aqueous solution onto Posidonia oceanica fibers (POF) as a raw, natural and abundant material was investigated and compared with other common natural materials. A series of batch tests were undertaken to assess the effect of the system variables, i.e. initial aqueous orthophosphate concentration, contact time, adsorbent dosage, pH and temperature. Results indicate that orthophosphate uptake increased with increasing initial orthophosphate concentration, temperature and adsorbent dosage and decreased with increasing pH values. The maximum adsorption capacity (Q(m)) determined from the Langmuir isotherm was calculated to be 7.45 mg g(-1) for the studied orthophosphates concentration range of 15-100 mg L(-1), pH 7; adsorbent dosage of 2 g L(-1) and temperature of 20±2°C. The adsorption data were very well described by the pseudo-second order model predicting a chemisorption process. The energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and FTIR analysis before and after adsorption of orthophosphate onto POF showed that the main involved mechanisms are ligand exchange between orthophosphate and Cl(-), SO(4)(2-) and OH(-) and precipitation with calcium. In comparison with other natural adsorbents, raw POF could be considered as one of the most efficient natural materials for the removal of orthophosphate with the possibility of agronomic reuse.

Recycle use of magnesium ammonium phosphate to remove ammonium nitrogen from rare-earth wastewater.

This paper presents a recycle MAP process (magnesium ammonium phosphate) to remove NH4-N from a typical rare-earth wastewater. The optimum conditions for the MAP precipitation and recycle use of the MAP with a newly-designed process were investigated in laboratory. The results showed that the pH value and dosages of P (phosphate) and Mg reagents have a significant influence on NH4-N removal, with a maximum removal efficiency of 99.4% at the conditions of pH=9 and Mg:N:P molar ratio=1.2:1:1.2. In the process of recycle use of the MAP, adding some HCl to dissolve MAP decomposition residues could effectively enhance NH4-N removal. The NH4-N removal efficiency reached 99.6% by adding an HCl amount of H+:OH- molar ratio=0.8 into the reused MAP decomposition residues, whereas the NH4-N removal efficiency without addition of HCl was only 96.4%. Moreover, the residual PO4-P from the end of reaction was recovered and the optimum recovery efficiency was achieved at a Mg:P molar ratio=6 and pH=10. Under these optimum conditions, the residual NH4-N and PO4-P concentrations in the treated wastewater, through 6 times of the recycling, were less than 15 mg/L and 1 mg/L, respectively. On the basis of this, an economic evaluation of the recycling MAP was made, and this recycle process could save 48.6% cost used in the chemicals for treating per cubic meter of the rare-earth wastewater, compared to the conventional MAP process.

Removal of phosphate from secondary effluent with Fe2+ enhanced by H2O2 at nature pH/neutral pH.

Removal of phosphate in secondary effluents was investigated in presence of Fe(2+)/H(2)O(2). The effect of H(2)O(2)-dose, Fe-dose and initial phosphate concentration were assessed. The results indicated that Fe(2+)/H(2)O(2) could greatly increase the removal of phosphate compared with those achieved by Fe(2+) alone. For initial phosphate concentration of 0.97-3.75 mg P/L, phosphate removal rates of 50-60% were observed at 1:1 molar addition of Fe(II). However, a 125% excess of Fe-dose was necessary for complete phosphate removal. The experimental data demonstrated that removal of phosphate with Fe(2+)/H(2)O(2) was higher than that observed with ferric coagulation alone. This fact suggested that in situ formed Fe(III) having much affinity for ligand phosphate. Chemical co-precipitation was considered as the dominant mechanism about phosphate removal in presence of Fe(2+)/H(2)O(2). The electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra tests in secondary effluents showed that Fe(2+)/H(2)O(2) could produce an increasing hydroxyl radical concentration with a decrease in both H(2)O(2) dosage and phosphate concentration. Fe(2+)/H(2)O(2) had the potential to be utilized for removal of phosphate due to the lower cost and the higher phosphate removal capability.