Design of Airborne Large Aperture Infrared Optical System Based on Monocentric Lens.

Conventional reconnaissance camera systems have been flown on manned aircraft, where the weight, size, and power requirements are not stringent. However, today, these parameters are important for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). This article provides a solution to the design of airborne large aperture infrared optical systems, based on a monocentric lens that can meet the strict criteria of aerial reconnaissance UAVs for a wide field of view (FOV) and lightness of airborne electro-optical pod cameras. A monocentric lens has a curved image plane, consisting of an array of microsensors, which can provide an image with 368 megapixels over a 100° FOV. We obtained the initial structure of a five-glass (5GS) asymmetric monocentric lens with an air gap, using ray-tracing and global optimization algorithms. According to the design results, the ground sampling distance (GSD) of the system is 0.33 m at 3000 m altitude. The full-field modulation transfer function (MTF) value of the system is more than 0.4 at a Nyquist frequency of 70 lp/mm. We present a primary thermal control method, and the image quality was steady throughout the operating temperature range. This compactness and simple structure fulfill the needs of uncrewed airborne lenses. This work may facilitate the practical application of monocentric lens in UAVs.

Advanced nitrogen removal from landfill leachate via Anammox system based on Sequencing Biofilm Batch Reactor (SBBR): Effective protection of biofilm.

High levels of organics negatively affect Anammox for treating landfill leachate. To enhance the ability of Anammox to survive against adverse environments, a lab-scale two-stage Anammox system using a Sequencing Biofilm Batch Reactor was applied to treat mature landfill leachate under 35°C. Over 107days, with influent total nitrogen (TN) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentrations of 3000±100 and 3000±100mg/L, effluent TN was below 20mg/L. For extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) of Anammox, slime-EPS and loosely-bound-EPS of floccules were both higher than biofilm, while tight-bound-EPS of biofilm was significantly higher, contributing to biofilm formation. Quantitative microbial analysis showed that as influent COD increased, Anammox gene ratios of biofilm increased from 1.34% to 13.28%; the gene ratios of floccule first increased, then decreased to 3.88%. This indicated that Anammox and heterotrophic bacteria could coexist because of the biofilm, leading to stable nitrogen removal performance, even when organics were present.

Effect of carbon source type on intracellular stored polymers during endogenous denitritation (ED) treating landfill leachate.

Glycogen accumulating organisms (GAOs) capable of storing organic compounds as polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) have been used for endogenous denitritation (ED), but the effect of carbon sources type on nitrogen removal performance of GAOs treating landfill leachate is unclear. In this study, a successful ED system treating landfill leachate (COD/NH4(+)-N (C/N): 4) without external carbon source addition was applied. The mature leachate with C/N of 1 was used as the feeding base solution, with acetate, propionate, and glucose examined as the carbon sources, and their effects on yields and compositions of PHA produced by GAOs were determined and associated with nitrogen removal performance. In the case of sole carbon source, acetate was much easier to be stored than propionate and glucose, which led to a higher nitrogen removal efficiency. Glucose had the lowest amount of PHA storage and led to the lowest performance. In the case of composite carbon sources (two scenarios: acetate + propionate; acetate + propionate + glucose), GAOs stored sufficient PHA and exhibited similar nitrogen removal efficiencies. Moreover, type of carbon source influenced the compositions of PHA. The polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) fraction in PHA was far more than polyhydroxyvalerate (PHV) in all tests. PHV was synthesized only when acetate existed in carbon source. The microbial diversity analysis revealed that Proteobacteria was the most abundant phylum. Among the 108 genera detected in this ED system, the genera responsible for denitritation were Thauera, Paracoccus, Ottowia and Comamonadaceae_unclassified, accounting for 46.21% of total bacteria. Especially, Paracoccus and Comamonadaceae_unclassified transformed the carbon source into PHA for denitritation, and carried out endogenous denitritation.

Continuous-flow combined process of nitritation and ANAMMOX for treatment of landfill leachate.

Due to the difficulty in removing nitrogen from landfill leachate, a combined continuous-flow process of nitritation and anammox was applied to process mature leachate. The transformation rate of ammonia and nitrite accumulation ratio in A/O reactor were kept above 95% and 92% respectively through associated inhibition of free ammonia (FA) and free nitrous acid (FNA) to NOB. The total nitrogen volumetric load of anammox in an UASB reactor was brought up from 0.5kg/(m(3)·d) to 1.2kg/(m(3)·d) by gradually increasing influent substrate concentration and reducing hydraulic retention time (HRT). The results show that COD from mature leachate did not bring obvious inhibition effects to anammox. Under concentrations of influent ammonia and COD which were respectively 1330mg/L and 2250mg/L, the removal efficiencies of TN and COD reached 94% and 62% respectively. In the quantitative PCR reactions, the proportions occupied by AOB, NOB and anammox in A/O were 11.39%, 1.76% and 0.05% respectively; and proportions of those in UASB were 0.35%, 4.01% and 7.78% respectively.

Optimization of three-stage Anammox system removing nitrogen from landfill leachate.

Advanced nitrogen removal had been realized from mature landfill leachate via three-stage anaerobic ammonium oxidation (Anammox) system during the previous study. However, the Anammox system was influenced by factors such as influent nitrite and organic concentrations and needed to be optimized. To optimize the Anammox system, this study investigated Anammox Sequence Batch Reactor (ASBR) with different feeding modes and influent organic concentrations. The results showed that with influent ammonia and nitrite concentrations of 250±20 and 320±20mg/L, respectively, a continuous feeding mode reduced the adverse effect of high influent nitrite concentration on Anammox. A small amount of organics improved rather than inhibited nitrogen removal. However, as influent COD increased (from 600±50 to 800±50mg/L), Anammox was gradually inhibited. Influent organics concentration should be kept below 800mg/L, which facilitated Anammox.

Advanced nitrogen removal via nitrite using stored polymers in a modified sequencing batch reactor treating landfill leachate.

A modified sequencing batch reactor (SBR) operated at the anaerobic-aerobic-anoxic mode was developed in this study to fully utilize the organics in landfill leachate (ammonia concentration of 1000 ± 50 mg N/L and COD/total nitrogen (TN) ratio of 1-4). The unique feature of modified SBR process was the addition of an anaerobic stage after feeding stage, so that microorganisms could store the organics during anaerobic stage and supply the carbon source for endogenous denitritation after aeration stage. The 70-day operational tests showed the effluent TN was below 10 mg N/L at C/N ratio of 4. The intracellular stored polymers were analyzed and the microorganisms were capable of storing the carbon source as polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) and glycogen in anaerobic stage, which were the electron donors for endogenous denitritation. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis showed that glycogen accumulating organisms (GAOs) account for 39.8% of microorganisms in SBR, and carried out advanced nitrogen removal.

Nitrogen removal from medium-age landfill leachate via post-denitrification driven by PHAs and glycogen in a single sequencing batch reactor.

An anaerobic/aerobic/anoxic (AOA) process in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) was proposed to treat typical medium-age landfill leachate without extra carbon addition. In a steady-state, the average removal efficiencies of NH4(+)-N, total nitrogen (TN) and COD were 99.7 ± 0.1%, 98.3 ± 0.3% and 89.8 ± 1.4%, when influent NH4(+)-N, TN and COD were 1025-1327 mg/L, 1346-1854 mg/L and 6430-9372 mg/L, respectively. In the anaerobic stage, dissolved organic matter was taken up partially and stored as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) with concomitant consumption of glycogen. In the aerobic stage, PHAs was oxidized and glycogen was replenished in the bacterial cells, when TN of 75.4 mg/L was removed via simultaneous nitrification and denitrification (SND). The residual nitrate and nitrite were denitrified completely by utilizing residual PHAs and glycogen as electron donors in the anoxic phase. Denitrifying glycogen accumulating organisms (GAOs) were considered to be playing the major role in the process.