Treatment of Bisphenol A-Containing Effluents from Aerobic Granular Sludge Reactors with the Use of Microfiltration and Ultrafiltration Ceramic Membranes.

This study investigated the use of ceramic membranes to remove total suspended solids (TSS), organics (expressed by chemical oxygen demand, COD), and bisphenol A (BPA) via microfiltration (MF, pore size 0.45 µm) and ultrafiltration (UF, cutoff 150 kDa) in post-treatment of effluents from aerobic granular sludge reactors (GSBRs). The efficiency of removal of COD, BPA, and TSS in MF was similar to that in UF; however, it was achieved at a lower pressure, which reduces energy consumption during the filtration process. Despite the similar quality of the permeates in MF and UF, the permeate flux averaged almost 20% higher in UF than in MF. The rejection coefficients were 77-82% for COD and 48-100% for BPA. In both MF and UF, TSS were totally removed. In the integrated system of aerobic granular sludge reactor and membrane installation, total removal of COD was 92-95% and that of BPA was above 98%, independently of the membrane technique. The high efficiency of BPA removal in MF and UF, despite pore sizes in the MF and UF membranes larger than the BPA molecules, suggests that some part of the BPA was first bound by particulate organic matter in the biologically treated wastewater before this sorbed form was removed by the membranes. Furthermore, the high removal of COD and BPA, even in MF, was attributed to adsorption on the membranes, in addition to sieve retention.

Semi-continuous anaerobic digestion of different silage crops: VFAs formation, methane yield from fiber and non-fiber components and digestate composition.

This study presents the results of long-term semi-continuous experiments on anaerobic digestion at an HRT of 45d with ten silages: 2 annual and 4 perennial crops, and 4 mixtures of annual with perennial crops. The composition of substrates and digestates was determined with Van Soest's fractionation method. Removal of non-fiber materials ranged from 49.4% (Miscanthus sacchariflorus) to 89.3% (Zea mays alone and mixed with M. sacchariflorus), that of fiber materials like lignin ranged from 0.005% (Z. mays alone and mixed with grasses at VS ratio of 90:10%) to 46.5% (Sida hermaphrodita). The lowest stability of anaerobic digestion, as confirmed by normalized data concentrations of volatile fatty acids, was reported for both miscanthuses and sugar sorghum. The methane yield coefficients for non-fiber and fiber materials were 0.3666 and 0.2556L/g, respectively. All digestate residues had high fertilizing value, especially those from mixtures of crops.

Optimization of anaerobic digestion of a mixture of Zea mays and Miscanthus sacchariflorus silages with various pig manure dosages.

Digestion of crop silage (Zea mays L. and Miscanthus sacchariflorus) with 0%, 7.5%, 12.5% and 25% pig manure as co-substrate was performed in continuous stirred-tank reactors, for a constant hydraulic retention time of 45 d and organic load rate of 2.1 g L(-1)d(-1). A matrix of correlations between biogas/methane production and parameters of anaerobic digestion was created in order to estimate process stability. The values of the correlation coefficients indicated that the most stable anaerobic digestion was achieved using 7.5% and 12.5% pig manure. In contrast, the positive correlation between ammonium and volatile fatty acids (r=0.8698, p<0.001) at 25% pig manure showed process instability. Compared to crop silage alone, pig manure favored the production of biogas and methane; the highest production rates were obtained with 12.5% pig manure.