AnCMBR-AFB-integrated process for the treatment of high nitrogen and phosphorus wastewater.

Improving the nitrogen and phosphorus removal rates and efficiently controlling membrane fouling are the keys to fully exploiting the applicability of anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) process in high-concentration wastewater treatment. To that purpose, an integrated reactor composed of an anaerobic ceramic membrane bioreactor and N anaerobic fluidized bed (AnCMBR-AFB) was built and pollutant removal efficiency, nitrogen and phosphorus recovery characteristics, and membrane pollution features of this integrated reactor were investigated. The results revealed that the integrated reactor had good pollutant removal efficiency, with turbidity, chromaticity, and UV254 average values of the effluent being 0.470 NTU, 0.011 A, and 0.057 cm-1, respectively, and the average CODCr removal rate was 80%. The nitrogen and phosphorus recoveries were significantly higher than the nitrogen and phosphorus removal rates of conventional AnMBR at 23.20 ± 1.17% and 43.34 ± 1.54%, respectively. Microscopic analysis revealed the formation of magnesium ammonium phosphate (MAP) crystals on the carrier's surface, and friction between the carrier and the membrane surface could delay membrane fouling while allowing the contaminated membrane surface to retain significant roughness. Membrane fouling was mostly brought on by amides and saturated hydrocarbons, and inorganic metal ions also played a role to some extent.

Incidence of oxygen desaturation using a high-flow nasal cannula versus a facemask during flexible bronchoscopy in patients at risk of hypoxemia: a randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Patients with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), male sex, obesity, older age or hypertension are prone to hypoxemia during flexible bronchoscopy. This study investigated whether using a high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) could reduce the incidence of oxygen desaturation during bronchoscopy under deep sedation in patients at risk of hypoxemia. METHODS: A total of 176 patients at risk of hypoxemia who underwent flexible bronchoscopy under deep sedation were randomly assigned to two groups: the HFNC group (humidified oxygen was supplied via a high-flow nasal cannula at a rate of 60 L/min and a concentration of 100%, n = 87) and the facemask group (oxygen was supplied via a tight-fitting facemask at a rate of 6 L/min and a concentration of 100%, n = 89). RESULTS: Oxygen desaturation occurred in 4 (4.6%) patients in the HFNC group and 26 (29.2%) patients in the facemask group (P < 0.001). The facemask group required more jaw thrust manoeuvres than the HFNC group (43[48.3%] vs. 5[5.7%], P < 0.001). 8 patients (9.0%) in the facemask group and none in the HFNC group required bag-mask ventilation (P = 0.012). CONCLUSION: The use of an HFNC can reduce the incidence of oxygen desaturation and the requirement for airway intervention in patients at risk of hypoxemia during flexible bronchoscopy under deep sedation. TRIAL REGISTRATION: www.chiCTR.org.cn Identifier: ChiCTR2100044105. Registered 11/03/2021.

Study on efficiency and mechanism of ultrasonic controlling membrane fouling in ceramic membrane bioreactors.

In recent years, ceramic membranes have been increasingly used in membrane bioreactors (MBRs). However, membrane fouling was still the core issue restricting the large-scale engineering application of ceramic MBRs. As a novel and alternative technology, ultrasonic could be used to control membrane fouling. This research focused on the efficiency and mechanism of ultrasonic controlling membrane fouling in ceramic MBRs. The results showed that ultrasonic reduced the sludge concentration in MBR, and the average particle size of sludge was always in a high range. The sludge activity of the system was stable at 6-9 (mg O2·(g MLSS·h)-1), indicating that ultrasonic did not destroy the activity of microorganisms in the system. The extracellular polymer substance (EPS) of the ultrasonic group was slightly higher than that of the control group, while the soluble microbial product (SMP) content was relatively stable. The ceramic membrane of the ultrasonic group has a partial retention effect on the organic components. The application of ultrasonic slowed down the decrease of the hydrophilicity of the ceramic membrane. The main pollutants on the membrane surface exist in the form of aromatic and heteroaromatic rings, alkynes, and so forth. Ultrasonic removes the amide substances from the membrane surface. Membrane fouling resistance is mainly due to membrane pore blockage, accounting for 75.53%. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Enrich the research on the mechanism of ultrasonic technology in membrane fouling control. The MBR can still operate normally with ultrasonic applied. The time for the ceramic membrane to reach the fouling end point is 2.4 times that without ultrasonic. The main cause of membrane fouling was pore blocking, accounting for 75.53%.

[Study of water-soluble compounds from fungus garden of Odontotermes formosanus].

OBJECTIVE: To study water-soluble compounds from fungus garden of Odontotermes formosanus. METHODS: The chemical constituents of fungus garden were analyzed and identified by GC-MS. RESULTS: 28 compounds were separated and 11 chemical constituents were identified. CONCLUSION: The main constituents in water-solubles from fungus garden of Odontotermes formosanus are palmitic acid, linolei acid and oleic aid.

Effect of solids retention time on antibiotics removal performance and microbial communities in an A/O-MBR process.

The effect of solids retention time on reactor performance and microbial community composition in anoxic/aerobic membrane bioreactors (A/O-MBR) were investigated in this study. Experimental results showed high removal efficiencies of conventional pollutants. Antibiotics removal efficiencies were obviously affected by SRT changes. Longer SRT (above 30days) was proved to be suitable operational condition for antibiotics removal. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and clone library analysis revealed that bacteria belong to Betaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria were the dominant species during wastewater treatment and antibiotics removal. SRT significantly influenced the relative numbers of nitrifying bacteria. Removal efficiency of total nitrogen (TN) decreased when SRT was 3days, because nitrogen loading exceeded the denitrification ability of the reactors. Unlike tet C and tet E genes, sulfa antibiotics resistance gene presented a decreasing tendency with the decrease of SRT, and finally affected sulfa antibiotics removal efficiencies.

Bioreduction of para-chloronitrobenzene in drinking water using a continuous stirred hydrogen-based hollow fiber membrane biofilm reactor.

para-Chloronitrobenzene (p-CNB) is particularly harmful and persistent in the environment and is one of the priority pollutants. A feasible degradation pathway for p-CNB is bioreduction under anaerobic conditions. Bioreduction of p-CNB using a hydrogen-based hollow fiber membrane biofilm reactor (HFMBfR) was investigated in the present study. The experiment results revealed that p-CNB was firstly reduced to para-chloraniline (p-CAN) as an intermediate and then reduced to aniline that involves nitro reduction and reductive dechlorination with H(2) as the electron donor. The HFMBfR had reduced p-CNB to a major extent with a maximum removal percentage of 99.3% at an influent p-CNB concentration of 2mg/L and a hydraulic residence time of 4.8h, which corresponded to a p-CNB flux of 0.058g/m(2) d. The H(2) availability, p-CNB loading, and the presence of competing electron acceptors affected the p-CNB reduction. Flux analysis indicated that the reduction of p-CNB and p-CAN could consume fewer electrons than that of nitrate and sulfate. The HFMBfR had high average hydrogen utilization efficiencies at different steady states in this experiment, with a maximum efficiency at 98.2%.

The effect of organic loading on bacterial community composition of membrane biofilms in a submerged polyvinyl chloride membrane bioreactor.

The effect of organic loading on bacterial community composition of membrane biofilms was investigated using a submerged polyvinyl chloride membrane bioreactor. The low and high loadings were set at 0.33 and 0.52 gCOD/(gVSSd), respectively. The results showed that membrane fouling occurred earlier and faster under the high loading conditions. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) analysis revealed that the similarity of bacterial community in the membrane biofilms between the two loadings was 0.67, higher than that in the mixed liquors (0.52-0.55), which indicated that some specific bacteria were selected preferentially on the membranes. Clone library analysis of the membrane biofilms indicated that Betaproteobacteria and Bacteroidetes under the high loading were 54.72% and 19.81%, respectively. Microarray results further confirmed that the two bacteria were the dominant microorganisms in the high loading biofilm. The severe membrane fouling may be aroused mainly by the enrichment of the two bacteria under the high loading.