Impact of phosphate addition on PFAS treatment performance for drinking water.

Adding new unit operations to drinking water treatment systems requires consideration of not only efficacy for its design purpose but also costs, water quality characteristics, impact on overall regulatory compliance, and impact of other treatment unit operations. Here, pilot study results for ion exchange (IX) and granular activated carbon (GAC) are presented for a utility with both per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and volatile organic contaminant removal needs. Specifically, the impact of upstream air stripping and phosphate addition on PFAS treatment performance was evaluated. Modeling was used to fit the IX and GAC pilot data and predict performance under different scenarios. GAC performance was generally consistent for treating water before or after the air stripper, but the addition of phosphate prior to air-stripping resulted in a loss of 15%-25% capacity for some PFAS on IX media, demonstrating the need to consider the entire treatment train before implementing PFAS removal unit operations.

Co-treatment of landfill leachate with urban wastewater by chemical, physical and biological processes: Fenton oxidation preserves autochthonous bacterial community in the activated sludge process.

The impact of Fenton oxidation (FO) and Air stripping (AS) pre-treatments on the bacterial community of a biological activated sludge (B-AS) process for the co-treatment of mature landfill leachate (MLL) and urban wastewater (UWW) was assessed. In this work high-throughput sequencing was used to identify changes in the composition of the bacterial communities when exposed to different landfill leachate's pre-treatments. The combination of FO and AS to increase biodegradability (BOD5/COD) and reduce ammonia concentration (NH3) respectively, allowed to successfully operate the B-AS and effectively treat MLL. In particular, BOD5/COD resulted to be the key factor for bacterial community shifting. The microbiological community of the B-AS, mainly composed by the phylum Bacteroidota (Saprospiraceae, PHOS-HE51, Chitinophagaceae) after FO pre-treatment, shifted to Pseudomonadota (Caulobacteraceae and Hyphomicrobiaceae) when FO was not used. At the same time a drastic reduction in BOD5 removal was observed (90%-58%). On the other hand, high NH3 concentration affected the abundance of the family Saprospiraceae, known to play a key role in the degradation of complex organic compounds in B-AS. The results obtained suggest that a suitable combination of pre-treatments can reduce the negative effect of MLL on the B-AS process, reducing the pressure on autochthonous bacteria and therefore the acclimatization time of the biological process.

Continuous removal of ethanol from dilute ethanol-water mixtures using hot microbubbles.

Product inhibition is a barrier to many fermentation processes, including bioethanol production, and is responsible for dilute product streams which are energy intensive to purify. The main purpose of this study was to investigate whether hot microbubble stripping could be used to remove ethanol continuously from dilute ethanol-water mixtures expected in a bioreactor and maintain ethanol concentrations below the inhibitory levels for the thermophile Parageobacillus thermoglucosidasius (TM242), that can utilize a range of sugars derived from lignocellulosic biomass. A custom-made microbubble stripping unit that produces clouds of hot microbubbles (~120 °C) by fluidic oscillation was used to remove ethanol from ~2% (v/v) ethanol-water mixtures maintained at 60 °C. Ethanol was continuously added to the unit to simulate microbial metabolism. The initial liquid height and the ethanol addition rate were varied from 10 to 50 mm and 2.1-21.2 g h-1 respectively. In all the experiments, ethanol concentration was maintained well below the inhibition threshold of the target organism (~2% [v/v]). This microbubble stripping unit has the potential to operate in conjunction with a 0.5-1.0 L fermenter to allow an ethanol productivity of 14.9-7.8 g L- 1h-1 continuously.

Technical and economic evaluation of the integration of membrane bioreactor and air-stripping/absorption processes in the treatment of landfill leachate.

A membrane bioreactor inoculated with commercial baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) (MBRy) integrated to an air-stripping/absorption (AS/AB) as pre-treatment (aiming ammonia recovery) or a post-treatment (polishment step) was assessed for the landfill leachate treatment. The effect of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and nitrogen (N) ratio (C:N) on the performance of the MBRy was also investigated. At high COD/N ratio, high organic matter removal in terms of COD (71 ± 4%) and ammonia removal (97 ± 3%) was observed. Lower COD/N ratio favored yeast growth in the mixed liquor even under adverse conditions. The results of ammonia removal and recovery, and economic analysis demonstrated that the best way to integrate the AS/BS processes is as pre-treatment of MBRy. The ammonia concentration in the AS/AB process feed was a key factor to achieve the market specification. Although pH and temperature adjustment were adequate to promote ammonia removal/recovery, the AS operation at high temperatures showed the highest ammonia removal rate (99%). Therefore, the integration of AS/AB with MBRy allows obtaining a permeate with a final concentration of 2902 ± 374 mg L-1 of COD and 9 ± 7.5 mg L-1 of ammonia. Although it was possible to reach the Brazilian discharge standard for ammonia (20 mg L-1), it was not possible to reach the standard for COD, where the remaining fraction is recalcitrant organic matter, requiring the integration of a physico-chemical process. It should be noted that the proposed route allowed recovery 7 kg of ammonia per m3 of treated leachate.

Significant removal of ammonia nitrogen in low concentration from aqueous solution at low pH by advanced air stripping.

In recent years, the excess discharge of ammonia nitrogen from wastewater into surface water has been regulated by more stringent standard. The air stripping method is successfully used to treatment of high-concentration ammonia nitrogen; however, alkali will be added to keep pH more than 10, which is costly and not environment-friendly operation. In this study, an advanced air stripping (AAS) based on foam separation of removing ammonia nitrogen in low concentration from aqueous solution at low pH was proposed. The effect of conditions such as air flow rate, temperature, SDS dosage, coexisting ionic strength, pH, and initial ammonia nitrogen concentration on the removal efficiency was studied. The advanced air stripping exhibited favorable removal efficiency for NH4+-N in low concentration from aqueous solution (20 mg·L-1) with a broad range of low pH 3.0-9.0. Besides, for strongly alkaline (pH=11.0) solution, the advanced air stripping can alleviate the decrease of pH to some extent and keep ammonia nitrogen stripping out continuously based on equilibrium shift between NH4+ and NH3. A microcalorimeter was applied to demonstrate the interaction between the negatively charged hydrophilic groups of SDS and NH4+ ions, helping to understand the mechanisms more clearly. The simple operation and the satisfactory removal efficiency could imply that the advanced air stripping is a promising technology for minimizing low-concentration NH4+-N.

Ammonia stripping using a continuous flow jet loop reactor: mass transfer of ammonia and effect on stripping performance of influent ammonia concentration, hydraulic retention time, temperature, and air flow rate.

When wastewater containing ammonia is discharged into the receiving environment without any kind of treatment, it causes both environmental problems and negatively affects human health. In this study, the aim was to strip ammonia using air in a continuous flow jet loop reactor (JLR) and investigate the effects of ammonia concentration, hydraulic retention time (HRT), air flow rate, and temperature on ammonia removal within this scope. By changing the ammonia concentration in the influent, no significant change was observed in ammonia removal efficiency. With air flow rate 45 L min-1, temperature 50 °C, pH 11, and HRT 7.5 h, mean 88.1% ammonia removal was achieved. Increasing the HRT, air flow rate, and temperature increased the ammonia removal efficiency. Later the ammonia stripping process in the continuous flow JLR was modeled and the volumetric mass transfer coefficient (KLa) for each parameter was calculated from the model equation. While the experimental parameters of air flow rate and temperature had a significant effect on the mass transfer coefficient, influent ammonia concentration and HRT were determined to have no effect.

Performance of anaerobic membrane bioreactor treating landfill leachate.

BACKGROUND: Landfill leachate has been known as non-biodegradable/hardly-biodegradable wastewater, which contains significant amount of soluble organic and inorganic compounds. However, membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology have become a more viable treatment option for complex and recalcitrant compounds compared to activated sludge systems. METHODS: This study aims at evaluating the performance of anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) for the treatment of middle/old-aged landfill leachate (LFL).AnMBR was operated at different hydraulic retention times (HRTs) (48-12 h) and relaxation and backwashing (30 min-5 min, 5 min-0.5 min) periods. Additionally, Air stripping (pH 8, 24 g lime/L, 1.4 L/s air flow rate) as a pretreatment was evaluated prior to AnMBR. RESULTS: Air stripping removed about 90%, 25%, and 64% NH4 +, COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) and color (RES620), respectively. The best results were obtained in combined air stripping-AnMBR operation corresponding to 95%, and 83% overall removals of color, and COD removals, respectively. Maximum methane yield and COD removal rate in AnMBR were 0.35 L methane/g COD removed and 5 gCOD removed /L.d, respectively. CONCLUSION: Pretreatment provided higher AnMBR flux that reached to 5.5LMH but increased fouling frequency due to the calcium precipitates in AnMBR which was verified with SEM-EDX analysis. Additionally, DEHP and DINP were not detected in permeate indicating AnMBR was successful for removing these micropollutants. This study showed that pretreatment clearly increased methane yield and COD removal rate.

Ammonia recovery from air stripping process applied to landfill leachate treatment.

The leachate is a type of effluent from landfills containing high concentrations of ammonia, even after normal treatment procedures are applied. Due to its characteristic, the leachate can adversely impact the environment and public health. Leachate treatment seeks to remove a series of compounds with adverse characteristics present in this type of effluent. Ammonia nitrogen is the main problem, easily observed in concentrations near 2000 mg/L. The effluents with high concentrations of ammonia nitrogen can stimulate the growth of algae, reduce the dissolved oxygen in rivers, and cause toxicity on the aquatic biota, even in low concentrations. Many research for treatment methods aiming to remove this compound, specifically, have been increasingly deeper, mainly by physical-chemical processes. This study aimed to test the process of air stripping in a closed system and pilot scale, applied on leachate treatment of landfills, to remove the high concentrations of ammonia nitrogen and its recovery by the chemical absorption of ammonia on phosphoric acid, resulting in a product with potential application as agricultural fertilizer, the ammonia phosphate. The leachate flows used were 9, 18, 20, and 40 L/h, and the air flows were 1800 and 3600 L/h. Calcium carbonate (standard grade), commercial hydrated lime (CHL), and sodium hydroxide (standard grade) were used for pH adjustments. To the ammonia recovery, three flasks were used with 2.5 L of a phosphoric acid solution of 0.12 and 0.24 mol/L. The air stripping tower removed an average of 98% of ammoniacal nitrogen, with an operating time of 4 to 9 days. The volume of air consumed to remove 1 g of ammoniacal nitrogen varied from 9, 91, and 21.6 m3. The ammonia recovery was about 92% using a phosphoric acid solution, producing the ammonia phosphate.

Organic matter removal and ammonia recovery by optimised treatments of swine wastewater.

The organic matter and nitrogen contents of swine wastewater (SW) can be reduced and, at the same time, a fertiliser as ammonium salt can be recovered by wastewater treatments. One of the most promising technique is air stripping (AS). However, the operational parameters (pH, temperature and air flow rate) of AS must be optimised, in order to maximise the ammonia recovery and reduce the requirement of chemicals and energy. In this study 27 batch tests at laboratory scale were carried out on real SW, varying (individually or simultaneously) the pH (not adjusted, 8 and 10), temperature (ambient, 40 and 60 °C) and flow rate (0, 1 and 5 Lair LSW-1 min-1) of AS; the changes in soluble COD (sCOD) and total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) concentrations were evaluated in response to the parameters adjustments. For the tests including AS, the ammonium sulphate recovered was also measured. In general (about 50% of the tests), more than 80% of TAN was removed. Most of these tests were carried out with pH and temperature control and AS at the highest flow rate; the highest efficiency was found for a combination of chemical, thermal and aeration treatments. For a few tests with the same process control, an increase (up to 50%) or a very limited (less than 10%) decrease of sCOD were detected; therefore, these treatments can be adopted prior of anaerobic digestion of SW. A high flow rate, which increases the removal efficiency of both sCOD and TAN, should be adopted, when AS is used as pre-treatment of activated sludge or lagooning plants. Very high amounts (over 80% of the theoretical yield) of ammonium sulphate were recovered by AS at the maximum air flow rate (5 Lair LSW-1 min-1), which would provide a nitrogen fertiliser at a sustainable cost.

Modelling of ammonia recovery from wastewater by air stripping in rotating packed beds.

The processes of ammonia recovery from ammonia nitrogen containing wastewater by air stripping in the laboratory-scale and the pilot-scale rotating packed bed (RPB) were simulated by the Aspen with the module of RADFRAC. For a more accurate description of the model, a variety of correlations for the RPB were introduced into the Aspen by the FORTRAN, such as the gas-liquid mass transfer rate, the liquid holdup, the heat transfer rate and the effective gas-liquid interfacial area, etc. The predicted data of ammonia recovery rate were consistent with the experimental results. To further optimize the operating conditions of ammonia recovery, the research also covered the effects of high gravity factor, gas to liquid ratio, pH and temperature on ammonia recovery rate. The promising results had suggested the established model could serve as a powerful tool to simulate the processes of ammonia recovery from the ammonia nitrogen containing wastewater by air stripping in the laboratory-scale and the pilot-scale RPB.

Investigation of ammonia stripping with a hydrodynamic cavitation reactor.

Ammonia is a commonly used compound in the domestic and industrial fields. If ammonia found in wastewater after use is not treated, even at low concentrations it may cause toxic effects in the receiving environment. In this study, a hydrodynamic cavitation reactor (HDC) was designed with the aim of removing ammonia. The effect of parameters like different cavitation numbers, airflow, temperature and initial concentration on NH3 removal was researched. The potential of hydrodynamic cavitation for removal of volatile gases, like NH3, was assessed with the aid of two film theory mathematical equations. Experimental studies were performed at fixed pH = 11. Under the conditions of 0.12 cavitation number, 25 L/min airflow, 30 °C temperature and 2500 mg/L initial concentration, in 24 h 98.4% NH3 removal efficiency was achieved. With the same experimental conditions without any air, the HDC reactor provided 89.5% NH3 removal at the end of 24 h. The HDC reactor is very effective for the removal of volatile gases from wastewater and it was concluded that even in the absence of aeration, the desired NH3 removal efficiency was provided.

Sustainable treatment of municipal landfill leachate by combined association of air stripping, Fenton oxidation, and enhanced coagulation.

The present world has been facing the problem of municipal solid waste disposal with the generation of highly complex and toxic landfill leachate. Thus, in this research work, treatability of landfill leachate had been investigated by the combined approach of air stripping, Fenton oxidation, and enhanced coagulation to comply with discharge standard. At the initial stage of treatment, air stripping of raw leachate was implemented which removes around 51.50% of COD, 74.60% of BOD5, and 97.60% of NH3-N within 36 h of optimum retention time. Following air stripping, Fenton oxidation was applied with an optimum molar ratio of 1.9 of H2O2/Fe+2 which register a maximal removal of 67.70% of COD, 92.30% of BOD5, and 14.90% of Hg. Finally, enhanced coagulation (EC) with in situ formed Mn-Fe hydr(oxides) was employed and optimized by central composite design (CCD) of response surface methodology (RSM). Response surface plots denote an optimum condition of 0.13 M ratio of Mn/Fe, 22.67 mM of coagulant dose, and 7.78 of pH which corresponds to a maximum removal of 55.98% of COD and 77.68% of Hg. FTIR analysis of the precipitates of EC explained that the hydroxyl groups are primarily involved in the process of Hg removal. Moreover, EDAX spectrum also assured the removal of Hg by its existence with Mn-Fe complexes. Thus, the present line of treatment record an overall removal of 90.80% of COD, 98.0% of BOD5, 97.60% of NH3-N, and 82.68% of Hg which proves to be effective for the removal of leachate pollutants.

Evaluation of sustainable scrubbing agents for ammonia recovery from anaerobic digestate.

Organic acids (citric and acetic), chilled water, epsom and gypsum were tested for ammonia recovery from anaerobic digestate in a bench-scale stripping-scrubbing experimental setup. Citric acid was found to give excellent scrubbing performance equivalent to that of sulfuric acid but required double the acid dosage due to its partial dissociation characteristics. Acetic acid performed satisfactorily at low temperature and was susceptible to vaporization due to stripping effect in the scrubbing unit, while the other three scrubbing agents were found to be ineffective. Economic and safety comparisons among the acids demonstrated that citric acid could be feasible for full-scale applications given competitive material cost and an expended organic fertilizer market.

Bioethanol Production From Hydrolyzed Lignocellulosic After Detoxification Via Adsorption With Activated Carbon and Dried Air Stripping.

Bioethanol production has been presented as an alternative for supplying energy demand and minimizing greenhouse gases effects. However, due to abrasively conditions employed on the biomass during pretreatment and hydrolysis processes, inhibitors for fermentation phase such as acetic acid and others can be generated. Based on this problem, the aim of this work was to evaluate the adsorption of acetic acid on microporous activated carbon and investigate the stripping of the same component with dried air. For adsorption process, three concentrations of acetic acid (5, 10, and 20%) were analyzed by adsorption kinetics and adsorption isotherms (Langmuir and Freundlich models). Pseudo-second order model showed to fit better when compared to Pseudo-first order model. The Intraparticle Diffusion model presented the first phase of the adsorption as the regulating step of the adsorption process. The Langmuir model showed the best fitting, and the maximum capacity of adsorption was found as 128.66 mg.g-1. For stripping procedure an apparatus was set in order to insert dried air by a diffusor within the solution in study. Increasing temperature showed to be determinant on augmenting acetic acid evaporation in 2.14 and 6.22 times for 40 and 60°C when comparing it to 20°C. The application of the pickling process for removal of fermentation inhibitors in sugarcane bagasse hydrolyzed allowed the production 8.3 g.L-1 of ethanol.

Data on performance of air stripping tower- PAC integrated system for removing of odor, taste, dye and organic materials from drinking water-A case study in Saqqez, Iran.

Unpleasant taste or smell are more importantly constituents of drinking-water, lead to complaints from consumers. Dye and organic matter as well change in disinfection practice may generate taste and an odorous compound in treated water. According to low efficiency of conventional methods to remove taste and odor compounds, present study was aimed to evaluate the performance of air stripping tower- Poly Aluminum Chloride (PAC) integrated system to remove odor and taste, dye and organic materials from drinking water. Different air to water ratio and PAC doses were used to remove considered parameters in certain condition. The results of this study indicated that the maximum removal efficiency of 86.2, 76.47, 58.46 and 41.27% of taste and odor, dye, COD and TOC were achieved by the air stripping tower- PAC integrated system, respectively. However, the physico-chemical characteristics of water and adsorbent effect on the of substances removal efficiency considerably. It can be stated that the air striping tower - PAC integrated system is able to reduce the odor and taste-causing substances and organic matter to a level which is recommended by the Institute of Standards and Industrial Research of Iran.

Concentrations of disinfection by-products in swimming pool following modifications of the water treatment process: An exploratory study.

The formation and concentration of disinfection by-products (DBPs) in pool water and the ambient air vary according to the type of water treatment process used. This exploratory study was aimed at investigating the short-term impact of modifications of the water treatment process on traditional DBP levels (e.g., trihalomethanes (THMs), chloramines) and emerging DBPs (e.g., Halonitromethanes, Haloketones, NDMA) in swimming pool water and/or air. A sampling program was carried to understand the impact of the following changes made successively to the standard water treatment process: activation of ultraviolet (UV) photoreactor, halt of air stripping with continuation of air extraction from the buffer tank, halt of air stripping and suppression of air extraction from the buffer tank, suppression of the polyaluminium silicate sulfate (PASS) coagulant. UV caused a high increase of Halonitromethanes (8.4 fold), Haloketones (2.1 fold), and THMs in the water (1.7 fold) and, of THMs in the air (1.6 fold) and contributed to reducing the level of chloramines in the air (1.6 fold) and NDMA in the water (2.1 fold). The results highlight the positive impact of air stripping in reducing volatile contaminants. The PASS did not change the presence of DBPs, except for the THMs, which decrease slightly with the use of this coagulant. This study shows that modifications affecting the water treatment process can rapidly produce important and variable impacts on DBP levels in water and air and suggests that implementation of any water treatment process to reduce DBP levels should take into account the specific context of each swimming pool.

Study on the effect of landfill leachate on nutrient removal from municipal wastewater.

In this study, landfill leachate with and without pre-treatment was co-treated with municipal wastewater at different mixing ratios. The leachate pre-treatment was achieved by air stripping to removal ammonia. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of landfill leachate on nutrient removal of the wastewater treatment process. It was demonstrated that when landfill leachate was co-treated with municipal wastewater, the high ammonia concentration in the leachate did not have a negative impact on the nitrification. The system was able to adapt to the environment and was able to improve nitrification capacity. The readily biodegradable portion of chemical oxygen demand (COD) in the leachate was utilized by the system to improve phosphorus and nitrate removal. However, this portion was small and majority of the COD ended up in the effluent thereby decreased the quality of the effluent. The study showed that the 2.5% mixing ratio of leachate with wastewater improved the overall biological nutrient removal process of the system without compromising the COD removal efficiency.

Sustainable nutrients recovery and recycling by optimizing the chemical addition sequence for struvite precipitation from raw swine slurries.

Livestock farming contributes heavily to nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) flows into the environment, a major cause of eutrophication of coastal and freshwater systems. Furthermore, the growing demand for N-P fertilizers is increasing the emission of anthropogenic reactive N into the atmosphere and the depletion of the current P reserves. Therefore, it is essential to minimize the anthropogenic impact on the environment and recycle the wasted N-P for agricultural reuse. This study focused on enhancing struvite (MgNH4PO4*6H2O) precipitation from raw swine slurries in batch and laboratory-scale reactors. Different chemical addition sequences were evaluated, and the best removal efficiency (E%) was obtained when the chemicals were mixed before the precipitation process. Struvite was detected at a pH as low as 6 (E%N-P∼50%), and high E%N-P was found at pH 7-9.5 (80-95%). Furthermore, air stripping was used in place of NaOH to adjust pH, returning the same efficiency as if only alkali had been used. XRD and FE-SEM analysis of the precipitate showed that the recovered struvite was of high purity with orthorhombic crystalline structure and only trace amounts of impurities from matrix organics, co-precipitation products (CaO and amorphous calcium-phosphates), and residuals of added chemicals (MgO).

Pilot aerobic membrane bioreactor and nanofiltration for municipal landfill leachate treatment.

The purpose of this article is to evaluate the integration of the air stripping, membrane bioreactor (MBR) and nanofiltration (NF) processes for the treatment of landfill leachate (LFL). Pretreatment by air stripping, without adjustment of pH, removed 65% of N-NH3 present in LFL. After pretreatment, the effluent was treated in MBR obtaining 44% of COD removal, and part of the N-NH3 was converted to nitrite and nitrate, which was later removed in the post-treatment. Nanofiltration was shown to be an effective process to improve the removal of organic compounds, the high toxicity present in LFL and nitrite and nitrate generated in the MBR. The system (air stripping + MBR + nanofiltration) obtained great efficiency of removal in most parameters analyzed, with overall removal of COD, ammonia, color and toxicity approximately 88, 95, 100 and 100%, respectively. By this route, treated landfill leachate may be reused at the landfill as water for dust arrestment and also as earth work on construction sites.

A novel cleaner production process of citric acid by recycling its treated wastewater.

In this study, a novel cleaner production process of citric acid was proposed to completely solve the problem of wastewater management in citric acid industry. In the process, wastewater from citric acid fermentation was used to produce methane through anaerobic digestion and then the anaerobic digestion effluent was further treated with air stripping and electrodialysis before recycled as process water for the later citric acid fermentation. This proposed process was performed for 10 batches and the average citric acid production in recycling batches was 142.4±2.1g/L which was comparable to that with tap water (141.6g/L). Anaerobic digestion was also efficient and stable in operation. The average chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal rate was 95.1±1.2% and methane yield approached to 297.7±19.8mL/g TCODremoved. In conclusion, this novel process minimized the wastewater discharge and achieved the cleaner production in citric acid industry.