Migration and transformation of phosphorus and toxic metals during sludge incineration with Ca additives.

The recycling and utilization of phosphorus resources in sludge is becoming increasingly important. In this study, we compared the conversion of phosphorus and toxic metal passivation effects of different Ca additives under oxygen-rich combustion conditions and elucidated their specific mechanisms of action. The experimental results indicated that four Ca-based additives improved the recovery rate of total phosphorus, and promoted the generation of stable apatite phosphorus (AP). The effect of CaCl2 and CaO was greater than that of Ca(OH)2 and CaSO4. CaCl2 promoted the formation of Ca3(PO4)2 and Ca2P2O7, and CaSO4 improved the conversion of AlPO4 to Ca(H2PO4)2 with increasing temperature. The conversion capacity of CaO on non-apatite inorganic phosphorus to AP was greater than that of Ca(OH)2, and more CaH2P2O7, Ca(PO3)2, and Ca-Al-P minerals were found. Toxic metal percentages decreased after sludge incineration with CaCl2. Compared with CaO and Ca(OH)2, the toxic metal adsorption effect of CaSO4 was more significant. The influence of Ca additives on the conversion of Zn into stable components was as follows: CaCl2 > Ca(OH)2 > CaO > CaSO4. Ca additives reduced the toxic metal contamination level and ecological risk index values, and the order of toxic metal contamination levels was Ni > Zn > Cr > Cu > Mn. The experiment confirmed the conversion of phosphorus and the toxic metal passivation effect of Ca additives during oxy-fuel combustion of sludge, which is beneficial for its resource utilization.

Towards biomass production and wastewater treatment by enhancing the microalgae-based nutrients recovery from liquid digestate in an innovative photobioreactor integrated with dialysis bag.

Microalgae-based nutrients recovery from liquid anaerobic digestate of swine manure has been a hotspot in recent decades. Nevertheless, in consideration of the high NH4+-N content and poor light penetrability exhibited by the original liquid digestate, uneconomical pretreatment on liquid digestate including centrifugation and dilution are indispensable before microalgae cells inoculation. Herein, aiming at eliminating the energy-intensive and freshwater-consuming pretreatment on liquid digestate and enhancing microalgae growth, the dialysis bag which permits nutrients transferring across its wall surface whereas retains almost all matters characterized by impeding light transmission within the raw liquid digestate was integrated into a column photobioreactor (DB-PBR). Consequently, light availability of microalgae cells in DB-PBR was elevated remarkably and thus contributed to a 357.58% improvement on microalgae biomass concentration in DB-PBR than the conventional PBR under 80 µmol m-2 s-1. Likewise, superior nutrients removal efficiencies from liquid digestate were obtained in DB-PBR (NH4+-N: 74.84%, TP: 63.75%) over the conventional PBR (NH4+-N: 30.27%, TP: 16.86%). Furthermore, higher microalgae biomass concentration (1.87 g L-1) and nutrients removal efficiencies (NH4+-N: 95.12%, TP: 76.87%) were achieved in the DB-PBR by increasing the light intensity to 140 µmol m-2 s-1. More importantly, the DB-PBR may provide a simple and greener solution to purify other kinds of wastewater.

Co-combustion of anthracite coal and wood pellets: Thermodynamic analysis, combustion efficiency, pollutant emissions and ash slagging.

This work presents studies on the co-combustion of anthracite coal and wood pellets in fluidized bed. Prior to the fluidized bed combustion, thermogravimetric analysis are performed to investigate the thermodynamic behavior of coal and wood pellets. The results show that the thermal decomposition of blends is divided into four stages. The co-firing of coal and wood pellets can promote the combustion reaction and reduce the emission of gaseous pollutants, such as SO2 and NO. It is important to choose the proportion of wood pellets during co-combustion due to the low combustion efficiency caused by large pellets with poor fluidization. Wood pellets can inhibit the volatilization of trace elements, especially for Cr, Ni and V. In addition, the slagging ratio of wood pellets ash is reduced by co-firing with coal. The research on combustion of coal and wood pellets is of great significance in engineering.

Partition of Zn, Cd, and Pb during co-combustion of sedum plumbizincicola and sewage sludge.

Co-combustion of sedum plumbizincicola and sewage sludge was performed in a tubular furnace. The influence of experimental conditions on the partitioning of Zn, Cd, and Pb was investigated. The results showed that 30% sewage sludge was proposed as the optimal ratio for the co-combustion as a compromise between low calorific value and high amount of heavy metal remained in the bottom ash. High temperature increased the volatilization degree of heavy metals, among which the performance of Cd and Pb was obvious than Zn. Rising oxygen concentration was beneficial to the formation of heavy metal compounds, and the effect of oxygen on Zn was the most pronounced. Thermodynamic equilibrium calculation was carried out to forecast heavy metal compounds. The results demonstrated that Zn, Cd, and Pb mainly generated ZnAl2O4, CdSiO3 and PbSiO3 in solid phase, which are partly confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The promising results offered a great possibility of heavy metal immobilization, indicating the combustion of Sedum plumbizincicola with sewage sludge is an effective way for waste disposal.

Experimental studies on combustion of composite biomass pellets in fluidized bed.

This work presents studies on the combustion of Composite Biomass Pellets (CBPS) in fluidized bed using bauxite particles as the bed material. Prior to the combustion experiment, cold-flow characterization and thermogravimetric analysis are performed to investigate the effect of air velocity and combustion mechanism of CBPS. The cold-state test shows that CBPs and bauxite particles fluidize well in the fluidized bed. However, because of the presence of large CBPs, optimization of the fluidization velocity is rather challenging. CBPs can gather at the bottom of the fluidized bed at lower gas velocities. On the contrary, when the velocity is too high, they accumulate in the upper section of the fluidized bed. The suitable fluidization velocity for the system in this study was found to be between 1.5-2.0m/s. At the same time, it is found that the critical fluidization velocity and the pressure fluctuation of the two-component system increase with the increase of CBPs mass concentration. The thermogravimetric experiment verifies that the combustion of CBPs is a first-order reaction, and it is divided into three stages: (i) dehydration, (ii) release and combustion of the volatile and (iii) the coke combustion. The combustion of CBPs is mainly based on the stage of volatile combustion, and its activation energy is greater than that of char combustion. During the combustion test, CBPS are burned at a 10kg/h feed rate, while the excess air is varied from 25% to 100%. Temperatures of the bed and flue gas concentrations (O2, CO, SO2 and NO) are recorded. CBPs can be burnt stably, and the temperature of dense phase is maintained at 765-780°C. With the increase of the air velocity, the main combustion region has a tendency to move up. While the combustion is stable, O2 and CO2 concentrations are maintained at about 7%, and 12%, respectively. The concentration of SO2 in the flue gas after the initial stage of combustion is nearly zero. Furthermore, NO concentration is found to be closely related to O2: the NO reaches its peak value after initial stage and later decreases with the continued depletion of O2. Towards the end of combustion, NO increases with the increase of O2.

Enhancement of rural domestic sewage treatment performance, and assessment of microbial community diversity and structure using tower vermifiltration.

The performance of a novel three-stage vermifiltration (VF) system using the earthworm, Eisenia fetida, for rural domestic wastewater treatment was studied during a 131-day period. The average removal efficiencies of the tower VF planted with Penstemon campanulatus were as follows: chemical oxygen demand, 81.3%; ammonium, 98%; total nitrogen, 60.2%; total phosphorus, 98.4%; total nitrogen, mainly in the form of nitrate. Soils played an important role in removing the organic matter. The three-sectional design with increasing oxygen demand concentration in the effluents, and the distribution of certain oxides in the padding were likely beneficial for ammonium and phosphorus removal, respectively. The microbial community profiles revealed that band patterns varied more or less in various matrices of each stage at different sampling times, while the presence of earthworms intensified the bacterial diversity in soils. Retrieved sequences recovered from the media in VF primarily belonged to unknown bacterium and Bacilli of Firmicutes.

[Nitrogen removal in earthworm ecofilter treating domestic wastewater].

The removal efficiency of different forms of nitrogen was studied in earthworm ecofilter treating domestic wastewater, and the mechanisms were discussed. Results indicated that, the major form of total nitrogen (TN) in influent water and effluent water were existed as ammonia-nitrogen (NH4+ -N) and nitrate-nitrogen (NO3- -N), respectively. NH4+ -N /TN in influent water and NO3- -N /TN in effluent water were 83.88% and 76.46%, respectively, NH4+ -N decreased and NO3- -N increased during the process. The average removal efficiency of TN and NH4+ -N were 28.08% and 90.44%, respectively, nitrate-nitrogen accumulated massively and nitrite-nitrogen (NO2- -N) accumulated a little. It was also observed that nitrification in earthworm ecofilter was strong and the denitrification was inhibited, TN removal was not as obvious as the NH4+ -N removal due to the poor denitrification environment. The overall removal of TN can be improved by increasing wet/dry ratio, modifying the structure of filter, multistage filter series, following by constructed wetland, and increasing C/N ratio of the influent water.