Influence of low air pressure on combined nitritation and anaerobic ammonium oxidation process.

At high altitude, wastewater aeration efficiency is low, which is detrimental to nitrification in conventional biological nitrogen removal. The combined partial nitritation and anaerobic ammonium oxidation (CPNA) process requires little oxygen and can be appropriate in low-pressure conditions. As such, in this study, we investigated the effect of air pressure on CPNA using a laboratory-scale reactor. We found that low air pressure promoted the removal of total inorganic nitrogen (TIN), achieving a TIN removal rate of 43,000 mg·N/(kg·VSS·d). The secretion of extracellular polymeric substances under low air pressure was not significantly different from that under ordinary air pressure, indicating no adverse effects on microbial aggregation ability, stability, or settleability. The abundance of aerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AeAOB) increased from 0.2% to 5.6%, and the activity of anaerobic ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AnAOB) enhanced, giving AeAOB and AnAOB a competitive advantage over nitrite-oxidizing bacteria, thus forming a microbial community structure favorable to the CPNA process. Our further analysis of the results of batch tests in serum bottles confirmed the positive effect of low air pressure on the anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) process, with a 28.5% ± 1.9% improvement in the specific anammox rate at 70 kPa compared with 100 kPa. AnAOB activity increased, which was reflected in the intracellular heme content increasing from 0.56 ± 0.18 µmol/(g·VSS) at 100 kPa to 2.56 ± 0.20 µmol/(g·VSS) at 70 kPa. We clarified the CPNA-process-promoting effect of low air pressure, which shows potential for nitrogen removal in high-altitude regions.

[Coagulation characteristics of polyferric chloride-poly (epichlorohydrin-dimethylamine) composite flocculant for simulated water treatment].

Polyferric chloride (PFC) and poly (epichlorohydrin-dimethylamine) [P(EPI-DMA)] were applied as raw materials to prepare a novel inorganic-organic flocculant [PFC-P(EPI-DMA)] with various intrinsic viscosities (eta), basicity (B, OH/Fe molar ratio), and organic component fractions [omega(E)]. The PFC-P(EPI-DMA) prepared was then evaluated for the coagulation treatment of synthetic active dying wastewater and simulated ground water. Effects of B, and omega (E) on the Fe speciation distribution and coagulation performance of PFC-P(EPI-DMA) were comparatively examined as a function of coagulant dosage. The coagulation mechanism of PFC-P(EPI-DMA) was also discussed in this paper. Experimental results indicated the interaction effect of PFC and P (EPI-DMA) component in composite PFC-P (EPI-DMA). The effective Fe speciation content of PFC-EPI-DMA decreased with increasing omega(E), while it was maximized when eta = 850 mPa x As B value increased gradually, the Fe(b) concentration initially increased and then decreased, but the Fe(c) concentration kept continuously increasing. To some extent, higher eta and lower B value was favorable for the improvement of coagulation performance for coagulation treatment of both synthetic dyeing wastewater and simulated ground water. The omega (E) influence on the coagulation performance of PFC-P(EPI-DMA) was related to the treatment target. Both charge neutralization and adsorption bridging effect played roles in the coagulation process of the composite PFC-P(EPI-DMA).

Removal of acid and direct dye by epichlorohydrin-dimethylamine: flocculation performance and floc aggregation properties.

A cationic organic flocculant epichlorohydrin-dimethylamine (EPI-DMA) was employed for the treatment of acid and direct dye. The study aims at investigating the flocculation performance of EPI-DMA for the model dye, and corresponding floc aggregation properties, which were determined by jar test and photometric dispersion analysis, respectively. The interactions between cationic flocculant and anionic dye were investigated through spectra analysis. The results showed that EPI-DMA effectively decolorized the tested acid and direct dye. The viscosity and cationicity of EPI-DMA had different influence on the removal of different dye. Chemical interaction was observed between quaternary ammonium of EPI-DMA and sulfonic group of dye. The flocculation dynamic process showed that flocs with better aggregation and sedimentation properties were produced by EPI-DMA with higher viscosity and cationicity for acid dye. Contrarily, flocs with the best aggregation and sedimentation properties were produced by EPI-DMA with the lowest viscosity and cationicity for direct dye.

[Relationship among coagulation effect of Al-based coagulant, content and speciation of residual aluminum].

The application of AlCl3, Al2 (SO4)3 and poly-aluminum chloride (PAC) in humic acid-kaolin simulated water was studied in this article. It is intended to discuss the relationship among coagulation effect of Al-based coagulants in humic acid-kaolin simulated water and content and speciation of residual aluminum. It was found that, the turbidity removal efficiency and UV254 removal efficiency could reach about 90% at the tested dosage. At higher dosage, PAC gave better coagulation effect. The residual total aluminum content and residual aluminum ratio of PAC, which was 0.9 mg/L and - 3.0% or so respectively, were greatly lower than those of AlCl3 and Al2 (SO4)3. The residual total dissolved aluminum was the predominant content in the effluent after coagulation and sedimentation by the three Al-based coagulants. For the total dissolved aluminum, the proportion of dissolved organic aluminum was significantly higher than that of other aluminum speciation. With respect to humic acid-kaolin simulated water, the content of residual total aluminum in the effluent after coagulation and sedimentation by PAC decreased obviously compared to AlCl3 and Al2 (SO4)3. PAC could effectively decrease the content of residual dissolved aluminum speciation which has higher toxicity. The content of residual total dissolved aluminum in the effluent after coagulation and sedimentation by PAC was about 0.6 mg/L.

Effect of pH on the coagulation performance of Al-based coagulants and residual aluminum speciation during the treatment of humic acid-kaolin synthetic water.

The fractionation and measurement of residual aluminum was conducted during the treatment of humic (HA)-kaolin synthetic water with Al(2)(SO(4))(3), AlCl(3) and polyaluminum chloride (PAC) in order to investigate the effect of pH on the coagulation performance as well as residual aluminum speciation. Experimental results suggested that turbidity removal performance varied according to the following order: AlCl(3)>PAC>Al(2)(SO(4))(3). HA removal performance of PAC was better than that of AlCl(3) under acidic condition. The optimum pH range for AlCl(3) and Al(2)(SO(4))(3) was between 6.0 and 7.0 while PAC showed stable HA and UV(254) removal capacity with broader pH variation (5.0-8.0). For the three coagulants, majority of residual aluminum existed in the form of total dissolved Al (60-80%), which existed mostly in oligomers or complexes formed between Al and natural organic matter or polymeric colloidal materials. PAC exhibited the least concentration for each kind of residual aluminum species as well as their percentage in total residual aluminum, followed by AlCl(3) and Al(2)(SO(4))(3) (in increasing order). Moreover, PAC could effectively reduce the concentration of dissolved monomeric Al and its residual aluminum ratio was the least among the three coagulants and varied little at an initial pH between 7.0 and 9.0.