Performance of A-stage process treating combined municipal-industrial wastewater.

A biosorption column and a settling tank were operated for 6 months with combined municipal and industrial wastewaters (1 m3/hr) to study the effect of dissolved oxygen (DO) levels and Fe3+ dosage on removal efficiency of dissolved and suspended organics prior to biological treatment. High DO (>0.4 mg/L) were found to be detrimental for soluble chemical oxygen demand (COD) removals and iron dosing (up to 20 ppm) did not improve the overall performance. The system performed significantly better at high loading rate (>20 kg COD.m-3.d-1) where suspended solids and COD removals were greater than 80% and 60%, respectively. This is a significant improvement compared to the conventional primary sedimentation tank, and the process is a promising alternative for the pre-treatment of industrial wastewater.

Characterization and biodegradability of sludge from a high rate A-stage contact tank and B-stage membrane bioreactor of a pilot-scale AB system treating municipal wastewaters.

In light of global warming mitigation efforts, increasing sludge disposal costs, and need for reduction in the carbon footprint of wastewater treatment plants, innovation in treatment technology has been tailored towards energy self-sufficiency. The AB process is a promising technology for achieving maximal energy recovery from wastewaters with minimum energy expenditure and therefore inherently reducing excess sludge production. Characterization of this novel sludge and its comparison with the more conventional B-stage sludge are necessary for a deeper understanding of AB treatment process design. This paper presents a case study of a pilot-scale AB system treating municipal wastewaters as well as a bio- (biochemical methane potential and adenosine tri-phosphate analysis) and physico-chemical properties (chemical oxygen demand, sludge volume index, dewaterability, calorific value, zeta potential and particle size distribution) comparison of the organic-rich A-stage against the B-stage activated sludge. Compared to the B-sludge, the A-sludge yielded 1.4 to 4.9 times more methane throughout the 62-week operation.

Identification of recalcitrant compounds in a pilot-scale AB system: An adsorption (A) stage followed by a biological (B) stage to treat municipal wastewater.

This manuscript presents a comparison of the A-stage and B-stage sludges in terms of anaerobic biodegradability and low molecular weight compounds present in the supernatant using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). The GC-MS analysis of A-stage and B-stage supernatants identified respectively 43 and 19 organic compounds consisting mainly of aromatics (27.9% and 21%), alcohols (25.6% and 15%) and acids (30.2% and 15%). The methane potential was found to be 349±1 mL CH4/g VS and 238±12 mL CH4/g VS, respectively. After anaerobic digestion of these sludges, a greater proportion of aromatics (42% and 58%) and a lower proportion of acids (10% and 10%) and alcohols (16% and 10%) was observed.

Impact of ozone assisted ultrasonication pre-treatment on anaerobic digestibility of sewage sludge.

Impact of ultrasonication (ULS) and ultrasonication-ozonation (ULS-Ozone) pre-treatment on the anaerobic digestibility of sewage sludge was investigated with semi-continuous anaerobic reactors at solid retention time (SRT) of 10 and 20 days. The control, ULS and ULS-Ozone reactors produced 256, 309 and 348 mL biogas/g CODfed and the volatile solid (VS) removals were 35.6%, 38.3% and 42.1%, respectively at SRT of 10 days. At SRT of 20 days, the biogas yields reached 313, 337 and 393 mL biogas/g CODfed and the VS removal rates were 37.3%, 40.9% and 45.3% in the control, ULS and ULS-Ozone reactors, respectively. ULS-Ozone pre-treatment increased the residual organic amount in the digested sludge. These soluble residual organics were found to contain macromolecules with molecular weights (MW) larger than 500 kDa and smaller polymeric products with MW around 19.4 and 7.7 kDa. These compounds were further characterized to be humic acid-like substances with fluorescent spectroscopy analysis.

Combined ultrasonication and thermal pre-treatment of sewage sludge for increasing methane production.

This article focuses on the combination of ultrasonic and thermal treatment of sewage sludge (SS). The combination involved ultrasonicating a fraction of the sludge and thermal treatment at various temperatures and this resulted in solubilization of proteins and carbohydrates, and so contributing to increased COD solubilization. During the treatment, SCOD, soluble proteins and carbohydrates increased from 760 mg L(-1) to 10,200 mg L(-1), 110 mg L(-1) to 2,900 mg L(-1) and 60 mg L(-1) to 630 mg L(-1), respectively. It was found ultrasonication of only a fraction of the sludge (>20%) followed by thermal treatment led to significant improvement compared to thermal and ULS treatments applied on their own. At 65°C, the kinetic of solubilization was improved and the hyper-thermophilic treatment time could be reduced to a few hours when ultrasonication was used first. A linear correlation (R(2) = 95%) was found between the SCOD obtained after ultrasonication pre-treatment and anaerobic biodegradability. The combined treatment resulted in 20% increase in biogas production during the anaerobic digestion of the pre-treated sludge.