The influence of in situ purification system on pathogen in the river fed by the drainage of sewage plant.

An in situ integrated system, consisting of ecological floating islands (EFI), ecological riverbeds (ER), and ecological filter dams (EFD), was built in a ditch only receiving the effluent of sewage plant; the effect of in situ technologies on the distribution of aquatic pathogen was investigated. The results showed the aquatic pathogen decreased along the ditch. Specifically, the relative abundance of Legionella, Aeromonas, and Acinetobacter decreased from 0.032, 0.035, and 0.26 to 0.026%, 0.012%, and 0.08%, respectively. Sedimentation, filtration, and sorption (provided by plant roots and biofilms on substrates) were principal processes for the removal. The nitrogen removal bacteria to prevent the potential risk of eutrophication were also evaluated. The EFI and ER were the dominant sites for Nitrosomonas (34.96%, 32.84%) and Nitrospira (35.74%, 54.73%) enrichment, while EFI and EFD facilitated the enrichment of denitrification bacteria. Notably, the relative abundance of endogenous denitrifiers (DNB-en) (including Dechloromonas at 9.72%, Thermomonas at 0.58%, and Saccharibacteria at 2.55%) exceeded those of exogenous denitrifiers (DNB-ex) (Thauera at 0.20%, Staphylococcus at 0.005%, and Rhodobacter at 0.27%). This study demonstrated that the in situ integrated system was effective in reducing the abundance of pathogens in the drainage channel, and the deficiency of DNB-ex and carbon sources made nitrate removal difficult.

Robustness of the synergistic partial-denitrification, anammox, and fermentation process for treating domestic and nitrate wastewaters under fluctuating C/N ratios.

The synergistic partial-denitrification, anammox, and fermentation (SPDAF) process presents a promising solution to treat domestic and nitrate wastewaters. However, its capability to handle fluctuating C/N ratios (the ratios of COD to total inorganic nitrogen) in practical applications remains uncertain. In this study, the SPDAF process was operated for 236 days with C/N ratios of 0.7-3.5, and a high and stable efficiency of nitrogen removal (84.9 ± 7.8%) was achieved. The denitrification and anammox contributions were 6.1 ± 7.1% and 93.9 ± 7.1%, respectively. Batch tests highlighted the pivotal role of in situ fermentation at low biodegradable chemical oxygen demand (BCOD)/NO3- ratios. As the BCOD/NO3- ratios increased from 0 to 6, the NH4+ and NO3- removal rates increased, while the anammox contribution decreased from 100% to 80.1% but remained the primary pathway of nitrogen removal. The cooperation and balanced growth of denitrifying bacteria, anammox bacteria, and fermentation bacteria contributed to the system's robustness under fluctuating C/N ratios.

Effects of micro-bubble aeration on the pollutant removal and energy-efficient process in a floc-granule sludge coexistence system.

To investigate energy-saving approaches in wastewater treatment plants and decrease aeration energy consumption, this study successfully established a floc-granule coexistence system in a sequencing batch airlift reactor (SBAR) employing micro-bubble aeration. The analysis focused on granule formation and pollutant removal under various aeration intensities, and compared its performance with a traditional floc-based coarse-bubble aeration system. The results showed that granulation efficiency was positively associated with aeration intensity, which enhanced the secretion of extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs) and facilitated granule formation. The SBAR with the micro-aeration intensity of 30 mL·min-1 showed the best granulation performance (granulation efficiency 52.6%). In contrast to the floc-based system, the floc-granule coexistence system showed better treatment performance, and the best removal efficiencies of NH4+-N, TN, and TP were 100.0, 77.0, and 89.5%, respectively. The floc-granule coexistence system also enriched higher abundance of nutrients removal microbial species, such as Nitrosomonas (0.05-0.14%), Nitrospira (0.14-2.32%), Azoarcus (2.95-12.17%), Thauera (0.43-1.95%), and Paracoccus (0.76-2.89%). The energy-saving potential was evaluated, which indicated it is feasible for the micro-aeration floc-granule coexistence system to decrease the aeration consumption by 14.4% as well as improve the effluent.

The effect of PO43--P concentration on sludge settleability and nutrients removal performance.

In order to explore the effect of influent PO43--P concentration on the relationship of phosphorus remove performance and sludge settleability, three sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) operated as anaerobic/aerobic mode were used to treat wastewater with different PO43--P concentrations (same COD), and the organic loading rate (OLR) was changed through adjusting the anaerobic (aerobic) duration. The sludge settleability, nutrients removal, and microorganism species were investigated. The results showed that when the influent PO43--P were 4.3 mg·L-1 and 8.6 mg·L-1, increasing the OLR through decreasing aerobic duration could significantly improve sludge settleability, while decreasing anaerobic duration could not. It was found that increase the OLR could promote the denitrification compete for carbon sources with phosphorus release process by inhibiting the accumulation of NO2--N, leading to the decrease of phosphorus removal ability. When the influent PO43--P was 17.2 mg·L-1, sufficient nitrification was beneficial to enrich denitrifying phosphorus accumulating bacteria (DPAO), and the activities of Thauera and Flavobacterium (DPAO) were stronger. Therefore, increasing influent PO43--P concentration and reducing aerobic duration could help phosphorus accumulating bacteria (PAO) compete with denitrification for COD and enrich DPAO, thus reducing carbon source consumption.

Nitrogen removal characteristics of biofilms in each area of a full-scale AAO oxidation ditch process.

Plastic carriers were installed in different areas of a full-scale anaerobic/anoxic/aerobic (AAO) oxidation ditch process, and the dynamics of nitrogen removal, biofilm morphologies, and microorganism species were investigated. The results showed that the biofilm at the front of the aerobic area (dissolved oxygen [DO] = 0.93 mg L-1) provided the best denitrification, with specific nitrate and nitrite reduction rates of 10.16 and 3.78 mg·(g·h)-1, respectively. The biofilm in the middle of the aerobic area (DO = 1.27 mg L-1) exhibited the best nitrification performance, with a maximum specific ammonia oxidation rate of 3.21 mg·(g·h)-1. The biofilm at the end of the aerobic area (DO = 0.01 mg L-1) exhibited the highest anammox potential with a maximum specific anammox rate of 0.67 mg·(g·h)-1. No correlation was observed between the specific nitrogen removal rates and abundance of nitrogen-removing microorganisms at the genus level. Biofilm denitrification during the process was primarily completed by heterotrophic denitrifying bacteria (Thauera, Acinetobacter, Hyphomicrobium, and Thermomonas). Aerobic denitrifying bacteria (0.19% Thauera and 0.34% Hyphomicrobium) were identified as the main denitrifying bacteria in the middle of the aerobic area. The dominant nitrifying microorganisms in the middle of the aerobic area were Nitrosomonas (0.50%) and Nitrospira (1.04%). A biofilm in the end of the aerobic area exhibited specific anammox potential, which may have been related to the dominance of 0.024% Candidatus Brocadia. Kinetic analysis revealed that adding plastic carriers to the front and middle of the aerobic area contributed to stable nitrogen removal efficiency.

Rapid and stable achievement of mainstream nitritation at low temperature using the competitive inhibition caused by the organics.

The unstability of mainstream nitritation at low temperature has always been a limiting factor for the nitrogen removal from domestic wastewater by anammox. In this study, the competitive inhibition caused by the organics has been demonstrated as an effective strategy to rapidly and stably achieve mainstream nitritation. This strategy was based on our novel discovery that nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) was more susceptible to the organics inhibition than ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB). Batch tests showed while NOB activity gradually decreased by 66.5%, AOB activity only decreased by 31.6% with the initial C/N ratio raising from 0.0 to 3.0. Furthermore, treating the actual domestic wastewater at 14-18 °C, mainstream nitritation was rapidly established within 12 days and then the nitrite accumulation ratio was stable at ∼92.1% during a long-term operation. This strategy could be easily and effectively applied in urban WWTPs through modifying the operation mode.

Characteristics of nutrients removal under partial denitrification initiated by different initial nitrate concentration.

The partial denitrification (PD) is a very promising process developed in the last decade, to study the comprehensive influence of influent carbon to nitrogen (C/N) on the activated sludge system under PD, six sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) were operated in parallel at C/N of 2.75, 3.30, 4.13, 5.50, 8.25 and 16.50, the nitrogen removal, phosphorus removal and sludge settleability of PD were investigated. The results showed that PD was observed treating synthetic wastewater in all the six SBRs, and the nitrite accumulation rate (NAR) was highest at C/N of 5.50 (NAR of 82.30%). However, due to the alternate inhibition of NO2--N and free nitrous acid (FNA) produced by a limited carbon source, both the sludge settleability and phosphorus removal deteriorated. The average SVI at C/N of 8.25 was 130% lower than C/N of 3.30, and the average amount of PO43--P released at C/N of 16.5 was 189% higher than C/N of 2.75. Kinetic analysis showed that the denitrification kinetics of PD and complete denitrification were similar, and the nitrite accumulation was caused by the difference between nitrate reduction rate and nitrite reduction rate. Variations of on-line parameters (pH and ORP) revealed that nitrite accumulation could be indicated by judging the nitrate turning point and nitrite turning point on pH and ORP curves, which provided guidance for the setup of PD.

Enhanced denitrification of secondary effluent using composite solid carbon source based on agricultural wastes and synthetic polymers.

Solid-phase denitrification is a promising approach to enhance nitrate removal. In this work, polybutylene succinate (PBS) and peanut shell (PS) (with crosslinked polyvinyl alcohol-sodium alginate (PVA-SA) as carrier) were used to prepare a composite solid carbon source (3P) to denitrify the secondary effluent. The results showed that for carbon release performance, 3P had not only a large release of organics, like PS, but also the excellent sustainability of PBS. Among the short chain fatty acids released by PBS, PS, PVA-SA and 3P, the percentages of acetic acid were 59.42%, 72.54%, 72.29% and 92.11%, respectively. When 3P was used as external carbon source, denitrification performance could be enhanced with effluent dissolved organic carbon lower than 20 mg/L. The prepared 3P could improve denitrification, from both microbial and kinetic aspects. The relative abundance of Gammaproteobacteria increased from 39.32% to 43.58%, and the half saturation constant of the fitting Monod equation was 21.28 mg/L. The prepared 3P is an ideal carbon source for secondary effluent denitrification. Using multiple crosslinking methods to produce carrier is an effective way to show the properties of each material.

Nitrification characteristics of long-term idle aerobic activated sludge during domestication.

Nitrite accumulation usually occurred when domesticating the idle aerobic activated sludge. A sequencing batch reactor (SBR) was used to investigate whether the short-cut nitrification sludge could be cultivated using the idle sludge as inoculated sludge. The results showed that the nitrification process consisted of three stages. In the first stage, the activity of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) were very low with almost no nitrification performance. In the second stage, the activity of AOB started to recover with the effluent NH4+-N gradually decreased to 0.29 mg L-1, while NOB was alternately inhibited by free ammonia (FA), free nitrous acid (FNA), and nitrite. The effluent NOx--N was mainly NO2--N with an average nitrite accumulation ratio of 74.00%. In the third stage, the nitrification altered from short-cut nitrification to complete nitrification, and the nitrification kinetics of AOB and NOB were both well-fitted to the Monod equation (R2 > 0.92). The variations of effluent pH and ORP between cycles could indicate the recovery stage of the nitrifying ability. Through monitoring the curves of effluent pH and ORP, when the domestication process is between the pH peak and ORP plateau, the short-cut nitrification sludge could be cultivated. This study revealed the mechanism of nitrite accumulation during the domestication of long-term idle aerobic activated sludge, and established a control strategy to accelerate the domestication.

Comparison of agricultural wastes and synthetic macromolecules as solid carbon source in treating low carbon nitrogen wastewater.

This paper investigated the feasibility of using agricultural wastes and synthetic macromolecules as solid carbon sources and studied the effects of improvement of denitrification by the selected agricultural wastes. The carbon release capacity and denitrification performance of corncob (CC), peanut shell (PS), obsolescent rice (OR) and polycaprolactone (PCL), poly butylene succinate (PBS), polyvinyl alcohol sodium alginate (PVA-SA) were systematically analyzed. The results showed that for each carbon source, the first-order kinetic equation was basically followed during the carbon release process. PVA-SA, CC and PS had higher carbon release capacity with accumulative dissolved organic carbon (DOC) of 16.22-20.63 mg·g-1 and chemical oxygen demand (COD) of 100.86-134.10 mg·g-1. Correspondingly, they showed excellent denitrification performance with almost no residual NO3--N, and the denitrification process well followed the Monod equation. PCL, PBS and OR had lower carbon release capacity with accumulative DOC of 2.06-3.14 mg·g-1 and COD of 13.29-24.13 mg·g-1, respectively. Nevertheless, these materials can also improve the denitrification performance, with the residual NO3--N in the range of 6.02-6.36 mg·L-1, and the effluent DOC was in the range of 10-15 mg·L-1. Synthetic polymers are more suitable for nitrogen removal in groundwater treatment, while agricultural wastes are ideal carbon sources for secondary effluent treatment.

Biological denitrification using polycaprolactone-peanut shell as slow-release carbon source treating drainage of municipal WWTP.

The development of slow-release carbon source is an effective way to reduce the total nitrogen (TN) in low carbon to nitrogen ratio wastewater. In this study, a novel solid slow-release carbon source (PPP) was prepared using polycaprolactone (PCL) and peanut shell (PS) as carbon sources with polyvinyl alcohol-sodium alginate (PVA-SA) as hybrid scaffolds. The carbon release properties of PPP and each carbon source materials were compared. The performances of nitrogen removal and microbial community structure using PPP as external carbon source were investigated. The results showed that PPP had the best slow-release performance, and its release process followed the first-order release equation. The ratio of acetic acid, propionic acid and butyric acid in released organic matter was stable at (75.73 ±â€¯4.62)%:(17.22 ±â€¯4.53)%:(7.06 ±â€¯1.02)%. When using PPP as an external carbon source for denitrification, the relative abundance of Gammaproteobacteria increased from 39.32% to 46.66%, while the Shannon index decreased from 8.59 to 8.29. The utilization efficiency of PPP was determined by the ratio of the organic matter releasing rate to the released organic matter consumption rate. By optimizing the PPP dosage, both high nitrogen removal efficiency and low residual organic matter could be achieved.

Control of sludge settleability based on organic load and ammonia nitrogen load under low dissolved oxygen.

Controlling dissolved oxygen (DO) at low level can save energy for wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), but it is easy to induce filamentous sludge bulking. Through establishing the kinetic equation of sludge settleability, ammonia nitrogen (NH4 +-N) load and organic load (food-to-microbe ratio, F/M), the mechanism of the competitive relationship between filamentous and floccular bacteria under low DO was analyzed. The results showed when DO, NH4 +-N load and F/M were in the range of 0.15-0.35 mg/L, 0.035-0.15 d-1 and 0.12-0.42 d-1, respectively, the mass transfer limitation of organic matter was the main factor determining the dominant growth of filamentous bacteria. When DO, NH4 +-N load and F/M were in the range of 0.35-0.65 mg/L, 0.035-0.065 d-1 and 0.12-0.22 d-1, respectively, the mass transfer limitation of NH4 +-N was the main factor determining the dominant growth of filamentous bacteria. When DO was low, no matter how NH4 +-N load and F/M changed, the growth of filamentous bacteria was promoted. When DO and F/M were in the range of 0.35-0.65 mg/L and 0.22-0.42 d-1, respectively, no matter how NH4 +-N load and F/M changed, the growth of filamentous bacteria was inhibited. Therefore, in actual operation, ensuring relatively low DO and high F/M was beneficial for the sludge settleability improvement.

[Realization of short cut nitrification under the limited filamentous sludge bulking condition].

In order to realize the combination of "low oxygen limited filamentous sludge bulking" and short cut nitrification,the startup method of short cut nitrification and the maintenance strategies of sludge settleability were investigated under limited filamentous sludge bulking condition by using sequencing batch reactor (SBR). The effects of environmental factors like water quality, pH, DO,temperature and operation methods like mixture flow pattern, aeration mode, influent pattern on sludge settleability were analyzed. The results show that, when pH is between 7.2 and 8.0 and temperature is between 20 degrees C and 25 degrees C, short cut nitrification can be gradually realized through maintaining low DO and controlling the aeration time accurately. Nitrite accumulating ratio can increase from 28% to 80% after operating 160 cycles. Sludge settleability can be maintained effectively by changing the influent volume exchanging ratio (VER) assisted by aeration rate .The sludge volume index (SVI) can be maintained around 150 mL/g by adjusting the VER from 0.25 to 0.33 under limited sludge bulking. At the end of the aerobic phase, dissolved total nitrogen concentration increase slightly.