Clinical treatment outcomes and their changes in extremely preterm twins: a multicenter retrospective study in Guangdong Province, China. / è¶ æœªæˆç†ŸåŒèƒŽå„¿ä¸´åºŠæ•‘æ²»ç»“å±€åŠå˜åŒ–åˆ†æžï¼šä¸€é¡¹å¹¿ä¸œçœå¤šä¸­å¿ƒå›žé¡¾æ€§ç ”ç©¶.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the clinical treatment outcomes and the changes of the outcomes over time in extremely preterm twins in Guangdong Province, China. METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed for 269 pairs of extremely preterm twins with a gestational age of <28 weeks who were admitted to the department of neonatology in 26 grade A tertiary hospitals in Guangdong Province from January 2008 to December 2017. According to the admission time, they were divided into two groups: 2008-2012 and 2013-2017. Besides, each pair of twins was divided into the heavier infant and the lighter infant subgroups according to birth weight. The perinatal data of mothers and hospitalization data of neonates were collected. The survival rate of twins and the incidence rate of complications were compared between the 2008-2012 and 2013-2017 groups. RESULTS: Compared with the 2008-2012 group, the 2013-2017 group (both the heavier infant and lighter infant subgroups) had lower incidence rates of severe asphyxia and smaller head circumference at birth (P<0.05). The mortality rates of both of the twins, the heavier infant of the twins, and the lighter infant of the twins were lower in the 2013-2017 group compared with the 2008-2012 group (P<0.05). Compared with the 2008-2012 group, the 2013-2017 group (both the heavier infant and lighter infant subgroups) had lower incidence rates of pulmonary hemorrhage, patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), periventricular-intraventricular hemorrhage (P-IVH), and neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (NRDS) and a higher incidence rate of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: There is a significant increase in the survival rate over time in extremely preterm twins with a gestational age of <28 weeks in the 26 grade A tertiary hospitals in Guangdong Province. The incidences of severe asphyxia, pulmonary hemorrhage, PDA, P-IVH, and NRDS decrease in both the heavier and lighter infants of the twins, but the incidence of bronchopulmonary dysplasia increases. With the improvement of diagnosis and treatment, the multidisciplinary collaboration between different fields of fetal medicine including prenatal diagnosis, obstetrics, and neonatology is needed in the future to jointly develop management strategies for twin pregnancy.

Integration of polyelectrolyte enhanced ultrafiltration and chemical reduction for metal-containing wastewater treatment and metal recovery.

Chemical reduction was firstly employed to treat synthetic wastewaters of various compositions prepared to simulate the retentate stream of polyelectrolyte enhanced ultrafiltration (PEUF). With fixed Cu:polyethylenimine (PEI) monomer:dithionite molar ratio, increasing copper concentration increases copper removal efficiency. Under fixed Cu:dithionite molar ratio and fixed Cu concentration, increasing PEI monomer:copper molar ratio decreases copper removal efficiency. The formation of nano-sized copper particles, which readily pass through 0.45 µm filter used for sample pretreatment before residual copper analysis, might be the reason behind the decreasing copper removal efficiency observed. Particle size analysis shows that the size of copper particles, which are formed through reduction reaction, increases with decreasing pH value and increasing reaction time. As ultrafiltration is capable of removing these nano-sized particles, integration of chemical reduction and PEUF is proposed to simultaneously achieve regeneration of polyelectrolyte and recovery of copper in one process. Results show that the proposed process could achieve almost complete copper removal without being affected by reaction pH.

Recovery of Cu(II) by chemical reduction using sodium dithionite: effect of pH and ligands.

Wastewaters containing Cu(II) and ligands are ubiquitous in various industrial sectors, and efficacy of copper removal processes, especially precipitation, is greatly compromised by ligands. Chemical reduction, being commonly employed for production of metal nanoparticles, is also effective for metal removal. Adjustment of pH and addition of ligands are important to control the particle size in metallic nanoparticle production. Exploiting the fact that ligands and metals coexist in many wastewaters, chemical reduction was employed to treat ligand-containing wastewater in this study. The experimental result shows that depending on pH, type of ligands, and copper:ligand molar ratio, copper could be removed by either the reduction or precipitation mechanism. Almost complete copper removal could be achieved by the reduction mechanism under optimal condition for solutions containing either EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid) or citrate ligands. For solutions containing ammonia, depending on pH and Cu:ammonia molar ratio, copper was removed by both precipitation and reduction mechanisms. At pH of 9.0, formation of nano-sized particles, which readily pass through a 0.45 µm filter used for sample pretreatment before residual copper analysis, results in the lowest copper removal efficiency. Both cuprous oxide and metallic copper are identified in the solids produced, and the possible explanations are provided.

Application of forward osmosis (FO) under ultrasonication on sludge thickening of waste activated sludge.

Forward osmosis (FO) is an emerging process for dewatering solid-liquid stream which has the potential to be innovative and sustainable. However, the applications have still been hindered by low water flux and membrane fouling when activated sludge is used as the feed solution due to bound water from microbial cells. Hence, a novel strategy was designed to increase sludge thickening and reduce membrane fouling in the FO process under ultrasonic condition. The results from the ultrasound/FO hybrid system showed that the sludge concentration reached up to 20,400 and 28,400 mg/L from initial sludge concentrations of 3000 and 8000 mg/L with frequency of 40 kHz after 22 hours, while the system without ultrasound had to spend 26 hours to achieve the same sludge concentration. This identifies that the presence of ultrasound strongly affected sludge structure as well as sludge thickening of the FO process. Furthermore, the ultrasound/FO hybrid system could achieve NH4+-N removal efficiency of 96%, PO4(3-)-P of 98% and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) of 99%. The overall performance demonstrates that the proposed ultrasound/FO system using seawater as a draw solution is promising for sludge thickening application.

Integrating artificial intelligence modeling and membrane technologies for advanced wastewater treatment: Research progress and future perspectives.

Membrane technologies have become proficient alternatives for advanced wastewater treatment, ensuring high contaminant removal and sustainable resource recovery. Despite significant progress, ongoing research efforts aim to further optimize treatment performance. Among the challenges faced, membrane fouling persists as a relevant obstacle in membrane technologies, necessitating the development of more effective mitigation strategies. Mathematical models, widely employed for predicting treatment performance, generally exhibit low accuracy and suffer from uncertainties due to the complex and variable nature of wastewater. To overcome these limitations, numerous studies have proposed artificial intelligence (AI) modeling to accurately predict membrane technologies' performance and fouling mechanisms. This approach aims to provide advanced simulations and predictions, thereby enhancing process control, optimization, and intensification. This literature review explores recent advancements in modeling membrane-based wastewater treatment processes through AI models. The analysis highlights the enormous potential of this research field in enhancing the efficiency of membrane technologies. The role of AI modeling in defining optimal operating conditions, developing effective strategies for membrane fouling mitigation, enhancing the performance of novel membrane-based technologies, and improving membrane fabrication techniques is discussed. These enhanced process optimization and control strategies driven by AI modeling ensure improved effluent quality, optimized resource consumption, and minimized operating costs. The potential contribution of this cutting-edge approach to a paradigm shift toward sustainable wastewater treatment is examined. Finally, this review outlines future perspectives, emphasizing the research challenges that require attention to overcome the current limitations hindering the integration of AI modeling in wastewater treatment plants.

Carbon neutrality in wastewater treatment plants: An integrated biotechnological-based solution for nutrients recovery, odour abatement and CO2 conversion in alternative energy drivers.

Wastewater treatment plants play a crucial role in water security and sanitation, ensuring ecosystems balance and avoiding significant negative effects on humans and environment. However, they determine also negative pressures, including greenhouse gas and odourous emissions, which should be minimized to mitigate climate changes besides avoiding complaints. The research has been focused on the validation of an innovative integrated biological system for the sustainable treatment of complex gaseous emissions from wastewater treatment plants. The proposed system consists of a moving bed biofilm reactor coupled with an algal photobioreactor, with the dual objective of: i) reducing the inlet concentration of the odourous contaminants (in this case, hydrogen sulphide, toluene and p-xylene); ii) capturing and converting the carbon dioxide emissions produced by the degradation process into exploitable algal biomass. The first reactor promoted the degradation of chemical compounds up to 99.57% for an inlet load (IL) of 22.97 g m-3 d-1 while the second allowed the capture of the CO2 resulting from the degradation of gaseous compounds, with biofixation rate up to 81.55%. The absorbed CO2 was converted in valuable feedstocks, with a maximum algal biomass productivity in aPBR of 0.22 g L-1 d-1. Dairy wastewater has been used as alternative nutrient source for both reactors, with a view of reusing wastewater while cultivating biomass, framing the proposed technology in a context of a biorefinery within a circular economy perspective. The biomass produced in the algal photobioreactor was indeed characterized by a high lipid content, with a maximum percentage of lipids per dry weight biomass of 35%. The biomass can therefore be exploited for the production of alternative and clean energy carrier. The proposed biotechnology represents an effective tool for shifiting the conventional plants in carbon neutral platform for implementing principles of ecological transition while achieving high levels of environmental protection.

Granulation of biological flocs under elevated pressure: characteristics of granules.

Aerobic granules (AG) have good settling ability and are relatively insensitive to the variation of organic loading rate. When sizes of granules become bigger, substrate and oxygen become limited in the granule core, leading to cell lysis and disintegration of granules. The higher the dissolved oxygen, the deeper the oxygen penetration inside AG. AG operated under elevated pressure might be a possible way to maintain long-term stability of granules. In this study, formation and characteristics of AG in the reactor operated under elevated high pressure (HP) and ambient pressure (AP) are investigated. Results show that both systems removed an average 95% of total organic carbon. Sludge volume index at 5 and 30 min settling times under HP are 35% smaller those under AP, indicating that HP granules have a better settling ability and a denser structure than AP granules. The granule size in the HP system is very uniform, while size distribution in the AP system is broader, indicating that the AP system contains flocculent sludge. Extracellular polymeric substances and polysaccharides (PS) are almost the same for HP and AP; however, exopolymeric protein (PN) is very different. PS/PN ratio for HP sludge is four times that of AP. The result is consistent with sludge settleability, which is improved with increasing PS/PN ratio.

Intermittent high-pressure sequential bioreactor (IHPSB) with integration of sand filtration system for synthetic wastewater treatment.

A pressurized activated sludge reactor with a sand layer installed at the bottom of the reactor for filtration purposes was employed for treating synthetic organic wastewater. The intermittent high-pressure sequential bioreactor (IHPSB) was pressurized to facilitate efficient oxygen transfer under elevated biomass conditions with pressure released periodically, i.e. aeration, for mixing and exchanging air. The sand layer integrated in the bottom of reactor was employed to separate sludge from treated water during the effluent discharging period. The results show that the proposed system can achieve chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal of higher than 90% under COD loading ranging from 3.3 to 14.3 kg COD/m3/day. SS of the effluent is quite stable and is less than 30 mg/L when MLSS is less than 18,000 mg/L. Oxygen transfer in the IHPSB is quite effective. Dissolved oxygen (DO) ranging from 16 to 10 mg/L was achieved with aeration cycle varying from 3 to 15 min. Thus, IHPSB can be quite energy efficient compared with traditional aerobic activated biological systems and membrane biological reactor systems.

Short term outcomes of extremely low birth weight infants from a multicenter cohort study in Guangdong of China.

With the increase in extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants, their outcome attracted worldwide attention. However, in China, the related studies are rare. The hospitalized records of ELBW infants discharged from twenty-six neonatal intensive care units in Guangdong Province of China during 2008-2017 were analyzed. A total of 2575 ELBW infants were enrolled and the overall survival rate was 55.11%. From 2008 to 2017, the number of ELBW infants increased rapidly from 91 to 466, and the survival rate improved steadily from 41.76% to 62.02%. Increased survival is closely related to birth weight (BW), regional economic development, and specialized hospital. The incidence of complications was neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (85.2%), oxygen dependency at 28 days (63.7%), retinopathy of prematurity (39.3%), intraventricular hemorrhage (29.4%), necrotizing enterocolitis (12.0%), and periventricular leukomalacia (8.0%). Among the 1156 nonsurvivors, 90.0% of infants died during the neonatal period (≤ 28 days). A total of 768 ELBW infants died after treatment withdrawal, for reasons of economic and/or poor outcome. The number of ELBW infants is increasing in Guangdong Province of China, and the overall survival rate is improving steadily.

Optimizing RuOx-TiO2 composite anodes for enhanced durability in electrochemical water treatments.

Metal oxide anode electrocatalysts are important for an effective removal of contaminants and the enhancement of electrode durability in the electrochemical oxidation process. Herein, we report the enhanced lifetime of RuOx-TiO2 composite anodes that was achieved by optimizing the fabrication conditions (e.g., the Ru mole fraction, total metal content, and calcination time). The electrode durability was assessed through accelerated service lifetime tests conducted under harsh environmental conditions, by using 3.4% NaCl and 1.0 A/cm2. The electrochemical characteristics of the anodes prepared with metal oxides having different compositions were evaluated using cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and X-ray analyses. We noticed that, the larger the Ru mole fraction, the more durable were the electrodes. The RuOx-TiO2 electrodes were found to be highly stable when the Ru mole fraction was >0.7. The 0.8RuOx-0.2TiO2 electrode was selected as the one with the most appropriate composition, considering both its stability and contaminant treatability. The electrodes that underwent a 7-h calcination (between 1 and 10 h) showed the longest lifetime under the tested conditions, because of the formation of a stable Ru oxide structure (i.e., RuO3) and a lower resistance to charge transfer. The electrode deactivation mechanism that occurred due to the dissolution of active catalysts over time was evidenced by an impedance analysis of the electrode itself and surface elemental mapping.

Efficient Cu removal from CuEDTA complex-containing wastewater using electrochemically controlled sacrificial iron anode.

In this study, an electro-replacement/precipitation/deposition/direct reduction (ERPDD) process with scrap iron packed in a Ti mesh cage as a sacrificial anode was investigated for the treatment of wastewater containing CuEDTA complexes. The ERPDD mechanisms were responsible for the removal of Cu from CuEDTA complexes and were verified by a series of experiments using either iron or carbon plates as anodes for the Cu-containing solutions with and without EDTA. A complete Cu removal was achieved with electrical current density applied (1.18-2.36 mA/cm2), whereas only 60% of the Cu was removed without electricity. Dissolved oxygen (DO) was found to have a significant impact on Cu removal. Aeration reduced Cu removal (i.e., only 60% of the Cu was removed), whereas complete Cu removal was achieved with negligible DO concentration under mechanical mixing and N2 purging conditions. Compared to chemical replacement/precipitation (CRP) process, the ERPDD was able to save approximately 60-75% of the total operational costs during the treatment of CuEDTA-containing wastewater, due to the electrochemically controlled dosing of inexpensive sacrificial scrap iron and additional removal mechanisms not found in the CRP process.

Indoor versus outdoor transmission of SARS-COV-2: environmental factors in virus spread and underestimated sources of risk.

The first case of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), which is caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), in Europe was officially confirmed in February 2020. On 11 March 2020, after thousands of deaths from this disease had been reported worldwide, the WHO changed their classification of COVID-19 from a public health emergency of international concern to a pandemic. The SARS-CoV-2 virus has been shown to be much more resistant to environmental degradation than other coated viruses. Several studies have shown that environmental conditions can influence its viability and infectivity. This review summarizes current knowledge on the transmission pathways of the novel coronavirus, and directs attention towards potentially underestimated factors that affect its propagation, notably indoor spread and outdoor risk sources. The contributions of significant indoor factors such as ventilation systems to the spread of this virus need to be carefully ascertained. Outdoor risk sources such as aerosolized particles emitted during wastewater treatment and particulate matter (PM), both of which may act as virus carriers, should be examined as well. This study shows the influence of certain underestimated factors on the environmental behavior and survival of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. These aspects of coronavirus propagation need to be accounted for when devising actions to limit not only the current pandemic but also future outbreaks.

Advances in technological control of greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater in the context of circular economy.

This review paper aims to identify the main sources of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and highlights the technologies developed for CO2 capture in this milieu. CO2 is emitted in all the operational units of conventional WWTPs and even after the disposal of treated effluents and sludges. CO2 emissions from wastewater can be captured or mitigated by several technologies such as the production of biochar from sludge, the application of constructed wetlands (CWs), the treatment of wastewater in microbial electrochemical processes (microbial electrosynthesis, MES; microbial electrolytic carbon capture, MECC; in microbial carbon capture, MCC), and via microalgal cultivation. Sludge-to-biochar and CW systems showed a high cost-effectiveness in the capture of CO2, while MES, MECC, MCC technologies, and microalgal cultivation offered efficient capture of CO2 with associate production of value-added by-products. At the state-of-the-art, these technologies, utilized for carbon capture and utilization from wastewater, require more research for further configuration, development and cost-effectiveness. Moreover, the integration of these technologies has a potential internal rate of return (IRR) that could equate the operation or provide additional revenue to wastewater management. In the context of circular economy, these carbon capture technologies will pave the way for new sustainable concepts of WWTPs, as an essential element for the mitigation of climate change fostering the transition to a decarbonised economy.

Recovery of iodide as triiodide from thin-film transistor liquid crystal display wastewater by forward osmosis.

Triiodide, a larger charged molecule compared to iodide, is thermodynamically favored with the presence of both iodide and iodine, and is easier to be retained by membrane processes. For the first time, iodide was recovered in the form of triiodide by forward osmosis (FO) for thin-film transistor liquid crystal display industries by preoxidation of iodide to triiodide. Partial oxidation by NaOCl was used to convert the iodide to iodine and then to form triiodide. Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium salt (EDTA-2Na), a commonly used chelating agent in the industry, was used as the draw solute because of its low reverse salt flux. The results revealed that the ideal efficiency of iodide recovery was at pH 3 with a preoxidation (adding 0.0150 M NaClO) for the 0.048 M iodide wastewater with a recovery of 98.5%. Additionally, the Pourbaix diagram and starch indicator were used to verify the formation of triiodide. Membrane distillation was demonstrated to recover the EDTA-2Na draw solute, and more than 99% of recoveries for the draw solutes with initial water flux of 12.0 L/m2 h were achieved, indicating that simultaneous recovery of the EDTA-2Na draw solute and water is feasible.

Integration of ceramic membrane and compressed air-assisted solvent extraction (CASX) for metal recovery.

In our previous publications, compressed air-assisted solvent extraction process (CASX) was developed and proved to be kinetically efficient process for metal removal. In the current study, CASX with a ceramic MF membrane integrated for separation of spent solvent was employed to remove and recover metal from wastewater. MF was operated either in crossflow mode or dead-end with intermittent flushing mode. Under crossflow mode, three distinct stages of flux vs. TMP (trans-membrane pressure) relationship were observed. In the first stage, flux increases with increasing TMP which is followed by the stage of stable flux with increasing TMP. After reaching a threshold TMP which is dependent of crossflow velocity, flux increases again with increasing TMP. At the last stage, solvent was pushed through membrane pores as indicated by increasing permeate COD. In dead-end with intermittent flushing mode, an intermittent flushing flow (2 min after a 10-min or a 30-min dead-end filtration) was incorporated to reduce membrane fouling by flush out MSAB accumulated on membrane surface. Effects of solvent concentration and composition were also investigated. Solvent concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 1% (w/w) have no adverse effect in terms of membrane fouling. However, solvent composition, i.e. D(2)EHPA/kerosene ratio, shows impact on membrane fouling. The type of metal extractants employed in CASX has significant impact on both membrane fouling and the quality of filtrate due to the differences in their viscosity and water solubility. Separation of MSAB was the limiting process controlling metal removal efficiency, and the removal efficiency of Cd(II) and Cr(VI) followed the same trend as that for COD.

Concentration and purification of chromate from electroplating wastewater by two-stage electrodialysis processes.

A designed two-stage electrodialysis system is proposed to concentrate and purify chromate from a low pH electroplating wastewater using monovalent selective electrodialysis membranes. With low pH of the raw water (pH 2.2) in the first stage, chromate was presented as HCrO(4)(-) and monovalent ions (HCrO(4)(-), NH(2)SO(3)(-), Na(+) and Cl(-)) were able to pass through the membrane thus chromate was concentrated up to 191%. Higher current density, flowrate and more membrane area all increased the chromium recovery. When pH was adjusted to 8.5 before entering the second stage, the chromate species was presented as divalent CrO(4)(2-) and retained in the concentrated stream, and the rest monovalent ions (NH(2)SO(3)(-), Na(+) and Cl(-)) were separated by passing through the membrane. For example, 45% of the chlorides were separated in this study. The separation efficiencies in the second stage were also increased when the current density, flowrate and membrane area were increased. Electron Spectroscopy for Chemical Analysis was used to examine the surface chromate species for stage 1, and anion exchange membrane showed more chromate fouling comparing to cation exchange membrane due to more adsorption and concentration polarization effects for the anion exchange membrane.

Cryolite (Na3AlF6) crystallization for fluoride recovery using an electrolytic process equipped with a sacrificial aluminum anode.

An electro-crystallization process equipped with a sacrificial aluminum anode was operated under an optimum condition to promote the formation of crystalline cryolite for the recovery of fluoride from synthetic F-containing wastewater. The effects of pH, Al/F molar ratio, initial F concentration, and electrolytes were investigated experimentally, and the results were compared with data obtained from chemical equilibrium modeling. Cryolite was successfully produced under optimum pH values of 5 to 6 and Al/F molar ratios of less than 1/6. The F removal increased with increasing Al/F molar ratio until reaching the molar ratio of 1/6 and decreased thereafter due to the formation of AlFn3-n species. The adsorption of AlFn3-n by Al(OH)3 precipitates contributed part of F removal. The removal efficiency reached 100% when the initial fluoride concentration was high while it was around 90% with the low initial fluoride concentration. XRD and SEM/EDX analysis showed that the obtained solids matched well to the commercial cryolite. Finally, the operating costs of chemical-crystallization (the process with Al ions added chemically) and electro-crystallization were compared, and the cost of the former was less than the latter. Energy consumption was the main contributor to the operating cost of the electro-crystallization process.

Compressed air-assisted solvent extraction (CASX) for metal removal.

A novel process, compressed air-assisted solvent extraction (CASX), was developed to generate micro-sized solvent-coated air bubbles (MSAB) for metal extraction. Through pressurization of solvent with compressed air followed by releasing air-oversaturated solvent into metal-containing wastewater, MSAB were generated instantaneously. The enormous surface area of MSAB makes extraction process extremely fast and achieves very high aqueous/solvent weight ratio (A/S ratio). CASX process completely removed Cr(VI) from acidic electroplating wastewater under A/S ratio of 115 and extraction time of less than 10s. When synthetic wastewater containing Cd(II) of 50mgl(-1) was treated, A/S ratios of higher than 714 and 1190 could be achieved using solvent with extractant/diluent weight ratio of 1:1 and 5:1, respectively. Also, MSAB have very different physical properties, such as size and density, compared to the emulsified solvent droplets, making separation and recovery of solvent from treated effluent very easy.

Polyelectrolyte enhanced ultrafiltration (PEUF) for the removal of Cd(II): effects of organic ligands and solution pH.

This study focused on the effects of pH and organic ligands, namely ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA), and citric acids, on the removal and recovery of Cd(II) in polyelectrolyte enhanced ultrafiltration (PEUF). Polyethylenimine (PEI), which can bind with both positively charged metal ions by coordination bonding and negatively charged ligand-metal complexes by charge attraction, was employed as a chelating polymer. The removal and recovery of Cd species was greatly dependent on the chemistry of organic ligands according to solution pH, particularly being related to the distribution of Cd-ligand complexes at different pH levels. In the presence of EDTA, the dominant Cd species are negatively charged Cd(EDTA)(2-) and CdH(EDTA)(-) over the range of pH levels investigated, interacting with PEI via electrostatic attraction and being less pH dependent. On the other hand, the pH effects of both NTA and citric acid systems are similar to that for the system without organic ligands. This was associated with the fact that free Cd ions were predominant at the acidic pH range in both NTA and citric acid systems.

Pressurized CO2/zero valent iron system for nitrate removal.

A fluidized zero valent iron (ZVI) reactor pressurized by CO(2) gas for controlling pH was employed for nitrate reduction. The proposed CO(2) pressurized system potentially has advantages of using less CO(2) gas and reaching equilibrium pH faster than CO(2)-bubbled system. However, due to weak acid nature of carbonic acid, system pH gradually increased with increasing oxidation of ZVI and reduction of nitrate. As pH increased with progress of reaction, nitrate removal rate decreased continuously. The results indicate that nitrate removal efficiency increases with increasing initial ZVI dosage but reaches plateau at ZVI doses of higher than 8.25gl(-1), and initial nitrate concentration up to 100mg l(-1) as N has minimal impact on the removal efficiency. Unlike the fluidized system with pH control by strong acid reported in our pervious study, near 100% of nitrogen recovery was observed in the current process, indicating that nitrate reduction by ZVI with different pH controlled mechanisms will have different reaction routes.