Predicting impacts of water conservation with a stochastic sewer model.

Population growth and climate change put a strain on water resources; hence, there are growing initiatives to reduce water use. Reducing household water use will likely reduce sewer input. This work demonstrates the use of a stochastic sewer model to quantify the effect water conservation has on sewer hydraulics and wastewater concentration. Probabilistic discharge patterns have been developed using SIMDEUM WW® and fed into hydraulic modelling software InfoWorks ICM® to produce likely flow and quality profiles for five future water use scenarios. The scenarios tested were developed to outline how commercial and political factors may change water use in future. Scenario testing revealed that 15-60% water reduction reflected a 1-48% drop in the morning peak flow. The water use reduction was predicted to increase wastewater concentrations of chemical oxygen demand (COD), total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) and total phosphorus (TPH) by 55-180%, 19-116% and 30-206% respectively. The sewer flow model was developed, calibrated and validated using a case study in the Wessex Water region of the UK and all future scenarios were compared to the validated baseline case. This wastewater flow and quality model allows scenario testing, which could help redesign future sewer networks to better prepare for water conservation strategies.

Organic waste as a sustainable feedstock for platform chemicals.

Biorefineries have been established since the 1980s for biofuel production, and there has been a switch lately from first to second generation feedstocks in order to avoid the food versus fuel dilemma. To a lesser extent, many opportunities have been investigated for producing chemicals from biomass using by-products of the present biorefineries, simple waste streams. Current facilities apply intensive pre-treatments to deal with single substrate types such as carbohydrates. However, most organic streams such as municipal solid waste or algal blooms present a high complexity and variable mixture of molecules, which makes specific compound production and separation difficult. Here we focus on flexible anaerobic fermentation and hydrothermal processes that can treat complex biomass as a whole to obtain a range of products within an integrated biorefinery concept.

A novel bacteriophage cocktail reduces and disperses Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms under static and flow conditions.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic human pathogen that forms highly stable communities - biofilms, which contribute to the establishment and maintenance of infections. The biofilm state and intrinsic/acquired bacterial resistance mechanisms contribute to resistance/tolerance to antibiotics that is frequently observed in P. aeruginosa isolates. Here we describe the isolation and characterization of six novel lytic bacteriophages: viruses that infect bacteria, which together efficiently infect and kill a wide range of P. aeruginosa clinical isolates. The phages were used to formulate a cocktail with the potential to eliminate P. aeruginosa PAO1 planktonic cultures. Two biofilm models were studied, one static and one dynamic, and the phage cocktail was assessed for its ability to reduce and disperse the biofilm biomass. For the static model, after 4 h of contact with the phage suspension (MOI 10) more than 95% of biofilm biomass was eliminated. In the flow biofilm model, a slower rate of activity by the phage was observed, but 48 h after addition of the phage cocktail the biofilm was dispersed, with most cells eliminated (> 4 logs) comparing with the control. This cocktail has the potential for development as a therapeutic to control P. aeruginosa infections, which are predominantly biofilm centred.

Combined use of bacteriophage K and a novel bacteriophage to reduce Staphylococcus aureus biofilm formation.

Biofilms are major causes of impairment of wound healing and patient morbidity. One of the most common and aggressive wound pathogens is Staphylococcus aureus, displaying a large repertoire of virulence factors and commonly reduced susceptibility to antibiotics, such as the spread of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). Bacteriophages are obligate parasites of bacteria. They multiply intracellularly and lyse their bacterial host, releasing their progeny. We isolated a novel phage, DRA88, which has a broad host range among S. aureus bacteria. Morphologically, the phage belongs to the Myoviridae family and comprises a large double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) genome of 141,907 bp. DRA88 was mixed with phage K to produce a high-titer mixture that showed strong lytic activity against a wide range of S. aureus isolates, including representatives of the major international MRSA clones and coagulase-negative Staphylococcus. Its efficacy was assessed both in planktonic cultures and when treating established biofilms produced by three different biofilm-producing S. aureus isolates. A significant reduction of biofilm biomass over 48 h of treatment was recorded in all cases. The phage mixture may form the basis of an effective treatment for infections caused by S. aureus biofilms.

Biofuel cells and their development.

This review considers the literature published since 1994 on microbial and enzymatic biofuel cells. Types of biofuel cell are classified according to the nature of the electrode reaction and the nature of the biochemical reactions. The performance of fuel cells is critically reviewed and a variety of possible applications is considered. The current direction of development of biofuel cells is carefully analysed. While considerable chemical development of enzyme electrodes has occurred, relatively little progress has been made towards the engineering development biofuel cells. The limit of performance of biofuel cells is highlighted and suggestions for future research directions are provided.

Membrane bioreactors for treating waste streams.

Membrane bioreactors (MBRs) have a number of advantages for treating wastewater containing large quantities of BOD. This paper reviews the inherent advantages of an MBR, which include high potential biomass loadings, lower sludge yields, and retention of specialized organisms that may not settle well in clarifiers. A major problem in effluent treatment occurs when mixed inorganic and organic wastes occur with high concentrations of pollutants. Inorganics that might cause extremes of pH and/or salinity will inhibit microbial growth and only specialized organisms can survive under these conditions. Refractory organics are only biodegraded with difficulty by specialized organisms, which usually do not resist the extreme inorganic environments. The use of membrane bioreactors to help separate the micro-organisms from the inorganic compounds, yet permit the organics to permeate, has been developed in two different designs that are outlined in this paper. The use of membrane contactors in a multimembrane stripping system to treat acidic chlorinated wastes is proposed and discussed.

Turnup turndown of membrane operation of membrane bioreactors.

Membrane bioreactors can be operated with intermittent permeation and continuous aeration. Aeration close to the surface of a submerged membrane helps to maintain a membrane surface that is free from fouling. The conditions under which this occurs depend on the interaction between flux and aeration rate. Increased flux is possible without severe fouling if the aeration rate is increased. Results of performing membrane operation under the dual intermittency of aeration rate and permeation rate, with permeation also interrupted on a regular cycle, are presented. The results show that membrane plants designed for optimal operation at moderate flux can survive effectively with higher flux operation for restricted periods. Designing to account for such effects could reduce overall plant costs.