Comparative study of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) removal from landfill leachate.

Landfill leachate is one of the major point sources of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) pollution. In this study, powdered activated carbon (PAC), granular activated carbon (GAC), anion exchange resin (AIX), nanofiltration (NF), ozonation, and foam fractionation were tested for treatment of the same leachate. These methods were compared in terms of PFAS removal efficiencies and treatment cost. More than 75% removal of long-chain PFAS (6-9 CF2) could be achieved with all the studied methods, though with high resource consumption. It was demonstrated that PFAS breakthrough was up to 27 times faster when the leachate was treated with GAC and AIX compared to groundwater treatment. Nanofiltration was the only method which could be practically applied for removal of PFAS with the shortest fluorinated carbon chain (3-4 CF2). Foam fractionation and AIX offered the most economical treatment, with an estimated cost of < 1 €/m3 for PFOS and PFOA reduction to ≥ 90%. The cost of treatment was shown to increase exponentially if the goal of > 60% ΣPFAS11 removal was applied. It was also discussed that composite parameters that include expected toxicity of different PFAS, such as ΣPFOAeq, should be used to obtain a cost-efficient reduction of PFAS-induced water toxicity.

Mainstream wastewater treatment in integrated fixed film activated sludge (IFAS) reactor by partial nitritation/anammox process.

In this study the system based on the combination of biofilm and activated sludge (IFAS - integrated fixed film activated sludge) was tested and compared with a system that relies only on biofilm (MBBR - moving bed biofilm reactor) for nitrogen removal from municipal wastewater by deammonification process. By introduction of suspended biomass into MBBR the nitrogen removal efficiency increased from 36 ± 3% to 70 ± 4% with simultaneous 3-fold increase of nitrogen removal rate. Results of batch tests and continuous reactor operation showed that organotrophic nitrate reduction to nitrite, followed by anammox reaction contributed to this high removal efficiency. After sCOD/NH4-N ratio decreased from 1.8 ± 0.2 to 1.3 ± 0.1 removal efficiency decreased to 52 ± 4%, while still maintaining 150% higher removal rate, comparing to MBBR. Activity tests revealed that affinity of NOB to oxygen is higher than affinity of AOB with half-saturation constants of 0.05 and 0.41 mg/L, respectively.

Combination of upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor and partial nitritation/anammox moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) for municipal wastewater treatment.

In this study the combination of an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor and a deammonification moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) for mainstream wastewater treatment was tested. The competition between aerobic ammonium oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) was studied during a 5months period of transition from reject water to mainstream wastewater followed by a 16months period of mainstream wastewater treatment. The decrease of influent ammonium concentration led to a wash-out of suspended biomass which had a major contribution to nitrite production. Influence of a dissolved oxygen concentration and a transient anoxia mechanism of NOB suppression were studied. It was shown that anoxic phase duration has no effect on NOB metabolism recovery and oxygen diffusion rather than affinities of AOB and NOB to oxygen determine the rate of nitrogen conversion in a biofilm system. Anammox activity remained on the level comparable to reject water treatment systems.

Ammonium removal by partial nitritation and Anammox processes from wastewater with increased salinity.

This work is dedicated to the biological treatment of wastewater with increased salinity using a combination of partial nitritation and Anammox processes. Two one-stage deammonification moving bed biofilm reactors were operated with the increase in NaCl concentration every two weeks by 5 and 2.5 g/L. The strategy with a step of 5 g/L of salinity increase led to complete inhibition of the process at the salinity level of 15 g/L. The strategy with a step of 2.5 g/L gave possibility to adapt bacteria to the elevated salinity. After reaching the salinity level of 10 g NaCl/L, the reactor was operated during 92 days with a nitrogen removal rate of 0.39±0.19 g N/(m2·day) (0.078±0.038 kg N/m3·day) and an average nitrogen removal efficiency of 59%. It was shown that conductivity cannot be used for monitoring the process when a reactor is treating wastewater with increased salinity, whereas pH can be correlated to effluent ammonium concentration regardless of wastewater salinity.

Pre-concentration of ammonium to enhance treatment of wastewater using the partial nitritation/anammox process.

The anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) process is one of the most cost-effective technologies for removing excessive nitrogen compounds from effluents of wastewater treatment plants. The study was conducted to assess the feasibility of using ion exchange (IE) and reverse osmosis (RO) methods to concentrate ammonium to support partial nitritation/anammox process, which so far has been used for treating only wastewater with high concentrations of ammonium. Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor effluents with 40.40, 37.90 and 21.80 mg NH4─N/L levels were concentrated with IE method to 367.20, 329.50 and 187.50 mg NH4─N/L, respectively, which were about nine times the initial concentrations. RO method was also used to concentrate 41.0 mg NH4─N/L of UASB effluent to 163 mg NH4─N/L at volume reduction factor 5. The rates of nitrogen removal from respective RO pretreated concentrates by partial nitritation/anammox technology were 0.60, 1.10 and 0.50 g N/m2 day. The rates were largely influenced by initial nitrogen concentration. However, rates of RO concentrates were 0.74, 0.92 and 0.81 g N/m2 day even at lower initial NH4─N concentration. It was found out from the study that higher salinity decreased the rate of nitrogen removal when using partial nitritation/anammox process. Dissolved oxygen concentration of ∼1 mg/L was optimal for the operation of the partial nitritation/anammox process when treating IE and RO concentrates. The result shows that IE and RO methods can precede a partial nitritation/anammox process to enhance the treatment of wastewater with low ammonium loads.

Combination of ion exchange and partial nitritation/Anammox process for ammonium removal from mainstream municipal wastewater.

In this study, a new technology of nitrogen removal from mainstream municipal wastewater is proposed. It is based on ammonium removal by ion exchange and regeneration of ion exchange material with 10-30 g/L NaCl solution with further nitrogen removal from spent regenerant by partial nitritation/Anammox process. Influence of regenerant strength on performance of ion exchange and biological parts of the proposed technology was evaluated. Moreover, the technology was tested in batch mode using pretreated municipal wastewater, strong acid cation (SAC) resin and partial nitritation/Anammox biomass. It was shown that with ion exchange it is possible to remove 99.9% of ammonium from wastewater while increasing the concentration of ammonium in spent regenerant by 18 times. Up to 95% of nitrogen from spent regenerant, produced by regeneration of SAC resin with 10 g/L NaCl solution, was removed biologically by partial nitritation/Anammox biomass. Moreover, the possibilities of integration of the technology into municipal wastewater treatment technology, and the challenges and advantages are discussed.