ABSTRACT
The current study presents results concerning the effect of a static magnetic field (SMF) on synthetic wastewater biodegradation by activated sludge and on dehydrogenase activity of microorganisms of activated sludge. The highest process efficiency was obtained for a SMF of 0.0075 T among the tested magnetic flux density values of 0.005-0.14 T. Decrease in COD was 25% higher for the bioreactor exposed to SMF compared with control experiments. The positive effect of SMF 0.0075-0.0080 T was confirmed in experiments on the dehydrogenase activity of activated sludge. It was also shown that a SMF of 0.007 T increased p-nitroaniline removal from wastewater and influenced the recombination frequency in a streptomycin-resistant bacteria strain of Eschercihia coli.
Subject(s)
Magnetic Fields , Waste Disposal, Fluid/methods , Wastewater/analysis , Water Pollutants, Chemical/analysis , Anti-Bacterial Agents/pharmacology , Bacteria/metabolism , Biodegradation, Environmental , Drug Resistance, Bacterial , Escherichia coli/drug effects , Oxidoreductases/analysis , Recombination, Genetic , Sewage/microbiology , Streptomycin/pharmacology , Waste Disposal, Fluid/instrumentationABSTRACT
The goal of this study was to assess the efficiency of treating industrial urea-formaldehyde wastewater by activated sludge in a static magnetic field (MF) of 7 mT and the efficiency of treating the wastewater in a bioreactor not exposed to an MF. Exposure to the MF increased formaldehyde (FA) removal from industrial wastewater with an FA concentration of 1600 mg/l by 20%. The MF had also a positive effect on the efficiency of chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal, and bacteria and activated sludge biomass growth, especially when the COD loading increased rapidly. Industrial wastewater may contain up to 13000 mg FA/l. Therefore, its treatment can require the application of more than one method to ensure that the final FA concentration will be within the permissible limit. The application of an MF to enhance the biological processes may be favourable solution to this problem.
Subject(s)
Bioreactors , Formaldehyde/metabolism , Magnetic Fields , Urea/metabolism , Waste Disposal, Fluid/methods , Water Pollutants, Chemical/metabolism , Water Purification/methods , Biodegradation, Environmental , Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis , Biomass , Sewage/microbiologyABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to determine the impact of a static magnetic field (MF) of 7 mT on formaldehyde (FA) biodegradation by activated sludge in synthetic wastewater. The MF had a positive effect on activated sludge biomass growth and dehydrogenase activity. The influence of the MF on the degradation process was observed with a FA concentration of 2400-2880 mg/l. Decreases in FA concentration and chemical oxygen demand (COD) were greater, by 30% and 26% respectively, than those in the control sample. At initial FA concentrations in raw wastewater of 2400 and 2880 mg/l, a decrease in the wastewater biodegradation efficiency was observed. This resulted in an increase of the ecotoxicity of the effluent to Daphnia magna. The value of the sludge biotic index (SBI) was dependent on the FA concentration in raw wastewater and the induction of the MF.
Subject(s)
Bacteria/metabolism , Formaldehyde/metabolism , Magnetic Fields , Sewage/microbiology , Waste Disposal, Fluid/methods , Water Pollutants, Chemical/metabolism , Water Purification/methods , Animals , Biodegradation, Environmental/radiation effects , Daphnia/drug effects , Water Pollutants, Chemical/toxicityABSTRACT
Microbial contamination of a water distribution system was examined. The number and the taxonomy of non-pigmented and pigmented heterotrophic bacteria (HB), number of bacteria (Pseudomonas sp., Enterococcus sp., Campylobacter sp., Yersinia sp., representatives of the Enterobacteriaceae, coagulase-positive staphylococci, and C. pefringens) in the bulk water phase, biomass of zoogloeal aggregates of bacteria, fungi, algae, protozoa and rotifers (ZABFAPR) (separated from the above on 5 microm pore size filters) and in pipe sediments was determined. An increased number of HB occurred at the sampling sites situated as close as 4.2 km to the Water Treatment Plant (WTP), and was especially significant at 10.3 km. It was shown that the main reservoir of hygienically relevant bacteria did not occur in the water phase which is monitored in routine control analyses carried out by the WTP laboratories, but in the ZABFAPR biomass not monitored so far.
