The treatment of solvent recovery raffinate by aerobic granular sludge in a pilot-scale sequencing batch reactor.

Mature aerobic granular sludge (AGS) was inoculated for the start-up of a pilot-scale sequencing batch reactor for the treatment of high concentration solvent recovery raffinate (SRR). The proportion of simulated wastewater (SW) (w/w) in the influent gradually decreased to zero during the operation, while volume of SRR gradually increased from zero to 10.84 L. AGS was successfully domesticated after 48 days, which maintained its structure during the operation. The domesticated AGS was orange, irregular, smooth and compact. Sludge volume index (SVI), SV30/SV5, mixed liquor volatile suspended solids/mixed liquor suspended solids (MLVSS/MLSS), extracellular polymeric substances, proteins/polysaccharides, average particle size, granulation rate, specific oxygen utilization rates (SOUR)H and (SOUR)N of AGS were about 38 mL/g, 0.97, 0.52, 39.73 mg/g MLVSS, 1.17, 1.51 mm, 96.66%, 47.40 mg O2/h g volatile suspended solids (VSS) and 8.96 mg O2/h g VSS, respectively. Good removal effect was achieved by the reactor. Finally, the removal rates of chemical oxygen demand (COD), total inorganic nitrogen (TIN), NH4+-N and total phosphorus (TP) were more than 98%, 96%, 97% and 97%, respectively. The result indicated gradually increasing the proportion of real wastewater in influent was a useful domestication method, and the feasibility of AGS for treatment of high C/N ratio industrial wastewater.

Tolerance to organic loading rate by aerobic granular sludge in a cyclic aerobic granular reactor.

Sodium acetate as carbon source, tolerance to organic loading rate (OLR) by aerobic granular sludge in a cyclic aerobic granular reactor (CAGR) was investigated by gradually increasing the influent COD. AGS could maintain stability in the continuous flow reactor under OLR⩽15kg/m(3)d in the former 65 days, and SVI, granulation rate, average particle size and water content was 21 ml/g, 98%, 1.8mm and 97.2% on the 65th day. However, AGS gradually disintegrated after the 66 th day when OLR increased to 18 kg/m(3)d, and granules' properties deteriorated rapidly in a short time. High removal rates to pollutants were achieved by CAGR in the former 65 days, but the removal rates of pollutants dropped sharply from the 66 th day. With the increase of OLR and particle size, anaerobic cores inside the granules were formed by massive dead cells, while instability of anaerobic core eventually led to the collapse of the system.

[Influence of the Application of Activated Persulfate on Municipal Sludge Conditioning].

The water content of dewatered sewage sludge can decrease at about 80% by traditional sludge dewatering technologies. High water content has negative impacts on the sequent sludge disposal with a stricter standard. The sulfate free radical SO4(*-), generated by activated persulfate, is a powerful oxidant. This article found that it could improve sludge dewatering properties by using the Fe2+ activated sodium persulfate (SPS). The results showed that when using Fe2+ 25.88 mg x g(-1) (based on dry sludge solid) and S2 O8(2-) 80 mg x g(-1) (the mole ratio of Fe2+ to S2 O8(2-) was 1.1 : 1) for sludge conditioning, it could reduce the capillary suction time (CST) and specific resistance to filtration (RSF) of sludge, increased the protein and ploysaccharide as well as the COD concentration in the filtrate. The further research showed that this method could change the zeta potential of sludge, increased the sludge particle specific surface area, and made flocs become a loose layered structure from dense clusters, which was beneficial to improve the sludge dewaterability.

[Research on cultivation of aerobic granular sludge and its characteristics in sequencing fed batch reactor].

Aerobic granular sludge was cultivated in the sequencing fed batch reactor, and granules' characteristic and reactor's performance to the pollutants were studied. The SFBR was operated under the conditions as: inoculated with activated sludge former self-cultivated, fed with simulated wastewater, and continuous feed/intermittent discharge and alternately anaerobic/aerobic operation mode. The results showed that through gradually decreasing the settling time, aerobic granular sludge was successfully cultivated in 28 days, which was yellow, irregular shape, and small particle size (the average particle size was 0.56 mm). Under normal circumstances, the SVI stayed under 70 mLg-1. EPS (as MLVSS) reached the maximum 373.24 mg.g-1 on the 59 d, which increased about 2.5 times over the inoculums. However, EPS decreased sharply during the later period due to the disintegration of aerobic granular sludge. MLSS was always below 3 000 mg L -1 during the middle and later periods in the reactor. During the 63 days' operation, the removal rate of COD by the reactor maintained at about 90% except the abnormal circumstances, and the effluent COD was less than 100 mg.L-1. TIN and ammonia nitrogen's removal efficiency by the reactor fluctuated greatly, and the removal rates were 44.45% -94. 72% and 43. 87% -93. 13% respectively. The removal rate of TP was between 44. 50% -97. 40% , which could remain above 60% under normal circumstances. Limited to the automatic control level, AGS was disadvantage in the competition with filamentous bacteria that overgrew easily during the long time aerobic starvation period at night, which eventually led to the collapse of AGS.

The stability of aerobic granular sludge treating municipal sludge deep dewatering filtrate in a bench scale sequencing batch reactor.

Inoculated with mature aerobic granular sludge in a sequencing batch reactor, gradually increasing the proportion of municipal sludge deep dewatering filtrate in influent, aerobic granular sludge was domesticated after 84 days and maintained its structure during the operation. The domesticated AGS was yellowish-brown, dense and irregular spherical shape, average size was 1.49 mm, water content and specific density were 98.13% and 1.0114, the SVI and settling velocity were 40 ml/g and 46.5m/h. After 38 days, NO3(-)-N accumulated obviously in the reactor as lack of carbon sources. When adding 1-3g solid CH3COONa at 4.5 and 5.5h of each cycle from the 57th day, the removal rate of TN rose to above 90% after 20 days, where effective COD removal and denitrification were realized in a single bioreactor. Finally, the removal rates of COD, TP, TN and NH4(+)-N were higher than 95%, 88%, 96% and 99%.

Rapid cultivation of aerobic granular sludge in a pilot scale sequencing batch reactor.

Aerobic granular sludge which had good performance to pollutants removal was successfully cultivated within 18 days in a pilot scale sequencing batch reactor, about 25% mature aerobic granular sludge was inoculated when the setting time of activated sludge was reduced to 10 min. Anaerobic biological selector was implemented to inhibit filamentous bacteria overgrowth, where the maximum COD could reach to 1703.74 mg/L. The cultivated aerobic granular sludge was irregular and pale yellow, average particle size, SVI, SV30/SV5, PN/PS, EPS and water content were 1.58 mm, 67.64 mL/g, 0.91, 2.17, 268.90 mg EPS/g MLVSS and 98.16% on the 18th day. Mechanism of rapid granulation mainly included crystal nucleus hypothesis and selection pressure hypothesis. The inoculated aerobic granules could maintain stable under short setting time environment, making it directly as the crystal nucleus and the carriers for new particles without obvious disintegration, which eventually shortened the granulation time greatly.

[Treatment of sludge liquor produced in deep dehydration by photoelectro-Fenton process].

Photoelectro-Fenton process was developed to treat the sludge liquor produced in deep dehydration. The results indicated that pollutants could be removed efficiently from the sludge liquor. Under the optimum condition of pH 3.0, H2O2 concentration of 65.3 mmol x L(-1), FeSO4 concentration of 6.53 mmol x L(-1) [ n(Fe2+): n (H2O2) = 1:10], 7.5V, the COD removal efficiency reached 59.0 % after 20 min treatment. The removal efficiency of TOC, TN, NH: -N and TP could reach 49. 3% , 20. 6% , 73.6% and 96.5% , respectively. This study would provide the reference for photoelectro-Fenton process in real wastewater treatment.

[Influence of non-ionic surfactants on sludge dewaterability].

The water content of dewatered sludge cake decreases to about 80% by current sludge dewatering technologies, which hardly satisfies the stricter standards of sludge disposal. In order to evaluate the effects of non-ionic surfactants on sludge dewaterability, two kinds of non-ionic surfactants (OPEO and APG) were studied by using two evaluation indexes, i. e. , specific resistance to filtration (SRF) and dewatering efficiency. Moreover, morphologies of conditioned sewage sludge and raw sludge were comparatively investigated. Results showed that non-ionic surfactants can decrease the particle size of sewage sludge floc and generate more homogenous and regular shape, and then improve the dewatering efficiency. APG has better effect on sewage sludge dewatering than OPEO. SRF of conditioned sludge with APG dosage of 0.05% DS decreased to 42% of SRF of raw sludge, and its dewatering efficiency was as high as 93%. Plate-frame pressure filter experiment demonstrated that, the water content of dewatered cake conditioned with APG dosage of 0.05% DS was lower by about 10% than that of dewatered cake without APG, and its dewatering efficiency reached 97%. Therefore, this research provides some reference for the application of APG in sludge dewatering.

Emission characteristics of nitrogen- and sulfur-containing odorous compounds during different sewage sludge chemical conditioning processes.

Chemical conditioners are often used to enhance sewage sludge dewaterability through altering sludge properties and flocs structure, both affect odorous compounds emissions not only during sludge conditioning but also in subsequent sludge disposal. This study was to investigate emission characteristics of ammonia (NH(3)), sulfur dioxide (SO(2)), hydrogen sulfide (H(2)S) and carbonyl sulfide (COS) generated from sewage sludge conditioned by three representative conditioners, i.e., organic polymers, iron salts and skeleton builders, F-S (Fenton's reagent and skeleton builders) composite conditioner. The results demonstrate that polyacrylamide (PAM) has an insignificant effect on emission characteristics of nitrogen- and sulfur-containing odorous compounds, because the properties, sulfur and nitrogen speciations are similar in PAM-conditioned sludge and raw sludge (RS). Significant increases of SO(2) and H(2)S emissions in the H(2)SO(4) conditioning process were observed due to the accelerated decomposition of sulfur-containing amino acids in acidic environment. Fenton peroxidation facilitates the formation of COS. CaO can reduce sulfur-containing gases emission via generation of calcium sulfate. However, under strong alkaline conditions, free ammonia or protonated amine in sludge can be easily converted to volatile ammonia, resulting in a significant release of NH(3).

[Relationship of evaluation indexes of sludge dewatering performance under different conditioning programs].

Performances of different sludge conditioners are difficult to evaluate due to the use of various evaluation indexes. Taking several traditional sludge conditioners, e.g. PAM, FeCl3 and inorganic composite conditioners as examples and five evaluation indexes include specific resistance to filtration (SRF), capillary suction time (CST), sludge settling performance, water content of sludge cake and dewatering efficiency, were investigated respectively in order to study the correlation among those indexes. The results indicate a significant positive linear correlation between SRF and CST (R2 values are 0.96 and 0.93, respectively) after adding different types of conditioners or different amount of conditioners. While they can precisely reflect plate and frame filter press efficiency, but they fail to predict the effects of centrifugal dewatering. Sludge settling performance presents the similar tendencies with SRF and CST. Since there is only limited correlation rather than strict correspondence between water content of sludge cake and dewatering efficiency. Thus, both factors should be considered synthetically in optimizing dosage performances.