Modification of a plant-scale semi-centralized wastewater treatment system to enhance nitrogen and phosphorus removal from black water.

Owing to the low ratio of chemical oxygen demand to total nitrogen (SCOD/TN), effective removal of nutrient pollutants from black water is difficult. In this study, to enhance nitrogen and phosphorus removal from such wastewater, a series of operational modification strategies was investigated and applied to a plant-scale semi-centralized system used for black water treatment. The results showed that 21 mg Fe3+/L was the optimal dosage for the chemical-enhanced pretreatment process, achieving average removal efficiencies of 51.1 and 74.1% for organics and phosphorus, respectively, with a slight enhancement in nitrogen removal by 2.3%. However, nitrogen and phosphorus removal could be further enhanced to 88 and 96%, by the addition of carbon sources in the post-anoxic zone of the reversed anaerobic-anoxic-aerobic process. Contrastingly, neither the addition of carbon sources in the pre-anoxic zone nor the prolongation of the time for pre-denitrification could significantly improve the nitrogen and phosphorus removal efficiencies. Furthermore, reducing the aeration intensity promoted simultaneous nitrification and denitrification in aerobic reactors, thereby making it a potential energy-saving method for system operation.

Ammonia-Oxidizing Archaea (AOA) Play with Ammonia-Oxidizing Bacteria (AOB) in Nitrogen Removal from Wastewater.

An increase in the number of publications in recent years indicates that besides ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB), ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) may play an important role in nitrogen removal from wastewater, gaining wide attention in the wastewater engineering field. This paper reviews the current knowledge on AOA and AOB involved in wastewater treatment systems and summarises the environmental factors affecting AOA and AOB. Current findings reveal that AOA have stronger environmental adaptability compared with AOB under extreme environmental conditions (such as low temperature and low oxygen level). However, there is still little information on the cooperation and competition relationship between AOA and AOB, and other microbes related to nitrogen removal, which needs further exploration. Furthermore, future studies are proposed to develop novel nitrogen removal processes dominated by AOA by parameter optimization.

Simultaneous carbon and nitrogen removal from anaerobic effluent of the cassava ethanol industry.

This study investigated the simultaneous carbon and nitrogen removal from anaerobic effluent of cassava stillage using a lab-scale integrated system consisting of an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor and an activated sludge (AS) process. Simultaneous denitrification and methanogenesis (SDM) was observed in the UASB with nitrate recirculation. Compared with the blank reactor without recirculation, the overall chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiencies in the combined system with nitrate recirculation were similar (80-90%), while the TN removal efficiencies were significantly improved from 4.7% to 71.0%. Additionally, the anaerobic COD removal efficiencies increased from 21% to 40% as the recirculation ratio decreased from 3 to 1. Although the influent nitrate concentrations fluctuated (60-140 mg N/L), the nitrate removal efficiencies could be maintained at about 97% under different recirculation conditions. With the decreasing recirculation ratio from 3 to 1, the CH4 content in biogas improved from 2% to 40% while the N2 content reduced from 95.8% to 50.6%. The 16S rDNA sequencing results indicated that bacteria diversity in anaerobic SDM granular sludge was much higher than archaea. The effect of recirculation ratios on the bacterial and archaeal communities in SDM granular sludge could be further confirmed by the relative abundance of denitrifying bacteria.

Modeling the pH effects on nitrogen removal in the anammox-enriched granular sludge.

The aim of the study was to determine the pH effects on nitrogen removal in the anammox-enriched granular sludge. The experimental data were extracted from a 4 L completely-mixed batch reactor with the granular sludge at different initial pH values (6, 6.5, 7, 7.5, 8, 8.5, 9, 9.5, 10, 10.5) and constant temperature T = 30 °C. Simulations were run in GPS-X 6.4 using a comprehensive mechanistic model Mantis2. Two kinetic parameters, the maximum specific growth rates of ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and anammox bacteria, were optimized at different pH scenarios. The inhibitory effects of the pH extremes on the anammox-enriched sludge were discussed in terms of the inhibition of free nitrous acid and free ammonia and metabolic mechanisms. Two different pH functions were used to examine the pH effects on the nitrogen removal kinetics. The pH optima for AOB and anammox bacteria were 7.4 and 7.6, respectively. The maximum specific growth rates of AOB and anammox bacteria at the pH optima were 0.81-0.85 d-1 and 0.36-0.38 d-1 (at T = 30 °C). The measured specific anammox activities (SAAs), predicted SAAs by Mantis2 and fitted SAAs by the Michaelis pH function at the pH optima were 0.895, 0.858 and 0.831 gN/(gVSS·d), respectively (VSS: volatile suspended solids).

Effective carbon and nitrogen removal with reduced sulfur oxidation in an anaerobic baffled reactor for fresh leachate treatment.

The application of an anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR) with four compartments was investigated for the simultaneous removal of carbon and nitrogen from leachate. The nitrified effluent was recycled to compartment 3 of the ABR, thereby avoiding the adverse influence of nitrogen oxides on anaerobic methanogenesis in compartment 1. Nitrified effluent recirculation not only enhanced chemical oxygen demand removal (>95.6%) but also improved the total nitrogen removal efficiency from 12.7% to 67.4% with increasing recirculation ratio from 0.25 to 2. The challenge of insufficient carbon sources for heterotrophic denitrification in compartment 3 with a high recirculation ratio could be overcome by step feeding of leachate. Moreover, various reduced sulfurs (e.g., sulfide, elemental sulfur, and organic sulfur) were involved in nitrate reduction via sulfur-based autotrophic denitrification. The addition of sulfide to compartment 3 further confirmed nitrate reduction using reduced sulfur as an electron donor. The interaction of organic carbon, reduced sulfur, and nitrate in leachate treatment needs further study.

Biorefinery approach for cassava-based industrial wastes: Current status and opportunities.

Cassava, an important food crop, has been extensively employed as raw materials for various agri-industries to produce starch, bioethanol and other biobased products/chemicals. These cassava-based industries also generate large quantities of wastes/residues, rich in organic matter and suspended solids, and pose significant environmental issues. Their complex biochemical composition with high organic content endows them with a great potential for bioconversion into value-added products via biorefinery thereby providing economic and environmental sustainability to cassava industries. This state-of-the-art review covers the source, composition and characteristics of cassava industrial wastes and residues, and their bioconversion into value-added products, mainly biofuels (ethanol and butanol), biogas, biosurfactant, organic acids and other valuable biochemicals among others. This paper also outlines future perspectives with respect to developing more effective and efficient bioconversion processes for converting the cassava wastes and residues into high-value products.

Interaction of organic carbon, reduced sulphur and nitrate in anaerobic baffled reactor for fresh leachate treatment.

Interaction of organic carbon, reduced sulphur and nitrate was examined using anaerobic baffled reactor for fresh leachate treatment by supplementing nitrate and/or sulphide to compartment 3. Nitrate was removed completely throughout the study mostly via denitrification (>80%) without nitrite accumulation. Besides carbon source, various reduced sulphur (e.g. sulphide, elemental sulphur and organic sulphur) could be involved in the nitrate reduction process via sulphur-based autotrophic denitrification when dissolved organic carbon/nitrate ratio decreased below 1.6. High sulphide concentration not only stimulated autotrophic denitrification, but it also inhibited heterotrophic denitrification, resulting in a shift (11-20%) from heterotrophic denitrification to dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonia. High-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis further confirmed that sulphur-oxidizing nitrate-reducing bacteria were stimulated with increase in the proportion of bacterial population from 18.6% to 27.2% by high sulphide concentration, meanwhile, heterotrophic nitrate-reducing bacteria and fermentative bacteria were inhibited with 25.5% and 66.6% decrease in the bacterial population.

Effects of sulfide on the integration of denitrification with anaerobic digestion.

The effects of sulfide on the integration of denitrification with anaerobic digestion using anaerobic effluents of cassava stillage as carbon source were investigated. Batch tests indicated that nitrate reduction efficiencies decreased from 96.5% to 15.8% as sulfide/nitrate (S/NO3(-)-N) ratios increased from 0.27 to 1.60. At low S/NO3(-)-N ratios (0.27-1.08) anaerobic acidogenesis was accelerated. Nitrate was reduced to nitrite via sulfur-based autotrophic denitrification, after which the formed nitrite and residual nitrate were converted to N2 via heterotrophic denitrification. Increases in the S/NO3(-)-N ratio (1.60) caused a shift (76.3%) in the nitrate reduction pathway from denitrification to dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonia (DNRA). Sulfide concentrations (S/NO3(-)-N ratio of 1.60) suppressed not only heterotrophic denitrification but also acidogenesis. The potentially toxic effect of sulfide on acid production was mitigated by its rapid oxidation to sulfur, allowing the recovery of acidogenesis.