Deciphering three-dimensional bioanode configuration for augmenting power generation and nitrogen removal in air-cathode microbial fuel cells.

In this study, the engineering-oriented three-dimensional (3D) bioanode concept was applied, demonstrating that spiral-stairs-like/rolled carbon felt (SCF/RCF) configurations achieved good performances in air-cathode microbial fuel cells (ACMFCs). With the 3D anodes, ACMFCs generated significantly higher power densities of 1535 mW/m3 (SCF) and 1800 mW/m3 (RCF), compared with that of a traditional flat carbon felt anode (FCF, 315 mW/m3). The coulombic efficiency of 15.39 % at SCF anode and 14.34 % at RCF anode also is higher than the 7.93 % at FCF anode. The 3D anode ACMFCs exhibited favorable removal of chemical oxygen demand (96 % of SCF and RCF) and total nitrogen (97 % of SCF, 99 % of RCF). Further results show that three-dimensional anode structures could enrich more electrode surface biomass and diversify the biofilm microbial communities for promoting bioelectroactivity, denitrification, and nitrification. These results demonstrate that three-dimensional anodes with active biofilm is a promising strategy for creating scalable MFCs-based wastewater treatment system.

A model for methane production in anaerobic digestion of swine wastewater.

A study was conducted using a laboratory-scale anaerobic sequencing batch digester to investigate the quantitative influence of organic loading rates (OLRs) on the methane production rate during digestion of swine wastewater at temperatures between 15 °C and 35 °C. The volumetric production rate of methane (Rp) at different OLRs and temperatures was obtained. The maximum volumetric methane production rates (Rpmax) were 0.136, 0.796, 1.294, 1.527 and 1.952 LCH4 L(-1) d(-1) at corresponding organic loading rates of 1.2, 3.6, 5.6, 5.6 and 7.2 g volatile solids L(-1) d(-1), respectively, which occurred at 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35 °C, respectively. A new model was developed to describe the quantitative relationship between Rp and OLR. In addition to the maximum volumetric methane production rate (Rpmax) and the half-saturation constant (KLR) commonly used in previous models such as the modified Stover-Kincannon model and Deng model, the new model introduced a new index (KD) that denoted the speed of volumetric methane production rate approaching the maximum as a function of temperature. The new model more satisfactorily described the influence of OLR on the rate of methane production than other models as confirmed by higher determination coefficients (R(2)) (0.9717-0.9900) and lower bias between the experimental and predicted data in terms of the root mean square error and the Akaike Information Criterion. Data from other published research also validated the applicability and generality of the new kinetic model to different types of wastewater.

Effect of temperature on continuous dry fermentation of swine manure.

Laboratory-scale experiments were performed on the dry digestion of solid swine manure in a semi-continuous mode using 4.5 L down plug-flow anaerobic reactors with an organic loading rate of 3.46 kg volatile solids (VS) m(-3) d(-1) to evaluate the effects of temperature (15, 25 and 35 °C). At 15 °C, biogas production was the poorest due to organic overload and acidification, with a methane yield of 0.036 L CH4 g(-1) VS added and a volumetric methane production rate of 0.125 L CH4 L(-1) d(-1). The methane yield and volumetric methane production rate at 25 °C (0.226 L CH4 g(-1) VS added and 0.783 L CH4 L(-1) d(-1), respectively) were 6.24 times higher than those at 15 °C. However, the methane yield (0.237 L CH4 g(-1) VS added) and the volumetric methane production rate (0.821 L CH4 L(-1) d(-1)) at 35 °C were only 4.86% higher than those at 25 °C, which indicated similar results were obtained at 25 °C and 35 °C. The lower biogas production at 35 °C in dry digestion compared with that in wet digestion could be attributed to ammonia inhibition. For a single pig farm, digestion of solid manure is accomplished in small-scale domestic or small-farm bioreactors, for which operating temperatures of 35 °C are sometimes difficult to achieve. Considering biogas production, ammonia inhibition and net energy recovery, an optimum temperature for dry digestion of solid swine manure is 25 °C.

Effect of inoculum and sulfide type on simultaneous hydrogen sulfide removal from biogas and nitrogen removal from swine slurry and microbial mechanism.

Four reactors were initiated to study the effect of inoculum and sulfide type on the simultaneous hydrogen sulfide removal from biogas and nitrogen removal from swine slurry (Ssu-Nir) process. Anaerobic sludge, aerobic sludge, and water were used as inocula, and Na2S and biogas were used as a sulfide substrate, respectively. Additionally, 454 pyrosequencing of the 16S rRNA gene was used to explore the bacterial diversity. The results showed that sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (Thiobacillus, 42.2-84.4 %) were dominant in Ssu-Nir process and led to the excellent performance. Aerobic sludge was more suitable for inoculation of the Ssu-Nir process because it is better for rapidly enriching dominant sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (Thiobacillus, 54.4 %), denitrifying sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (40.0 %) and denitrifiers (23.9 %). Lower S(2-) removal efficiency (72.6 %) and NO3 (-) removal efficiency (<90 %) of the Ssu-Nir process were obtained using biogas as a sulfide substrate than when Na2S was used. For the Ssu-Nir process with biogas as the sulfide substrate, limiting H2S absorption caused a high relative abundance of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria, Thiobacillus (84.8 %) and Thiobacillus sayanicus (39.6 %), which in turn led to low relative abundance of denitrifiers (1.6 %) and denitrifying sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (24.4 %), low NO3 (-) removal efficiency, and eventually poor performance.

The effects of temperature, organic matter and time-dependency on rheological properties of dry anaerobic digested swine manure.

An efficient way to avoid the pollution of swine wastewater is the application of dry anaerobic digestion, which needs rheological parameter for stirring and pipe designing. The rheological properties of this kind of sludge have been studied for many decades, yet their effects only solid concentration has been investigated widely. In this paper, the influences of temperature, organic and time-dependency on the efficiency of anaerobic digested swine manure were studied. The viscosity decreased with temperature arranged from 10 to 60 °C which caused increase in protein from 7.18 to 8.49 g/kg. 60 °C can make the digested swine manure with TS from 16.6% to 21.5% reach to the same rheology state. The added peptone decreased the viscosity because of its function of water-reducing admixture and air entraining mixture. Time-dependent experiment showed the decrease of shear stress over time. The first and the second yield stress of dry anaerobic digested swine manure were evaluated through time-dependent model.

[Effects of the ratio of NO3(-) -N to NO2(-) -N on the removal of sulfide and nitrogen by mixed culture and pure culture].

Effects of the ratio of NO3(-) -N to NO2(-) -N on removal of sulfide and nitrogen by Pseudomonas fluorescens, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and mixed culture were investigated at the pH value of 7.0, temperature of 30 degrees C, ratio of sulfide to nitrate of 5/3 and anaerobic condition. Along with the decrease of ratio of NO3(-) -N to NO2(-) -N, NO(x)(-) -N, the removal rate by Pseudomonas fluorescens and Pseudomonas aeruginosa increased gradually, while S(2-) removal rate reduced. The NO(x)(-) -N removal rate by mixed culture increased first and became steady along with the decrease of ratio of NO3(-) -N to NO2(-) -N. The ratio of NO3(-) -N to NO2(-) -N had hardly influence on S(2-) removal by mixed culture. Accumulation of NO2(-) -N occurred due to a faster rate of NO3(-) -N reduction over NO2(-) -N reduction in the liquid culture of Pseudomonas fluorescens. Accumulation of NO2(-) -N did not occur in the liquid culture of Pseudomonas aeruginosa because it has a stronger ability to convent NO2(-) -N than Pseudomonas fluorescens. The behavior of NO(x)(-) -N by mixed culture in located between Pseudomonas fluorescens and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The optimum ratio of NO3(-) -N to NO2(-) -N to achieve high removals of sulfide and nitrogen for Pseudomonas fluorescens and mixed culture were 5/5, 10/0 for Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The performance of sulfide and nitrogen removal by the mixed culture was higher than that by Pseudomonas fluorescens and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

[Effect of sulfide to nitrate ratios on the strains coupling nitrogen removal from wastewater and hydrogen sulfide removal from biogas].

Two strains Pseudomonas fluorescens and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were isolated from the reactors coupling nitrogen removal from wastewater and hydrogen sulfide removal from biogas. It was investigated that sulfide to nitrate ratios had effects on the simultaneous removal of sulfide and nitrate of the two strains under the conditions of pH 7.0, temperature 30 degrees C, anaerobic, cultured for 2 days. The results showed that the nitrate-nitrogen removal rate of Pseudomonas aeruginosa was higher than that of Pseudomonas fluorescens under the same conditions. The sulfide-sulfur removal rates of the two strains had little difference. The best molar n(S)/n(N) of sulfide and nitrate removal rates of Pseudomonas fluorescens and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were 5/2-5/3, 5/3-5/4, respectively. Pseudomonas fluorescens could transform NO3- -N into NO2-N fast, its principal NOx- -N not removed was NO2- -N, especially at the low initial concentration of NOx- -N. The NOx- -N not removed was NO3- -N by Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The best molar n(S)/n(N) of sulfur as reaction outcome of sulfide-sulfur were 5/4, 5/3 by Pseudomonas fluorescens and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, respectively.

Process of simultaneous hydrogen sulfide removal from biogas and nitrogen removal from swine wastewater.

The feasibility of a new flowchart describing simultaneous hydrogen sulfide removal from biogas and nitrogen removal from wastewater was investigated. It took 30 days for the reactor inoculated with aerobic sludge to attain a removal rate of 60% for H(2)S and NO(x)-N simultaneously. It took 34 and 48 days to attain the same removal rate for the reactor without inoculated sludge and the reactor inoculated with anaerobic sludge respectively. The reactor without inoculated sludge still operated successfully, despite requiring a slightly longer startup time. The packing material was capable of enhancing the removal efficiency of reactors. Based on the concentration of NO(x)-N and H(2)S in the effluent, the loading rate and the ability of the system to resist shock loading, the performance of the reactor filled with hollow plastic balls was greater than that of the reactor filled with elastic packing and the reactor filled with Pall rings.

[Cultivation and isolation of bacteria coupling nitrogen removal from wastewater and hydrogen sulfide removal from biogas].

It was studied that during the startup of reactors the crucial bacteria coupling nitrogen removal from swine wastewater and hydrogen sulfide removal from biogas using bubbling absorption reactors without seeding sludge, with seeding anaerobic sludge and aerobic sludge, respectively. During the prophase of the experiment (before the 26th d), the removal rate of nitrogen and hydrogen sulfide were from 50% to 64% in reactors with seeding sludge, that in the reactor without seeding sludge was only 11%-14%. At the end of experiment (the 56th d after startup), the removal rates of nitrogen for three reactors were about 90%. The removal rates of hydrogen sulfide were more than 70%. The result showed that though the finishing time for startup of the reactor without seeding sludge was longer than that with seeding sludge, it could be obtained the same effect of removal of nitrogen and hydrogen sulfide as the latter after two months cultivation. In the different period of startup of the reactors, the variation of the population of bacteria was studied, which had the same trend as the removal effect of nitrogen and hydrogen sulfide. Two strains which could remove the nitrogen and hydrogen sulfide more than 60% simultaneously were isolated from the three reactors, and primarily identified as Thiobacillus denitrificans and Pseudomonas respectively, based on their morphology and physiological characters.

Improvement in post-treatment of digested swine wastewater.

The performance of sequencing batch reactor (SBR) during post-treatment of digested effluent of swine wastewater was investigated. While operating SBR to treat the digested effluent directly, the performance was very poor with COD removal rate about 10%, and NH4+-N removal rate nearly 50%, with a scarce removal of total phosphorus. The performance apparently improved after adding raw swine wastewater or alkali to digested effluent. Although similar results for NH4+-N removal were achieved adopting both measures, the addition of raw wastewater proved superior in removing total nitrogen and total phosphorus. The addition of raw wastewater obtained effluent COD around 300 mg/L which was lower than that after alkali addition i.e. around 550 mg/L. Judged from the investment, oxygen demand, sludge yield, biogas production and running cost, the traditional combined anaerobic-SBR process is unfeasible to treat swine wastewater, while the combined anaerobic-SBR process with addition of raw swine wastewater can be a suitable biotechnology.

[Impact of proportion of adding raw wastewater on post-treatment of digested piggery wastewater].

Sequencing batch reactor (SBR) was used to treat digested piggery wastewater, in order to investigate the impact of proportion of adding raw wastewater. In consecutive experiments, the reactor with adding 30% raw wastewater could get low ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N), usually less than 10 mg/L in the effluent, while the reactors with adding 10% or 20% raw wastewater, concentration of NH3-N increased by degrees until reached 300 mg/L or 80 mg/L respectively at end of experiment. These can be explained by the facts that the reactor with adding 30% raw wastewater could maintain stable pH (about 7.7), whereas pH in the reactors with adding 10% or 20% raw wastewater decreased gradually until to below 5.5. Performance monitoring of a cycle of SBR indicate that the peak value of nitrite nitrogen (NO2(-)-N) and valley value of ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) occur in the fourth, third and second hour after aeration beginning for the reactors with adding 10%, 20% and 30% raw wastewater respectively, which imply that the more is the proportion of adding raw wastewater, the fast does the ammonia oxidized. These results can be attributed to the facts the higher proportion of adding raw wastewater brought better denitrification resulting in stable and high pH. The batch experiment shows that the rate of denitrification has positive correlation with ratio of BOD5 to TN in influent. The consecutive and batch experiment all prove the proportion of adding raw wastewater must reach more than 30% for normal operation of post-treatment of digested piggery wastewater.