MXene-Decorated Nylon Mesh Filters for Improvement of Indoor Air Quality by PM2.5 Filtration.

Air pollution is a problem that is increasing day by day and poses a threat on a global scale. Particulate matter (PM) is one of the air pollutants that is the biggest concern regarding air quality. In order to control PM pollution, highly effective air filters are required. This is especially necessary for PM with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5), which poses a health risk to humans. In this study, we demonstrate for the first time the use of a two-dimensional titanium carbide (Ti3C2) MXene nanosheets-decorated nylon mesh (MDNM) as a low cost and highly efficient PM2.5 filter. This study develops a proof-of-concept method to capture PM2.5. Thanks to their high specific surface area and active surface-terminating groups, conductive MXene nanosheets have made nylon mesh filters promising candidates for air filtration. The developed filters used electrostatic force to capture PM2.5 and showed high removal efficiency (90.05%) when an ionizer was used and under an applied voltage of 10 V, while a commercial high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter had a removal efficiency of 91.03% measured under identical conditions. The proposed filters, which stand out with their low energy consumption, low pressure drop (∼14 Pa), and cost-effectiveness, have the potential to be a strong competitor to conventional PM filter systems used in many fields.

Plant-wide modeling of a metropolitan wastewater treatment plant to reduce energy consumption and carbon footprint.

A real metropolitan wastewater treatment plant (RWWTP) serving a population equivalent of 1.55 million was modeled to reduce energy consumption and carbon footprint (CFP). An approach was proposed to handle the dilution factor and partial aeration due to discontinuous air diffuser locations in the Bardenpho-5 configuration. Various operational, structural, and configurational modifications were evaluated. Results indicated that management scenarios might provide conflicting outcomes for different targets. Reduced energy consumption may not result in lower CFP at the same time. Moreover, operational changes that would impact total nitrogen (TN) concentrations and N2O release may significantly impact CFP. A policy of using a modified Bardenpho-5 process with reduced internal recycle (IR) ratio, waste activated sludge (WAS), and return activated sludge (RAS) flow rates provided the lowest CPF. Modified Bardenpho-5 process and replacing belt thickeners with gravity thickeners supplied the highest savings in energy consumption. Overall, up to 14% and 20% reductions were possible in the energy consumption and CFP of the plant, respectively. The RWWTP may save up to 10% in energy expenses annually by operational modifications.

Investigation of the use of aerobic granules for the treatment of sugar beet processing wastewater.

The treatment of sugar beet processing wastewater in aerobic granular sequencing batch reactor (SBR) was examined in terms of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and nitrogen removal efficiency. The effect of sugar beet processing wastewater of high solid content, namely 2255 ± 250 mg/L total suspended solids (TSS), on granular sludge was also investigated. Aerobic granular SBR initially operated with the effluent of anaerobic digester treating sugar beet processing wastewater (Part I) achieved average removal efficiencies of 71 ± 30% total COD (tCOD), 90 ± 3% total ammonifiable nitrogen (TAN), 76 ± 24% soluble COD (sCOD) and 29 ± 4% of TSS. SBR was further operated with sugar beet processing wastewater (Part II), where the tCOD, TAN, sCOD and TSS removal efficiencies were 65 ± 5%, 61 ± 4%, 87 ± 1% and 58 ± 10%, respectively. This study indicated the applicability of aerobic granular SBRs for the treatment of both sugar beet processing wastewater and anaerobically digested processing wastewater. For higher solids removal, further treatment such as a sedimentation tank is required following the aerobic granular systems treating solid-rich wastewaters such as sugar beet processing wastewater. It was also revealed that the application of raw sugar beet processing wastewater slightly changed the aerobic granular sludge properties such as size, structure, colour, settleability and extracellular polymeric substance content, without any drastic and negative effect on treatment performance.

The effect of seed sludge type on aerobic granulation via anoxic-aerobic operation.

The effects of two seed sludge types, namely conventional activated sludge (CAS) and membrane bioreactor sludge (MBS), on aerobic granulation were investigated. The treatment performances of the reactors were monitored during and after the granulation. Operational period of 37 days was described in three phases; Phase 1 corresponds to Days 1-10, Phase 2 (overloading conditions) to Days 11-27 and Phase 3 (recovery) to Days 28-37. Aerobic granules of 0.56 ± 0.23 to 2.48 ± 1.28 mm were successfully developed from both MBS and CAS. First granules appeared on Day 9 in both reactors, indicating that there was no difference between two seed sludge types in terms of the time period for granulation initiation. The results revealed that the granules developed from MBS performed better than CAS in terms of settleability, stability, biomass retention, adaptation, protection of granular structure at high loading rates (0.86 g N/L d and 3.92 g COD/L d) and low COD/TAN ratio (5). Granules of MBS were also found to be capable of providing better protection for nitrifiers at toxic free-ammonia concentrations (38-46 mg/L NH3-N), thus showing better treatment recovery than those of CAS.

The effects of aerobic/anoxic period sequence on aerobic granulation and COD/N treatment efficiency.

The effects of period sequence (anoxic-aerobic and aerobic-anoxic) on aerobic granulation from suspended seed sludge, and COD, N removal efficiencies were investigated in two sequencing batch reactors. More stable granules with greater sizes (1.8-3.5mm) were developed in R1 (anoxic-aerobic sequence). Yet, no significant difference was observed between the reactors in terms of removal efficiencies. Under optimum operational conditions, 92-95% COD, 89-90% TAN and 38-46% total nitrogen removal efficiencies were achieved. The anoxic-aerobic period sequence (R1) resulted in almost complete denitrification during anoxic periods while aerobic-anoxic sequence (R2) led to nitrate accumulation due to limited-carbon source and further granule disintegration. NH3-N concentration of 15-28 mg/L was found to inhibit COD removal up to 30%. This study also revealed the inhibitory sulfide production during anoxic periods. Sulfate concentration of 52.6-70.2mg/L was found to promote sulfate reduction and sulfide generation (0.24-0.62 mg/L) which, together with free-ammonia, inhibited TAN oxidation by 10-50%.