Effects of copper on biological treatment of NMF- and MDG-containing wastewater from TFT-LCD industry.

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of copper on N-methylformamide (NMF)- and methyl diglycol (MDG)-containing wastewater treatment using batch experiments and a lab-scale anoxic-oxic (A/O) sequencing batch reactor (SBR). Batch experimental results indicated that aerobic degradation of NMF followed Monod-type kinetics. Copper inhibition on nitrification also followed Monod-type inhibition kinetics with copper-to-biomass ratio instead of copper concentration. Specific degradation rates of NMF and MDG under both aerobic and anoxic conditions decreased in the matrix of full-scale wastewater, and high copper dosage would further reduce the degradation rates. In the long-term presence of 0.5 mg/L copper, the A/O SBR could maintain stable and complete degradations of NMF and MDG, 95% of COD removal, and more than 50% of total nitrogen (TN) removal. High concentrations of copper spikes, including 40 mg/L and 110 mg/L, slowed down degradation rates for both NMF and MDG, but did not affect COD and TN removal efficiencies in the full 24 h-cycle operation. The long-term A/O SBR operation revealed that daily dosage of 0.5 mg/L copper was not detrimental to NMF/MDG degradations due to regularly wasting sludge, but 110 mg/L of copper spike obviously reduced NMF/MDG degradation rate although it could be recovered later by regularly wasting sludge and maintaining SRT at 20 days.

Transcriptional responses of bacterial amoA gene to dimethyl sulfide inhibition in complex microbial communities.

This study presented an approach by combining the real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction with the terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) to investigate transcriptional responses of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) to dimethyl sulfide (DMS) inhibition. Batch experiments with added ammonium and DMS were conducted using three activated sludges and Nitrosomonas europaea, and the transcriptional responses of the amo subunit A (amoA) mRNA were evaluated. It was found that DMS inhibited ammonium oxidation and amoA mRNA expression in all batch experiments but the inhibition degree observed was different for different sludges examined. It is likely that the different inhibitory effects of DMS on ammonium oxidation and amoA mRNA expression stemmed from different dominant AOB populations in the sludges. The T-RFLP results for amoA mRNA suggested that inhibition of ammonium oxidation by DMS to Nm. europaea-like AOB with T-RF 219/270 is relatively minor compared to other AOB populations in the examined sludges, such as Nm. europaea-like AOB with T-RF 491/491.

Linking TFT-LCD wastewater treatment performance to microbial population abundance of Hyphomicrobium and Thiobacillus spp.

This study investigated the linkage between performance of two full-scale membrane bioreactor (MBR) systems treating thin-film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) wastewater and the population dynamics of dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO)/dimethylsulfide (DMS) degrading bacteria. High DMSO degradation efficiencies were achieved in both MBRs, while the levels of nitrification inhibition due to DMS production from DMSO degradation were different in the two MBRs. The results of real-time PCR targeting on DMSO/DMS degrading populations, including Hyphomicrobium and Thiobacillus spp., indicated that a higher DMSO oxidation efficiency occurred at a higher Hyphomicrobium spp. abundance in the systems, suggesting that Hyphomicrobium spp. may be more important for complete DMSO oxidation to sulfate compared with Thiobacillus spp. Furthermore, Thiobacillus spp. was more abundant during poor nitrification, while Hyphomicrobium spp. was more abundant during good nitrification. It is suggested that microbial population of DMSO/DMS degrading bacteria is closely linking to both DMSO/DMS degradation efficiency and nitrification performance.

Perchlorate removal by acidified zero-valent aluminum and aluminum hydroxide.

Removal of perchlorate using either acid-washed zero-valent aluminum or aluminum hydroxide was studied in batch reactors under ambient temperature and pressure. Approximately 90-95% of perchlorate was removed within 24h in the presence of 35 g L(-1) aluminum at acidic pH (4.5+/-0.2). Although aluminum is a strong reductant, this study indicated no explicit evidence to support perchlorate reduction while it was found that an adsorption process is involved in the perchlorate removal. The adsorbed perchlorate ions were desorbed effectively using a 1.0 N MgSO(4) solution. The effective composition for the perchlorate adsorption is confirmed as aluminum hydroxide (bayerite), which is a product of the aluminum corrosion. Rapid adsorption of perchlorate was observed in the presence of aluminum hydroxide. The perchlorate adsorption by aluminum hydroxide is dependent on the solution pH. The removal mechanism can be attributed to the ion-pair formation at the aluminum hydroxide surface.