A primary estimation of PCDD/Fs release reduction from non-wood pulp and paper industry in China based on the investigation of pulp bleaching with chlorine converting to chlorine dioxide.

Chlorine bleaching technology (C process, CEH process, H process and theirs combination), which was identified as a primary formation source of PCDD/Fs, is still widely used by the vast majority of Chinese non-wood pulp and paper mills (non-wood PMs). The purpose of this study was to provide information and data support for further eliminating dioxin for non-wood PMs in China, and especially to evaluate the PCDD/Fs release reduction for those mills converting their pulp bleaching processes from CEH to ECF. The PCDD/Fs concentrations of the bleached pulp and bleaching wastewater with ECF bleaching were in the ranges of 0.13-0.8 ng TEQ kg-1, and 0.15-1.9 pg TEQ L-1, respectively, which were far lower than those with CEH process, indicating that the ECF process is an effective alternative bleaching technology to replace CEH in Chinese non-wood PMs to reduce dioxin release. The release factor via flue gas of the alkali recovery boiler in Chinese non-wood PMs was first reported to be 0.092 µg TEQ Ad t-1 in this study. On the assumption that pulp bleaching processes of all Chinese non-wood PMs were converted from CEH to ECF, the annual release of PCDD/Fs via the bleaching wastewater and bleached pulp would be reduced by 79.1%, with a total of 1.60 g TEQ.

Effect of organic matter on phosphorus recovery from sewage sludge subjected to microwave hybrid pretreatment.

Microwave (MW) hybrid processes are able to disrupt the flocculent structure of complex waste activated sludge, and help promote the recovery of phosphorus as struvite. In this study, to optimize struvite yield, (1) the characteristics of matter released in MW-hybrid treatments were compared, including MW, MW-acid, MW-alkali, MW-H2O2, and MW-H2O2-alkali. The results showed that selective release of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, Ca(2+), and Mg(2+) achieved by sludge pretreatment using MW-hybrid processes. MW-H2O2 is the recommended sludge pretreatment process for phosphorus recovery in the form of struvite. The ratio of Mg(2+):NH4(+)-N:PO4(3-)-P was 1.2:2.9:1 in the supernatant. (2) To clarify the effects of organic matter on struvite recovery, the composition and molecular weight distribution of organic matters were analyzed. Low molecular weight COD was found to facilitate the removal rate of NH4(+)-N and PO4(3)-P via crystallization, and the amorphous struvite crystals (<1kDa) from the filtered solutions had high purity. Therefore, the present study reveals the necessity of taking into consideration the interference effect of high molecular weight organic matters during struvite crystallization from sewage sludge.

Pilot-scale study of sludge pretreatment by microwave and sludge reduction based on lysis-cryptic growth.

To evaluate the performance of microwave (MW)-chemical hybrid sludge treatment system, a pilot scale MW disintegration unit (treatment capacity of 500L/d) was constructed. The results showed that organic matter, nitrogen, and phosphorus were effectively released from the MW-pretreated sludge. The values of COD released were 15.91%, 15.07%, 13.83%, 19.35%, and 15.07% for the MW, MW-acid, MW-alkali, MW-H2O2, and MW-H2O2-alkali treatment processes, respectively. Additionally, for a wastewater treatment system with a capacity of 200m(3)/d, when coupled with a MW sludge pretreatment unit, the sludge production and sludge yield were greatly reduced by 38.60% and to 0.35kg VSS/kg CODconsumed, respectively. The total operating cost of the lysis-cryptic growth system was 13.64% lower than that of the CAS system without a MW unit.

Optimization of H2O2 dosage in microwave-H2O2 process for sludge pretreatment with uniform design method.

A microwave-H2O2 process for sludge pretreatment exhibited high efficiencies of releasing organics, nitrogen, and phosphorus, but large quantities of H2O2 residues were detected. A uniform design method was thus employed in this study to further optimize H2O2 dosage by investigating effects of pH and H2O2 dosage on the amount of H2O2 residue and releases of organics, nitrogen, and phosphorus. A regression model was established with pH and H2O2 dosage as the independent variables, and H2O2 residue and releases of organics, nitrogen, and phosphorus as the dependent variables. In the optimized microwave-H2O2 process, the pH value of the sludge was firstly adjusted to 11.0, then the sludge was heated to 80 degrees C and H2O2 was dosed at a H2O2:mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) ratio of 0.2, and the sludge was finally heated to 100 degrees C by microwave irradiation. Compared to the microwave-H2O2 process without optimization, the H2O2 dosage and the utilization rate of H2O2 in the optimized microwave-H2O2 process were reduced by 80% and greatly improved by 3.87 times, respectively, when the H2O2:MLSS dosage ratio was decreased from 1.0 to 0.2, resulting in nearly the same release rate of soluble chemical oxygen demand in the microwave-H2O2 process without optimization at H2O2:MLSS ratio of 0.5.