Impact on nitrifiers of full-scale bioaugmentation.

Nitrifiers are the slowest growing bacteria used in conventional biological wastewater treatment. Furthermore, their growth rate is seriously hampered by low temperature. As a result, the volume needed for nitrification dominates the volume of the biological reactors at a wastewater treatment plant. As a way of enhancing nitrification and reducing this volume, bioaugmentation can be used. Nitrifiers from a side-stream plant can be inoculated to the mainstream process, which is thereby boosted. The effect of bioaugmentation can be measured in different ways. This full-scale study focuses on the effect of bioaugmentation from a microbial point of view by using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. The study reveals how bioaugmentation increases the diversity of nitrifiers in the mainstream process and in the side-stream plant; that the abundance of nitrifiers is increased in the mainstream process; the interaction between nitrifiers from the side-stream plant and mainstream process; and the effect of bioaugmentation on nitrifying genera and species over time. To our knowledge, this detailed microbial information on nitrifying species during a full-scale bioaugmentation study has not been presented before.

Automatic control of the effluent turbidity from a chemically enhanced primary treatment with microsieving.

For chemically enhanced primary treatment (CEPT) with microsieving, a feedback proportional integral controller combined with a feedforward compensator was used in large pilot scale to control effluent water turbidity to desired set points. The effluent water turbidity from the microsieve was maintained at various set points in the range 12-80 NTU basically independent for a number of studied variations in influent flow rate and influent wastewater compositions. Effluent turbidity was highly correlated with effluent chemical oxygen demand (COD). Thus, for CEPT based on microsieving, controlling the removal of COD was possible. Thereby incoming carbon can be optimally distributed between biological nitrogen removal and anaerobic digestion for biogas production. The presented method is based on common automation and control strategies; therefore fine tuning and optimization for specific requirements are simplified compared to model-based dosing control.

Promotion of nitrifiers through side-stream bioaugmentation: a full-scale study.

Bioaugmentation of nitrifiers from a side-stream treatment is an efficient method for boosting the mainstream process at a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). Although this technology has been known for several years, the number of full-scale applications for it is limited. For a WWTP approaching its critical nitrogen load capacity, the benefits are doubled if the introduced side-stream treatment for digester supernatant is combined with bioaugmentation. Not only is the nitrogen load to the mainstream process decreased by 10-25%, but the mainstream process is also boosted with nitrifiers, increasing the nitrifying capacity. In this full-scale study, the increment of the nitrification rate is examined in the mainstream process at different temperatures and at different flow rates of returned activated sludge to the side-stream treatment. Our results show that the nitrification rate in the mainstream process was increased by 41% during the coldest period of the study, implying that the examined WWTP could treat considerably higher nitrogen loads if bioaugmentation were permanently installed.

Microsieving in primary treatment: effect of chemical dosing.

Primary and chemically enhanced primary wastewater treatment with microsieving (disc or drum filtration) was studied at the large pilot scale at seven municipal wastewater treatment plants in Europe. Without chemical dosing, the reduction of suspended solids (SS) was (on average) 50% (20-65%). By introducing chemically enhanced primary treatment and dosing with cationic polymer only, SS removal could be controlled and increased to >80%. A maximum SS removal of >90% was achieved with a chemical dosing of >0.007 mg polymer/mg influent SS and 20 mg Al(3+)/L or 30 mg Fe(3+)/L. When comparing sieve pore sizes of 30-40 µm with 100 µm, the effluent SS was comparable, indicating that the larger sieve pore size could be used due to the higher loading capacity for the solids. Phosphorus removal was adjusted with the coagulant dose, and a removal of 95-97% was achieved. Moreover, microsieving offers favourable conditions for automated dosing control due to the low retention time in the filter.

Effect of anaerobic digestion at 35, 55 and 60 °C on pharmaceuticals and organic contaminants.

The application of treated sewage sludge on farmland is a suggested method for recycling nutrients and reducing demand for commercial fertilizer. However, sludge needs to be safe from possible contaminants which can cause acute and long-term health and environmental problems. Residual pharmaceuticals and organic contaminants are mentioned as emerging threats since wastewater treatment plants are not designed to degrade these substances. The aim of this study was to screen and evaluate the presence, and reduction, of pharmaceuticals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) during anaerobic digestion of mixed primary and waste-activated sludge at 35, 55 and 60 °C and during pasteurization at 70 °C. The study showed the difficulty of analysing pharmaceutical compounds in low concentrations in the sludge matrix. No general reduction of these compounds was seen during treatment, but for individual substances some reduction occurred. The PAHs were generally not reduced during digestion or pasteurization, but for three substances (indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene and dibenzo[a,h]anthracene (analysed together) and benzo[g,h,i]perylene) reduction (up to 60%) during digestion was seen. Digestion at 35 and 55 °C resulted in about the same order of reduction of the three individual PAHs, which was higher than for digestion at 60 °C.

Oxygen-induced dynamics of nitrous oxide in water and off-gas during the treatment of digester supernatant.

Nitrous oxide (N(2)O) is a potent greenhouse gas and of special concern in wastewater treatment. It is formed in biological wastewater treatment under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. A major reason for high N(2)O emissions is low oxygen concentration during nitrification. In this full-scale study of N(2)O emissions from a sequencing batch reactor for treating digester supernatant, the oxygen concentration was reduced stepwise to investigate how N(2)O emissions were influenced. N(2)O concentrations were measured online in water and off-gas. A distinct relationship was found between low oxygen concentration and high N(2)O emissions. N(2)O was formed in water during both nitrification and denitrification. Decreased oxygen concentration during nitrification led to increased nitrite concentration, which in turn led to increased N(2)O concentration in the subsequent denitrification phase. When the nitrification resumed, accumulated N(2)O was stripped off to the atmosphere. Very high concentrations of N(2)O, over 56,000 ppmv, were measured in the off-gas. Furthermore, the maximum amount of N(2)O emitted during one cycle corresponded to 107.6% of the total nitrogen load (21.9% of total nitrogen present in the bulk liquid at the beginning of the cycle). This is among the highest emission levels ever measured from a full-scale municipal plant for digester supernatant.

Hygienization of sludge through anaerobic digestion at 35, 55 and 60 °C.

Legislation in Sweden and the European Union concerning the use of sewage sludge in agriculture is under revision and future concentration limits for pathogens in treated sludge are likely to be expected. The aim of this study was to evaluate the hygienization of Salmonella, Escherichia coli, Enterococcus and Clostridium perfringens through continuous anaerobic digestion at 35, 55 or 60 °C, as well as to investigate process stability and methane production at 60 °C. The results indicated that digestion at 55 or 60 °C with a minimum exposure time of 2 h resulted in good reduction of Salmonella, E. coli and Enterococcus and that anaerobic digestion could thus be used to reach the concentration limits suggested for the EU, as well as Sweden. Furthermore, stable continuous anaerobic digestion of sludge was achieved at 60 °C, albeit with 10% less methane production compared to digestion at 35 and 55 °C.

Micropollutant removal by attached and suspended growth in a hybrid biofilm-activated sludge process.

Removal of organic micropollutants in a hybrid biofilm-activated sludge process was investigated through batch experiments, modeling, and full-scale measurements. Batch experiments with carriers and activated sludge from the same full-scale reactor were performed to assess the micropollutant removal rates of the carrier biofilm under oxic conditions and the sludge under oxic and anoxic conditions. Clear differences in the micropollutant removal kinetics of the attached and suspended growth were demonstrated, often with considerably higher removal rates for the biofilm compared to the sludge. For several micropollutants, the removal rates were also affected by the redox conditions, i.e. oxic and anoxic. Removal rates obtained from the batch experiments were used to model the micropollutant removal in the full-scale process. The results from the model and plant measurements showed that the removal efficiency of the process can be predicted with acceptable accuracy (± 25%) for most of the modeled micropollutants. Furthermore, the model estimations indicate that the attached growth in hybrid biofilm-activated sludge processes can contribute significantly to the removal of individual compounds, such as diclofenac.

Need for improvements in physical pretreatment of source-separated household food waste.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the efficiency in physical pretreatment processes of source-separated solid organic household waste. The investigation of seventeen Swedish full-scale pretreatment facilities, currently receiving separately collected food waste from household for subsequent anaerobic digestion, shows that problems with the quality of produced biomass and high maintenance costs are common. Four full-scale physical pretreatment plants, three using screwpress technology and one using dispergation technology, were compared in relation to resource efficiency, losses of nitrogen and potential methane production from biodegradable matter as well as the ratio of unwanted materials in produced biomass intended for wet anaerobic digestion. Refuse generated in the processes represent 13-39% of TS in incoming wet waste. The methane yield from these fractions corresponds to 14-36Nm(3)/ton separately collected solid organic household waste. Also, 13-32% of N-tot in incoming food waste is found in refuse. Losses of both biodegradable material and nutrients were larger in the three facilities using screwpress technology compared to the facility using dispersion technology.(1) Thus, there are large potentials for increase of both the methane yield and nutrient recovery from separately collected solid organic household waste through increased efficiency in facilities for physical pretreatment. Improved pretreatment processes could thereby increase the overall environmental benefits from anaerobic digestion as a treatment alternative for solid organic household waste.

Tank-connected food waste disposer systems--current status and potential improvements.

An unconventional system for separate collection of food waste was investigated through evaluation of three full-scale systems in the city of Malmö, Sweden. Ground food waste is led to a separate settling tank where food waste sludge is collected regularly with a tank-vehicle. These tank-connected systems can be seen as a promising method for separate collection of food waste from both households and restaurants. Ground food waste collected from these systems is rich in fat and has a high methane potential when compared to food waste collected in conventional bag systems. The content of heavy metals is low. The concentrations of N-tot and P-tot in sludge collected from sedimentation tanks were on average 46.2 and 3.9 g/kg TS, equalling an estimated 0.48 and 0.05 kg N-tot and P-tot respectively per year and household connected to the food waste disposer system. Detergents in low concentrations can result in increased degradation rates and biogas production, while higher concentrations can result in temporary inhibition of methane production. Concentrations of COD and fat in effluent from full-scale tanks reached an average of 1068 mg/l and 149 mg/l respectively over the five month long evaluation period. Hydrolysis of the ground material is initiated between sludge collection occasions (30 days). Older food waste sludge increases the degradation rate and the risks of fugitive emissions of methane from tanks between collection occasions. Increased particle size decreases hydrolysis rate and could thus decrease losses of carbon and nutrients in the sewerage system, but further studies in full-scale systems are needed to confirm this.

Review of comparative LCAs of food waste management systems--current status and potential improvements.

Twenty-five comparative cycle assessments (LCAs) addressing food waste treatment were reviewed, including the treatment alternatives landfill, thermal treatment, compost (small and large scale) and anaerobic digestion. The global warming potential related to these treatment alternatives varies largely amongst the studies. Large differences in relation to setting of system boundaries, methodological choices and variations in used input data were seen between the studies. Also, a number of internal contradictions were identified, many times resulting in biased comparisons between alternatives. Thus, noticed differences in global warming potential are not found to be a result of actual differences in the environmental impacts from studied systems, but rather to differences in the performance of the study. A number of key issues with high impact on the overall global warming potential from different treatment alternatives for food waste were identified through the use of one-way sensitivity analyses in relation to a previously performed LCA of food waste management. Assumptions related to characteristics in treated waste, losses and emissions of carbon, nutrients and other compounds during the collection, storage and pretreatment, potential energy recovery through combustion, emissions from composting, emissions from storage and land use of bio-fertilizers and chemical fertilizers and eco-profiles of substituted goods were all identified as highly relevant for the outcomes of this type of comparisons. As the use of LCA in this area is likely to increase in coming years, it is highly relevant to establish more detailed guidelines within this field in order to increase both the general quality in assessments as well as the potentials for cross-study comparisons.

Occurrence and reduction of pharmaceuticals in the water phase at Swedish wastewater treatment plants.

During the last decade, several screening programs for pharmaceuticals at Swedish wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have been conducted by research institutes, county councils, and wastewater treatment companies. In this study, influent and effluent concentrations compiled from these screening programs were used to assess the occurrence and reduction of non-antibiotic pharmaceuticals for human usage. The study is limited to full-scale WWTPs with biological treatment. Based on the data compiled, a total of 70 non-antibiotic pharmaceuticals have been detected, at concentrations ranging from a few ng/L to several µg/L, in the influent water. The influent concentrations were compared with the sale volumes and for many pharmaceuticals it was shown that only a small fraction of the amount sold reaches WWTPs as dissolved parent compounds. Pharmaceuticals with low reduction degrees at traditional WWTPs were identified. Further comparison based on the biological treatment showed lower reduction degrees for several pharmaceuticals in trickling filter plants compared with activated sludge plants with nitrogen removal.

Separate collection of household food waste for anaerobic degradation - Comparison of different techniques from a systems perspective.

Four systems for household food waste collection are compared in relation the environmental impact categories eutrophication potential, acidification potential, global warming potential as well as energy use. Also, a hotspot analysis is performed in order to suggest improvements in each of the compared collection systems. Separate collection of household food waste in paper bags (with and without drying prior to collection) with use of kitchen grinders and with use of vacuum system in kitchen sinks were compared. In all cases, food waste was used for anaerobic digestion with energy and nutrient recovery in all cases. Compared systems all resulted in net avoidance of assessed environmental impact categories; eutrophication potential (-0.1 to -2.4kg NO(3)(-)eq/ton food waste), acidification potential (-0.4 to -1.0kg SO(2)(-)eq/ton food waste), global warming potential (-790 to -960kg CO(2)(-)eq/ton food waste) and primary energy use (-1.7 to -3.6GJ/ton food waste). Collection with vacuum system results in the largest net avoidence of primary energy use, while disposal of food waste in paper bags for decentralized drying before collection result in a larger net avoidence of global warming, eutrophication and acidification. However, both these systems not have been taken into use in large scale systems yet and further investigations are needed in order to confirm the outcomes from the comparison. Ranking of scenarios differ largely if considering only emissions in the foreground system, indicating the importance of taking also downstream emissions into consideration when comparing different collection systems. The hot spot identification shows that losses of organic matter in mechanical pretreatment as well as tank connected food waste disposal systems and energy in drying and vacuum systems reply to the largest impact on the results in each system respectively.

Suspended biofilm carrier and activated sludge removal of acidic pharmaceuticals.

Removal of seven active pharmaceutical substances (ibuprofen, ketoprofen, naproxen, diclofenac, clofibric acid, mefenamic acid, and gemfibrozil) was assessed by batch experiments, with suspended biofilm carriers and activated sludge from several full-scale wastewater treatment plants. A distinct difference between nitrifying activated sludge and suspended biofilm carrier removal of several pharmaceuticals was demonstrated. Biofilm carriers from full-scale nitrifying wastewater treatment plants, demonstrated considerably higher removal rates per unit biomass (i.e. suspended solids for the sludges and attached solids for the carriers) of diclofenac, ketoprofen, gemfibrozil, clofibric acid and mefenamic acid compared to the sludges. Among the target pharmaceuticals, only ibuprofen and naproxen showed similar removal rates per unit biomass for the sludges and biofilm carriers. In contrast to the pharmaceutical removal, the nitrification capacity per unit biomass was lower for the carriers than the sludges, which suggests that neither the nitrite nor the ammonia oxidizing bacteria are primarily responsible for the observed differences in pharmaceutical removal. The low ability of ammonia oxidizing bacteria to degrade or transform the target pharmaceuticals was further demonstrated by the limited pharmaceutical removal in an experiment with continuous nitritation and biofilm carriers from a partial nitritation/anammox sludge liquor treatment process.

Dynamics of nitrogen oxides emission from a full-scale sludge liquor treatment plant with nitritation.

Biological treatment in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is a source of nitrogen oxides (N2O, NO and NO2) emitted to the atmosphere. Aerobic ammonia-oxidising bacteria (AOB) have been suggested to be the main source of these emissions. In a full-scale sludge liquor treatment plant at Sjölunda WWTP, it was shown that significant emissions of N2O, NO and NO2 do occur. The plant is operated with nitritation alone, which gives an environment enriched in aerobic AOB. During normal operation, emissions of N2O, NO and NO2 were found to be 3.8%, 0.06% and 0.01% of the ammonium nitrogen load. The N2O emissions were larger than the recommended estimated figure of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for a complete wastewater treatment plant. The N2O emissions correlated positively with the length of the previous anoxic period, i.e., settling and decantation, and with the ammonium oxidation rate. The NO and NO2 emission profiles were similar and dependent on ammonium oxidation and DO level, but the NO2 concentrations were always lower.

A life cycle approach to the management of household food waste - A Swedish full-scale case study.

Environmental impacts from incineration, decentralised composting and centralised anaerobic digestion of solid organic household waste are compared using the EASEWASTE LCA-tool. The comparison is based on a full scale case study in southern Sweden and used input-data related to aspects such as source-separation behaviour, transport distances, etc. are site-specific. Results show that biological treatment methods - both anaerobic and aerobic, result in net avoidance of GHG-emissions, but give a larger contribution both to nutrient enrichment and acidification when compared to incineration. Results are to a high degree dependent on energy substitution and emissions during biological processes. It was seen that if it is assumed that produced biogas substitute electricity based on Danish coal power, this is preferable before use of biogas as car fuel. Use of biogas for Danish electricity substitution was also determined to be more beneficial compared to incineration of organic household waste. This is a result mainly of the use of plastic bags in the incineration alternative (compared to paper bags in the anaerobic) and the use of biofertiliser (digestate) from anaerobic treatment as substitution of chemical fertilisers used in an incineration alternative. Net impact related to GWP from the management chain varies from a contribution of 2.6kg CO(2)-eq/household and year if incineration is utilised, to an avoidance of 5.6kg CO(2)-eq/household and year if choosing anaerobic digestion and using produced biogas as car fuel. Impacts are often dependent on processes allocated far from the control of local decision-makers, indicating the importance of a holistic approach and extended collaboration between agents in the waste management chain.

Operation for nitritation of sludge liquor in a full-scale SBR.

At Sjölunda WWTP, a full-scale SBR for treatment of mesophilic sludge digester liquor has been operated almost a year with stable nitrite accumulation. Only nitritation of the sludge liquor is needed since the oxidized ammonium is denitrified in the first anoxic zone of the high-loaded activated sludge in the main plant. The process strategy was to have an ammonium set-point to end the aeration, a low DO concentration and a low pH set-point. An increase of pH set-point from 6.8 to 7.2 increased loss of alkalinity in the effluent and increased sodium hydroxide dosing. An increase of DO set-point from 1.1 mg O2 L(-1) to 1.3 mg O2 L(-1) markedly increased ammonia reduction rates and only slightly increased nitrate production. Today, an introduction of denitritation in the SBR will be a more cost-effective treatment of sludge liquor at Sjölunda WWTP. However, the choice of operation with only nitritation or nitritation/denitritation in sludge liquor treatment should always include a consideration of chemical costs and treatment capacity of both main plant and side-stream plant.

Biologically mediated phosphorus precipitation in wastewater treatment with microalgae.

A lab-scale continuous microalgal culture was grown on sterile-filtered wastewater in order to clarify the phosphorus removing mechanisms in a microalgal treatment step that treats residual phosphorus from a hydroponic wastewater treatment pilot plant. The phosphorus assimilation was dependent on algal biomass production, whereas the chemical precipitation was dependent on phosphorus load, i.e. an increase in average precipitation rate with decreased hydraulic retention time was observed. The chemical precipitation was mainly a result of the increased pH, which was biologically mediated by the photosynthesising algae. The precipitate was composed of a calcium phosphate with magnesium included, magnesium hydroxide and calcite. A significant nitrogen removal was also experienced, which implies that the microalgal wastewater treatment is appropriate both for phosphorus and nitrogen removal.

Applicability of experience from laboratory reactors with biological phosphorus removal in full-scale plants.

Enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) has been used at many wastewater treatment plants all over the world for many years. In this study a full-scale sludge with good EBPR was tested with P-release batch tests and combined FISH/MAR (fluorescence in situ hybridisation and microautoradiography). Proposed models of PAOs and GAOs (polyphosphate- and glycogen-accumulating organisms) and microbial methods suggested from studies of laboratory reactors were found to be applicable also on sludge from full-scale plants. Dependency of pH and the uptake of both acetate and propionate were studied and used for calculations for verifying the models and results from microbial methods. All rates found from the batch tests with acetate were higher than in the batch tests with propionate, which was explained by the finding that only those parts of the bacterial community that were able to take up acetate anaerobically were able to take up propionate anaerobically.

Experience from 10 years of full-scale operation with enhanced biological phosphorus removal at Oresundsverket.

Ten years of full-scale experience with enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) has been evaluated. During the start-up period lack of carbon source was the main operational problem and a higher level of volatile fatty acids was secured by introducing a primary sludge hydrolysis. Acidic thermal sludge hydrolysis was used as the sludge treatment method at the plant during about three years. One effluent stream, rich in carbon and precipitant, was brought back to the process leading to an improvement of the phosphorus removal both by an improved biological process and chemical precipitation. A quite stable process of EBPR was developed with low levels of effluent phosphorus concentration. Stringent effluent discharge limits during short evaluation periods necessitated a continued work for improvement of the short-term stability. During periods with lack of carbon, such as industrial holiday or rainy periods, both simultaneous precipitation and reduced aeration have been successfully tested as strategies for securing low levels of effluent phosphorus.