Evaluation of continuous mesophilic, thermophilic and temperature phased anaerobic digestion of microwaved activated sludge

The effects of microwave (MW) pretreatment, staging and digestion temperature on anaerobic digestion were investigated in a setup of ten reactors. A mesophilic reactor was used as a control. Its performance was compared to single-stage mesophilic and thermophilic reactors treating pretreated and non-pretreated sludge, temperature-phased (TPAD) thermophilic-mesophilic reactors treating pretreated and non-pretreated sludge and thermophilic-thermophilic reactors also treating pretreated and non-pretreated sludge. Four different sludge retention times (SRTs) (20, 15, 10 and 5 d) were tested for all reactors. Two-stage thermo-thermo reactors treating pretreated sludge produced more biogas than all other reactors and removed more volatile solids. Maximum volatile solids (VS) removal was 53.1% at an SRT of 15 d and maximum biogas increase relative to control was 106% at the shortest SRT tested. Both the maximum VS removal and biogas relative increase were measured for a system with thermophilic acidogenic reactor and thermophilic methanogenic reactor. All the two-stage systems treating microwaved sludge produced sludge free of pathogen indicator bacteria, at all tested conditions even at a total system SRT of only 5 d. MW pretreatment and staging reactors allowed the application of very short SRT (5 d) with no significant decrease in performance in terms of VS removal in comparison with the control reactor. MW pretreatment caused the solubilization of organic material in sludge but also allowed more extensive hydrolysis of organic material in downstream reactors. The association of MW pretreatment and thermophilic operation improves dewaterability of digested sludge.     

Combined (alkaline + ultrasonic) pretreatment effect on sewage sludge disintegration

The individual effects of alkaline (pH 8-13) and ultrasonic (3750-45,000 kJ/kg TS) pretreatments on the disintegration of sewage sludge were separately tested, and then the effect of combining these two methods at different intensity levels was investigated using response surface methodology (RSM). In the combined pretreatment, ultrasonic treatment was applied to the alkali-pretreated sludge. While the solubilization (SCOD/TCOD) increase was limited to 50% in individual pretreatments, it reached 70% in combined pretreatment, and the results clearly showed that preconditioning of sludge at high pH levels played a crucial role in enhancing the disintegration efficiency of the subsequent ultrasonic pretreatment. By applying regression analysis, the disintegration degree (DD) was fitted based on the actual value to a second order polynomial equation: Y = −172.44 + 29.82X₁ + 5.30 × 10⁻³X₂ − 7.53 × 10⁻⁵X₁X₂ − 1.10X₁² − 1.043 × 10⁻⁷X₂², where X₁, X₂, and Y are pH, specific energy input (kJ/kg TS), and DD, respectively. In a 2D contour plot describing the tendency of DD with respect to pH and specific energy input, it was clear that DD increased as pH increased, but it seemed that DD decreased when the specific energy input exceeded about 20,000 kJ/kg TS. This phenomenon tells us that there exists a certain point where additional energy input is ineffective in achieving further disintegration. A synergetic disintegration effect was also found in the combined pretreatment, with lower specific energy input in ultrasonic pretreatment yielding higher synergetic effect. Finally, in order to see the combined pretreatment effect in continuous operation, the sludge pretreated with low intensity alkaline (pH 9)/ultrasonic (7500 kJ/kg TS) treatment was fed to a 3 L of anaerobic sequencing batch reactor after 70 days of control operation. CH₄ production yield significantly increased from 81.9 ± 4.5 mL CH₄/g COD_added to 127.3 ± 5.0 mL CH₄/g COD_added by pretreatment, and this enhanced performance was closely related to the solubilization increase of the sludge by pretreatment. However, enhanced anaerobic digestion resulted in 20% higher soluble N concentration in the reactor, which would be an additional burden in the subsequent nitrogen removal system.     

Synergetic pretreatment of sewage sludge by microwave irradiation in presence of H2O2 for enhanced anaerobic digestion

A microwave-enhanced advanced hydrogen peroxide oxidation process (MW/H₂O₂-AOP) was studied in order to investigate the synergetic effects of MW irradiation on H₂O₂ treated waste activated sludges (WAS) in terms of mineralization (permanent stabilization), sludge disintegration/solubilization, and subsequent anaerobic biodegradation as well as dewaterability after digestion. Thickened WAS sample pretreated with 1 g H₂O₂/g total solids (TS) lost 11-34% of its TS, total chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total biopolymers (humic acids, proteins and sugars) via advanced oxidation. In a temperature range of 60-120 °C, elevated MW temperatures (>80 °C) further increased the decomposition of H₂O₂ into OH^• radicals and enhanced both oxidation of COD and solubilization of particulate COD (>0.45 micron) of WAS indicating that a synergetic effect was observed when both H₂O₂ and MW treatments were combined. However, at all temperatures tested, MW/H₂O₂ treated samples had lower first-order mesophilic (33 ± 2 °C) biodegradation rate constants and ultimate (after 32 days of digestion) methane yields (mL per gram sample) compared to control and MW irradiated WAS samples, indicating that synergistically (MW/H₂O₂-AOP) generated soluble organics were slower to biodegrade or more refractory than those generated during MW irradiation.     

Ultrasonic enhancement of waste activated sludge hydrolysis and volatile fatty acids accumulation at pH 10.0

Volatile fatty acids (VFA), the preferred carbon source for biological nutrients removal, can be produced by waste activated sludge (WAS) anaerobic fermentation. However, because the rate of VFA accumulation is limited by that of WAS hydrolysis and VFA is always consumed by methanogens at acidic or neutral pHs, the ultrasonic pretreatment which can accelerate the rate of WAS hydrolysis, and alkaline adjustment which can inhibit the activities of methanogens, were, therefore, used to improve WAS hydrolysis and VFA accumulation in this study. Experiment results showed that the combination of ultrasonic pretreatment and alkaline adjustment caused significant enhancements of WAS hydrolysis and VFA accumulation. The study of ultrasonic energy density effect revealed that energy density influenced not only the total VFA accumulation but also the percentage of individual VFA. The maximal VFA accumulation (3109.8 mg COD/L) occurred at ultrasonic energy density of 1.0 kW/L and fermentation time of 72 h, which was more than two times that without ultrasonic treatment (1275.0 mg COD/L). The analysis of VFA composition showed that the percentage of acetic acid ranked the first (more than 40%) and those of iso-valeric and propionic acids located at the second and third places, respectively. Thus, the suitable ultrasonic conditions combined with alkaline adjustment for VFA accumulation from WAS were ultrasonic energy density of 1.0 kW/L and fermentation time of 72 h. Also, the key enzymes related to VFA formation exhibited the highest activities at ultrasonic energy density of 1.0 kW/L, which resulted in the greatest VFA production during WAS fermentation at pH 10.0.     

碱处理污泥为底物的微生物燃料电池产电特性

利用剩余污泥作为接种体,在不添加任何营养元素的情况下,成功启动了两室型微生物燃料电池(MFC)。对剩余污泥进行碱解预处理,考察将其作为MFC底物的可行性,同时分析了剩余污泥经不同时间的碱处理,MFC产电性能的变化及其对污泥的降解效果。结果表明:利用碱预处理污泥作为底物时,MFC的稳定输出电压、最大产电功率密度和对TCOD的去除率均提高,同时周期运行时间延长。并且,随着碱处理时间的延长,MFC的稳定输出电压、产电功率密度和对TCOD的去除率均增大。当碱处理时间为24 h时,稳定输出电压达到630 mV(外阻R=500Ω),最大产电功率密度为11.73 W/m3,对TCOD的去除率为25.3%。这与碱处理使得固体有机物被水解有关。     

Recovery of nitrogen and phosphorus from alkaline fermentation liquid of waste activated sludge and application of the fermentation liquid to promote biological municipal wastewater treatment

In previous publications we reported that by controlling the pH at 10.0 the accumulation of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) during waste activated sludge (WAS) fermentation was remarkably improved [Yuan, H., Chen, Y., Zhang, H., Jiang, S., Zhou, Q., Gu, G., 2006. Improved bioproduction of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) from excess sludge under alkaline conditions. Environ. Sci. Technol. 40, 2025-2029], but significant ammonium nitrogen (NH₄-N) and soluble ortho-phosphorus (SOP) were released [Chen, Y., Jiang, S., Yuan, H., Zhou, Q., Gu, G., 2007. Hydrolysis and acidification of waste activated sludge at different pHs. Water Res. 41, 683-689]. This paper investigated the simultaneous recovery of NH₄-N and SOP from WAS alkaline fermentation liquid and the application of the fermentation liquid as an additional carbon source for municipal wastewater biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal. The central composite design (CCD) of the response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to optimize and model the simultaneous NH₄-N and SOP recovery from WAS alkaline fermentation liquid. Under the optimum conditions, the predicted and experimental recovery efficiency was respectively 73.4 and 75.7% with NH₄-N, and 82.0 and 83.2% with SOP, which suggested that the developed models described the experiments well. After NH₄-N and SOP recovery, the alkaline fermentation liquid was added to municipal wastewater, and the influence of volume ratio of fermentation liquid to municipal wastewater (FL/MW) on biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal was investigated. The addition of fermentation liquid didn't significantly affect nitrification. Both SOP and total nitrogen (TN) removal were increased with fermentation liquid, but there was no significant increase at FL/MW greater than 1/35. Compared to the blank test, the removal efficiency of SOP and TN at FL/MW = 1/35 was improved from 44.0 to 92.9%, and 63.3 to 83.2%, respectively. The enhancement of phosphorus and nitrogen removal was mainly attributed to the increase of influent SCFA, or rather, the increase of intracellular polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) which served as the carbon and energy sources for denitrification and phosphorus uptake. The addition of alkaline fermentation liquid to municipal wastewater, however, increased the effluent COD, which was caused mainly by the increase of influent humic acid, not protein or carbohydrate.     

碱解预处理对污泥固体的破解及减量化效果

采用向污泥中加碱的预处理方式，考察了碱解预处理对污泥固体的破解及减量化效果。结果表明，污泥SCOD浓度随投碱量的增加而增加，在投碱量为1gNaOH／gTS的情况下，挥发性悬浮固体的分解率可达62．05％。碱解作用下，污泥的水解分为快速水解和慢速水解两个阶段，对两阶段水解过程的动力学分析结果表明，碱解预处理仅对第一阶段（快速水解过程）有显著促进作用，而对第二阶段（慢速水解过程）的作用则不明显。     

Evaluation of continuous mesophilic anaerobic sludge digestion after high temperature microwave pretreatment

Effect of microwave pretreatment (MW) high temperature (175 °C) and MW intensity to waste activated sludge digested with acclimatized inoculum in single- and dual-stage semi-continuous mesophilic anaerobic digesters at different sludge retention times (SRTs) (20, 10 and 5 days) were investigated. MW pretreatment led to similar sludge stabilization at low SRTs (5 and 10 days). Although lowering MW intensity slightly improved sludge solubilization, it had a negative effect on digestion at low SRTs. Single-stage digesters with MW pretreatment surpass dual-stage digesters performances.     

Continuous treatment of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste in an anaerobic two-stage membrane process with liquid recycle

The stability and performance of a two-stage anaerobic membrane process was investigated at different organic loading rates (OLRs) and Hydraulic Retention Times (HRTs) over 200 days. The Hydrolytic Reactor (HR) was fed with the Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste (OFMSW), while the leachate from the HR was fed continuously to two Submerged Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactors (SAMBR1 and 2). The Total COD (TCOD) of the leachate varied over a wide range, typically between 4000 and 26,000 mg/L while the Soluble COD (SCOD) in the permeate was in the range 400-600 mg/L, achieving a COD removal greater than 90% at a HRT of 1.6-2.3 days in SAMBR1. The operation was not sustainable below this HRT due to a membrane flux limitation at 0.5-0.8 L/m² h (LMH), which was linked to the increasing MLTSS. SCOD in the recycled permeate did not build up indicating a slow degradation of recalcitrants over time. SAMBR2 was run in parallel with SAMBR1 but its permeate was treated aerobically in an Aerobic Membrane Bioreactor (AMBR). The AMBR acted as a COD-polishing and ammonia removal step. About 26% of the recalcitrant SCOD from SAMBR2 could be aerobically degraded in the AMBR. In addition, 97.7 % of the ammonia-nitrogen was converted to nitrate in the AMBR at a maximum nitrogen-loading rate of 0.18 kg NH₄⁺-N/m³ day. GC-MS analysis was performed on the reactor effluents to determine their composition and what compounds were recalcitrant.     

超声/碱预处理剩余污泥的中温厌氧消化效果

考察了超声/碱联合预处理对剩余污泥中温厌氧消化的影响,并与原污泥直接进行厌氧消化的效果进行了比较.试验结果表明,在高投配率(10%)下原污泥直接进行厌氧消化对有机物的去除率不高,经过超声/碱预处理后,消化过程中对TCOD的去除率提高了29.6%,单位污泥的日均产气量提高了67.9%,对VS和VSS的去除率分别提高了58.9%和28.6%.     

Waste activated sludge fermentation: Effect of solids retention time and biomass concentration

Laboratory scale, room temperature, semi-continuous reactors were set-up to investigate the effect of solids retention time (SRT, equal to HRT hydraulic retention time) and biomass concentration on generation of volatile fatty acids (VFA) from the non-methanogenic fermentation of waste activated sludge (WAS) originating from an enhanced biological phosphorus removal process. It was found that VFA yields increased with SRT. At the longest SRT (10 d), improved biomass degradation resulted in the highest soluble to total COD ratio and the highest VFA yield from the influent COD (0.14 g VFA-COD/g TCOD). It was also observed that under the same SRT, VFA yields increased when the biomass concentration decreased. At a 10 d SRT the VFA yield increased by 46%, when the biomass concentration decreased from 13 g/L to 4.8 g/L. Relatively high nutrient release was observed during fermentation. The average phosphorus release was 17.3 mg PO₄-P/g TCOD and nitrogen release was 25.8 mg NH₄-N/g TCOD.     

Athermal microwave effects for enhancing digestibility of waste activated sludge

A bench scale industrial microwave (MW) unit equipped with fiber optic temperature and pressure controls within pressure sealed vessels successfully simulated conventional heating (CH, in water bath). By identical temporal heat temperature profiles for waste activated sludge (WAS) samples, evaluation of the athermal effects of MW irradiation on WAS floc disintegration and anaerobic digestion was achieved. In a pretreatment range of 50-96 degrees C, both MW and CH WAS samples resulted in similar particulate chemical oxygen demand (COD) and biopolymer (protein and polysaccharide) solubilization and there was no discernable MW athermal effect on the COD solubilization of WAS. However, biochemical methane potential (BMP) tests showed improved biogas production for MW samples over CH samples indicating that the MW athermal effect had a positive impact on the mesophilic anaerobic biodegradability of WAS. BMP tests also showed that despite mild inhibition in the first 7d, MW acclimated inoculum digesting pretreated (to 96 degrees C) WAS, produced 16+/-4% higher biogas compared to the control after 15 d of mesophilic batch digestion. However, initial acute inhibition was more severe for non-acclimated inoculum requiring recovery time that was two times longer with only 4+/-0% higher biogas production after 17d. Inoculum acclimation not only accelerated the production of biogas, but also increased the extent of the ultimate mesophilic biodegradation of MW irradiated WAS (after 15-27 d).     

Investigation of the impacts of thermal pretreatment on waste activated sludge and development of a pretreatment model

This study investigated the impacts of high pressure thermal hydrolysis (HPTH) pretreatment on the distribution of chemical oxygen demand (COD) species in waste activated sludge (WAS). In the first phase of the project, WAS from a synthetically-fed biological reactor (BR) was fed to an aerobic digester (AD). In the second phase, WAS from the BR was pretreated by HPTH at 150 °C and 3 bars for 30 min prior to being fed to the AD. A range of physical, biochemical and biological properties were regularly measured in each process stream in both phases. The COD of the BR WAS consisted of storage products (X_STO), active heterotrophs (X_H) and endogenous decay products (X_E). Pretreatment did not increase the extent to which the BR WAS was aerobically digested and hence it was concluded that the unbiodegradable COD fraction, i.e. X_E, was unchanged by pretreatment. However, pretreatment did increase the rate of degradation as it converted 36% of X_H to readily biodegradable COD (S_B) and the remaining X_H to slowly biodegradable COD (X_B). Furthermore, X_STO was fully converted to S_B by pretreatment. Although pretreatment did not change the VSS concentration in the downstream aerobic digester, it did decrease the ISS concentration by 46 ± 11%. This reduced the total mass of solids produced by the digester by 21 ± 8%. A COD-based HPTH pretreatment model was developed and calibrated. When this model was integrated into BioWin 3.1^®, it was able to accurately simulate both the steady state performance of the overall system employed in this study as well as dynamic respirometry results.     

Biological hydrolysis and acidification of sludge under anaerobic conditions: the effect of sludge type and origin on the production and composition of volatile fatty acids

New wastewater treatment processes resulting in considerably reduced sludge production and more effective treatment are needed. This is due to the more stringent legislations controlling discharges of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) and existing problems such as high sludge production. In this study, the feasibility of implementing biological hydrolysis and acidification process on different types of municipal sludge was investigated by batch and semi-continuous experiments. The municipal sludge originated from six major treatment plants located in Denmark were used. The results showed that fermentation of primary sludge produced the highest amount of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) and generated significantly higher COD- and VFA-yields compared to the other sludge types regardless of which WWTP the sludge originated from. Fermentation of activated and primary sludge resulted in 1.9-5.6% and 8.1-12.6% COD-yields, soluble COD (SCOD)/total COD (TCOD), in batch experiments, respectively. The COD-yields for primary, activated and mixed sludge were 19.1%, 6.5% and 21.37%, respectively, in semi-continuous experiments operated at solids retention time (SRT) of 5d and temperature of 37 degrees C. The benefit of fermentation for full-scale application was roughly estimated based on the experiments performed in semi-continuous reactors. The results revealed that even though the VFA production of primary sludge was higher compared to activated sludge, substantial amounts of VFA could be produced by fermentation of activated sludge due to the substantially higher production of activated sludge in WWTPs.     

Novel insights into sludge dewaterability by fluorescence excitation-emission matrix combined with parallel factor analysis

Sludge dewatering is of major interest in sludge volume reduction and handling properties improvement. Here we report an approach of fluorescence excitation-emission matrix (EEM) combined with parallel factor (PARAFAC) analysis to elucidate the factors that influence sludge dewaterability. Sludge flocs from 11 full-scale wastewater treatment plants were collected to stratify into different extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) fractions and then to characterize their fluorescence EEMs. Both the normalized capillary suction time (CST) and specific resistance to filtration (SRF) were applied to determine sludge dewaterability. The results showed that fluorescence EEMs of tightly bound fractions were not affected by the wastewater sources. In contrast, fluorescence EEMs of loosely bound fractions were affected by the wastewater sources. All the fluorescence EEMs could be successfully decomposed into a six-component model by PARAFAC analysis. Both normalized CST and SRF were significantly correlated with component 1 [excitation/emission (Ex/Em) = (220, 275)/350] in the supernatant fraction, with components 5 [Ex/Em = (230, 280)/430] and 6 [Ex/Em = (250, 360)/460] in the slime and LB-EPS fraction. These results reveal that except for proteins-like substances (component 1), sludge dewaterability is also affected by humic acid-like and fulvic acid-like substances (components 5 and 6) in the slime and LB-EPS fractions. Furthermore, this paper presents a promising and facile approach (i.e., EEM-PARAFAC) for investigating sludge dewaterability.     

Evaluating the influence of process parameters on soluble microbial products formation using response surface methodology coupled with grey relational analysis

Soluble microbial products (SMPs) present a major part of residual chemical oxygen demand (COD) in the effluents from biological wastewater treatment systems, and the SMP formation is greatly influenced by a variety of process parameters. In this study, response surface methodology (RSM) coupled with grey relational analysis (GRA) method was used to evaluate the effects of substrate concentration, temperature, NH₄⁺-N concentration and aeration rate on the SMP production in batch activated sludge reactors. Carbohydrates were found to be the major component of SMP, and the influential priorities of these factors were: temperature > substrate concentration > aeration rate > NH₄⁺-N concentration. On the basis of the RSM results, the interactive effects of these factors on the SMP formation were evaluated, and the optimal operating conditions for a minimum SMP production in such a batch activated sludge system also were identified. These results provide useful information about how to control the SMP formation of activated sludge and ensure the bioreactor high-quality effluent.     

Contribution of the ozonation pre-treatment to the biodegradation of aqueous solutions of 2,4-dichlorophenol

The effect of ozonation on the biodegradability of 100-ppm aqueous solutions of 2,4-dichlorophenol has been investigated. BOD at 5, 10 and 21 days, BOD/COD and BOD/TOC ratios and the average oxidation state are presented. Biodegradability measured as BOD₅/COD ratio was increased from 0 of the original solution to 0.25 at the moment of removing all the initial compound (corresponding to an ozone dose of 0.12 g L⁻¹, 0.48 for BOD₂₁/COD ratio). To test the effect of this pre-treatment, the biological oxidation of these pre-ozonated solutions was performed in two semi-continuous stirred tank reactors, one with non-acclimated sludge and one with acclimated-to-phenol sludge. The study showed that the TOC content of the pre-treated solution could be removed up to 68% by an aerobic biological treatment as well as co-digested with municipal wastewater (TOC removal up to 82%), with similar operating retention times to a municipal wastewater plant (12-24 h). Kinetic studies based on Monod model have also been carried out. Pseudo-first-order kinetic constants were found to be in the range of 0.5-0.8 L g TVSS⁻¹ h⁻¹.     

Effect of COD/SO(4)(2-) ratio and sulfide on thermophilic (55 degrees C) sulfate reduction during the acidification of sucrose at pH 6

This study investigated the effect of the COD/SO₄²⁻ ratio (4 and 1) and the sulfide concentration on the performance of thermophilic (55 °C) acidifying (pH 6) upflow anaerobic sludge bed reactors fed with sucrose at an organic loading rate of 4.5 g COD l_reactor⁻¹ day⁻¹. Sulfate reduction efficiencies amounted to 65% and 25-35% for the COD/SO₄²⁻ ratios of 4 and 1, respectively. Acidification was complete at all the tested conditions and the electron flow was similar at the two COD/SO₄²⁻ ratios applied. The stepwise decrease of the sulfide concentrations in the reactors with a COD/SO₄²⁻ ratio of 1 by N₂ stripping caused an immediate stepwise increase in the sulfate reduction efficiencies, indicating a reversible inhibition by sulfide. The degree of reversibility was, however, affected by the growth conditions of the sludge. Acidifying sludge pre-grown at pH 6, at a COD/SO₄²⁻ ratio of 9 and exposed for 150 days to 115 mg l⁻¹ sulfide, showed a slower recovery from the sulfide inhibition than a freshly harvested sludge from a full scale treatment plant (pH 7 and COD/SO₄²⁻=9.5) exposed for a 70 days to 200 mg l⁻¹ sulfide. In the latter case, the decrease of the sulfide concentration from 200 to 45 mg l⁻¹ (35 mg l⁻¹ undissociated sulfide) by N₂ stripping caused an immediate increase of the sulfate reduction efficiency from 35% to 96%.     

The effect of thermal pretreatment on the anaerobic biodegradability and toxicity of waste activated sludge

The management of sludges generated by biological treatment of wastewaters has become an increasingly severe problem in recent years. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of thermochemical pretreatment on the anaerobic biodegradability and toxicity of waste activated sludge (WAS). In order to accomplish this, the degradability and toxicity of pure nitrogenous organic compounds present in WAS, and mixtures of these compounds, were also evaluated.The anaerobic bioconvertibility and toxicity of the various organics were determined using batch bioassay techniques. It was found that WAS bioconvertibility increased with increasing pretreatment temperature up to a maximum at 175°, and this resulted in an increase in methane production of 27% over the control. With the compounds and cultures used, mesophilic bioconvertibility and toxicity were found to be significantly higher than the corresponding values under thermophilic conditions. Finally, it was found that most of the pure individual nitrogen compounds and simple mixtures tested were quite biodegradable, although at the concentrations evaluated (20 gl⁻¹) most were toxic. It was also noted that small changes in structure could have a significant effect on both toxicity and bioconvertibility. In most cases thermochemical pretreatment of these individual compounds resulted in decreased bioconvertibility and increased toxicity.In conclusion it can be stated that thermochemical pretreatment enhances WAS bioconvertibility, while under identical treatment conditions, resulted in a considerable reduction in the bioconvertibility of individual nitrogen compounds and mixtures. This effect appears to be due to the conversion of biodegradable organics to refractory ones. Further, the toxicity of WAS after thermochemical pretreatment appears to be due to its solubilization, and conversion of these soluble products to toxic compounds under more extreme treatment conditions.     

Membrane bioreactor operation at short solids retention times: performance and biomass characteristics

This study investigated the performance and biomass characteristics of a membrane bioreactor (MBR) and a completely mixed activated sludge (CMAS) system operated at short solids retention times (SRT) ranging from 0.25 to 5 d and hydraulic retention times of 3 and 6 h. The lab-scale reactors were fed with synthetic wastewater to ensure consistency in feed composition. Results show the MBR was capable of achieving excellent quality effluent regardless of the extremely short SRT. The MBR removal efficiencies ranged from approximately 97.3-98.4% (TCOD) in the MBR, compared to 77.5-93.8% (TCOD) and 94.1-97.0% (SCOD) in the CMAS. Nitrification completely ceased when SRT was < 2.5 d. The MBR biomass was composed of small, weak and uniform-sized flocs with large mass of short filamentous organisms and mainly dispersed microorganisms at SRT of 5 and 0.25 d, respectively. In contrast, the CMAS sludge was composed of large flocs with filamentous organisms as a backbone at SRT > 2.5 d. The CMAS flocs were smaller and weaker at shorter SRT. The MBR sludge contained a much higher fraction of non-flocculating microorganisms. This fraction increased significantly with decreasing SRT. It was found that the concentrations of protein and carbohydrates in the exocellular polymeric substances for both the MBR and the CMAS decreased with increasing F/M ratio or decreasing SRT. The combination of increasing amounts of non-flocculating microorganisms and a reduction of EPS at shorter SRT in both reactors contributed to deteriorating sludge settling properties. A significant presence of dispersed biomass and small flocs in MBR contributed to better reactor performance probably due to less mass transfer resistance.