Advanced oxidation of bleached eucalypt kraft pulp mill effluent.

In this study a poorly biodegradable (BOD/COD = 0.3) industrial alkaline ECF bleaching filtrate was treated using different advanced oxidation processes to evaluate their use in combined chemical-biological treatment aimed at increasing recalcitrant COD removal and improving final effluent quality. Oxidative treatments included ozonation combined with hydrogen peroxide (2, 5, 10, 20 mmol L(-1) O3/0.7, 2, 5, 10 mmol L(-1) H2O2) and photocatalysis with hydrogen peroxide (UV/2, 4 and 8 mmolL(-1) H2O2) and with TiO2 (UV/TiO2/0.7 and 4 mmol L(-1) H2O2). The O3/H2O2 process increased effluent biodegradability by up to 68% as a result of increasing BOD and decreasing COD. Increasing the O3 dose had a greater effect on biodegradability improvement and lignin and colour removal efficiencies than increasing the H2O2 dose. A combined oxidant dose of 5 mmol L(-1) O3 and 2 mmol L(-1) H2O2 resulted in 75% lignin removal, 40% colour removal and 6% carbohydrate loss without mineralizing the organic carbon. The photocatalytic processes led to a decrease in effluent biodegradability through combined decrease in BOD and increase in COD and did not result in efficient lignin or colour removal. Photocatalytic oxidation was apparently inhibited by the high chloride and COD levels in the alkaline filtrate, and may be more efficient in recalcitrant COD removal if performed after biological.     

Recalcitrant COD degradation by an integrated system of ozonation and membrane bioreactor.

In order to treat wastewater to a low residual COD-concentration such as 125 mg/L, classical biological treatment is not sufficient for many types of industry. This research focused on the integrated treatment of the wastewater of the paper industry, with a membrane bioreactor (MBR) and an oxidation step. The optimal configuration was examined. Screening tests with different types of oxidation showed that ozonation after biological treatment could reduce the COD with 40% with an ozone dose of 0.4-0.8g O3/g COD. BOD/COD ratio could be increased up to 0.19. Neither combination of ozone with UV and/or hydrogen peroxide nor the process H2O2/UV or (photo-)Fenton reagents gave any improvement in COD reduction or BOD increase, unless the doses were very high. Based on these results, an integrated system MBR-ozonation was designed, with recirculation of MBR effluent over ozonation. This test showed that reduction of COD up to 125 mg/L immediately behind the MBR required a lot of ozone. A technically feasible solution was to discharge the water after an extra ozonation step, which resulted in a high total ozone dosage. The alternative, the consecutive treatment activated sludge-ozonation-activated sludge, did not give a better COD-removal with the same ozone dose as the integrated concept. The economic evaluation proves that the integrated chemical and biological treatment is expensive for the paper industry if a low discharge limit of COD has to be complied with.     

Catalytic oxidation with Al-Ce-Fe-PILC as a post-treatment system for coffee wet processing wastewater

The effluent from the anaerobic biological treatment of coffee wet processing wastewater (CWPW) contains a non-biodegradable compound that must be treated before it is discharged into a water source. In this paper, the wet hydrogen peroxide catalytic oxidation (WHPCO) process using Al-Ce-Fe-PILC catalysts was researched as a post-treatment system for CWPW and tested in a semi-batch reactor at atmospheric pressure and 25 °C. The Al-Ce-Fe-PILC achieved a high conversion rate of total phenolic compounds (70%) and mineralization to CO(2) (50%) after 5 h reaction time. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) of coffee processing wastewater after wet hydrogen peroxide catalytic oxidation was reduced in 66%. The combination of the two treatment methods, biological (developed by Cenicafé) and catalytic oxidation with Al-Ce-Fe-PILC, achieved a 97% reduction of COD in CWPW. Therefore, the WHPCO using Al-Ce-Fe-PILC catalysts is a viable alternative for the post-treatment of coffee processing wastewater.     

深度处理维生素制药废水的中试研究

维生素制药废水经过初步生化处理后,出水水质无法满足要求,具有难降解、COD和氨氮浓度高的特点,针对这些特点,本文采用"强化复合曝气水解酸化→高效厌氧复合反应→流离生物接触氧化"连续工艺深度处理维生素制药废水,研究其可行性。处理规模为7.2 m3/d的中型试验结果表明:强化复合曝气水解酸化能使进水B/C值由0.33提高到0.48,提高下一步生化反应的处理效率,当进水CODCr的浓度为150～641 mg/L,氨氮浓度为6～115 mg/L时,平均去除率分别达到84.28%、93.8%,出水COD浓度小于50mg/L,氨氮浓度小于5 mg/L,出水水质能够达到《城镇污水处理厂污染物排放标准》GB18918-2002中的一级A指标,该连续工艺深度处理此类废水具有可行性和稳定性。     

A pilot study on a step-feeding anoxic/oxic activated sludge system.

A four stage pilot plant of step-feed biological nutrient removal (BNR) was employed to investigate reactor performance and process stability. The results obtained showed that step-feed BNR is efficient and cost-effective for nitrogen and carbonaceous removal from municipal wastewater. The total average removal efficiencies of COD, NH3-N, TN and TP could reach as high as 89.5, 97.8, 73 and 75%, respectively, with 50% of return activated sludge (RAS), 9 h of hydraulic retention time (HRT) and 20 d of sludge retention time (SRT). Step-feed BNR is an alternative and effective technology of nutrient removal for municipal wastewater treatment.     

Application of a combined process of moving-bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) and chemical coagulation for dyeing wastewater treatment.

A combined process consisted of a Moving-Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR) and chemical coagulation was investigated for textile wastewater treatment. The pilot scale MBBR system is composed of three MBBRs (anaerobic, aerobic-1 and aerobic-2 in series), each reactor was filled with 20% (v/v) of polyurethane-activated carbon (PU-AC) carrier for biological treatment followed by chemical coagulation with FeCl2. ln the MBBR process, 85% of COD and 70% of color (influent COD = 807.5 mg/L and color = 3,400 PtCo unit) were removed using relatively low MLSS concentration and short hydraulic retention time (HRT = 44 hr). The biologically treated dyeing wastewater was subjected to chemical coagulation. After coagulation with FeCl2, 95% of COD and 97% of color were removed overall. The combined process of MBBR and chemical coagulation has promising potential for dyeing wastewater treatment.     

Sequenced anaerobic-aerobic treatment of high strength, strong nitrogenous landfill leachates.

As a first step in treatment of high strength, strong nitrogenous landfill leachates (total COD--9.66-20.56 g/l, total nitrogen 780-1,080 mg/l), the performance of laboratory UASB reactors has been investigated under sub-mesophilic (19+/-3 degrees C) and psychrophilic (10+/-2 degrees C) conditions. Under hydraulic retention time (HRT) of around 1.2 days, when the average organic loading rate (OLR) was around 8.5 g COD/l/day, the total COD removal accounted for 71% (on average) for sub-mesophilic regime. The psychrophilic treatment conducted under the average HRT of 2.44 days and the average OLR of 4.2 g COD/l/day showed an average total COD removal of 58% giving effluents more suitable for subsequent biological nitrogen removal. Both anaerobic regimes were quite efficient for elimination of heavy metals by concomitant precipitation in the form of insoluble sulphides inside the sludge. The subsequent submesophilic aerobic-anoxic treatment of submesophilic anaerobic effluents led to only 75% of total inorganic N removal due to COD deficiency for denitrification created by too efficient anaerobic step. On the contrary, psychrophilic anaerobic effluents (richer in COD compared to the submesophilic ones) were more suitable for subsequent aerobic-anoxic treatment giving the total N removal of 95 and 92% at 19 and 10 degrees C, respectively.     

水解-气浮-曝气生物滤池工艺在印染废水处理中的应用

采用水解 气浮 曝气生物滤池工艺处理印染废水的运行结果表明 :在原废水COD为830mg/L ,色度为 560倍 ,BOD为 2 90mg/L的条件下 ,其去除率分别为 82 % ,94 %和 93% ,出水达标排放。     

Treatment of winery wastewater in a full-scale fixed bed biofilm reactor.

The treatment of winery wastewater was performed at full-scale applying a two-stage fixed bed biofilm reactor (FBBR) system for the discharge in the sewerage. The results of the first year of operation at the full-scale plant are presented. Values of removed organic loads and effluent concentrations were interpreted on the basis of the COD fractionation of influent wastewater assessed through respirometric tests. The average removal efficiency of total COD was 91 %. It was not possible to reach an higher efficiency because of the unbiodegradable soluble fraction of COD (about 10% of total COD on average during the whole year), that cannot be removed by biological process or settling. Due to the high empty space offered by the plastic carriers, FBBRs did not require backwashing during the seasonal operationing period of the plant (September-March). In comparison with other treatment systems the FBBR configuration allows one to ensure a simple management, to obtain high efficiency also in the case of higher fluctuations of flow and loads and to guarantee a good settleability of the sludge, without bulking problems.     

Heavy metal pollution from Russian landfill leachates and its elimination together with other contaminants.

Systematic monitoring of raw leachates (RL) from the operating landfill "Khmet'yevo" during December, 2001--June, 2002 with regard to heavy metals (HM) revealed that these RL were moderately contaminated with Fe, Zn, Pb and Cd (Cu is present in non-dangerous concentrations). This contamination depends on season--the winter leachates are less polluted compared to the summer ones. For removal of HM together with removal of bulk COD, the UASB reactors were applied where, besides elimination of the major part of organic matter, concomitant precipitation of HM in the form of insoluble sulphides inside the sludge bed occurred due to development of the process of biological sulphate reduction. Both removal processes were quite efficient even during operation under submesophilic and psychrophilic conditions (20-10 degrees C). The subsequent submesophilic aerobic-anoxic treatment of submesophilic anaerobic effluents led to only 75% of total inorganic N removal due to COD deficiency for denitrification created by a too efficient anaerobic step. On the contrary, psychrophilic anaerobic effluents (richer in COD compared to the submesophilic ones) were more suitable for subsequent aerobic-anoxic treatment giving the total N removal of 95 and 92% at 20 and 10 degrees C, respectively. The final effluent is approaching the current national standards for direct discharge of treated wastewater.     

北京市高效循环水洗车技术应用研究

在对洗车用水特点及高效循环水洗车技术进行分析的基础上,针对当前洗车行业耗水量大、洗车废水污染环境等问题,结合北京社会发展、水资源状况、节水力度、行业节水推广情况,阐述了基于WR-RO、WR-UF技术的洗车循环用水设备的工艺流程、技术特征、运行工况及处理效果。洗车废水中含有油污、泥砂、表面活性剂及其他可溶性有机物。以超滤为核心工艺处理洗车废水,对浊度、COD、阴离子表面活性剂的去除率分别为98%、68%、69%。高效循环水洗车技术具有可操作性强、处理水质安全、运行成本低、效益可观等特点,应用推广价值高。     

农村污水生物泳动床处理技术研究

生物泳动床工艺是一种采用新型、高效生物填料的生物膜污水处理方法,是生物接触氧化工艺的改进。对农村污水具有很好的处理效果,通过试验发现填料挂膜速度快,一般只需1周左右的时间即可完成。生物填料膜没有集中脱落或闭塞现象、无需反冲洗。COD从250mg/L增到700mg/L,出水COD去除率仍然高达90%以上,出水平均氨氮小于5mg/L,出水平均TN小于20mg/L,TN去除率60%以上。通过调节运行参数和进水水质的试验研究,最终确定出生物泳动床高效低成本的工艺运行参数。     

Combined membrane bioreactor (MBR) and reverse osmosis (RO) system for thin-film transistor-liquid crystal display TFT-LCD, industrial wastewater recycling.

In TFT-LCD industry, water plays a variety of roles as a cleaning agent and reaction solvent. As good quality water is increasingly a scarce resource and wastewater treatment costs rises, the once-through use of industrial water is becoming uneconomical and environmentally unacceptable. Instead, recycling of TFT-LCD industrial wastewater is become more attractive from both an economic and environmental perspective. This research is mainly to explore the capacity of TFT-LCD industrial wastewater recycling by the process combined with membrane bioreactor and reverse osmosis processes. Over the whole experimental period, the MBR process achieved a satisfactory organic removal. The COD could be removed with an average of over 97.3%. For TOC and BOD5 items, the average removal efficiencies were 97.8 and 99.4% respectively. The stable effluent quality and satisfactory removal performance were ensured by the efficient interception performance of the UF membrane device incorporated with biological reactor. Moreover, the MBR effluent did not contain any suspended solids and the SDI value was under 3. After treatment of RO, excellent water quality of permeate were under 5 mg/l, 2.5 mg/l and 150 micros/cm for COD, TOC and conductivity respectively. The treated water can be recycled for the cooling tower make-up water or other purposes.     

Use of agro-food wastewaters for the optimisation of the denitrification process.

The aim of this work was to study the feasibility of the denitrification process enhancement, in the Ciudad Real (Spain) WWTP, by dosing agro-food wastewaters generated nearby the city. The studied agro-food wastewaters were characterised by a high COD and low nutrients concentration. The denitrification rates with these wastewaters were lower than those obtained either with acetate or urban sewage, however the dose of agro-food wastewaters raised significantly the denitrification capacity in the WWTP because of the significant increase of easily biodegradable substrates in the wastewater. From the laboratory NUR batch test it was observed that the best agro-food wastewater to enhance the denitrification process was that coming from tomato processing, which presented an average denitrification rate of 1.9 mg NOx-N/(g VSS.h) and an average denitrification yield of 0.2 mg NOx-N/mg COD. The viability of the use of tomato processing wastewater was checked in a pilot plant optimised for urban sewage treatment with biological nutrient removal. The optimum dose, 5.9 mg COD/mg NOx-N, was applied and 99% of the nitrate was removed from the wastewater without influencing negatively either the COD or P effluent concentrations.     

Possibilities of reduction of recipient loading of tannery wastewater in Slovenia

The leather industry is well known as a high consumer of water (30 to 80 m³ for 1 ton of processed raw skins). At the same time this industry is known for the: high specific pollution of wastewater. The main characteristics of tannery wastewater are: high salinity, high organic loading (COD, BOD₅), high content of ammonia and organic nitrogen. and presence of specific pollutants (sulphide, chromium).The largest Slovenian tannery (IUV Vrhnika) processing 40 to 50 t of pig skins daily has a good system of physico-chemical pre-treatment of their wastewater (coagulation and flocculation with AI-sulfate and anionic polyelectrolyte). In pre-treatment, about 60% of organic substances are removed (COD and BOD₅) and above 95% of sulfide and chromium. Concerning Siovenian regulations and taking into consideration the fact that this tannery is located on the relatively small and slowly running river Ljubljanica such pretreatment is not sufficient. The company would like to supplement pre-treatment with biological treatment.Laboratory and pilot scale feasibility experiments including conventional biological treatment with activated sludge and combined anaerobic-anoxic-aerobic treatment with fixed biomass using mechanical pretreated wastewater and pretreated wastewater with flotation were performed. It became clear that effective biological treatment requires long retention times (several days) for applicable effluent.     

SBR treatment of olive mill wastewaters: dilution or pre-treatment?

The olive-oil extraction industry is an economically important activity for many countries of the Mediterranean Sea area, with Spain, Greece and Italy being the major producers. This activity, however, may represent a serious environmental problem due to the discharge of highly polluted effluents, usually referred to as 'olive mill wastewaters' (OMWs). They are characterized by high values of chemical oxygen demand (COD) (80-300 g/L), lipids, total polyphenols (TPP), tannins and other substances difficult to degrade. An adequate treatment before discharging is therefore required to reduce the pollutant load. The aim of the present paper was to evaluate performances of a biological process in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) fed with pre-treated OMWs. Pre-treatment consisted of a combined acid cracking (AC) and granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption process. The efficiency of the system was compared with that of an identical SBR fed with the raw wastewater only diluted. Combined AC and GAC adsorption was chosen to be used prior to the following biological process due to its capability of providing high removal efficiencies of COD and TPP and also appreciable improvement of biodegradability. Comparing results obtained with different influents showed that best performances of the SBR were obtained by feeding it with raw diluted OMWs (dOMWs) and at the lowest dilution ratio (1:25): in this case, the removal efficiencies were 90 and 76%, as average, for COD and TPP, respectively. Feeding the SBR with either the pre-treated or the raw dOMWs at 1:50 gave very similar values of COD reduction (74%); however, an improvement of the TPP removal was observed in the former case.     

Effect of chemical and biological treatment on COD fingerprints of textile wastewaters.

Particle size distribution (PSD) via sequential filtration/ultrafiltration was used as the tool for COD fractionation and colour profiling of textile wastewaters before and after treatment. Profiles prior to treatment suggested PSD-based COD fingerprints characteristic for the influents. Treatment efficiencies were determined via comparing the profiles of the effluents from chemical- and biological-treatment to those of the corresponding influents. COD fingerprints of the wastewaters from the textile plants, applying different treatment alternatives, were different especially at the upper size range; yet profiles after treatment were similar, with the soluble fraction (< 2 nm) being almost the only apparent one. Half of the overall COD-removal via chemical treatment was at the particulate- and upper colloidal-ranges, revealing that this alternative was effective at higher ranges, but not at the soluble fraction. In contrast, biological treatment was effective at both ends of size distribution, with total removal at the particulate range and 50% elimination at the soluble portion. Overall colour content and PSD-based colour profiles of the influents were also different. Chemical treatment was successful in removing colour originating from the entire colloidal range, but was not efficient at the soluble fraction. Conversely, colour removal efficiency of biological treatment was moderate throughout the entire size spectrum.     

Performance evaluation of physicochemical processes for biologically pre-treated livestock wastewater.

The use of a combination of biological and physicochemical methods is a promising technique to reduce highly concentrated pollutants in livestock wastewater: firstly, biodegradable organic matters, nitrogen and a part of phosphorus should be removed in a biological treatment process and then residual non-biodegradable organic matters, color and phosphorus be eliminated by physicochemical methods. In this study, therefore, the integrations of chemical coagulation, activated carbon adsorption, Fenton oxidation and ozonation were evaluated to provide an appropriate post-treatment process for biologically pre-treated livestock wastewater. With applying a single method such as coagulation and Fenton oxidation, a yellowish brown color and COD still remained. According to the experimental result, the quality of treated wastewater including color was enough to be discharged after chemical coagulation followed by ozonation or Fenton oxidation process. Among these, ozonation was the most effective technology for decolorization. Neither simple biological nor physicochemical process provides an adequate treatability for the sufficient depletion of organics and decolorization when treating livestock wastewater. Considering only the removal efficiency, the integration of Fenton oxidation and ozonation would be an efficient alternative as a post-treatment.     

Application of a membrane bioreactor for the treatment of low loaded domestic wastewater for water re-use.

This paper describes the demonstrative scale application of a membrane biological reactor (MBR) for low loaded domestic wastewater with low attitude to biological treatment (carbon/nitrogen approximately 5). The biological process was managed by the automatically controlled alternate cycles allowing for re-use purposes with a remarkable reduction of the operational costs. The global process evaluation revealed the system capability of obtaining high nitrogen removal (effective nitrogen removal of 69%) thanks to its high flexibility related to the hourly loading fluctuation. Moreover, high removal of heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) was obtained due to the perfect retention capability of the membranes. In-depth studies were conducted to determine the process behaviour for activated sludge over aeration and with addition of exogenous carbon. Limitation of sludge over aeration and energy savings were observed with a gradient air supplying method. The addition of exogenous carbon (acetic acid up to carbon/nitrogen approximately 9) led to complete nitrogen removal (Ed = 96%) and permitted biological phosphorus uptake. In conclusion, it was been found that the coupled process alternated cycles-MBR had the capacity to remove COD, BOD, N, P and suspended solids, as well as heavy metals and organic micropollutants, resulting in high quality effluent suitable for re-use purposes.     

Activated sludge wastewater treatment plants optimisation to face pollution overloads during grape harvest periods.

The principal objective of our study was to optimise a municipal activated sludge wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) to face high organic flows due to viticulture effluents inputs. Treatment file optimization consisted in testing different treatment lines, changing the number and volume of biological basins and clarifiers, with or without a buffer basin upstream, with a view to achieving a better reduction of COD. The actual WWTP biological stage is composed of two aerated basins whose total volume is 1365 m3. The studied cases are successively, the installation of a single basin of 1365 m3, then of several basins whose total volume remains constant and equal to 1365 m3. Another case was also considered, that of an aerated basin followed by a first clarifier and then, by another aerated basin and a second clarifier. All scenarios presented below were evaluated, for standard dry weather conditions and for high organic load conditions, as encountered during the grape harvest period. The method used was to carry out various simulations, using numerical modelling, and to compare the impact of different process line scenarios and management strategies on the activated sludge WWTP efficiencies.