Enhanced heavy metal bioleaching efficiencies from anaerobically digested sewage sludge with coinoculation of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans ANYL-1 and Blastoschizomyces capitatus Y5.

Prolonged bioleaching period was required to remove heavy metals from anaerobically digested sewage sludge in the presence of low molecular weight organic acids. The purpose of the present study was therefore to enhance metal solubilization efficiencies through introducing organic acid-degrading microorganisms into this artificial bioleaching system. An acetic and propionic acid-degrading yeast Blastoschizomyces capitatus Y5 was successfully isolated from a local Yuen Long sewage sludge and it could achieve optimum growth in synthetic liquid media containing 2000 mg l(-1) acetic acid or 1000 mg l(-1) propionic acid. When it was inoculated simultaneously with Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans ANYL-1 into anaerobically digested sewage sludge, which contained 648 mg l(-1) acetic acid and 731 mg l(-1) propionic acid, both acids were completely decomposed within 24 hours. As a result, ferrous iron oxidation was greatly improved, resulting in enhanced metal solubilization. Compared with the 8, 10 and 12 days required for maximum solubilization of Zn, Cu and Cr for the control sludge, the bioleaching period was significantly shortened to 4, 5 and 8 days respectively for sludge receiving co-inoculation.     

Heavy metals removal from contaminated sewage sludge by naturally fermented raw liquid from pineapple wastes.

The large amount of unutilised pineapple wastes produced every year in tropical countries, particularly in Thailand, adds to the existing environmental pollution problems of the country. This study investigated the utilisation of pineapple wastes to treat another form of waste (sludge) from wastewater treatment facilities in Thailand. Laboratory scale studies were carried out to determine the potential of using naturally fermented raw liquid from pineapple wastes as a source of citric acid in the extraction of Cr, Cu, Pb, Ni and Zn from anaerobically digested sewage sludge. Results of the leaching study revealed its effectiveness in extracting Zn (at 92%) at pH 3.67 and a short leaching time of only 2 h, and Ni at almost 60% removal at the same leaching time. Chromium removal was also high at almost 75% at a longer leaching time of 11 days. Variation in metal removal efficiencies may also be attributed to the forms of metals in sludge, with metals predominantly in the exchangeable and oxidisable phases showing ease of leachability (such as Zn). Compared to citric acid, at pH approaching 4.0, naturally fermented raw liquid seemed to be more effective in the removal of Zn and Cu at the same leaching time of 2 h, and Cr at a longer leaching time of 11 days. The pineapple pulp, which is a by-product of the process, can still be used as animal feed because of its high protein content.     

Processing dewatered sewage sludge using electrokinetic technology.

High content of heavy metals and presence of pathogens in the dewatered sewage sludge have been the main obstacles for land application of sewage sludge-made fertilizer. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of the innovative electrokinetic (EK) technology on removal of heavy metals from sewage sludge, on the reduction of pathogens, and on sludge chemical characteristics. The results showed that the removal efficiencies for Zn, Cu, Ni, Cr, As and Pb were 94.9%, 95.4%, 89.7%, 67.8%, 31.2% and 18.7%, respectively. Acidification pretreatment of the dewatered sludge for 29 h decreased the content of heterotrophic bacteria from 1.5 x 10(8) c.f.u./g of wet sludge to 1.1 x 10(4) c.f.u./g of wet sludge. Although the initial content of total coliforms and fecal coliforms in sewage sludge were 5.8 x 10(5) c.f.u./g of wet sludge and 4.0 x 10(5) c.f.u./g of wet sludge, respectively, no viable cells were detected. Minor losses of K and N were detected, but the loss of P was found to be significant in EK treated sewage sludge. The treated sludge was technically considered as very stable based on the carbon dioxide evolution rate.     

Use of citric acid for heavy metals extraction from contaminated sewage sludge for land application.

Recent studies revealed that organic acids such as citric and oxalic acids seemed to be more promising as chemical extracting agents for removal of heavy metals from contaminated sludge, since they are biodegradable and can attain a higher metal extraction efficiency at mildly acidic pH compared to other extracting agents. Results of a lab-scale study on the efficiency of citric acid in the extraction of chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), nickel (Ni) and zinc (Zn) from anaerobically digested sludge, revealed that citric acid seemed to be highly effective in extracting Cr (at 100%), Cu (at 88%), Ni (at 98%) and Zn (at 100%) at pH 2.33, mostly at 5 days leaching time except for Cu and Zn, which are at 1 day and 2 h contact times respectively. Lead removal at the same pH was also high at 95% but at a longer leaching time of 11 days. At pH 3, citric acid seemed to be highly effective in extracting Pb (at 100%) at 1 day leaching time, although higher removals were also attained for Ni (70%) and Zn (80%) at only 2 h leaching time. Chemical speciation studies showed that Cr, Cu and Ni in the sludge sample seem to predominate in residual fractions, while Pb and Zn were found mostly bound to organic and inorganic matter forms, hence the potential of the sludge for land application.     

Application of ionic liquids for the removal of heavy metals from wastewater and activated sludge

This paper presents the results of adsorption studies on the removal of heavy metals (Cr, Cu, Cd, Ni, Pb and Zn) from standard solutions, real wastewater samples and activated sewage sludge using a new technique of liquid-liquid extraction using quaternary ammonium and phosphonium ionic liquids (ILs). Batch sorption experiments were conducted using the ILs [PR4][TS], [PR4][MTBA], [A336][TS] and [A336][MTBA]. Removal of these heavy metals from standard solutions were not effective, however removal of heavy metals from the industrial effluents/wastewater treatment plants were satisfactory, indicating that the removal depends mainly on the composition of the wastewater and cannot be predicted with standard solutions. Removal of heavy metals from activated sludge proved to be more successful than conventional methods such as incineration, acid extraction, thermal treatment, etc. For the heavy metals Cu, Ni and Zn, ≥90% removal was achieved.     

Aeration of anaerobically digested sewage sludge for COD and nitrogen removal: optimization at large-scale.

The paper will report about the experiences at an Austrian large wastewater treatment plant of 720,000 population equivalents, where anaerobically digested sewage sludge is further stabilised under aerobic conditions. Enhanced stabilisation of the anaerobically digested sludge was required at the plant in order to get a permit for landfill disposal of the dewatered stabilized sludge. By implementing a post-aeration treatment (SRT approximately 6d; 36 degrees C) after anaerobic digestion the organic content of the anaerobically well digested sludge can be decreased by 16%. Investigations on site showed that during digested sludge post-aeration anoxic phases for denitrification are needed to provide stable process conditions. In this way the pH value can be kept in a more favourable range for micro-organisms and concrete structures. Additionally, inhibition of the biological process due to nitrite accumulation can be avoided. By optimising the aeration/pause ratio approximately 45% of total nitrogen in digested sludge can be removed. This significantly improves nitrogen removal efficiency at the wastewater treatment plant. NH(4)-removal occurs mainly through nitritation and denitritation with an efficiency of 98%. The costs/benefit analysis shows that post-aeration of digested sludge results in an increase of total annual costs for wastewater treatment of only 0.84%, corresponding to 0.19 Euro/pe/a. Result of molecular biological analyses (DGGE) indicate that all four ammonium-oxidizing bacteria species present in activated sludge can survive anaerobic digestion, but only two of them can adapt in the digested sludge post-aeration tanks. Additionally, in the post-aerated digested sludge a further ammonium-oxidizing bacteria species was identified.     

Post-aeration of anaerobically digested sewage sludge for advanced COD and nitrogen removal: results and cost-benefit analysis at large-scale.

At a large Austrian municipal wastewater treatment plant enhanced stabilisation of anaerobically digested sewage sludge was required in order to get a permit for landfill disposal of the dewatered stabilized sludge. By implementing a post-aeration treatment after anaerobic digestion the organic content of the anaerobically well digested sludge can be decreased by 16%. Investigations at this plant showed that during digested sludge post-aeration anoxic phases are needed to provide stable process conditions. In this way the pH value can be kept in a more favourable range for micro-organisms and concrete structures. Additionally, under the process conditions applied nitrite accumulation would inhibit the stabilisation process if denitrification is not adequately applied. By optimising the aeration/pause ratio approximately 45% of total nitrogen in digested sludge can be removed. NH4-removal occurs through nitrification and denitrification with an efficiency of 98%. This significantly improves nitrogen removal efficiency at the wastewater treatment plant. The costs/benefit analysis shows that post-aeration of digested sludge results in an increase of total annual costs for wastewater treatment of only 0.84%, corresponding to 0.19 Euro/pe/a. Specific costs for nitrogen removal (0.32 Euro/kgN) are comparable with other biological processes for N-removal in reject water.     

Recovery of phosphorus and aluminium from sewage sludge ash by a new wet chemical elution process (SESAL-Phos-recovery process)

The potential of a new wet chemical process for phosphorus and aluminium recovery from sewage sludge ash by sequential elution with acidic and alkaline solutions has been investigated: SESAL-Phos (sequential elution of sewage sludge ash for aluminium and phosphorus recovery). Its most innovative aspect is an acidic pre-treatment step in which calcium is leached from the sewage sludge ash. Thus the percentage of alkaline soluble aluminium phosphates is increased from 20 to 67%. This aluminium phosphate is then dissolved in alkali. Subsequently, the dissolved phosphorus is precipitated as calcium phosphate with low heavy metal content and recovered from the alkaline solution. Dissolved aluminium is recovered and may be reused as a precipitant in wastewater treatment plants.     

Optimization of Fe2 +/solids content ratio for a novel sludge heavy metal bioleaching process

A novel bioleaching process, preincubation bioleaching (PB) has been recently developed in our laboratory for decontamination of heavy-metal-laden sewage sludge by removing the toxic low molecular weight organic acids using an isolated degradative yeast species. The objective of the present study was to optimize Fe2+ /solids content ratio required for removing heavy metals from sewage sludge by using this novel process at high solids content. Results from the present study showed that regardless of the Fe2+ /solids content ratio iron oxidation and sludge acidification could be achieved within 2 days confirming the effectiveness of PB in reducing the inhibitory organic acids. When PB was conducted at an elevated solids content of 3%, Fe2 +/solids content ratio could be reduced to 0.75:1, 1:1 and 1.25:1 for solubilization of Zn, Cu and Cr respectively. Under this optimized bioleaching conditions, the following solubilization efficiencies were obtained after 8 days of bioleaching: 100% Zn, 96% Cu, 60% Cr with no reduction in nutrient contents. Hence, bioleaching at elevated solids contents represents a more economical way for decontamination of heavy-metal-laden sewage sludge while preserving its fertility values.     

浸提时间对城市污泥重金属浸出特性的影响

在研究含工业废水污泥中Zn、Cu、Pb、Cr、Mn、Ni含量的基础上,应用固体废物浸出毒性方法,以不同浸出时间对污泥中重金属的浸出特性进行了实验研究.结果表明:污泥中Mn和Zn含量较高,其次为Cu和Ni,而毒性较大的Pb和Cr含量较低.浸提时间对污泥中重金属的浸出具有重要影响,污泥中的Zn、Cu、Ni最大浸出浓度在8h时,而Fe和Mn随着浸提时间增加而增加;浸提时间对污泥中重金属浸出量的影响因该重金属的化学性质不同而存在较明显的差别,这可能与浸提过程中的吸附-解吸过程、络合-解离过程和溶解-沉淀/共沉淀等因素有关.     

Influent concentrations and removal performances of metals through municipal wastewater treatment processes

This extensive study aimed at quantifying the concentrations and removal efficiency of 23 metals and metalloids in domestic wastewater passing through full-scale plants. Nine facilities were equipped with secondary biological treatment and three facilities were equipped with a tertiary treatment stage. The metals investigated were Li, B, Al, Ti, V, Cr, Fe, Ni, Co, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Rb, Mo, Ag, Cd, Sn, Sb, Ba, TI, Pb and U. Particulate and dissolved metals were measured using 24 h composite samples at each treatment stage. In influents, total concentrations of Cd, Sb, Co, Se, U, Ag, V were below a few microg/L, whereas at the other extremity Zn, B, Fe, Ti, Al were in the range of 0.1 to > 1 mg/L. It was demonstrated that secondary treatment stage (activated sludge, biodisc and membrane bioreactor) were efficient to remove most metals (removal rate > 70%), with the exception of B, Li, Rb, Mo, Co, As, Sb and V due to their low adsorption capacities. With the tested tertiary stages (polishing pond, rapid chemical settler, ozonation), a removal efficiency was obtained for Ti, Cr, Cd, Cu, Zn, Sn, Pb, Fe, Ag and Al, whereas a little removal (< 30%) was obtained for other metals.     

Development of an ecologically sustainable wastewater treatment system

The present study aimed mainly for the development of a wastewater treatment system incorporating enhanced primary treatment, anaerobic digestion of coagulated organics, biofilm aerobic process for the removal of soluble organics and disinfection of treated water. An attempt was also made to study the reuse potential of treated water for irrigation and use of digested sludge as soil conditioner by growing marigold plants. Ferric chloride dose of 30 mg/l was found to be the optimum dose for enhanced primary treatment with removals of COD and BOD to the extent of 60% and 77%, respectively. Efficient anaerobic digestion of ferric coagulated sludge was performed at 7 days hydraulic retention time (HRT). Upflow aerobic fixed film reactor (UAFFR) was very efficient in removals of COD/BOD in the organic loading rate (OLR) range of 0.25 to 3 kg COD/m(3)/day with COD and BOD removals in the range 65-90 and 82-96, respectively. Photo-oxidation followed by disinfection saved 50% of chlorine dose required for disinfection of treated effluent and treated water was found to be suitable for irrigation. The result also indicated that anaerobically digested sludge may be an excellent soil conditioner. From the results of this study, it is possible to conclude that the developed wastewater treatment system is an attractive ecologically sustainable alternative for sewage treatment from institutional/industrial/residential campuses.     

Recycling of sludge with the Aqua Reci process.

Supercritical Water Oxidation (SCWO) is an innovative and effective destruction method for organics in sewage sludge. The SCWO process leaves a slurry of inorganic ash in a pure water phase free from organic contaminants, which opens possibilities for a simple process to recover components like phosphates and/or coagulants from the sewage sludge, a process marketed as the Aqua Reci. In a continuous pilot plant for the SCWO process digested sludge has been treated. The ash has been extracted in lab- and pilot scale with both caustic and acids in order to recover phosphates and coagulants. The particle size of the inorganic contaminants in the water after the SCWO process is between 1-10 microm, which means that it is very reactive. The phosphate, and partly the aluminium, can be extracted with caustic as iron and heavy metals are completely insoluble in caustic. This is a method to separate the phosphates from the rest of the contaminants. However, high calcium content will bind the phosphate as calcium phosphate insoluble in caustic. In most cases the calcium content is too high and the best solution is to dissolve phosphates and all metals with sulphuric acid. From this solution first iron phosphate can be separated and thereafter in a second step aluminium and finally heavy metals in a third step. Iron can be separated from the phosphate, either by leaching the phosphate with caustic off to sodium phosphate leaving a precipitate consisting of iron hydroxide, or the iron phosphate can be dissolved in hydrochloric acid followed by a liquid extraction process where ferric chloride can be separated leaving a phosphoric acid. By the acid dissolving process it is possible to recover phosphate, iron, aluminium, and heavy metals from the inorganic since the Aqua Reci process only leaves a silica residue representing about 10% of the DS content in the original sludge.     

Extraction efficiency of phosphate from pre-coagulated sludge with NaHS.

The recovery of phosphorus from sewage and sludge treatment systems is particularly important because it is a limited resource and a large proportion of the phosphorus currently used in Japan must be imported. We have been experimentally evaluating recovery methods with sulphide. In this study, we focussed on the extraction of phosphate from the sludge, and sought to achieve a greater extraction efficiency and to validate the extraction mechanism. We conducted three experiments, i.e. a sludge-type experiment, a coagulant ratio of pre-coagulated sludge experiment, and a concentration of pre-coagulated sludge experiment. Phosphate was extracted not with normal sewage sludge but with pre-coagulated sludge and FePO4 reagent at S/Fe = 1.0-2.0. A coagulant ratio of 23mg Fe L(-1) was required in the precoagulation process to effectively extract phosphate. A high concentration of pre-coagulated sludge was required for the phosphate extraction. The mass balance was calculated, and 44.0% of phosphorus was extracted to supernatant, and 98.5% of iron and 98.3% of sulphur (44.1% of sulphur was sulphide). Thus, phosphate can be selectively separated from iron by the phosphate extraction method with NaHS, and phosphorus and iron can be recovered and reused at sewage treatment plants using ferric chloride as a coagulant.     

Behaviour of endocrine disrupting chemicals during the treatment of municipal sewage sludge.

Agricultural application of municipal sewage sludge has been emotionally discussed in the last decades, because the latter contains endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and other organic micropollutants with unknown fate and risk potential. Bisphenol A (BPA) was chosen as a model substance to investigate the influence of sludge conditioning on the end-concentration of EDCs in sludge. Adsorption studies with radioactive-labelled BPA showed that more than 75% BPA in anaerobically digested sludge is bound to solids (log Kd = 2.09-2.30; log Koc = 2.72-3.11). Sludge conditioning with polymer or iron (III) chloride alone had no influence on the adsorption of BPA. After conditioning with iron (III) chloride and calcium hydroxide desorption of BPA took place. Apparently, it occurred due to the deprotonation of BPA (pKa= 10.3) as the pH-value reached 12.4 during the process. The same behaviour is expected for other phenolic EDCs with similar pKa (nonylphenol, 17beta-estradiol, estron, estriol, 17alpha-ethinylestradiol). This study shows high affinity of BPA to the anaerobically digested sludge and importance of conditioning in the elimination of EDCs during the sludge treatment. Addition of polymer is favourable in the case of sludge incineration. Conditioning with iron (III) chloride and calcium hydroxide shows advantages for the use of sludge as fertiliser.     

Phosphorus recycling in sewage treatment plants with biological phosphorus removal.

In this paper, phosphorus balances are calculated for the wastewater purification and sludge treatment stages for wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) applying Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal (EBPR). The possible P-recovery potential is then estimated and evaluated regarding different locations along the process of wastewater purification and sludge treatment, taking the different phosphorus bonding forms into account. Caused by the more favourable bonding forms in the excess sludge as well as possibly also in the sludge ash a recovery of the phosphorus seems especially favoured for WWTPs with EBPR. The processes available for a P recycling are named, and special regard is given to the Phostrip-process, which is a possible recycling process already tested in practice. Further R&D demand consists in basic research regarding disintegration, fermentation or acidic total digestion of excess sludge followed by phosphorus precipitation including separation of the precipitates, MAP-precipitation and separation from digested sludge and on the ability to extract phosphorus and heavy metals from sewage sludge ash. These investigations are a precondition to enable purposeful process developments. At the present state the cost of recycled phosphorus earned from wastewater, sludge and ash, respectively, are a multiple higher than the costs for raw phosphate taking into account the suitable processes. Thus, up to now no phosphorus recycling with a defrayal of costs is possible. The future importance of phosphorus recycling will depend on the market price for raw phosphate, the recycling costs and, furthermore, on the general political framework.     

Evaluation of heavy metal inhibition of activated sludge by TTC and INT-electron transport system activity tests.

TTC and INT-electron transport system activity tests were compared for assessing heavy metal inhibition of activated sludge. The median inhibitory concentrations (IC50s) of Cu2+, Zn2+, Cd2+, Hg2+, Ni2+, Pb2+ and Ag+ measured via TTC test were lower than those measured via INT test, which indicates that the INT-electron transport system activity test was less sensitive to heavy metal toxicity than the TTC test. Tested heavy metals brought about similar decrease in TTC-electron transport system activity and COD removal rate, but less decrease in INT-electron transport system activity than COD removal rate, which suggests that the TTC-electron transport system activity is a better parameter for reflecting heavy metal inhibition of activated sludge than INT-electron transport system activity. The ranking of tested heavy metals in order of decreasing toxicity based on TTC test was Hg2+, Cd2+, Cu2+, Ag+, Zn2+, Ni2+ and Pb2+, and the ranking based on INT test was Hg2+, Ag+, Cu2+, Cd2+, Zn2+, Ni2+ and Pb2+.     

Impact of sewage sludge applications on the biogeochemistry of soils

This report describes an investigation into the bioavailability and fate of trace metals and their subsequent impact on important soil microbiological functions such as nitrification, denitrification and methane oxidation in low and high Cu containing soils in the presence and absence of residual organic matter from sewage sludge additions made 10 years earlier. The soils being studied are part of long term sewage sludge trials and include a low Cu soil (13.3 mg Cu/kg soil, 4.18 LOI %), left un-amended to serve as a control soil, soil amended with a high Cu sewage sludge (278.3 mg Cu/kg soil, 6.52 LOI %) and soil amended with a low Cu sewage sludge (46.3 mg Cu/kg soil, 6.18 LOI %). Soil was also amended with inorganic metal salts (273.4 mg Cu/kg soil, 4.52 LOI %) to further investigate the impact of Cu in the absence of additional organic matter contained in applied sewage sludge. Data from the first two years of a project are presented which has included field-based studies at long term sewage sludge trials based in Watlington, Oxford, UK and laboratory based studies at the Institute of Grassland & Environmental Research, North Wyke, Devon, UK.     

Enhancing phosphorus removal in constructed wetlands with ochre from mine drainage treatment.

No single end-use has yet been identified that is capable of consuming the projected production of ochre (mainly iron (III) oxides) from mine drainage treatment. However, the high sorption capacity of ochre for phosphorus (up to 26 mg kg(-1)) means that it could be used in constructed wetlands to enhance phosphorus removal. Laboratory batch experiments showed that coarse-grained ochre removes 90% of all phosphorus forms from sewage effluent after 15 minutes of shaking. From a larger-scale experiment, it is estimated that constructed wetlands with an ochre substrate should remove phosphorus from sewage effluent for up to 200-300 years. The suitability of ochre for phosphorus removal is being investigated at the field scale in a wastewater constructed wetland (175 m2 area) in Berwickshire, UK. The hydraulic and treatment performance of the wetland were monitored for 15 months prior to installation at the inlet in November 2003 of a tank containing approximately 1200 kg ochre. Results so far show that improved hydraulic design is required for ochre to increase the mean phosphorus removal efficiency of the system (27 +/- 28%), but potentially toxic metals (Al, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, Zn) have not been released from the ochre into the wetland outflow.     

Potentials of using nanofiltration to recover phosphorus from sewage sludge.

Due to the depletion of mineral phosphorus resources there is an increasing demand for efficient phosphorus recovery technologies. In this study the potential of nanofiltration to recover phosphorus from pre-treated sewage sludge is investigated. The efficiency of three commercial nanofiltration membranes (Desal 5DK, NP030; MPF34) was tested using model solutions. Desal 5DK showed the best selectivity for phosphorus. A pH of lower than 1.5 was found to be most suitable. Desal 5DK was used on four different sewage sludge ash eluates and on one sewage sludge. In these experiments it was shown that a separation of phosphorus from undesired components such as heavy metals was possible with significant variations in the efficiency for the different ash and sludge types. Additionally the achievable product recovery was investigated with model solutions. A product recovery of 57.1% was attained for pH 1 and 41.4% for pH 1.5.