Wet air oxidation of table olive processing wastewater: determination of key operating parameters by factorial design

The wet air oxidation of an effluent from edible olive processing was investigated. Semibatch experiments were conducted with 0.3L of effluent loaded into an autoclave and pure oxygen fed continuously to maintain an oxygen partial pressure of 2.5MPa. The effect of operating conditions, such as initial organic loading (from 1240 to 5150mg/L COD), reaction time (from 30 to 120min), temperature (from 140 to 180 degrees C), initial pH (from 3 to 7) and the use of 500mg/L H(2)O(2) as an additional oxidant, on treatment efficiency was assessed implementing a factorial experimental design. All five parameters had a statistically considerable effect on COD removal, alongside second order interactions of COD with reaction temperature, contact time and effluent pH. In most cases, high levels of phenols degradation (up to 100%) and decolorization (up to 90%) were achieved followed by low to moderate mineralization (up to 70%). The oxidation of phenols was affected to a considerable level by the initial COD, reaction temperature and contact time, as well as the second order interaction between COD and temperature, while all other effects were insignificant.     

Olive mill wastewater treatment by anodic oxidation with parallel plate electrodes

Olive mill wastewater is characterized by very high chemical oxygen demand (COD) values and contains high concentrations of polyphenols that inhibit the activity of micro-organisms during biological oxidations. In this paper, the applicability of electrochemical oxidation of a real olive-mill wastewater was studied by performing galvanostatic electrolysis using parallel plate electrodes. A mixed titanium and ruthenium oxide (Ti/TiRuO2) was used as anode and stainless steel as cathode. The effect of chloride concentration and applied current on the removal of COD, aromatic content and colour was investigated. The experimental results showed that an effective electrochemical oxidation was achieved in which the wastewater was decolourised and the COD and aromatic content completely eliminated. In particular, the mineralisation took place by indirect oxidation, mediated by active chlorine, and the COD removal rate was enhanced by the addition of 5 g L(-1) of NaCl to the wastewater and by increasing the applied current.     

Catalytic wet peroxide oxidation of phenol by pillared clays containing Al-Ce-Fe

A Colombian bentonite was successfully pillared with mixed polyhydroxocationic solutions of Al-Fe or Al-Ce-Fe, with the iron in small quantities, to generate a modified Fenton process on the surface of the pillared clays with a possible activation of the hydrogen peroxide and the organic substances on the iron sites of the solids in order to obtain active and stable catalysts for the wet peroxide oxidation of organic pollutants from industrial wastewaters. The catalysts were very efficient in the reaction of phenol oxidation in diluted aqueous media under mild experimental conditions (298 K and atmospheric pressure) and in the elimination of the different intermediary compounds of the reaction reaching high-mineralization levels. The solids showed high stability in the reaction media due to the strong interaction between the iron species and the catalyst support. The incorporation of Ce in the solids showed a favorable effect in the pillaring of the materials allowing the increase of the basal spacing and enhancing the catalytic activity of the solids.     

奥贝尔氧化沟在县城污水厂的应用

某县污水厂采用奥贝尔氧化沟工艺,对工艺的运行情况进行了分析,通过混凝实验确定最佳投药量,投加絮凝剂,提高了出水效果,从而解决了出水不好的问题。     

Metal ions removal from wastewater or washing water from contaminated soil by ultrafiltration-complexation

In the present paper a process for removal of ions from wastewater or from washing water of contaminated soil by using the weakly basic water-soluble polymer polyethylenimine (PEI) as chelating agent and the Cu(2+) ion as model in combination with an ultrafiltration process was investigated. The complexing agent was preliminarily tested to establish the best operative conditions of the process. Next, ultrafiltration tests by using five different membranes were realised to check membrane performance like flux and rejection. Finally, the possibility for recovering and recycling the polymer was tested in order to obtain an economically sustainable process. Obtained results showed that complexation conditions depends on pH: indeed, at a pH>6 PEI-Cu(2+) complexes are formed, while at pH<3 the decomplexation reaction takes place. Saturation condition is 0.333 mg Cu(2+)/mg PEI, meaning a ratio PEI/Cu(2+)=3(w/w). UF tests showed good results using the PAN 40 kDa membrane reaching an average copper concentration in the permeate of 2 mg/l and a flux of 135.4 and 156.5l/h.m(2) at 2 and 4 bar, respectively. Metal rejection, permeate flow rate, and possibility to regenerating and recycling the polymer makes the polymer-assisted ultrafiltration process (PAUF) very interesting for metal ion removal from waters.     

Monitoring and kinetic study of ammonia oxidation using dissolved oxygen electrode and NAD(P) H fluorometer

The ammonia oxidation of a mixed culture enriched from a wastewater treatment plant sludge was monitored by a DO probe and a nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (phosphate) (NAD(P)H) fluorometer. Under fixed aeration, DO reflected ammonia oxidation effectively. According to the DO profiles and the total ammonia concentrations analyzed experimentally, the ammonia oxidation kinetics of the enriched culture was determined. The ammonia oxidation rate was found sensitive to pH, especially at low total ammonia concentrations. At high concentrations of total ammonia, the maximum ammonia oxidation rate occurred at pH 7.6+/-0.1. At low concentrations, the pH sensitivity intensified significantly and the apparent optimal pH shifted higher with decreasing total ammonia concentrations, because NH3 molecules were the true substrate for ammonia oxidation and more NH4+ ions were converted to NH3 molecules at higher pH. The ammonia oxidation kinetics was therefore developed according to the concentration of NH3 molecules, instead of the commonly used total ammonia concentration. The kinetics followed Michaelis-Menten behavior for both DO and NH3 concentration: the maximum rate was 16.7+/-0.7 mg NH3-N/(g TSS-h) and the Michaelis constants for DO and NH3 were (14+/-2)% air saturation and (4.4+/-0.4) x 10(-2) (mg NH3-N/L), respectively. It was also concluded from the study that with or without exogenous organic substances, the NAD(P)H fluorescence of the enriched nitrifying culture was undetectable. The fluorescence did not respond to addition or depletion of substrate (ammonia, glucose, or acetate), change between aerobic and anaerobic conditions, or even KCN addition to kill the culture.     

Catalytic wet oxidation of o-chlorophenol at mild temperatures under alkaline conditions

Wet oxidation of a 100 ppm aqueous solution of o-chlorophenol (o-CP) was performed in a lab-scale batch reactor using 3% Ru/TiO(2) catalyst at 373 and 413 K, and a partial oxygen pressure of 0.1 MPa. The experiments were conducted by varying the initial pH values of o-CP solution from pH 6.3 to 9.8 and 11.8. From the results, it was revealed that the catalytic decomposition of o-CP occurred most effectively at 413 K and at the initial pH of 9.8. Complete decomposition and dechlorination of o-CP were almost achieved within 1h, and about 85% of TOC was removed in 3.0 h. On the other hand, the catalytic wet oxidation of o-CP at a higher pH value of 11.8 was not effective in the removal of TOC. The incomplete removal of TOC at the initial pH of 11.8 is likely attributed to a low pK(a) of carboxylic acids formed during the wet oxidation of o-CP.     

Formation of oxidation byproducts from ozonation of wastewater

Disinfection byproduct (DBP) formation in tertiary wastewater was examined after ozonation (O(3)) and advanced oxidation with O(3) and hydrogen peroxide (O(3)/H(2)O(2)). O(3) and O(3)/H(2)O(2) were applied at multiple dosages to investigate DBP formation during coliform disinfection and trace contaminant oxidation. Results showed O(3) provided superior disinfection of fecal and total coliforms compared to O(3)/H(2)O(2). Color, UV absorbance, and SUVA were reduced by O(3) and O(3)/H(2)O(2), offering wastewater utilities a few potential surrogates to monitor disinfection or trace contaminant oxidation. At equivalent O(3) dosages, O(3)/H(2)O(2) produced greater concentrations of assimilable organic carbon (5-52%), aldehydes (31-47%), and carboxylic acids (12-43%) compared to O(3) alone, indicating that organic DBP formation is largely dependent upon hydroxyl radical exposure. Bromate formation occurred when O(3) dosages exceeded the O(3) demand of the wastewater. Bench-scale tests with free chlorine showed O(3) is capable of reducing total organic halide (TOX) formation potential by at least 20%. In summary, O(3) provided superior disinfection compared to O(3)/H(2)O(2) while minimizing DBP concentrations. These are important considerations for water reuse, aquifer storage and recovery, and advanced wastewater treatment applications.     

Development of a new photocatalytic oxidation air filter for aircraft cabin

A new photocatalytic oxidation air filter (PCO unit) has been designed for aircraft cabin applications. The PCO unit is designed as a regenerable VOC removal system in order to improve the quality of the recirculated air entering the aircraft cabin. The PCO was designed to be a modular unit, with four UV lamps sandwiched between two interchangeable titanium dioxide coated panels. Performances of the PCO unit has been measured in a single pass mode test rig in order to show the ability of the unit to decrease the amount of VOCs (toluene, ethanol, and acetone) entering it (VOCs are fed separately), and in a multipass mode test rig in order to measure the ability of the unit to clean the air of an experimental room polluted with the same VOCs (fed separately). Triangular cell panels have been chosen instead of the wire mesh panels because they have higher efficiency. The efficiency of the PCO unit depends on the type of VOCs that challenges it, toluene being the most difficult one to oxidise. The efficiency of the PCO unit decreases when the air flow rate increases. The multipass mode test results show that the VOCs are oxidized but additional testing time would be necessary in order to show if they can be fully oxidized. The intermediate reaction products are mainly acetaldehyde and formaldehyde whose amount depends on the challenge VOC. The intermediate reaction products are also oxidized and additional testing time would be necessary in order to show if they can be fully oxidized. The development of this new photocatalytic air filter is still going on. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The VOC/odor removing adsorbers are available for only a small proportion of aircraft currently in service. The photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) technique has appeared to be a promising solution to odors problems met in aircraft. This article reports the test results of a new photocatalytic oxidation air filter (PCO unit) designed for aircraft cabin applications. The overall efficiency of the PCO unit is function of the compound (toluene, ethanol, and acetone) that challenges the unit and toluene appears to be the most difficult compound to oxidize. Test results have shown the influence of the design of the PCO unit, the air flow rate and the type of UV on the efficiency of the PCO unit. The results obtained in this study represent a first attempt on the way to design a filter for VOC removal in cabin aircraft applications. The PCO technique used by the tested prototype unit is able to partially oxidized the challenge VOCs but one has to be aware that some harmful intermediate reaction products (mainly formaldehyde and acetaldehyde) are produced during the oxidation process before being partially oxidized too.     

The role of nitrite and free nitrous acid (FNA) in wastewater treatment plants

Nitrite is known to accumulate in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) under certain environmental conditions. The protonated form of nitrite, free nitrous acid (FNA), has been found to cause severe inhibition to numerous bioprocesses at WWTPs. However, this inhibitory effect of FNA may possibly be gainfully exploited, such as repressing nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) growth to achieve N removal via the nitrite shortcut. However, the inhibition threshold of FNA to repress NOB (∼0.02 mg HNO₂-N/L) may also inhibit other bioprocesses. This paper reviews the inhibitory effects of FNA on nitrifiers, denitrifiers, anammox bacteria, phosphorus accumulating organisms (PAO), methanogens, and other microorganisms in populations used in WWTPs. The possible inhibition mechanisms of FNA on microorganisms are discussed and compared. It is concluded that a single inhibition mechanism is not sufficient to explain the negative impacts of FNA on microbial metabolisms and that multiple inhibitory effects can be generated from FNA. The review would suggest further research is necessary before the FNA inhibition mechanisms can be more effectively used to optimize WWTP bioprocesses. Perspectives on research directions, how the outcomes may be used to manipulate bioprocesses and the overall implications of FNA on WWTPs are also discussed.     

Removal of refractory compounds from stabilized landfill leachate using an integrated H2O2 oxidation and granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption treatment

This study investigated the treatment performances of H₂O₂ oxidation alone and its combination with granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption for raw leachate from the NENT landfill (Hong Kong) with a very low biodegradability ratio (BOD₅/COD) of 0.08. The COD removal of refractory compounds (as indicated by COD values) by the integrated H₂O₂ and GAC treatment was evaluated, optimized and compared to that by H₂O₂ treatment alone with respect to dose, contact time, pH, and biodegradability ratio. At an initial COD concentration of 8000 mg/L and NH₃-N of 2595 mg/L, the integrated treatment has substantially achieved a higher removal (COD: 82%; NH₃-N: 59%) than the H₂O₂ oxidation alone (COD: 33%; NH₃-N: 4.9%) and GAC adsorption alone (COD: 58%) at optimized experimental conditions (p ≤ 0.05; t-test). The addition of an Fe(II) dose at 1.8 g/L further improved the removal of refractory compounds by the integrated treatment from 82% to 89%. Although the integrated H₂O₂ oxidation and GAC adsorption could treat leachate of varying strengths, treated effluents were unable to meet the local COD limit of less than 200 mg/L and the NH₃-N of lower than 5 mg/L. However, the integrated treatment significantly improved the biodegradability ratio of the treated leachate by 350% from 0.08 to 0.36, enabling the application of subsequent biological treatments for complementing the degradation of target compounds in the leachate prior to their discharge.     

Data evaluation of full-scale wastewater treatment plants by mass balance

Measured data of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) often contains errors. These errors can prohibit the use of WWTP data for process evaluation, process design, benchmarking or modelling purposes. In this paper a practical stepwise methodology is presented to check WWTP data using mass balances. The presented results show that poor WWTP data quality leads to large errors when calculating key operational conditions such as the solids retention time (SRT), oxygen consumption (OC) and the different internal conversions rates. By improving WWTP data quality using mass balance calculations useful new information becomes available for process evaluation, WWTPs design and benchmarking.     

受污染珠江水的生物膜法预处理研究

采用生物接触氧化池对受污染珠江水源水进行预处理。中试结果表明,当填料水力负荷为１ｍ３／（ｍ３·ｈ）、气水比为２∶１时,可去除氨氮９２％、亚硝酸盐氮８０％、ＢＯＤ５８５％、藻类６９％,处理效果高于塔式生物滤池。     

Impact of process design on greenhouse gas (GHG) generation by wastewater treatment plants

The overall on-site and off-site greenhouse gas emissions by wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) of food processing industry were estimated by using an elaborate mathematical model. Three different types of treatment processes including aerobic, anaerobic and hybrid anaerobic/aerobic processes were examined in this study. The overall on-site emissions were 1952, 1992, and 2435 kg CO₂e/d while the off-site emissions were 1313, 4631, and 5205 kg CO₂e/d for the aerobic, anaerobic and hybrid treatment systems, respectively, when treating a wastewater at 2000 kg BOD/d. The on-site biological processes made the highest contribution to GHG emissions in the aerobic treatment system while the highest emissions in anaerobic and hybrid treatment systems were obtained by off-site GHG emissions, mainly due to on-site material usage. Biogas recovery and reuse as fuel cover the total energy needs of the treatment plants for aeration, heating and electricity for all three types of operations, and considerably reduce GHG emissions by 512, 673, and 988 kg CO₂e/d from a total of 3265, 6625, and 7640 kg CO₂e/d for aerobic, anaerobic, and hybrid treatment systems, respectively. Considering the off-site GHG emissions, aerobic treatment is the least GHG producing type of treatment contrary to what has been reported in the literature.     

Effect of ozone exposure on the oxidation of trace organic contaminants in wastewater

Three tertiary-treated wastewater effluents were evaluated to determine the impact of wastewater quality (i.e. effluent organic matter (EfOM), nitrite, and alkalinity) on ozone (O₃) decomposition and subsequent removal of 31 organic contaminants including endocrine disrupting compounds, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products. The O₃ dose was normalized based upon total organic carbon (TOC) and nitrite to allow comparison between the different wastewaters with respect to O₃ decomposition. EfOM with higher molecular weight components underwent greater transformation, which corresponded to increased O₃ decomposition when compared on a TOC basis. Hydroxyl radical (OH) exposure, measured by parachlorobenzoic acid (pCBA), showed that limited OH was available for contaminant destruction during the initial stage of O₃ decomposition (t < 30 s) due to the effect of the scavenging by the water quality. Advanced oxidation using O₃ and hydrogen peroxide did not increase the net production of OH compared to O₃ under the conditions studied. EfOM reactivity impacted the removal of trace contaminants when evaluated based on the O₃:TOC ratio. Trace contaminants with second order reaction rate constants with O₃ (kO3) > 10⁵ M⁻¹ s⁻¹ and OH (k_OH) > 10⁹ M⁻¹ s⁻¹, including carbamazepine, diclofenac, naproxen, sulfamethoxazole, and triclosan, were >95% removed independent of water quality when the O₃ exposure () was measurable (0-0.8 mg min/L). O₃ exposure would be a conservative surrogate to assess the removal of trace contaminants that are fast-reacting with O₃. Removal of contaminants with and k_OH > 10⁹ M⁻¹ s⁻¹, including atrazine, iopromide, diazepam, and ibuprofen, varied when O₃ exposure could not be measured, and appeared to be dependent upon the compound specific k_OH. Atrazine, diazepam, ibuprofen and iopromide provided excellent linear correlation with pCBA (R² > 0.86) making them good indicators of OH availability.     

Removal of chromium (VI) from wastewater using bentonite-supported nanoscale zero-valent iron

Bentonite-supported nanoscale zero-valent iron (B-nZVI) was synthesized using liquid-phase reduction. The orthogonal method was used to evaluate the factors impacting Cr(VI) removal and this showed that the initial concentration of Cr(VI), pH, temperature, and B-nZVI loading were all importance factors. Characterization with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) validated the hypothesis that the presence of bentonite led to a decrease in aggregation of iron nanoparticles and a corresponding increase in the specific surface area (SSA) of the iron particles. B-nZVI with a 50% bentonite mass fraction had a SSA of 39.94 m²/g, while the SSA of nZVI and bentonite was 54.04 and 6.03 m²/g, respectively. X-ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed the existence of Fe⁰ before the reaction and the presence of Fe(II), Fe(III) and Cr(III) after the reaction. Batch experiments revealed that the removal of Cr (VI) using B-nZVI was consistent with pseudo first-order reaction kinetics. Finally, B-nZVI was used to remediate electroplating wastewater with removal efficiencies for Cr, Pb and Cu > 90%. Reuse of B-nZVI after washing with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) solution was possible but the capacity of B-nZVI for Cr(VI) removal decreased by approximately 70%.     

Impact of inocula and growth mode on the molecular microbial ecology of anaerobic ammonia oxidation (anammox) bioreactor communities

The composition of distinctly inoculated granular anammox and biofilm-based completely autotrophic nitrogen removal over nitrite (CANON) bioreactors was investigated from start-up through continuous long-term operation via denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and sequencing. The granular anammox reactor was seeded with sludge from an operational anammox reactor in Strass, Austria. The CANON reactor was seeded with activated sludge from a local wastewater treatment plant in New York City. The principal anammox bacteria (AMX) shifted from members related to Kuenenia stuttgartiensis present in the initial inoculum to members related to Candidatus Brocadia fulgida during pre-enrichment (before this study) and to members related to Candidatus Brocadia sp. 40 (during this study) in the granular reactor. AMX related to C. Brocadia sp. 40 were also enriched from activated sludge in the CANON reactor. The estimated doubling times of AMX in the granular and CANON reactors were 5.3 and 8.9 days, respectively, which are lower than the value of 11 days, reported previously. Both the granular anammox and CANON reactors also fostered significant amounts of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB). The fractions of AMX and two groups of NOB were generally similar in the granular anammox and CANON reactors. However, the diversity and fractions of AOB in the two reactors was markedly different. Therefore, it is suggested that the composition of the feed and extant substrate concentrations in the reactor likely select for the microbial community composition more than the inocula and reactor configuration. Further, such selection is not equivalent for all resident communities.     

Occurrence and removal of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) in an advanced wastewater reclamation plant

The occurrence of nineteen pharmaceutically active compounds and personal care products was followed monthly for 12 months after various stages of treatment in an advanced wastewater reclamation plant in Gwinnett County, GA, U.S.A. Twenty-four hour composite samples were collected after primary clarification, activated sludge biological treatment, membrane filtration, granular media filtration, granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption, and ozonation in the wastewater reclamation plant. Compounds were identified and quantified using high performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS) after solid-phase extraction. Standard addition methods were employed to compensate for matrix effects. Sixteen of the targeted compounds were detected in the primary effluent; sulfadimethoxine, doxycycline, and iopromide were not found. Caffeine and acetaminophen were found at the highest concentrations (∼10⁵ ng/L), followed by ibuprofen (∼10⁴ ng/L), sulfamethoxazole and DEET (∼10³ ng/L). Most of the other compounds were found at concentrations on the order of hundreds of ng/L. After activated sludge treatment and membrane filtration, the concentrations of caffeine, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, DEET, tetracycline, and 17α-ethynylestradiol (EE2) had decreased by more than 90%. Erythromycin and carbamazepine, which were resistant to biological treatment, were eliminated by 74 and 88%, on average, by GAC. Primidone, DEET, and caffeine were not amenable to adsorption by GAC. Ozonation oxidized most of the remaining compounds by >60%, except for primidone and DEET. Of the initial 16 compounds identified in the primary effluent, only sulfamethoxazole, primidone, caffeine and DEET were frequently detected in the final effluent, but at concentrations on the order of 10-100 ng/L. Removal of the different agents by the various treatment processes was related to the physical-chemical properties of the compounds.     

The effect of primary sedimentation on full-scale WWTP nutrient removal performance

Traditionally, the performance of full-scale wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is measured based on influent and/or effluent and waste sludge flows and concentrations. Full-scale WWTP data typically have a high variance which often contains (large) measurement errors. A good process engineering evaluation of the WWTP performance is therefore difficult. This also makes it usually difficult to evaluate effect of process changes in a plant or compare plants to each other. In this paper we used a case study of a full-scale nutrient removing WWTP. The plant normally uses presettled wastewater, as a means to increase the nutrient removal the plant was operated for a period by-passing raw wastewater (27% of the influent flow). The effect of raw wastewater addition has been evaluated by different approaches: (i) influent characteristics, (ii) design retrofit, (iii) effluent quality, (iv) removal efficiencies, (v) activated sludge characteristics, (vi) microbial activity tests and FISH analysis and, (vii) performance assessment based on mass balance evaluation. This paper demonstrates that mass balance evaluation approach helps the WWTP engineers to distinguish and quantify between different strategies, where others could not. In the studied case, by-passing raw wastewater (27% of the influent flow) directly to the biological reactor did not improve the effluent quality and the nutrient removal efficiency of the WWTP. The increase of the influent C/N and C/P ratios was associated to particulate compounds with low COD/VSS ratio and a high non-biodegradable COD fraction.     

Exergetic performance assessment of a solar photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) air collector

In this paper, an attempt is made to evaluate the exergetic performance of a solar photovoltaic thermal (PV/T) air collector. A detailed energy and exergy analysis is carried out to calculate the thermal and electrical parameters, exergy components and exergy efficiency of a typical PV/T air collector. Some corrections are done on related heat loss coefficients. An improved electrical model is used to estimate the electrical parameters of a PV/T air collector. Further, a modified equation for the exergy efficiency of a PV/T air collector is derived in terms of design and climatic parameters. A computer simulation program is also developed to calculate the thermal and electrical parameters of a PV/T air collector. The results of numerical simulation are in good agreement with the experimental measurements noted in the previous literature. Finally, parametric studies have been carried out. It is observed that the modified exergy efficiency obtained in this paper is in good agreement with the one given by the previous literature. It is also found that the thermal efficiency, electrical efficiency, overall energy efficiency and exergy efficiency of PV/T air collector is about 17.18%, 10.01%, 45% and 10.75% respectively for a sample climatic, operating and design parameters.