Ultrasonic waste activated sludge disintegration for improving anaerobic stabilization

The pretreatment of waste activated sludge by ultrasonic disintegration was studied in order to improve the anaerobic sludge stabilization. The ultrasound frequency was varied within a range from 41 to 3217 kHz. The impact of different ultrasound intensities and treatment times was examined. Sludge disintegration was most significant at low frequencies. Low-frequency ultrasound creates large cavitation bubbles which upon collapse initiate powerful jet streams exerting strong shear forces in the liquid. The decreasing sludge disintegration efficiency observed at higher frequencies was attributed to smaller cavitation bubbles which do not allow the initiation of such strong shear forces. Short sonication times resulted in sludge floc deagglomeration without the destruction of bacteria cells. Longer sonication brought about the break-up of cell walls, the sludge solids were distintegrated and dissolved organic compounds were released. The anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge following ultrasonic pretreatment causing microbial cell lysis was significantly improved. There was an increase in the volatile solids degradation as well as an increase in the biogas production. The increase in digestion efficiency was proportional to the degree of sludge disintegration. To a lesser degree the deagglomeration of sludge flocs also augmented the anaerobic volatile solids degradation.     

By-products formation during drinking water disinfection: a tool to assess disinfection efficiency?

In drinking water treatment, the inactivation of microorganisms increases with increasing disinfectant exposure (product of concentration and contact time, CT). Also, the formation of undesired (toxic) disinfection by-products increases with CT. The present study proposes a new concept that uses this undesired side effect of chemical water disinfection for a fast and reliable test of treatment efficiency. In laboratory systems, bromate formation during ozonation and the formation of trihalomethanes during chlorination were used to calculate the disinfectant exposure, which is a measure for the achieved degree of disinfection.     

Performance of a bioreactor with submerged membranes for aerobic treatment of municipal waste water

Aerobic treatment of municipal waste water in a membrane bioreactor was studied for 535 d. Apart from sampling, sludge was retained completely by a submerged hollow fibre membrane with a pore-size of 0.2 microm. The pilot plant comprised an anoxic zone to enable denitrification. The maximum liquid hold-up of the plant was 3.9 m3. In this study the reactor performance and the stability of the process and the membrane capacity were investigated. A stable flux of 181 m(-2)h(-1) could be realised with a mean transmembrane pressure difference of 0.3bar with air-bubbling and backflushing the membrane and cleaning it in place every two months for one or two hours. For about 140d, a flux of 271 m(-2)h(-1) was achieved, but cleaning became necessary more often. The hydraulic retention time (HRT) varied between 10.4 and 15.6h. Accordingly the volumetric loading rate was between 1.1 and 1.7kg CODm(-3)d(-1). No inoculum was used. The mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) concentration gradually increased to 18-20g MLSSl(-1). The feed to microorganism (F/M) ratio varied according to the operation conditions but decreased against a value of 0.07 kg COD kg(-1) MLSSd(-1). Treatment performance was very stable and on a high level. The COD was reduced by 95%. Nitrification was complete and up to 82% of the total nitrogen could be denitrified.     

System identification for the ECG using CZT.

A new approach for extraction of clinically useful parameters from the ECG signal is presented using the system identification technique of CZT on the DCT-transformed signal. A one to one relationship between the model singularities and the significant points in the time signal is arrived at. The method allows the determination of R-R interval needed in rhythm analysis. The complex cepstrum is used for identifying and removing the effect of zeros outside the unit circle. A significant data compression of 1 in 10 is achieved. A large number of continuous strips of ECG data are analyzed and the results are presented.     

An X-ray absorption spectroscopy study of Mo oxidation in Pb at elevated temperatures

The corrosion of fuel cladding and structural materials by lead and lead-bismuth eutectic in the liquid state at elevated temperatures is an issue that must be considered when designing advanced nuclear systems and high-power spallation neutron targets. In this work, lead corrosion studies of molybdenum were performed to investigate the interaction layer as a function of temperature by X-ray absorption spectroscopy. In situ X-ray absorption measurements on a Mo substrate with a 3-6 μm layer of Pb deposited by thermal evaporation were performed at temperatures up to 900 °C and at a 15° angle to the incident X-rays. The changes in the local atomic structure of the corrosion layer are visible in the difference extended X-ray absorption fine structure and the linear combination fitting of the X-ray absorption near-edge structure to as-deposited molybdenum sample and molybdenum oxide (MoO₂ and MoO₃) standards. The data are consistent with the appearance of MoO₃ in an intermediate temperature range (650-800 °C) and the more stable MoO₂ phase dominating at high and low temperatures.     

Mechanisms of ion-induced GaN thin layer splitting

The underlying physics and the role of H-defect interaction in H ion-induced splitting of GaN were investigated by transmission electron microscopy, high resolution X-ray diffraction, positron annihilation spectroscopy, ion channeling, elastic recoil detection, and infrared spectroscopy. A high concentration of void-like nanoscopic structures, nanobubbles, is detected immediately after implantation. Positron annihilation measurements demonstrate that the detected structures are vacancy clusters. FTIR data show that H-defect vibrational spectrum peaks at 3141 cm^?1 mode attributed to V_Ga–H₄. A large fraction of H was found to be trapped in higher frequency modes which we associate tentatively to N–H stretch modes in the internal surfaces of nanobubbles. These nanobubbles persist during annealing up to 450 °C. An increase of the strain is observed in this temperature range. This strain relaxes partially above 450 °C following the formation of the platelets which are embryos of the microcracks.     

Neutronics design analyses of fusion power reactors based on a novel integral approach

A novel integral approach was applied for the nuclear design analyses performed for the European DEMO Conceptual Study including, for the first time, the automatic generation of analysis models for Monte Carlo calculations from available CAD geometry data by the new McCad conversion tool. Starting from neutronics pre-analyses to define the radial reactor build, a generic neutronics CAD model of the DEMO reactor was constructed serving as basis for the generation of DEMO reactor models employing the HCLL (Helium Cooled Lithium Lead) and HCPB (Helium Cooled Pebble Bed) blankets for the tritium breeding and the power production. The HCLL and HCPB DEMO reactor models were converted to the MCNP geometry representation by the newly developed McCad software tool. The nuclear analyses performed on the basis of MCNP Monte Carlo calculations using the converted models showed that both DEMO reactor variants could satisfy the requirements for a sufficient shielding and tritium breeding performance. As a major outcome of this work it is concluded that the newly established integral approach for neutronics analyses, including the automatic generation of analysis geometry models by McCad, is mature for applications to reactor design analyses and studies.     

Optimised plasma stabilisation at TEXTOR with an advanced, real-time digital control scheme

The tokamak TEXTOR at the Research Centre in Jülich is in operation since more than 25 years. The various control systems at the start, in 1982, were based on analogue techniques, a standard at the time, and were later partly replaced by specially developed digital systems. These systems proved their robustness over the years. As a replacement for the old system, off-the-shelf products were used to ensure continuity, reliability and to reduce the development cost. To provide advanced control scenarios, the new system allows the implementation of more sophisticated algorithms for magnetic and kinetic control. The LabVIEW Real-Time (RT) modules and real-time hardware from National Instruments satisfy these requirements to a large extent. The new system has already been successfully commissioned at TEXTOR and is used to calculate in real-time the plasma density profile (10 ms), the Shafranov shift (10 ms), the plasma vertical and horizontal position (20 $\mu$s) and to control the plasma shape (1 ms). TEXTOR has circular plasmas and has an iron core. Its central part is operated in saturation. During the saturation phase, stray fields change the plasma shape from nearly circular to slightly triangular. By using a shape-control coil set, we can control and adjust the plasma form. The new real-time system is presented as well as the implemented control applications.     

Detection of cauliflower mosaic virus by the polymerase chain reaction: testing of food components for false-positive 35S-promoter screening results

 Today DNA-based techniques are very common for the detection of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food products. For fast and easy detection of GMOs, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) screening methods, which amplify common transgenic elements, are applied in routine analysis. These techniques do not allow differentiation between GMOs and the natural occurrence of transgenic elements, such as the 35S-promoter of cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) or the NOS-terminator of Agrobacterium tumefaciens, and thus may result in false-positive detection of GMOs. In this study we evaluated three different existing 35S screening systems and report the development of two new CaMV-specific PCR systems. These PCR systems based on CaMV-specific genes allow the identification of positively screened 35S food samples as naturally virus-infected products or plants. Seven food samples tested positive in routine 35S screening analysis and negative in GMO specific systems were investigated using the new virus-specific PCR systems. In all seven samples CaMV was detected. Received: 26 April 1999 / Revised version: 28 June 1999     

LIPID AND CHOLESTEROL OXIDATION,COLOR CHANGES,AND VOLATILE PRODUCTION IN IRRADIATED RAW PORK BATTERS WITH DIFFERENT FAT CONTENT1

An emulsion-type product was prepared to determine the effect of irradiation on lipid and cholesterol oxidation, color change, and volatile production in raw pork with different fat contents. Lipid oxidation increased with an increase in fat content or irradiation dose. Irradiated batters had higher cholesterol oxides than nonirradiated, and the major cholesterol oxides formed in irradiated pork batters were 7α- and 7β-hydroxycholesterol. Hunter color a- and b-values of raw pork batters were decreased by irradiation regardless of fat content. Irradiation increased the amount ofvolatiles significantly. Although lipid oxidation of high fat products (10 and 15% fat) was higher than that of low fat products (4%), high fat products did not always produce greater amount of volatiles. In summary, irradiation increased lipid and cholesterol oxidation, volatiles production and had detrimental effects on the color of raw pork batters under aerobic condition.