scholarly journals Preliminary Examination on isolation of Microplastics (MPs) in Sewage Sludge from the Local Wastewater Treatment Plant

The outfalls from wastewater treatment plant has become a major receptor for the release of large quantity of microplastics (MPs) in the environment. To investigate such premise, the present work investigates the preliminary study on detecting and isolating the microplastics present in the sewage sludges, which extensively used as a fertilizer. Especially, the sludge-based MPs are greatly found in India and Southeast Asian countries. The average concentration MPs found in the sludge was found to be 31x103 particles per kg of dry sludge. In order to evaluate the performance of the methods used, spike study was tested using Polystyrene, polyethylene terephthalate and polyethylene materials. These outcomes confirmed that sewage sludge disposal is one of the main sources of microplastic pollution in the ecosystem.

2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Werle ◽  
Mariusz Dudziak

Abstract Municipal wastewater treatment results in the production of large quantities of sewage sludge, which requires proper environmentally accepted management before final disposal. Sewage sludge is a by-product of current wastewater treatment technologies. Sewage sludge disposal depends on the sludge treatment methods used in the wastewater treatment plant (anaerobic or aerobic digestion, drying, etc.). Taking into consideration presented given this information, a study concerning the effects of wastewater treatment processes and sewage sludge drying method on the sewage sludge gasification gas parameters was performed. Gasification is a prospective alternative method of sludge thermal treatment. For the purpose of experimental investigations, a laboratory fixed bed gasifier installation was designed and built. Two types of sewage sludge feedstock, SS1 and SS2, were analyzed. Sewage sludge SS1 came from a wastewater treatment plant operating in the mechanical and biological system while sewage sludge SS2 was collected in a mechanical, biological and chemical wastewater treatment plant with simultaneous phosphorus precipitation. The sludge produced at the plants was subject to fermentation and then, after being dehydrated, dried in a cylindrical drier on shelves heated up to 260ºC (sewage sludge SS1) and using hot air at a temperature of 150ºC in a belt drier (sewage SS2). The analysis shows that the sewage sludge properties strongly depend on the wastewater sources and the wastewater treatment processes. The gasification results, presented as a function of the amount of gasification agent, show that the greater oxygen content of SS1 caused a reduction in the reaction temperature. Paradoxically, this effect caused an increase in the quantity of combustible components in the gas. As expected, increasing the air flow rate caused a decrease in the heating value of the gas produced. A higher amount of oxidizer increases the amounts of noncombustible species and the volumetric fraction of nitrogen, thus reducing the heating value of the obtained gas. The higher hydrogen content in SS1 affects the gasification gas composition. As a result, combustible components are the majority of the syngas.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 2023-2034 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnieszka A. Pilarska ◽  
Krzysztof Pilarski ◽  
Boguslawa Waliszewska ◽  
Magdalena Zborowska ◽  
Kamil Witaszek ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Reza Shokoohi ◽  
Samira Moradi ◽  
Zhila Ghavami ◽  
Azam Nadali ◽  
Raheleh Amiri

In this study, qualitative characteristics of the sludge produced in Hamadan wastewater treatment plant and the feasibility of its application in agricultural lands were investigated. Samples were taken from the primary and secondary sludge and indices such as VS/TS, PH, TKN, COD, TKN, SOUR, Na, Ca, SAR, heavy metals and biological properties (the mean fecal coliform count and the number of parasitic eggs) were measured. The results were compared with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) standards (40 FCR-503). The results showed that the VS/TS ratio of the raw sludge was 0.8, 0.55, and 0.55 and that of the secondary sludge was 0.65, 0.28, and 0.32 for fall, winter, and summer, respectively. The average concentration of COD, TKN, SOUR, Na, and Ca for the initial sludge was 51283, 107, 0.50, 609, and 952 and for secondary sludge, it was 35595, 81, 4.90, 306, and 493 mg/L, respectively. The MPN for primary and secondary sludge was determined to be 19.83 × 106 and 186 × 106 , respectively and the average number of parasite eggs in primary and secondary sludge was 7.05 and 7.2 in 4 g of dry solids. Entamoeba coli had the highest number of parasite. The results of this study showed that the highest concentration of heavy metals in the sludge was 21396 mg/kg. The values obtained for the above-mentioned indices and heavy metals were in standards range. The results of this study show that none of the primary and secondary sludge samples has been properly stabilized. The values obtained for biological characteristics of sludge were not in the standard range. Therefore, it was revealed that the use of sludge for agriculture needed more stabilization.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed N. F. Shaheen ◽  
Sahar E. Abd El-Daim ◽  
Nehal I. Ahmed ◽  
Elmahdy M. Elmahdy

Abstract Wastewater plays a major role in water pollution causing transmission of several viral pathogens, including Aichi virus (AiV) and human bocavirus (HBoV), associated with gastrointestinal illness in humans. In this study, we investigated the presence of AiV and HBoV in aquatic, sludge, sediment matrices collected from Abu-Rawash wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), El-Rahawy drain, Rosetta branch of the River Nile in Egypt by conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR). AiV RNA was detected in 16.6% (2/12), 8.3% (1/12), 8.3% (1/12), 22% (16/72), 12.5% (3/24), 4% (1/24), and 0/24 (0%) of untreated raw sewage, treated sewage, sewage sludge, drainage water, drain sediment, river water, and river sediment, respectively. On the other hand, HBoV DNA was detected in 41.6% (5/12), 25% (3/12), 16.6% (2/12), 48.6% (35/72), 29% (7/24), 3/24 (12.5%), 4% (1/24) of untreated raw sewage, treated raw sewage, sewage sludge, drainage water, drain sediment, river water, and river sediment, respectively. This study provides data on the presence of these viruses in various types of water samples that are valuable to environmental risk assessment. In addition, the current study demonstrates the importance of environmental monitoring as an additional tool to investigate the epidemiology of AiV and HBoV circulating in a given community.


Author(s):  
Justyna Czajkowska ◽  
Piotr Nowak ◽  
Maciej Malarski ◽  
Katarzyna Pergół

This article contains the results of investigations conducted at the WULS in Warsaw concerning initial treatment of sewage sludge by means of microwave disintegration. Sewage sludge were taken from the "Mokre Łąki" wastewater treatment plant in the municipality of Izabelin. Experiments were carried out on concentrated and non-concentrated sludge. Each of the sludges was disintegrated in portions of varying volumes and also at different time of microwave interactions. Significant changes in the values of the tested parameters such as COD, turbidity and temperature due to the sludge suppression process were considered. These parameters have a significant impact on the course of further processes that treated sludge and supernatant liquid can be processed. Therefore, determining the volatility of these parameters is important.


2016 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 1660215
Author(s):  
Z. Idiri ◽  
F. Redjem ◽  
N. Beloudah

An experimental PGNAA set-up using a 1 Ci Am–Be source has been developed and used for analysis of bulk sewage sludge samples issued from a wastewater treatment plant situated in an industrial area of Algiers. The sample dimensions were optimized using thermal neutron flux calculations carried out with the MCNP5 Monte Carlo Code. A methodology is then proposed to perform quantitative analysis using the absolute method. For this, average thermal neutron flux inside the sludge samples is deduced using average thermal neutron flux in reference water samples and thermal flux measurements with the aid of a 3He neutron detector. The average absolute gamma detection efficiency is determined using the prompt gammas emitted by chlorine dissolved in a water sample. The gamma detection efficiency is normalized for sludge samples using gamma attenuation factors calculated with the MCNP5 code for water and sludge. Wet and dehydrated sludge samples were analyzed. Nutritive elements (Ca, N, P, K) and heavy metals elements like Cr and Mn were determined. For some elements, the PGNAA values were compared to those obtained using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) and Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) methods. Good agreement is observed between the different values. Heavy element concentrations are very high compared to normal values; this is related to the fact that the wastewater treatment plant is treating not only domestic but also industrial wastewater that is probably rejected by industries without removal of pollutant elements. The detection limits for almost all elements of interest are sufficiently low for the method to be well suited for such analysis.


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