How to Produce an Alternative Carbon Source for Denitrification by Treating and Drastically Reducing Biological Sewage Sludge

Minimizing the biological sewage sludge (BSS) produced by wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) represents an increasingly difficult challenge. With this goal, tests on a semi-full scale Thermophilic Alternate Membrane Biological Reactor (ThAlMBR) were carried out for 12 months. ThAlMBR was applied both on thickened (TBSS) and digested biological sewage sludge (DBSS) with alternating aeration conditions, and emerged: (i) high COD removal yields (up to 90%), (ii) a low specific sludge production (0.02–0.05 kgVS produced/kgCODremoved), (iii) the possibility of recovery the aqueous carbon residue (permeate) in denitrification processes, replacing purchased external carbon sources. Based on the respirometric tests, an excellent biological treatability of the permeate by the mesophilic biomass was observed and the denitrification kinetics reached with the diluted permeate ((4.0 mgN-NO3−/(gVSS h)) were found comparable to those of methanol (4.4 mgN-NO3−/(gVSS h)). Moreover, thanks to the similar results obtained on TBSS and DBSS, ThAlMBR proved to be compatible with diverse sludge line points, ensuring in both cases an important sludge minimization.

Investigation of the Biological Treatability of Pistachio Processing Industry Wastewaters in a Batch-operated Aerobic Bioreactor

This study encompasses investigation of treatment of pistachio processing industry wastewaters in a batch reactor under aerobic conditions, calculation of kinetic parameters and comparison of different inhibition models. The mixed microorganism culture used in the study was adapted to pistachio processing industry wastewaters for nearly one month and then concentrations from 50-1000 mg L− 1 of pistachio processing industry wastewaters were added to the medium and treatment was investigated in batch experiments. The Andrews, Han-Levenspiel, Luong and Aiba biokinetic equations were chosen for the correlations between the concentration of pistachio processing industry wastewaters and specific growth rates, and the kinetic parameters in these biokinetic equations were calculated. The µmax, Ks and Ki parameters, included in the Aiba biokinetic equation providing best fit among the other equations, had values calculated as 0.25 h− 1, 19 mg L− 1, and 516 mg L− 1, respectively.

High-strength wastewater treatment in a pure oxygen thermophilic process: 11-year operation and monitoring of different plant configurations

This research was carried out on a full-scale pure oxygen thermophilic plant, operated and monitored throughout a period of 11 years. The plant treats 60,000 t y−1 (year 2013) of high-strength industrial wastewaters deriving mainly from pharmaceuticals and detergents production and landfill leachate. Three different plant configurations were consecutively adopted: (1) biological reactor + final clarifier and sludge recirculation (2002–2005); (2) biological reactor + ultrafiltration: membrane biological reactor (MBR) (2006); and (3) MBR + nanofiltration (since 2007). Progressive plant upgrading yielded a performance improvement chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency was enhanced by 17% and 12% after the first and second plant modification, respectively. Moreover, COD abatement efficiency exhibited a greater stability, notwithstanding high variability of the influent load. In addition, the following relevant outcomes appeared from the plant monitoring (present configuration): up to 96% removal of nitrate and nitrite, due to denitrification; low-specific biomass production (0.092 kgVSS kgCODremoved−1), and biological treatability of residual COD under mesophilic conditions (BOD5/COD ratio = 0.25–0.50), thus showing the complementarity of the two biological processes.

Determination of Biological Treatability Processes of Textile Wastewater and Implementation of a Fuzzy Logic Model

This study investigated the biological treatability of textile wastewater. For this purpose, a membrane bioreactor (MBR) was utilized for biological treatment after the ozonation process. Due to the refractory organic contents of textile wastewater that has a low biodegradability capacity, ozonation was implemented as an advanced oxidation process prior to the MBR system to increase the biodegradability of the wastewater. Textile wastewater, oxidized by ozonation, was fed to the MBR at different hydraulic retention times (HRT). During the process, color, chemical oxygen demand (COD), and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) removal efficiencies were monitored for 24-hour, 12-hour, 6-hour, and 3-hour retention times. Under these conditions, 94% color, 65% COD, and 55% BOD removal efficiencies were obtained in the MBR system. The experimental outputs were modeled with multiple linear regressions (MLR) and fuzzy logic. MLR results suggested that color removal is more related to COD removal relative to BOD removal. A surface map of this issue was prepared with a fuzzy logic model. Furthermore, fuzzy logic was employed to the whole modeling of the biological system treatment. Determination coefficients for COD, BOD, and color removal efficiencies were 0.96, 0.97, and 0.92, respectively.