Entrapped biomass for removal of organics and total nitrogen from anaerobic reactor effluents.

Anaerobic processes have been applied to treat low-strength domestic wastewaters with significant energy saving. However, anaerobic process effluents must be further removed of residual organics and total nitrogen before discharge. Reported here are an aerobic entrapped bio-technology (EBT) system and an EBT coupled with activated sludge (EBT + AS) system being tested as a post-anaerobic treatment.

Pyrosequencing reveals microbial community profile in anaerobic bio-entrapped membrane reactor for pharmaceutical wastewater treatment.

In this study, pharmaceutical wastewater with high salinity and total chemical oxygen demand (TCOD) was treated by an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) and an anaerobic bio-entrapped membrane reactor (AnBEMR). The microbial populations and communities were analyzed using the 454 pyrosequencing method. The hydraulic retention time (HRT), membrane flux and mean cell residence time (MCRT) were controlled at 30.

Evaluation of system performance and microbial communities of a bioaugmented anaerobic membrane bioreactor treating pharmaceutical wastewater.

In this study, a control anaerobic membrane bioreactor (C-AnMBR) and a bioaugmented anaerobic membrane bioreactor (B-AnMBR) were operated for 210 d to treat pharmaceutical wastewater. Both the bioreactors were fed with the pharmaceutical wastewater containing TCOD of 16,249 ± 714 mg/L and total dissolved solids (TDS) of 29,450 ± 2209 mg/L with an organic loading rate (OLR) of 13.0 ± 0.

Investigation of intertidal wetland sediment as a novel inoculation source for anaerobic saline wastewater treatment.

Biological treatment of saline wastewater is considered unfavorable due to salinity inhibition on microbial activity. In this study, intertidal wetland sediment (IWS) collected from a high saline environment was investigated as a novel inoculation source for anaerobic treatment of saline pharmaceutical wastewater. Two parallel lab-scale anaerobic sequencing batch reactors (AnSBR) were set up to compare the organic removal potential of IWS with conventional anaerobic digested sludge (ADS).

Bio-entrapped membrane reactor and salt marsh sediment membrane bioreactor for the treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater: treatment performance and microbial communities.

In this study, a bio-entrapped membrane reactor (BEMR) and a salt marsh sediment membrane bioreactor (SMSMBR) were evaluated to study the organic treatment performance of pharmaceutical wastewater. The influences of hydraulic retention time (HRT) and salinity were also studied. The conventional biomass in the BEMR cannot tolerate well of the hypersaline conditions, resulting in total chemical oxygen demand (TCOD) removal efficiency of 54.

Improving total nitrogen removal in aeration basin retrofitted with entrapped biomass.

This study presented a method to upgrade existing aeration tanks to remove total nitrogen (TN). Bioplates carrying entrapped biomass were installed in an aeration basin to create anoxic/anaerobic zones where denitrification can proceed. In a reactor that coupled bioplates containing entrapped biomass (equivalent to as high as 7,500 mg/L of biomass) and an activated sludge suspension (at mixed liquor suspended solids of 1,300-2,400 mg/L), nitrification efficiency exceeded 95% for an influent wastewater containing 21-54 mg/L of NH3-N.

Enhancing total nitrogen removal from wastewater of a science and industrial park using entrapped biomass.

This study employed entrapped biomass technology to augment the conventional activated sludge process with anoxic-oxic (AO)/anaerobic-anoxic-oxic (A20) functions for the removal of total nitrogen (TN) from wastewater of a science and industrial park in Taiwan. The entrapped biomass unit was fabricated in the format of carrier plates on which microbial cells were entrapped. Due to mass transport limitations, anoxic and anaerobic conditions were created within the bioplates that enabled denitrification to occur.

Sequential anaerobic-aerobic treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater with high salinity.

In this study, pharmaceutical wastewater with high total dissolved solids (TDSs) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) content was treated through a sequential anaerobic-aerobic treatment process. For the anaerobic process, an up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) was applied, and a COD removal efficiency of 41.3±2.

Fate of sulfonamide antibiotics in contact with activated sludge--sorption and biodegradation.

The sorption and biodegradation of three sulfonamide antibiotics, namely sulfamethoxazole (SMX), sulfadimethoxine (SDM), and sulfamonomethoxine (SMM), in an activated sludge system were investigated. Experiments were carried out by contacting 100 μg/L of each sulfonamide compound individually with 2.56 g/L of MLSS at 25±0.

Reduced membrane fouling in a novel bio-entrapped membrane reactor for treatment of food and beverage processing wastewater.

A novel Bio-Entrapped Membrane Reactor (BEMR) packed with bio-ball carriers was constructed and investigated for organics removal and membrane fouling by soluble microbial products (SMP). An objective was to evaluate the stability of the filtration process in membrane bioreactors through backwashing and chemical cleaning. The novel BEMR was compared to a conventional membrane bioreactor (CMBR) on performance, with both treating identical wastewater from a food and beverage processing plant.