Syngas-driven sewage sludge conversion to microbial protein through HS- and CO-tolerant hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria.

Treating excess municipal sewage sludge (MSS) by means of thermochemical processes could enable its conversion into high-value microbial protein (MP) through syngas. Nevertheless, the variable composition and content of inhibitory compounds of the latter hinders the application potential of such a biorefinery scheme. Through a series of short- (48 to 96 h) and long-term (30 days) batch aerobic bioconversion tests, the present study aimed at investigating the potential of a mixed culture of hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria (HOB) to produce MP from a simulated syngas mixture characterized by variable H and CO concentrations, and different levels of CO and HS as potential inhibitors of the HOB-driven process.

Process Waters from Hydrothermal Carbonization of Sludge: Characteristics and Possible Valorization Pathways.

Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is an innovative process capable of converting wet biodegradable residues into value-added materials, such as hydrochar. HTC has been studied for decades, however, a lack of detailed information on the production and composition of the process water has been highlighted by several authors. In this paper the state of the art of the knowledge on this by-product is analyzed, with attention to HTC applied to municipal and agro-industrial anaerobic digestion digestate.

A critical review of the current technologies in wastewater treatment plants by using hydrodynamic cavitation process: principles and applications.

In the last decade, hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) was increasingly used in the field of wastewater treatment. Due to its oxidative capability, HC was applied to treat aqueous effluents polluted by organic, toxic and bio-refractory contaminants, whereas its mechanical and chemical effects have allowed to disintegrate cells of microorganisms in biological applications. Due to their geometries, HC can be detected in some reactors, in which a variation of hydraulic parameters in the fluid such as flow pressure and flow velocity is induced.

Effects of hydrodynamic cavitation, low-level thermal and low-level alkaline pre-treatments on sludge solubilisation.

WAS is a polluting and hazardous waste generated in WWTPs that must be treated to prevent pollution and human health risks. Anaerobic digestion is the most used process for sludge stabilization. However, it must be improved in terms of both speed and extend of degradation.

Methodological approach for trace elements supplementation in anaerobic digestion: Experience from full-scale agricultural biogas plants.

Trace metals play a very important role on the performance and stability of agricultural biogas digesters. The purpose of this study was to develop a methodological approach to quickly detect limiting conditions due to Trace Elements (TE) concentration in full-scale biogas plants. The work was based on long-term process monitoring in two full-scale agricultural biogas plants and on the correlation between their performance and TE concentration in the digesters.

Correction to: Strict anaerobic side-stream reactor: effect of the sludge interchange ratio on sludge reduction in a biological nutrient removal process.

The correct Fig. 1 is shown in this paper.

Strict anaerobic side-stream reactor: effect of the sludge interchange ratio on sludge reduction in a biological nutrient removal process.

In order to investigate the impact of the sludge interchange ratio (IR) on both the sludge reduction process and the carbon and nutrient removal efficiencies, an anaerobic side-stream reactor (ASSR) at 20 °C and - 400 mV was operated for 300 days coupled to a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) for urban wastewater treatment. It was found that a 100% interchange rate, corresponding to an anaerobic solid retention time (SRT) of 2.5 days, was the most suitable case in terms of sludge reduction and wastewater treatment process, achieving a 66% sludge reduction compared to a control system simulated as an SBR.

Monitoring of full-scale hydrodynamic cavitation pretreatment in agricultural biogas plant.

The implementation of hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) pretreatment for enhancing the methane potential from agricultural biomasses was evaluated in a full scale agricultural biogas plant, with molasses and corn meal as a supplementary energy source. HC batch tests were run to investigate the influence on methane production, particle size and viscosity of specific energy input. 470kJ/kgTS was chosen for the full-scale implementation.

Anaerobic Digestion of Cattle Manure Influenced by Swirling Jet Induced Hydrodynamic Cavitation.

In this work, a modified swirling jet-induced cavitation has been employed for increasing anaerobic digestion efficiency of cattle manure. The hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) treatment improved the organic matter solubilization and the anaerobic biodegradability of cattle manure. The degree of disintegration increased by 5.

A swirling jet-induced cavitation to increase activated sludge solubilisation and aerobic sludge biodegradability.

In this work, a modified swirling jet induced hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) has been used for the pre-treatment of excess sludge. In order to both improve the HC treatment efficiencies and reduce the energy consumption, the effectiveness of the HC reactor on sludge disintegration and on aerobic biodegradability has been investigated at different operating conditions and parameters, such as temperature, inlet pressure, sludge total solid (TS) content and reactor geometry. The inlet pressure was related to the flow velocity and pressure drop.

Shift in microbial community structure of anaerobic side-stream reactor in response to changes to anaerobic solid retention time and sludge interchange ratio.

A laboratory scale nutrient removal activated sludge system coupled with an anaerobic side-stream reactor was operated for 300 days treating real urban wastewater. A significant decrease in sludge production was obtained increasing the anaerobic solid retention time (SRT) and decreasing the sludge interchange ratio (IR). In this study, the microbial community structure was analyzed and compared with the sludge reduction performance.

Stoichiometric evaluation of partial nitritation, anammox and denitrification processes in a sequencing batch reactor and interpretation of online monitoring parameters.

A laboratory-scale sequencing batch reactor (SBR) performing partial nitritation - anammox and denitrification was used to treat anaerobic digester effluents. The SBR cycle consisted of a short mixing filling phase followed by oxic and anoxic reaction phases. Working at 25 °C, an ammonium conversion efficiency of 96.

Decolourization of Rhodamine B: A swirling jet-induced cavitation combined with NaOCl.

A hydrodynamic cavitation reactor (Ecowirl) based on swirling jet-induced cavitation has been used in order to allow the degradation of a waste dye aqueous solution (Rhodamine B, RhB). Cavitation generated by Ecowirl reactor was directly compared with cavitation generated by using multiple hole orifice plates. The effects of operating conditions and parameters such as pressure, pH of dye solution, initial concentration of RhB and geometry of the cavitating devices on the degradation rate of RhB were discussed.

Ammonia removal from raw manure digestate by means of a turbulent mixing stripping process.

In this study, ammonia stripping by means of a turbulent mixing process followed by pH neutralization was investigated as a simple and cost-effective ammonia removal technique to treat raw manure digestate. Batch tests conducted using CaO, NaOH and H2O2 to control pH and temperature and combinations thereof showed that sodium hydroxide was the most suitable chemical, as it is easy to handle, minimizes treatment time and costs, does not increase the solid content of the sludge and allows to easily control the stripping process. NaOH dosage mainly depended on buffering capacity rather than on total solid content.

Coexistence of nitrifying, anammox and denitrifying bacteria in a sequencing batch reactor.

Elevated nitrogen removal efficiencies from ammonium-rich wastewaters have been demonstrated by several applications, that combine nitritation and anammox processes. Denitrification will occur simultaneously when organic carbon is also present. In this study, the activity of aerobic ammonia oxidizing, anammox and denitrifying bacteria in a full scale sequencing batch reactor, treating digester supernatants, was studied by means of batch-assays.