Microalgae photobioreactor (PBR) is a kind of efficient wastewater treatment system for nitrogen removal. However, there is still an urgent need for process optimization of PBR. Especially, the synergistic effect and optimization of light and flow state poses a challenge.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicroalgal technology holds great promise for both low C/N wastewater treatment and resource recovery simultaneously. Nevertheless, the advancement of microalgal technology is hindered by its reduced nitrogen removal efficiency in low C/N ratio wastewater. In this work, microalgae and waste oyster shells were combined to achieve a total inorganic nitrogen removal efficiency of 93.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFConventional microalgal-bacterial consortia have limited capacity to treat low-C/N wastewater due to carbon limitation and single nitrogen (N) removal mode. In this work, indigenous synergetic microalgal-bacterial consortia with high N removal performance and bidirectional interaction were successful in treating rare earth tailing wastewaters with low-C/N. Ammonia removal reached 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRare earth element tailings (REEs) wastewater, which has the characteristics of high ammonia nitrogen (NH-N) and low COD. It can cause eutrophication and biotoxicity in water which is produced in high volumes, requiring treatment before final disposal. Microalgae-Bacteria symbiotic (MBS) system can be applied in REEs wastewater, but its low extent of nitrogen removal and instability limit its application.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLow C/N municipal wastewater is difficult to be treated effectively via traditional biological methods, leading to concentrations of pollutants in effluent far exceeding increasingly strict standards. In this work, we propose a novel microalgae-bacteria tandem-type process to simultaneously remove ammonia nitrogen (NH-N) and phosphorus (P) from municipal wastewater. A 4.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLow nitrogen (N) removal efficiency limits the potential of microalgae technology for the treatment of high nitrogen and low carbon rare earth tailings (REEs) wastewater. In this study, waste corncob was utilized as a biocarrier immobilizing Chlamydopodium sp. microalgae to realize high-efficient treatment of the REEs wastewater.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPeracetic acid (PAA) has been widely used as a disinfectant in many industries. However, information related to the potential inhibitory effect of PAA solutions (PAA and HO) on biological wastewater treatment processes is very limited. The work reported here assessed the effect of PAA and HO solutions on nitrification kinetics and inhibition, cellular level responses and gene expression of a suspended-growth nitrifying culture.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBio-electrochemically assisted anaerobic methanogenic systems (An-BES) are highly effective in wastewater treatment for methane production and degradation of toxic compounds. However, information on the treatment of antibiotic-bearing wastewater in An-BES is still very limited. This study therefore investigated the effect of tetracycline (TC) on the performance, microbial community, as well as functional and antibiotic resistance genes of An-BES.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicrobial methane oxidation is the major biological methane (CH) sink in the carbon cycle. Methanotrophs can use various electron acceptors in addition to oxygen; understanding the role and contribution of methanotrophs is thus an important topic. However, anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) mediated by methanotrophs is poorly explored and understood.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFManganese oxide (MnOx) mediated ammonium (NH) oxidation in wetlands is receiving increased interest; however, the biochemical mechanisms of this process are vague due to only few studies have focused on terrestrial ecosystems. In this study, three subsurface flow constructed wetlands (CWs), high/low content of Mn-sand CW (HMn-CW/LMn-CW) and quartz sand CW (C-CWs), were set up to explore the extent of ammonium nitrogen (NH-N) removal and underlying mechanisms. According to the surface characteristics of Mn-sand, MnOx nanospheres were loaded as birnessite on the sand, while changes of the Mn/N contents indicated involvement of Mn-sand in NH-N removal.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe objective of this study was to investigate the benefits of co-digestion of a sludge-mix of primary sludge (PS)/thickened waste activated sludge (TWAS) with concentrated fat-oil-grease (FOG) over a wide range of FOG/sludge-mix volumetric feed ratios. The biodegradability (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe discharge of rare earth element (REE) tailings wastewater results in serious ecological deterioration and health risk, due to high ammonia nitrogen, and strong acidity. The low C/N ratio makes it recalcitrant to biodegradation. Recently it has been shown that microalgal technology has a promising potential for the simultaneous harsh wastewater treatment and resource recovery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGreenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from constructed wetlands (CWs) lower the environmental and ecological benefits of CWs and thus have raised increasing environmental concern. To prevent GHGs emissions, it is important to assess and quantify the correlation of GHGs emission and microbial carbon and nitrogen transformations. In this study, two typical wetland substrate samples (mud sampled from Xiaomei River CW and sand sampled from Dongwen River CW) were used to build lab-scale vertical subsurface flow CW microcosms, labeled as XRCW and DRCW, respectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMethanogenic bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) can convert carbon dioxide (CO) to methane (CH) and may be used for anaerobic digester biogas upgrading. However, the effect of hydrogen sulfide (HS), a common biogas component, on BES performance is unknown. Thus, the objective of this study was to assess the effect of HS addition to the cathode headspace on BES performance at a range of initial gas-phase HS concentrations (0-6% v/v), as well as its effect on the anode and cathode microbial communities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMethane (CH) and nitrous oxide (NO) are the most powerful greenhouse gases globally; recent emissions exceed previous estimates. The potential link between NO reduction and CH oxidation in anoxic wetland sediments would be a sink for both gases, which has attracted broad attention. To explore the simultaneous NO and CH biotransformation, wetland sediments were used to inoculate an enrichment reactor, continuously fed with CH and NO for 500 days.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHydrothermal treatment (HT) is a promising technology to enhance anaerobic digestion (AD) of municipal sludge. However, the capacity of pre- and inter-stage HT (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnaerobic digestion (AD) combined with hydrothermal treatment (HT) is an attractive technology for sewage sludge treatment and resource recovery. The fate and distribution of heavy metals in the sludge during combined HT/AD significantly affect the sludge final disposal/utilization options, yet such information is still lacking. This study systematically characterizes the transformation of important heavy metals Cu, Zn, and Cr in sewage sludge during AD with pre- or interstage HT (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnviron Sci Technol
February 2021
4-Hydroxybenzoic acid (HBA) is commonly found at high concentrations in waste streams generated by the thermochemical conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to bio-oils and biofuels. The objective of this study was to systematically assess the biotransformation of HBA in the bioanode of a microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) for the production of renewable cathodic H. A mixed, denitrifying culture, enriched with HBA as the sole electron donor, was used as the anode inoculum.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTetracycline (TC) transformation in the anode of an air cathode microbial fuel cell (MFC) and in the cathode of an MFC-Fenton system was investigated. TC at 10 mg/L in the anolyte was removed by 43-74% in 14-d cycles, mainly attributed to adsorption. The electrochemical activity, COD and acetate consumption of the anodic biofilm were inhibited by TC; inhibition was reversed when TC addition was stopped.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe individual and combined effects of sulfamethoxazole (SMX) and oxytetracycline (OTC) on an enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) system was investigated. OTC at 5 mg/L resulted in filamentous bulking with a collapse of EBPR system. P removal decreased to 44.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBES biogas upgrading studies have typically used bicarbonate or commercial gas mixtures as a biocathode substrate instead of anaerobic digester biogas. Therefore, the objective of this study was to (i) compare the performance of a methanogenic BES between CO-fed and biogas-fed cycles; (ii) investigate possible factors that may account for observed performance differences; and (iii) assess the performance of a biogas-fed biocathode at various applied cathode potentials. The maximum 1-d CH production rate in a biogas-fed biocathode (3003 mmol/m-d) was 350% higher than in a CO-fed biocathode (666 mmol/m-d), and the biogas-fed biocathode was capable of maintaining high performance despite a variable biogas feed composition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnaerobic digestion (AD) with hydrothermal (HT) pretreatment is an emerging technology for enhanced resource recovery from sewage sludge. This study investigates the speciation of Fe, P, and S during sequential HT-AD treatment of sewage sludge using sequential chemical extraction, X-ray diffraction, and X-ray absorption spectroscopy. Results suggest strong correlations between Fe and P species as well as Fe and S species, affecting the solubility and bioavailability of each other.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlant-derived materials as environmentally friendly biosorbents to remove heavy metals from wastewater have been extensively studied. However, the chemical oxygen demand (COD) increase caused by the plant-derived biosorbent has not been considered previously. In this study, water hyacinth was used as biosorbent to remove Cd(II) from wastewater.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTetracycline (TC) as an emerging contaminant has raised serious concerns about its toxicity and removal in wastewater treatment processes. The more toxic transformation products of TC, 4-epitetracycline (ETC), anhydrotetracycline (ATC) and 4-epianhydrotetracycline (EATC) are also widely detected. This study investigated the antibacterial and bactericidal activity of TC, ETC, ATC, EATC against Shewanella sp, using Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains as quality controls.
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