Publications by authors named "Sven-Uwe Geissen"

Ornidazole (ONZ), a nitroimidazole antibiotic detected in water bodies, may negatively impact the aquatic ecosystem. Its reaction kinetics during ozonation which is a feasible and applicable technology to control the contamination of emerging contaminants, however, has not been reported in literature. In this study, we measured the apparent second-order kinetic constant of ONZ with ozone molecules via the excessive ozone method and the competing method which led to an average value of 103.

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The pressure-driven membrane separation processes ultrafiltration (UF) and reverse osmosis (RO) enable the effective purification of wastewater, in particular in combination, allowing organic and inorganic contaminants to be separated from the wastewater. Consequently, this work investigates the suitability of this technology for slaughterhouse wastewater (SWW) recycling. This was investigated by means of laboratory and bench-scale plant membrane experiments, whereby slaughterhouse wastewater (SWW) pre-treated by flotation was first treated with UF and then further purified with RO.

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Research has proven the adaptation of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria to unfavorable environmental conditions, and this work presents a novel concept to prevent nitrite oxidation during partial nitrification in wastewater. The approach is based on the real-time updating of mathematical models of the process to search for optimal set-points of pH and oxygen concentration in a continuous activated sludge reactor with a high sludge age (20.3 days).

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The purification of hydroxytyrosol from olive leaves extract by modified activated carbon was studied experimentally in a batch system and a column by adsorption and desorption processes. The extraction yield reached 90% of hydroxytyrosol, which is the major compound found in the extract. Despite the abundance of research on extracts of hydroxytyrosol from olive leaves, it seems that the applied methods can be further improved.

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Gasification transforming organic compounds into energy-rich pyrolytic gas, is a climate-friendly treatment option for biological solid wastes. The condensates arising from the pyrolytic gas valorization is owing to high concentrations of small molecular phenols, cyanides, nitrogen-heterocyclics, aromatics and ammonium, posing an environmental and health hazard. In this paper, the watery phase of the biomass gasification condensate from spent mushroom compost (SMC), with a chemical oxygen demand (COD) of 16.

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The phosphate rock mineral is the main source of P-fertilizer production. It is estimated to become depleted in next century. Thus, the recovery of phosphorus from waste streams has attracted great interest.

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In this study, the Activated Sludge Model No. 3 (ASM3) was applied for the simulation of the removal of organics and nitrogen in a multistage moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) used for biological greywater treatment. The data related to the characterization of the greywater were collected over a period of 5 months to be investigated in the model.

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Several Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) including O/HO, O/TiO, O/activated carbon (AC), O/AlO, O/Fe/HO and UV/TiO have been investigated and compared for the removal of diethyl phthalate (DEP), an endocrine disrupting compound, in aqueous solutions. Hydroxyl radicals were the main species responsible for DEP degradation and this was supported by computational chemistry calculation, scavenger experiments, and LC/MS/MS analysis. The change of the abundance of reaction products over time was determined.

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Freshwater availability is increasingly under pressure from growing demand, resource depletion and environmental pollution. Desalination of saline wastewater is an option for supplying households, industry and agriculture with water, but technologies such as reverse osmosis, evaporation or electrodialysis are energy intensive. By contrast, membrane distillation (MD) is a competitive technology for water desalination.

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Membrane distillation is getting increasing attention thanks to its advantages in terms of energy consumption and final permeate quality in addition to its resistance against highly corrosive media which forms an appealing solution for industrial wastewater treatment. Despite its advantages, one of the most challenging issues in direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) is membrane fouling and wetting. In the present research work, saline dairy effluent discharged from hard cheese industry was pretreated by macrofiltration (MAF) and ultrafiltration (UF) and processed by DCMD to investigate the extent of the aforementioned issues.

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A pilot-scale reverse osmosis (RO) followed behind a membrane bioreactor (MBR) was developed for the desalination to reuse wastewater in a PVC production site. The solution-diffusion-film model (SDFM) based on the solution-diffusion model (SDM) and the film theory was proposed to describe rejections of electrolyte mixtures in the MBR effluent which consists of dominant ions (Na and Cl) and several trace ions (Ca, Mg, K and SO). The universal global optimisation method was used to estimate the ion permeability coefficients (B) and mass transfer coefficients (K) in SDFM.

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Regeneration of loaded adsorbents is a key step for the sustainability of an adsorption process. In this study, ozone was applied to regenerate a synthetic zeolite for the adsorption of trichlorophenol (TCP) as an organic model pollutant. Three initial concentrations of TCP in water phase were used in adsorption tests.

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Anaerobic digestion is used to treat effluents with a lot of organics, such as molasses distillery wastewater (MDW) which is the effluent of bioethanol production from molasses. The raw MDW requires a lot of dilution water before biodigestion, while the digested MDW has high level of recalcitrants which are problematic for its discharge. This study investigated ferric coagulation, Fenton, Fenton-like (with ferric ions as catalyst) processes and their combinations on the biodegradability of digested MDW.

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Melanoidins are dark-coloured recalcitrant pollutants found in many industrial wastewaters including coffee-manufacturing effluent, molasses distillery wastewater (MDWW) and other wastewater with molasses as the raw material. The wastewaters are mostly treated with anaerobic digestion after some dilution to minimize the inhibition effect. However, the dark colour and recalcitrant dissolved organic carbon (DOC) mainly caused by melanoidin are not effectively removed.

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A tertiary treatment step is required in current wastewater treatment plants to remove trace pollutants and thus to prevent their extensive occurrence in the aquatic environment. In this study, natural MnOx ore and natural zeolite were separately used to pack two lab-scale aerated biofilters, which were operated in approximately 1.5 years for the removal of frequently occurring pharmaceuticals, including carbamazepine (CBZ), diclofenac (DFC), and sulfamethoxazole (SMX), out of synthetic and real secondary effluents.

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Aqueous solutions of diethyl phthalate (DEP) were oxidized by using ozone combined with Fenton reagents. The effects of operating parameters such as initial pH; initial concentration of DEP, H2O2 and Fe2+; [H2O2]0/[Fe2+]0 ratio and O3 dosage on the degradation rates of DEP were investigated. The results showed that DEP degradation is strongly dependant on the pH; initial concentrations of the phthalate, H2O2 and Fe2+; [H2O2]0/[Fe2+]0 ratio and O3 dosage.

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A FAU-type zeolite was studied as an adsorbent to remove 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP), a frequently detected recalcitrant pollutant in water bodies. Both adsorption isotherm and kinetics were studied with TCP concentrations from 10 to 100mg/L. It was observed that TCP was effectively adsorbed onto the zeolite with a high adsorption capacity and a high kinetic rate.

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Literature has paid scarce attention to the modelling of the integrated anoxic-anaerobic-aerobic process in upflow fixed-bed biofilm reactors used to treat wastewater. The present study developed a model for industrial salmon fishery wastewater treatment in an integrated anoxic-anaerobic-aerobic upflow fixed-bed biofilm reactor. The model successfully predicted the removal efficiency of both Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and nitrogen for two recycle ratios at steady state.

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A properly configured bioreactor is in need to transfer the fungal biodegradation of recalcitrant pollutants into real applications. In this study, a novel plate bioreactor was designed to eliminate carbamazepine (CBZ), a widely concerned pharmaceutical, with the white rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium grown on polyether foam under non-sterile conditions. The bioreactor was operated in both sequence batch and continuous modes.

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A molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) was synthesized by precipitation polymerization using diclofenac (DFC) as a template. Binding characteristics of the MIP were evaluated using equilibrium binding experiments. Compared to the non-imprinted polymer (NIP), the MIP showed an outstanding affinity towards DFC in an aqueous solution with a binding site capacity (Q(max)) of 324.

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A molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) for selective adsorption of carbamazepine (CBZ) in aqueous solution was synthesized by precipitation polymerization using CBZ as a template molecule and methacrylic acid (MAA) as a functional monomer. The performance of the CBZ-MIP was evaluated in terms of selectivity, adsorption capacity, binding characteristics, loading volume, and elution volume. The CBZ-MIP exhibited a high affinity for CBZ over the competitive compound (Diclofenac) and was more suitable to remove low concentrations of CBZ in large-volume water samples.

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Carbamazepine (CBZ) is one of the most frequently detected pharmaceutical active compounds (PhACs) in water bodies. In this study, its concentrations in the STP effluents in 68 countries/regions are predicted with a model based on the sale volume, the water consumption, the disposal rate, the excretion rate, and the removal efficiency by the sewage system. The prediction results demonstrate a global aquatic contamination of CBZ.

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Carbamazepine and diclofenac were frequently detected in water bodies. In this study, crude lignin peroxidase, produced from a white rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium, was studied on its in vitro degradation of both drugs. The influencing parameters were studied, including pH, the hydrogen peroxide concentration, veratryl alcohol and the temperature.

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In the aquatic environment, pharmaceuticals have been widely found. Among them, carbamazepine and diclofenac were detected at the highest frequency. To evaluate the worldwide environmental impacts of both drugs, their global consumption volumes are estimated, based on the dose per capita.

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