The removal of micropollutants from treated effluent by batch-operated pilot-scale constructed wetlands.

Micropollutants (MPs), such as pharmaceuticals and antibiotics, are present in the environment at low concentrations (ng/L-μg/L). A constructed wetland (CW) is a nature-based wastewater treatment technology, which can be used to remove MPs from wastewater treatment plant effluent. This study aimed to improve MP removal of CWs by optimizing the design of batch-operated CW.

Prolonged lifetime of biological activated carbon filters through enhanced biodegradation of melamine.

Micropollutants can be removed in Biological Activated Carbon (BAC) filters through biodegradation, besides adsorption, when the conditions are favorable. In the present study, we build upon previous work on melamine biodegradation and activated carbon regeneration in batch experiments and assess the efficiency of this process in continuous flow lab-scale BAC filters. Melamine is frequently detected at low concentrations in surface water and is used here as a model micropollutant.

Thermophilic (55 °C) and hyper-thermophilic (70 °C) anaerobic digestion as novel treatment technologies for concentrated black water.

Thermophilic and hyper-thermophilic anaerobic digestion (AD) are promising techniques for the treatment of concentrated black water (toilet fraction of domestic wastewater collected by low flush volume toilets; BW), recovery of nutrients and simultaneous pathogen removal for safe recovery and reuse of those nutrients. This study showed that thermophilic AD (55 °C) of concentrated BW reaches the same methanisation and COD removal as mesophilic anaerobic treatment of BW (conventional vacuum toilets) and kitchen waste while applying a higher loading rate (OLR) (2.5-4.

Effects of salinity on the treatment of synthetic petroleum-industry wastewater in pilot vertical flow constructed wetlands under simulated hot arid climatic conditions.

Petroleum-industry wastewater (PI-WW) is a potential source of water that can be reused in areas suffering from water stress. This water contains various fractions that need to be removed before reuse, such as light hydrocarbons, heavy metals and conditioning chemicals. Constructed wetlands (CWs) can remove these fractions, but the range of PI-WW salinities that can be treated in CWs and the influence of an increasing salinity on the CW removal efficiency for abovementioned fractions is unknown.

Pilot-scale hybrid constructed wetlands for the treatment of cooling tower water prior to its desalination and reuse.

Cooling towers are responsible for a large part of the industrial fresh water withdrawal, and the reuse of cooling tower water (CTW) effluents can strongly lower industrial fresh water footprints. CTW requires desalination prior to being reused, but various CTW components, such as total organic carbon (TOC), conditioning chemicals and total suspended solids (TSS) hamper physico-chemical desalination technologies and need to be removed from the CTW. A cost-efficient and robust pre-treatment is thus required, which can be provided by constructed wetlands (CWs).

Increasing the Selectivity for Sulfur Formation in Biological Gas Desulfurization.

In the biotechnological desulfurization process under haloalkaline conditions, dihydrogen sulfide (HS) is removed from sour gas and oxidized to elemental sulfur (S) by sulfide-oxidizing bacteria. Besides S, the byproducts sulfate (SO) and thiosulfate (SO) are formed, which consume caustic and form a waste stream. The aim of this study was to increase selectivity toward S by a new process line-up for biological gas desulfurization, applying two bioreactors with different substrate conditions (i.

A bipolar membrane combined with ferric iron reduction as an efficient cathode system in microbial fuel cells.

There is a need for alternative catalysts for oxygen reduction in the cathodic compartment of a microbial fuel cell (MFC). In this study, we show that a bipolar membrane combined with ferric iron reduction on a graphite electrode is an efficient cathode system in MFCs. A flat plate MFC with graphite felt electrodes, a volume of 1.

Air-filled porosity and permeability relationships during solid-state fermentation.

An experimental apparatus was constructed to measure the structural parameters of organic porous media, i.,e. mechanical strength, air-filled porosity, air permeability, and the Ergun particle size.

Advanced bioconversion of biowaste for production of a peat substitute and renewable energy.

Traditional composting systems for biowaste generally produce low quality composts that may endanger recycling. A pilot-scale bioconversion process yielding quality compost and renewable energy was designed and tested. The process consisted of a set of wet physical separation units, composting and anaerobic digestion.