Biological nutrient removal in SBR technology: from floccular to granular sludge

Biological nutrient removal has been studied and applied for decades in order to remove nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater. However, more anthropogenic uses and the continued demand for water have forced the facilities to operate at their maximum capacity. Therefore, the goal of this thesis is to obtain more compact systems for nutrient removal from domestic wastewater. In this sense, optimization and long-term stabilization of high volume exchange ratios reactors, treating higher volumes of wastewater, have been investigated. With the same target, aerobic granular sludge was proposed as a reliable alternative to reduce space and increase loading rates in treatment plants. However, the low organic loading rate from low-strength influents (less than 1 Kg COD•m-3d-1) results in slower granular formation and a longer time to reach a steady state. Because of that, different methodologies and operational conditions were investigated in order to enhance granulation and nutrient removal from domestic wastewater.L’estudi de l’eliminació biològica de nutrients s’ha dut a terme durant dècades. Tot i això, la influencia de l’home i l’augment de la demanda d’aigua han forçat a les instal•lacions a treballar a la seva capacitat màxima. Així, l’objectiu de la tesi és obtenir sistemes més compactes per a l’eliminació de nutrients de les aigües residuals. En aquest sentit, s’ha investigat l’optimització i estabilització de reactors amb alts volums d’intercanvi, tractant més aigua. Amb el mateix objectiu, el fang granular aeròbic va ser proposat com una alternativa fiable per tal de reduir l’espai i incrementar les càrregues de les depuradores. Tot i això, la granulació amb influents de baixa càrrega (menors a 1 Kg dQO•m-3d-1) resulta més lenta i més dificultosa alhora d’obtenir l’estat estacionari. Per aquesta raó es van investigar diferents metodologies i condicions d’operació per tal de millorar la granularció i l’eliminació de nutrients de les aigües urbanes

Bioelectrochemical Treatment of Contaminated Groundwater

To remove these pollutants from groundwater, different technologies can be used. Currently, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers ion exchange, reverse osmosis and reverse electrodialysis to be effective methods for the decrease of their concentrations, below their limit in drinking water. These technologies have some drawbacks, such as low selectivity towards the target pollutant, high energy or chemicals requirements, and the generation of waste brine (pollutants are separated from water, not treated), which require an additional treatment. Bio Electro Chemical Systems (BES) could fill this nich

Dataset for "Adjusting organic load as a strategy to direct single-stage food waste fermentation from anaerobic digestion to chain elongation"

This dataset includes the results summary from a lab-scale bioreactor experiment as discussed in the research paper with the same name, published at Processes MDPI (De Groof, V.; Coma, M.; Arnot, T.C.; Leak, D.J.; Lanham, A.B. Adjusting Organic Load as a Strategy to Direct Single-Stage Food Waste Fermentation from Anaerobic Digestion to Chain Elongation. Processes 2020, 8, 1487.). The study comprised two operational phases of duplicate reactors fed with food waste, each set to target a different product. The data comprises a summary on feedstock composition, microbial community analysis and operational conditions and product outcome per operational phase. The archaeal and bacterial community data includes the final sequences of the operational taxonomic units found and their relative abundance in each sample as determined by 16s rRNA amplicon sequencing. The raw data files have been submitted in the specialized EMBL-EBI database and are available under the accession number PRJEB39281.AnalyticalThis dataset was prepared and processed in Microsoft Excel from raw analytical data. The bioinformatic processing prior to the microbial community summary in the spreadsheet was done as outlined in the publication, and results were processed via the DNASense data analysis app (applies Rstudio IDE v.3.5.1 with the ampvis v.2.5.8. package)

Dataset for "Selecting fermentation products for food waste valorisation with HRT and OLR as the key operational parameters"

This dataset includes the results summary and data overview from a lab-scale bioreactor experiment as discussed in the research paper "Selecting fermentation products for food waste valorisation with HRT and OLR as the key operational parameters", published in Waste Management. The study comprised three sets of operating conditions tested in duplicate reactors fed with food waste. The data comprises a summary on feedstock composition, operating conditions tested, averaged results, product outcome and kinetic study, and microbial community analysis per reactor and per operating condition. The archaeal and bacterial community data includes the final sequences of the operational taxonomic units found and their relative abundance in each sample as determined by 16s rRNA amplicon sequencing, and rarefaction curves. The raw data files have been submitted in the specialized EMBL-EBI database and are available under the accession number PRJEB40478.Full details of the methodology may be found in the associated manuscript.This dataset was prepared and processed in Microsoft Excel from raw analytical data

Dataset on experimental data available in the literature on "Medium chain carboxylic acids from complex organic feedstock by mixed culture fermentation"

This dataset was created as a compilation of experimental data in the literature on the production of medium chain carboxylic acids (MCCAs) by microbial mixed cultures (MMC) fermentation. The intention was to provide a dataset as comprehensive as possible that includes the majority of experimental results available in this research area to the best of our knowledge. The focus lied on MMC-based studies processing complex organic feedstock, yet selected studies were included on synthetic substrates. The relevant literature studies were collected and experimental results categorized according to bioreactor operation, i.e. batch, fed-batch and (semi-)continuous. Operational parameters, such as feedstock type, organic loading rate, temperature, etc., were extracted from information reported in studies and placed alongside product outcome in terms of MCCA production for each experiment. This dataset forms the backbone of the discussion and figure generation of the literature review "Medium chain carboxylic acids from complex organic feedstock by mixed culture fermentation" by V. De Groof, M. Coma, T. Arnot, D. Leak, A. Lanham. Published in MDPI Molecules: Special Issue "Chemicals from Food Supply Chain By-Products and Waste Streams" 2019.The experimental data was collected through literature review. Studies were included that specifically target chain elongation in mixed microbial culture fermentation, but the scope was extended to include other studies that have noted chain elongation products as by-products from, for instance, volatile fatty acids (short chain carboxylic acids) or hydrogen production. Studies were selected via various research data bases based on topic relevance and key word combinations (e.g. "medium chain carboxylic acids", "medium chain fatty acids", "chain elongation in mixed cultures", ...) combined with authors' expertise in the research area and data availability.Experimental values were copied from cited studies and converted to uniform units using conversion constants given in "Read me" tab. Where data was not available or not applicable for the particular experiment "NA" is placed. Experiments were ordered according to reactor operation style, and processed for generating Figures provided in the accompanying paper.Comments provided in single spreadsheet cell provide further information regarding calculation or estimation method

Bioremediation of nitrate-polluted groundwater in a microbial fuel cell

BACKGROUND: Groundwater quality is threatened by nitrate accumulation in several regions around the world. Nitrate must be removed from contaminated groundwater to use it as drinking water. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) can be used for autotrophic denitrification. Thus, the use of MFCs is a potential alternative to using traditional methods for treating nitrate-polluted groundwater. RESULTS: The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential of MFC technology to treat nitrate-polluted groundwater (28.32±6.15 mgN-NO3 - L-1). The bioanode was fed with an acetate solution that permitted electron and proton flux to the biocathode. Initially, nitrite was observed in the effluent. After 97days of operation, the denitrifying-MFC reduced the nitrate and nitrite concentrations in the effluent (12.14±3.59 mgN-NO3 - L-1 and 0.14±0.13 mgN-NO2 - L-1).Thus, this method improved water quality to meet World Health Organisation standards. However, nitrous oxide emissions were deduced from the electron balance, cathode coulumbic efficiency and Tafel plots. Bioelectrochemical evolution of the biocathode was related to the denitrification nature (sequential reaction steps from NO3 - to N2, through NO2 - and N2O as stable intermediates) and was supported by the Tafel plots. CONCLUSION: The bioremediation of nitrate-polluted groundwater with a MFC biocathode is feasibl

Tècniques científiques integrades

Obrir fitxer "menu.html" per obrir el llibre-eActivitats de l'assignatura 'Tècniques científiques integrades II' dels diferents graus de la Facultat de Cièncie

Dataset for "Adjusting organic load as a strategy to direct single-stage food waste fermentation from anaerobic digestion to chain elongation"

This dataset includes the results summary from a lab-scale bioreactor experiment as discussed in the research paper with the same name, published at Processes MDPI (De Groof, V.; Coma, M.; Arnot, T.C.; Leak, D.J.; Lanham, A.B. Adjusting Organic Load as a Strategy to Direct Single-Stage Food Waste Fermentation from Anaerobic Digestion to Chain Elongation. Processes 2020, 8, 1487.). The study comprised two operational phases of duplicate reactors fed with food waste, each set to target a different product. The data comprises a summary on feedstock composition, microbial community analysis and operational conditions and product outcome per operational phase. The archaeal and bacterial community data includes the final sequences of the operational taxonomic units found and their relative abundance in each sample as determined by 16s rRNA amplicon sequencing. The raw data files have been submitted in the specialized EMBL-EBI database and are available under the accession number PRJEB39281

Dataset for "Selecting fermentation products for food waste valorisation with HRT and OLR as the key operational parameters"

This dataset includes the results summary and data overview from a lab-scale bioreactor experiment as discussed in the research paper "Selecting fermentation products for food waste valorisation with HRT and OLR as the key operational parameters", published in Waste Management. The study comprised three sets of operating conditions tested in duplicate reactors fed with food waste. The data comprises a summary on feedstock composition, operating conditions tested, averaged results, product outcome and kinetic study, and microbial community analysis per reactor and per operating condition. The archaeal and bacterial community data includes the final sequences of the operational taxonomic units found and their relative abundance in each sample as determined by 16s rRNA amplicon sequencing, and rarefaction curves. The raw data files have been submitted in the specialized EMBL-EBI database and are available under the accession number PRJEB40478

Dataset on experimental data available in the literature on "Medium chain carboxylic acids from complex organic feedstock by mixed culture fermentation"

This dataset was created as a compilation of experimental data in the literature on the production of medium chain carboxylic acids (MCCAs) by microbial mixed cultures (MMC) fermentation. The intention was to provide a dataset as comprehensive as possible that includes the majority of experimental results available in this research area to the best of our knowledge. The focus lied on MMC-based studies processing complex organic feedstock, yet selected studies were included on synthetic substrates. The relevant literature studies were collected and experimental results categorized according to bioreactor operation, i.e. batch, fed-batch and (semi-)continuous. Operational parameters, such as feedstock type, organic loading rate, temperature, etc., were extracted from information reported in studies and placed alongside product outcome in terms of MCCA production for each experiment. This dataset forms the backbone of the discussion and figure generation of the literature review "Medium chain carboxylic acids from complex organic feedstock by mixed culture fermentation" by V. De Groof, M. Coma, T. Arnot, D. Leak, A. Lanham. Published in MDPI Molecules: Special Issue "Chemicals from Food Supply Chain By-Products and Waste Streams" 2019