Biological phosphorus removal from abattoir wastewater at very short sludge ages mediated by novel PAO clade Comamonadaceae

Recent increases in global phosphorus costs, together with the need to remove phosphorus from wastewater to comply with water discharge regulations, make phosphorus recovery from wastewater economically and environmentally attractive. Biological phosphorus (Bio-P) removal process can effectively capture the phosphorus from wastewater and concentrate it in a form that is easily amendable for recovery in contrast to traditional (chemical) phosphorus removal processes. However, Bio-P removal processes have historically been operated at medium to long solids retention times (SRTs, 10-20 days typically), which inherently increases the energy consumption while reducing the recoverable carbon fraction and hence makes it incompatible with the drive towards energy self-sufficient wastewater treatment plants. In this study, a novel high-rate Bio-P removal process has been developed as an energy efficient alternative for phosphorus removal from wastewater through operation at an SRT of less than 4 days. The process was most effective at an SRT of 2-2.5 days, achieving >90% phosphate removal. Further reducing the SRT to 1.7 days resulted in a loss of Bio-P activity. 16S pyrotag sequencing showed the community changed considerably with changes in the SRT, but that Comamonadaceae was consistently abundant when the Bio-P activity was evident. FISH analysis combined with DAPI staining confirmed that bacterial cells of Comamonadaceae arranged in tetrads contained polyphosphate, identifying them as the key polyphosphate accumulating organisms at these low SRT conditions. Overall, this paper demonstrates a novel, high-rate phosphorus removal process that can be effectively integrated with short SRT, energy-efficient carbon removal and recovery processes

Transformation of PVP coated silver nanoparticles in a simulated wastewater treatment process and the effect on microbial communities

Extent: 18p.Background: Manufactured silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are one of the most commonly used nanomaterials in consumer goods and consequently their concentrations in wastewater and hence wastewater treatment plants are predicted to increase. We investigated the fate of AgNPs in sludge that was subjected to aerobic and anaerobic treatment and the impact of AgNPs on microbial processes and communities. The initial identification of AgNPs in sludge was carried out using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. The solid phase speciation of silver in sludge and wastewater influent was then examined using X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). The effects of transformed AgNPs (mainly Ag-S phases) on nitrification, wastewater microbial populations and, for the first time, methanogenesis was investigated. Results: Sequencing batch reactor experiments and anaerobic batch tests, both demonstrated that nitrification rate and methane production were not affected by the addition of AgNPs [at 2.5 mg Ag L-1 (4.9 g L-1 total suspended solids, TSS) and 183.6 mg Ag kg -1 (2.9 g kg-1 total solids, TS), respectively]. The low toxicity is most likely due to AgNP sulfidation. XAS analysis showed that sulfur bonded Ag was the dominant Ag species in both aerobic (activated sludge) and anaerobic sludge. In AgNP and AgNO3 spiked aerobic sludge, metallic Ag was detected (~15%). However, after anaerobic digestion, Ag(0) was not detected by XAS analysis. Dominant wastewater microbial populations were not affected by AgNPs as determined by DNA extraction and pyrotag sequencing. However, there was a shift in niche populations in both aerobic and anaerobic sludge, with a shift in AgNP treated sludge compared with controls. This is the first time that the impact of transformed AgNPs (mainly Ag-S phases) on anaerobic digestion has been reported. Conclusions: Silver NPs were transformed to Ag-S phases during activated sludge treatment (prior to anaerobic digestion). Transformed AgNPs, at predicted future Ag wastewater concentrations, did not affect nitrification or methanogenesis. Consequently, AgNPs are very unlikely to affect the efficient functioning of wastewater treatment plants. However, AgNPs may negatively affect sub-dominant wastewater microbial communities.Casey L Doolette, Mike J McLaughlin, Jason K Kirby, Damien J Batstone, Hugh H Harris, Huoqing Ge and Geert Corneli

Characterization of Temperature Phased Anaerobic Digestion for Organic Solids Stabilization

Modern wastewater treatment plants now produce more waste activated sludge, with low inherent treatability, due to a shift in focus towards nutrient removal rather than only sanitation. Food industry and abattoirs also produce significant volumes of waste solids. Organics in these solids streams can be readily converted to energy by anaerobic processes, which generate renewable methane. Conventional anaerobic processes require readily degradable substrates for the best outcomes. However, the degradability of long sludge-age activated sludge is normally poor, resulting in long digester hydraulic retention time (HRT), high mixing costs and poor methane production. To enhance the sludge degradability, incorporating a pre-treatment prior to conventional anaerobic digestion has been used and proven as a promising method. Since many long sludge-age activated sludge systems are small-medium scale

Evaluation of anaerobic digestion processes for short sludge-age waste activated sludge combined with anammox treatment of digestate liquor

The need to reduce energy input and enhance energy recovery from wastewater is driving renewed interest in high-rate activated sludge treatment (i.e. short hydraulic and solids retention times (HRT and SRT, respectively)). This process generates short SRT activated sludge stream, which should be highly degradable. However, the evaluation of anaerobic digestion of short SRT sludge has been limited. This paper assesses anaerobic digestion of short SRT sludge digestion derived from meat processing wastewater under thermophilic and mesophilic conditions. The thermophilic digestion system (55 °C) achieved 60 and 68% volatile solids destruction at 8 day and 10 day HRT, respectively, compared with 50% in the mesophilic digestion system (35 °C, 10 day HRT). The digestion effluents from the thermophilic (8-10 day HRT) and mesophilic systems were stable, as assessed by residual methane potentials. The ammonia rich sludge dewatering liquor was effectively treated by a batch anammox process, which exhibited comparable nitrogen removal rate as the tests using a control synthetic ammonia solution, indicating that the dewatering liquor did not have inhibiting/toxic effects on the anammox activity

Pre-treatment mechanisms during thermophilic-mesophilic temperature phased anaerobic digestion of primary sludge

Pre-treatment is used extensively to improve degradability and hydrolysis rate of material being fed into digesters. One emerging process is temperature phased anaerobic digestion (TPAD), which applies a short (2 day) 50–70 °C pre-treatment step prior to 35 °C digestion in the main stage (10–20 days). In this study, we evaluated a thermophilic–mesophilic TPAD against a mesophilic–mesophilic TPAD treating primary sludge. Thermophilic–mesophilic TPAD achieved 54% VS destruction compared to 44% in mesophilic–mesophilic TPAD, with a 25% parallel increase in methane production. Measurements of soluble COD and NH4+-N showed increased hydrolysis extent during thermophilic pre-treatment. Model based analysis indicated the improved performance was due to an increased hydrolysis coefficient rather than an increased inherent degradability, suggesting while TPAD is suitable as an intensification process, a larger main digester could achieve similar impact

The oxidation of As(III) in groundwater using biological manganese removal filtration columns

Arsenic is known as a toxic element to humans, and has been reported to co-exist with iron and manganese in groundwater worldwide. The typical method for arsenic removal from groundwater is to oxidize trivalent (As(III)) to pentavalent (As(V)) followed by the As(V) removal. This study aims to evaluate the oxidization efficiency of As(III) in a mature biological manganese (Mn) removal filtration system with different elevated influent As(III) concentrations. The effects of influent Mn concentrations, influent As(III) concentrations, filtration rates and dissolved oxygen (DO) levels on the efficiency of As(III) oxidation were assessed. The results showed that As(III) oxidation can be simultaneously achieved with removing Mn in the filtration system. The oxidation efficiency was not impacted by increasing the influent As(III) concentration up to nearly 2500 μg L, but the filtration rate was limited at 11 m h for maintaining the effluent As(III) concentration below 10 μg L. The oxidation process followed first-order kinetics with the constant reaching 0.56-0.61 min. The As(III) oxidation process was most likely to be mediated by the bacterial community initially developed for Mn removal in the filtration system, which performed the catalytic oxidation for As(III)

Temperature phased anaerobic digestion increases apparent hydrolysis rate for waste activated sludge

It is well established that waste activated sludge with an extended sludge age is inherently slow to degrade with a low extent of degradation. Pre-treatment methods can be used prior to anaerobic digestion to improve the efficiency of activated sludge digestion. Among these pre-treatment methods, temperature phased anaerobic digestion (TPAD) is one promising method with a relatively low energy input and capital cost. In this study, an experimental thermophilic (50-70 °C)-mesophilic system was compared against a control mesophilic-mesophilic system. The thermophilic-mesophilic system achieved 41% and 48% volatile solids (VS) destruction during pre-treatment of 60 °C and 65 °C (or 70 °C) respectively, compared to 37% in the mesophilic-mesophilic TPAD system. Solubilisation in the first stage was enhanced during thermophilic pre-treatment (15% at 50 °C and 27% at 60 °C, 65 °C and 70 °C) over mesophilic pre-treatment (7%) according to a COD balance. This was supported by ammonia-nitrogen measurements. Model based analysis indicated that the mechanism for increased performance was due to an increase in hydrolysis coefficient under thermophilic pre-treatment of 60 °C (0.5 ± 0.1 d), 65 °C (0.7 ± 0.2 d) and 70 °C (0.8 ± 0.2 d) over mesophilic pre-treatment (0.2 ± 0.1 d), and thermophilic pre-treatment at 50 °C (0.12 ± 0.06 d)