Etude d'un réacteur aérobie à culture concentrée couplé à une séparation par micro ou ultra-filtration tangentielles sur membranes minérales. Première approche d'une application en dépollution

La réduction de la pollution organique des eaux usées, urbaines ou industrielles, fait le plus souvent appel à des procédés biologiques anaérobies ou aérobies. Dans ce dernier cas, les procédés à boues activées sont parmi les plus courants mais nécessitent de grands volumes de bassinsLes bioréacteurs à membranes présentent l'avantage de la compacité et permettent l'obtention d'un effluent de très bonne qualité, constante, même à très forte charge.Le système étudié ici est un bioréacteur faisant corps avec le module de filtration utilisé, avec injection d'oxygène dans la boucle, supprimant ainsi tout bassin conventionnel. Une eau usée synthétique y est traitée en aérobiose sur membranes minérales à une température de 30 °C, soit par ultrafiltration à 500 Å, soit par microfiltration à 0,2 µm. Le problème de l'encrassement des membranes est étudié et certains de ses mécanismes en présence d'une biomasse concentrée sont mis en évidence. L'encrassement est évitable en utilisant un décolmatage à flux inverse et en pratiquant des purges de boues régulières. La qualité de l'effluent obtenu en sortie est en tout point comparable ou supérieure à celle d'une station à boues activées travaillant en aération prolongée. La comparaison n'inclut pas les aspects économiques, et la nitrification est incomplète.Urban or industrial waste water organic pollution is must often treated by aerobic biological systems. In this case, commonly used activated sludge plants need large tanks. Membrane bioreactors would give compactness and very high and constant quality effluent. Up to now, organic membranes have been mainly utilized for polishing effluents from conventional secondary treatment. MEMCOR process, using hollow fibers membranes, allows permeate fluxes of 100 l/h.m2 for several months under a 1 bar pressure. Chaize (1990), using inorganic membranes for urban waste water treatment, reached high organic and nitrogen removal. Biomass was about 10 to 20 g/l and permeate fluxes of 20 and 28 l/h.m2 at 1.1 and 1.4 bar transmembrane pressure with residuals less than 20 ppm COD and SSM and 5 ppm TKN.Materials and methods :The pilot studied here combined in the same module a compact bioreactor and a filtration membrane. A synthetic waste water has been treated by crossflow micro or ultrafiltration with aerobic microorganisms and pure oxygen injection. This effluent had a DCOIDBO ratio of 1.5 with very low suspended solid matters (38 mg/l). a-Alumina (pore size : 0.2 µm) or Zirconium oxide (pore size : 500 Å) inorganic membranes have been used. As membrane fouling is the main weakness of this processes, two treatments have been experimented with both membranes :1. total biomass recycling without back flush system ;2. excess biomass draining with back-flush system operating.Experiments lasted continuously for 3 to 7 days.Crossflow velocity was about 3.8 m/s, pH was regulated at 7.0 by concentrated sodium hydroxide addition.Heat generated by pumps needed heat exchange with tap water in order to maintain temperature around 30 °C, wich was considered optimal for biological reactions.Permeate COD and nitrogen, biomass Suspended Volatile Matters (SVM) and Suspended Solid Matters (SSM) have been monitored.Results and discussion :1) Effluent quality was constant and better than for conventional extended aeration. The two membranes retained the whole of SSM and bacteria, permeate COD was less than 30 mg/l, even under high load conditions (5 to 20 kg COD/kg SVM.d), elimination rates reached 98 % BOD and 97 % COD. Biomass production and oxygen consumption were lower than for high load activated sludge process, tact reported to pure oxygen utilization and unfloculated bacteria predominance. Nitrification remained very low due to short sludge age (< 90 h).2) Membranes cleaning state at the beginning of the tests didn't modify stabilized permeate fluxes. Particulate fouling predominated with 0,2 µm membrane, problem solved using back-flush system, but fast slime fouling developed in the first 24 h. Electron microscopy membrane surface examination shown heavy fouling by a biofilm which real composition remains unknown, and by numerous small particles (site range from 0.04 to 0.3 mm).With total biomass recycling, permeate fluxes were very low for both types of membranes : 15 l/h.m2 for 500 Å membrane and 2 l/h.m2 for 0.2 µm membrane. Treatment had to be stopped alter only 99 h. Biomass concentration increased up to 32 g/l in 3 days. When using back flush system and regularly draining excess biomass, becter stabilized permeate fluxes could be observed : 35 l/h.m2 for 500 Å membrane and 24 l/h.m2 for 0.2 µm membrane. Mean biomass concentration was about 15 g/l.Enzymatic digestion of slimes on fouled membranes pointed out the role of bacteria colt walls and proteins. These compounds were thought to be produced mainly under substrate limitation conditions. Fouling could thus be avoided by regularly draining excess biomass.Technology of inorganic membranes is still recent and involves relatively high costs. However, as it may ha interesting for soma industrial effluents, tests are carried on to confirm chose results

Transport Mean Free Path for Magneto-Transverse Light Diffusion

We derive an expression for the transport mean free path $\ell^*_\perp$ associated with magneto-transverse light diffusion for a random collection of Faraday-active Mie scatterers. This expression relates the magneto-transverse diffusion in multiple scattering directly to the magneto-transverse scattering of a single scatterer.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, Latex, accepted for publication in Europhysics Letter

Coherent Backscattering of light in a magnetic field

This paper describes how coherent backscattering is altered by an external magnetic field. In the theory presented, magneto-optical effects occur inside Mie scatterers embedded in a non-magnetic medium. Unlike previous theories based on point-like scatterers, the decrease of coherent backscattering is obtained in leading order of the magnetic field using rigorous Mie theory. This decrease is strongly enhanced in the proximity of resonances, which cause the path length of the wave inside a scatterer to be increased. Also presented is a novel analysis of the shape of the backscattering cone in a magnetic field.Comment: 27 pages, 5 figures, Revtex, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Modulating spin transfer torque switching dynamics with two orthogonal spin-polarizers by varying the cell aspect ratio

We study in-plane magnetic tunnel junctions with additional perpendicular polarizer for subnanosecond-current-induced switching memories. The spin-transfer-torque switching dynamics was studied as a function of the cell aspect ratio both experimentally and by numerical simulations using the macrospin model. We show that the anisotropy field plays a significant role in the dynamics, along with the relative amplitude of the two spin-torque contributions. This was confirmed by micromagnetic simulations. Real-time measurements of the reversal were performed with samples of low and high aspect ratio. For low aspect ratios, a precessional motion of the magnetization was observed and the effect of temperature on the precession coherence was studied. For high aspect ratios, we observed magnetization reversals in less than 1 ns for high enough current densities, the final state being controlled by the current direction in the magnetic tunnel junction cell.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure

Large Faraday rotation of resonant light in a cold atomic cloud

We experimentally studied the Faraday rotation of resonant light in an optically-thick cloud of laser-cooled rubidium atoms. Measurements yield a large Verdet constant in the range of 200 000 degrees/T/mm and a maximal polarization rotation of 150 degrees. A complete analysis of the polarization state of the transmitted light was necessary to account for the role of the probe laser's spectrum

Phase transitions in a ferrofluid at magnetic field induced microphase separation

In the presence of a magnetic field applied perpendicular to a thin sample layer, a suspension of magnetic colloidal particles (ferrofluid) can form spatially modulated phases with a characteristic length determined by the competition between dipolar forces and short-range forces opposing density variations. We introduce models for thin-film ferrofluids in which magnetization and particle density are viewed as independent variables and in which the non-magnetic properties of the colloidal particles are described either by a lattice-gas entropy or by the Carnahan-Starling free energy. Our description is particularly well suited to the low-particle density regions studied in many experiments. Within mean-field theory, we find isotropic, hexagonal and stripe phases, separated in general by first-order phase boundaries.Comment: 12 pages, RevTex, to appear in PR

Determination of fatty acids ethyl esters in virgin olive oils: proposals to enhance the EU official method

Fatty acids ethyl esters (FAEEs) are markers for virgin olive oils obtained from olives of poor quality or not adequately stored before being processed. FAEEs can also be considered as indirect markers in detecting the illegal treatment of soft deodorization that can be applied to slightly defective olive oils, as they are difficult to be removed from the oils at the conditions reached during this technological process. The official FAEEs determination (EU Reg. 61/2011) suffers some drawbacks in terms of amount of solvents and long time of analysis, linked with the preparative procedure to isolate these compounds. The aim of this work is to study the application of an HPLC-UV as a rapid alternative approach to the traditional liquid chromatography applied in the preparative phase. After the set up of the most appropriate working conditions (eg. mobile phase, flow, injection volume), some validation parameters (eg. precision, accuracy, LOD and LOQ, recovery) have been evaluated, in order to check the effectiveness of the proposed method. Moreover, considering the GC-FID step, the use of a PTV (programmed temperature vaporizer) injector as an alternative of the on-column one was evaluated. This work is developed in the context of the project OLEUM \u201cAdvanced solutions for assuring authenticity and quality of olive oil at global scale\u201c, funded by the European Commission within the Horizon 2020 Programme (2014\u20132020, GA no. 635690). The information expressed in this abstract reflects the authors\u2019 views; the EC is not liable for the information contained therein

Thermo-mechanical analysis of dental silicone polymers

Soft lining materials are used to replace the inner surface of a conventional complete denture, especially for weak elderly patients, with delicate health who cannot tolerate the hard acrylic denture base. Most of these patients have fragile supporting mucosa, excessive residual ridge resorption, particularly on the mandibular arch. The application of a soft liner to the mandibular denture allows absorbing impact forces during mastication and relieving oral mucosa. Actually, the silicone rubbers constitute the main family of commercialised soft lining materials. This study was conducted to understand the relationships between the mechanical properties and the physical structure of polysiloxanes. For this purpose, a series of polysiloxanes of various chemical compositions have been investigated. The evolution of their physical structure as a function of temperature has been followed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). In order to facilitate comparisons, the mechanical modulus has been analysed upon the same heating rate using dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). Polysiloxanes actually commercialised as soft denture liners are three-dimensional networks: the flexibility of chains allows a crystalline organisation in an amorphous phase leading to the low value of the shear modulus. The dynamic mechanical analysis shows that they are used in the rubbery state. So, polysiloxanes have steady mechanical properties during physiological utilisation