Feasibility of biogas production from anaerobic co-digestion of herbal-extraction residues with swine manure

The objective of this work was to examine the feasibility of biogas production from the anaerobic co-digestion of herbal-extraction residues with swine manure. Batch and semi-continuous experiments were carried out under mesophilic anaerobic conditions. Batch experiments revealed that the highest specific biogas yield was 294 mL CH₄ g⁻¹ volatile solids added, obtained at 50% of herbal-extraction residues and 3.50 g volatile solids g⁻¹ mixed liquor suspended solids. Specific methane yield from swine manure alone was 207 mL CH₄ g⁻¹ volatile solid added d⁻¹ at 3.50 g volatile solids g⁻¹ mixed liquor suspended solids. Furthermore, specific methane yields were 162, 180 and 220 mL CH₄ g⁻¹ volatile solids added d⁻¹ for the reactors co-digesting mixtures with 10%, 25% and 50% herbal-extraction residues, respectively. These results suggested that biogas production could be enhanced efficiently by the anaerobic co-digestion of herbal-extraction residues with swine manure.     

Acclimation Strategy of a Biohydrogen Producing Population in a Continuous‐Flow Reactor with Carbohydrate Fermentation

Poor startup of biological hydrogen production systems can cause an ineffective hydrogen production rate and poor biomass growth at a high hydraulic retention time (HRT), or cause a prolonged period of acclimation. In this paper a new startup strategy was developed in order to improve the enrichment of the hydrogen‐producing population and the efficiency of hydrogen production. A continuously‐stirred tank reactor (CSTR) and molasses were used to evaluate the hydrogen productivity of the sewage sludge microflora at a temperature of 35 °C. The experimental results indicated that the feed to microorganism ratio (F/M ratio) was a key parameter for the enrichment of hydrogen producing sludge in a continuous‐flow reactor. When the initial biomass was inoculated with 6.24 g of volatile suspended solids (VSS)/L, an HRT of 6 h, an initial organic loading rate (OLR) of 7.0 kg chemical oxygen demand (COD)/(m³ × d) and an feed to microorganism ratio (F/M) ratio of about 2–3 g COD/(g of volatile suspended solids (VSS) per day) were maintained during startup. Under these conditions, a hydrogen producing population at an equilibrium state could be established within 30 days. The main liquid fermentation products were acetate and ethanol. Biogas was composed of H₂ and CO₂. The hydrogen content in the biogas amounted to 47.5 %. The average hydrogen yield was 2.01 mol/mol hexose consumed. It was also observed that a special hydrogen producing population was formed when this startup strategy was used. It is supposed that the population may have had some special metabolic pathways to produce hydrogen along with ethanol as the main fermentation products.     

Enzymatic pre-hydrolysis and anaerobic degradation of wastewaters with high fat contents

Dairy wastewaters containing elevated fat and grease levels (868 mg l^–1) were treated in an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor (UASB) and resulted in effluents of high turbidity (757 nephelometric turbidity units), volatile suspended solids up to 944 mg l^–1 and COD removal below 50%. When the same dairy wastewater was pre-treated with 0.1% (w/v) of fermented babassu cake containing Penicillium restrictum lipases, turbidity and volatile suspended solids were decreased by 75% and 90%, respectively, and COD removal was as high as 90%.     

High upflow velocity and organic loading rate improve granulation in upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactors

Five laboratory scale upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors were seeded with nongranular sewage sludge. Granulation was obtained after 15–35 days when between 0.5 and 2.0m/h upflow liquid velocity was applied, with an organic loading rate (OLR) of 8g COD/l.d (COD is the chemical oxygen demand). Granules had different physical characteristics and specific activity (g COD_REMOVED/g volatile suspended solids) depending on the upflow liquid velocity applied. Granules were obtained in short startup periods (5 and 14 days) when a pilot-scale (180l) UASB reactor with a height of 4.7m was used to study hydraulic effects on the granulation process.     

The impact of land use on water quality of the Lwiro River,Democratic Republic of Congo,Central Africa

The water quality of the Lwiro River, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Central Africa, was investigated on a monthly basis from December 1999–October 2000, at six stations along a hydraulic gradient from source to mouth, to evaluate the impact of land use on temperature, Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD₅), alkalinity and suspended solids. Upstream, where forests are conserved, minimal changes of physico-chemical parameters of water were observed. Downstream, DO was reduced, due to the increased organic matter content which increased the decomposition rate. BOD₅ and suspended solids increased downstream. Greater changes were found near agricultural areas and villages. Wetlands appear to mitigate BOD₅ and DO impacts.     

Soil microbial activities in a constructed soil reed-bed under cheese-dairy farm effluents

Soil microbial activities in a reed-bed used for effluent purification of a small cheese-dairy farm under a Mediterranean climate were described and studied. This work aims to demonstrate (i) whether certain enzyme activities used as bioindicators of dairy waste degradation (beta-galactosidase and protease) vary over time, which might influence organic matter degradation and (ii) whether specific microbial communities are selected through contact with the discarded effluent using community level catabolic profiles (CLCPs). beta-galactosidase and protease activities were followed in a 14-month monitoring experiment. These enzyme activities were strongly expressed during the whey-discarding period from February to May. CLCPs using Biolog Ecoplate showed great microbial diversity, as described by Shannon-Weaver index, and no difference was observed in microbial diversity between areas at the receiving end of the reed-bed (where effluent was discarded) and those at the opposite end. This may be explained by successive environmental factors which made enzyme activities vary: whey discarded from February to May and Mediterranean climate conditions (drying-rewetting effects on summer). Microbial enumeration using epifluorescence microscopy also showed a pattern linked to Mediterranean conditions with a drastic decrease in biomass during summer drought. These results on functional biodiversity were correlated with high purification yields: the minimum decrease in Biological Demand in Oxygen was 84% and that in suspended solids was 75%.     

Optimal temperature for microbes in an acetate fed microbial electrolysis cell (MEC)

Temperature is one of the important parameters which can significantly effect on the activity/selection of microorganism and subsequently on the reactor's performance. Two microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) were operated at different temperature settings with acetate as a carbon source. On average, COD removal rates of 16.8, 24.7, 34.0, 36.2 and 18.1 mg/l/h were recorded at 25, 29, 30, 31 and 35 °C, respectively. The results of volatile suspended solids analysis indicated that biomass concentration continued to drop at all temperatures, but the drop was the lowest at 30 °C. Consideration of biomass drop and specific COD removal rate showed 31 °C as the optimum temperature. These significant results imply that effect of temperature and change in biomass concentration should be considered in future experiments when expressing the removal rates.     

Phosphorus removal characteristics of granular and flocculent sludge in SBR

Aerobic granulation technology has become a novel biotechnology for wastewater treatment. However, the distinct properties and characteristics of phosphorus removal between granules and flocculent sludge are still sparse in enhanced biological phosphorus removal process. Two identical sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) were operated to compare phosphorus removal performance with granular sludge (R1) and flocculate activated sludge (R2). Results indicated that the start-up period was shorter in R2 than R1 for phosphorus removal, which made R2 reach the steady-state condition on day 21, while R1 was on day 25, and R2 released and took up more phosphorus than R1. As a result, the phosphorus removal was around 90% in R2 while 80% in R1 at the steady-state system. The special phosphorus release rate and special phosphorus uptake rate were 8.818 mg P/g volatile suspended solids (VSS)/h and 9.921 mg P/g VSS/h in R2, which were consistently greater than those (0.999 and 3.016 mg P/g VSS/h) in R1. The chemical oxygen demand removal in two reactors was similar. The granular SBR had better solid-separation performance and higher removal efficiency of NH₄⁺–N than flocculent SBR. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of PCR-amplified 16S rDNA fragment analysis revealed that the diversity and the level of phosphorus-accumulating bacteria in flocculent sludge were much more than those in the granular sludge.     

Effect of the concentration of suspended solids on the enzymatic activities and biodiversity of a submerged membrane bioreactor for aerobic treatment of domestic wastewater

A pilot-scale submerged membrane bioreactor was used for the treatment of domestic wastewater in order to study the influence of the variations in the concentration of volatile suspended solids (VSS) on the enzymatic activities (acid and alkaline phosphatases, glucosidase, protease, esterase, and dehydrogenase) and biodiversity of the bacterial community in the sludge. The influence of VSS concentration was evaluated in two separated experiments, which were carried out in two different seasons of the year (experiment 1 through spring–summer and experiment 2 through autumn–winter). Cluster analysis of the temperature gradient gel electrophoresis (TGGE) profiles demonstrated that the community composition was significantly different in both experiments. Within the same experiment, the bacterial community experienced sequential shifts as the biomass accumulated, as shown by the evolution of the population profiles through time as VSS concentration increased. All enzymatic activities studied were significantly lower during experiment 2, except for glucosidase. Concentrations of VSS over 8 g/l induced a strong descent of all enzymatic activities, which overlapped with a significant modification of the community composition. Sequences of the major TGGE bands were identified as representatives of the Alpha-proteobacteria, filamentous bacteria (Thiotrix), and nitrite oxidizers (Nitrospira). Some sequences which were poorly related to any validated bacterial taxon were obtained.     

High efficiency degradation of tetrahydrofuran (THF) using a membrane bioreactor: identification of THF-degrading cultures of<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Pseudonocardia</Emphasis> sp. strain M1 and<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Rhodococcus ruber</Emphasis> isolate M2

A mixed microbial culture capable of growing aerobically on tetrahydrofuran (THF) as a sole carbon and energy source was used as the inoculum in a 10 l working volume membrane bioreactor. Following start-up, the reactor was operated in batch mode for 24 h and then switched to continuous feed with 100% biomass recycle. On average, greater than 96% of THF fed to the reactor was removed during the 8-month study. THF loading rates ranged from 0.62 to 9.07 g l^–1 day^–1 with a hydraulic retention time of 24 h. THF concentrations as high as 800 mg/l were tolerated by the culture. Biomass production averaged 0.28 kg total suspended solids/kg chemical oxygen demand removed, i.e., comparable to a conventional wastewater treatment process. Periodic batch wasting resulted in a solids retention time of 7–14 days. Reactor biomass typically ranged from 4 to 10 g/l volatile suspended solids and the effluent contained no solids. Pure THF-degrading cultures were isolated from the mixed culture based on morphological characteristics, Gram-staining and THF degradation. Based on 16S rDNA analysis the isolates were identified as Pseudonocardia sp. M1 and Rhodococcus ruber M2.     

Liming impact on granules activity of the multiplate anaerobic reactor (MPAR) treating whey permeate

A 19.2 l multiplate anaerobic reactor (MPAR) was used to assess the impact of lime (Ca(OH)₂) on the anaerobic treatment of whey permeate effluents. The amount of Ca(OH)₂ required to maintain the pH of the whey permeate around 5 ranged between 3.0 and 4.5 kg/m³, which corresponded to concentration varying between 1.62 and 2.43 kg/m³. Soluble chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency exceeded 92% with a methane production rate of 6.7 m³/m³.d. at an organic loading rate (OLR) as high as 20 kg COD/m³.d. Extended operation of the MPAR resulted in the accumulation of significant amounts of calcium precipitates in the sludge bed which reached after three months of operation 0.19, 0.25 and 0.33 kg Ca²⁺ per kg of suspended solid (SS) in the lower, the middle and the upper compartment of the MPAR, respectively. The volatile suspended solids to suspended solids ratio (VSS/SS) decreased from 0.83 in inoculum to 0.37, 0.22 and 0.08 in the lower, the middle and the upper compartment of the MPAR, respectively. As a result, the soluble COD reduction and the methane production rate decreased to 31% and to 2.3 m³/m³.d. respectively, at OLR of 20 kg COD/m³.d.The authors thank Saputo Cheese Ltd. for providing the whey permeate effluents, Alain Corriveau for expert analytical assistance and Hervé Macarie for revising the article. NRC Paper No. 33907     

Kinetics of a fluidized-bed reactor for ground-water denitrification

A fluidized-bed reactor, with sand as the carrier and ethanol as the carbon and electron source, was investigated for the biological denitrification of ground water. The paper concentrates on the reactor's kinetics, with special emphasis on nitrite as the intermediate product. Intrinsic zero-order kinetic parameters for both nitrate and nitrite were determined by batch and continuous experiments. Values for the maximum specific nitrate and nitrite removal rates of 11 g and 6 g NO _inf3 ^sup– (g volatile suspended solids)^–1 day^–1, respectively, were obtained. These values were used to interpret nitrate and nitrate concentration profiles in an experimental fluidized-bed reactor operating at different conditions of hydraulic loading and retention time.     

三峡水库香溪河库湾春季水华期间悬浮物动态

在三峡水库香溪河库湾春季藻类水华期间开展了水体悬浮物动态研究.调查结果表明：总悬浮物浓度的中位数是6.80 mg·L^-1, 波动范围是0.66～134.92 mg·L^-1,从河口到库尾入库点呈现逐渐递增的趋势;无机悬浮物空间格局与总悬浮物基本相似,而有机悬浮物空间格局与总悬浮物差异较大,与叶绿素a较为相似.回归分析表明：库湾中部水域叶绿素a与总悬浮物、有机悬浮物均有显著的线性关系,分别解释了总悬浮物、有机悬浮物总变异的66.7%～96.7% 和 58.9%～85.5%;在库湾两端（河口与库尾）叶绿素a与悬浮物参数均没有显著的线性关系.在库湾中部水域,有机悬浮物比无机悬浮物更能解释总悬浮物的变异;在库湾两端,无机悬浮物比有机悬浮物更能解释总悬浮物的变异.这意味着库湾中间水域总悬浮物的动态主要受有机悬浮物内源性生产的影响,而河口或库尾总悬浮物的动态主要受外源性的无机悬浮颗粒物输入的影响.     

Wastewater Treatment in a Packed-Bed Reactor with Immobilized Cells onto a New Ceramic Carrier

A new porous ceramic carrier based on casting sand, sawdust and zeolite was used to immobilize microorganisms for continuous wastewater treatment in a packed-bed bioreactor. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the ceramic carrier has a high porosity with diameters of around 5~300µm. Immobilization capacity of the carrier was 62 mg/ g dry carrier, in terms of mixed liquor volatile suspended solids. When synthetic wastewater (chemical oxygen demand 250 mg/l) as a model feed solution and 30 mg kaolin/l as a suspended solid (SS) were used, the removal efficiency as measured by the total organic carbon and SS were 91% and 71%, respectively, at a hydraulic retention time of 3 h.     

Bioenergy conversion studies of organic fraction of MSW: kinetic studies and gas yield--organic loading relationships for process optimisation

Batch digestion of municipal garbage was carried out for 100 days at room temperature (26+/-4 degrees C; average temperature 25 degrees C) and at ambient temperature (32+/-10 degrees C; average temperature 29 degrees C) conditions for total solids concentrations varying between 45 and 135 g/l. A first order model based on the availability of substrate as the limiting factor was used to perform the kinetic studies of batch anaerobic digestion system. Effect of organic solids concentration and digestion time on biogas yield was studied and mass and energy balance analysis was conducted for batch digestion. The net bioenergy yield from municipal garbage and corresponding bioprocess conversion efficiency over the length of the digestion time were observed to be 12,528 kJ/kg volatile solids and 84.51% respectively. The methane content of the biogas generated from the reactors was in the range of 62-72% with the overall average methane content of the biogas, computed over the total digestion period was 65 vol%.     

Biokinetics in acidogenesis of highly suspended organic wastewater by adenosine 5' triphosphate analysis

In this paper, we pointed out the problems of using conventional volatile suspended solids (VSS) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) to evaluate biokinetic coefficients, especially for the treatment of highly suspended organic wastewater. We also introduced a novel approach to evaluate biokinetic coefficients by measurement of adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) of microorganisms. The concept of using ATP analysis in biokinetic evaluations with highly suspended wastewater was shown to be effective. This study also showed that the conventional VSS and COD methods were strongly affected by incoming suspended organics in the wastewater and by biokinetics of microorganisms. A cheese-processing wastewater was used in evaluating the biokinetics of mesophilic acidogens. The concentration of COD and total suspended solids in the wastewater was 63.3 g/L and 12.4 g/L, respectively. The TSS was 23.6% of total solids concentration. A high ratio of VSS to total suspended solids of 96.7% indicated that most of the suspended particles were organic materials. Lactose and protein were the major organic components contributing COD in the wastewater, and a total of 94.2% of the COD in the wastewater was due to the presence of lactose and protein. Two different physiological conditions where the maximum rates of acetate and butyrate production occurred were tested. These were pH 7 (condition A for acetate production) and pH 7.3 (condition B for butyrate production) at 36.2C, respectively. Based on the molecular structures of the major organic substances and microbial ATP analysis, the residual substrate and microbial concentrations were stoichiometrically converted to substrate COD (SuCOD) and microbial VSS (MVSS), respectively, using correlation coefficients reported previously. These SuCOD and MVSS were simultaneously used to evaluate the biokinetic coefficients using Monod-based mathematical equations. The nonlinear least squares method with 95% confidence interval was used to evaluate biokinetic coefficients. The maximum microbial growth rate, mu(max) and half saturation coefficient, K(s), for conditions A and B were determined to be 9.9 +/- 0.3 and 9.3 +/- 1.0 day(-1) and 134.0 +/- 58.3 and 482.5 +/- 156.5 mg SuCOD/L, respectively. The microbial yield coefficient, Y, and microbial decay rate coefficient, k(d) for conditions A and B were determined to be 0.29 +/- 0.03 and 0.20 +/- 0.05 mg MVSS/mg SuCOD, and 0.14 +/- 0.05 and 0.25 +/- 0.05 day(-1), respectively. Specific substrate utilization rate at condition B was 43.8 +/- 20.6 mg SuCOD/mg MVSS/day, which was 31% higher than that at condition A.     

Cesium isotope-activity in the Weser ecosystem three years after the disaster at Chernobyl

In 1989, three years after the disaster at Chernobyl, the Cesium (Cs-137 and Cs-134) activity of water, sediments, suspended solids, algae, and crustaceans were studied in five sections of the Weser estuary covering the nontidal and tidal freshwater region down to the brackish area. The total water activities in the freshwater regions are similar, but there are differences in the Cs distribution between the dissolved and the particulate phase depending on the concentration of suspended solids and abiotic water parameters. The Cs activity derived from Chernobyl is only detectable in sediments and suspended solids. Specific differences in Cs accumulation were found for crustaceans but not for algae.     

Synergistic effects of natural and modified zeolites on the methanogenesis of acetate and methanol

The addition of Mg²⁺ modified zeolite at 0.1 g g^–1 of volatile suspended solids (VSS) increased the potential specific methanogenic activity (PSMA) and the apparent kinetic constant, k ₀, showing PSMA and k ₀ values 15 and 2 times higher than those observed for control reactors during the methanogenesis of acetate and methanol, respectively. In addition, the population of hydrolytic, acetogenic and methanogenic bacteria increased 100, 10 and 100 times compared to that observed in the controls. The anaerobic degradation of methanol and acetate occurred in one and two stages, respectively.     

Anaerobic treatment of low-strength municipal wastewater by a two-stage pilot plant under psychrophilic conditions

A two-stage anaerobic treatment pilot plant was tested for the treatment of raw domestic wastewater under temperatures ranging from 21 to 14 degrees C. The plant consisted of a hydrolytic upflow sludge bed (HUSB) digester (25.5m3) followed by an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) digester (20.36m3). The hydraulic retention time (HRT) varied from 5.7 to 2.8h for the first stage (HUSB digester) and from 13.9 to 6.5h for the second stage (UASB digester). Total suspended solids (TSS), total chemical oxygen demand (TCOD), and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) removals ranged from 76% to 89%, from 49% to 65%, and from 50% to 77%, respectively, for the overall system. The percentage of influent COD converted to methane was 36.1%, the hydrolysis of influent volatile suspended solids (VSS) reached 59.7% and excess biomass was 21.6% of the incoming VSS. Plant performance was influenced by the wastewater concentration and temperature, yet better results were obtained for influent COD higher than 250mg/l.     

Studies in nitrification of municipal sewage in an upflow biofilter

The upflow aerated biofilter with polyurethane foam cubes as the supporting medium was used for the investigation of nitrification studies on municipal sewage (secondary treated as well as untreated domestic sewage). In case of secondary treated sewage effluent, a synthetic composition of NH₄ ⁺-N and COD of each 50?mg/l was studied for a HRT variation of 24, 12, 8 and 6 hours. The ammonium removal efficiencies were found to be in the range of 98 to 100% with the steady-state effluent concentrations of NH₄ ⁺-N and NO₂ ^?-N in the range of 1–4 mg/l and 0.1–0.2?mg/l respectively. In case of domestic sewage system, nitrification studies along with suspended solids removal study was carried-out on untreated sewage for a HRT variation of 24, 12 and 6 hours. The ammonium removal efficiencies of 100% were observed for all the three HRT values at very high COD/NH₄ ⁺-N ratio of 15. The suspended solids removal efficiencies of 95 to 98% were observed with the average effluent suspended solids concentration of 5.9 to 15.9?mg/l. The experiments were conducted in non-backwash conditions of the biofilter. The study has revealed the best use of the upflow biofilter system for nitrification applications and suspended solids removal.