Appling hydrolysis acidification-anoxic-oxic process in the treatment of petrochemical wastewater: From bench scale reactor to full scale wastewater treatment plant

Upgrade of the biggest catalytic ozonation wastewater treatment plant in China: From pollution control to carbon reduction

Catalytic ozonation is a widely used effective technology in advanced treatment for the removal of refractory organics from wastewater. However, it is also a highly energy-consuming technology, usually accounting for 30%∼40% of the total electricity consumption of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). The O3 consumption per unit of COD removed (g-O3/g-COD) is usually higher than 1.5 g-O3/g-COD, and the total carbon emission from catalytic ozonation is usually higher than 393.12 kgCO2 e/m3 of wastewater. In this study, we investigated an energy reduction strategy for the biggest catalytic ozonation WWTP, from laboratory-scale experimentation to corresponding engineering application. Laboratory-scale experiments showed that the mass transfer rate of dissolved O3 to the catalyst surface is crucial for COD removal efficiency. To improve the efficiency of catalytic ozonation, adding effluent backflow is a simple method that can enhance the removal of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) from the catalyst surface and promote surface exposure. In the pilot-scale experiment (48 m3/d), when the backflow ratio increased from 0% to 100% (the optimal value), the proteins in EPS on the catalyst surface decreased significantly by 66.7%. The corresponding O3 consumption per unit of COD removed was reduced from 2.0 to 1.0 g-O3/g-COD. Furthermore, in the engineering application (52,000 m3/d) with a backflow ratio of 100%, the average effluent COD reduced from 52.0 to 43.3 mg/L, and the O3 consumption per unit of COD removed decreased from 0.98 to 0.69 g-O3/g-COD. In terms of carbon reduction, the indirect carbon emission reduction was approximately 3.0 × 103 t CO2 e/a. This study demonstrates the advantages of catalytic ozonation improvement and provides an engineering model of energy conversation and carbon emission reduction for over 35 similar WWTPs in China.

Zero-valent iron effectively enhances valuable products generated from wastewater containing 2-bromo-4,6-dinitroaniline during hydrolysis acidification process: Performance and mechanisms

Treatment to remove 2-bromo-4,6-dinitroaniline (BDNA) from wastewater is urgently needed owing to its carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, and teratogenicity. Hydrolysis acidification (HA) is widely used to treat wastewater to improve biodegradability and resource utilization. Thus, a zero-valent iron (ZVI)-coupled HA system was operated to treat BDNA-containing wastewater for the first time, with emphasis on the performance and enhanced mechanisms. The improved results for BDNA removal efficiency and B/C ratio and the decreased acute toxicity suggested that ZVI addition benefited the formation of advantageous products for subsequent biological treatment. The volatile fatty acids (VFAs) ratio (C_HAc:C_HPr:C_HBu) was optimized from 21:5:4 to 29:5:6, which benefited the utilization of wastewater resources for lipid generation. ZVI characterization, density functional theory (DFT) calculations, extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) analysis, molecular ecological network analysis (MENA), and redundancy analysis (RDA) of the microbial community further revealed that the enhanced mechanisms were summarized as beneficial interactions between ZVI and microorganisms. The ZVI was protected from excessive corrosion and lowered the oxidation-reduction potential (ORP), a key environmental factor, resulting in differences in microbial communities. These differences were presented as the enrichment of keystone species (e.g., Lactococcus), which function in BDNA reduction and VFAs generation. Moreover, ZVI promoted electron transfer, as proven by the high electron transfer capacity (ETC) of 0.452 and 0.361 μmol e^-/g VSS in the R_ZVI and blank systems, respectively.

Inhibitory effect of individual and mixtures of nitrophenols on anaerobic toxicity assay of anaerobic systems: Metabolism and evaluation modeling

The single and combined inhibitory effects of different nitrophenols on the anaerobic toxicity assay (ATA) of anaerobic sludge and the variations in the content of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) were investigated. The results indicated that 2,4-dinitrophenol (2,4-DNP) demonstrated the highest inhibitory effect, followed by 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) and 2-nitrophenol (2-NP), and the combined effects of binary and ternary nitrophenols induced additive toxicity. Furthermore, 2,4-DNP, the dominant toxic nitrophenol, at various concentrations and toxicant ratios, was the major contributor to the combined inhibitory effects of the nitrophenol mixtures. Abundant EPS could be secreted by the anaerobic sludge under the inhibitory effects of toxic 2-NP, 4-NP, and 2,4-DNP at concentrations from 0 to 200 mg/L to resist the adverse effects of the external environment. The protein contents of both loosely bound EPS (LB-EPS) and tightly bound EPS (TB-EPS) exhibited a better linear positive correlation relationship (R² > 0.92) with the inhibitory rates of 2-NP, 4-NP, and 2,4-DNP, indicating that the proteins generated in the EPS of anaerobic sludge could be a stress response. Therefore, increasing the concentration of the toxic nitrophenols could enhance the stress response and increase protein production. Parallel factor (PARAFAC) analysis for TB-EPS and LB-EPS further confirmed that the major proteins were tyrosine, tryptophan, and aromatic proteins. Moreover, with an increase in the concentrations of 2-NP, 4-NP, and 2,4-DNP from 0 to 200 mg/L, microbial cell lysis and death in anaerobic sludge could be increasingly severe. Thus, this study provides new insights into the inhibitory effects of nitrophenol mixtures, which are frequently found in pharmaceutical and petrochemical effluents, on anaerobic sludge.

Pilot-scale microaerobic hydrolysis-acidification and anoxic-oxic processes for the treatment of petrochemical wastewater

Microaerobic hydrolysis and acidification (MHA), as a promising pre-treatment method of industrial wastewater, is drawing increasing attention to enhance the hydrolysis-acidification rate and inhibit the production of toxic gas H₂S. In the present work, a pilot-scale MHA reactor coupled with anoxic-oxic (A/O) processes for treating the petrochemical wastewater was established and the mechanism and application of the MHA reaction were explored. The results showed that the ratio of VFA/COD was increased by 43-90% and low effluent S^2- concentration (less than 0.2 mg/L) was obtained after MHA treatment with 5.5-13.8 L air m^-3 h^-1 supply. The MHA sludge exhibited a good settleability, a higher protease activity and plentiful community diversity. In addition to the dominant anaerobic bacteria responsible for hydrolysis and acidification such as Clostridiales uncultured, Anaerovorax, Anaerolineaceae uncultured and Fastidiosipila, the sulfate reducing bacteria involving Desulfobacter, Desulfomicrobium and Desulfobulbus, the sulphur oxidizing bacteria involving Thiobacillus, Arcobacter and Limnobacter, the nitrifies such as Nitrosomonadaceae uncultured and Nitrospira, and denitrifies Thauera were also identified. MHA pre-treatment guaranteed the efficacy and stability of the following A/O treatment. The removal efficiency of COD and ammonium of the MHA-A/O system remained at around 78.3% and 80.8%, respectively, although the organic load fluctuated greatly in the influent.

Bioremediation of industrial effluents: A synergistic approach

Industrial wastewater consists of inorganic and organic toxic pollutants that pose a threat to environmental sustainability. The organic pollutants are a menace to the environment and life forms than the inorganic substances and pose teratogenic, mutagenic, carcinogenic, and other serious detrimental effects on the living entities, moreover, they have a gene-altering effect on aquatic life forms and affect the soil fertility and quality. Removal of varying effluents having recalcitrant contaminants with conventional treatment technologies is strenuous. In contrast to physical and chemical methods, biological treatment methods are environmentally friendly, versatile, efficient, and technically feasible with low operational costs and energy footprints. Biological treatment is a secondary wastewater treatment system that utilizes the metabolic activities of microorganisms to oxidize or reduce inorganic and organic compounds and transform them into dense biomass, which later can be removed by the sedimentation process. Biological treatment in bioreactors is an ex situ method of bioremediation and provides the benefits of continuous monitoring under controlled parameters. This paper attempts to provide a review of bioremediation technologies discussing most concerning widespread bioreactors and advances used for different industrial effluents with their comparative merits and limitations.

Residual ozone in microorganisms enhanced organics removal and shaped microbial community

The residual ozone played an important role in enhancing the organics removal by stimulate subsequent biological processes. However, how the residual ozone affects the biological process is not well studied. In this work, a pilot scale integrated O₃-BAF, ordinary BAF and separated O₃-BAF were compared in advanced treatment of real bio-treated petrochemical wastewater. Results showed that residual ozone with 0.05-0.10 mg L^-1 in the BAF demonstrated relatively high chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency of 48.4%, which was 1.5-fold higher than that obtained by separated O₃-BAF and 3-fold higher than that obtained by ordinary BAF. The stimulative effect of low dosage of O₃ on biological treatment additionally donated 33.9% of the COD removal in the BAF. The COD removal amount per dosage of ozone reached 5.30 mg-COD/mg-O₃. The biofilm thickness in the integrated O₃-BAF was reduced by 30-50% while the dehydrogenase activity (DHA) was improved by 500%, indicating the stimulate effect on the bioactivity. Additionally, Illumina HiSeq sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons demonstrated significant microbial diversity decreasing. Specially, Gemmatimonadetes and Bacteroidetes are the dominate microorganism in the integrated O₃-BAF, having a positive correlation with the proper residual ozone, and increased by 5.4% and 4.2% in comparison with the separated O₃-BAF, respectively. The residual ozone higher than 0.22 mg L^-1 showed inhibition effect on the bioactivity. In summary, the control of residual ozone introduced to BAF was crucial for stimulative effects and manager the microbial community in the integrated O₃-BAF, which still need further detail research.

Dynamics of dissolved organic matter and dissolved organic nitrogen during anaerobic/anoxic/oxic treatment processes

With Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) and fluorescence spectroscopy, this study investigated the transformation of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and nitrogen (DON) during the widely-applied anaerobic/anoxic/oxic (A²O) processes to provide molecular insights into the removal, generation, and reduction of DOM/DON species in different biological treatment units. Results indicated that the anaerobic process decomposed the macromolecules of influent DOM/DON and decreased their mass. The anoxic process denitrified DON and generated DOM, as indicated by the decreased molecule number of CHON and CHONS and the increased CHO and CHOS species, as well as the increased overall DOM intensities. DOM mineralization and ammonia nitrogen-DON conversion occurred in the oxic process. Aromaticity and unsaturation degree increased slightly after the A²O processes, which was correlated with the relative abundance of Proteobacteria (positively) and Bacteroidetes (negatively). The results have strong implications to the understanding of DOM/DON dynamics in wastewater treatment plants.

Refinery wastewater treatment via a multistage enhanced biochemical process

Petroleum refinery wastewater (PRWW) that contains recalcitrant components as the major portion of constituents is difficult to treat by conventional biological processes. An effective and economical biological treatment process was established to treat industrial PRWW with an influent COD of over 2500 mg L⁻¹ in this research. This process is mainly composed of internal circulation biological aerated filter (ICBAF), hydrolysis acidfication (HA), two anaerobic–aerobic (A/O) units, a membrane biological reactor (MBR), and ozone-activated carbon (O₃-AC) units. The results showed that, overall, this system removed over 94% of the COD, BOD_5, ammonia nitrogen (NH₄⁺-N) and phosphorus in the influent, with the ICBAF unit accounting for 54.6% of COD removal and 83.6% of BOD₅ removal, and the two A/O units accounting for 33.3% of COD removal and 9.4% of BOD₅ removal. The degradation processes of eight organic pollutants and their removal via treatment were also analyzed. Furthermore, 26 bacteria were identified in this system, with Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria being the most dominant. Ultimately, the treatment process exhibited good performance in degrading complex organic pollutants in the PRWW.

Effect of mixed petrochemical wastewater with different effluent sources on anaerobic treatment: organic removal behaviors and microbial community

Petrochemical industrial effluent contains industrial wastewater from various manufacturing processes. The mixed treatment of these different petrochemical wastewater effluents may influence the organic removal performance of the anaerobic processes. In this study, three typical petrochemical effluents, including polyester (PE), polyethylene terephthalate, and purified terephthalic acid wastewater, were collected. The effect of the mixed petrochemical wastewater on the organic removal and microbial community structure was investigated in the anaerobic batch assays via spectroscopy and high-throughput sequencing. The organic removal efficiencies were similar (71-85%) in all the batch assays for 90 h acclimation. The mixture of wastewater, especially the addition of PE wastewater, significantly prolonged organic removal process. It was related to the aromatic removal performance and microbial community structure during the mixed wastewater treatment. The microbial community structure in the mixed wastewater batch assay showed high similarity with that in the PE wastewater batch assay. Ignavibacterium, Syntrophus, and Pelotomaculum were crucial to the degradation of aromatic compounds together with Methanosaeta. The mixture of wastewater, especially the addition of PE wastewater, caused the decay of these functional microbes and resulted in the inefficient removal of the aromatic compounds.

Investigation of hydrolysis acidification process during anaerobic treatment of coal gasification wastewater (CGW): Evolution of dissolved organic matter and biotoxicity

Coal gasification wastewater (CGW) contains several types of aromatic pollutants, which impart high biotoxicity and reduce the quality of anaerobic treatment. Two types of hydrolysis acidification processes, namely microaerobic hybrid reactor (HA-1) and upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor (HA-2), were developed for pre-treatment before the anaerobic treatment. The changes in the dissolved organic matter and biotoxicity were investigated to comprehensively understand the degradation process. The results showed that HA-2 coupled with an anaerobic reactor achieved a 12.3% and 13.4% higher removal efficiency for chemical oxygen demand and total phenols, respectively, compared with the coupled process with HA-1. Furthermore, HA-2 could transform macromolecules into small molecules more efficiently and produce fewer intermediates. The coupled process with HA-2 preferentially removed complex aromatic substances with absorption wavelengths of 285 and 254 nm, according to the sequential orders interpreted from two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy. In addition, the results of fluorescence excitation-emission-matrix with regional integration analysis revealed that the contents of typical cyclic compounds in CGW, such as phenolic, heterocyclic, and polycyclic aromatic compounds were remarkably reduced by HA-2. In addition, HA-2 reduced the toxic unit value of CGW by 67.5% and increased the resazurin dehydrogenase activity of the sludge by 37.5% during CGW treatment, thus improving the biotoxicity removal and biodegradability. However, the coupled process with HA-2 did not significantly affect the "indirect estrogenic activity" of CGW. A Pearson correlation analysis indicated that spectral indicators, such as UV₂₅₄ and Φ_T,n, presented a high positive correlation with the reduction of acute toxicity and organics.

Degradation of high-concentration p-nitrophenol by Fenton oxidation

This work aimed to degrade high-concentration p-nitrophenol (PNP) by Fenton oxidation. We studied various reaction parameters during Fenton oxidation, such as the iron dosage (as Fe²⁺), the initial concentration and temperature of PNP, and the dosage of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), especially the influence of temperature on the PNP degradation rate and degree. Under the addition of the same molar ratio of H₂O₂/Fe²⁺ and H₂O₂ dosage according to the theoretical stoichiometry, the PNP degradation rate and the removal rate of total organic carbon (TOC) increased significantly with the increase in the initial PNP concentration. Moreover, the oxidative degradation effect was significantly affected by temperature. The increased reaction temperature not only significantly reduced the Fe²⁺ dosage, but also greatly promoted the removal rate of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and TOC, and improved the utilization efficiency of H₂O₂. For example, when the initial concentration of PNP was 4,000 mg·L^-1, and the dosage of Fe²⁺ was 109 mg·L^-1 (H₂O₂/Fe²⁺ = 200), the removal rates of COD and TOC at 85 °C reached 95% and 71% respectively. Both were higher than the 93% COD removal rate and 44% TOC removal rate when the dosage of Fe²⁺ was 1,092 mg·L^-1 (H₂O₂/Fe²⁺ = 20) at room temperature.

Coagulation-flocculation and moving bed biofilm reactor as pre-treatment for water recycling in the petrochemical industry

Water recycling and reuse is of important value in water-using sectors like petrochemical industry. The aim of this research was to optimise the pre-treatment of petrochemical wastewater to undergo a further membrane treatment, with the final objective of water recycling within the same industry. Laboratory coagulation-flocculation tests prior to biological treatment were performed using Actiflo® Veolia commercial technology and an optimal coagulant dose of 30 mg/L ferric chloride was obtained. A bench-scale Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR) system with two sequential reactors with working volumes of 5 L was filled with Z-carriers at 35% of their working volume. Organic loading rate (OLR) was varied from 0.2 to 3.25 kg/(m³ d) and the hydraulic retention time (HRT) ranged from 23.4 h to 4.5 h. High soluble chemical oxygen demand (sCOD) removals were obtained in stationary states (80-90%) and the calculated maximum sCOD that the system could degrade was 4.96 ± 0.01 kg/(m³ d) at 23 ± 2 °C. Changes in feed composition did not decrease sCOD removals showing that MBBR is a robust technology and the coagulation-flocculation step could be by-passed. Further removal of total suspended solids (TSS) and turbidity from the MBBR effluent would be required before a reverse osmosis (RO) step could be performed. A biofilm-forming genus, Haliscomenobacter spp., and an oil degrading genus Flavobacterium spp. were found in all the attached biomass samples. Acinetobacter spp. was the major bacterial genera found in suspended biomass. Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes were the major phyla detected in the carrier samples while Proteobacteria the main one detected in the suspended biomass. The lack of fungal annotated sequences in databases led to a major proportion of fungal sequences being categorized as unclassified Fungi. The results obtained indicate that MBBR is an appropriate technology for hydrocarbon-degrading microorganism growth and, thus, for petrochemical wastewater pre-treatment for water regeneration.

Ozonation reactivity characteristics of dissolved organic matter in secondary petrochemical wastewater by single ozone, ozone/H2O2, and ozone/catalyst

Advanced oxidation methods (e.g., ozonation systems) are used for control of recalcitrant pollutants in secondary petrochemical wastewater. For the selection of the optimal wastewater treatment method, we compared the reactivity characteristics of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in three common ozone treatment processes: single ozone, ozone/H₂O₂, and ozone/catalyst. The raw and ozonated DOM were fractionated into six fractions using ion exchange resins. Fluorescence spectroscopy and size exclusion chromatography were employed to characterize the fractions. The results showed that the single ozone system transformed hydrophobic components into hydrophilic components, but exhibited low mineralization ability. By contrast, the increase in hydrophilic acid fractions transformed from other fractions in the ozonation process were further mineralized in the ozone/H₂O₂ and ozone/catalyst systems. Ozone/H₂O₂ preferentially reduced hydrophobic bases, whereas ozone/catalyst preferentially reduced hydrophilic neutral components. However, ozone/H₂O₂ exhibited low selectivity in degrading organic compounds of different molecular weights. The highest total organic carbon (TOC) removal efficiency was achieved in the ozone/catalyst system, which promoted the transformation from fulvic acid- and humic acid-like substances into aromatic proteins and soluble microbial by-product-like substances. The single ozone system transformed high-molecular-weight compounds into low-molecular-weight compounds, resulting in an unsatisfactory TOC removal efficiency. By contrast, the ozone/catalyst system selectively removed the residual low-molecular-weight compounds in the reaction with ozone. This might have contributed to the high TOC removal efficiency of the ozone/catalyst treatment. These results can be used by other researchers and engineers to inform the selection of optimal ozone treatment based on wastewater characteristics.

Pilot-scale in situ treatment of landfill leachate using combined coagulation-flocculation, hydrolysis acidification, SBR and electro-Fenton oxidation

The treatment of a landfill leachate was developed at the pilot scale using a combination of processes, including coagulation, hydrolysis acidification (HA)-sequence batch reactors (SBR) and electro-Fenton oxidation in series. The aim was to enhance the removal of pollutants in the landfill leachate, which contained high organic and NH₃-N loadings. During the 156-day in situ operation, the average removal efficiency of the chemical oxygen demand (COD) was 97.8% and the lowest effluent COD was 78 mg/L. The removal efficiencies of colour, turbidity and total phosphorus were all higher than 97%. The overall operating cost was US$ 4.84/m³. This combined process showed a high potential to efficiently remediate landfill leachate at an acceptable expense.

Transformation of dissolved organic matter during full-scale treatment of integrated chemical wastewater: Molecular composition correlated with spectral indexes and acute toxicity

As one of the key economic modes in China, chemical industry park (CIP) has made great contribution to the Chinese rapid economic growth. Concomitantly, how to effectively and safely dispose of the CIP wastewater (CIPWW) has been an unavoidable issue. Molecular transformation of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in CIPWW treatment is essential to optimize the employed process and to provide solid basis for risk evaluation of the discharged effluent as well. In this study, electrospray ionization coupled with Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (ESI-FT-ICR-MS) was used to characterize the molecular transformation of DOM during full-scale treatment of integrated chemical wastewater in a centralized wastewater treatment plant (CWWTP), where the combined process follows hydrolysis/acidification (HA)-flocculation/precipitation (FP)-A²/O-membrane bioreactor (MBR)-ultrafiltration (UF)-reverse osmosis (RO). Compared to municipal wastewater, DOM in CIPWW exhibited higher unsaturation degree, lower molecular weight, and higher toxicity. In FP unit, DOM of C_<24 and higher nominal oxidation state of carbon (NOSC) values was preferentially removed. The HA and anaerobic units are capable of significantly degrading DOM, resulting in great changes in molecular composition of DOM. However, the anoxic, oxic, and MBR units only lead to a slight change of the molecular formulae. The terminal units of UF and RO can remove most DOM, with the concentration of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) declining by 19.2% and 94.6% respectively. The correlation between spectral indexes and acute toxicity with the molecular formulae of DOM suggested that polyphenols and highly unsaturated phenols were positively correlated with the specific UV absorbance at 254 nm (SUVA₂₅₄). In addition, both compounds (0.32 < O/C < 0.63) as well as the aliphatic ones (0.22 < O/C < 0.56) presented positive correlation with acute toxicity. Further, the pairwise correlation analysis illustrated that SUVA₂₅₄, O/C_wa, double bond equivalence (DBE_wa), and NOSC_wa were positively correlated with each other, whereas the acute toxicity was positively correlated with humification index (HIX), O/C_wa, and DBE_wa.

Effect of influent pH on hydrolytic acidification performance and bacterial community structure in EGSB for pretreating crotonaldehyde manufacture wastewater after ozonation

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of influent pH on the hydrolytic acidification (HA) performance and microbial community structure in an expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) pretreating crotonaldehyde manufacture wastewater (CMW) after ozonation. The results showed that higher chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal rate (40.1%) and acidification degree (27.6%) were obtained at pH 8.0 than those at pH 6.0 and pH 4.0. The concentration of extractable extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) in the sludge gradually decreased with the pH decreasing from 8.0 to 4.0. A similar change was also observed for the concentration of total volatile fatty acids (TVFA) in the effluent. The optimal detoxification efficiency by the HA process was obtained at pH 8.0, with higher removal efficiency (all higher than 90%) of the main toxic pollutants (crotonaldehyde, 5-formyl-6-methyl-4,5-dihydropyran, etc.) and higher anaerobic biodegradation rate (44.5%) in biochemical methane potential (BMP) assay. Among the predominant genera, the Acinetobacter and Pseudomonas were possibly related to biodegradation of pollutants, since their higher relative abundance also coincided with the better performance of the HA process at pH 8.0.

Rapid removal of ultra-high-concentration p-nitrophenol in aqueous solution by microwave-enhanced Fe/Cu bimetallic particle (MW-Fe/Cu) system

Ultra-high-concentration PNP-contained wastewaters are produced sometimes due to the wide application of this nitrophenolic compound in the chemical industry. However, there is a lack of appropriate technologies to rapidly pretreat the ultra-high-concentration wastewater. Therefore, a new microwave-enhanced Fe/Cu bimetallic particles (MW-Fe/Cu) system was developed to rapidly remove ultra-high-concentration PNP. First, the priority of the determinative parameters was obtained by orthogonal experiment. Based on this result, the effects of initial pH, microwave power, Fe/Cu dosage and initial PNP concentration on PNP removal were optimized thoroughly. Under the optimal conditions (i.e. initial pH = 1.0, MW power = 385 W, Fe/Cu dosage = 30 g/L and initial PNP concentration = 4000 mg/L), four control treatment systems (i.e. MW-Fe⁰, heating-Fe/Cu, MW alone and Fe/Cu alone system) were set up to compare with the MW-Fe/Cu system. The results suggest that high PNP removal (more than 99% with 2.5 min, k₁/k₂ = 1.18/6.91 min^-1) and COD removal (26.6% with 5 min treatment) could be obtained by the MW-Fe/Cu system, which were much superior to those obtained using the MW-Fe⁰ (k₁/k₂ = 0.62/2.21 min^-1) and the heating-Fe/Cu system (k₁/k₂ = 0.53/1.52 min^-1). Finally, the determination of the intermediates of PNP degradation by HPLC indicated that the MW assistance process did not change the degradation pathway of PNP. This concludes that the new MW-Fe/Cu system was the promising technology for pretreatment of wastewater containing ultra-high-concentration toxic and refractory pollutants at a fairly short treatment time.

Upgrading the Chinese biggest petrochemical wastewater treatment plant: Technologies research and full scale application

The components of petrochemical wastewater (PCWW) are very complex and it is one of the most important sources of organic micropollutants (OMPs) in water bodies. To improve the effluent qualities of PCWW, the Chinese government has promulgated a new Emission Standard of Pollutants for Petroleum Chemistry Industry. More than 60 types of OMPs, most of which are toxic organics, are added and strictly limited in the standard. Based on the bench- and pilot-scale experiments, a pretreatment (microaerobic hydrolysis and acidification, MOHA), biological (anoxic/oxic process, A/O) and advanced treatment (micro-flocculation dynasand filtration and catalytic ozonation, MFDF-CO) integrated process is proposed. The full-scale application in the Chinese biggest petrochemical wastewater treatment plant has demonstrated that the performance of the integrated process is stable and it can significantly improve the effluent qualities. The effluent COD decreased from 84.7 to 47.0mg/L and most of the OMPs were removed. The EC₅₀ of the effluent for luminescent bacteria assay, algal growth inhibition, Daphnia magna inhibition test and zebrafish eggs test are all higher than 100% and the induction rate (I_R) for genotoxicity is only 0.76. The energy demand, however, with the electricity consumption increase by 44.1%, is very high for OMPs removal, leading to high indirect carbon emission.

Improved biodegradability of hardly-decomposable wastewaters from petrochemical industry through photo-Fenton method and determination of optimum operational conditions by response surface methodology

BACKGROUND

Petrochemical wastewaters are highly polluting due to having various destructive materials such as aromatic hydrocarbons and heavy metal ions. Therefore, they need to be treated before disposal to the environment. However, due to low biodegradability, applying common treatment methods such as activated sludge is not feasible for these wastewaters.

METHODS

Photo-Fenton is an advanced oxidation process which was applied to promote the biodegradability of hardly-decomposable petrochemical wastewaters. The wastewater samples were provided by Maroon and Karoon petrochemical plants, located in Mahshahr, Iran. To design the experiments and analyze the experimental results, response surface method with four variables (input COD and TDS concentrations and injected a dosage of H2O2 and Fe2+) and four fixed parameters (temperature, pH, retention time, and UV power) were used.

RESULTS

The ranges of input COD, H2O2, Fe2+ and TDS were 1000 to 2500 mg L- 1, 1000 to 4000 mg L- 1, 500 to 3000 mg L- 1, and 4500 to 11,500 mg L- 1, respectively. Average input BOD5/COD ratio was 0.09. These ranges and values were determined according to the quality of the raw wastewater and experimental design. Output BOD5/COD ratio was varying between 0.3 and 0.6, which declined with an increase of input COD. The results showed that the biodegradability of the industrial wastewater was promoted upon application of higher H2O2 and Fe2+ concentrations. Meanwhile, TDS concentration had no significant effect on biodegradability of this wastewater. The following optimum conditions were resulted by evaluating the maximum efficiency of the reactor in enhancing the biodegradability of the wastewater: 1000 mg L- 1 input COD, 2668 mg L- 1 H2O2, 1655 mg L- 1 Fe2+, 8000 mg L- 1 TDS, 0.6 output BOD5/COD, 852 mg L- 1 output BOD5 and 939 mg L- 1 output COD.

CONCLUSION

Photo-Fenton method is highly efficient for increasing the biodegradability of petrochemical wastewaters before applying biological wastewater treatment.

The effect of toxic carbon source on the reaction of activated sludge in the batch reactor

The toxic carbon source can cause higher residual effluent dissolved organic carbon than easily biodegraded carbon source in activated sludge process. In this study, an integrated activated sludge model is developed as the tool to understand the mechanism of toxic carbon source (phenol) on the reaction, regarding the carbon flows during the aeration period in the batch reactor. To estimate the toxic function of phenol, the microbial cells death rate (k_death) is introduced into the model. The integrated model was calibrated and validated by the experimental data and it was found the model simulations matched the all experimental measurements. In the steady state, the toxicity of phenol can result in higher microbial cells death rate (0.1637 h^-1 vs 0.0028 h^-1) and decay rate coefficient of biomass (0.0115 h^-1 vs 0.0107 h^-1) than acetate. In addition, the utilization-associated products (UAP) and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) formation coefficients of phenol are higher than that of acetate, indicating that more carbon flows into the extracellular components, such as soluble microbial products (SMP), when degrading toxic organics. In the non-steady state of feeding phenol, the yield coefficient for growth and maximum specific growth rate are very low in the first few days (1-10 d), while the decay rate coefficient of biomass and microbial cells death rate are relatively high. The model provides insights into the difference of the dynamic reaction with different carbon sources in the batch reactor.

Effects of salinity, C/S ratio, S/N ratio on the BESI process, and treatment of nanofiltration concentrate

A laboratory-scale biodegradation and electron transfer based on the sulfur metabolism in the integrated (BESI^®) process was used to treat a saline petrochemical nanofiltration concentrate (NFC). The integrated process consisted of activated sludge sulfate reduction (SR), and sulfide oxidation (SO) reactors, and a biofilm nitrification reactor. During the process, the total removal efficiencies of chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia nitrogen, and total nitrogen (TN) were 76.2, 83.8, and 73.1%, respectively. In the SR reactor, most of the organic degradation occurred and approximately 70% COD were removed by the sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB). In the SO reactor, both the autotrophic and heterotrophic denitrifications were observed to take place. In parallel, batch experiments were conducted to detect the effects of different C/S and S/N ratios on COD removal and denitrification efficiency. The batch experiments were also conducted to detect the effects of salinity on COD and sulfate reduction. The composition of pollutants in the wastewater was complex, and some existing organics were not degraded by the SRB. The non-SRB groups also played important roles in the reactor. Under salinity-induced stress, the metabolisms of the SRBs and non-SRB groups were both inhibited. However, 6 g/L NaCl did not have much effect on the final COD removal efficiency. In the batch experiments, the added sulfide served as the electron donor for autotrophic denitrification. The added organics provided substance for heterotrophic denitrification.

Simultaneous removal of Cr(VI) and phenol contaminants using Z-scheme bismuth oxyiodide/reduced graphene oxide/bismuth sulfide system under visible-light irradiation

An all-solid-state Z-scheme system containing Bi-based semiconductors bismuth oxyiodide (BiOI) and bismuth sulfide (Bi₂S₃) was constructed on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) sheets through an electrostatic self-assembly method to simultaneously remove aqueous Cr(VI) and phenol. In this Z-scheme that mimicked natural photosynthesis, photoinduced electrons in the conduction band (CB) of BiOI were transferred through rGO and reacted with photoinduced holes in the valence band (VB) of Bi₂S₃, which significantly increased its photocatalytic activity. The reduction and oxidation reactions were performed on Bi₂S₃ and BiOI photocatalysts, respectively. Furthermore, complex contaminants of coexisting heavy metal Cr(VI) and organic phenol were treated using the system under visible-light irradiation. Results showed that Cr(VI) reduction and phenol oxidation were achieved efficiently with optimum reductive and oxidative efficiencies up to 73% and 95% under visible-light irradiation, respectively. This work provided a promising method of simultaneously removing heavy metals and organic pollutants by using a Z-scheme system with enhanced photocatalytic activity.

Influence of organic load rate (OLR) on the hydrolytic acidification of 2-butenal manufacture wastewater and analysis of bacterial community structure

The influence of organic loading rate (OLR) on the performance of hydrolytic acidification process for treating 2-butenal manufacture wastewater was comprehensively studied, while its impact on microbial community was thoroughly investigated. The results demonstrated that over 21.0% of the average COD removal rate was observed in the range of OLR from 0.52 to 3.98g COD/L·d, whereas it reduced to 15.3% with increasing OLR to 6.09g COD/L·d. The acidification degree dramatically decreased from 17.1% to 4.7% when OLR increased from 3.98 to 6.09g COD/L·d. In addition, the removal rates of three kinds of typical matters were less than 65% at the OLR 6.09g COD/L·d. Illumina MiSeq sequencing revealed that Proteobacteria, Chloroflexi, Firmicutes, and Bacteroidetes were dominant phyla at different OLRs. Finally, multivariate analysis suggested that the genera Longilinea and T78 had a positive correlation with the degradation of three kinds of typical matters and COD removal rates.

Advanced treatment of petrochemical secondary effluent by Fenton: performance and organics removal characteristics

The Fenton process was used to treat petrochemical secondary effluent. The effects of initial pH, H₂O₂, and FeSO₄·7H₂O dosages on chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal, the dissolved organic matter (DOM) removal and the transformation and migration of typical organic matters during the treatment process were investigated. The results showed that the optimum conditions were initial pH of 3.0, H₂O₂ (30%) dosage of 0.4 mL/L, and FeSO₄·7H₂O dosage of 1.0 g/L. The highest COD removal efficiency of 61.9% could be achieved for this condition when the average influent COD was 78.5 mg/L. Most of the DOM in the petrochemical wastewater could be removed effectively by Fenton through direct oxidation and coagulation. For example, for trans-1,2-dichlorocyclopentane, results showed that 56.3% of it could be removed by Fenton oxidation, while 13.3% of it could be absorbed by the in situ generated Fenton chemical sludge. The Fenton process is simple and it is suitable for the advanced treatment of petrochemical secondary effluent.

Innovative combination of Fe2+-BAF and ozonation for enhancing phosphorus and organic micropollutants removal treating petrochemical secondary effluent

Two sets of BAF - ozonation systems, with (System-A) and without (System-B) Fe²⁺ dosing into BAF, were used for organic micropollutants (OMPs) and phosphorus removal in the advanced treatment of petrochemical secondary effluent. Pilot scale study showed that when the influent COD, TP and TSS were 73.0, 1.40 and 24.6mgL^-1, the effluent COD, TP and TSS were 48.9, 0.32, 7.78mgL^-1 for System-A with the ozone and Fe²⁺ dosage of 25mgL^-1 and 0.08mmolL^-1, and 60.2, 1.16, 6.44mgL^-1 for System-B with the ozone dosage of 25mgL^-1. The dosage of Fe²⁺ into the BAF significantly enhanced the TP and OMPs removal ability. Exactly, the residual Fe²⁺ in the BAF-A effluent stimulated the catalytic ozonation in the following ozone unit. Therefore, the OMPs removal in System-A was obviously better than that in System-B. The dosage of Fe²⁺ from 0.02 to 0.10mmolL^-1 had slight adverse effect on the biofilm activity in BAF. Based on the TP and OMPs removal ability, the System-B is selected as a proposed process for the advanced treatment of petrochemical secondary effluent.

Removal characteristics of DON in pharmaceutical wastewater and its influence on the N-nitrosodimethylamine formation potential and acute toxicity of DOM

Previous research has focused on dissolved organic carbon (DOC) as a surrogate for dissolved organic matter (DOM) in pharmaceutical wastewater. Dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) as a part of DOM has received little attention. This study investigated the removal characteristics of DON and its influence on the N-nitrosodimethylamine formation potential (NDMA FP) and acute toxicity of DOM in a full-scale hydrolysis/acidification + anaerobic/anoxic/aerobic + moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) process treating pharmaceutical wastewater. Results showed that maximum removal of DON (68 ± 12%) was present in the anaerobic process. The removal of DON by anoxic and aerobic processes was negligible as a result of the production of new N-containing compounds that are characteristic of proteins/amino sugars and lipids. DON concentration decreased significantly in the MBBR process (p < 0.05, t-test), indicating that manipulation of the solids retention times (SRTs) could be a solution to minimize DON. Based on the Pearson correlation analysis, the behavior of NDMA FP and DOM acute toxicity was significantly associated with the 3 kDa < MW < 10 kDa (r = 0.709, p < 0.05) and MW < 3 kDa DON (r = 0.659, p < 0.05), respectively, and are not identical to that of DOC fractions (r = 0.037-0.466, p = 0.051-0.886). Moreover, the removal and molecular changes of DON are not coupled with that of DOC during biotreatment. Thus, testing the performance indicator of DON in pharmaceutical wastewater was recommended, as it provides important information for DOM removal characteristics.