Plant-wide model-based analysis of iron dosage strategies for chemical phosphorus removal in wastewater treatment systems

Digitalization of phosphorous removal process in biological wastewater treatment systems: Challenges, and way forward

Phosphorus in wastewater poses a significant environmental threat, leading to water pollution and eutrophication. However, it plays a crucial role in the water-energy-resource recovery-environment (WERE) nexus. Recovering Phosphorus from wastewater can close the phosphorus loop, supporting circular economy principles by reusing it as fertilizer or in industrial applications. Despite the recognized importance of phosphorus recovery, there is a lack of analysis of the cyber-physical framework concerning the WERE nexus. Advanced methods like automatic control, optimal process technologies, artificial intelligence (AI), and life cycle assessment (LCA) have emerged to enhance wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) operations focusing on improving effluent quality, energy efficiency, resource recovery, and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Providing insights into implementing modeling and simulation platforms, control, and optimization systems for Phosphorus recovery in WERE (P-WERE) in WWTPs is extremely important in WWTPs. This review highlights the valuable applications of AI algorithms, such as machine learning, deep learning, and explainable AI, for predicting phosphorus (P) dynamics in WWTPs. It emphasizes the importance of using AI to analyze microbial communities and optimize WWTPs for different various objectives. Additionally, it discusses the benefits of integrating mechanistic and data-driven models into plant-wide frameworks, which can enhance GHG simulation and enable simultaneous nitrogen (N) and Phosphorus (P) removal. The review underscores the significance of prioritizing recovery actions to redirect Phosphorus from effluent to reusable products for future considerations.

Programable sewage-cleaning technology: Regenerating chitosan biofilms with anti-bacterial capacity via self-purification of water pollutants

In this paper, a novel programable sewage-cleaning technology for the regeneration of antibacterial nanocomposites via the removal of wastewater pollutants is presented. Montmorillonite (MMT) was encapsulated in poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)-enhanced chitosan (CTS) hydrogels to form MMT-loaded nanocomposite biofilms (PCM). The PCM nanocomposite biofilms exhibited increased breaking strength and elongation at break, by factors of approximately 1.38 and 1.40, respectively, compared with those of the pure PVA/CTS biofilms. The maximum adsorption capacity of the PCM nanocomposite biofilms toward tetracycline and Ag(I) is 275.0 and 567.0 mg/g, respectively. The adsorbed nanocomposite biofilms exhibited excellent antibacterial properties against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Meanwhile, the nanocomposite also showed an effective adsorption capacity toward other toxic components, where the highest adsorption capacity is 2748.0 mg/g (for methyl blue). The simulation results indicated that the adsorption behaviors of the malachite green, neutral red, methyl blue, tetracycline, Cu(II), Zn(II), and Ag(I) by the PCM nanocomposite biofilms followed pseudo-second-order kinetic and Freundlich isotherm models. Furthermore, the PCM nanocomposite biofilms are stable in PBS solution but degradable in lysozyme-containing PBS solution, suggesting their potential application in the wastewater treatment as well as antibacterial fields.

Monodispersed and Organic Amine Modified La(OH)3 Nanocrystals for Superior Advanced Phosphate Removal

Advanced phosphate removal is critical for alleviating the serious and widespread aquatic eutrophication, strongly depending on the development of superior adsorption materials to overcome low chemical affinity and sluggish mass transfer at low phosphate concentrations. Herein, the first synthesis of monodispersed and organic amine modified lanthanum hydroxide nanocrystals (OA-La(OH)3) for advanced phosphate removal by modulating inner Helmholtz plane (IHP), is reported. These OA-La(OH)3 nanocrystals with positively charged surfaces and abundant exposed La sites exhibit specific affinity toward phosphate, delivering a maximum adsorption capacity of 168 mg P g⁻1 and a wide pH adaptability from 3.0 to 11.0, as well as a robust anti-interference performance, far surpassing those of documented phosphate removal materials. The superior phosphate removal performance of OA-La(OH)3 is attributed to its protonated organic amine in IHP, which enhances the electrostatic attraction around the adsorbent-solution interface. Impressively, OA-La(OH)3 can treat ≈5 000 and ≈3 200 bed volumes of simulated and real phosphate-containing wastewater to below extremely strict standard (0.1 mg L⁻1) in a fixed-bed adsorption mode, exhibiting great potential for advanced phosphate removal. This study offers a facile modification strategy to improve phosphate removal performance of nanoscale adsorbents, and sheds light on the structure-reactivity relationship of La-based materials.

Temperature-resilient superior performances by coupling partial nitritation/anammox and iron-based denitrification with granular formation

Partial nitritation-anammox (PN/A), an energy-neutral process, is widely employed in the treatment of nitrogen-rich wastewater. However, the intrinsic nitrate accumulation limits the total nitrogen (TN) removal, and the practical application of PN/A continues to face a significant challenge at low temperatures (<15 °C). Here, an integrated partial nitritation-anammox and iron-based denitrification (PNAID) system was developed to address the concern. Two up-flow bioreactors were set up and operated for 400 days, with one as the control group and the other as the experiment group with the addition of Fe0. In comparison to the control group, the experiment group with the Fe0 supplement showed better nitrogen removal during the entire course of the experiment at different temperature levels. Specifically, the TN removal efficiency of the control group decreased from 82.9 % to 53.9 % when the temperature decreased from 30 to 12 °C, while in stark contrast, the experiment group consistently achieved 80 % of TN removal in the same condition. Apart from the enhanced nitrogen removal, the experiment group also exhibited better phosphorus removal (10.6 % versus 74.1 %) and organics removal (49.5 % versus 65.1 %). The enhanced and resilient nutrient removal performance of the proposed integrated process under low temperatures appeared to be attributed to the compact structure of granules and the increased microbial metabolism with Fe0 supplement, elucidated by a comprehensive analysis including microbial-specific activity, apparent activation energy, characteristics of granular sludge, and metagenomic sequencing. These results clearly confirmed that Fe0 supplement not only improved nitrogen removal of PN/A process, but also conferred a certain degree of robustness to the system in the face of temperature fluctuations.

Machine learning facilitated the conceptual design of an alum dosing system for phosphorus removal in a wastewater treatment plant

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) face challenges in controlling total phosphorus (TP), given more stringent regulations on TP discharging. In particular, WWTPs that operate at a small scale lack resources for real-time monitoring of effluent quality. This study aimed to develop a conceptual alum dosing system for reducing TP concentration, leveraging machine learning (ML) techniques and data from a full-scale WWTP containing incomplete TP information. The proposed system comprises two ML models in series: an Alert model based on LightGBM with an accuracy of 0.92, and a Dosage model employing a voting algorithm through combining three ML algorithms (LightGBM, SGD, and SVC) with an accuracy of 0.76. The proposed system has demonstrated the potential to ensure that 88.1% of the effluent remains below the TP discharge limit, which outperforms traditional dosing methods and could reduce overdosing from 61.3 to 12.1%. Furthermore, the SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) analysis revealed that incorporating the output features from the previous cycle and utilizing the results of the Alert model as the input features for dosage prediction could be an effective method for data with limited information. The findings of this study have practical applications in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of TP control in small-scale WWTPs, providing a valuable solution for complying with stringent regulations and enhancing environmental sustainability.

Simultaneous removal of nitrate nitrogen and orthophosphate by electroreduction and electrochemical precipitation

Electrochemical methods can effectively remove nitrate nitrogen (NO3-N) and orthophosphate phosphorus (PO4-P) from wastewater. This work proposed a process for the simultaneous removal of NO3-N and PO4-P by combining electroreduction with electrochemically-induced calcium phosphate precipitation, and its performance and mechanisms were studied. For the treatment of 100 mg L-1 NO3-N and 5 mg L-1 PO4-P, NO3-N removal of 60-90% (per cathode area: 0.25-0.38 mg h-1 cm-2) and 80-90% (per cathode area: 0.33-0.38 mg h-1 cm-2) could be acquired within 3 h in single-chamber cell (SCC) and dual-chamber cell (DCC), while P removal was 80-98% (per cathode area: 0.10-0.12 mg h-1 cm-2) in SCC after 30 min and 98% (per cathode area: 0.37 mg h-1 cm-2) in DCC within 10 min. The faster P removal in DCC was due to the higher pH and more abundant Ca2+ in the cathode chamber of DCC, which was caused by the cation exchange membrane (CEM). Interestingly, NO3-N reduction enhanced P removal because more OH- can be produced by nitrate reduction than hydrogen evolution for an equal-charge reaction. For 10 mg L-1 PO4-P in SCC, when the initial NO3-N was 0, 20, 100, and 500 mg L-1, the P removal efficiencies after 1 h treatment were < 10%, 45-55%, 86-99%, and above 98% respectively. An increase in Ca2+ concentration also promoted P removal. However, Ca and P inhibited nitrate reduction in SCC at the relatively low initial Ca/P, as CaP on the cathode limited the charge or mass transfer process. The removal efficiency of NO3-N in SCC after 3 h reaction can reduce by about 17%, 40%, and 34% for Co3O4/Ti, Co/Ti, and TiO2/Ti. The degree of inhibition of P on NO3-N removal was related to the content and composition of CaP deposited on the cathode. On the cathode, the lower the deposited Ca and P, and the higher the deposited Ca/P molar ratio, the weaker the inhibition of P on NO3-N removal. Especially, P had little or even no inhibition on nitrate reduction when treated in DCC instead of SCC or under high initial Ca/P. It is speculated that under these conditions, a high local pH and local high concentration Ca2+ layer near the cathode led to a decrease in CaP deposition and an increase in Ca/P molar ratio on the cathode. High initial concentrations of NO3-N might also be beneficial in reducing the inhibition of P on nitrate reduction, as few CaP with high Ca/P molar ratios were deposited on the cathode. The evaluation of the real wastewater treatment was also conducted.

Biochar-integrated reactive filtration of wastewater for P removal and recovery, micropollutant catalytic oxidation, and negative CO2 e: Life cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis

Life cycle assessment (LCA) and techno-economic analysis (TEA) models are developed for a tertiary wastewater treatment system that employs a biochar-integrated reactive filtration (RF) approach. This innovative system incorporates the utilization of biochar (BC) either in conjunction with or independently of iron-ozone catalytic oxidation (CatOx)-resulting in two configurations: Fe-CatOx-BC-RF and BC-RF. The technology demonstrates 90%-99% total phosphorus removals, adsorption of phosphorus to biochar for recovery, and >90% destructive removal of observed micropollutants. In this work, we conduct an ISO-compliant LCA of a 49.2 m3 /day (9 gpm) field pilot-scale Fe-CatOx-BC-RF system and a 1130 m3 /day (0.3 MGD) water resource recovery facility (WRRF)-installed RF system, modeled with BC addition at the same rate of 0.45 g/L to quantify their environmental impacts. LCA results indicated that the Fe-CatOx-BC-RF pilot system is a BC dose-dependent carbon-negative technology at -1.21 kg CO2 e/m3 , where biochar addition constitutes a -1.53 kg/m3 CO2 e beneficial impact to the process. For the WRRF-installed RF system, modeled with the same rate of BC addition, the overall process changed from 0.02 kg CO2 e/m3 to a carbon negative -1.41 kg CO2 e/m3 , demonstrating potential as a biochar dose-dependent negative emissions technology. Using the C100 100-year carbon accounting approach rather than Cnet reduces these CO2 e metrics for the process by about 25%. A stochastic TEA for the cost of water treatment using this combinatorial P removal/recovery, micropollutant destructive removal, and disinfection advanced technology shows that at scale, the mean cost for treating 1130 m3 /day (0.3 MGD) WRRF secondary influent water with Fe-CatOx-BC-RF using the C100 metric is US$0.18 ± US$0.01/m3 to achieve overall process carbon neutrality. Using the same BC dose in an estimation of a 3780 m3 /day (1 MGD) Fe-CatOx-BC-RF facility, the carbon neutral cost of treatment is reduced further to US$0.08 ± $0.01 with added BC accounting for US$0.03/m3 . Overall, the results demonstrate the potential of carbon negativity to become a water treatment performance standard as important and attainable as pollutant and pathogen removal. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Life cycle assessment (LCA) of a pilot scale tertiary biochar water treatment process with or without catalytic ozonation at a WRRF shows a carbon negative global warming potential of -1.21-kg CO2e/m3 while removing 90%-99% TP and >90% of detected micropollutants. Biochar-integrated reactive filtration use can aid in long-term carbon sequestration by reducing the carbon footprint of advanced water treatment in a dose-dependent manner, allowing an overall carbon-neutral or carbon-negative process. A companion paper to this work (Yu et al., 2023) presents the details related to the process operation and mechanism and evaluates the pollutant removal performance of this Fe-CatOx-BC-RF process in engineering laboratory pilot research and field WRRF pilot-scale water resource recovery trials. Techno-economic analysis (TEA) of this biochar catalytic oxidation reactive filtration process using Monte Carlo stochastic modeling shows a forecasted carbon-neutral process cost with low P and micropollutant removal as US$0.11/m3 ± 0.01 for a 3780-m3/day (1 MGD) scale installation with BC cost at US$0.03/m3 of that total. The results demonstrate the potential of carbon negativity to become a water treatmentperformance standard as important and attainable as pollutant and pathogen removal.

A review of iron use and recycling in municipal wastewater treatment plants and a novel applicable integrated process

Chemical methods are expected to play an increasingly important role in carbon-neutral municipal wastewater treatment plants. This paper briefly summarises the enhancement effects of using iron salts in wastewater and sludge treatment processes. The costs and environmental concerns associated with the widespread use of iron salts have also been highlighted. Fortunately, the iron recovery from iron-rich sludge provides an opportunity to solve these problems. Existing iron recovery methods, including direct acidification and thermal treatment, are summarised and show that acidification treatment of FeS digestate from the anaerobic digestion-sulfate reduction process can increase the iron and sulphur recycling efficiency. Therefore, a novel applicable integrated process based on iron use and recycling is proposed, and it reduces the iron salts dosage to 4.2 mg/L and sludge amount by 80%. Current experimental research and economic analysis of iron recycling show that this process has broad application prospects in resource recovery and sludge reduction.

Dynamic modelling the effects of ionic strength and ion complexation on trace metal speciation during anaerobic digestion

Dosing trace metals into anaerobic digestors is proven to improve biogas production rate and yield by stimulating microorganisms involved in the metabolic pathways. Trace metal effects are governed by metal speciation and bioavailability. Though chemical equilibrium speciation models are well-established and widely used to understand metal speciation, the development of kinetic models considering biological and physicochemical processes has recently gained attention. This work proposes a dynamic model for metal speciation during anaerobic digestion which is based on a system of ordinary differential equations aimed to describe the kinetics of biological, precipitation/dissolution, gas transfer processes and, a system of algebraic equations to define fast ion complexation processes. The model also considers ion activity corrections to define effects of ionic strength. Results from this study shows the inaccuracy in predicting trace metal effects on anaerobic digestion by typical metal speciation models and the significance of considering non-ideal aqueous phase chemistry (ionic strength and ion pairing/complexation) to define speciation and metal labile fractions. Model results show a decrease in metal precipitation and increase in metal dissolved fraction and methane production yield with increase in ionic strength. Capability of the model to dynamically predict trace metal effects on anaerobic digestion under different conditions, like changing dosing conditions and initial iron to sulphide ratio, was also tested and verified. Dosing iron increases methane production and decreases hydrogen sulphide production. However, when iron to sulphide ratio is greater than 1, methane production decreases due to increase in dissolved iron which reaches inhibitory concentration levels.

Novel Use of a Ferric Salt to Enhance Mainstream Nitrogen Removal from Anaerobically Pretreated Wastewater

This study aims to demonstrate a new technology roadmap to support the ongoing paradigm shift in wastewater management from pollutant removal to resource recovery. This is achieved by developing a novel use of an iron salt (i.e., FeCl₃) in an integrated anaerobic wastewater treatment and mainstream anammox process. FeCl₃ was chosen to be dosed in a proposed sidestream unit rather than in a primary settler or a mainstream reactor. This causes acidification of returned activated sludge and enables stable suppression of nitrite-oxidizing bacterial activity and excess sludge reduction. A laboratory-scale system, which comprised an anaerobic baffled reactor, a continuous-flow anoxic-aerobic (A/O) reactor, and a secondary settler, was designed to treat real domestic wastewater, with the performance of the system comprehensively monitored under a steady-state condition. The experimental assessments showed that the system had good effluent quality, with total nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations of 12.6 ± 1.3 mg N/L and 0.34 ± 0.05 mg P/L, respectively. It efficiently retained phosphorus in excess sludge (0.18 ± 0.03 g P/g dry sludge), suggesting its potential for further recovery. About half of influent organic carbon was recovered in the form of bioenergy (i.e., methane). This together with low energy consumption revealed that the system could produce a net energy of about 0.11 kWh/m³-wastewater, assessed by an energy balance analysis.

Label-Free, Reusable, Equipment-Free, and Visual Detection of Hydrogen Sulfide Using a Colorimetric and Fluorescent Dual-Mode Sensing Platform

In this work, we have found for the first time that the fluorescence of rhodamine B (RhB) would be dramatically reduced after it bound to hemin/G-quadruplex and reacted with •OH. Based on this finding, we have designed a colorimetric and fluorescent dual-mode sensing platform for visual detection of hydrogen sulfide (H₂S). The constructed sensor is based on the formation of dsDNA and the G-quadruplex structure by the cytosine-Ag⁺-cytosine mismatch, causing H₂O₂-mediated catalysis to oxidize ABTS or RhB to induce a colorimetric or fluorescent change. In the presence of H₂S, the solution color for colorimetric and fluorescent assays would change from dark green to pink and from green (fluorescence off) to bright yellow (fluorescence on), respectively. This dual-mode assay showed high selectivity toward H₂S over other interference materials with a low measurable detection limit value (below than 2.5 μM), and it has been successfully applied to H₂S visual detection in real samples. Moreover, the dual-mode sensing strategy presented an excellent reutilization character both in colorimetric and fluorescent assays. This method was employed as a label-free, simple, fast, and equipment-free platform for H₂S detection with high selectivity and reusability. This work realized naked-eye detection both in colorimetric and fluorescent analysis at a lower concentration of H₂S, demonstrating a promising strategy for on-site visual detection of H₂S.

Toward Energy Neutrality: Novel Wastewater Treatment Incorporating Acidophilic Ammonia Oxidation

Chemically enhanced primary treatment (CEPT) followed by partial nitritation and anammox (PN/A) and anaerobic digestion (AD) is a promising roadmap to achieve energy-neutral wastewater treatment. However, the acidification of wastewater caused by ferric hydrolysis in CEPT and how to achieve stable suppression of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) in PN/A challenge this paradigm in practice. This study proposes a novel wastewater treatment scheme to overcome these challenges. Results showed that, by dosing FeCl3 at 50 mg Fe/L, the CEPT process removed 61.8% of COD and 90.1% of phosphate and reduced the alkalinity as well. Feeding by low alkalinity wastewater, stable nitrite accumulation was achieved in an aerobic reactor operated at pH 4.35 aided by a novel acid-tolerant ammonium-oxidizing bacteria (AOB), namely, Candidatus Nitrosoglobus. After polishing in a following anoxic reactor (anammox), a satisfactory effluent, containing COD at 41.9 ± 11.2 mg/L, total nitrogen at 5.1 ± 1.8 mg N/L, and phosphate at 0.3 ± 0.2 mg P/L, was achieved. Moreover, the stable performances of this integration were well maintained at an operating temperature of 12 °C, and 10 investigated micropollutants were removed from the wastewater. An energy balance assessment indicated that the integrated system could achieve energy self-sufficiency in domestic wastewater treatment.

Response of sediment microbial communities to different levels of PAC contamination and exposure time

Coagulants such as polyaluminium chloride (PAC) are widely used for removing phosphorus from eutrophic water, but its application for water treatment can potentially harm the environment. In this study, a four-timepoint exposure experiment was performed at week 1, 3, 7 and 10 to investigate how microbial communities in lake sediments respond to different concentrations of PAC (RS (raw lake water with nothing added), Low, Medium and High). The results showed that, while PAC can efficiently decrease the amount of C, N and P in lake water, the presence of residual aluminum and aluminum precipitates can greatly affect the microbial communities in lake sediments. In particular, different concentrations of PAC and exposure time affected the microbial diversity and structure of lake sediments, with changes being especially obvious at high concentration of PAC after 10 weeks of exposure. Moreover, the use of PAC significantly increased the relative abundances of Gammaproteobacteria and Competibacter, while reducing those of Thermodesulfovibrionia, Vicinamibacterales, and BSV26 in time- and concentration-dependent manners. Network analysis further showed strong correlations between differential bacterial species of PAC in high concentration at 10 weeks, which further suggested that PAC treatment changed the complex structure of microbiota in lake sediment. Finally, correlation analysis indicated a close connection between water parameters and differential species induced by PAC treatment. Overall, PAC contamination changed the microbial communities at different taxonomy levels and influenced the functional pathways to potentiate the P removal, and the results offered interesting insights into the use of PAC in water treatment and its impact on biogeochemical cycling. These results indicated that more attention need to be paid to the potential impact of chemical phosphorus removing reagents on the environment, including eutrophic water.

Exploring the stability of an A-stage-EBPR system for simultaneous biological removal of organic matter and phosphorus

This work evaluates the performance and stability of a continuous anaerobic/aerobic A-stage system with integrated enhanced biological phosphorus removal (A-stage-EBPR) under different operational conditions. Dissolved oxygen (DO) in the aerobic reactor was tested in the 0.2-2 mgDO/L range using real wastewater amended with propionic acid, obtaining almost full simultaneous COD and P removal without nitrification in the range 0.5-1 mgDO/L, but failing at 0.2 mgDO/L. Anaerobic purge was tested to evaluate a possible mainstream P-recovery strategy, generating a P-enriched stream containing 22% of influent P. COD and N mass balances indicated that about 43% of the influent COD could be redirected to the anaerobic digestion for methane production and 66% of influent NH₄⁺-N was discharged in the effluent for the following N-removal B-stage. Finally, when the system was switched to glutamate as sole carbon source, successful EBPR activity and COD removal were maintained for two months, but after this period settleability problems appeared with biomass loss. Microbial community analysis indicated that Propionivibrio, Thiothrix and Lewinella were the most abundant species when propionic acid was the carbon source and Propionivibrio was the most favoured with glutamate. Thiothrix, Hydrogenophaga, Dechloromonas and Desulfobacter appeared as the dominant polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (PAOs) under different operation stages.

Modelling the impacts of operational conditions on the performance of a full-scale membrane aerated biofilm reactor

Membrane Aerated Biofilm Reactors (MABR) are gaining more and more acceptance in the plethora of wastewater process intensification technologies. Mathematical modelling has contributed to show their feasibility in terms of reduced energy consumption and footprint. Nevertheless, most simulation studies published until now are still focused on analyzing MABR as single units and not fully integrated within the flow diagram of the water treatment plant (WWTP). In this paper, the prediction capabilities of an integrated modelling approach is tested using full-scale data from Ejby Mølle WWTP+MABR site (Odense, Denmark). Mass balances, data reconciliation methods, process simulation and the different evaluation criteria were used to adjust influent, effluent and process indicators. Results show 10 % mismatch between flow, COD, N and P predictions and measurements in different plant locations. Using the adopted hydraulic retention time (HRT), nitrogen load (NL), membrane surface area (MA) and oxygen transfer rate (OTR), it was possible to predict nitrification rates (NR) within the interquartile range. This has been done under two different MABR operational conditions: with (#S2) and without (#S1) external aeration (EA) in the bulk liquid. The model provides additional process insights about biofilm structure, substrate gradients, weak acid base chemistry and precipitation potential. More specifically, simulations suggest the potential undesirable effects of sulfate (SRB) and iron reducing bacteria (IRB) on both microbial activity and composition of the biofilm. The latter may have a strong impact on ammonium (NH_x), sulfate (SO_x) and ferrous ion (Fe⁺²) conversion processes. The change of operational strategy in the scenario analysis highlights that the denitrifying activity of phosphorus accumulating organisms (PAOs) can enhance nutrient removal in MABR tanks. In addition, it was possible to assess the chance of success (in terms of energetic cost of nitrogen removal) of adding several MABR units in one tank of the WWTP under study before full-scale implementation.

Simultaneous nitrogen and phosphorus removal from municipal wastewater by Fe(III)/Fe(II) cycling mediated partial-denitrification/anammox

The efficient removal of nitrogen and phosphorus remains challenging for traditional wastewater treatment. In this study, the feasibility for enhancing the partial-denitrification and anammox process by Fe (III) reduction coupled to anammox and nitrate-dependent Fe (II) oxidation was explored using municipal wastewater. The nitrogen removal efficiency increased from 75.5 % to 83.0 % by adding Fe (III). Batch tests showed that NH₄⁺-N was first oxidized to N₂ or NO₂^--N by Fe (III), then NO₃^--N was reduced to NO₂^--N and N₂ by Fe (II), and finally, NO₂^--N was utilized by anammox. Furthermore, the performance of phosphorus removal improved by Fe addition and the removal efficiency increased to 78.7 %. High-throughput sequencing showed that the Fe-reducing bacteria Pseudomonas and Thiobacillus were successfully enriched. The abundance of anammox bacterial increased from 0.03 % to 0.22 % by multiple nitrite supply pathways. Fe addition presents a promising pathway for application in the anammox process.

An effective titanium salt dosing strategy for phosphorus removal from wastewater: Synergistic enhancement of chemical and biological treatment

Titanium salt coagulant, as a new type of water treatment agent, has been widely studied, but most researches do not consider its effect on the biological treatment. In this study, different doses of TiCl₄ were added to the biological phosphorus removal (BPR) system to investigate the impact of TiCl₄ on BPR. The results showed that the addition of TiCl₄ not only significantly reduced the phosphorus concentration in effluent (below 0.5 mg/L), but also kept it stable. Moreover, the sedimentation performance of activated sludge was improved, which was superior to the control group. According to the results of flow cytometry (FCM), a small amount of TiCl₄ significantly improved the bioactivities, but excessive dosage caused inhibition. When the dosage of TiCl₄ below 20 mg/L, polyphosphate accumulating metabolism (PAM) was strengthened. In addition, the richness of microbial community and the relative abundance of Candidatus Accumulibacter clades also increased. However, when the dosage reached 60 mg/L, the relative abundance of Candidatus Competibacter increased and the BPR system was deteriorated. This study suggests that the addition of appropriate concentration of TiCl₄ can realize the synergistic enhancement of biological and chemical phosphorus removal in sewage treatment.

Modelling the benefits of urine source separation scenarios on wastewater treatment plants within an urban water basin

Stringent discharge regulations are encouraging researchers to create innovative and sustainable wastewater treatment solutions. Urine source separation (USS) is among the potent approaches that may reduce nutrient peak loads in the influent wastewater and improve nutrient recovery. A phenomenological model was used to simulate dynamic influent properties and predict the advantages gained from implementing USS in an urban water basin. Several scenarios were investigated assuming different levels of deployment: at the entire city, or specifically in office buildings for men's urine only, or for both men and women employees. The results confirmed that all scenarios of urine source separation offered benefits at the treatment plant in terms of reducing nitrogen influent load. The economic benefits in terms of reducing energy consumption for nitrification and decreasing methanol addition for denitrification were quantified, and results confirmed environmental advantages gained from different USS scenarios. Despite larger advantages gained from a global USS rate in an entire city, implementation of a specific USS in office buildings would remain more feasible from a logistical perspective. A significant benefit in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions is demonstrated and this was especially due to the high level of N₂O emissions avoided in nitrifying biological aerated filter.

A comprehensive evaluation of process kinetics: A plant-wide approach for nutrient removal and biogas production

The present study investigated the deviations of operational parameters of a large-scale wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) from design basis through combining dedicated batch experiments with full-scale dynamic modeling results. The long-term process performance of a full-scale biological nutrient removal (BNR) plant equipped with anaerobic sludge digestion system was monitored to evaluate the process kinetics of both carbon and nutrient removal and anaerobic sludge digestion. In this respect, plant-specific characterization; chemical oxygen demand (COD) fractionation, batch kinetic studies and sludge settling velocity tests were performed together with plant-wide SUMO model simulation. Results showed that nitrification and anaerobic hydrolysis were found to be 30% and 70% lower than literature values, respectively. The anaerobic digestion test coupled with plant-wide model calibration showed that anaerobic hydrolysis was the bottleneck in biogas production. Correspondingly, performance of the anaerobic digestion in the full-scale plant was poor as low biogas production yields were observed. In addition, the degradation rate via anaerobic hydrolysis of primary sludge was found to be higher (∼2-2.5) compared to anaerobic hydrolysis of biological sludge. The results of this study provide insight into model-based experimental characterization as well as plant-wide modeling approach. Coupling model-based batch experiments with full-scale modeling enabled to reduce the number of kinetic parameters to be fine-tuned. Moreover, the information gathered from kinetic batch tests to the simulation platform yielded a satisfying prediction of long-term performance of the plant operation.

Calcium-modified granular attapulgite removed phosphorus from synthetic wastewater containing low-strength phosphorus

Traditional biological processes combined with chemical precipitation methods can effectively reduce phosphate concentration in wastewater. However, discharge standards required additional advanced treatment technologies, and the removal of low phosphorus concentration is complicated and expensive. This study proposes application of a simple and recyclable adsorbent to remove low-concentration phosphorus from water. The removal efficiency of phosphorus from low-strength synthetic wastewater was investigated and the adsorption mechanism was analyzed. When the initial phosphorus concentration was 2.0 mg/L, the phosphorus adsorption capacity of Ca-GAT increased to 0.891 mg/g from 0.074 mg/g for GAT at 298 K and pH of 7. Phosphorus adsorption on Ca-GAT performs well when the solution pH is in the range of 5-10, and it is not conducive to the adsorption reaction when the solution pH exceeds 11. The competing anions (such as NO₃^-, SO₄^2-, HCO₃^- and F^-) existed, Ca-GAT still performed better in removing phosphorus. Then, the saturated absorbents could be effectively regenerated with a 0.5 mos/L NaOH solution, while desorption efficiency was reduced from 97.11% to 33.06% after fifth regeneration cycle. Finally, Scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis demonstrated that the Ca²⁺ content on the Ca-GAT surface played an important role in capturing phosphate ions from wastewater. Phosphorus was mainly removed via the formation of Ca-phosphorus precipitation. To some extent, ligand exchanges of CO₃^2- and OH- with HPO₄^2- and H₂PO₄^- were also beneficial for phosphorus removal. The present work shows that attapulgite has sustainable and beneficial potential in the removal of low-strength phosphorous in wastewater, and the phosphorus loaded adsorbent can be used in the agriculture as slow-release fertilizer.

A plant-wide model describing GHG emissions and nutrient recovery options for water resource recovery facilities

In this study, a plant-wide model describing the fate of C, N and P compounds, upgraded to account for (on-site/off-site) greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, was implemented within the International Water Association (IWA) Benchmarking Simulation Model No. 2 (BSM2) framework. The proposed approach includes the main biological N₂O production pathways and mechanistically describes CO₂ (biogenic/non-biogenic) emissions in the activated sludge reactors as well as the biogas production (CO₂/CH₄) from the anaerobic digester. Indirect GHG emissions for power generation, chemical usage, effluent disposal and sludge storage and reuse are also included using static factors for CO₂, CH₄ and N₂O. Global and individual mass balances were quantified to investigate the fluxes of the different components. Novel strategies, such as the combination of different cascade controllers in the biological reactors and struvite precipitation in the sludge line, were proposed in order to obtain high plant performance as well as nutrient recovery and mitigation of the GHG emissions in a plant-wide context. The implemented control strategies led to an overall more sustainable and efficient plant performance in terms of better effluent quality, reduced operational cost and lower GHG emissions. The lowest N₂O and overall GHG emissions were achieved when ammonium and soluble nitrous oxide in the aerobic reactors were controlled and struvite was recovered in the reject water stream, achieving a reduction of 27% for N₂O and 9% for total GHG, compared to the open loop configuration.

Modeling, simulation and control of biological and chemical P-removal processes for membrane bioreactors (MBRs) from lab to full-scale applications: State of the art

Phosphorus (P) removal from the domestic wastewater is required to counter the eutrophication in receiving water bodies and is mandated by the regulatory frameworks in several countries with discharge limits within 1-2mgPL-1. Operating at higher sludge retention time (SRT) and higher biomass concentration than the conventional activated sludge process (CASP), membrane bioreactors (MBRs) are able to remove 70-98% phosphorus without addition of coagulant. In full-scale facilities, enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) is assisted by the addition of metal coagulant to ensure >95% P-removal. MBRs are successfully used for super-large-scale wastewater treatment facilities (capacity >100,000 m3d-1). This paper documents the knowledge of P-removal modeling from lab to full-scale submerged MBRs and assesses the existing mathematical models for P-removal from domestic wastewater. There are still limited studies involving integrated modeling of the MBRs (full/super large-scale), considering the complex interactions among biology, chemical addition, filtration, and fouling. This paper analyses the design configurations and the parameters affecting the biological and chemical P-removal in MBRs to understand the P-removal process sensitivity and their implications for the modeling studies. Furthermore, it thoroughly reviews the applications of bio-kinetic and chemical precipitation models to MBRs for assessing their effectiveness with default stoichiometric and kinetic parameters and the extent to which these parameters have been calibrated/adjusted to simulate the P-removal successfully. It also presents a brief overview and comparison of seven (7) chemical precipitation models, along with a quick comparison of commercially available simulators. In addition to advantages associated with chemical precipitation for P-removal, its role in changing the relative abundance of the microbial community responsible for P-removal and denitrification and the controversial role in fouling mitigation/increase are discussed. Lastly, it encompasses several coagulant dosing control systems and their applications in the pilot to full-scale facilities to save coagulants and optimize the P-removal performance.

Coagulants put phosphate-accumulating organisms at a competitive disadvantage with glycogen-accumulating organisms in enhanced biological phosphorus removal system

Enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) process is susceptible to the changed operation condition, which results in an unstable treatment performance. In this work, long-term effect of coagulants addition, aluminum salt for the reactor R₁ and iron salt for the reactor R₂, on EBPR systems was comprehensively evaluated. Results showed that during the initial 30 days' coagulant addition, effluent chemical oxygen demand and phosphorus can be reduced below 25 and 0.5 mg·L^-1, respectively. Further supply of metal salts would stimulate microbial extracellular polymeric substance excretion and induce reactive oxygen species accumulation, which destroyed the cell membrane integrity and deteriorated the phosphorus removal performance. Moreover, coagulants would decrease the relative abundance of Candidatus Accumulibacter while increase the relative abundance of Candidatus Competibacter, leading phosphors accumulating organisms in a disadvantage position. The results of this work might be valuable for the operation of chemical assisted biological phosphorus removal bioreactor.

Pollutant removal from municipal sewage by a microaerobic up-flow oxidation ditch coupled with micro-electrolysis

The development of efficient and low-cost wastewater treatment processes remains an important challenge. A microaerobic up-flow oxidation ditch (UOD) with micro-electrolysis by waterfall aeration was designed for treating real municipal wastewater. The effects of influential factors such as up-flow rate, waterfall height, reflux ratio, number of stages and iron dosing on pollutant removal were fully investigated, and the optimum conditions were obtained. The elimination efficiencies of chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia nitrogen (NH₄ ⁺-N), total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) reached up to 84.33 ± 2.48%, 99.91 ± 0.09%, 93.63 ± 0.60% and 89.27 ± 1.40%, respectively, while the effluent concentrations of COD, NH₄ ⁺-N, TN and TP were 20.67 ± 2.85, 0.02 ± 0.02, 1.39 ± 0.09 and 0.27 ± 0.02 mg l^-1, respectively. Phosphorous removal was achieved by iron-carbon micro-electrolysis to form an insoluble ferric phosphate precipitate. The microbial community structure indicated that carbon and nitrogen were removed via multiple mechanisms, possibly including nitrification, partial nitrification, denitrification and anammox in the UOD.

Effects of coagulant morphology and chemical properties on soluble reactive phosphate removal in corn ethanol wastewater

As ethanol production continues to rise around the world, and wastewater discharge requirements for phosphorus become more stringent, it is important that phosphorus removal technologies are evaluated on ethanol wastewater streams. In this study, five coagulating agents with distinct characteristics were evaluated for their soluble reactive phosphate (SRP) removal performance on both a synthetic wastewater sample and a wastewater sample collected from a corn ethanol manufacturer. All coagulants demonstrated a positive correlation between coagulant dose and percent removal of SRP on both samples. Alum and ferric chloride produced the highest SRP removal efficiencies on both the ethanol and synthetic wastewater, indicating that prepolymerized, high-basicity coagulants (e.g., aluminum chlorohydrate, poly-aluminum ferric chloride) are less effective for SRP removal than nonpolymerized coagulants. The background matrix analysis combined with the pH studies revealed that the high alkalinity in the ethanol wastewater has a substantial inhibitory effect on SRP removal capacity that supersedes pH effects. These experimental results suggest that the Al-Al and Al-OH bonds in the heavily hydroxylated and polymerized structure of high-basicity coagulants are very rigid, which could prevent inner-sphere complexation and drive a less effective outer-sphere interaction, thus hindering SRP removal efficiency. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Five different coagulants are evaluated for reactive phosphate removal from wastewater. Alum and ferric chloride show higher removal efficiency than prepolymerized and high-basicity coagulants. Optimal removal pH increases with increasing coagulant basicity.

Digital solutions for continued operation of WRRFs during pandemics and other interruptions

This paper includes survey results from 17 full-scale water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) to explore their technical, operational, maintenance, and management-related challenges during COVID-19. Based on the survey results, limited monitoring and maintenance of instrumentation and sensors are among the critical factors during the pandemic which resulted in poor data quality in several WRRFs. Due to lockdown of cities and countries, most of the facilities observed interruptions of chemical supply frequency which impacted the treatment process involving chemical additions. Some plants observed influent flow reduction and illicit discharges from industrial wastewater which eventually affected the biological treatment processes. Delays in equipment maintenance also increased the operational and maintenance cost. Most of the plants reported that new set of personnel management rules during pandemic created difficulties in scheduling operator's shifts which directly hampered the plant operations. All the plant operators mentioned that automation, instrumentation, and sensor applications could help plant operations more efficiently while working remotely during pandemic. To handle emergency circumstances including pandemic, this paper also highlights resources and critical factors for emergency responses, preparedness, resiliency, and mitigation that can be adopted by WRRFs.

Comparing natural red soil and irons for removal of phosphorus from wastewater using the multi-soil-layering system and its economic analysis

The study uses an emerging soil treatment technology, the Multi-Soil Layering System (MSL), which is composed of the zeolite permeability layers (PL) and the soil mixture block layers (SMB). The experimental results show that the SMBs with iron particle (SMB-I) removed more than 83% of the total phosphorus (P) pollution in the water, and the outflow sewage concentration is 9.6 mg/L. In contrast, the SMBs with red clay (SMB-R) has 23% removal rate, and the outflow sewage concentration is 46.45 mg/L. Only 0.013 mg/L Fe concentration was detected in the SMB-R system and release of Fe from red soil is hardly achieved under neutral water environment. The SMB-R and SMB-I systems reduced 108.89 mg/g and 20.93 mg/g respectively and the SMB-R had higher removal efficiency of P per gram released Fe. The chromaticity problem of the effluent water in the SMB-I is up to 225 platinum cobalt, and that of the SMB-R is 172 platinum cobalt. Adding 10 g oyster shell (slice-only) and/or 0.65 g polyglutamic acid have effectively removed up to 99% 25-mg/L Fe in the effluent water; the chromaticity problem caused by Fe effluent was successfully solved. Furthermore, the iron particle has the highest unit cost among the materials in the SMBs (US$1.47/kg in lab and US$0.12/kg in field). Removal of 1 mg/L TP in the MSL system costs US$0.036 (by lab) in terms of removal TP rate in the laboratory was 83% and is economically feasible in field development.

The impacts of calcium oxide nanoparticles on the anaerobic granule formation: CO2 sequestration and dosing

Lab experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of calcium oxide nanoparticles (CaO NPs) dosing on granule formation, granule development, and carbon oxide sequestration. The results showed that dosing CaO NPs adversely affected granulation due to the formation of precipitates and hydrolyzates with poor settleability. However, the optimal dosage of CaO NPs 4.5 g/l could benefit granule formation and stability by improving the embedded extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and physical adhesion aggregation leads for CO₂ sequestration. The network of granules like Methanosarcina and in pore size 0.55 mm obtained in the reactor was 6.25 mm in average diameter, had a wet density 46 cm², sludge volume index 0.935 ml/g, and CO₂ sequestration 96.7% at 4.5 g/l CaO NP. The proposed study can provide a good prediction for the growth of granules stable texture in regular, dense, rigid, upper part smooth with below surface rough and granule yield showed CH₄ production 4.6 m³/d and CO₂ sequestration 4.75 l/gVS granules (w/v) granules. This study is a useful tool for studying the growth of granule growth characteristics and the mechanism of anaerobic granules for CO₂ sequestration from wastewater.

Centralized iron-dosing into returned sludge brings multifaceted benefits to wastewater management

Iron salts (i.e. FeCl₃) are the most used chemicals in the urban wastewater system. Iron is commonly dosed into sewage or the mainstream system, which provides multiple benefits such as enhanced phosphorus removal and improved sludge settleability/dewaterability. This study reported and demonstrated a new approach that dosed FeCl₃ into returned sludge in order to bring two more benefits to wastewater management: short-cut nitrogen removal via the nitrite pathway and less biomass production. This approach is achieved based on our findings that with similar amount of FeCl₃, centralized iron dosing into a sidestream sludge unit generated iron concentration two orders of magnitude higher than the common mainstream dosing (e.g. 10-40 mg Fe/L-wastewater), leading to sludge acidification (pH = 2.1) with Fe (III) hydrolysis. Together with accumulated nitrite in the supernatant of the sludge, ppm-level of free nitrous acid was generated and thus enabled sludge disintegration, cell lysis, and selective elimination of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB). Long-term effects on nitrifying bacteria and overall reactor performance were evaluated using two laboratory reactor experiments for over one year. The experimental reactor showed stable nitrite accumulation with an average NO₂^-/(NO₂^- + NO₃^-) ratio above 80% and ∼30% observed biomass yield reduction compared to those in control reactors. In addition, the centralized sludge dosing strategy still provided benefits such as improved settleability and dewaterability of sludge and enhanced phosphorus removal.

Capture and recover dissolved phosphorous from aqueous solutions by a designer biochar: Mechanism and performance insights

Excessive phosphorus (P) in marine and freshwater systems has been identified as a primary perpetrator for the harmful and nuisance algal blooms. In this study, a novel designer biochar was produced from sawdust biomass treated with lime sludge prior to pyrolysis. The adsorption of dissolved P on the designer biochar was comprehensively evaluated under different experimental conditions. It revealed that the removal of dissolved P by the designer biochar was more efficient than unmodified biochar, lime sludge, and their post-combination, suggesting that the pretreatment of biomass with lime sludge for the designer biochar production has a significantly synergic effect on enhancing P removal. Post-adsorption characterization and mathematical modeling analyses indicated that the adsorption of dissolved P on the designer biochar could be controlled by multiple mechanisms including physical and chemical adsorption. The precipitation reaction between P anions and metal ions on the surface of the designer biochar was identified as a predominant mechanism. The X-ray diffraction showed that the precipitation reaction generated a series of P fertilizer forms depositing onto the designer biochar. In addition, batch adsorption experiments showed that both initial solution pH and coexisting anions had a lesser effect on the P removal by the designer biochar. This study proposed that the designer biochar could be a promising sorbent to remove dissolved P, and the nutrient-captured biochar could be used as a fertilizer to recover nutrients.

Second-Generation Phosphorus: Recovery from Wastes towards the Sustainability of Production Chains

Phosphorus (P) is essential for life and has a fundamental role in industry and the world food production system. The present work describes different technologies adopted for what is called the second-generation P recovery framework, that encompass the P obtained from residues and wastes. The second-generation P has a high potential to substitute the first-generation P comprising that originally mined from rock phosphates for agricultural production. Several physical, chemical, and biological processes are available for use in second-generation P recovery. They include both concentrating and recovery technologies: (1) chemical extraction using magnesium and calcium precipitating compounds yielding struvite, newberyite and calcium phosphates; (2) thermal treatments like combustion, hydrothermal carbonization, and pyrolysis; (3) nanofiltration and ion exchange methods; (4) electrochemical processes; and (5) biological processes such as composting, algae uptake, and phosphate accumulating microorganisms (PAOs). However, the best technology to use depends on the characteristic of the waste, the purpose of the process, the cost, and the availability of land. The exhaustion of deposits (economic problem) and the accumulation of P (environmental problem) are the main drivers to incentivize the P’s recovery from various wastes. Besides promoting the resource’s safety, the recovery of P introduces the residues as raw materials, closing the productive systems loop and reducing their environmental damage.

Assessment of sludge management strategies in wastewater treatment systems using a plant-wide approach

The objective of this paper is to use plant-wide modeling to assess the net impacts of varying sludge management strategies. Special emphasis is placed on effluent quality, operational cost and potential resource recovery (energy, nutrients). The study is particularly focused on a centralized bio-solids beneficiation facility (BBF), which enables larger, more capital intensive sludge management strategies. Potential barriers include the ability to process reject streams from multiple donor plants in the host plant. Cape Flats (CF) wastewater treatment works (WWTW) (Cape Town, South Africa) was used as a relevant test case since it is currently assessing to process sludge cake from three nearby facilities (Athlone, Mitchells Plain and Wildevoelvlei). A plant-wide model based on the Benchmark Simulation Model no 2 (BSM2) extended with phosphorus transformations was adapted to the CF design / operational conditions. Flow diagram and model parameters were adjusted to reproduce the influent, effluent and process characteristics. Historical data between January 2014 and December 2019 was used to compare full-scale measurements and predictions. Next, different process intensification / mitigation technologies were evaluated using multiple criteria. Simulation values for COD, TSS, VSS/TSS ratio, TN, TP, NH₄⁺/NH₃, H_xPO4^3-x, NO_x alkalinity and pH fall within the interquartile ranges of measured data. The effects of the 2017 severe drought on influent variations and biological phosphorus removal are successfully reproduced for the entire period with dynamic simulations. Indeed, 80% of all dynamically simulated values are included within the plant measurement uncertainty ranges. Sludge management analysis reveals that flow diagrams with thermal hydrolysis pre-treatment (THP) result in a better energy balance in spite of having higher heat demands. The flow diagram with THP is able to i) increase biodegradability/solubility, ii) handle higher sludge loads, iii) change methanogenic microbial population and iv) generate lower solids volumes to dispose by improving sludge dewaterability. The study also reveals the importance of including struvite precipitation and harvesting (SPH) technology, and the effect that pH in the AD and the use of chemicals (NaOH, MgO) may have on phosphorus recovery. Model-based results indicate that the current aerobic volume in the water line (if properly aerated) would be able to handle the returns from the sludge line and the contribution of a granular partial nitritation/Anammox (PN/ANX) reactor on the overall nitrogen removal would be marginal. However autotrophic N denitrification generates a much lower sludge production and therefore increases AD treatment capacity. The study shows for the very first time in Africa how the use of a (calibrated) plant-wide model could assist water utilities to decide between competing plant layouts when upgrading a WWTW.

Removal of Nitrogen and Phosphorus from Thickening Effluent of an Urban Wastewater Treatment Plant by an Isolated Green Microalga

Microalgae are photosynthetic microorganisms and are considered excellent candidates for a wide range of biotechnological applications, including the removal of nutrients from urban wastewaters, which they can recover and convert into biomass. Microalgae-based systems can be integrated into conventional urban wastewater treatment plants (WW-TP) to improve the water depuration process. However, microalgal strain selection represents a crucial step for effective phytoremediation. In this work, a microalga isolated from the effluent derived from the thickening stage of waste sludge of an urban WW-TP was selected and tested to highlight its potential for nutrient removal. Ammonium and phosphate abatements by microalgae were evaluated using both the effluent and a synthetic medium in a comparative approach. Parallelly, the isolate was characterized in terms of growth capability, morphology, photosynthetic pigment content and photosystem II maximum quantum yield. The isolated microalga showed surprisingly high biomass yield and removal efficiency of both ammonium and phosphate ions from the effluent but not from the synthetic medium. This suggests its clear preference to grow in the effluent, linked to the overall characteristics of this matrix. Moreover, biomass from microalgae cultivated in wastewater was enriched in photosynthetic pigments, polyphosphates, proteins and starch, but not lipids, suggesting its possible use as a biofertilizer.

Technological Effectiveness of Sugar-Industry Effluent Methane Fermentation in a Fluidized Active Filling Reactor (FAF-R)

Technological solutions allowing the increase of the technological efficiency of anaerobic methods of wastewater treatment are still under investigation. The weaknesses of these solutions can be limited by the use of active fillings. The aim of the present study was to determine the impact of fluidized active filling on the effectiveness of anaerobic treatment of sugar-industry effluent, the production efficiency and the qualitative composition of the biogas produced. High, comparable (p = 0.05) effluent treatment results were observed at tested organic load rates between 4.0 and 6.0 kg COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand)/m3·d. The COD removal rate reached over 74%, biogas yields ranged from 356 ± 25 to 427 ± 14 dm3/kg CODremoved and the average methane contents were approximately 70%. A significant decrease in effluent treatment efficiency and methane fermentation was observed after increasing the organic load rate to 8.0 kg COD/m3·d, which correlated with decreased pH and FOS/TAC (volatile organic acid and buffer capacity ratio) increased to 0.44 ± 0.2. The use of fluidized active filling led to phosphorus removal with an efficiency ranged from 64.4 ± 2.4 to 81.2 ± 8.2% depending on the stage. Low concentration of total suspended solids in the treated effluent was also observed.

Assessment and optimization of the use of a novel natural coagulant (Guazuma ulmifolia) for dairy wastewater treatment

A feasible, novel, and natural coagulant extracted from G. ulmifolia stem bark was characterized and used in experiments of coagulation/dissolved air flotation (C/DAF) to treat synthetic dairy wastewater (SDW). The performance of G. ulmifolia to remove turbidity, chemical oxygen demand (COD), and UV₂₅₄ was evaluated by using response surface methodology (Doehlert matrix). G. ulmifolia dosage and pH were evaluated and optimized in the C/DAF process and its characterization was performed by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and also zeta potential. Results showed that G. ulmifolia stem bark is composed of large quantities of condensed tannins represented by the groups C=C-C and CO of pyran (flavonoid C-rings), which serve as bridges during coagulation. Moreover, the presence of porous cavities in surface of G. ulmifolia, shown by SEM, indicated capacity for adsorption. G. ulmifolia dosage and pH were significant (p ≤ 0.05) for pollutant removal from the SDW. Jar test results revealed that 95.8% of turbidity, 76.0% of COD, 81.2% of BOD, and 85.6% of UV₂₅₄ were removed from SDW by using G. ulmifolia stem bark at a dose of 775.8 mg L^-1 and pH 5.00. Finally, our results showed promising use of G. ulmifolia as a coagulating agent due to its novelty, efficiency, low-cost, and eco-friendly properties as an alternative for the treatment of dairy wastewaters.

Remarkable phosphate removal and recovery from wastewater by magnetically recyclable La2O2CO3/γ-Fe2O3 nanocomposites

Owing to the twin problems of eutrophication and global phosphorus (P) scarcity, the removal and recovery of phosphate from water and wastewater have received increasing attention. Herein, magnetically recyclable La₂O₂CO₃/γ-Fe₂O₃ adsorbents were rationally designed by derivation from La/Fe binary metal organic framework (MOF) precursors via calcination treatment. Based upon preliminary screening of as-prepared La₂O₂CO₃/γ-Fe₂O₃ nanocomposites with different La-to-Fe molar ratios in terms of phosphate sorption capacity and magnetic property as well as La content, La₂O₂CO₃/γ-Fe₂O₃ nanocomposite with a La-to-Fe molar ratio of 2:1 was selected for further characterization and adsorption performance evaluation. Batch adsorption experiments showed that La₂O₂CO₃/γ-Fe₂O₃ (2:1) adsorbent exhibited a remarkable phosphate sorption capacity of 134.82 mg P/g, a fast sorption kinetic, strong selectivity for phosphate in the presence of co-existing anions, and a wide applicable pH range of 3-9. Furthermore, La₂O₂CO₃/γ-Fe₂O₃ (2:1) sorbent displayed an excellent sorption performance for low-concentration wastewater, a low dosage of 0.1 g/L was sufficiently enough for reducing P-concentration from 0.5 mg P/L to below 10 μg P/L within 20 min. In a real sewage of 2.68 mg P/L, 0.2 g/L of sorbent could reduce the concentration of phosphate to <0.01 mg P/L within 50 min. Moreover, over 83.1 % of original sorption capacity could be retained after 5 consecutive regeneration cycles, showing great regenerative performance of the adsorbent. These development is expected to be meaningful for practical water purification.

Distributed treatment systems

This section presents a review of the scientific literature published in 2019 on topics relating to distributed treatment systems. This review is divided into the following sections: constituent removal, treatment technologies, planning and treatment management, and other topics. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Highlights changes and innovation in removal techniques and technologies in water treatment. Reviews management systems of distributed treatment systems. Discusses point-of-use treatment systems.

Modeling, instrumentation, automation, and optimization of water resource recovery facilities (2019) DIRECT

A review of the literature published in 2019 on topics relating to water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) in the areas of modeling, automation, measurement and sensors, and optimization of wastewater treatment (or water resource reclamation) is presented.

Technical and Economic Evaluation of WWTP Renovation Based on Applying Ultrafiltration Membrane

Nowadays, the standards of discharging are gradually becoming stricter, since much attention has been paid to the protection of natural water resources around the world. Therefore, it is urgent to upgrade the existing wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), to improve the effluent quality, and reduce the discharged pollutants to the natural environment. In this paper, taking the “Liaocheng UESH (UE Envirotech) WWTP in Shandong province of China” as an example, the existing problems and the detailed measures for a renovation were systemically discussed by technical and economic evaluation, before and after the renovation. During the renovation, the ultrafiltration membrane was added as the final stage of the designed process route, while upgrading the operation conditions of biochemical process at the same time. After the renovation, the removal rates of chemical oxygen demand (COD_cr), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD₅), total phosphorus (TP) and other major pollutants were improved greatly, and the results fully achieved the standards of surface water class IV. The ultrafiltration system performs a stable permeability around 1.5 LMH/kPa. Besides, the economic performance of the renovation was evaluated via the net present value (NPV) method. The result reveals that the NPV of the renovation of the WWTP within the 20 year life cycle is CNY 72.51 million and the overall investment cost can be recovered within the fourth year after the reoperation of the plant. This research does not only indicate that it is feasible to take an ultrafiltration membrane as the main technology, both from technical and economic perspectives, while upgrading the biochemical process section in the meantime, but also provides a new strategy for the renovation of existing WWTPs to achieve more stringent emission standards.

Plant-wide modelling in wastewater treatment: showcasing experiences using the Biological Nutrient Removal Model

Plant-wide modelling can be considered an appropriate approach to represent the current complexity in water resource recovery facilities, reproducing all known phenomena in the different process units. Nonetheless, novel processes and new treatment schemes are still being developed and need to be fully incorporated in these models. This work presents a short chronological overview of some of the most relevant plant-wide models for wastewater treatment, as well as the authors' experience in plant-wide modelling using the general model BNRM (Biological Nutrient Removal Model), illustrating the key role of general models (also known as supermodels) in the field of wastewater treatment, both for engineering and research.

Influence of coexisting calcium and magnesium ions on phosphate adsorption onto hydrous iron oxide

Removal of phosphorus (P) from municipal wastewater is of vital importance to the control of eutrophication in receiving freshwater bodies. Typical cations such as Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ generally exist in municipal wastewater, and they may affect the sorption behavior and mechanism of iron oxide-based materials for aqueous phosphate (H_xPO₄^x - 3, x = 0, 1, 2, or 3 depending on solution pH). To better apply iron oxide-containing materials as adsorbents to eliminate H_xPO₄^x - 3 in municipal wastewater, a hydrous ferric oxide (HFEO) was prepared and characterized at first and then the impact of coexisting Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ on the uptake of H_xPO₄^x - 3 by HFEO was studied. The results showed that, without coexisting Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺, the kinetic data for H_xPO₄^x - 3 sorption onto HFEO were better described by the Elovich model (R² = 0.953) than the pseudo-second-order (R² = 0.838) and pseudo-first-order (R² = 0.641) models, and the isotherm data were fitted better with the Dubinin-Radushkevich (R² = 0.966) and Freundlich (R² = 0.953) models than with the Langmuir (R² = 0.924) model. The ligand exchange of the Fe-bound hydroxyl group with H_xPO₄^x - 3 and the generation of Fe-O-P bonding played a key role in the uptake of H_xPO₄^x - 3 by HFEO in the absence of Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺. Coexisting Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ greatly improved the adsorptive removal of H_xPO₄^x - 3 by HFEO, including the adsorption capacity and initial adsorption rate. According to the Langmuir isotherm equation, the predicted maximum H_xPO₄^x - 3 adsorption capacity for HFEO at pH 7 in the presence of 2 mmol/L Ca²⁺ (24.7 mg P/g) or 2 mmol/L Mg²⁺ (18.4 mg P/g) was much larger than that without coexisting Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ (10.7 mg P/g). The formation of aqueous CaHPO₄⁰ and MgHPO₄⁰ species firstly and then the adsorption of the formed CaHPO₄⁰ and MgHPO₄⁰ species on the HFEO surface to generate the HPO₄^2--bridged ternary complexes (i.e., Fe(OPO₃H)Ca⁺ and Fe(OPO₃H)Mg⁺) had an important role in the improvement of H_xPO₄^x - 3 adsorption onto HFEO by coexisting Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺.

A novel micro-ferrous dosing strategy for enhancing biological phosphorus removal from municipal wastewater

Ferrous salts have been widely used to enhance phosphorus removal in full-scale wastewater treatment plants, with an average dosage of 0.24-0.35 mM. However, such high dosage inevitably caused serious concerns on operation, potential biological toxicity and excessive sludge production. Thus, this study investigated the effect of micro-dosing of ferrous salt at the level of 0.02 mM on enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) in sequencing batch reactors. Results showed that micro-dosing of ferrous salt enhanced the overall performance, with average COD, TN and TP removal of more than 4.2%, 2.0% and 5.8%, respectively. In addition, the sequencing analysis further revealed that micro-ferrous dosing could significantly improve the diversity and richness of the microbial community (p < 0.05), whereas the regular dosing of ferrous salts (0.25 mM) negatively impacted on the EBPR performance. It was found that the abundances of phosphorus accumulating organisms (PAOs) in R2 (micro-dosing) were nearly 1.5-fold and 2-fold higher than those in R1 (control) and R3 (regular dosing). The contributions of biological and chemical pathways towards the observed phosphorus removal were also determined according to the phosphorus releasing rate. For micro-dosage and regular dosage of ferrous salts, phosphorus removal mainly relied on biological phosphorus removal and chemical phosphorus removal, respectively. It appears from this this study that the micro-ferrous dosing strategy is practically feasible and economically viable for enhanced phosphorus removal from municipal wastewater.

Comparative Adsorptive Removal of Phosphate and Nitrate from Wastewater Using Biochar-MgAl LDH Nanocomposites: Coexisting Anions Effect and Mechanistic Studies

In this study, date-palm biochar MgAl-augmented double-layered hydroxide (biochar-MgAl-LDH) nanocomposite was synthesized, characterized, and used for enhancing the removal of phosphate and nitrate pollutants from wastewater. The biochar-MgAl-LDH had higher selectivity and adsorption affinity towards phosphate compared to nitrate. The adsorption kinetics of both anions were better explained by the pseudo-first-order model with a faster removal rate to attain equilibrium in a shorter time, especially at lower initial phosphate-nitrate concentration. The maximum monolayer adsorption capacities of phosphate and nitrate by the non-linear Langmuir model were 177.97 mg/g and 28.06 mg/g, respectively. The coexistence of anions (Cl-, SO42-, NO3-, CO32- and HCO3-) negligibly affected the removal of phosphate due to its stronger bond on the nano-composites, while the presence of Cl- and PO43- reduced the nitrate removal attributed to the ions' participation in the active adsorption sites on the surface of biochar-MgAl-LDH. The excellent adsorptive performance is the main synergetic influence of the MgAl-LDH incorporation into the biochar. The regeneration tests confirmed that the biochar-MgAl composite can be restored effortlessly and has the prospective to be reused after several subsequent adsorption-desorption cycles. The biochar-LDH further demonstrated capabilities for higher removal of phosphate and nitrate from real wastewater.

Efficient phosphorus removal from MBR effluent with heated aluminum oxide particles (HAOPs)

Biological processes and chemical precipitation in combination with polishing by granular media or membrane filtration can remove 90-95% of the phosphorus (P) from wastewater. However, reducing the concentration to levels near those in high-quality receiving waters requires additional advanced treatment, typically including adsorption onto specialty media. These processes are often costly, they can be hard to control when the P loading varies, and their effectiveness can be compromised by the presence of competing adsorbates in the water. In this work, a novel process that might mitigate or overcome some of these challenges was explored. In the process, water is treated by passage through micron-sized adsorbent particles (Heated Aluminum Oxide Particles, HAOPs) packed in a layer that is  < 1 mm thick, thus combining the attractive features of very small particles with those of flow through packed media. In laboratory tests using both synthetic feed and the effluent from an MBR at a full-scale wastewater treatment plant, the process removed P very efficiently until the HAOPs' capacity was nearly exhausted, at which point rapid breakthrough of P occurred. The removal capacity was proportional to the thickness of the HAOPs layer and declined by only ∼20% when SO₄^2-, Cl^-, and NO₃^- were all added to the MBR effluent at concentrations of 30 mM (2880, 1065, and 1860 mg/L, respectively). Increasing the solution pH from 7.0 to 8.5 had a similar effect, and increasing the flux of water through the adsorbent layer from 200 to 600 LMH had an even smaller effect (∼10% reduction in removal capacity). In 18 days of continuous pilot-scale operation at the treatment plant, the process performed well, achieving 99.5% P removal steadily during the final seven days of testing, during which the P concentration in the feed ranged from 4 to 9 mg/L. The process also removed 52% of the organic matter in the MBR effluent, as represented by UV₂₅₄. The sludge generated by the process was extremely easy to dewater and dry.