Reverse osmosis concentrate treatment by microbubble ozonation-biological activated carbon process: Organics removal performance and environmental impact assessment

Reverse osmosis (RO) is being used in many water reclamation facilities to produce high quality water that can be reused for different purposes. As a part of the RO process, a reject stream is produced as the reverse osmosis concentrate (ROC), which contains elevated levels of contaminants compared to the source water. Effective treatment and safe disposal of ROC via cost-effective means is very challenging. This study aims to develop a robust microbubble ozonation-biological process for industrial ROC treatment with a target effluent chemical oxygen demand (COD) lower than 60 mg/L. As compared to macrobubble ozonation, microbubble ozonation exhibited better ozone dissolution and 29% higher COD removal efficiency with the same ozone dosage. Under the optimum operating conditions with ozone dosage of 30 mg/L, ROC natural pH of 8.67 and ozonation duration of 1 h, microbubble ozonation achieved 42% COD removal efficiency while increasing the BOD₅/COD ratio (ratio of biological oxygen demand over 5 days to the corresponding chemical oxygen demand) in ROC from 0.042 to 0.216. A biological activated carbon (BAC) column with an empty bed contact time (EBCT) of 120 min was combined with microbubble ozonation for continuous ROC treatment. Over the 100-day operation, the combined system performed consistent organics removal with an average effluent COD of 45 mg/L. Both LC-OCD data and fluorescence EEM spectra confirmed humic substances were the dominant organic species in ROC. Ozone pre-treatment could achieve significant removal of humic substances in raw ROC. ATP analysis found that ozone pre-treatment enhanced BAC biofilm activity by around 5 folds. 5 min acute toxicity assessment with Aliivibrio fischeri showed 4 times reduction of bioluminescence inhibition in ozone treated ROC. From the environmental point of view, Life cycle assessment (LCA) results demonstrated that Ozone-BAC system had significant environmental burdens on climate change and human toxicity due to the electricity production process. These environmental impacts can be mitigated by optimizing the ozonation process with reduced ozone dosage or utilizing renewable energy sources for electricity generation.

Measurement of a reaction-diffusion crossover in exciton-exciton recombination inside carbon nanotubes using femtosecond optical absorption

Exciton-exciton recombination in isolated semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes was studied using femtosecond transient absorption. Under sufficient excitation to saturate the optical absorption, we observed an abrupt transition between reaction- and diffusion-limited kinetics, arising from reactions between incoherent localized excitons with a finite probability of ~0.2 per encounter. This represents the first experimental observation of a crossover between classical and critical kinetics in a 1D coalescing random walk, which is a paradigm for the study of nonequilibrium systems.

Hydrophobic photonic crystal fibers

We propose and demonstrate hydrophobic photonic crystal fibers (PCFs). A chemical surface treatment for making PCFs hydrophobic is introduced. This repels water from the holes of PCFs, so that their optical properties remain unchanged even when they are immersed in water. The combination of a hollow core and a water-repellent inner surface of the hydrophobic PCF provides an ultracompact dissolved-gas sensor element, which is demonstrated for the sensing of dissolved ammonia gas.

Towards efficient and broadband four-wave-mixing using short-length dispersion tailored lead silicate holey fibers

We demonstrate four-wave-mixing based wavelength conversion at 1.55 mum in a 2.2 m-long dispersion-shifted lead-silicate holey fiber. For a pump peak power of ~6 W, a conversion efficiency of -6 dB is achieved over a 3-dB bandwidth of ~30 nm. Numerical simulations are used to predict the performance of the fiber for different experimental conditions and to address the potential of dispersion-tailored lead silicate holey fibers in wavelength conversion applications utilizing four-wave-mixing. It is shown that highly efficient and broadband wavelength conversion, covering the entire C-band, can be achieved for such fibers at reasonable optical pump powers and for fiber lengths as short as ~2 m.

Novel designs for sampled grating-based multiplexers demultiplexers

Novel multiplexers-demultiplexers for dense wavelength-division multiplexing systems that use interleaved sampled gratings are presented. It is shown that, with the appropriate design, configurations ranging from hybrid to add-drop as well as all-grating-based multiplexers can easily be realized.

Experimental evidence of differences in the absorption spectra of clustered and isolated ions in erbium-doped fibers

The absorption spectra of clustered and isolated ions in erbium-doped germanosilicate fibers have been experimentally studied. The ground-state absorption spectra broaden as the degree of erbium-ion clustering increases, indicating that the absorption spectrum of clustered ions is significantly different from that of the homogeneous ions. This fact is confirmed by comparison of the broadened absorption spectra with the fiber's unbleachable loss spectrum, a direct measurement of the clustered ions. This is the first experimental evidence to the authors' knowledge that indicates different absorption cross sections for the two species of ions in germanosilicate glass, an assumption that is used in the theoretical description of self-pulsing in erbium-doped fiber lasers but is in direct contradiction to the pair-induced quenching model widely used to characterize erbium-doped fiber amplifiers.

Efficient single-frequency fiber lasers with novel photosensitive Er/Yb optical fibers

Boron- and germanium-doped highly photosensitive cladding is used in a novel design to achieve photosensitive Er/Yb-doped fibers, permitting short, strong gratings (length approximately 1 cm, reflectivity >99%) to be written without hydrogenation. The high absorption at 980 nm in Er/Yb fibers permits efficient pump absorption over a short device length, which is ideal for achieving highly efficient single-frequency fiber lasers. Both single-frequency Bragg-grating reflector and distributed-feedback lasers with slope efficiencies of 25% with respect to launched pump power have been realized in such fibers.

Polarimetric Er(3+)-doped fiber distributed-feedback laser sensor for differential pressure and force measurements

We propose and demonstrate a polarimetric Er(3+) -doped fiber distributed-feedback laser sensor in which a force applied transversely along the fiber laser induces a birefringence that gives rise to a change in the beat frequency between the two orthogonally polarized laser modes. We measure a sensitivity of ~9.6 GHzysNymmd, a wide dynamic range with stable two-mode operation for frequency separations up to 50 GHz, and high sensor resolution owing to the narrow beat frequency bandwidth of <10 kHz. The temperature sensitivity is dominated by the temperature dependence of the inherent birefringence, which was measured to be -130 kHz/ degrees C. The sensor permits independent pressure-force and temperature measurements.

Suppression of self-pulsing behavior in erbium-doped fiber lasers with resonant pumping: experimental results

Experimental results are presented showing that resonant pumping can significantly improve the stability of erbium-doped fiber lasers. In particular, it is observed that an erbium fiber laser that exhibits sustained spiking behavior when pumped at 980 nm will revert to stable cw operation when pumped at 1510 nm.

Suppression of self-pulsing behavior in erbium-doped fiber lasers with resonant pumping

A new approach to improving the stability of erbium-doped fiber lasers is presented. By use of a model based on ion-pair effects, spiking behavior is shown to be effectively suppressed by resonant pumping when the pump wavelength is sufficiently close to the lasing wavelength.

Complex grating structures with uniform phase masks based on the moving fiber-scanning beam technique

We present experimental results of complex grating structures fabricated with uniform phase masks by the moving fiber-scanning beam approach. Pure apodized gratings with side-mode-suppression levels in excess of 40 dB, self-apodized linearly chirped gratings, and phase shifted gratings with narrow-band transmission peaks have all been realized.

Stable single-frequency traveling-wave fiber loop laser with integral saturable-absorber-based tracking narrow-band filter

We demonstrate stable single-frequency and polarization operation of a traveling-wave, Er(3+)-doped fiber loop laser by incorporating an unpumped Er(+3)-doped fiber section butted against a narrow-band feedback reflector. The saturable absorber acts as a narrow bandpass filter that automatically tracks the lasing wavelength, thus ensuring single-frequency operation. Output powers up to 6.2 mW at 1535 nm were obtained for launched pump powers of 175 mW at 1064 nm. At this output, the relative intensity noise was less than -112 dBy/Hz at frequencies above 200 kHz and a laser linewidth of less than 0.95 kHz, whereas the lasing frequency was observed to drift slowly (~170 MHz/h) because of environmental effects.

Femtosecond harmonically mode-locked fiber laser with time jitter below 1 ps

We have made an experimental study of the time jitter in a harmonic passively mode-locked fiber soliton ring laser. We demonstrate that jitter as low as 600 fs (100-550 Hz), which is less than the soliton pulse width, can be achieved at a repetition frequency of 463 MHz. The results support the suggestion that the stability of the laser is dependent on the long-range soliton interaction through the excitation of acoustic waves that is induced by the propagating pulses.

Extending the storage life of chilled beef: microwave processing

This study investigates whether it is possible to use microwave technology to reduce the bacterial load of meat to such an extent that shelf-life is extended while the product retains the appearance of fresh meat. It investigates the use of microwaves in raising the surface temperature of vacuum-packed beef steak, recording the total aerobic and anaerobic bacterial count, the appearance of the meat and the amount of purging of meat juices within the package.

Increased amplifier spacing in a soliton system with quantum-well saturable absorbers and spectral filtering

The spacing between optical amplifiers in a long-haul soliton system may be increased to 100 km by using only passive quantum-well saturable absorbers and narrow-band filters for soliton control. After transmission over 9000 km at 10 Gbits/s, the effects of soliton-soliton interaction and Gordon-Haus jitter in the proposed systemyield bit error rates of better than 10(-9).

Soliton interaction in the presence of a weak nonsoliton component

We study both experimentally and theoretically soliton interaction in the presence of a weak nonsoliton component and show that the existence of a frequency-shifted cw wave results in a temporal shift of the soliton.

Intermediary carbon metabolism of Azospirillum brasilense

Azospirillum brasilense Sp 7 grew rapidly in AZO medium containing reduced nitrogen and succinate as an energy source, with a doubling time of 43 min. No growth was measured with glucose as the sole carbon source. In contrast, Azospirillum lipoferum Sp 59b could grow in media containing either succinate or glucose with a doubling time of 69 min and 223 min, respectively. Warburg-Barcroft respirometry showed that the rate of oxygen consumption by A. brasilense Sp 7 on glucose medium (0.034 mumol of O2 min-1 mg-1 of cell protein) was only one-quarter of that on succinate medium (0.14 mumol of O2 min-1 mg-1). Radioisotopic labeling showed that very little glucose was assimilated by A. brasilense Sp 7 as compared to succinate. High respiration rates were measured on A. lipoferum Sp 59b with either succinate (0.15 mumol of O2 min-1 mg-1) or glucose (0.13 mumol of O2 min-1 mg-1) as the sole carbon source. The pattern of CO2 evolution from differentially labeled succinate indicated that A. brasilense Sp 7 had a complete tricarboxylic acid cycle. Assimilation of most of the radioactivity from labeled succinate, pyruvate, and acetate into lipids suggested a strong anabolic metabolism and the presence of an active malic enzyme of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase. The distribution of radioactivity from differentially labeled pyruvate showed that gluconeogenesis competed with pyruvate dehydrogenase. Uptake and incorporation of labeled acetate also indicated the presence of a glyoxylate cycle in A. brasilense Sp 7.

Biotransformation of Cannabidiol to Cannabielsoin by Suspension Cultures of Cannabis sativa and Saccharum officinarum

Suspension cultures of CANNABIS SATIVA L. and SACCHARUM OFFICINARUM L. have been shown to biotransform cannabidiol to Cannabielsoin under normal growth conditions. Both Cannabielsoin C-1 stereoisomers were produced. Mass spectral and chromatographic evidence were used in this identification. This is the first reported biologically catalyzed synthesis of Cannabielsoin as well as the first biotransformation of any cannabinoid by plant tissue culture systems. Possible mechanisms and significance of this conversion are discussed.