Insights into sludge granulation during anaerobic treatment of high-strength leachate via a full-scale IC reactor with external circulation system

In this study, a full-scale internal circulation（IC） reactor coupled with an external circulation system was developed to treat high-strength leachate from a municipal solid waste（MSW）incineration plant, in which anaerobic sludge granulation was intensively investigated. Results showed that the IC reactor achieved excellent treatment performance under high organic loading rates（OLR） of 21.06–25.16 kg chemical oxygen demand（COD）/（m3？ day）. The COD removal efficiency and biogas yield respectively reached 89.4%–93.4% and 0.42–0.50 m3/kg COD.The formation of extracellular polymeric substances（EPS） was closely associated with sludge granulation. Protein was the dominant component in sludge EPS, and its content was remarkably increased from 21.6 to 99.7 mg/g Volatile Suspended Solid（VSS） during the reactor operation. The sludge Zeta potential and hydrophobicity positively correlated with the protein/polysaccharide ratio in EPS, and they were respectively increased from-26.2 m V and 30.35% to-10.6 m V and 78.67%, which was beneficial to microbial aggregation. Three-dimensional fluorescence spectroscopy（3 D-EEM） and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy（FT-IR）analysis further indicated the importance of protein-like EPS substances in the sludge granulation. Moreover, it was also found that the secondary structures of EPS proteins varied during the reactor operation.

Carbonaceous and nitrogenous disinfection byproduct precursor variation during the reversed anaerobic–anoxic–oxic process of a sewage treatment plant

Disinfection byproduct（DBP）precursors in wastewater during the reversed anaerobic–anoxic–oxic（A^2/O）process,as well as their molecular weight（MW）and polarity-based fractions,were characterized with UV scanning,fluorescence excitation emission matrix,Fourier transform infrared and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.Their DBP formation potentials（DBPFPs）after chlorination were further tested.Results indicated that the reversed A^2/O process could not only effectively remove the dissolved organic carbon（DOC）and dissolved total nitrogen in the wastewater,but also affect the MW distribution and hydrophilic–hydrophobic properties of dissolved organic matter（DOM）.The accumulation of low MW and hydrophobic（HPO）DOM was possibly due to the formation of soluble microbial product-like（SMP-like）matters in the reversed A^2/O treatment,especially in the anoxic and aerobic processes.Moreover,DOM in the wastewater displayed a high carbonaceous disinfection byproduct formation potential（C-DBPFP）in the fractions of MW100 k Da and MW5 k Da,and revealed an increasing tendency of nitrogenous disinfection byproduct formation potential（N-DBPFP）with decrease of MW.For polarity-based fractions,the HPO fraction of wastewater showed significantly higher C-DBPFP and N-DBPFP than hydrophilic and transphilic fractions.Therefore,although the reversed A^2/O process could remove most DBP precursors by DOC reduction,it led to the enhancement of DBPFP with the formation and accumulation of low MW and HPO DOM.In addition,strong correlations between C-DBPFPs and SUVA,and between N-DBPFPs and DON/DOC,were observed in the wastewater,which might be helpful for DBPFP prediction in wastewater and reclaimed water chlorination.

Identical full-scale biogas-lift reactors(BLRs) with anaerobic granular sludge and residual activated sludge for brewery wastewater treatment and kinetic modeling

Two identical full-scale biogas-lift reactors treating brewery wastewater were inoculated with different types of sludge to compare their operational conditions, sludge characteristics, and kinetic models at a mesophilic temperature. One reactor （R1） started up with anaerobic granular sludge in 12 weeks and obtained a continuously average organic loading rate （OLR） of 7.4 kg chemical oxygen demand （COD）/（m3.day）, COD removal efficiency of 80%, and effluent COD of 450 mg/L. The other reactor （R2） started up with residual activated sludge in 30 weeks and granulation accomplished when the reactor reached an average OLR of 8.3 kg COD/（m^3·day）, COD removal efficiency of 90%, and effluent COD of 240 mg/L. Differences in sludge characteristics,biogas compositions, and biogas- lift processes may be accounted for the superior efficiency of the treatment performance of R2 over R1. Grau second-order and modified StoverKincannon models based on influent and effluent concentrations as well as hydraulic retention time were successfully used to develop kinetic parameters of the experimental data with high correlation coefficients （R2 〉 0.95）, which further showed that R2 had higher treatment performance than R1. These results demonstrated that residual activated sludge could be used effectively instead of anaerobic granular sludge despite the need for a longer time.

Performance and microbial response during the fast reactivation of Anammox system by hydrodynamic stress control

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation （Anammox） has become a promising method for biological nitrogen removal. However, this biotechnology application is always limited due to the low growth rate and biomass yield of Anammox bacteria. This study investigated the process of fast reactivation of an Anammox consortium idled for 2 years uia hydrodynamic stress control. The results showed that the Anammox system was efficiently and quickly reactivated by shortening of the hydraulic retention time （I-IRT） of the reactor from 12 to 6 hr within 68 days of operation. Moreover, at a 4-hr HRT with an influent total nitrogen loading rate of 1.2 kg N/（m3.day）, the reactor maintained high biological performance with an ammonium removal loading rate of 0.52 kg N/（m3.day） and a nitrite removal rate of 0.59 kg N/（m3.day）. In the reactivated Anammox reaction, the stoichiometric coefficients of NH4-N to NOE-N and NH4-N to NO4-N were 1：1.04± 0.08 and 1：0.31 ± 0.03, respectively. The specific Anammox activity and hydrazine oxidoreductase activity, both of which represent the degree of Anammox bacteria present, increased as the hydrodynamic stress increased and were maximally （125.38 ± 3.01 mg N/（g VSS.day） and 339.42 ± 6.83 μmol/（min.g VSS）, respectively） at 4-hr HRT. Microbial response analysis showed that the dominant microbial community was obviously shifted and the dominance of Anammox bacteria was enhanced durinR the hydrodynamic selection.