Effect of alkalinity on nitrite accumulation in treatment of coal chemical industry wastewater using moving bed biofilm reactor

Nitrogen removal via nitrite （the nitrite pathway） is more suitable for carbon-limited industrial wastewater. Partial nitrification to nitrite is the primary step to achieve nitrogen removal via nitrite. The effect of alkalinity on nitrite accumulation in a continuous process was investigated by progressively increasing the alkalinity dosage ratio （amount of alkalinity to ammonia ratio, mol/mol）. There is a close relationship among alkalinity, pH and the state of matter present in aqueous solution. When alkalinity was insufficient （compared to the theoretical alkalinity amount）, ammonia removal efficiency increased first and then decreased at each alkalinity dosage ratio, with an abrupt removal efficiency peak. Generally, ammonia removal efficiency rose with increasing alkalinity dosage ratio. Ammonia removal efficiency reached to 88% from 23% when alkalinity addition was sufficient. Nitrite accumulation could be achieved by inhibiting nitrite oxidizing bacteria （NOB） by free ammonia （FA） in the early period and free nitrous acid in the later period of nitrification when alkalinity was not adequate. Only FA worked to inhibit the activity of NOB when alkalinity addition was sufficient.

Effect of a high strength chemical industry wastewater on microbial community dynamics and mesophilic methane generation

A high strength chemical industry wastewater was assessed for its impact on anaerobic microbial com- munity dynamics and consequently mesophilic methane generation. Cumulative methane production was 251 mL/g total chemical oxygen demand removed at standard temperature and pressure at the end of 30 days experimental period with a highest recorded methane percentage of 80.6% of total biogas volume. Volatile fatty acids （VFAs） analysis revealed that acetic acid was the major intermediate VFAs produced with propionic acid accumulating over the experimental period. Quantitative analysis of microbial communities in the test and control groups with quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction highlighted that in the test group, Eubacteria （96.3%） was dominant in comparison with methanogens （3.7%）. The latter were dominated by Methanomicrobiales and Methanobacteriales while in test groups increased over the experimental period, reaching a maximum on day 30. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis profile was performed, targeting the 16S rRNA gene of Eubacteria and Archaea, with the DNA samples extracted at 3 different time points from the test groups. A phylogenetic tree was constructed for the sequences using the neighborhood joining method. The analysis revealed that the presence of organisms resembling Syntrophomonadaceae could have contributed to increased production of acetic and propionic acid intermediates while decrease of organisms resembling Pelotomaculum sp. could have most likely contributed to accumulation of propionic acid. This study suggested that the degradation of organic components within the high strength industrial wastewater is closely linked with the activity of certain niche microbial communities within eubacteria and methanogens.

Capability of phenol-degrading biofilm

The degradation rate of phenol-degrading biofilm was studied.The biofilm of the biofilm was a kind of phenol-degrading bacteria.The bacteria was separated from coal chemical industry wastewater.The carbon source adopted four kinds of phenols,including phenol,methyl phenol,2-methyl phenol and resorcinol.Stenotrophomonas maltophilia K279a was gained.Twelve ratio of artificial phenol mixture was designed.The degradation rate of the twelve groups was all 99.9% in 16 h.The degradation rate from high to low was phenol,resorcinol,methyl phenol,2-methyl phenol.Phenol improved the degradation of the other phenols.The coal chemical wastewater contained 980 mg/L COD and 805 mg/L phenol.The degradation rate of COD and phenol was 70% and 77%,respectively.The domesticated biofilm (D) and the biofilm without domestication (WD) respectively used 45 h and 56 h.The results showed that the biofilm can be applied to the aerobic treatment process with high proportion of total phenol.

Hybrid peroxi-coagulation/ozonation process for highly efficient removal of organic contaminants

Aromatic compounds such as phenols presented widely in coal chemical industry wastewater(CCW)render the treatment facing great challenge due to their biorefractory characteristics and potential risks to the environment and human health.Ozone-based advanced oxidation processes show promising for these pollutants removal,but the mineralization via ozonation alone is unsatisfactory and not cost-effective.Herein,a hybrid peroxi-coagulation/ozonation process(denoted as PCO)was developed using sacrificial iron plate as an anode and carbon black modified carbon felt as cathode in the presence of ozonation.An enhanced phenol removal of∼100%within 20 min and phenol mineralization of∼80%within 60 min were achieved with a low energy consumption of 0.35 kWh/g TOC.In this novel process,synergistic effect between ozonation and peroxi-coagulation was observed,and beside O_(3) direct oxidation,peroxone played a dominant role for phenol removal.In the PCO process,the hydrolyzed Fe species enhanced the generation of reactive oxygen species(ROS),while•OH was dominantly responsible for pollutant degradation.This process also illustrated high resistance to high ionic strength and better performance for TOC removal in real wastewater when compared with ozonation and peroxi-coagulation process.Therefore,this process is more cost-effective,being very promising for CCW treatment.