Combined alkaline and ultrasonic pretreatment of sludge before aerobic digestion

Alkaline and ultrasonic sludge disintegration can be used as the pretreatment of waste activated sludge （WAS） to promote the subsequent anaerobic or aerobic digestion. In this study, different combinations of these two methods were investigated. The evaluation was based on the quantity of soluble chemical oxygen demand （SCOD） in the pretreated sludge as well as the degradation of organic matter in the subsequent aerobic digestion. For WAS samples with combined pretreatment, the released COD levels were higher than those with ultrasonic or alkaline pretreatment alone. When combined with the ultrasonic treatment, NaOH treatment was more efficient than Ca（OH）2 for WAS solubilization. The COD levels released in various sequential options of combined NaOH and ultrasonic treatments were in the the following descending order： simultaneous treatment 〉 NaOH treatment followed by ultrasonic treatment 〉 ultrasonic treatment followed by NaOH treatment. For simultaneous treatment, low NaOH dosage （100 g/kg dry solid）, short duration （30 min） of NaOH treatment, and low ultrasonic specific energy （7500 kJ/kg dry solid） were suitable for sludge disintegration. Using combined NaOH and ultrasonic pretreatment with optimal parameters, the degradation efficiency of organic matter was increased from 38.0% to 50.7%, which is much higher than that with ultrasonic （42.5%） or with NaOH pretreatment （43.5%） in the subsequent aerobic digestion at the same retention time.

Ultrasound application in alkaline pretreatment process of spodumene to improve particle floatability

Selective surface dissolution was found to be important in spodumene flotation. In this study, we proposed to introduce ultrasound into the pretreatment process to accelerate particle vibration and cavitation, as well as the migration of mineral surface components to solution. Micro-flotation results showed that the flotation recovery of spodumene can be 86.08% by ultrasound pretreatment, but only 39.30% by traditional mechanical agitation pretreatment. Compared with traditional mechanical agitation, ultrasonic pretreatment can shorten the pretreatment process, reduce the dosage of agents, reduce the mechanical agitation speed, and improve the efficiency of the pretreating process. Inductively coupled plasma analysis showed that, in the ultrasonic system, the amount of Li, Al, and Si species in the solution was twice as much as those in the traditional preprocessing system. Moreover, the scanning electron microscope results demonstrated a larger surface dissolution area in the ultrasonic system. X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy results showed that the atomic concentration of Si species on the spodumene surface decreased, whereas the relative atomic concentrations of Li and Al species increased, indicating that the ultrasound effect strengthened the selective dissolution of elements on the mineral surface.The high-resolution spectra of O 1s showed that more collectors are adsorbed on the mineral surface treated by ultrasonic pretreatment.

Effect of ultrasonic assisted KOH pretreatment on physiochemical characteristic and anaerobic digestion performance of wheat straw

In this study,ultrasonic field was applied during potassium hydroxide(KOH) pretreatment of wheat straw(WS).Three concentrations of KOH(2%,4%,and 6%) were tested during pretreatment.The results showed that there was a significant influence of the ultrasonic assisted KOH pretreatment(KOH(Upt)) on physiochemical characteristics of WS during pretreatment as well as on digester performance.The pretreatment time was optimized to 36 h for all KOH concentrations.The highest total volatile fatty acid(TVFA) productions(3189 mg·L^-1) from 6%KOHupt samples were observed.Similarly,the SEM analysis and FTIR observation revealed that KOH(Upt) effectively disrupted the physical morphology of WS and successful breaking of lignin and hemicellulose linkage between carboxyl groups.Moreover,the highest biogasification(555 ml·(g VS(loaded))^-1) and biomethane productions(282 ml·(g VS(loaded))^-1) from 4%KOH(Upt) digesters,with 69% of biodegradability,indicated significant availability of organic matter from KOH(Upt).The R^2 values(0.993-0.998) in Modified Gompertz Model indicated that the model was feasible to predict methane yield for this study.Similarly,the Bo values for 4%KOH(Upt)(283.30±2.74 ml·(gVS(loaded))^-1) were also in agreement to the experimental methane yield.These results suggested that ultrasonic addition during KOH pretreatment of WS can effectively increase the organic yield during pretreatment.Moreover,the increase in methane production from 4% KOH(Upt) suggested that digester performance can be improved with lower KOH concentrations using this pretreatment.

Intensified alkaline leaching pretreatment of refractory gold concentrates at common temperature and pressure

A new process for the hydrometallurgy of refractory gold concentrates was presented. The process comprises grinding leaching, intensified alkaline leaching (IAL), cyanidation and adsorption. In a stirring type pulverizing leaching tower mill, the concentrate is ground to <35.6 μm of 95.5 % while simultaneously leached by NaOH of 12 kg/t, then carried out intensified alkaline leaching for 48 h by NaOH of 108 kg/t in enhanced agitation tanks with the pulp concentration of 40% solids at the environmental temperature of 9.5 ～ 13.5 ℃ and the environmental pressure of 10 5 Pa. The oxidation rate of As is 94.9%, and 47.6% for S. The total consumption of NaOH is only 20% of that theoretically calculated under the conditions of full oxidation at the same oxidation rates of arsenic to arsenate and sulfur to sulfate. The gold leaching rate by NaCN in 24 h is increased from 9.2% before pretreatment to 94.2%. The consumption of NaCN is 7.5 kg/t, which is one times less than that before pretreatment. The extraction cost of gold is about 422 Yuan/t.

Effects of Ultrasonic and Acid Pretreatment on Food Waste Disintegration and Volatile Fatty Acid Production

This study aims at investigating the effects of ultrasonic and acid pretreatment on food waste( FW)disintegration and volatile fatty acid( VFA) production. Single-factor experiments are carried out to obtain optimal conditions of individual ultrasonic and acid pretreatment,and response surface method( RSM) is applied to optimize the conditions of the combination of ultrasonic and acid( UA) pretreatment. Results show that the optimal acid,ultrasonic and UA pretreatments conditions are individual pH 2,individual ultrasonic energy density of 1. 0 W / mL and the combination of ultrasonic energy density1. 11 W / mL and pH 1. 43,respectively. Correspondingly,the maximum disintegration degrees( DD) of 46. 90%,57. 38% and68. 83%are obtained by acid,ultrasonic and UA pretreatments,respectively. After optimizing pretreatment conditions,batch experiments are operated to produce VFA from raw and pretreated FW under anaerobic fermentation process. Both the maximum VFA production( 976. 17 mg COD / gV S) and VFA / SCOD( 72. 89%) are obtained with ultrasonic pretreatment, followed by UA pretreatment, non-pretreatment and acid pretreatment,respectively. This observation demonstrates that a higher acidity on acid and UA pretreatments inhibits the generation of VFA. Results suggest that ultrasonic pretreatment is preferable to promote the disintegration degree of FW and VFA production.

Key factors governing alkaline pretreatment of waste activated sludge

Alkaline pretreatment is an effective technology to disintegrate sewage sludge, where alkali dosage and sludge concentration are two important factors. p H value or alkali concentration is usually adjusted in order to determine a proper dosage of alkali. Our work has found that this is not a good strategy. A new parameter, the ratio of alkali to sludge(Ra/s), is more sensitive in controlling the alkali dosage. The sludge concentration Csand retention time t are two other important factors to consider. The validity of these arguments is confirmed with modeling and experiments. The individual effect of Ra/s, Csand t was studied separately. Then the combined effect of these three factors was evaluated. The sludge disintegration degree of 44.7% was achieved with the optimized factors. Furthermore, an alkaline-microwave combined pretreatment process was carried out under these optimized conditions. A high disintegration degree of 62.3% was achieved while the energy consumption of microwave was much lower than previously reported.

Effective separation of coal gasification fine slag: Role of classification and ultrasonication in enhancing flotation

Effective separation of residual carbon and ash is the basis for the resource utilization of coal gasification fine slag(CGFS).The conventional flotation process of CGFS has the bottlenecks of low carbon recovery and high collector dosage.In order to address these issues,CGFS sample taken from Shaanxi,China was used as the study object in this paper.A new process of size classification-fine grain ultrasonic pretreatment flotation(SC-FGUF)was proposed and its separation effect was compared with that of wholegrain flotation(WGF)as well as size classification-fine grain flotation(SC-FGF).The mechanism of its enhanced separation effect was revealed through flotation kinetic fitting,flotation flow foam layer stability,particle size composition,surface morphology,pore structure,and surface chemical property analysis.The results showed that compared with WGF,pre-classification could reduce the collector dosage by 84.09%and the combination of pre-classification and ultrasonic pretreatment could increase the combustible recovery by 17.29%and up to 93.46%.The SC-FGUF process allows the ineffective adsorption of coarse residual carbon to collector during flotation stage to be reduced by pre-classification,and the tightly embedded state of fine CGFS particles is disrupted and surface oxidizing functional group occupancy was reduced by ultrasonic pretreatment,thus carbon and ash is easier to be separated in the flotation process.In addition,some of the residual carbon particles were broken down to smaller sizes in the ultrasonic pretreatment,which led to an increase in the stability of flotation flow foam layer and a decrease in the probability of detachment of residual carbon particles from the bubbles.Therefore,SCFGUF could increase the residual carbon recovery and reduce the flotation collector dosage,which is an innovative method for carbon-ash separation of CGFS with good application prospect.

Study on cationic dye adsorption of bio-chars prepared from thermal-alkaline-pretreated sludge

Sludge bio-char(SC)and thermal-alkaline treated sludge bio-char(TSC)were prepared from municipal sewage sludge(RS)and thermal-alkaline treated sludge sediments(STAS)through fast pyrolysis under nitrogen existence condition to remove cationic red X-GRL(A)and cationic yellow X-6G(B)from aqueous solutions.Results of adsorption experiment show that the adsorption capacities of TSC are better than the adsorption capacities of SC.The highest adsorption capacity of 47.65 mg/g for A and 45.41mg/g for B are obtained by TSC in an isotherm experiment at 2.0 g/L dosage and 25°C temperature.TSC adsorption for the two kinds of cationic dyes can be well fitted by pseudo-second-order kinetics model and Langmuir isotherm model.

Effects of Ultrasound/Dilute H_2 SO_4 Pretreatment on Cellulase Activity of Corn Straw Liquid Fermentation

[ Objective] The aim was to study pretreatment of ultrasound enhancing dilute H2SO4 on cellulase activity of corn straw liquid fermentation and explore the pretretment＇ s optimal conditions. [ Method ] By using orthogonal test, the pretretment of ultrasound enhancing dilute H2SO4 on corn straw was studied, then straw was fermented as the sole carbon source. Finally, the cellulase activity in extracellular fermentation broth was determined. [Result] The results showed that cellulase activity in extracellular broth was greatest under the conditions of acid bath time 3 h, acid concentration 3.5%, ultrasonic power 150 W, and ultrasonic time 5 h. They were FPA 15.82 U/ml, Cx 39.9 U/ml, 13-Giu 55.94 U/ml respectively. [ Conclusion] Under the above conditions, extracellular cellulase production has a high stability.

Pretreatment and thiosulfate leaching of refractory gold-bearing arsenosulfide concentrates

A hydrometallurgical process for refractory gold-bearing arsenosulfide concentrates at ambient temperature and pressure was presented, including fine grinding with intensified alkali-leaching （FGIAL）, enhanced agitation alkali-leaching （EAAL）, thiosulfate leaching and displacement. Experimental results on a refractory gold concentrate showed that the total consumption of NaOH in alkaline leaching is only 41% of those theoretically calculated under the conditions of full oxidization for the same amount of arse- nides and sulfides transformed into arsenates and sulfates, and 72.3% of gold is synchro-dissoluted by thiosulfate self-generated during alkaline leaching. After alkaline leaching, thiosulfate leaching was carried out for 24 h. The dissolution of gold is increased to 91.9% from 4.6% by cyanide without the pretreatment. The displacement of gold by zinc powder in the solution gets to 99.2%. Due to an amount of thiosulfate self-generated during alkaline leaching, the reagent addition in thiosulfate leaching afterwards is lower than the normal.

Enhancing the total organic carbon measurement efficiency for water samples containing suspended solids using alkaline and ultrasonic pretreatment methods

In this study,we investigated the effect of sample pretreatments(ultrasonication and alkaline extraction)on total organic carbon(TOC)measurements for water samples containing suspended solids(SS)of four different origins(algae,soil,sewage sludge,and leaf litter)to more clearly assess the impact of particulate organic carbon(POC)in water.The effects each of ultrasonication(power,pulse,etc.)and alkaline extraction condition(concentration,time,etc.)on the TOC recovery and precision were investigated,and the results were compared with those of a new sample pre treatment method combining both methods.Alkaline treatment(0.01 mol/L NaOH)showed higher precision than ultrasonication(100/5 on/off pulse),and notably,the differences among the measured TOC values in samples of different origins were also further reduced in the alkaline treatment.This suggests that the ultrasonic pretreatment results can be mainly attributed to the increase in POC recovery through particle size reduction,whereas the alkaline treatment results are achieved through the enhancement of POC solubilization.It is also particularly noteworthy that a higher TOC recovery of 87.6%±7.4%with a higher precision of 8.4%could be obtained using the combined method,compared to each treatment(ultrasonic:TOC recovery 34.7%,relative standard deviation 63.1%;alkaline:49.6%and 23.0%,respectively).Thus,simultaneous pretreatment with ultrasonication and alkaline extraction is expected to increase the oxidation rate of organic matter and the homogeneity of the samples,minimizing the loss of POC measurement values,and thereby improving the reliability of the TOC measurements of water samples containing SS.

Biotreatment of Wastewater from Soda-pretreatment Process of Corn Stover Using White-rot Fungus Z-6

Alkaline pretreatment of straw materials prior to enzyme hydrolysis is a key step for bioconversion of lignocellulose to bioethanol and chemicals.Wastewater from the alkaline pretreatment process must be treated before discharge to minimize its environmental impact.In this study,biotreatment of the wastewater from soda-pretreatment process of corn stover was investigated using fungus Z-6,and some indexes such as color,chemical oxygen demand(COD),and lignin content of wastewater before and after biotreatment were determined to assess the effect of the biotreatment.Results showed that fungus treatment could remove color up to approximately 72%after 2 d,and decrease COD and lignin content by about 63%and 60%,respectively after 3 d.The wastewater was fractionated using dynamic ultrafiltration method,and the changes in lignin contents of the effluent fractions with different molecular weights before and after biotreatment were analyzed.Some compounds produced by the fungus during treatment were identified using gas chromatography-mass(GC-MS)spectrometer,which revealed that depolymerization of lignin occurred during the biotreatment process.

Enzymatic saccharification of cellulose using an ionic liquid [Amim] [COOH] pretreatment

In this study we used l-allyl-3-methyl imidazole formate （[Amim][COOH]） as ionic liquid to pre-treat the cellulose and determined the rate of polymerization and enzymatic hydrolysis. The results showed that pretreatment with （[Amim][COOH]） significantly decreased the cellulose polymerization. As the pretreatment temperature went up, the enzymatic hydrolysis rate was first increased and then decreased The maximal enzymatic hydrolysis rate was achieved when the pretreatment temperature was 90 ℃. Under the ultrasonic condition, the initial rate of enzmatic hydrolysis for the ionic liquid-treated cellulose was up to 11.10 gL-1h-1, which was 33% increase compared to the untreated cellulose. Scanning Electronic Microscopy （SEM） and Fourier Transform Infrared-Raman Spectroscop （FT-IR） analysis showed that ionic liquidtreated cellulose started to depolymerize. In addition, the cr3＇stallinity of the cellulose was significantly decreased after pretreatment with ionic liquid.

Effect of various aromatic compounds with different functional groups on enzymatic hydrolysis of microcrystalline cellulose and alkaline pretreated wheat straw

Low molecular aromatic compounds are detrimental to the enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellu-lose.However,the specific role of their functional groups remains unclear.Here,a series of nine aromatic compounds as additives were tested to understand their effect on the hydrolysis yield of microcrystalline cellulose(MCC)and alkaline pretreated wheat straw.Based on the results,the inhibition of aldehyde groups on MCC was greater than that of carboxyl groups,whereas for the alkaline pretreated wheat straw case,the inhibitory effect of aldehyde groups was lower than that of carboxyl groups.Increased methoxyl groups of aromatic compounds reduced the inhibitory ef-fect on enzymatic hydrolysis of both substrates.Stronger inhibition of aromatic compounds on MCC hydrolysis was detected in comparison with the alkaline pretreated wheat straw,indicating that the substrate lignin can offset the inhibition to a certain extent.Among all aromatic com-pounds,syringaldehyde with one aldehyde group and two methoxyl groups improved the glucan conversion of the alkaline pretreated wheat straw.

Effect of ultrasonic pretreatment on anaerobic digestion and its sludge dewaterability

To investigate the effect of ultrasonic pretreatment on anaerobic digestion and sludge dewaterability and further to probe into the influencing factors on sludge dewaterability,sludge flocs were stratified into four fractions： （1） slime;（2） loosely bound extracellular polymeric substances （LB-EPS）;（3） tightly bound EPS （TB-EPS）;and （4） EPS-free pellets.The results showed that ultrasonic pretreatment increased the anaerobic digestion efficiency by 7%–8%.Anaerobic digestion without ultrasonic pretreatment deteriorated the sludge dewaterability,with the capillary suction time （CST） increased from 1.42 to 47.3 （sec·L）/g-TSS.The application of ultrasonic pretreatment firstly deteriorated the sludge dewaterability （normalized CST increased to 44.4 （sec·L）/g-TSS）,while subsequent anaerobic digestion offset this effect and ultimately decreased the normalized CST to 23.2 （sec·L）/g-TSS.The dewaterability of unsonicated sludge correlated with protein （p = 0.003） and polysaccharide （p = 0.004） concentrations in the slime fraction,while that of sonicated sludge correlated with protein concentrations in the slime and LB-EPS fractions （p 0.05）.Fluorescent excitationemission matrix analysis showed that the fluorescence matters in the LB-EPS fraction significantly correlated with sludge dewaterability during anarobic digestion.

Enhanced anaerobic digestion and sludge dewaterability by alkaline pretreatment and its mechanism

To investigate the influences of alkaline pretreatment on anaerobic digestion （AD） and sludge dewaterability after AD, waste activated sludge was adjusted to different pH values （8, 9, 10, 1 1, 12） and placed at ambient temperature for 24 hr. The samples were then adjusted to the initial pH and subjected to 25 days of AD. The results showed that, when compared with the control （pH 6.8）, total suspended solids （TSS） and volatile suspended solids （VSS） reduction following pretreatment at pH 9-11 increased by 10.7%-13.1% and 6.5%- 12.8%, respectively, while biogas production improved by 7.2%-15.4%. Additionally, significant enhancement of sludge dewaterability after AD occurred when pretreatment at pH 8-9 was conducted. The proteins and carbohydrates transferred from the pellet and tightly bound extracellular polymeric substances （TB-EPS） fractions to the slime and loosely bound EPS （LB-EPS） fractions after pretreatment and during the AD process, and the concentrations of proteins and carbohydrates in the slime fraction had a good linear relationship with the normalized capillary suction time （CST）. During the AD process, the normalized CST was positively correlated with the organic materials in the loosely bound fraction of the sludge matrix （R2/〉 0.700, p 〈 0.01）, while it was negatively correlated with the organic materials in the tightly bound fraction （R2≥ 0.702, p 〈 0.01）. These results suggest that alkaline pretreatment could break the EPS matrix and release inner organic materials, thus influencing the efficiency of the AD process and dewaterability after AD.

Enhancement of thermophilic anaerobic digestion of thickened waste activated sludge by combined microwave and alkaline pretreatment

Pretreatment of thickened waste activated sludge （TWAS） by combined microwave and alkaline pretreatment （MAP） was studied to improve thermophilic anaerobic digestion efficiency. Uniform design was applied to determine the combination of target temperature （110-210°C）, microwave holding time （1-51 min）, and NaOH dose （0-2.5 g NaOH/g suspended solids （SS）） in terms of their effect on volatile suspended solids （VSS） solubilization. Maximum solubilization ratio （85.1%） of VSS was observed at 210°C with 0.2 g-NaOH/g-SS and 35 min holding time. The effects of 12 different pretreatment methods were investigated in 28 thermophilic batch reactors by monitoring cumulative methane production （CMP）. Improvements in methane production in the TWAS were directly related to the microwave and alkaline pretreatment of the sludge. The highest CMP was a 27% improvement over the control. In spite of the increase in soluble chemical oxygen demand concentration and the decrease in dewaterability of digested sludge, a semi-continuous thermophilic reactor fed with pretreated TWAS without neutralization （at 170~C with 1 min holding time and 0.05 g NaOH/g SS） was stable and functioned well, with volatile solid （VS） and total chemical oxygen demand （TCOD） reductions of 28% and 18%, respectively, which were higher than those of the control system. Additionally, methane yields （L@STP/g-CODaded, at standard temperature and pressure （STP） conditions of 0°C and 101.325 kPa） and （L@STP/g VSadad） increased by 17% and 13%, respectively, comoared to the control reactor.

Producing durable pellets from barley straw subjected to radio frequency-alkaline and steam explosion pretreatments

Pelletization,a form of densification,increases bulk density and improves the convenience and accessibility of biomass feedstock due to the uniform shape and size.Pretreatment of biomass enhances the breakdown and accessibility of the cross-linking lignin,which acts as a binding agent.In this study,pelletization of radio frequency-alkaline and steam explosion pretreated barley straw was performed.Three levels of temperature(70oC,80oC,and 90oC),five levels of the mass ratio of biomass to NaOH solution(1:4,1:5,1:6,1:7,and 1:8),one hour equilibration time,biomass screen size of 1.6 mm,1%NaOH concentration,and 20 min residence time in the radio frequency chamber were used for the radio frequency-alkaline pretreatment.Three levels of steam temperature(140oC,160oC,and 180oC),three levels of moisture content of 8%,30%,and 50%(mass fraction of total mass),and 5 min and 10 min exposure to steam were tested for the steam explosion pretreatment.The effects of both pretreatment methods were evaluated by pelletizing the pretreated and non-pretreated barley straw samples in a single pelleting unit.The pellet density,tensile strength,durability,dimensional stability,and color of the pellets were determined.Radio frequency-alkaline pretreatment with the use of 1%NaOH solution and a ratio of biomass:NaOH solution of 1:8 has significant effect(P<0.05)on the breakdown of the lignified matrix,resulting in pellets with superior physical characteristics.The steam exploded samples pretreated at higher temperatures(180ºC)and retention time of 10 min resulted into pellets with good physical qualities.

Performance of alkaline pretreatment on pathogens inactivation and sludge solubilization

Inactivation of pathogen indicators(i.e.,faecal coliforms,Salmonella spp.,faecal streptococcus,and helminth eggs)were investigated during alkaline pretreatment(pH=10 and 12)in this study.The performance of alkaline pretreatment on the inactivation pathogens,kinetic of pathogens inactivation and sludge solubilization was evaluated.Results of alkaline pretreatment showed that the complete inactivation periods of pathogens time were 1.5 d,1.5 d,2 d,2.5 d,3 d,3 d and 3 d for faecal sludge total solids(TS)of 1%,2%,4%,6%,8%,10%and 12%,respectively.The kinetics of pathogen inactivation can be predicted better by Weibull than the first-order model.Meanwhile,the relationship between alkaline pretreatment time and the TS content of the sludge agrees with the exponential equation(y=1.3543e10.002x,1%≤x≤8%)and logarithmic equation(y=3,8%≤x≤12%).Furthermore,alkaline pretreatment can improve sludge solubilization and has a more significant effect on protein solubilization than on soluble chemical oxygen demand(SCOD).

超声波和碱性蛋白酶处理对克氏原螯虾脱壳及虾仁品质的影响

为研究超声波和碱性蛋白酶处理对克氏原螯虾脱壳及虾仁品质的影响,通过壳分离功、虾仁得率、虾仁质构、色泽、气味、嫩度、离心损失、肌原纤维蛋白含量等指标进行分析,确定克氏原螯虾脱壳的最佳前处理方式。结果表明:相对于传统加工方式,0.5%碱性蛋白酶和300 W超声波联合处理,能有效降低壳分离功21.8%,提高虾仁得率31%,并且显著提高了虾仁的嫩度和肌原纤维蛋白含量,硬度有所下降,气味和色泽方面无显著变化,研究结果为克氏原螯虾加工工艺的优化提供参考。