Complete removal of phenolic contaminants from bismuth-modified TiO2 single-crystal photocatalysts

Exploring low-cost and highly active photocatalysts is very urgent to accomplish complete removal of phenolic contaminants and overcome the limitations of the existing photocatalysts.In this study,we designed and synthesized noble metal-free TiO2 photocatalysts by introducing bismuth nanoparticles as modifiers of a TiO2 single crystal(Bi-SCTiO2).The Bi-SCTiO2 can make full use of the synergistic effect of a small band overlap and low charge carrier density(Bi)with a high conductivity(single crystal),significantly boosting the separation and migration of the photogenerated charge pairs.Therefore,the Bi-SCTiO2 photocatalyst exhibits a significantly enhanced degradation rate(12 times faster)of 4-nitrophenol than a TiO2 single crystal under simulated sunlight irradiation.Notably,the complete removal of phenolic contaminants is achieved in various water matrices,which not only successfully overcomes the incomplete degradation in many reported photocatalytic systems,but also manifests a significant practical potential for sewage disposal.Therefore,this work presents a new insight in designing and constructing noble metal-free decorated semiconductor single-crystal photocatalysts with excellent activity and cyclability.

全程自养生物脱氮工艺机理及影响因素分析

全程自养生物脱氮工艺(completely autotrophic nitrogen removal over nitrite,CANON)具备有机碳源投加少、能耗低、占地面积小、操作简单等优点,成为污水处理领域的重要研究对象。因此综述了全程自养生物脱氮工艺的机理、影响因素,分析了温度、pH、溶解氧(dissolved oxygen,DO)、基质浓度等因素对脱氮效果的影响,为全程自养生物脱氮工艺优化提供参考。

Performance of a completely autotrophic nitrogen removal over nitrite process for treating wastewater with different substrates at ambient temperature

The stability and parameters of a bio-ceramic filter for completely autotrophic nitrogen removal were investigated. The completely autotrophic nitrogen removal over nitrite （CANON） reactor was fed with different concentrations of ammonia （400, 300, and 200 mg N/L） but constant influent ammonia load. The results showed that the CANON system can achieve good treatment performance at ambient temperature （15-23℃）. The average removal rate and removal loading of NH4＋-N and TN was 83.90%, 1.26 kg N/（m3.day）, and 70.14%, 1.09 kg N/（m3.day）, respectively. Among the influencing factors like pH, dissolved oxygen and alkalinity, it was indicated that the pH was the key parameter of the performance of the CANON system. Observing the variation of pH would contribute to better control of the CANON system in an intuitive and fast way. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis analysis of microorganisms further revealed that there were some significant changes in the community structure of ammonium oxidizing bacteria, which had low diversity in different stages, while the species of anaerobic ammonium oxidizing （anammox） bacteria were fewer and the community composition was relatively stable. These observations showed that anaerobic ammonia oxidation was more stable than the aerobic ammonia oxidation, which could explain that why the CANON system maintained a good removal efficiency under the changing substrate conditions.

Performance of completely autotrophic nitrogen removal over nitrite process under different aeration modes and dissolved oxygen

In this study,three sequential batch biofilm reactors(SBBRs)were operated for 155 days to evaluate the performance of completely autotrophic nitrogen removal over nitrite(CANON)process under different aeration modes and dissolved oxygen(DO).Synthetic wastewater with 160-mg NH_(4)^(+)-N/L was fed into the reactors.In the continuously-aerated reactor,the efficiency of the ammonium nitrogen conversion and total nitrogen(TN)removal reached 80% and 70%,respectively,with DO between 0.8–1.0 mg/L.Whereas in the intermittently-aerated reactor,at the aeration/non-aeration ratio of 1.0,ammonium was always under the detection limit and 86% of TN was removed with DO between 2.0–2.5 mg/L during the aeration time.Results show that CANON could be achieved in both continuous and intermittent aeration pattern.However,to achieve the same nitrogen removal efficiency,the DO needed in the intermittently-aerated sequential batch biofilm reactor(SBBR)during the aeration period was higher than that in the continuously-aerated SBBR.In addition,the DO in the CANON system should be adjusted to the aeration mode,and low DO was not a prerequisite to CANON process.