Study on anaerobic co-digestion with distillery wastewater to improve the dewatering property of the secondary sludge

This paper presents the results obtained for the effluent dewatering properties of anaerobic digestion of secondary sludge （SS） and anaerobic co-digestion of mixture of this sludge with the distillery wastewater （DW） under thermophilic （55±1 ℃）, 5 L of working volume, three parallel lab-scale conditions. Its mixtures were prepared with a DW content of 25%and 50% and the C/N ratios of mixtures are 13.1 and 17.6, respectively. The effluent dewatering properties were evaluated under stable conditions which the biogas yield and the effluent pH were steady. The natural settleability, biogas yield, centrifugal dewatering, centrifugal supernatant turbidity and specific resistance filtration （SRF） were investigated. The results showed that the effluent dewatering properties of anaerobic co-digestion of mixtures between SS and DW were better than that of anaerobic digestion of SS alone. In the anaerobic digestion system with the feed were SS, mixture of SS and a DW content of 25%and 50% in order, the net biogas yield of secondary sludge in ADSA,ADSB and ADSC were 0.42 0.507 and 0.511 m3 biogass/kg.VS.d ; compared with the biogas yield in anaerobic digestion system A （ADSA）, the biogas yield in anaerobic digestion system B （ADSB） and anaerobic digestion system C （ADSC） had been increased by more than 20% respectively; the SRF of three digested sludge are（were） from 6.8×10^13, 1. 1×10^13 to 5.1×10^12 m/Kg, natural settling rates of 12 h are 26, 37 and 56% and that of 24 h are 32%, 45% and 59% respectively; the centrifugal dewatering rate of 3 min at speed of 1000 rpm were 16%, 31% and 51% respectively; the turbidity of centrifugal supernatant were 804, 754 and 678FTU simultaneously.

Pentachlorophenol degradation by Pseudomonas stutzeri CL7 in the secondary sludge of pulp and paper mill

A pentachlorophenol （PCP） mineralizing bacterium was isolated from the secondary sludge of pulp and paper mill and identified as Pseudomonas stutzeri strain CL7. This isolate used PCP as its sole source of carbon and energy and was capable of degrading this compound as indicated by stoichiometric release of chloride and biomass formation. P. stutzeri （CL7） was able to mineralize a high concentration of PCP （600 mg/L） than any previously reported Pseudomonad with PCP as sole carbon source. As the concentration of PCP increased from 50 to 600 mg/L, the reduction in the cell growth was observed and the PCP degradation was more than 90% in all studied concentrations. This isolate was able to remove 66.8% of PCP from the secondary sludge of pulp and paper mill when supplemented with 100 mg/L of PCP and grown for two weeks. This study showed that the removal efficiency of PCP by CL7 was found to be very effective and can be used in PCP remediation of pulp paper mill waste in the environment.

Modeling and Optimization of Lipid Extraction Process from Municipal Secondary Sludge for Biodiesel Production

In the current study,the potentiality and optimization of lipid extraction from secondary sludge for biodiesel production were investigated.Four lipid extraction parameters were examined and used for process optimization and model development using Design of Experiment(DoE)method(namely methanol to hexane ratio-%,solvent to sludge ratio-ml/g,temperature-oC and extraction time-h).During the optimization process,free fatty acid(FFA)and saponifiable lipids(SLs)content of the extracted lipid were analyzed.The results revealed that,the maximum lipid extraction yield(Ylipid)predicted through numerically optimized conditions by the model for highest desirability(0.99)was 16.5%at methanol to hexane ratio(%)of 84%,solvent to sludge ratio(v/wt)of 45 ml/g,temperature at 90℃ for 6 hours extraction time.The extracted lipid contained a maximum amount of 31%(wt/wt)FFA,where palmatic acid was predominant.The FAMEs yield produced from ex-situ acid-catalyzed esterification/transesterification of the methanol-hexane co-solvent extracted lipid ranged between 4.5-5%(wt/wt)based on sludge weight.Fatty acid profile of FAMEs was found to be dominated by methyl palmitate(C16:0)representing 36%of FAMEs composition,followed by palmitoleic acid methyl ester(C16:1),oleic acid methyl ester(C18:1)and stearic acid methyl ester(C18:1)representing 24%,18%and 10%of the FFA composition respectively.PCA analysis showed that solvent to sludge ratio(ml/g)has the highest significant positive effect on FAMEs yield(p-value<0.05)where methanol to hexane ratio(X1),temperature(X3)and extraction time(X4)were inversely correlated with FAMEs yield.The results indicated the feasibility of using secondary sludge as an alternative feedstock for biodiesel production.However,the optimized conditions for maximizing extracted lipid content should not be considered suitable for FAMEs yield as well.

Simple model of sludge thickening process in secondary settlers

In wastewater treatment plants （WWTPs）, a secondary settler acts as a clarifier, sludge thickener, and sludge storage tank during peak flows and therefore plays an important role in the performance of the activated sludge process. Sludge thickening occurs in the lower portions of secondary clarifiers during their operation. In this study, by detecting the hindered zone from the complete thickening process of activated sludge, a simple model for the sludge thickening velocity, us = aXb （ a =0.9925SSFI3.5, b = - 3.5411n（ SS VI3.5 ） ＋12.973）, describing the potential and performance of activated sludge thickening in the hindered zone was developed. However, sludge thickening in the compression zone was not studied because sludge in the compression zone showed limited thickening. This empirical model was developed using batch settling data obtained from four WWTPs and validated using measured data from a fifth WWTP to better study sludge thickening. To explore different sludge settling and thickening mechanisms, the curves of sludge thickening and sludge settling were compared. Finally, it was found that several factors including temperature, stirring, initial depth, and polymer conditioning can lead to highly concentrated return sludge and biomass in a biologic reactor.