New insight into adsorption characteristics and mechanisms of the biosorbent from waste activated sludge for heavy metals

The adsorption characteristics and mechanisms of the biosorbent from waste activated sludge were investigated by adsorbing Pb2＋and Zn2＋in aqueous single-metal solutions. A p H value of the metal solutions at 6.0 was beneficial to the high adsorption quantity of the biosorbent. The optimal mass ratio of the biosorbent to metal ions was found to be 2. A higher adsorption quantity of the biosorbent was achieved by keeping the reaction temperature below 55°C. Response surface methodology was applied to optimize the biosorption processes, and the developed mathematical equations showed high determination coefficients（above 0.99 for both metal ions） and insignificant lack of fit（p = 0.0838 and 0.0782 for Pb2＋and Zn2＋, respectively）. Atomic force microscopy analyses suggested that the metal elements were adsorbed onto the biosorbent surface via electrostatic interaction. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses indicated the presence of complexation（between –NH2,-CN and metal ions） and ion-exchange（between –COOH and metal ions）. The adsorption mechanisms could be the combined action of electrostatic interaction, complexation and ion-exchange between functional groups and metal ions.

Effect of biomass addition on the surface and adsorption characterization of carbon-based adsorbents from sewage sludge

Sewage sludge with the additive corn cob was used as prescusor to prepare sludge-based carbon adsorbents by pyrolysis method. And then, the carbonizated products were activated with potassium hydroxide. The mixing ratio of the corn cob to sewage sludge was investigated. The surface area and pore size distribution, elemental composition, surface chemistry structure and the surface physical morphology were determined and compared. The results demonstrated that the addition of corn cob into the sewage sludge sample could effectively improve the surface area （from 287 to 591 m 2 /g） and the microporosity （from 5% to 48%） of the carbon based adsorbent, thus enhancing the adsorption behavior. The sulfur dioxide adsorption capacity was measured according to breakthrough test. It was found that the sulfur dioxide adsorption capacity of the adsorbents was obviously enhanced after the addition of the corn cob. It is presumed that not only highly porous adsorbents, but also a high metallic content of these materials are required to achieve good performances.

Coagulation efficiency and flocs characteristics of recycling sludge during treatment of low temperature and micro-polluted water

Drinking water treatment sludge,characterized as accumulated suspended solids and organic and inorganic matter,is produced in large quantities during the coagulation process.The proper disposal,regeneration or reuse of sludge is,therefore,a significant environmental issue.Reused sludge at low temperatures is an alternative method to enhance traditional coagulation efficiency.In the present study,the recycling mass of mixed sludge and properties of raw water （such as pH and turbidity） were systematically investigated to optimize coagulation efficiency.We determined that the appropriate dosage of mixed sludge was 60 mL/L,effective initial turbidity ranges were below 45.0 NTU,and optimal pH for DOMs and turbidity removal was 6.5-7.0 and 8.0,respectively.Furthermore,by comparing the flocs characteristics with and without recycling sludge,we found that floc structures with sludge were more irregular with average size growth to 64.7 μm from 48.1 μm.Recycling sludge was a feasible and successful method for enhancing pollutants removal,and the more irregular flocs structure after recycling might be caused by breakage of reused flocs and incorporation of powdered activated carbon into larger flocs structure.Applied during the coagulation process,recycling sludge could be significant for the treatment of low temperature and micro-polluted source water.

Zero-valent iron doped carbons readily developed from sewage sludge for lead removal from aqueous solution

Low-cost but high-efficiency composites of iron-containing porous carbons were prepared using sewage sludge and ferric salts as raw materials. Unlike previous time- and energy-consuming manufacturing procedures, this study shows that pyrolyzing a mixture of sludge and ferric salt can produce suitable composites for lead adsorption. The specific surface area, the total pore volume and the average pore width of the optimal composite were 321 m^2/g, 0.25 cm^3/g, and 3.17 nm, respectively. X-ray diffraction analysis indicated that ferric salt favored the formation of metallic iron, while Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy revealed the formation of hydroxyl and carboxylic groups. The result of batch tests indicated that the adsorption capacity of carbons activated with ferric salt could be as high as 128.9 mg/g, while that of carbons without activation was 79.1 mg/g. The new manufacturing procedure used in this study could save at least 19.5 k J of energy per gram of activated carbon.