Advanced treatment of municipal wastewater by nanofiltration： Operational optimization and membrane fouling analysis

Municipal sewage from an oxidation ditch was treated for reuse by nanofiltration（NF） in this study. The NF performance was optimized, and its fouling characteristics after different operational durations（i.e., 48 and 169 hr） were analyzed to investigate the applicability of nanofiltration for water reuse. The optimum performance was achieved when transmembrane pressure = 12 bar, p H = 4 and flow rate = 8 L/min using a GE membrane. The permeate water quality could satisfy the requirements of water reclamation for different uses and local standards for water reuse in Beijing. Flux decline in the fouling experiments could be divided into a rapid flux decline and a quasi-steady state. The boundary flux theory was used to predict the evolution of permeate flux. The expected operational duration based on the 169-hr experiment was 392.6 hr which is 175% longer than that of the 48-hr one. High molecular weight（MW） protein-like substances were suggested to be the dominant foulants after an extended period based on the MW distribution and the fluorescence characteristics. The analyses of infrared spectra and extracellular polymeric substances revealed that the roles of both humic- and polysaccharide-like substances were diminished, while that of protein-like substances were strengthened in the contribution of membrane fouling with time prolonged. Inorganic salts were found to have marginally influence on membrane fouling. Additionally, alkali washing was more efficient at removing organic foulants in the long term, and a combination of water flushing and alkali washing was appropriate for NF fouling control in municipal sewage treatment.

Influence of phenol on ammonia removal in an intermittent aeration bioreactor treating biologically pretreated coal gasification wastewater

A laboratory-scale intermittent aeration bioreactor was investigated to treat biologically pretreated coal gasification wastewater that was mainly composed of NH_3-N and phenol.The results showed that increasing phenol loading had an adverse effect on NH_3-N removal;the concentration in effluent at phenol loading of 40 mg phenol/（L·day） was 7.3 mg/L, 36.3%of that at 200 mg phenol/（L·day）. The enzyme ammonia monooxygenase showed more sensitivity than hydroxylamine oxidoreductase to the inhibitory effect of phenol, with32.2% and 10.5% activity inhibition, respectively at 200 mg phenol/（L·day）. Owing to intermittent aeration conditions, nitritation-type nitrification and simultaneous nitrification and denitrification（SND） were observed, giving a maximum SND efficiency of 30.5%.Additionally, ammonia oxidizing bacteria（AOB） and denitrifying bacteria were the main group identified by fluorescent in situ hybridization. However, their relative abundance represented opposite variations as phenol loading increased, ranging from 30.1% to 17.5%and 7.6% to 18.2% for AOB and denitrifying bacteria, respectively.

Removal of fluorescence and ultraviolet absorbance of dissolved organic matter in reclaimed water by solar light

Storing reclaimed water in lakes is a widely used method of accommodating changes in the consumption of reclaimed water during wastewater reclamation and reuse. Solar light serves as an important function in degrading pollutants during storage, and its effect on dissolved organic matter（DOM） was investigated in this study. Solar light significantly decreased the UV_（254） absorbance and fluorescence（FLU） intensity of reclaimed water.However, its effect on the dissolved organic carbon（DOC） value of reclaimed water was very limited. The decrease in the UV_（254） absorbance intensity and FLU excitation–emission matrix regional integration volume（FLU volume） of reclaimed water during solar light irradiation was fit with pseudo-first order reaction kinetics. The decrease of UV_（254） absorbance was much slower than that of the FLU volume. Ultraviolet light in solar light had a key role in decreasing the UV_（254） absorbance and FLU intensity during solar light irradiation. The light fluence-based removal kinetic constants of the UV_（254） and FLU intensity were independent of light intensity. The peaks of the UV_（254） absorbance and FLU intensity with an apparent molecular weight（AMW） of 100 Da to 2000 Da decreased after solar irradiation, whereas the DOC value of the major peaks did not significantly change.