Study on the Treatment of High Strength Ammonia Wastewater by Using Inner Circulation Impinging Stream Biofilm Reactor

[Objective] The treatment effect of inner circulation impinging stream biofilm reactor(ICISBR) on high strength ammonia wastewater was studied.[Method] By means of ICISBR,high strength ammonia wastewater was treated by using corncob as biological carrier,and the effect of C/N and dissolved oxygen(DO) on the removal effect of chemical oxygen demand(COD) and ammonia nitrogen(NH+4-N) were discussed in our paper.[Result] When NH+4-N and DO in effluent water were 200 and 2 mg/L,respectively,the removal effect of COD was not affected obviously whether C/N was 1.0 or 1.5,reaching above 92%;when C/N was 1.5,the average removal rate of COD and NH+4-N were the highest,namely 92.7% and 41.2%,respectively;when C/N was 2.0,the average removal rate of COD and NH+4-N decreased obviously to 20% and 10%;when C/N and NH+4-N were 1.5 and 200 mg/L,DO had little effects on the removal of COD and great effects on the removal of NH+4-N,namely the removal rate of NH+4-N decreased to 17.1% from 46.4% with the reduction of DO concentration from 4 to 1 mg/L.[Conclusion] Our study could provide theoretical basis for the treatment of high strength ammonia wastewater.

Simultaneously energy production and dairy wastewater treatment using bioelectrochemical cells： In different environmental and hydrodynamic modes

A successful design, previously adapted for treatment of complex wastewaters in a microbial fuel cell （MFC）, was used to fabricate two MFCs, with a few changes for cost reduction and ease of construction. Performance and electrochemical characteristics of MFCs were evaluated in different environmental conditions （in complete darkness and presence of light）, and different flow patterns of batch and continuous in four hydraulic retention times from 8 to 30 h. Changes in chemical oxygen demand, and nitrate and phosphate concentrations were evaluated. In contrast to the microbial fuel cell operated in darkness （D-MFC） with a stable open circuit voltage of 700 mV, presence of light led to growth of other species, and consecutively low and unsteady open circuit voltage. Although the performance of the MFC subjected to light （L-MFC） was quite low and unsteady in dynamic state （internal resistance = 100 Ω, power density = 5.15 W.m-3）. it reached power density of 9.2 W.m-3 which was close to performance of D-MFC （internal resistance = 50 d, power density = 10.3 W.m-3）. Evaluated only for D-MFC, the coulombic efficiency observed in batch mode （30%） was quite higher than the maximum acquired in continuous mode （9.6%） even at the highest hydraulic retention time. In this study, changes in phosphate and different types of nitrogen existing in dairy wastewater were investigated for the first time. At hydraulic retention time of 8 h, the orthophosphate concentration in effluent was 84% higher compared to influent. Total nitrogen and total Kjeldahl nitrogen were reduced 70% and 99% respectively at hydraulic retention time of 30 h, while nitrate and nitrite concentrations increased. The microbial electrolysis cell （MEC）, revamped from D-MEC, showed the maximum gas production of 0.2 m3 H2·m-3·d-1 at 700 mV applied voltage.

Preparation of a novel lactose-lignin hydrogel catalyst with self-reduction capacity for nitrogenous wastewater treatment

A novel carboxylated lactose/sodium lignosulfonate/polyacrylic acid hydrogel composites with self-reduction capacity was successfully synthesized by self-assembly method.The hydrogel with well-developed porous structure provided abundant anchoring points and reduction capacity for transforming Ag^(+)into silver nanoparticles.Silver nanoparticles dispersed among the network of hydrogel and the composites exhibited catalytic capacity.The catalytic performance was evaluated via degradation of p-nitrophenol,rhodamine B,methyl orange and methylene blue,which were catalyzed with corresponding reaction rate constants of 0.04338,0.07499,0.04891,and 0.00628 s^(–1),respectively.In addition,the catalyst exhibited stable performance under fixed-bed condition and the corresponding conversion rate still maintained more than 80%after 540 min.Moreover,the catalytic performance still maintained effective in tap water and simulated seawater.The catalytic efficiency still remained 99.7%with no significant decrease after 8 cycles.

Algal uptake of dissolved organic nitrogen in wastewater treatment plants

The algal uptake of dissolved organic nitrogen （DON） in the anaerobic-anoxic-oxic （A20） process was investigated in this study. Anaerobic, aerobic and effluent DON samples from two wastewater treatment plants （WWTPs） were separated into hydrophilic and hydrophobic fractions using a DAX-8 resin coupled with an anion exchange resin and a nanofiltration （NF） pretreatment Hydrophilic DON accounted for 66.66%-88.74% of the entire DON for the two plants evaluated. After a 1S-day incubation, 16.95%-91.75% DON was bioavailable for algal growth, and untreated samples exhibited higher DON bioavailability, with 52.83% DON average uptake rates, compared with the hydrophilic and hydrophobic fractions （45.53% and 44.40%, respectively） because the pretreatment caused the inorganic salt to be resistant to algae. Anaerobic untreated samples, hydrophilic fractions and hydrophobic fractions showed higher DON reduction rates and higher biomass accumulation compared with the other DON fractions due to the decomposition of resistant organics by anaerobic and anoxic bacteria. DON in aerobic and effluent samples of plant A was more bioavailable than that of plant B with usages of 27.49%-55.26% DON. DON bioavailability in the anaerobic-anoxic-oxic process decreased in the following order： anaerobic 〉 effluent 〉 aerobic. The DON contents were reduced after anaerobic treatment in the two plants. The EEM-PARAFAC model identified three DON components, including two humic acid-like substances and one protein-like substance in plant A and two protein-like substances and one humic acid-like substance in plant B.

Nitrogen removal from coal gasification wastewater by activated carbon technologies combined with short-cut nitrogen removal process

A system combining granular activated carbon and powdered activated carbon technologies along with shortcut biological nitrogen removal （GAC-PACT-SBNR） was developed to enhance total nitrogen （TN） removal for anaerobically treated coal gasification wastewater with less need for external carbon resources. The TN removal efficiency in SBNR was significantly improved by introducing the effluent from the GAC process into SBNR during the anoxic stage, with removal percentage increasing from 43.8%49.6% to 68.8%-75.8%. However, the TN removal rate decreased with the progressive deterioration of GAC adsorption. After adding activated sludge to the GAG compartment, the granular carbon had a longer service-life and the demand for external carbon resources became lower. Eventually, the TN removal rate in SBNR was almost constant at approx. 43.3%, as compared to approx. 20.0% before seeding with sludge. In addition, the production of some alkalinity during the denitrification resulted in a net savings in alkalinity requirements for the nitrification reaction and refractory chemical oxygen demand （COD） degradation by autotrophic bacteria in SBNR under oxic conditions. PACT showed excellent resilience to increasing organic loadings. The microbial community analysis revealed that the PACT had a greater variety of bacterial taxons and the dominant species associated with the three compartments were in good agreement with the removal of typical pollutants. The study demonstrated that pre-adsorption by the GAC-sludge process could be a technically and economically feasible method to enhance TN removal in coal gasification wastewater （CGW）.

Nitrogen mass balance in a constructed wetland treating piggery wastewater effluent

The nitrogen changes and the nitrogen mass balance in a free water surface flow constructed wetland （CW） using the four-year monitoring data from 2008 to 2012 were estimated. The CW was composed of six cells in series that include the first settling basin （Cell 1）, aeration pond （Cell 2）, deep marsh （Cell 3）, shallow marsh （Cell 4）, deep marsh （Cell 5） and final settling basin （Cell 6）. Analysis revealed that the NH4＋-N concentration decreased because of ammonification which was then followed by nitrification. The NO4＋-N and NO4＋-N were also further reduced by means of microbial activities and plant uptake during photosynthesis. The average nitrogen concentration at the influent was 37,819 kg/year and approximately 45% of that amount exited the CW in the effluent. The denitrification amounted to 34% of the net nitrogen input, whereas the accretion of sediment was only 7%. The biomass uptake of plants was able to retain only 1% of total nitrogen load. In order to improve the nutrient removal by plant uptake, plant coverage in four cells （i.e., Cells 1, 3, 4 and 5） could be increased.

Bioavailability of wastewater derived dissolved organic nitrogen to green microalgae Selenastrum capricornutum,Chlamydomonas reinhardtii,and Chlorella vulgaris with/without presence of bacteria

Effluent dissolved organic nitrogen（DON） is problematic in nutrient sensitive surface waters and needs to be reduced to meet demanding total dissolved nitrogen discharge limits.Bioavailable DON（ABDON） is a portion of DON utilized by algae or algae ＋ bacteria,while biodegradable DON（BDON） is a portion of DON decomposable by bacteria.ABDON and BDON in a two-stage trickling filter（TF） wastewater treatment plant was evaluated using three different microalgal species,Selenastrum capricornutum,Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and Chlorella vulgaris and mixed cultured bacteria.Results showed that up to80% of DON was bioavailable to algae or algae ＋ bacteria inoculum while up to 60% of DON was biodegradable in all the samples.Results showed that C.reinhardtii and C.vulgaris can be used as a test species the same as S.capricornutum since there were no significant differences among these three algae species based on their ability to remove nitrogen species.

Advantages of intermittently aerated SBR over conventional SBR on nitrogen removal for the treatment of digested piggery wastewater

An intermittently aerated sequencing batch reactor （IASBR） and a traditional sequencing batch reactor （SBR） were parallelly constructed to treat digested piggery wastewater, which was in high NH4＋ -N concentration but in a low COD/TN ratio. Their pollutant removal perfonnance was compared under COD/TN ratios of 1.6-3.4 d and hydraulic retention times of 5 3 d. The results showed that the IASBR removed TN, NH4＋-N and TOC more efficiently than the SBR. The average removal rates of TN, NH4＋-N and TOC were 83.1%, 96.5%, and 89.0%, respectively, in the IASBR, significantly higher than the corresponding values of 74.8%, 82.0%, and 86.2%. in the SBR. Mass balance of organic carbon revealed that the higher TN removal in the IASBR might be attributed to its efficient utilization of the organic carbon for denitrification, since that 48.7%- 52.2% of COD was used for denitrification in the IASBR, higher than the corresponding proportion of 43.1%-47.4% in the SBR. A prc-anoxic process in the IASBR would enhance the ammonium oxidation while restrict the nitrite oxidation. Anoxic duration of 40-80 min should be beneficial for achieving stable nitritation.

Characterization of the genes involved in nitrogen cycling in wastewater treatment plants using DNA microarray and most probable number-PCR

To improve nitrogen removal performance of wastewater treatment plants （WWTPs）, it is essential to understand the behavior of nitrogen cycling communities, which comprise various microorganisms. This study characterized the quantity and diversity of nitrogen cycling genes in various processes of municipal WWTPs by employing two molecular-based methods：most probable number-polymerase chain reaction （MPN-PCR） and DNA microarray. MPN-PCR analysis revealed that gene quantities were not statistically different among processes, suggesting that conventional actwated sludge processes （CAS） are similar to nitrogen removal processes in their ability to retain an adequate population of nitrogen cycling microorganisms. Furthermore, most processes in the WWTPs that were researched shared a pattern：the nitS and the bacterial amoA genes were more abundant than the nirK and archaeal amoA genes, respectivelv. DNA microarray analysis revealed that several kinds of nitrification and denitrification genes were detected in both CAS and anaerobic-oxic processes （AO）, whereas limited genes were detected in nitrogen removal processes. Results of this study suggest that CAS maintains a diverse community of nitrogen cycling microorganisms; moreover, the microbial communities in nitrogen removal processes may be specific.

Low-temperature conversion of ammonia to nitrogen in water with ozone over composite metal oxide catalyst

As one of the most important water pollutants, ammonia nitrogen emissions have increased year by year, which has attracted people＇s attention. Catalytic ozonation technology, which involves production of ·OH radical with strong oxidation ability, is widely used in the treatment of organic-containing wastewater. In this work, MgO-Co3O4 composite metal oxide catalysts prepared with different fabrication conditions have been systematically evaluated and compared in the catalytic ozonation of ammonia（50 mg/L） in water. In terms of high catalytic activity in ammonia decomposition and high selectivity for gaseous nitrogen, the catalyst with MgO-Co3O4 molar ratio 8：2, calcined at 500°C for 3 hr, was the best one among the catalysts we tested, with an ammonia nitrogen removal rate of 85.2% and gaseous nitrogen selectivity of44.8%. In addition, the reaction mechanism of ozonation oxidative decomposition of ammonia nitrogen in water with the metal oxide catalysts was discussed. Moreover, the effect of coexisting anions on the degradation of ammonia was studied, finding that SO2-4 and HCO-3 could inhibit the catalytic activity while CO2-3 and Br-could promote it. The presence of coexisting cations had very little effect on the catalytic ozonation of ammonia nitrogen. After five successive reuses, the catalyst remained stable in the catalytic ozonation of ammonia.

Characteristics of microbial community functional structure of a biological coking wastewater treatment system

Nitrogenous heterocyclic compounds are key pollutants in coking wastewater; however, the functional potential of microbial communities for biodegradation of such contaminants during biological treatment is still elusive. Herein, a high throughput functional gene array（Geo Chip 5.0）in combination with Illumina Hi Seq2500 sequencing was used to compare and characterize the microbial community functional structure in a long run（500 days） bench scale bioreactor treating coking wastewater, with a control system treating synthetic wastewater. Despite the inhibitory toxic pollutants, Geo Chip 5.0 detected almost all key functional gene（average61,940 genes） categories in the coking wastewater sludge. With higher abundance, aromatic ring cleavage dioxygenase genes including multi ring1,2 diox; one ring2,3 diox; catechol represented significant functional potential for degradation of aromatic pollutants which was further confirmed by Illumina Hi Seq2500 analysis results. Response ratio analysis revealed that three nitrogenous compound degrading genes-nbz A（nitro-aromatics）, tdn B（aniline）, and scn ABC（thiocyanate） were unique for coking wastewater treatment, which might be strong cause to increase ammonia level during the aerobic process. Additionally, Hi Seq2500 elucidated carbozole and isoquinoline degradation genes in the system. These findings expanded our understanding on functional potential of microbial communities to remove organic nitrogenous pollutants;hence it will be useful in optimization strategies for biological treatment of coking wastewater.

Performance and recent improvement in microbial fuel cells for simultaneous carbon and nitrogen removal: A review

Microbial fuel cells（MFCs） have become a promising technology for wastewater treatment accompanying electricity generation. Carbon and nitrogen removal can be achieved by utilizing the electron transfer between the anode and cathode in an MFC. However,large-scale power production and high removal efficiency must be achieved at a low cost to make MFCs practical and economically competitive in the future. This article reviews the principles, feasibility and bottlenecks of MFCs for simultaneous carbon and nitrogen removal, the recent advances and prospective strategies for performance improvement, as well as the involved microbes and electron transfer mechanisms.

Inspirations from the scientific discovery of the anammox bacteria: A classic example of how scientific principles can guide discovery and development

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation(anammox) is a relatively new pathway within the N cycle discovered in the late 1990 s. This eminent discovery not only modified the classical theory of biological metabolism and matter cycling, but also profoundly influenced our understanding of the energy sources for life. A new member of chemolithoautotrophic microorganisms capable of carbon fixation was found in the vast deep dark ocean. If the discovery of the chemosynthetic ecosystems in the deep-sea hydrothermal vent environments once challenged the old dogma "all living things depend on the sun for growth," the discovery of anammox bacteria that are widespread in anoxic environments fortifies the victory over this dogma. Anammox bacteria catalyze the oxidization of NH_4^+ by using NO_2^- as the terminal electron acceptor to produce N_2. Similar to the denitrifying microorganisms, anammox bacteria play a biogeochemical role of inorganic N removal from the environment. However, unlike heterotrophic denitrifying bacteria, anammox bacteria are chemolithoautotrophs that can generate transmembrane proton motive force, synthesize ATP molecules and further carry out CO_2 fixation through metabolic energy harvested from the anammox process. Although anammox bacteria and the subsequently found ammonia-oxidizing archaea(AOA), another very important group of N cycling microorganisms are both chemolithoautotrophs, AOA use ammonia rather than ammonium as the electron donor and O_2 as the terminal electron acceptor in their energy metabolism. Therefore, the ecological process of AOA mainly takes place in oxic seawater and sediments, while anammox bacteria are widely distributed in anoxic water and sediments, and even in some typical extreme marine environments such as the deep-sea hydrothermal vents and methane seeps. Studies have shown that the anammox process may be responsible for 30%–70% N_2 production in the ocean. In environmental engineering related to nitrogenous wastewater treatment, anammox provides a new technology with low energy consumption, low cost, and high efficiency that can achieve energy saving and emission reduction. However, the discovery of anammox bacteria is actually a hard-won achievement. Early in the 1960 s, the possibility of the anammox biogeochemical process was predicted to exist according to some marine geochemical data. Then in the 1970 s, the existence of anammox bacteria was further predicted via chemical reaction thermodynamic calculations. However, these microorganisms were not found in subsequent decades. What hindered the discovery of anammox bacteria, an important N cycling microbial group widespread in hypoxic and anoxic environments? What are the factors that finally led to their discovery? What are the inspirations that the analyses of these questions can bring to scientific research? This review article will analyze and elucidate the above questions by presenting the fundamental physiological and ecological characteristics of the marine anammox bacteria and the principles of scientific research.

Preparation and characterization of a novel microorganism embedding material for simultaneous nitrification and denitrification

A novel microorganism embedding material was prepared to enhance the biological nitrogen removal through simultaneous nitrification and denitrification. Polyvinyl alcohol （PVA）, sodium alginate （SA） and cyclodextrin （CD） were used to compose gel bead with embedded activated sludge. The effects of temperature, CD addition and concentrations of PYA and SA on nitrogen removal were evaluated. Results show that the gel bead with CD addition at 30℃contributed to the highest nitrogen removal efficiency and nitrogen removal rate of 85.4% and 2.08 mg·（L·h）^-1, respectively. Meanwhile, negligible NO3^- and NO2^- were observed, proving the occurrence of simultaneous nitrification and denitrification. The High-Throughput Sequencing confirms that the microbial community mainly contained Comamonadaceae in the proportion of 61.3%. Overall, CD increased gel bead＇s porosity and resulted in the high specific endogenous respiration rate and high nitrogen removal efficiency, which is a favorable additional agent to the traditional embedding material.