Simultaneous removal of nitrogen and phosphorus from swine wastewater in a sequencing batch biofilm reactor

In this study, the performance of a sequencing batch biofilm reactor(SBBR) for removal of nitrogen and phosphorus from swine wastewater was evaluated. The replacement rate of wastewater was set at 12.5% throughout the experiment. The anaerobic and aerobic times were 3 h and 7 h, respectively, and the dissolved oxygen concentration of the aerobic phase was about 3.95 mg·L-1. The SBBR process demonstrated good performance in treating swine wastewater. The percentage removal of total chemical oxygen demand(COD), ammonia nitrogen(NH4+-N), total nitrogen(TN), and total phosphorus(TP) was 98.2%, 95.7%, 95.6%, and 96.2% at effluent concentrations of COD85.6 mg·L-1, NH4+-N 35.22 mg·L-1, TN 44.64 mg·L-1, and TP 1.13 mg·L-1, respectively. Simultaneous nitrification and denitrification phenomenon was observed. Further improvement in removal efficiency of NH4+-N and TN occurred at COD/TN ratio of 11:1, with effluent concentrations at NH4+-N 18.5 mg·L-1and TN 34 mg·L-1, while no such improvement in COD and TP removal was found. Microbial electron microscopy analysis showed that the filler surface was covered with a thick biofilm, forming an anaerobic–aerobic microenvironment and facilitating the removal of nitrogen, phosphorus and organic matters. A long-term experiment(15 weeks) showed that stable removal efficiency for N and P could be achieved in the SBBR system.

Effect of salinity on community structure and naphthalene dioxygenase gene diversity of a halophilic bacterial consortium

The aim of this study is to analyze the effect of salinity on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons （PAHs） biodegradation, community structure and naphthalene dioxygenase gene （ndo） diversity of a halophilic bacterial consortium with the denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis （DGGE） approach. The consortium was developed from oil-contaminated saline soil after enrichment for six times, using phenanthrene as the substrate. The prominent species in the bacterial consortium at all salinities were identified as halophilic bacteria Halomonas, Alcanivorax, Marinobacter, Idiomarina, Martelella and uncultured bacteria. The predominant microbes gradually changed associating with the saline concentration fluctuations ranging from 0.1% to 25% （w/v）. Two ndo alpha subunits were dominant at salinities ranging, from 0.1% to 20%. while not been clearly detected at 25% salinity. Consistently. the biodegradation occurred at salmltles rangmg from 0.1% to 20%, while no at 25% salinity, suggesting the two ndo genes played an important role in the degradation. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that both of the two ndo alpha subunits were related to the classic nab-like gene from Pseudomonas stutzeri AN10 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa PaK1, while one with identity of about 82% and the other one with identity of 90% at amino acid sequence level. We concluded that salinity greatly affected halophilic bacterial community structure and also the functional genes which were more related to biodegradation.

Radioactive contamination of the environment as a result of uranium production:a case study at the abandoned Lincang uranium mine,Yunnan Province,China

The distribution of radioactive pollutants, such as ^(222)Rn, U, Th and ^(226)Ra in the air, sur- face waters, soils and crops around the Lincang uranium mine, Yunnan Province, China, is studied The mechanical, geochemical and biogeochemical processes responsible for the transport and fate of the radioactive elements are discussed based on the monitoring data. The pollutants con- centrations of effluents from the mine tunnels were dependent on pH and SO_4^(2-) which were con- trolled by biochemical oxidation of sulfide in the ore/host rocks. Radon anomalies in air reached 4 km from the tailings pile depending on radon release from the site, topography and climate. ^(238)U and ^(226)Ra abnormities in stream sediments and soil were 40-90 cm deep and 790-800 m away downstream. Anomalies of radioactive contaminants of surface watercourses extended 7.5-13 km from the discharge of effluents of the site mainly depending on mechanical and chemical proc- esses. There were about 2.86 ha rice fields and 1.59 km stream sediments contaminated. Erosion of tailings and mining debris with little or no containment or control accelerated the contamination processes.