Highly hydrophobic Di 2-ethyl hexyl phthalate(DEHP) is one of the most prevalent plasticizers in wastewaters. Since its half-life in biological treatment is around 25 days, it can be used as an efficiency indicator ...Highly hydrophobic Di 2-ethyl hexyl phthalate(DEHP) is one of the most prevalent plasticizers in wastewaters. Since its half-life in biological treatment is around 25 days, it can be used as an efficiency indicator of wastewater treatment plant for the removal of hydrophobic emerging contaminants. In this study, the performance of submerged membrane bioreactor was monitored to understand the effect of DEHP on the growth of aerobic microorganisms. The data showed that the chemical oxygen demand(COD)and ammonia concentration were detected below 10 and 1.0 mg/L, respectively for operating conditions of hydraulic retention time(HRT) = 4 and 6 hr, sludge retention time(SRT) = 140 day and sludge concentration between 11.5 and 15.8 g volatile solid(VS)/L. The removal efficiency of DEHP under these conditions was higher and ranged between 91% and 98%. Results also showed that the removal efficiency of DEHP in biological treatment depended on the concentration of sludge, as adsorption is the main mechanism of its removal. For the submerged membrane bioreactor, the pore size is the pivotal factor for DEHP removal, since it determines the amount of soluble microbial products coming out of the process. Highly assimilated microorganisms increase the biodegradation rate, as 74% of inlet DEHP was biodegraded; however, the concentration of DEHP inside sludge was beyond the discharge limit. Understanding the fate of DEHP in membrane bioreactor,which is one of the most promising and futuristic treatment process could provide replacement for conventional processes to satisfy the future stricter regulations on emerging contaminants.展开更多
Vanadium nitride (VN) was deposited by DC-sputtering on a vertically aligned carbon nanotube (CNTs) template for the purpose of nano-structuration. This led to the fabrication of hierarchically composite electrode...Vanadium nitride (VN) was deposited by DC-sputtering on a vertically aligned carbon nanotube (CNTs) template for the purpose of nano-structuration. This led to the fabrication of hierarchically composite electrodes consisting of porous and nanostructured VN grown on vertically aligned CNTs in a nano-treelike configuration for micro-supercapacitor application. The electrodes show excellent performance with an areal capacitance as high as 37.5 mF cm^-2 at a scan rate of 2 mV s^-1 in a 0.5 M K2504 mild electrolyte solution. Furthermore, the capacitance decay was only 15% after 20,000 consecutive cycles. Moreover, the capacitance was found to increase with VN deposit thickness. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses of the electrodes before and after cycling suggest that the oxide layers that form at the VN surface is the responsible for the redox energy storage in this material. Such electrodes can compete with other transition metal nitride based electrodes for micro-supercapacitors.展开更多
基金the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC Grant Number: I2IPJ 461378)
文摘Highly hydrophobic Di 2-ethyl hexyl phthalate(DEHP) is one of the most prevalent plasticizers in wastewaters. Since its half-life in biological treatment is around 25 days, it can be used as an efficiency indicator of wastewater treatment plant for the removal of hydrophobic emerging contaminants. In this study, the performance of submerged membrane bioreactor was monitored to understand the effect of DEHP on the growth of aerobic microorganisms. The data showed that the chemical oxygen demand(COD)and ammonia concentration were detected below 10 and 1.0 mg/L, respectively for operating conditions of hydraulic retention time(HRT) = 4 and 6 hr, sludge retention time(SRT) = 140 day and sludge concentration between 11.5 and 15.8 g volatile solid(VS)/L. The removal efficiency of DEHP under these conditions was higher and ranged between 91% and 98%. Results also showed that the removal efficiency of DEHP in biological treatment depended on the concentration of sludge, as adsorption is the main mechanism of its removal. For the submerged membrane bioreactor, the pore size is the pivotal factor for DEHP removal, since it determines the amount of soluble microbial products coming out of the process. Highly assimilated microorganisms increase the biodegradation rate, as 74% of inlet DEHP was biodegraded; however, the concentration of DEHP inside sludge was beyond the discharge limit. Understanding the fate of DEHP in membrane bioreactor,which is one of the most promising and futuristic treatment process could provide replacement for conventional processes to satisfy the future stricter regulations on emerging contaminants.
基金the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Saud University KSA for its funding of this research through the Research Group(Project No.RGP-283)
文摘Vanadium nitride (VN) was deposited by DC-sputtering on a vertically aligned carbon nanotube (CNTs) template for the purpose of nano-structuration. This led to the fabrication of hierarchically composite electrodes consisting of porous and nanostructured VN grown on vertically aligned CNTs in a nano-treelike configuration for micro-supercapacitor application. The electrodes show excellent performance with an areal capacitance as high as 37.5 mF cm^-2 at a scan rate of 2 mV s^-1 in a 0.5 M K2504 mild electrolyte solution. Furthermore, the capacitance decay was only 15% after 20,000 consecutive cycles. Moreover, the capacitance was found to increase with VN deposit thickness. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses of the electrodes before and after cycling suggest that the oxide layers that form at the VN surface is the responsible for the redox energy storage in this material. Such electrodes can compete with other transition metal nitride based electrodes for micro-supercapacitors.