Dae-Hee Ahn

Use of coagulant and zeolite to enhance the biological treatment efficiency of high ammonia leachate.

ABSTRACT Most landfill leachates in Korea, herein defined as the contaminated liquid resulting from the percolation of water through a landfill, are high in ammonium nitrogen, which inhibits biological treatment processes and deteriorates rivers. A laboratory experiment investigated the effect of pre-removal of ammonium nitrogen using zeolite on the efficiency of organic treatment of the following activated-sludge process. Ferric chloride was initially used as a coagulant for solids removal. A clinoptilolite and mordenite rich rock from the Guryongpo area, the Yeongil Basalt, in Korea, reduced the ammonia nitrogen concentrations of leachate from 1300–1500 to 110–130 mg/l in a 24 h batch operation. Three activated sludge reactors were operated to compare treatment efficiency under different influent conditions. In reactor 1, leachate having high concentration of chemical oxygen demands (COD) and suspended solids (SS) was directly fed to the reactor without pretreatment. The supernatant, after the coagulation process that remove some suspended solids and COD, was fed to reactor 2. As the use of coagulation process alone is not effective to remove ammonium nitrogen, supernatant treated by both coagulation focusing on the removal of COD and the zeolite concentrating on the removal of ammonium nitrogen was fed to reactor 3. As the result of experiment, greater efficiency in lowering the chemical oxygen demand (83%, influent COD; 1800–3000 mg/l, effluent COD; 300–500 mg/l) was achieved in reactor 3. Meanwhile, 63% (influent COD; 4000–5000 mg/l, effluent COD; 1470–1840 mg/l) and 66% (influent COD; 2400–3300 mg/l, effluent COD; 820–1100 mg/l) removal efficiency of COD were achieved in reactors 1 and 2, respectively. Thus, ammonia pre-removal by zeolite remarkably improved the lowering of chemical oxygen demand and the solids separation in the activated sludge process.

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation process in an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor with granular sludge selected from an anaerobic digestor

The purpose of this work was to evaluate the development of the anammox process by the use of granular sludge selected from a digestion reactor as a potential seed source in a lab-scale UASB (upflow anaerobic sludge blanket) reactor system. The reactor was operated for approximately 11 months and was fed by synthetic wastewater. After 200 days of feeding with NH4+ and NO2− as the main substrates, the biomass showed steady signs of ammonium consumption, resulting in over 60% of ammonium nitrogen removal. This report aims to present the results and to more closely examine what occurs after the onset of anammox activity, while the previous work described the start-up experiment and the presence of anammox bacteria in the enriched community using the fluorescencein situ hybridization (FISH) technique. By the last month of operation, the consumed NO2−N/NH4+-N ratio in the UASB reactor was close to 1.32, the stoichiometric ratio of the anammox reaction. The obtained results from the influentshutdown test suggested that nitrite concentration would be one key parameter that promotes the anammox reaction during the start-up enrichment of anammox bacteria from granular sludge. During the study period, the sludge color gradually changed from black to red-brownish.

Anammox bacteria enrichment in upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor

We investigated the anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) reaction in a labscale upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor. Our aim was to detect and enrich the organisms responsible for the anammox reaction using a synthetic medium that contained low concentrations of substrates (ammonium and nitrite). The reactor was inoculated with granular sludge collected from a full-scale anaerobic digestor used for treating brewery wastewater. The experiment was performed during 260 days under conditions of constant ammonium concentration (50 mg NH4/+-N/L) and different nitrite concentrations (50∼150 mg NO2-N/L). After 200 days, anammox activity was observed in the system. The microorganisms involved in this anammox reaction were identified as CandidatusB. Anammoxidans andK. Stuttgartiensis using fluorescencein situ hybridization (FISH) method.

Continuous bioelectricity production and sustainable wastewater treatment in a microbial fuel cell constructed with non-catalyzed granular graphite electrodes and permeable membrane

Oxygen has been so far addressed as the most preferable terminal electron acceptor in the cathodes of microbial fuel cells (MFCs). However, to reduce the oxygen reduction overpotential at the cathode surface, eco-unfriendly and costly catalysts have been commonly employed. Here, we pursued the possibility of using a high surface area electrode to reduce the cathodic reaction overpotential rather than the utilization of catalyzed materials. A dual chambered MFC reactor was designed with the use of graphite-granule electrodes and a permeable membrane. The performance of the reactor in terms of electricity generation and organic removal rate was examined under a continuous-feed manner. Results showed that the maximum volumetric power of 4.4+/-0.2 W/m(3) net anodic compartment (NAC) was obtained at a current density of 11+/-0.5 A/m(3) NAC. The power output was improved by increasing the electrolyte ionic strength. An acceptable effluent quality was attained when the organic loading rate (OLR) of 2 kgCOD/m(3) NAC d was applied. The organic removal rate seemed to be less affected by shock loading. Our system can be suggested as a promising approach to make MFC-based technology economically viable for wastewater treatment applications. This study shows that current generation can be remarkably improved in comparison with several other studies using a low-surface-area plain graphite electrode.

Nitrifying biocathode enables effective electricity generation and sustainable wastewater treatment with microbial fuel cell

Simultaneous organics removal and nitrification using a novel nitrifying biocathode microbial fuel cell (MFC) reactor were investigated in this study. Remarkably, the introduction of nitrifying biomass into the cathode chamber caused higher voltage outputs than that of MFC operated with the abiotic cathode. Results showed the maximum power density increased 18% when cathode was run under the biotic condition and fed by nitrifying medium with alkalinity/NH4+-N ratio of 8 (26 against 22 mW/m2). The voltage output was not differentiated when NH4+-N concentration was increased from 50 to 100 mg/L under such alkalinity/NH4+-N ratio. However, interestingly, the cell voltage rose significantly when the alkalinity/NH4+-N ratio was decreased to 6. Consequently, the maximum power density increased 68% in compared with the abiotic cathode MFC (37 against 22 mW/m2). Polarization curves demonstrated that both activation and concentration losses were lowered during the period of nitrifying biocathode operation. Ammonium was totally nitrified and mostly converted to nitrate in all cases of the biotic cathode conditions. High COD removal efficiency (98%) was achieved. In light of the results presented here, the application of nitrifying biocathode is not only able to integrate the nitrogen and carbon removal but also to enhance the power generation in MFC system. Our system can be suggested to open up a new feasible way for upgrading and retrofitting the existing wastewater treatment plant by the use of MFC-based technologies.

Study of Nitrogen and Organics Removal in Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) Using Hybrid Media

Abstract The removal of nitrogen and organics in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) using hybrid media were investigated in this work. The hybrid media was made by the use of polyurethane foam (PU) cubes and powdered activated carbon (PAC). The function of activated carbon of hybrid media was to offer a suitable active site, which was able to absorb organic substances and ammonia, as well as that of PU was to provide an appropriated surface onto which biomass could be attached and grown. A laboratory-scale moving-bed sequencing batch reactor (SBR) was used for investigating the efficiency of hybrid media. The removal of nitrogen and organics for synthetic wastewater (COD; 490–1,627 mg/L, 180–210 mg/L) were evaluated at different COD/N ratio and different anoxic phase conditions, respectively. The system was operated with the organic loading rate (OLR) of 0.1, 0.16, 0.24, and 0.28 kg COD/m3 day, respectively. Each mode based on OLR was divided as the periods of 45 days of operation time, except for third mode that was operated during 30 days. After acclimatization period, effluent total COD concentrations slightly decreased and the removal efficiency of organics increased to about 90% (COD; 70 mg/L) after 60 days and achieved 98% (COD; 30 mg/L) at the end of experiments. The organics reduction seemed to be less affected by shock loading since high organic loads did not affect the removal efficiency. The concentrations in effluent showed almost lower than 1 mg/L and concentrations were high (150 mg/L) during a very low C/N ratio (C/N = 2). Over 90% of T-N removal efficiency (T-N; 16 mg/L) was obtained during the last 20 days of the operation after controlling the COD/N ratio (C/N = 7). The mixing condition and COD/N ratio at anoxic phase were determined as a main operating factors. In future, the optimal operating conditions of SBR system with hybrid media will be investigated from the view of maintaining a sufficient biomass to the hybrid media under the vigorous mixing conditions.