João Paulo Bassin

Nitrification of industrial and domestic saline wastewaters in moving bed biofilm reactor and sequencing batch reactor

Nitrification of saline wastewaters was investigated in bench-scale moving-bed biofilm reactors (MBBR). Wastewater from a chemical industry and domestic sewage, both treated by the activated sludge process, were fed to moving-bed reactors. The industrial wastewater contained 8000 mg Cl(-)/L and the salinity of the treated sewage was gradually increased until that level. Residual substances present in the treated industrial wastewater had a strong inhibitory effect on the nitrification process. Assays to determine inhibitory effects were performed with the industrial wastewater, which was submitted to ozonation and carbon adsorption pretreatments. The latter treatment was effective for dissolved organic carbon (DOC) removal and improved nitrification efficiency. Nitrification percentage of the treated domestic sewage was higher than 90% for all tested chloride concentrations up to 8000 mg/L. Results obtained in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) were consistent with those attained in the MBBR systems, allowing tertiary nitrification and providing adequate conditions for adaptation of nitrifying microorganisms even under stressing and inhibitory conditions.

Treatment of a simulated textile wastewater containing the Reactive Orange 16 azo dye by a combination of ozonation and moving-bed biofilm reactor: evaluating the performance, toxicity, and oxidation by-products.

In this study, an aqueous solution containing the azo dye Reactive Orange 16 (RO16) was subjected to two sequential treatment processes, namely: ozonation and biological treatment in a moving-bed biofilm reactor (MBBR). The most appropriate ozonation pretreatment conditions for the biological process and the toxicity of the by-products resulting from RO16 ozone oxidation were evaluated. The results showed that more than 97xa0% of color removal from the dye solutions with RO16 concentrations ranging from 25 to 100xa0mg/L was observed in 5xa0min of ozone exposure. However, the maximum total organic carbon removal achieved by ozonation was only 48xa0%, indicating partial mineralization of the dye. Eleven intermediate organic compounds resulting from ozone treatment of RO16 solution were identified by LC/MS analyses at different contact times. The toxicity of the dye-containing solution decreased after 2xa0min of ozonation, but increased at longer contact times. The results further demonstrated that the ozonolysis products did not affect the performance of the subsequent MBBR, which achieved an average chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonium removal of 93xa0±xa01 and 97xa0±xa02xa0%, respectively. A second MBBR system fed with non-ozonated dye-containing wastewater was run in parallel for comparison purposes. This reactor also showed an appreciable COD (90xa0±xa01xa0%) and ammonium removal (97xa0±xa02xa0%), but was not effective in removing color, which remained practically invariable over the system. The use of short ozonation times (5xa0min) and a compact MBBR has shown to be effective for the treatment of the simulated textile wastewater containing the RO16 azo dye.

Treatment of petroleum refinery wastewater containing heavily polluting substances in an aerobic submerged fixed-bed reactor

Petroleum refineries produce large amount of wastewaters, which often contain a wide range of different compounds. Some of these constituents may be recalcitrant and therefore difficult to be treated biologically. This study evaluated the capability of an aerobic submerged fixed-bed reactor (ASFBR) containing a corrugated PVC support material for biofilm attachment to treat a complex and high-strength organic wastewater coming from a petroleum refinery. The reactor operation was divided into five experimental runs which lasted more than 250 days. During the reactor operation, the applied volumetric organic load was varied within the range of 0.5–2.4u2005kgCOD.m−3.d−1. Despite the inherent fluctuations on the characteristics of the complex wastewater and the slight decrease in the reactor performance when the influent organic load was increased, the ASFBR showed good stability and allowed to reach chemical oxygen demand, dissolved organic carbon and total suspended solids removals up to 91%, 90% and 92%, respectively. Appreciable ammonium removal was obtained (around 90%). Some challenging aspects of reactor operation such as biofilm quantification and important biofilm constituents (e.g. polysaccharides (PS) and proteins (PT)) were also addressed in this work. Average PS/volatile attached solids (VAS) and PT/VAS ratios were around 6% and 50%, respectively. The support material promoted biofilm attachment without appreciable loss of solids and allowed long-term operation without clogging. Microscopic observations of the microbial community revealed great diversity of higher organisms, such as protozoa and rotifers, suggesting that toxic compounds found in the wastewater were possibly removed in the biofilm.

Water contamination by endocrine disruptors: Impacts, microbiological aspects and trends for environmental protection

Hormone active agents constitute a dangerous class of pollutants. Among them, those agents that mimic the action of estrogens on target cells and are part of the group of endocrine-disruptor compounds (EDCs) are termed estrogenic EDCs, the main focus of this review. Exposure to these compounds causes a number of negative effects, including breast cancer, infertility and animal hermaphroditism. However, especially in underdeveloped countries, limited efforts have been made to warn people about this serious issue, explain the methods of minimizing exposure, and develop feasible and efficient mitigation strategies at different levels and in various environments. For instance, the use of bioremediation processes capable of transforming EDCs into environmentally friendly compounds has been little explored. A wide diversity of estrogen-degrading microorganisms could be used to develop such technologies, which include bioremediation processes for EDCs that could be implemented in biological filters for the post-treatment of wastewater effluent. This review describes problems associated with EDCs, primarily estrogenic EDCs, including exposure as well as the present status of understanding and the effects of natural and synthetic hormones and estrogenic EDCs on living organisms. We also describe potential biotechnological strategies for EDC biodegradation, and suggest novel treatment approaches for minimizing the persistence of EDCs in the environment.

Ammonium removal from high-salinity oilfield-produced water: assessing the microbial community dynamics at increasing salt concentrations

Water generated during oil exploration is chemically complex and contains high concentrations of ammonium and, in some cases, high salinity. The most common way to remove ammonium from effluent is a biological process, which can be performed by different routes and different groups of microorganisms. However, the presence of salts in the effluents could be an inhibiting factor for biological processes, interfering directly with treatment. This study aimed to evaluate changes in the profile of a microbial community involved in the process of ammonium removal when subjected to a gradual increase of salt (NaCl), in which the complete inhibition of the ammonium removal process occurred at 125xa0gxa0L−1 NaCl. During the sludge acclimatization process, samples were collected and submitted to denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and massive sequencing of the 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes. As the salt concentration increased in the reactor, a change in the microbial community was observed by the DGGE band profiles. As a result, there was a reduction in the presence of bacterial populations, and an increase in archaeal populations was found. The sequencing data suggested that ammonium removal in the reactor was carried out by different metabolic routes by autotrophic nitrifying bacteria, such as Nitrosococcus, Nitrosomonas, Nitrosovibrio, Nitrospira, and Nitrococcus; ammonium-oxidizing archaea Candidatus nitrosoarchaeum; ANAMMOX microorganisms, such as Candidatus brocadia, Candidatus kuenenia, and Candidatus scalindua; and microorganisms with the potential to be heterotrophic nitrifying, such as Paracoccus spp., Pseudomonas spp., Bacillus spp., Marinobacter sp., and Alcaligenes spp.

Combined organic matter and nitrogen removal from a chemical industry wastewater in a two-stage MBBR system

Pesticide-producing factories generate highly polluting wastewaters containing toxic and hazardous compounds which should be reduced to acceptable levels before discharge. In this study, a chemical industry wastewater was treated in a pre-denitrification moving-bed biofilm reactor system subjected to an increasing internal mixed liquor recycle ratio from 2 to 4. Although the influent wastewater characteristics substantially varied over time, the removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and dissolved organic carbon was quite stable and mostly higher than 90%. The highest fraction of the incoming organic matter was removed anoxically, favouring a low COD/N environment in the subsequent aerobic nitrifying tank and thus ensuring stable ammonium removal (90–95%). However, during pH and salt shock periods, nitrifiers were severely inhibited but gradually restored their full nitrifying capability as non-stressing conditions were reestablished. Besides promoting an increase in the maximum nitrification potential of the aerobic attached biomass from 0.34 to 0.63u2005mg , the increase in the internal recycle ratio was accompanied by an increase in nitrogen removal (60–78%) and maximum specific denitrification rate (2.7–3.3u2005mg ). Total polysaccharides (PS) and protein (PT) concentrations of attached biomass were observed to be directly influenced by the influent organic loading rate, while the PS/PT ratio mainly ranged from 0.3 to 0.5. Results of Microtox tests showed that no toxicity was found in the effluent of both the anoxic and aerobic reactors, indicating that the biological process was effective in removing residual substances which might adversely affect the receiving waters ecosystem.

Effect of solids retention time on nitrogen and phosphorus removal from municipal wastewater in a sequencing batch membrane bioreactor

ABSTRACT This study evaluated the removal of organic matter, nitrogen and phosphate from a municipal wastewater in a sequencing batch membrane bioreactor (SBMBR) operated at different solids retention times (SRTs) and subjected to different aeration profiles. The results demonstrated that SRT reduction from 80 to 20 d had a negligible effect on chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal and only a slight negative effect on nitrification. COD removal efficiency remained stable at 97%, whereas ammonium removal decreased from 99% to 97%. The total nitrogen removal efficiency was improved by SRT reduction, increasing from 80% to 86%. Although the total phosphorus (TP) removal was not significantly affected by the SRT reduction, ranging from 40–49%, the P-release and P-uptake processes were observed to increase as the SRT was reduced. The implementation of a pre-aeration phase in the SBMBR operating cycle allowed a higher TP removal performance, which reached up to 76%. Batch tests suggested that the fraction of phosphate removed anoxically from the total (anoxicu2009+u2009aerobic) phosphate removal decreased with the SRT reduction.

Integration of biofiltration and advanced oxidation processes for tertiary treatment of an oil refinery wastewater aiming at water reuse

The combination of biological and chemical oxidation processes is an interesting approach to remove ready, poor, and non-biodegradable compounds from complex industrial wastewaters. In this study, biofiltration followed by H2O2/UV oxidation (or microfiltration) and final reverse osmosis (RO) step was employed for tertiary treatment of an oil refinery wastewater. Biofiltration alone allowed obtaining total organic carbon (TOC), chemical oxygen demand (COD), UV absorbance at 254xa0nm (UV254), ammonium, and turbidity removal of around 46, 46, 23, 50, and 61xa0%, respectively. After the combined biological-chemical oxidation treatment, TOC and UV254 removal amounted to 88 and 79xa0%, respectively. Whereas, the treatment performance achieved with different UV lamp powers (55 and 95xa0W) and therefore distinct irradiance levels (26.8 and 46.3xa0mW/cm2, respectively) were very similar and TOC and UV254 removal rates were highly affected by the applied C/H2O2 ratio. Silt density index (SDI) was effectively reduced by H2O2/UV oxidation, favoring further RO application. C/H2O2 ratio of 1:4, 55xa0W UV lamp, and 20-min oxidation reaction corresponded to the experimental condition which provided the best cost/benefit ratio for TOC, UV254, and SDI reduction from the biofilter effluent. The array of treatment processes proposed in this study has shown to be adequate for tertiary treatment of the oil refinery wastewater, ensuring the mitigation of membrane fouling problems and producing a final effluent which is suitable for reuse applications.

Interpreting the effect of increasing COD loading rates on the performance of a pre-anoxic MBBR system: implications on the attached and suspended biomass dynamics and nitrification–denitrification activity

A pre-anoxic MBBR system was subjected to increasing organic loading rates up to 18xa0gCOD/(m2xa0day). At 3xa0gCOD/(m2xa0day), most of the incoming organic matter was removed via denitrification. However, at higher loads, anoxic COD removal became limited by the nitrite/nitrate supply from the aerobic reactor, which assumed an important role in this conversion. Despite the application of low dissolved oxygen (DO) levels (<2xa0mg/L) in this tank, nitrification was observed to be nearly complete until 8xa0gCOD/(m2xa0day). As the organic input was increased, the maximum specific nitrifying activity gradually declined. Activity tests suggested that an oxygen-limited environment was established in the biofilm. At lower loads [3–8xa0gCOD/(m2xa0day)], the nitrification product obtained was affected by the DO concentration, whereas from 16 to 21xa0gCOD/(m2xa0day), nitrite/nitrate profiles were likely associated with microbial stratification in the biofilm. The results also indicated that the role of the suspended biomass in the overall nitrification and denitrification can be very significant in high loaded MBBRs and should not be neglected, even at low HRTs.

Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR)

In recent years, an increasing interest in biofilm processes for the treatment of municipal and industrial wastewaters has been observed. One of the growing biofilm technologies is the Moving-bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR), which has been successfully established in the market. A great number of large-scale wastewater treatment plants along with many other smaller treatment installations around the world make use of the MBBR concept. The development of the MBBR process was based on the central idea of obtaining, in a single system, the best characteristics of the activated sludge and biofilm processes. With the biomass immobilized on a free-support media, solids retention in the biological reactor is enhanced. This chapter covers the principle of the MBBR operation, the biofilm carriers employed in such systems, the key operational aspects and a broad range of applications of this technology.