Klaudiusz Grübel

Simple spectrophotometric determination of monopersulfate.

A simple, sensitive and accurate spectrophotometric method has been developed and validated for the determination of monopersulfate (MPS) which is an active part of potassium monopersulfate triple salt that has the commercial name - Oxone. This work proposes a spectrophotometric determination of monopersulfate based on modification of the iodometric titration method. The analysis of absorption spectra was made for the concentration range from 1.35 to 13.01 ppm of MPS (with a detection and quantification limit of 0.41 and 1.35 ppm, respectively) and different pH values. The influence of several anions on the measurement was also investigated. Furthermore, the absorbance of iron and cobalt (often used as free radical initiators) proved to have no effect on the measurement of MPS concentrations. On the basis of the conducted studies, we propose 395 nm as an optimal wavelength for the determination of MPS concentrations.

Use of Hydrodynamic Disintegration to Accelerate Anaerobic Digestion of Surplus Activated Sludge

Hydrodynamic disintegration of activated sludge resulted in organic matter and polymers transfer from the solid phase into the liquid phase. Disintegration by hydrodynamic cavitation had a positive effect on the degree and rate of excess sludge anaerobic digestion. Also, addition of a part of anaerobic digested sludge containing adapted microorganisms resulted in acceleration of the process. The disruption of cells of foam microorganisms and addition to the digestion process led to an increase of biogas production.

The impact of peroxydisulphate and peroxymonosulphate on disintegration and settleability of activated sludge.

ABSTRACT Chemical treatment processes have mostly been considered as an efficient way for biosolid minimization. The improvement of sludge dewatering was more a welcome side-effect of these sequential processes. In this study, heat-activated sodium peroxydisulphate (PDS) and potassium peroxymonosulphate (MPS) were applied in order to disintegrate waste activated sludge (WAS). PDS and MPS treatment of WAS results in the polymer transfer of organic matter from the solid phase to the liquid phase. Our research work was done for chemical disintegration of WAS by PDS and MPS in doses of 0.2%, 0.4%, 0.6%, 0.8% and 1% (169.5, 339.0, 508.5, 678.0 and 847.5 mg ) activated at temperatures of 60°C and 90°C for 30 min. The application of these methods causes the soluble chemical oxygen demand value to increase in the supernatant. In addition, there was a positive influence on the sludge volume index which decreased for the highest doses of PDS of over 63% and 77% and MPS of over 78% and 82% through heat activation at temperatures of 60°C and 90°C, respectively. Furthermore, MPS was more successful in the floc particle destruction, therefore it caused a higher sludge settlement acceleration (sedimentation/compaction speed) than PDS. The experimental results demonstrated that the application of heat-activated PDS and MPS may become a novel effective way of processing sewage sludge.

Impact of peroxydisulphate on disintegration and sedimentation properties of municipal wastewater activated sludge

In the study, a thermally activated sodium peroxydisulphate (PDS; Na2S2O8) was applied in order to disintegrate wastewater activated sludge (WAS). Chemical disintegration of WAS results in organic matter and polymer transfer from the solid phase to the liquid phase. Soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) is often used to characterise the disintegration efficiency of WAS flocs and microorganisms cells. The present study was conducted in order to chemically disintegrate WAS using PDS in doses of 0.2 %, 0.4 %, 0.6 %, 0.8 % and 1.0 % activated at temperatures of 50°C, 70°C and 90°C for 30 min. The temperature rise induced the PDS to form free radicals, which resulted in an increase in SCOD, i.e. for the highest dose of PDS, the SCOD value attained 2140 mg dm−3 (almost a 15-fold increase over the WAS value). A further positive effect from using this method was a decrease in the sludge volume index (SVI) from 89.8 cm3 g−1 to 30.6 cm3 g−1. On the basis of the results obtained, it may be concluded that thermally activated PDS is suitable for disintegration and has a positive impact on WAS sedimentation properties.

The Impact of Oxone on Disintegration and Dewaterability of Waste Activated Sludge.

Biochemical parameters such as soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD), phosphate, ammonium nitrogen and proteins are often used to characterize the efficiency of disintegration of waste activated sludge (WAS) flocs and microorganism cells. In this study, the chemical disintegration using peroxymonosulfate (MPS, Oxone) and thermally activated MPS, were evaluated for the destruction of WAS. Our study was conducted for chemical disintegration of WAS by MPS in doses between 84.7 - 847.5 mg/g(TS) activated by temperatures of 50, 70 and 90 °C over 30 minutes. The application of these methods causes an increase in the soluble COD value and protein concentration in the supernatant. Also, they positively influence the sludge volume index (SVI) which decreased from 89.8 to 17.2 ml/g. Our research work confirmed that the application of thermally activated MPS may become a new effective way of improving sewage treatment and sewage sludge processing.

Indirect methods of dried sewage sludge contamination assessments

ABSTRACT Thermal conversion (combustion, co-combustion, gasification and pyrolysis) appears to be the most promising alternative for sewage sludge management in the future. Nevertheless, safe and ecological usage of sewage sludge as a fuel requires information about their contamination. The aim of this paper is to present the photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) as a good method for contamination assessments of dried sewage sludge. Two types of granular sewage sludge: Sewage sludge 1 (SS1) taken from Polish wastewater treatment plant operating in the mechanical-biological system and sewage sludge 2 (SS2) taken from mechanical-biological-chemical wastewater treatment plant with phosphorus precipitation were analysed. The spectrophotometer FTIR Nicolet 6700 equipped with photoacoustic cell (Model 300, MTEC, USA) was used. The comparison with the most popular analytical methods (GC-MS) was also done. The results of PAS studies confirm the difference between the SS1 and SS2 which is in agreement with the GC-MS analysis. Higher absorbance was observed at each wavelength characteristics for the oscillator of chemical moieties for the SS1 with respect to the SS2.

Considerations of impact of Venturi effect on mesophilic digestion.

Abstract Hydrodynamic cavitation caused by the Venturi effect is one of the most promising methods of sewage sludge pre-treatment. This study has been carried out to investigate the effect of hydrodynamic cavitation on disintegration of activated sludge foam and mesophilic fermentation. Cavitation was generated in standard Venturi tube with the diameter ratio β = d0/d1 = 0.30, working at σ = 0.249. Detailed Computational Fluid Design (CFD) analysis in class of k-∈ model of internal flow has been presented. Obtained analytical investigation results confirmed the effect of strong disruption of microorganism cells and release of free organic substance into the liquid phase. After a short (30 minutes) pre-treatment, chemical oxygen demand increased by 8.63 times while Müller’s disintegration degree was 50%. Moreover, undertaken mesophilic digestion trials brought significant improvement in biogas production.

Alkaline solubilisation of waste activated sludge (WAS) for soluble organic substrate – (SCOD) production / Tworzenie się rozpuszczalnego substratu organicznego podczas zasadowego rozpuszczania osadów ściekowych

Abstract Improving the effects of hydrolysis on waste activated sludge (WAS) prior to anaerobic digestion is of primary importance. Several technologies have been developed and partially implemented in practice. In this paper, perhaps the simplest of these methods, alkaline solubilization, has been investigated and the results of hydrolysis are presented. An increase to only pH 8 can distinctively increase the soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD), and produce an anaerobic condition effect favorable to volatile fatty acids (VFA) production. Further increases of pH, up to pH 10, leads to further improvements in hydrolysis effects. It is suggested that an increase to pH 9 is sufficient and feasible for technical operations, given the use of moderate anti-corrosive construction material. This recommendation is also made having taken in consideration the option of using hydrodynamic disintegration after the initial WAS hydrolysis process. This paper presents the effects of following alkaline solubilization with hydrodynamic disintegration on SCOD Zastosowanie wstępnej hydrolizy osadu czynnego wpływa w znaczący sposób na poprawę efektów fermentacji beztlenowej. W pracy przedstawiono wyniki wstępnej alkalizacji osadu. Stwierdzono, że w wyniku wzrostu pH do 8 nastąpiło wyraźne zwiększenie ChZT w cieczy nadosadowej i intensyfikacja produkcji LKT, a zmiana odczynu do pH 10 powoduje zwiększenie efektów hydrolizy. Wykazano, że wstępna hydroliza osadu do pH 9 jest możliwa do zastosowania w praktyce, z uwagi na wykorzystanie materiałów konstrukcyjnych o umiarkowanej odporności na korozję. Po wstępnej alkalizacji możliwe jest stosowanie innych metod dezintegracji osadu. W pracy przedstawiono wyniki kondycjonowania osadu poprzez alkalizacje w połączeniu z dezintegracją hydrodynamiczną

Nitrogen in the process of waste activated sludge anaerobic digestion.

Abstract Primary or secondary sewage sludge in medium and large WWTP are most often processed by anaerobic digestion, as a method of conditioning, sludge quantity minimization and biogas production. With the aim to achieve the best results of sludge processing several modifications of technologies were suggested, investigated and introduced in the full technical scale. Various sludge pretreatment technologies before anaerobic treatment have been widely investigated and partially introduced. Obviously, there are always some limitations and some negative side effects. Selected aspects have been presented and discussed. The problem of nitrogen has been highlighted on the basis of the carried out investigations. The single and two step - mesophilic and thermophilic - anaerobic waste activated sludge digestion processes, preceded by preliminary hydrolysis were investigated. The aim of lab-scale experiments was pre-treatment of the sludge by means of low intensive alkaline and hydrodynamic disintegration. Depending on the pretreatment technologies and the digestion temperature large ammonia concentrations, up to 1800 mg NH4/dm3 have been measured. Return of the sludge liquor to the main sewage treatment line means additional nitrogen removal costs. Possible solutions are discussed.

A new method for assessment of the sludge disintegration degree with the use of differential centrifugal sedimentation

ABSTRACT A novel method for assessing the disintegration degree (DD) of waste activated sludge (WAS) with the use of differential centrifugal sedimentation method (DCS) was shown herein. The method was validated for a WAS sample at four levels of disintegration in the range of 14.4–82.6% corresponding to the median particle size range of 8.5–1.6 µm. From the several sludge disintegration methods used (i.e. microwave, alkalization, ultrasounds and peroxydisulfate activated by ultrasounds), the activated peroxydisulfate disintegration resulted in the greatest DD 83% and the smallest median particle size of WAS. Particle size distribution of pretreated sludge, measured by DCS, was in a negative correlation with the DD, determined from soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD; determination coefficient of 0.995). Based on the obtained results, it may be concluded that the DCS analysis can approximate the WAS disintegration degree. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT