Mehmet Faik Sevimli

Sono-thermal pre-treatment of waste activated sludge before anaerobic digestion.

Sonication and thermalization can be applied successfully to disrupt the complex waste activated sludge (WAS) floc structure and to release extra and intra cellular polymeric substances into soluble phase along with solubilization of particulate organic matters, before sludge digestion. In this study, sonication has been combined with thermalization to improve its disintegration efficiency. It was aimed that rise in temperature occurring during the sonication of sludge was used to be as an advantage for the following thermalization in the combined pre-treatment. Thus, the effects of sonication, thermalization and sono-thermalization on physical and chemical properties of sludge were investigated separately under different pre-treatment conditions. The disintegration efficiencies of these methods were in the following descending order: sono-thermalization > sonication > thermalization. The optimum operating conditions for sono-thermalization were determined as the combination of 1-min sonication at 1.0 W/mL and thermalization at 80 °C for 1h. The influences of sludge pre-treatment on biodegradability of WAS were experienced with biochemical methane potential assay in batch anaerobic reactors. Relative to the control reactor, total methane production in the sono-thermalized reactor increased by 13.6% and it was more than the sum of relative increases achieved in the sonicated and thermalized reactors. Besides, the volatile solids and total chemical oxygen demand reductions in the sono-thermalized reactor were enhanced as well. However, it was determined that sludge pre-treatment techniques applied in this study was not feasible due to their high energy requirements.

Treatment of combined acid mine drainage (AMD) - flotation circuit effluents from copper mine via Fenton's process.

The treatability of a copper mine wastewater, including heavy metals, AMD, as well as flotation chemicals, with Fenton process was investigated. Fenton process seems advantageous for this treatment, because of Fe(2+) content and low pH of AMD. First, optimum Fe(2+) condition under constant H(2)O(2) was determined, and initial Fe(2+) content of AMD was found sufficient (120 mg/L for removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) of 6125 mg/L). In the second step, without any additional Fe(2+), optimum H(2)O(2) dosage was determined as 40 mg/L. Fe(2+)/H(2)O(2) molar ratio of 1.8 was enough to achieve the best treatment performance. In all trials, initial pH of AMD was 4.8 and pH adjustment was not performed. Utilization of existing pH and Fe(2+), low H(2)O(2) requirements, and up to 98% treatment performances in COD, turbidity, color, Cu(2+), Zn(2+) made the proposed treatment system promising. Since the reaction occurs stepwise, a two-step kinetic model was applied and calculated theoretical maximum removal rate was consistent to experimental one, which validates the applied model. For the optimum molar ratio (1.8), 140 mL/L sludge of high density (1.094 g/mL), high settling velocity (0.16 cm/s) with low specific resistance (3.15 x 10(8)m/kg) was obtained. High reaction rates and easily dewaterable sludge characteristics also made the proposed method advantageous.

Post-Treatment of Pulp and Paper Industry Wastewater by Advanced Oxidation Processes

The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of chemical oxidation by applying ozonation, combination of ozone and hydrogen peroxide and Fentons processes for decolorization and residual chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal of biologically pretreated pulp and paper industry effluents. The batch tests were performed to determine the optimum operating conditions including pH, O3, H2O2, and Fe2+ dosages. H2O2 addition reduced the reaction times for the same ozone dosages; however combinations of ozone/hydrogen peroxide were only faintly more effective than ozone alone for COD and color removals. In the Fenton‘s oxidation studies, the removal efficiencies of COD, color and ultraviolet absorbance at 254 nm (UV254) for biologically treated pulp and paper industry effluents were found to be about 83, 95, and 89%, respectively. Experimental studies indicated that Fenton oxidation was a more effective process for the reduction of COD, color, and UV254when compared to ozonation and ozone/hydrogen peroxide combination. Fenton oxidation was found to have less operating cost for color removal from wastewater per cubic meter than the cost for ozone and ozone/hydrogen peroxide applications.

Advanced oxidation of biologically pretreated Baker's Yeast Industry effluents for high recalcitrant COD and color removal.

Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of chemical oxidation by applying ozonation, ozonation with hydrogen peroxide and Fentons processes for decolorization and residual COD removal of biologically pretreated bakers yeast industry (BYI) effluents. Bakers yeast industry effluents characterizing with high COD, TKN, dark color, and non-biodegradable organic pollutants. The batch tests were performed to determine the optimum operating conditions including pH, O3, H2O2, and FeSO4 dosages, molar ratio of Fe2+/H2O2 and reaction time. It was noticed that H2O2 significantly reduced the reaction times for the same ozone dosages; however, COD and color removals were not remarkable. In the Fentons oxidation studies, the removal efficiencies of COD and color for 30 min reaction time for three different types of BYI effluents were found about 86 and 92%, respectively. Experimental results of the presented study have clearly indicated that the Fentons oxidation technology is capable to fate almost all parts of the organics which consist of both soluble initial and microbial inert fractions of COD for bakers yeast effluents. Effluents from the Fentons oxidation process can satisfy effluent standards for COD and color in general.

Improving the sludge disintegration efficiency of sonication by combining with alkalization and thermal pre-treatment methods

One of the most serious problems encountered in biological wastewater treatment processes is the production of waste activated sludge (WAS). Sonication, which is an energy-intensive process, is the most powerful sludge pre-treatment method. Due to lack of information about the combined pre-treatment methods of sonication, the combined pre-treatment methods were investigated and it was aimed to improve the disintegration efficiency of sonication by combining sonication with alkalization and thermal pre-treatment methods in this study. The process performances were evaluated based on the quantities of increases in soluble chemical oxygen demand (COD), protein and carbohydrate. The releases of soluble COD, carbohydrate and protein by the combined methods were higher than those by sonication, alkalization and thermal pre-treatment alone. Degrees of sludge disintegration in various options of sonication were in the following descending order: sono-alkalization > sono-thermal pre-treatment > sonication. Therefore, it was determined that combining sonication with alkalization significantly improved the sludge disintegration and decreased the required energy to reach the same yield by sonication. In addition, effects on sludge settleability and dewaterability and kinetic mathematical modelling of pre-treatment performances of these methods were investigated. It was proven that the proposed model accurately predicted the efficiencies of ultrasonic pre-treatment methods.

A New Approach to Determine the Practical Ozone Dose for Color Removal from Textile Wastewater

In this study, the effect of applied ozone dose and pH on color removal from textile wastewater was studied. A lab-scale ozonation system was used in the experiments. When the applied ozone dose increased, the color removal efficiency and the rate constants increased, whereas ozone utilization ratio decreased. On the other hand, increasing the pH increased color removal efficiency and ozone consumption but decreased specific ozone dose. By using the experimental results, a new model has been developed to determine the required ozone dose for the removal of color. By means of this method, it was possible to determine the required ozone dose for reducing the amount of color up to desired levels. Experimental results and the model predictions were in good agreement not only for textile wastewater but also for different industrial effluents. Some parameters affecting ozone utilization such as pH, could also be incorporated into the model.