Ran Shang

Kinetics of cell inactivation, toxin release, and degradation during permanganation of Microcystis aeruginosa

Potassium permanganate (KMnO4) preoxidation is capable of enhancing cyanobacteria cell removal. However, the impacts of KMnO4 on cell viability and potential toxin release have not been comprehensively characterized. In this study, the impacts of KMnO4 on Microcystis aeruginosa inactivation and on the release and degradation of intracellular microcystin-LR (MC-LR) and other featured organic matter were investigated. KMnO4 oxidation of M. aeruginosa exhibited some kinetic patterns that were different from standard chemical reactions. Results indicated that cell viability loss and MC-LR release both followed two-segment second-order kinetics with turning points of KMnO4 exposure (ct) at cty and ctr, respectively. KMnO4 primarily reacted with dissolved and cell-bound extracellular organic matter (mucilage) and resulted in a minor loss of cell viability and MC-LR release before the ct value reached cty. Thereafter, KMnO4 approached the inner layer of the cell wall and resulted in a rapid decrease of cell viability. Further increase of ct to ctr led to cell lysis and massive release of intracellular MC-LR. The MC-LR release rate was generally much slower than its degradation rate during permanganation. However, MC-LR continued to be released even after total depletion of KMnO4, which led to a great increase in MC-LR concentration in the treated water.

Tight ceramic UF membrane as RO pre-treatment: The role of electrostatic interactions on phosphate rejection

Phosphate limitation has been reported as an effective approach to inhibit biofouling in reverse osmosis (RO) systems for water purification. The rejection of dissolved phosphate by negatively charged TiO2 tight ultrafiltration (UF) membranes (1 kDa and 3 kDa) was observed. These membranes can potentially be adopted as an effective process for RO pre-treatment in order to constrain biofouling by phosphate limitation. This paper focuses on electrostatic interactions during tight UF filtration. Despite the larger pore size, the 3 kDa ceramic membrane exhibited greater phosphate rejection than the 1 kDa membrane, because the 3 kDa membrane has a greater negative surface charge and thus greater electrostatic repulsion against phosphate. The increase of pH from 6 to 8.5 led to a substantial increase in phosphate rejection by both membranes due to increased electrostatic repulsion. At pH 8.5, the maximum phosphate rejections achieved by the 1 kDa and 3 kDa membrane were 75% and 86%, respectively. A Debye ratio (ratio of the Debye length to the pore radius) is introduced in order to evaluate double layer overlapping in tight UF membranes. Threshold Debye ratios were determined as 2 and 1 for the 1 kDa and 3 kDa membranes, respectively. A Debye ratio below the threshold Debye ratio leads to dramatically decreased phosphate rejection by tight UF membranes. The phosphate rejection by the tight UF, in combination with chemical phosphate removal by coagulation, might accomplish phosphate-limited conditions for biological growth and thus prevent biofouling in the RO systems.

Effect of PAC dosage in a pilot-scale PAC-MBR treating micro-polluted surface water.

To address the water scarcity issue and advance the traditional drinking water treatment technique, a powdered activated carbon-amended membrane bioreactor (PAC-MBR) is proposed for micro-polluted surface water treatment. A pilot-scale study was carried out by initially dosing different amounts of PAC into the MBR. Comparative results showed that 2g/L performed the best among 0, 1, 2 and 3g/L PAC-MBR regarding organic matter and ammonia removal as well as membrane flux sustainability. 1g/L PAC-MBR exhibited a marginal improvement in pollutant removal compared to the non-PAC system. The accumulation of organic matter in the bulk mixture of 3g/L PAC-MBR led to poorer organic removal and severer membrane fouling. Molecular weight distribution of the bulk liquid in 2g/L PAC-MBR revealed the synergistic effects of PAC adsorption/biodegradation and membrane rejection on organic matter removal. Additionally, a lower amount of soluble extracellular polymer substances in the bulk can be secured in 21 days operation.

Possibilities for reuse of treated domestic wastewater in the Netherlands.

The implementation of wastewater reuse is becoming an increasingly important means of supplementing water supply needs and/or reducing costs. The present paper provides examples of possible uses of treated domestic effluent for the three sectors, i.e. public water supply, industrial and agricultural uses with the aim to address the feasibility of these applications. It is concluded that, although The Netherlands as a whole is considered to be a low water stressed country, regional fresh water scarcity and costs can result in the need for applications of domestic wastewater reuse.

UV/persulfate preoxidation to improve coagulation efficiency of Microcystis aeruginosa

The performance of UV-activated persulfate (UV/PS) technology as preoxidation process to enhance Microcystis aeruginosa removal by subsequent coagulation-sedimentation was firstly evaluated. The results demonstrate that UV/PS preoxidation could successfully promote coagulation of algae cells through the effective neutralization of zeta potential, which was caused by the changes of cell morphology, size distribution and surface properties after simultaneous UV irradiation and formed reactive species (i.e. SO4- and HO) oxidation. Since excessive oxidation would cause cell rupture along with the release of organics, which could deteriorate coagulation efficiency, optimal PS dose (60mg/L) and UV dose (375mJ/cm2) were proposed to exist in this study. The concentrations of extracellular algal organic matter (AOM) sharply increased by 48.2% during the preoxidation period, while gradually decreased in the following coagulation and sedimentation. Most of the concerned disinfection by-products (DBPs) monotonically decreased or followed fluctuant reduction with increasing PS doses, whereas the trichloromethane, trichloroacetic acid and dichloroacetonitrile persistently increased, which was inferred to be related to the variation of AOM. This study suggests that UV/PS might be a potential pretreatment process to assist coagulation on the removal of algae.

Reuse of spent granular activated carbon for organic micro-pollutant removal from treated wastewater

Spent granular activated carbons (sGACs) for drinking water treatments were reused via pulverizing as low-cost adsorbents for micro-pollutant adsorption from a secondary treated wastewater effluent. The changes of physicochemical characteristics of the spent carbons in relation to the fresh carbons were determined and were correlated to the molecular properties of the respective GAC influents (i.e. a surface water and a groundwater). Pore size distribution analysis showed that the carbon pore volume decreased over a wider size range due to preloading by surface water, which contains a broader molecular weight distribution of organic matter in contrast to the groundwater. However, there was still considerable capacity available on the pulverized sGACs for atrazine adsorption in demineralized water and secondary effluent, and this was particularly the case for the groundwater spent GAC. However, as compared to the fresh counterparts, the decreased surface area and the induced surface acidic groups on the pulverized sGACs contributed both to the lower uptake and the more impeded adsorption kinetic of atrazine in the demineralized water. Nonetheless, the pulverized sGACs, especially the one preloaded by surface water, was less susceptible to adsorption competition in the secondary effluent, due to its negatively charged surface which can repulse the accessibility of the co-present organic matter. This suggests the reusability of the drinking water spent GACs for micro-pollutant adsorption in the treated wastewater.

Influence of activated carbon preloading by EfOM fractions from treated wastewater on adsorption of pharmaceutically active compounds

In this study, the preloading effects of different fractions of wastewater effluent organic matter (EfOM) on the adsorption of trace-level pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) onto granular activated carbon (GAC) were investigated. A nanofiltration (NF) membrane was employed to separate the EfOM by size, and two GACs with distinct pore structures were chosen for comparison. The results showed that preloading with EfOM substantially decreased PhAC uptake of the GACs; however, comparable PhAC adsorption capacities were achieved on GACs preloaded by feed EfOM and the NF-permeating EfOM. This indicates that: (1) the NF-rejected, larger EfOM molecules with an expectation to block the PhAC adsorption pores exerted little impact on the adsorbability of PhACs; (2) the smaller EfOM molecules present in the NF permeate contributed mainly to the decrease in PhAC uptake, mostly due to site competition. Of the two examined GACs, the wide pore-size-distributed GAC was found to be more susceptible to EfOM preloading than the microporous GAC. Furthermore, among the fourteen investigated PhACs, the negatively charged hydrophilic PhACs were generally subjected to a greater EfOM preloading impact.

Pharmaceutical adsorption from the primary and secondary effluents of a wastewater treatment plant by powdered activated carbon

AbstractThis study investigated the powdered activated carbon (PAC) adsorption of 13 pharmaceuticals from the primary (and secondary) effluents of a wastewater treatment plant. In addition to fresh PAC, PAC that was previously used for pharmaceutical elimination from the secondary effluent was also examined for its reuse potential in the primary effluent. The results showed a comparably negligible pharmaceutical uptake by fresh and used PACs in the primary effluent, in contrast to a substantial uptake by both PACs in the secondary effluent. This result indicated a severe adsorption competition induced from the primary effluent organic matter, i.e. the considerably higher constituents of low molecular and hydrophobic components. Furthermore, the competition effect even resulted in a desorption of the negatively charged pharmaceuticals from the used PAC into the primary effluent. It was concluded that adding fresh PAC to the secondary effluent is preferred and that recycling the used PAC into the activated ...

Removal of humic acid by a new type of electrical hollow‐fiber microfiltration (E‐HFMF)

Low pressure membrane filtration, such as microfiltration, was widely used in the field of drinking water purification in the past few decades. Traditional microfiltration membranes are not efficient enough in the removal of natural organic matters (NOM) from raw water. Moreover, they tend to be fouled by the NOM and the filtration age of the membranes is thus shrinked. To tackle these problems, a new type of electrical hollow‐fiber microfiltration module (E‐HFMF) was designed. In the E‐HFMF module, the hollow‐fiber microfiltration membranes were placed into the radialized electrical field which functioned from the centre to the exterior of the cylindrical cavity. The main goal of the present study was to evaluate the efficiency of E‐HFMF to remove the humic acid (HA, one of the main components of NOM). According to the parallel tests compared with the traditional microfiltration, the removal rate of humic acid was raised to 70%∼85% in terms of UV‐254 and to 60%∼75% in terms of DOC when filtrating with th...

High-silica zeolites for adsorption of organic micro-pollutants in water treatment: A review

High-silica zeolites have been found to be effective adsorbents for the removal of organic micro-pollutants (OMPs) from impaired water, including various pharmaceuticals, personal care products, industrial chemicals, etc. In this review, the properties and fundamentals of high-silica zeolites are summarised. Recent research on mechanisms and efficiencies of OMP adsorption by high-silica zeolites are reviewed to assess the potential opportunities and challenges for the application of high-silica zeolites for OMP adsorption in water treatment. It is concluded that the adsorption capacities are well-related to surface hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity and structural features, e.g. micropore volume and pore size of high-silica zeolites, as well as the properties of OMPs. By using high-silica zeolites, the undesired competitive adsorption of background organic matter (BOM) in natural water could potentially be prevented. In addition, oxidative regeneration could be applied on-site to restore the adsorption capacity of zeolites for OMPs and prevent the toxic residues from re-entering the environment.