Toshimasa Hojo

Mesophilic methane fermentation of chicken manure at a wide range of ammonia concentration: stability, inhibition and recovery.

A 12L mesophilic CSTR of chicken manure fermentation was operated for 400 days to evaluate process stability, inhibition occurrence and the recovery behavior suffering TAN concentrations from 2000 mg/L to 16,000 mg/L. A biogas production of 0.35-0.4 L/gVS(in) and a COD conversion of 68% were achieved when TAN concentration was lower than 5000 mg/L. Ammonia inhibition occurred due to the addition of NH4HCO3 to the substrate. The biogas and COD conversion decreased to 0.3 L/gVS(in) and 20% at TAN 10,000 mg/L and was totally suppressed at TAN 16,000 mg/L. Carbohydrate and protein conversion decreased by 33% and 77% after inhibition. After extreme inhibition, the reactor was diluted and washed, reducing TAN and FA to 4000 mg/L and 300 mg/L respectively, and the recovered biogas production was 0.5 L/gVS(in). The extended Monod model manifested the different sensitivities of hydrolysis, acidogenesis and methanogenesis to inhibition. VFA accumulation accompanied an increase in ammonia and exerted a toxic on microorganism.

Hydraulic characteristics simulation of an innovative self-agitation anaerobic baffled reactor (SA-ABR)

An investigation was conducted on a self-agitation anaerobic baffled reactor (SA-ABR) with agitation caused solely by the release of stored gas. The compound in the reactor is mixed without the use of any mechanical equipment and electricity. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation used to provide details of the flow pattern and information about the agitation process and a solid basis for design and optimization purposes. Every self-agitation cycle could be separated into the pressure energy storage process, the exergonic process and the buffer stage. The reactor is regarded as the combination of continuous stirred tank reactor and a small plug flow reactor. The liquid level and diffusion varies widely depending on the length of the U-tube. The compound transition phenomenon in the 1st chamber mainly occurs during the energy exergonic process and buffer stage. The fluid-diffusion in the 3rd and 4th chambers mainly happens after the buffer period.

Effect of influent COD/SO42− ratios on biodegradation behaviors of starch wastewater in an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor

A lab-scale upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) has been run for 250days to investigate the influence of influent COD/SO4(2-) ratios on the biodegradation behavior of starch wastewater and process performance. Stepwise decreasing COD/SO4(2-) ratio enhanced sulfidogenesis, complicating starch degradation routes and improving process stability. The reactor exhibited satisfactory performance at a wide COD/SO4(2-) range ⩾2, attaining stable biogas production of 1.15-1.17LL(-1)d(-1) with efficient simultaneous removal of total COD (73.5-80.3%) and sulfate (82.6±6.4%). Adding sulfate favored sulfidogenesis process and diversified microbial community, invoking hydrolysis-acidification of starch and propionate degradation and subsequent acetoclastic methanogenesis; whereas excessively enhanced sulfidogenesis (COD/SO4(2-) ratios <2) would suppress methanogenesis through electrons competition and sulfide inhibition, deteriorating methane conversion. This research in-depth elucidated the role of sulfidogenesis in bioenergy recovery and sulfate removal, advancing the applications of UASB technology in water industry from basic science.

Plannar light source using a phosphor screen with single-walled carbon nanotubes as field emitters

We developed and successfully fabricated a plannar light source device using a phosphor screen with single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) as field emitters in a simple diode structure composed of the cathode containing the highly purified and crystalline SWCNTs dispersed into an organic In2O3-SnO2 precursor solution and a non-ionic surfactant. The cathode was activated by scratching process with sandpaper to obtain a large field emission current with low power consumption. The nicks by scratching were treated with Fourier analysis to determine the periodicity of the surface morphology and designed with controlling the count number of sandpapers. The anode, on the other hand, was made with phosphor deliberately optimized by coverage of ITO nanoparticles and assembled together with the cathode by the new stable assembling process resulting to stand-alone flat plane-emission panel. The device in a diode structure has a low driving voltage and good brightness homogeneity in that plane. Furthermore, field emission current fluctuation, which is an important factor in comparing luminance devices too, has a good stability in a simple diode panel. The flat plane-emission device employing the highly purified and crystalline SWCNTs has the potential to provide a new approach to lighting in our life style.

Nitrogen removal performance and loading capacity of a novel single-stage nitritation-anammox system with syntrophic micro-granules

The operation performance of a novel micro-granule based syntrophic system of nitritation and anammox was studied by controlling the oxygen concentration and maintaining a constant temperature of 25°C. With the oxygen concentration of around 0.11 (<0.15)mg/L, the single-stage nitritation-anammox system was startup successfully at a nitrogen loading rate (NLR) of 1.5kgN/m3/d. The reactor was successfully operated at volumetric N loadings ranging from 0.5 to 2.5kgN/m3/d with a high nitrogen removal of 82%. The microbial community was composed by ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and anammox bacteria forming micro-granules with an average diameter of 0.8mm and good settleability. Results from pyrosequencing analysis revealed that Ca. Kuenenia and Nitrosomonas were selected and enriched in the community over the startup period, and these were identified as the dominant anammox bacteria and AOB species, respectively.

Upgrading of the symbiosis of Nitrosomanas and anammox bacteria in a novel single-stage partial nitritation-anammox system: Nitrogen removal potential and Microbial characterization

A novel single-stage partial nitritation-anammox process equipped with porous functional suspended carriers was developed at 25°C in a CSTR by controlling dissolved oxygen <0.3mg/L. The nitrogen removal performance was almost unchanged over a nitrogen loading rate ranging from 0.5 to 2.5kgNH4+-N/m3/d with a high nitrogen removal efficiency of 81.1%. The specific activity of AOB and anammox bacteria was of 3.00g-N/g-MLVSS/d (the suspended sludge), 3.56g-N/g-MLVSS/d (the biofilm sludge), respectively. The results of pyrosequencing revealed that Nitrosomonas (5.66%) and Candidatus_Kuenenia (4.95%) were symbiotic in carriers while Nitrosomonas (40.70%) was predominant in the suspended flocs. Besides, two specific types of heterotrophic filamentous bacteria in the suspended flocs (Haliscomenobacter) and the functional carrier biofilm (Longilinea) were shown to confer structural integrity to the aggregates. The novel single-stage partial nitritation-anammox process equipped with functional suspended carriers was shown to have good potential for the nitrogen-rich wastewater treatment.

Upgrading of anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge by a hyper-thermophilic–mesophilic temperature-phased process with a recycle system

In order to upgrade the conventional mesophilic anaerobic digestion (MD) of waste activated sludge (WAS), a hyper-thermophilic (70 °C, stage I)–mesophilic (35 °C, stage II) temperature-phased anaerobic digestion system with a recycle system (TPAD-R) was constructed, with MD as a control. The accumulation of solids increased with shorter hydraulic retention time (HRT). Compared with MD, TPAD-R improved the reduction of solids by over 10%, and the removal rate of protein in TPAD-R increased by more than 20%. In stage I of TPAD-R an amount of organic matter was solubilized, in a range between 10 g L−1 and 20 g L−1, as soluble chemical oxygen demand (COD), and played an important role in enhancing hydrolysis and acidification. The specific hydrolysis and acidification rates of stage I reached their maximum values after a HRT of 10 days, 2.367 g COD per g VS per day and 1.120 g COD per g VS per day, respectively. Consequently, the methane yield in TPAD-R, primarily produced in stage II, was also improved, 29% higher than that in MD for a HRT of 10 days. Besides compensating for energy loss, TPAD-R obtained a higher net energy than MD, achieving a net energy which was 3.3 kJ g−1 VS more than that in MD for a HRT of 10 days. The TPAD-R proved to be efficient in upgrading the MD of WAS.

Biogas recovery from two-phase anaerobic digestion of food waste and paper waste: Optimization of paper waste addition

In order to optimize the biogas recovery from the co-digestion of food waste (FW) and paper waste (PW), the effect of PW content on two-phase anaerobic digestion (TPAD) was investigated. The mixtures of FW and PW, with the ratios of 10:0, 8:2, 6:4 and 5:5 (total solids), were fed into TPAD to recover biomethane. After the long-term expriment, it is elucidated that the methanogenesis in TPAD was stable for PW ≤ 40%. When PW = 50%, NH4HCO3 was added to the methanogenic phase to provide nitrogen. As the indicators of the stability of the anaerobic process, the ammonia and alkalinity in the methanogenic phase were simulated for their decreasing trend. The simulation results quantified the nitrogen deficiency in the methanogenic phase for PW = 50%. Also, the comparison of alkalinity and ammonia revealed that ammonia was the major contributor to the alkalinity. Furthermore, via stoichiometric calculations, high C/N ratios were found to increase the microbial yield and exacerbated the nitrogen deficiency. In the energy estimation, adding PW showed significant increase only when PW ≥ 40%. It was concluded that 40% was the optimal PW content for bioenergy augmentation from co-digestion of FW and PW using TPAD.

Effects of soluble microbial products (SMP) on the performance of an anammox attached film expanded bed (AAFEB) reactor: Synergistic interaction and toxic shock

The accumulation of soluble microbial production (SMP) in an anammox attached film expanded bed (AAFEB) and its effect on the reactor performance were investigated in this study. During the long-term experiment, an extended HRT resulted in the accumulation of SMP and the change of treatment performance. When the SMP increased from 10.5±1.5mgL-1 to 31.7±6.4mgL-1 with the increase of influent TN concentration from 313mgL-1 to 2500mgL-1, the TN removal efficiency was stable. However, when the influent TN concentration was 3500mgL-1, the SMP concentration increased higher than 100mgL-1, the reactor soon became inhibited. Bath tests indicated that both the specific anammox activity (SAA) and the substrate tolerance ability decreased during the stable operation phases, whereas the specific denitrification activity (SDA) was significantly enhanced. In addition, N2O emissions in the anammox-denitrifier symbiotic system were greater than in the conventional nitrogen removal process.

Phase separation and microbial distribution in the hyperthermophilic-mesophilic-type temperature-phased anaerobic digestion (TPAD) of waste activated sludge (WAS)

In order to investigate the phase separation and microbial distribution in the TPAD, the conventional thermophilic-mesophilic type (TM-TPAD) and the hyperthermophilic-mesophilic type (HM-TPAD) were operated with a single-stage mesophilic anaerobic digestion (MAD) as control. HM-TPAD accomplished the volatile solids destruction 14.5% higher than MAD. Calculating conversion efficiencies distinguished the separation of acidogenic and methanogenic phases in HM-TPAD, which was not found in TM-TPAD. The differences on microbial distributions also reflected the phase separation in HM-TPAD. The protein degraders, Coprothermobacter had higher abundance in the first stage than the second stage of HM-TPAD but it had similar abundance between the two stages of TM-TPAD. Also, the archaeal communities from the two stages of HM-TPAD shared the least similarity but those from the two stages of TM-TPAD were closely similar.