Xiaohu Dai

High-solid anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge under mesophilic conditions: Feasibility study

Feasibility of high-solid anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge was investigated in single-stage completely stirred tank reactors at 35±1 °C. System stability and the effect of organic loading rate (OLR), sludge retention time (SRT) and total solid (TS) content on the performance of high-solid system was examined. Experimental results showed that, with the concentration of free ammonia nitrogen (FAN) lower than 600 mg l(-1), high-solid anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge could maintain satisfactory stability. Slight, moderate and significant inhibition was found with FAN concentration ranging from 250 to 400, 400 to 600 and 600 to 800 mg l(-1), respectively. The VFA/TA criteria could not foresee system instability in significant ammonia inhibition system by its traditional ratio grades. High-solid system could support higher OLR (4-6 times as high) and obtain similar methane yield and VS reduction as conventional low-solid system at the same SRT, thus reach much higher volumetric methane production rate.

High-solids anaerobic co-digestion of sewage sludge and food waste in comparison with mono digestions: stability and performance.

System stability and performance of high-solids anaerobic co-digestion of dewatered sludge (DS) and food waste (FW) in comparison with mono digestions were investigated. System stability was improved in co-digestion systems with co-substrate acting as a diluting agent to toxic chemicals like ammonia or Na(+). For high-solids digestion of DS, the addition of FW not only improved system stability but also greatly enhanced volumetric biogas production. For high-solids digestion of FW, the addition of DS could reduce Na(+) concentration and help maintain satisfactory stability during the conversion of FW into biogas. System performances of co-digestion systems were mainly determined by the mixing ratios of DS and FW. Biogas production and volatile solids (VSs) reduction in digestion of the co-mixture of DS and FW increased linearly with higher ratios of FW. A kinetic model, which aimed to forecast the performance of co-digestion and to assist reactor design, was developed from long-term semi-continuous experiments. Maximum VS reduction for DS and FW was estimated to be 44.3% and 90.3%, respectively, and first order constant k was found to be 0.17d(-1) and 0.50 d(-1), respectively. Experimental data of co-digestion were in good conformity to the predictions of the model.

Changes of heavy metal speciation during high-solid anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge.

The sequential extraction procedure developed by Tessier et al. was used in sludge anaerobic digestion to determine the heavy metal speciation. Sludge samples were taken every three days to investigate humic substances, VS/TS, pH, VFA, alkalinity, ammonia, the total content of Zn, Pb, Cu, Ni, and Cr, and also their distribution into EXCH, CARB, FeMnOx, OMB and RESI fractions. Results showed that, (1) Heavy metals were concentrated during the anaerobic digestion process. The concentration of all five kinds of heavy metals increased by about 50%. (2) The distribution of these heavy metals differed. (3) High-solid anaerobic digestion much or less increased the bioavailability of Cu, Zn, Ni and Cr while decreased the bioavailability of Pb. (4) There were significant degrees of correlation between heavy metal fractions and changes of some selected parameters (for example, pH, VS/TS, and VFA content). Except for Pb, the contents of total mobile fractions for Cu, Zn, Ni, Cr could be predictable from its total content.

Effect of Increasing Total Solids Contents on Anaerobic Digestion of Food Waste under Mesophilic Conditions: Performance and Microbial Characteristics Analysis

The total solids content of feedstocks affects the performances of anaerobic digestion and the change of total solids content will lead the change of microbial morphology in systems. In order to increase the efficiency of anaerobic digestion, it is necessary to understand the role of the total solids content on the behavior of the microbial communities involved in anaerobic digestion of organic matter from wet to dry technology. The performances of mesophilic anaerobic digestion of food waste with different total solids contents from 5% to 20% were compared and the microbial communities in reactors were investigated using 454 pyrosequencing technology. Three stable anaerobic digestion processes were achieved for food waste biodegradation and methane generation. Better performances mainly including volatile solids reduction and methane yield were obtained in the reactors with higher total solids content. Pyrosequencing results revealed significant shifts in bacterial community with increasing total solids contents. The proportion of phylum Chloroflexi decreased obviously with increasing total solids contents while other functional bacteria showed increasing trend. Methanosarcina absolutely dominated in archaeal communities in three reactors and the relative abundance of this group showed increasing trend with increasing total solids contents. These results revealed the effects of the total solids content on the performance parameters and the behavior of the microbial communities involved in the anaerobic digestion of food waste from wet to dry technologies.

New insight into chemical changes of dissolved organic matter during anaerobic digestion of dewatered sewage sludge using EEM-PARAFAC and two-dimensional FTIR correlation spectroscopy.

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is a key component in reaction network of anaerobic digestion. In this study, fluorescent excitation-emission matrix-parallel factor (EEM-PARAFAC) analysis and two-dimensional (2D) FTIR correlation spectroscopy were firstly used to explore chemical changes of soluble intermediates in high-solid biogas reactor. EEM-PARAFAC showed that fluorescent components (tyrosine-like, tryptophan-like and humic-like groups) in DOM over time increased gradually, implying that these groups were reluctant to biodegrade (acidogenesis). The resistance to biodegradation presented the following order: humic-like group>tyrosine-like group>tryptophan-like group. 2D FTIR correlation spectroscopy indicated that the DOM change sequence with time followed the order: protein-like groups>structural carbohydrates and carboxylic acids>polysaccharides-like groups. Fluorescence intensities from EEM-PARAFAC and main bands of FTIR spectra correlated significantly with other chemical parameters, e.g. biogas production and dissolved organic carbon content. These findings supply novel realization for degradation degree and order of individual DOMs during anaerobic digestion for dewatered sewage sludge.

Simultaneous enhancement of methane production and methane content in biogas from waste activated sludge and perennial ryegrass anaerobic co-digestion: The effects of pH and C/N ratio.

It is necessary to find an appropriate strategy to simultaneously enhance the methane production and methane content in biogas from waste activated sludge (WAS) and grass co-digestion. In this study an efficient strategy, i.e., adjusting the initial pH 12 and C/N ratio 17/1, for simultaneous enhancement of methane production and methane content in biogas from WAS and perennial ryegrass co-digestion was reported. Experimental results indicated that the maximal methane production was 310mL/gVSadd at the optimum conditions after 30-d anaerobic digestion, which was, respectively, about 1.5- and 3.8-fold of the sole WAS and sole perennial ryegrass anaerobic digestion. Meanwhile, the methane content in biogas was about 74%, which was much higher than that of sole WAS (64%) or sole perennial ryegrass (54%) anaerobic digestion.

Flow of sewage sludge-borne phthalate esters (PAEs) from human release to human intake: implication for risk assessment of sludge applied to soil.

The wide production and use of phthalate esters (PAEs) in both industry and commercial products lead to their ubiquitous existence in the environment. However, understanding flow and pathway of human exposure to PAEs from sources to receptors is necessary and challenging. In this study, we selected final sewage sludge, an inevitable byproduct of wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), as one type of important carrier/sources of PAEs to clarify the flow of PAEs between human and the environment, e.g. the release by human to sludge and in turn ingestion by human after these sludges were disposed as soil amendment. Twenty-five sludge samples were collected from 25 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Shanghai, East China. Of all 16 PAE congeners, di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and dibutyl phthalate (DnBP) were predominant with mean concentrations of 97.4 and 22.4 μg/g dw, respectively, both locating at the high end of the global range. WWTP treating industrial waster generally contained higher PAEs compared to those treating domestic wastewater, but no positive relationship was found between PAE levels with the percentage of industrial wastewater. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed that similar PAE sources for all WWTPs in Shanghai with three exceptions, in which specific PAE products were made. The annual mass loadings via sludge of DEHP, DnBP, and Σ16PAEs were 31.4, 7.44, and 39.6 tons in Shanghai and 1042, 247, and 1314 tons in China, respectively, only accounting for 0.09% of the total consumption of PAEs in China. If this sludge is applied in soil, human will take 16.4 and 3.8 μg/kg bw for DEHP and DnBP every day, respectively, via dietary and soil ingestion, which were lower than the toxicological safety parameters. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to analyze the flow of sludge-borne PAEs from human release to human intake.

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and dechlorane plus (DP) in a conventional wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Shanghai: Seasonal variations and potential sources

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are considered an important medium for the transport and transformation of organic pollutants, such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and dechlorane plus (DP). However, limited data on PBDEs and no data on DP were available regarding wastewater and sludge from China, especially in Shanghai, one of the most developed cities in China. This study examined the occurrence of PBDEs and DP in a conventional WWTP in Shanghai for one year. The levels of the total PBDEs in the influent and dewatered sludge ranged from 5.31 to 27.9 ng/L and 31.0 to 99.5 ng/g, respectively, which were at the low end of the global range. DP was reported in wastewater with a mean concentration of 0.46 ng/L (range: 0.05 to 1.40 ng/L) and sludge contained DP in the range of 1.1 to 2.0 ng/g. For both PBDEs and DP, there were no significant seasonal variations observed in the four seasons. Indoor dust and outdoor air could be two main sources of PBDEs and DP in the WWTP. In both the influent and sewage sludge, BDE-209 was the most abundant congener, with contributions to the total PBDE levels ranging from 52.9 to 82.6% and 82.7 to 84.0%, respectively. The fraction of anti-DP was consistently higher than that of syn-DP, and the average of fsyn ranged from 0.16 to 0.33, which fell in the range of two commercial DP mixtures. The annual releases of PBDEs and DP via sewage sludge from WWTPs in Shanghai were estimated to be 6,370 g and 164.8 g, respectively. The fate and risk of these compounds after being released into the environment require further research. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to report on the occurrence of DP in wastewater.

Rheology evolution of sludge through high-solid anaerobic digestion

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the rheology evolution of sludge through high-solid anaerobic digestion (AD) and its dependency on sludge retention time (SRT) and temperature of AD reactor. The operation performance of high-solid AD reactors were also studied. The results showed that sludge became much more flowable after high-solid AD. It was found that the sludge from reactors with long SRT exhibited low levels of shear stress, viscosity, yield stress, consistency index, and high value of flow behaviour index. While the flowability of sludge from thermophilic AD reactors were better than that of sludge from mesophilic AD reactors though the solid content of the formers were higher than that of the latters, which could be attributed to the fact that the formers had more amount of free and interstitial moisture. It might be feasible to use sludge rheology as an AD process controlling parameter.

Biodegradation of polyacrylamide by anaerobic digestion under mesophilic condition and its performance in actual dewatered sludge system

Polyacrylamide (PAM) used in sludge dewatering widely exists in high-solid anaerobic digestion. Degradation of polyacrylamide accompanied with accumulation of its toxic monomer is important to disposition of biogas residues. The potential of anaerobic digestion activity in microbial utilization of PAM was investigated in this study. The results indicated that the utilization rate of PAM (as nitrogen source) was influenced by accumulation of ammonia, while cumulative removal of amide group was accorded with zeroth order reaction in actual dewatered system. The adjoining amide group can combined into ether group after biodegradation. PAM can be broken down in different position of its carbon chain backbone. In actual sludge system, the hydrolytic PAM was liable to combined tyrosine-rich protein to form colloid complex, and then consumed as carbon source to form monomer when easily degradable organics were exhausted. The accumulation of acrylamide was leveled off ultimately, accompanied with the yield of methane.