Zhiying Han

Effects of bamboo charcoal and bamboo vinegar on nitrogen conservation and heavy metals immobility during pig manure composting.

Composting is an effective methodology for the treatment of organic waste like pig manure (PM) before land application. However, nitrogen loss through NH(3) volatilization during the thermophilic phase is one of the major disadvantages of composting. The presence of Cu and Zn in compost arising from pig feed additives is also an issue. In this study the effects of bamboo charcoal (BC) and bamboo vinegar (BV) added to composting piles on nitrogen conservation and immobility of Cu and Zn during PM composting was investigated. Total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) loss and mobility of Cu and Zn decreased with increased BC addition. TKN loss and mobility of Cu and Zn in the treatment with 9% BC at the end of composting significantly decreased by 65%, 35% and 39% respectively, as compared to the control. Addition of BV further decreased TKN loss. After composting, TKN loss in the treatment with 3% BC+0.4% BV was 23% lower than that in the treatment with 9% BC. The final results indicated that by adding BC or BC+BV into PM composting is an effective method to reduce TKN loss and control the mobility of Cu and Zn.

Optimization of struvite crystallization protocol for pretreating the swine wastewater and its impact on subsequent anaerobic biodegradation of pollutants

Higher contents of NH(4)(+) and SS in wastewater hamper the anaerobic digestion; necessitating its pretreatment to reduce them. This study reveals optimization of struvite/MAP precipitation protocol followed by anaerobic digestion of pretreated swine wastewater for pollutants removal. Levels of different treatments: stirring speeds, 400 and 160 rpm; pH values, 9.0, 9.5, 10.0, 10.5, 11.0 and 11.5; and P:Mg:N ratios, 1:1:1.2, 1:1:1.7, 1:1:2.2, 1:1:2.7, 1:1:4.0 and 1:1:5.0 were evaluated for MAP crystallization. Among various combinations, protocol comprising of initial 10 min stirring at 400 rpm followed by 160 rpm for 30 min, pH 10.0, and P:Mg:N ratio 1:1:1.2 rendered the best removal efficiency for NH(4)(+), PO(4)(3-), COD, TC and TOC. Subsequent anaerobic biodegradation revealed superiority of MAP supernatant over raw swine wastewater for methane yield and NH(4)(+)-N, PO(4)(3-)-P, COD, TC and TOC removals. It suggests that struvite precipitation as pretreatment to anaerobic digestion is highly effective and advantageous in wastewater treatment.

Simultaneous ammonia and nitrate removal in an airlift reactor using poly(butylene succinate) as carbon source and biofilm carrier.

In this study, an airlift inner-loop sequencing batch reactor using poly(butylene succinate) as the biofilm carrier and carbon source was operated under an alternant aerobic/anoxic strategy for nitrogen removal in recirculating aquaculture system. The average TAN and nitrate removal rates of 47.35±15.62gNH4-Nm(-3)d(-1) and 0.64±0.14kgNO3-Nm(-3)d(-1) were achieved with no obvious nitrite accumulation (0.70±0.76mg/L) and the dissolved organic carbon in effluents was maintained at 148.38±39.06mg/L. Besides, the activities of dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium and sulfate reduction activities were successfully inhibited. The proteome KEGG analysis illustrated that ammonia might be removed through heterotrophic nitrification, while the activities of nitrate and nitrite reductases were enhanced through aeration treatment. The microbial community analysis revealed that denitrifiers of Azoarcus and Simplicispira occupied the dominate abundance which accounted for the high nitrate removal performance. Overall, this study broadened our understanding of simultaneous nitrification and denitrification using biodegradable material as biofilm carrier.

Characteristics of a twice-fed sequencing batch reactor treating swine wastewater under control of aeration intensity.

The changes of nitrogen (NH4 +-N, NO2 −-N, and NO3 −-N), chemical oxygen demand (COD), dissolved phosphorus (DP), dissolved oxygen (DO), oxidization and reduction potential (ORP), and pH were tracked in a twice-fed sequencing batch reactor (SBR) treating swine wastewater at aeration intensities of 2.1, 4.2, and 6.3 L/m3 · s, with two alternating non-aeration/aeration phases. The SBR was fed at the beginning of each non-aeration phase with a volume ratio of 3:1. The results show that aeration intensity has positive effects on DO breakthrough and the maximum DO concentration during aeration. Additionally, nitrification, proceeding in an aerated environment with non-detectable DO, can be accelerated when aeration intensity increases from 2.1 to 4.2 L/m3 · s, while the COD and DP removals increase at the end of the aeration phase for higher aeration intensities (4.2 and 6.3 L/m3 · s). Online monitoring results indicate that pH is more sensitive than ORP in revealing the nitrification termination with non-detectable DO, whereas minimal ORP in the non-aeration phase has potential to be used as a control parameter for feeding.

Optimization of main factors associated with nitrogen removal in hybrid sludge sequencing batch reactor with step-feeding of swine wastewater

To attain a high nitrogen removal efficiency and good sludge settleability in a step-fed sequencing batch reactor (SFSBR) treating swine wastewater, L9(34) orthogonal experiments were carried out to optimize main factors associated with nitrogen removal, namely, the influent C/N ratio, feeding volume ratio, nitrogen loading rate and aeration intensity. Results showed that nitrogen loading rate contributed most for the build-up of NO2 −-N, NO3 −-N and NH4 +-N in the effluent, while aeration intensity was the most important factor for net nitrogen removal efficiency based on the initial and final nitrogen concentrations in the SFSBR cycle. Additionally, the periodic starvation created by stepwise feeding was the major inducing force for granulation in the SFBSR process and the influent C/N ratio had a profound influence on sludge settleability and granular sludge stability in terms of sludge volume index (SVI) and the fraction of granular sludge with diameter over 0.5 mm (ƒ0.5 mm ), respectively. Considering the most and secondary important control factor for individual response index, the optimal operating condition for nitrogen removal of SFSBR treating swine wastewater was determined as A3B3C1D2, i.e., influent C/N ratio 7.0 mg COD/mg NH4 +-N, feeding volume ratio 3:1, nitrogen loading rate 0.026 g NH4 +-N/gVSS · d and aeration intensity 4.2 L/m3 · s, respectively. Under the optimal operating conditions, inorganic nitrogen concentration in the effluent, net nitrogen removal efficiency, SVI and ƒ0.5 mm reached 21 mg/L, 72 %, 40.7 mL/g and 4.3 %, respectively.

Inactivation Mechanism of Escherichia coli Induced by Slightly Acidic Electrolyzed Water

Foodborne disease outbreak caused by food microbiological contamination is a serious public health problem. Slightly acidic electrolyzed water (SAEW), a new ultra-high effect and wide-spectrum disinfectant that is colourless, odourless, and harmless to humans and the environment, is directly used on food surfaces in Japan and America. However, the underlying inactivation mechanism remains unknown. In this study, biochemical and cellular changes were observed to investigate the bactericidal mechanism of SAEW against Escherichia coli (E. coli). The results indicated that SAEW with a pH of 6.40, an oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) of 910 mV, an available chlorine concentration (ACC) of 60 mg/L, and a volume ratio of 20:1, produced the most effective sterilization action. A fluorescence-based live-dead assay was further used to demonstrate the sterilized effect and the cell esterase activity damage caused by SAEW. During the observation period, within 10 min, the cell morphology changed, which was characterized by cell expansion, cell elongation and increased membrane permeability. Meanwhile, reactive oxygen substances (ROS) were released in the bacterial cells. E. coli inactivation and apoptosis induced by SAEW were observed. Our findings illustrate that the bactericidal effects of SAEW against E. coli occurred through cellular and biochemical mechanisms of cell necrosis and apoptosis.

The impact of DO and salinity on microbial community in poly(butylene succinate) denitrification reactors for recirculating aquaculture system wastewater treatment

The interactions between environmental factors and bacterial community shift in solid-phase denitrification are crucial for optimum operation of a reactor and to achieve maximum treatment efficiency. In this study, Illumina high-throughput sequencing was applied to reveal the effects of different operational conditions on bacterial community distribution of three continuous operated poly(butylene succinate) biological denitrification reactors used for recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) wastewater treatment. The results indicated that salinity decreased OTU numbers and diversity while dissolved oxygen (DO) had no obvious influence on OTU numbers. Significant microbial community composition differences were observed among and between three denitrification reactors under varied operation conditions. This result was also demonstrated by cluster analysis (CA) and detrended correspondence analysis (DCA). Hierarchical clustering and redundancy analysis (RDA) was performed to test the relationship between environmental factors and bacterial community compositions and result indicated that salinity, DO and hydraulic retention time (HRT) were the three key factors in microbial community formation. Besides, Simplicispira was detected under all operational conditions, which worth drawing more attention for nitrate removal. Moreover, the abundance of nosZ gene and 16S rRNA were analyzed by real-time PCR, which suggested that salinity decreased the proportion of denitrifiers among whole bacterial community while DO had little influence on marine reactors. This study provides an overview of microbial community shift dynamics in solid-phase denitrification reactors when operation parameters changed and proved the feasibility to apply interval aeration for denitrification process based on microbial level, which may shed light on improving the performance of RAS treatment units.

Performance evaluation of biofilters and biotrickling filters in odor control of n-butyric acid

With the rapid development of swine production in China, odor pollution associated with piggery facilities has become an increasing environmental concern. N-butyric acid (n-BA) is one of the key odor compounds selected to represent volatile fatty acids (VFAs) found in piggery facilities. In this study, two biofilters (BFs) packed with compost (BFC) or sludge (BFS) and two biotrickling filters (BTFs) packed with pall rings (BTFP) or multidimensional hollow balls (BTFM), respectively, were compared with regard to their performances in the removal of n-BA. The non-biological removal capacities of packing material of the bioreactors on a per unit volume basis were BFS>BFC>BTFM>BTFP. Maximum biological removal capacities per unit volume of packing material of the bioreactors all exceeded 9.1 kg/m3·d and in the order of BFC>BTFM>BFS>BTFP. Kinetic analysis as well as overall evaluation by radar graphs showed that the BTFs achieved superior removal rates to the BFs in the order of BTFM>BTFP>BFC>BFS. The biotrickling filter packed with multidimensional hollow balls could be an effective technology for VFAs removal. Results from this research provide economical and effective alternatives for odor control in piggery facilities.

Performance and membrane fouling of a step-fed submerged membrane sequencing batch reactor treating swine biogas digestion slurry

ABSTRACT To identify the performance of step-fed submerged membrane sequencing batch reactor (SMSBR) treating swine biogas digestion slurry and to explore the correlation between microbial metabolites and membrane fouling within this novel reactor, a lab-scale step-fed SMSBR was operated under nitrogen loading rate of 0.026, 0.052 and 0.062 g NH4+-N (gVSS·d)−1. Results show that the total removal efficiencies for NH4+-N, total nitrogen and chemical oxygen demand in the reactor (>94%, >89% and >97%, respectively) were high during the whole experiment. However, the cycle removal efficiency of NH4+-N decreased significantly when the nitrogen loading rate was increased to 0.062 g NH4+-N (gVSS·d)−1. The total removal efficiency of total phosphorus in the step-fed SMSBR was generally higher than 75%, though large fluctuations were observed during the experiments. In addition, the concentrations of microbial metabolites, i.e., soluble microbial products (SMP) and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) from activated sludge increased as nitrogen loading rate increased, both showing quadratic equation correlations with viscosity of the mixed liquid in the step-fed SMSBR (both R2 > 0.90). EPS content was higher than SMP content, while protein (PN) was detected as the main component in both SMP and EPS. EPS PN was found to be well correlated with transmembrane pressure, membrane flux and the total membrane fouling resistance. Furthermore, the three-dimensional excitation-emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy results suggested the tryptophan-like protein as one of the main contributors to the membrane fouling. Overall, this study showed that the step-fed SMSBR could be used to treat swine digestion slurry at nitrogen loading rate of 0.052 g NH4+-N (gVSS·d)−1, and the control strategy of membrane fouling should be developed based on reducing the tryptophan-like PN in EPS.

Optimization design of aerated struvite-crystallizer for recovering phosphorus from swine manure using computational fluid dynamics

Abstract. The aerated struvite-crystallizer (ASC) is widely used to recover phosphorus from swine manure. However, there is a lack of knowledge on the optimization of ASC design in view of hydrodynamics. In this study, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is used to describe the behavior of water and air bubble in terms of velocity magnitude and stagnant volume in a column-shape ASC with cone bottom under different conditions i.e., ratio of height to diameter in the reaction zone (Hi:Di ratio) and aeration intensity. Results show that decreasing Hi:Di ratio does harm to the settlement in the bottom of ASC for the vortex fluid, whereas increasing Hi:Di ratio will shorten the retention time for air. Additionally, the aeration intensity has influence not only on the mixture effectiveness within the inner cylinder reaction zone of ASC, but also on the fluid field in the bottom of ASC. The optimized Hi:Di ratio is determined as 2:1and the suitable aeration intensity is 14.6m 3 /h for the ASC system mentioned in this study.