Mar 2007, Volume 1 Issue 1
    

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  • QIAN Yi, WEN Xianghua, HUANG Xia
    China has been experiencing fast economic development in recent decades at the cost of serious environmental deterioration. Wastewater discharge, especially municipal wastewater discharge, and non-point pollution sources are becoming the major water pollution source and research focus. Great efforts have been made on water pollution control and a number of renovated technologies and processes for municipal wastewater treatment and reclamation as well as non-point pollution control have been developed and applied in China. This paper discusses the development and application of the appropriate technologies, including natural treatment systems, anaerobic biological treatment, biofilm reactors and wastewater reclamation technologies, for water pollution control in the country.
  • WANG Lisha, HU Hongying, WANG Chao, Koichi Fujie
    The effects of chlorine dioxide and chlorine disinfections on the genotoxicity of different biologically treated sewage wastewater samples were studied by umu-test. The experiment results showed that when chlorine dioxide dosage was increased from 0 to 30 mg/L, the genotoxicity of wastewater first decreased rapidly and then tended to be stable, while when the chlorine dosage was increased from 0 to 30 mg/L, the genotoxicity of wastewater changed diver sely for different samples. It was then found that ammonia nitrogen did not affect the change of genotoxicity during chlorine dioxide disinfection of wastewater, while it greatly affected the change of genotoxicity during chlorine disin fection of wastewater. When the concentration of ammonia nitrogen was low (< 10 20 mg/L), the genotoxicity of wastewater decreased after chlorine disinfection, and when the concentration of ammonia nitrogen was high (> 10 20 mg/L), the genotoxicity of wastewater increased after chlorine disinfection.
  • YUAN Linjiang, HAN Wei, WANG Lei, YANG Yongzhe, WANG Zhiying
    In order to achieve simultaneous nitrogen and phosphorus removal in the biological treatment process, denitrifying phosphorus accumulation (DNPA) and its affecting factors were studied in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) with synthetic wastewater. The results showed that when acetate was used as the sole carbon resource in the influent, the sludge acclimatized under anaerobic/aerobic operation had good phosphorus removal ability. Denitrifying phosphorus accumulation was observed soon when fed with nitrate instead of aeration following the anaerobic stage, which is a vital premise to DNPA. If DNPA sludge is fed with nitrate prior to the anaerobic stage, the DNPA would weaken or even disappear. At the high concentration of nitrate fed in the anoxic stage, the longer anoxic time needed, the better the DNPA was. Induced DNPA did not disappear even though an aerobic stage followed the anoxic stage, but the shorter the aerobic stage lasted, the higher the proportions of phosphorus removal via DNPA to total removal.
  • ZENG Wei, PENG Yongzhen, WANG Shuying
    In order to improve the nitrogen removal efficiency and save operational cost, the feasibility of the alternating aerobic-anoxic process (AAA process) applied in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) system for nitrogen removal was investigated. Under sufficient influent alkalinity, the AAA process did not have an advantage over one aerobicanoxic (OAA) cycle on treatment efficiency because microorganisms had an adaptive stage at the alternating aerobic-anoxic transition, which would prolong the total cycling time. On the contrary, the AAA process made the system control more complicated. Under deficient influent alkalinity, when compared to OAA, the AAA process improved treatment efficiency and effluent quality with NH4+-N in the effluent below the detection limit. In the nitrification, the average stoichiometric ratio between alkalinity consumption and ammonia oxidation is calculated to be 7.07 mg CaCO3/mg NH4+-N. In the denitrification, the average stoichiometric ratio between alkalinity production and NO3--N reduction is about 3.57 mg CaCO3/mg NO3--N. As a result, half of the alkalinity previously consumed during the aerobic nitrification was recovered during the subsequent anoxic denitrification period. That was why the higher treatment efficiency in the AAA process was achieved without the supplement of bicarbonate alkalinity. If the lack of alkalinity in the influent was less than 1/3 of that needed, there is no need for external alkalinity addition and treatment efficiency was the same as that under sufficient influent alkalinity. Even if the lack of alkalinity in the influent was more than 1/3 of that needed, the AAA process was an optimal strategy because it reduced the external alkalinity addition and saved on operational cost.
  • YANG Qing, WANG Shuying, YANG Anming, GUO Jianhua, BO Fengyang
    Since eutrophication has become increasingly severe in China, nitrogen and phosphorous have been the concern of wastewater treatment, especially nitrogen removal. The stabilization of the intelligent control system and nitrogen removal efficiency were investigated in a pilot-scale aerobic-anoxic sequencing batch reactor (SBR) with a treatment capacity of 60 m3/d. Characteristic points on the profiles of dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, and oxidation reduction potential (ORP) could exactly reflect the process of nitrification and denitrification. Using the intelligent control system not only could save energy, but also could achieve advanced nitrogen removal. Applying the control strategy water quality of the effluent could stably meet the national first discharge standard during experiment of 10 months. Even at low temperature (t = 13vH), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total nitrogen (TN) in the effluent were under 50 and 5 mg/L, respectively.
  • LI Jie, XIONG Biyong, ZHANG Shude, YANG Hong, ZHANG Jie
    An anaerobic-oxic (A/O) biological phosphorus removal reactor was operated to study the effect of nitrite on phosphate uptake. The phosphorus uptake profile was determined under different operating conditions. The results indicated that in addition to oxygen and nitrate (DPBNa, nitrate denitrifying phosphorus removal), to some extent, nitrite could also serve as an electron acceptor to achieve nitrite denitrifying phosphorus removal (DPBNi). The quantity and rate of phosphorus uptake of DPBNi, however, were evidently lower than that of DPBNa. The experiment results revealed that nitrite would bring toxic action to phosphate-accumulating organisms (PAOs) when NO2--N"e93.7 mg/L. The nitrite existing in the anoxic reactor made no difference to the quantity and rate of denitrifying phosphorus removal, but it could reduce the consumption of nitrate. Moreover, the data showed that the aerobic phosphate uptake of DPBNi was lower than that of anaerobic phosphorus-released sludge in a traditional A/O process. However, there was not much difference between these two kinds of sludge in terms of the total phosphorus uptake quantity and the effluent quality.
  • XU Zhengyong, YANG Zhaohui, ZENG Guangming, XIAO Yong, DENG Jiuhua
    The nitrogen removal mechanism was studied and analyzed when treating the ammonium-rich landfill leachate by a set of sequencing batch biofilm reactors (SBBRs), which was designed independently. At the liquid temperature of (32?0.4)?C, and after a 58-days domestication period and a 33-days stabilization period, the efficiency of ammonium removal in the SBBR went up to 95%. Highly frequent intermittent aeration suppressed the activity of nitratebacteria, and also eliminated the influence on the activity of anaerobic ammonium oxidation (ANAMMOX) bacteria and nitritebacteria. This influence was caused by the accumulation of nitrous acid and the undulation of pH. During the aeration stage, the concentration of dissolved oxygen was controlled at 1.2 1.4 mg/L. The nitritebacteria became dominant and nitrite accumulated gradually. During the anoxic stage, along with the concentration debasement of the dissolved oxygen, ANAMMOX bacteria became dominant; then, the nitrite that was accumulated in the aeration stage was wiped off with ammonium simultaneously.
  • ZHANG Peng, ZHOU Qi
    Simultaneous nitrification and denitrification (SND), which is more economical compared with the traditional method for nitrogen removal, is studied in this paper. In order to find the suitable conditions of this process, a mixed flow activated sludge system under low oxygen concentration is investigated, and some key control parameters are examined for nitrogen removal from synthetic wastewater. The results show that SND is accessible when oxygen concentration is 0.3 0.8 mg/L. The nitrogen removal rate can be obtained up to 66.7% with solids retention time (SRT) of 45 d, C/N value of 10, and F/M ratio of 0.1 g COD/(g MLSS·d). Theoretical analysis indicates that SND is a physical phenomenon and governed by oxygen diffusion in flocs.
  • ZHOU Xuefei, REN Nanqi
    In this study, the two-stage upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) system and batch experiments were employed to evaluate the performance of anaerobic digestion for the treatment of high concentration methanol wastewater. The acid resistance of granular sludge and methanogenic bacteria and their metabolizing activity were investigated. The results show that the pH of the first UASB changed from 4.9 to 5.8 and 5.5 to 6.2 for the second reactor. Apparently, these were not the advisable pH levels that common methanogenic bacteria could accept. The methanogenic bacteria of the system, viz. Methanosarcina barkeri, had some acid resistance and could still degrade methanol at pH 5.0. If the methanogenic bacteria were trained further, their acid resistance would be improved somewhat. Granular sludge of the system could protect the methanogenic bacteria within its body against the impact of the acidic environment and make them degrade methanol at pH 4.5. The performance of granular sludge was attributed to its structure, bacteria species, and the distribution of bacterium inside the granule.
  • WANG Xiaochang, JIN Pengkang, ZHAO Hongmei, MENG Lingba
    Long-term sampling and analysis were conducted in a domestic wastewater treatment plant for the investigation on the characteristics of the representative contaminants in raw sewage such as SS, COD, BOD5, TP, and TN. All these constituents were classified into dissolved and suspended groups by using a 0.45-µm membrane filter, and the concentration of each constituent in each group was analyzed. As a result, almost 100% of the SS was found to be suspended matter, as well as about 65% of COD, 60% of BOD5, 50% of P, and 20% of N. All these could be easily removed by sedimentation or coagulation/sedimentation. A treatability evaluation diagram was proposed for a rational selection of wastewater treatment process in accordance with raw water quality.
  • CHEN Guowei, XI Pengge, XU Deqian, YU Hanqing
    In order to study the minimization of excess sludge production, the reduction in the excess sludge production in the presence of an inhibitor and uncoupler was studied in this work. The experimental results show that such an addition could effectively reduce the production of excess sludge. With the energy uncoupling model established in this work, energy uncoupling coefficient (Eµ) was used to evaluate the reduction in excess sludge production. The energy uncoupling coefficients in the presence of dinitrophenol (dNP), Zn2+, and Cu2+ was 0.75, 0.46, and 0.18, respectively. The analysis demonstrated that energy spilling occurred in the presence of dNP, and that dNP was an effective uncoupler for reducing the production of excess activated sludge without affecting the microbial respiration activity.
  • LIU Hong, YAN Yixin, WANG Wenyan, YU Yongyong
    This work aims to explore a procedure to improve biological wastewater treatment efficiency using low intensity ultrasound. The aerobic activated sludge from a municipal wastewater treatment plant was used as the experimental material. Oxygen uptake rate (OUR) of the activated sludge (AS) was determined to indicate the changes of AS activity stimulated by ultrasound at 35 kHz for 0 40 min with ultrasonic intensities of 0 1.2 W/cm2. The highest OUR was observed at the ultrasonic intensity of 0.3 W/cm2 and an irradiation period of 10 min; more than 15% increase was achieved immediately after sonication. More significantly, the AS activity stimulated by ultrasound could last 24 h after sonication, and the AS activity achieved its peak value within 8 h after sonication, or nearly 100% higher than the initial level after sonication. Therefore, to improve the wastewater treatment efficiency of bioreactors, ultrasound with an intensity of 0.3 W/cm2 could be employed to irradiate a part of the AS in the bioreactor for 10 min every 8 h.
  • LIU Fuqiang, CHEN Jinlong, LI Aimin, XIA Mingfang, FEI Zhenghao
    Both bottle-point and column-feeding experiments involving different solutes and sorbents were carried out to investigate the adsorption selectivity and separation performance of salicylic acid and 5-sulfosalicylic acid. Their adsorption isotherms onto such hypercrosslinked polymeric adsorbents as NDA-100 and NDA-99 could be well described by the Freundlich equations whose characteristics describe extrathermic and favorable adsorption processes. The adsorption towards NDA-100 mainly depended on the π-π interaction, while that towards NDA-99 was extremely influenced by the static-electric interaction. Additionally, the adsorptive capacity of salicylic acid on NDA-99 decreased while it increased on NDA-100 with the presence of 5-sulfosalicylic acid in the adsorptive environment as the competitive component. Comparatively, the adsorption capacity of 5-sulfosalicylic acid decreased on both resins with salicylic acid as the competitive component. In fact, the difference in the interaction between adsorbent and adsorbate resulted in the straight antagonism on the effective adsorption sites on the adsorbent. In conclusion, the adsorption selectivity of salicylic acid onto NDA-100 was obviously larger than that onto NDA-99 with the existence of 5-sulfosalicylic acid in the adsorptive environment. A satisfactory separation and recovery of tested solutes in aqueous phase could be foreseeably achieved by the sequencing adsorption technique involving NDA-100 as well as NDA-99.
  • ZHU Runliang, ZHU Lizhong, ZHU Jianxi
    The purpose of this work is to synthesize a new type of bentonite sorbent that can simultaneously remove both organic compounds and phosphate from water. Inorganic-organic bentonites (Al-CTMAB-Bent) were synthesized by modifying bentonites with both AlCl3 and cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTMAB). Simultaneous sorption of aqueous phenanthrene and phosphate onto Al-CTMAB-Bent was examined. Removal rates of phenanthrene and phosphate from water reached 96.3% and 90.2%, respectively, at their respective initial concentrations of 1 mg/L and 5 mg/L and the added amount of Al-CTMAB-Bent was 1.25 g/L. The residual turbidity of the Al-CTMAB-Bent suspension decreased 81.4% compared to that of organobentonite suspension after a 1 h settling time. Thus, inorganic-organic bentonite can be used to treat wastewater containing both organic pollutants and phosphate.
  • HAN Yanhe, QUAN Xie, ZHAO Huimin, CHEN Shuo, ZHAO Yazhi
    The adsorption kinetics for model pollutants on activated carbon fiber (ACF) by polarization was investigated in this work. Kinetics data obtained for the adsorption of these model pollutants at open-circuit, 400 mV, and -400 mV polarization were applied to the Lagergren equation, and adsorption rate constants (Ka) were determined. With the anodic polarization of 400 mV, the capacity of sodium phenoxide was increased from 0.0083 mmol/g at open-circuit to 0.18 mmol/g, and a 17-fold enhancement was achieved; however, the capacity of p-nitrophenol was decreased from 2.93 mmol/g at open-circuit to 2.65 mmol/g. With the cathodal polarization of -400 mV, the capacity of aniline was improved from 3.60 mmol/g at open-circuit to 3.88 mmol/g; however, the capacity of sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate was reduced from 2.20 mmol/g at open-circuit to 1.59 mmol/g. The enhancement for electrosorption changed with dif ferent groups substituting. Anodic polarization enhances the adsorption of benzene with the electron-donating group. But whether anodic or not, cathodal polarization had less effect on the adsorption of electron-accepting aromatic compounds, and decreased the adsorption capacity of benzene-bearing donor-conjugate bridge-acceptor, while increasing its adsorption rate. Electrostatic interaction played a very important role in the electrosorption of ion-pollutants.
  • ZHOU Xiaoyan, WEN Xianghua, FENG Yan
    The present work studied the influence of glucose feeding on the ligninolytic enzyme production of Phanerochaete chrysosporium in a nitrogen-limited (C/N ratio is 56/8.8 mmol/L) medium. Several sets of shaking flask experiments were conducted. The results showed that 2 g/L glucose feeding on the first day of the culture (24 h after the inoculation) stimulated both fungal biomass growth and enzyme production. The manganese peroxidase (MnP) activity was 2.5 times greater than that produced in cultures without glucose feeding. Furthermore, the glucose feeding mode in fed-batch culture was also investigated. Compared to cultures with glucose feeding every 48 h, cultures with glucose feeding of 1.5 g/L (final concentration) every 24 h produced more enzymes. The peak and total yield of MnP activity were 2.7 and 3 times greater compared to the contrast culture, respectively, and the enzyme was kept stable for 4 days with an activity of over 200 U/L.
  • SUN Min, YOU Yahua, DENG Shengsong, GAO Wenxia, YAO Risheng
    This paper reports on the degradation of 4-aminophenol using hydrogen peroxide as oxidizer and the enzyme from Serratia marcescens AB 90027 as catalyst. The effecting factors during degradation and the degrading mechanism were studied. Also, the location of the enzyme in the cell, which could catalyze the degradation of 4-aminophenol, was analyzed. The results showed that to degrade 50 mL of 4-aminophenol whose concentration was 500 mg/L, the optimal conditions were: volume of H2O2 = 3 mL, temperature = 40 60?C and pH = 9 10. In the degradation process, 4-aminophenol was first converted to benzoquinone and NH3, then organic acids including maleic acid, fumaleic acid, and oxalic acid were formed, and then finally CO2 and H2O were generated as final products. The enzyme that could catalyze the degradation of 4-aminophenol was mainly extracellular enzyme.
  • YANG Zhifeng, CUI Baoshan, CHEN He
    The characteristics and sustainable management of water resources on a basin scale require that they should be managed using a holistic approach. In this study, a holistic methodology called the holistic approach in a basin scale (HABS) is proposed to determine the ecological water requirements of a whole basin. There are three principles in HABS. First, ecological water requirements in a basin scale indicate not only the coupling of hydrological and ecological systems, but also the exchange of matter and energy between each ecological type through all kinds of physical geography processes. Second, ecological water requirements can be divided into different types according to their functions, and water requirements of different types are compatible. Third, ecological water requirements are related to a multiple system including water quality, water quantity, and time and space, which interact with each other. The holistic approach in a basin scale was then used in the Yellow River Basin and it suggested that 265.0 × 108 m3 of water, 45% of the total surface water resources, should be allocated to ecological systems, such as rivers, lakes, wetlands and cities, to sustain its function and health. The ecological water requirements of inside river systems and outside river systems were respectively 261.0 × 108 and 3.65 × 108 m3.
  • SUN Yuebing, ZHOU Qixing, WEI Shuhe, REN Liping
    Rorippa globosa has been identified as a newly-found Cd-hyperaccumulating species. In the present study, growth responses of Rorippa globosa and its accumulation characteristics of Cd and As were examined under joint stress of Cd and As. The results showed that Cd and As had an antagonistic effect on enhancing the growth of Rorippa globosa plants and Cd uptake and accumulation under the low concentration Cd and As treatments. When the concentration of Cd in the soil was 10 mg/kg and the concentration of As was 50 mg/kg, the highest growing height of the plant was up to 35.9 cm and the dry weight of the shoots was up to 2.2 g/pot, respectively. Meanwhile, the accumulation of Cd in the leaves under the joint stress was higher than that at the same level under single Cd pollution. However, there were synergic adverse effects on plant growth and Cd uptake under the combined pollution from a high concentration of Cd and As. Meanwhile, the accumulation of As in the roots was greater than that in the shoots, the translocation factor (TF) was "d0.3 and the bioaccumulation factor (BF) was "d0.6, thus showing that Rorippa globosa had an excluding effect on As uptake. These results confirmed that Rorippa globosa had a strong tolerant ability to the joint stress of Cd and As, and the potential for phytoremediation of soils contaminated by Cd and As.
  • LIU Rui, ZHOU Qixing, ZHANG Lanying, GUO Hao
    To make a comprehensive assessment on monosodium glutamate (MSG) wastewater pollution, a pollution exposure experiment was carried out on the seed germination and root elongation of wheat, Chinese cabbage and tomato by using the wastewater discharged from different processing phases of MSG production. The results showed that there were significantly positive linear relationships between the inhibitory rates of wheat seed germination and root elongation and the CODcr of the mother liquor scraps. The toxicity of MSG wastewater to the test crops was in the order of tomato > Chinese cabbage > wheat, indicating that tomato was the most sensitive to the wastewater, and could be considered as an ideal toxic bioindicator. The half-effect concentrations (IC50) based on the seed germination and root elongation of the test crops exposed to the wastewater discharged from various processing phases of MSG production was 22.0 32 432 and 17.3 3320 mg/L, respectively.
  • GENG Jinju, WANG Qiang, WANG Xiaorong, NIU Xiaojun
    Effects of pH, temperature, and oxygen on the production and release of phosphine in eutrophic lake sediments were investigated under laboratory tests. Results indicated that the elimination of matrix-bound phosphine was accelerated under initial pH 1 or 12. Phosphine levels could reach maximum under initial pH 10. The contents of phosphine increased with the addition of alkali under pH 4 12. The rates of phosphine production and release from lake sediments varied with temperature. 20?C was the most favorable temperature for the production of matrix-bound phosphine. Oxygen showed little effect on matrix-bound phosphine. Matrix-bound phosphine concentrations in lake sediments were concluded to be dependent on a balance of natural generation and depletion processes.
  • LU Hao, ZHU Lizhong
    The train is an important vehicle in China, but its air quality has important impacts on passengers  health. In this work, pollution from carbonyl compounds was measured in the air of six trains. The objectives of this work were to investigate carbonyl compound levels in selected air from trains, identify their emission sources, and assess the intake of carbonyl compounds for passengers. The methods for sampling and analyzing 10 carbonyl compounds such as formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acrolein, acetone, propionaldehyde, crotonaldehyde, butyraldehyde, benzaldehyde, cyclohexanone, and valeraldehyde in indoor air were proposed with the sampling efficiency, recovery, and detection limit being 92% 100%, 91% 104%, and 0.26 0.82 ng/m3, respectively. It was indicated that the total concentrations of carbonyl compounds were 0.159 0.2828 mg/m3 with the average concentration of 0.2330 mg/m3. The average concentrations of formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and acetone were 0.0922, 0.0499, and 0.0580 mg/m3, accounting for 42.6%, 21.4%, and 24.9% of the total concentrations of carbonyl compounds, respectively. The carbonyl compounds probably came from woodwork and cigarette smoking. The intake of carbonyl compounds for the passengers was approximately 0.043 0.076 mg/h. The carbonyl compounds in train air could be harmful to human health.