Biofouling control is important for effective process of membrane bioreactor (MBR). In this study, phenomena of biofouling for immersed type extended aeration MBR with two different anti-fouling aeration intensities were studied through a laboratory set up. The objectives of this study were (a) to observe biofouling phenomena of MBR that operates under different anti-fouling bubbling intensity, and simultaneously monitors performance of the MBR in organic carbon and nutrients removal; (b) to compare effectiveness of detergent and detergent-enzyme cleaning solutions in recovering biofouled membranes that operated in the extended aeration MBR. For MBR, which operated under continuous anti-fouling aeration, deposition and accumulation of suspended biomass on membrane surface were prohibited. However, flux loss was inescapable that biofilm layer was the main problem. Membrane cleaning was successfully carried out with detergent-enzyme mixture solutions and its effectiveness was compared with result from cleaning with just detergent solution.
Anthropogenic release of greenhouse gases, especially CO2 and CH4 has been recognized as one of the main causes of global warming. Several measures under the Kyoto Protocol 1997 have been drawn up to reduce the greenhouse gases emission. One of the measures is Clean Development Mechanisms (CDM) that was created to enable developed countries to cooperate with developing countries in emission reduction activities. In Malaysia, palm oil industry particularly from palm oil mill effluent (POME) anaerobic treatment has been identified as an important source of CH4. However, there is no study to quantify the actual CH4 emission from the commercial scale wastewater treatment facility. Hence, this paper shall address the CH4 emission from the open digesting tanks in Felda Serting Hilir Palm Oil Mill. CH4 emission pattern was recorded for 52 weeks from 3600 m3 open digesting tanks. The findings indicated that the CH4 content was between 13.5% and 49.0% which was lower than the value of 65% reported earlier. The biogas flow rate ranged between 0.8l min(-1)m(-2) and 9.8l min(-1)m(-2). Total CH4 emission per open digesting tank was 518.9 kgday(-1). Relationships between CH4 emission and total carbon removal and POME discharged were also discussed. Fluctuation of biogas production was observed throughout the studies as a result of seasonal oil palm cropping, mill activities, variation of POME quality and quantity discharged from the mill. Thus only through long-term field measurement CH4 emission can be accurately estimated.
The coagulation-flocculation process incorporated with membrane separation technology will become a new approach for palm oil mill effluent (POME) treatment as well as water reclamation and reuse. In our current research, a membrane pilot plant has been used for POME treatment where the coagulation-flocculation process plays an important role as a pretreatment process for the mitigation of membrane fouling problems. The pretreated POME with low turbidity values and high water recovery are the main objectives to be achieved through the coagulation-flocculation process. Therefore, treatment optimization to serve these purposes was performed using jar tests and applying a response surface methodology (RSM) to the results. A 2(3) full-factorial central composite design (CCD) was chosen to explain the effect and interaction of three factors: coagulant dosage, flocculent dosage, and pH. The CCD is successfully demonstrated to efficiently determine the optimized parameters, where 78% of water recovery with a 20 NTU turbidity value can be obtained at the optimum value of coagulant dosage, flocculent dosage, and pH at 15 000 mg/L, 300 mg/L, and 6, respectively.
The effects of initial concentration of lead, temperature, biomass loading and pH were investigated for an optimized condition of lead uptake from the aqueous solution. The optimization process was analyzed using Central Composite Face-Centered Experimental Design in Response Surface Methodology (RSM) by Design Expert Version 5.0.7 (StatEase, USA). The design was employed to derive a statistical model for the effect of parameters studied on the removal of lead ion from aqueous solution. The coefficient of determination, R2 was found to be 92.36%. The initial concentration of 50.0 mg/L, temperature of 60 degrees C, biomass loading of 0.2 g and pH of 5.0 had been found to be the optimum conditions for the maximum uptake of lead ions in 98.11% batch mode. Under the optimum conditions, the lead uptake was attained to be circa 8.60 mg/g.
In this study, a new, more effective and cost-effective treatment alternative is investigated for the removal of pharmaceuticals from wastewater treatment plant effluent (WWTP-eff). The potential of combining clay with biodegradable polymeric flocculants is further highlighted. Flocculation is viewed as the best method to get the optimum outcome from clay. In addition, flocculation with cationic starch increases the biodegradability and cost of the treatment. Clay is naturally abundantly available and relatively inexpensive compared to conventional adsorbents. Experimental studies were carried out with existing naturally occurring pharmaceutical concentrations found and measured in WWTP-eff with atrazine spiking for comparison between the demineralised water and WWTP-eff matrix. Around 70% of the total measured pharmaceutical compounds were removable by the clay-starch combination. The effect of clay with and without starch addition was also highlighted.
With inoculum sludge from a conventional activated sludge wastewater treatment plant, three sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) fed with synthetic wastewater were operated at different high temperatures (30, 40 and 50±1°C) to study the formation of aerobic granular sludge (AGS) for simultaneous organics and nutrients removal with a complete cycle time of 3h. The AGS were successfully cultivated with influent loading rate of 1.6CODg(Ld)(-1). The COD/N ratio of the influent wastewater was 8. The results revealed that granules developed at 50°C have the highest average diameter, (3.36mm) with 98.17%, 94.45% and 72.46% removal efficiency observed in the system for COD, ammonia and phosphate, respectively. This study also demonstrated the capabilities of AGS formation at high temperatures which is suitable to be applied for hot climate conditions.
The utilization of ferric-manganese promoted molybdenum oxide/zirconia (Fe-Mn- MoO3/ZrO2) (FMMZ) solid acid catalyst for production of biodiesel was demonstrated. FMMZ is produced through impregnation reaction followed by calcination at 600°C for 3 h. The characterization of FMMZ had been done using X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), temperature programmed desorption of NH3 (TPD-NH3), transmission electron microscopy(TEM) and Brunner-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area measurement. The effect of waste cooking oil methyl esters (WCOME's) yield on the reactions variables such as reaction temperature, catalyst loading, molar ratio of methanol/oil and reusability were also assessed. The catalyst was used to convert the waste cooking oil into corresponding methyl esters (95.6%±0.15) within 5 h at 200℃ reaction temperature, 600 rpm stirring speed, 1:25 molar ratio of oil to alcohol and 4% w/w catalyst loading. The reported catalyst was successfully recycled in six connective experiments without loss in activity. Moreover, the fuel properties of WCOME's were also reported using ASTM D 6751 methods.
Industrial wastewater minimization can be conducted using four main strategies: (i) reuse; (ii) regeneration-reuse; (iii) regeneration-recycling; and (iv) process changes. This study is concerned with (i) and (ii) to investigate the most suitable approach to wastewater minimization for an old textile industry plant. A systematic water networks design using water pinch analysis (WPA) was developed to minimize the water usage and wastewater generation for the textile plant. COD was chosen as the main parameter. An integrated design method has been applied, which brings the engineering insight using WPA that can determine the minimum flowrate of the water usage and then minimize the water consumption and wastewater generation as well. The overall result of this study shows that WPA has been effectively applied using both reuse and regeneration-reuse strategies for the old textile industry plant, and reduced the operating cost by 16% and 50% respectively.
Twenty seven filamentous fungal strains representing five genera; Aspergillus, Penicillium, Trichoderma, Myriodontium and Pleurotus were isolated from four sources; domestic wastewater sludge cake (SC) from IWK (Indah Water Konsortium) wastewater treatment plant, palm oil mill effluent compost from Sri Ulu palm Oil Processing Mill, compost of plant debris, and fungal fruiting bodies from a rotten wood stump. Thirty-three strains/isolates were tested for their ability to convert domestic wastewater sludge into compost by assessing biomass production and growth rate on sludge enriched media. The strains/isolates Aspergillus niger, SS-T2008, WW-P1003 and RW-P1 512 produced the highest dry biomass at higher sludge supplemented culture media from their respective group (Aspergillus, Trichoderma, Penicillium and Basidiomycetes, respectively). This implied these strains are better adapted for growth at higher sludge rich substances, and subsequently may be efficient in bioconversion/biodegradation of sludge. The fungi isolated from ecological closely related sources were more amendable to adaptation in a sludge rich culture media.
Bioconversion of higher strength of domestic wastewater biosolids (sludge) (4% w/w of TSS) by mixed fungal culture of Aspergillus niger and Penicillium corylophilum was studied in a laboratory. The effect of potential mixed fungi on domestic wastewater sludge accelerated the liquid state bioconversion (LSB) process. The highest production of dry sludge cake (biosolids) was enriched with fungal biomass to about 85.66 g/kg containing 25.23 g/kg of protein after 8 days of treatment. The results presented in this study revealed that the reduction of chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solid (TSS), and specific resistance to filtration (SRF) of treated sludge were highly influenced by the fungal culture as compared to control (uninnoculated). The maximum removal rates in treated sludge (biosolids) supernatant recorded were 92% of COD and 98.8% of TSS. Lower SRF (1.08 x 10(12) m/kg) was perceived in microbially treated sludge after 6 days of fermentation. The observed parameters were highly influenced after 8 days of treatment. The influence of pH was also studied and presented in the paper.
A cerium-loaded poly(hydroxamic acid) chelating ion exchanger was used for fluoride ion removal from aqueous solution. The resin was effective in decreasing the fluoride concentration from 5 mM down to 0.001 mM in acidic pH between 3 and 6. The sorption followed a Langmuir model with a maximum capacity of 0.5 mmol/g. The removal is accomplished by an anion exchange mechanism. The rate constant for the sorption was found to be 9.6 x 10(-2) min-1. A column test shows that the fluoride ion was retained on the column until breakthrough point and the fluoride sorbed in the column can be eluted with 0.1 M NaOH. The column can be reused after being condition with hydrochloric acid at pH 4. The resin was tested and found to be effective for removal of fluoride from actual industrial wastewater.
Research was undertaken to investigate the treatment of fishery washing water using Bacillus sphaericus, and to recover the spores for subsequent use as bioinsecticide to control the population of mosquitoes. This treatment method could reduce pollution due to organic matter by decreasing the value of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) by about 85% and 92%, respectively. The maximum concentration of spores (83.3 x 10(7) spores ml(-1)) using normal concentration of filtered fishery washing water was only about 27% lower than that obtained in fermentation using 0.25% (w/v) yeast extract. The larvicidal activity of the spores produced in fermentation using fishery washing water to Culex quinquefaciatus, as measured by LD50 after 48 h, was almost the same as the larvicidal activity of spores obtained from fermentation using yeast extract.
The objective of this study is to investigate the potential of the activated rice husk to be used as an alternative adsorbent to powdered activated carbon (PAC) in the simultaneous adsorption and biodegradation processes under sequencing batch reactor (SBR) operation to treat synthetic wastewater containing phenol, p-methylphenol, p-ethylphenol and p-isopropylphenol. The rice husk (PRH) was activated by pyrolysis at 600 degrees C for 5 hours in a nitrogen atmosphere. Using the Langmuir model, the limiting adsorption capacities of PRH for the phenols were found to vary from 0.015-0.05 of those of PAC. The SBR reactors with and without adsorbent addition were operated with fill, react, settle, draw and idle periods in the ratio of 4:6:1:0.76:0.25 for a cycle time of 12 hours. For phenolic wastewater containing, 1,200 mg/L phenol, 1,200 mg/L p-methylphenol, 800 mg/L p-ethylphenol and 660 mg/L p-isopropylphenol, it was found that the biodegradation process alone was unable to produce effluent of quality which would satisfy the discharge standards of COD < or = 100 mg/L and phenol concentration < or = 1 mg/L. The addition of PAC in the ratio of PAC/phenolic compound at 0.095 g/g for phenol, 0.119 g/g for p-methylpheol, 0.179 g/g for p-ethylphenol and 0.220 g/g for p-isopropylphenol, can improve the effluent quality to satisfy the discharge standards. Equivalent treatment performance was achieved with the use of PRH at dosages of 2-3 times higher than those of PAC for all the phenolic wastewater studied. The increased adsorption capacity of PRH shown in the treatment indicates bioregeneration of the adsorbed surface during the treatment process.
A study on the modification of rice husk by various carboxylic acids showed that tartaric acid modified rice husk (TARH) had the highest binding capacities for Cu and Pb. The carboxyl groups on the surface of the modified rice husk were primarily responsible for the sorption of metal ions. A series of batch experiments using TARH as the sorbent for the removal of Cu and Pb showed that the sorption process was pH dependent, rapid and exothermic. The sorption process conformed to the Langmuir isotherm with maximum sorption capacities of 29 and 108 mg/g at 27 +/- 2 degrees C for Cu and Pb, respectively. The uptake increased with agitation rate. Decrease in sorbent particle size led to an increase in the sorption of metal ions and this could be explained by an increase in surface area and hence binding sites. Metal uptake was reduced in the presence of competitive cations and chelators. The affinity of TARH for Pb is greater than Cu.
The bioconversion of domestic wastewater sludge by immobilized mixed culture of filamentous fungi was investigated in a laboratory. The potential mixed culture of Penicillium corylophilum WWZA1003 and Aspergillus niger SCahmA103 was isolated from its local habitats (wastewater and sludge cake) and optimized on the basis of biodegradability and dewaterability of treated sludge. The observed results in this study showed that the sludge treatment was highly influenced by the effect of immobilized mixed fungi using liquid state bioconversion (LSB) process. The maximum production of dry filter cake (DFC) was enriched with fungal biomass to about 20.05 g/kg containing 23.47 g/kg of soluble protein after 4 days of fungal treatment. The reduction of COD, TSS, turbidity (optical density against distilled water, 660 nm), reducing sugar and protein in supernatant and filtration rate of treated sludge were influenced by the fungal mixed culture as compared to control (uninnoculated). After these processes, 99.4% of TSS, 98.05% of turbidity, 76.2% of soluble protein, 98% of reducing sugar and 92.4% of COD in supernatant of treated sludge were removed. Filtration time was decreased tremendously by the microbial treatment after 2 days of incubation. The effect of fungal strain on pH was also studied and presented. Effective bioconversion was observed after 4 days of fungal treatment.
Elevated levels of nutrients in agroindustry wastewaters, and higher reliance on chlorination pose health threats due to formation of chlorinated organics as well as increased chlorination costs. Removals of ammonium and nitrate compounds were studied using activated carbon from palm shells, as adsorbent and support media. Experiments were carried out at several loadings, F:M from 0.31 to 0.58, and hydraulic residence times (HRT) of 24 h, 12 h and 8 h. Results show that the wastewater treatment process achieved removals of over 90% for COD and 62% for Total-N. Studies on removals from river water were carried out in sequencing batch reactor (SBR) and activated carbon biofilm (ACB) reactor. Removals achieved by the SBR adsorption-biodegradation combination were 67.0% for COD, 58.8% for NH3-N and 25.5% for NO3-N while for adsorption alone the removals were only 37.0% for COD, 35.2% for NH3-N and 13.8% for NO3-N. In the ACB reactor, at HRT of 1.5 to 6 h, removals ranged from 12.5 to 100% for COD, 16.7 to 100% for NO3-N and 13.5 to 100% for NH3-N. Significant decrease in removals was shown at lower HRT. The studies have shown that substantial removals of COD, NO3-N and NH3-N from both wastewater and river water may be achieved via adsorption-biodegradation by biofilm on activated carbon processes.
This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of an eminent decay fungus, Phanerocheate chrysosporium of organic residues on wastewater sludge for its improvement through decomposition and separation of waste particles by Liquid State Bioconversion (LSB). The effect of fungal treatment was compared to uninoculated (Control) at three different harvests 7, 14 and 21 days after inoculation (DAI). The observed results showed that the weight loss and solid content of wastewater sludge were significantly influenced by Phanerocheate chrysosporium. Both parameters were highly influenced at 7 DAI. The COD and pH of wastewater sludge were also highly influenced by fungal treatment.
Layered double hydroxide of Mg-Al-carbonate system (MACH) was prepared and its heat-treated product (MACHT) was obtained by calcination at 500 degrees C. The resulting materials were used as an adsorbent for removal of color from synthetic textile wastewater (STW) and textile wastewater (TWW). Batch kinetic study showed that these materials are an efficient adsorbent for textile dye. The maximum adsorption capacities between 16 to 32 mg of dyes per g of adsorbent was obtained by fitting the adsorption data to the Langmuir adsorption Isotherm. It was found that the adsorption capacity of MACHT is higher than MACH.
Carbide sludge (10.4-11.5 tonnes day(-1)) is generated from the reaction of calcium carbide (900 kg) and water (6,000 L) in the production of acetylene (2,400 m3), in three selected acetylene manufacturing plants. The sludge (of pH 12.2 and containing Cu, Pb, Fe, Mn, Ni and Zn ions whose concentrations exceed the Department of Environment limits for industrial wastewater) was treated by vacuum filtration as a substitute for the ponding system, which is environmentally less acceptable. A similar system by flocculation was also developed. The filtration system represents an improvement over the ponding method, as shown by a pH of 7 for the clear filtrate; the solid cake, which contains 98% of the metals, can be conveniently disposed at an integrated scheduled waste treatment centre.
Effects of agitation and aeration rate on microbial treatment of domestic wastewater sludge were investigated in a batch fermenter using mixed culture of Penicillium corylophilum and Aspergillus niger. It was found that liquid state bioconversion (LSB) of wastewater sludge was highly influenced by the effects of agitation and aeration. The maximum production of sludge cake and reduction of organic substances in treated sludge were recorded at 150-200 rpm of agitation speed and 0.5 vvm of aeration rate after 72 h of treatment. No effective results were observed at higher rate of agitation (300 rpm) and aeration (1.5 vvm) as compared to optimum values. The results showed that the minimum level of air saturation (pO2) was adequate to maintain the bioconversion process.