Addition of Trichocladium canadense to an anaerobic membrane bioreactor: evaluation of the microbial composition and reactor performance

Membrane bioreactors are powerful systems for wastewater treatment and the removal of toxic compounds. However, membrane biofouling stands in the way of their widespread usage. In this study, the saprophytic fungus Trichocladium canadense was used as the bioaugmentor in an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) and its impact on membrane biofouling, biogas production, the microbial communities of the reactor and removal of the common antibiotics erythromycin (ERY), sulfamethoxazole (SMX) and tetracycline (TET) from synthetic wastewater was investigated. The results indicated that through bioaugmentation with 20% T. canadense, membrane biofouling was slowed by 25%, the chemical oxygen demand removal increased by 16% and a higher efficiency removal of ERY and SMX was achieved. The presence of T. canadense significantly increased the abundance and diversity of the biofilm archaeal community and the bacterial phylum Firmicutes, a known bio-foulant.

Comparative assessment of modeling and experimental data of ammonia removal from pre-digested chicken manure

The aim of this study was to interpret the development of Anammox activity by a mathematical model in an UASB reactor -originally inoculated with methanogenic granules- at which Anammox progress has been also experimentally observed while treating chicken manure digestate. Since ammonium is derived from anaerobic degradation of nitrogenous compounds in chicken manure similar to any other nitrogen-rich organic wastes; the reactor was operated intentionally at favorable conditions [i.e.; with external nitrite source for NH₄ ⁺:NO₂ ^-≅1.0] in order to make Anammox process to prevail as operation continued. Results indicated significant ammonia removals (60% on average) although influent concentration was gradually increased up to 200 mg L-¹. A modeling exercise has been undertaken to investigate the performance of the laboratory scale UASB reactor. In this scope, the experimental results were modeled by using Mantis2 model within GPS-X 6.5 simulation software that included several built in libraries. Accordingly, effluent chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) concentrations could be predicted with reasonably good accuracy demonstrating successful calibration. The regression coefficient (R² ) and mean relative absolute error (MRAE) parameters were found as 0.66 and 16% and 0.70 and 19%, respectively.

Impact of inoculum acclimation on energy recovery and investigation of microbial community changes during anaerobic digestion of the chicken manure

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of inoculum adaptation on biogas recovery from two identical lab-scale semi-continuous anaerobic digesters (AD) treating chicken waste (i.e. TS and VS contents of ca. 6.2% and 2.9%, respectively) at mesophilic condition (35°C). For the first two months; one of the AD was run with adapted whereas the second AD was run with unadapted granular sludge to chicken manure which was further operated for about 100 more days. In this scope, qPCR analysis and Illumina sequencing were also used to detect microbial community changes inside anaerobic reactors. Molecular analyses revealed that the number of archaea was significantly higher than that of overall archaea compared to the values obtained at the start-up time and methanogens also increased as the operation continued. On the other hand, although average daily biogas production was about 25% higher in adapted AD compared to the unadapted AD (i.e. biogas yields were ca. 0.6 and 0.7 m³/kg VSfeed, respectively), there was not a meaningful change in archaea numbers at the end of the operation. These suggest that changes in the structure of a microbial community lead to changes in biogas production and controlling ultimate methanogenic archaeal community may promote successful methane production in anaerobic reactors.

Microbial monitoring of ammonia removal in a UASB reactor treating pre-digested chicken manure with anaerobic granular inoculum

Performance and microbial community dynamics in an upflow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactor coupled with anaerobic ammonium oxidizing (Anammox) treating diluted chicken manure digestate (Total ammonia nitrogen; TAN=123±10mg/L) were investigated for a 120-d operating period in the presence of anaerobic granular inoculum. Maximum TAN removal efficiency reached to above 80% with as low as 20mg/L TAN concentrations in the effluent. Moreover, total COD (tCOD) with 807±215mg/L in the influent was removed by 60-80%. High-throughput sequencing revealed that Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Firmicutes were dominant phyla followed by Euryarchaeota and Bacteroidetes. The relative abundance of Planctomycetes significantly increased from 4% to 8-9% during the late days of the operation with decreased tCOD concentration, which indicated a more optimum condition to favor ammonia removal through anammox route. There was also significant association between the hzsA gene and ammonia removal in the UASB reactor.

Acute and chronic responses of denitrifying culture to diclofenac

Acute and chronic effect as well as biodegradation potential at different sludge retention times (SRTs) of a priority pollutant, diclofenac on denitrification process was assessed. The continuous amendment of the culture for 6months with 1μg/L diclofenac resulted in 30% decrease in gas production. The average diclofenac removal observed in the diclofenac-acclimated culture was less than 15%. Batch tests showed that nitrate was removed in diclofenac free-control reactor at a higher rate compared to diclofenac amended reactor. Although, SRT did not have any progressive effect on diclofenac degradation, the system operated at low SRT was more sensitive to diclofenac and resulted in an increase in N2O emission. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) operated at higher SRTs may tolerate and recover from the adverse effects of such micropollutants. The study can lead to other researchers to understand the fate and effect of other emerging pollutants in the anoxic unit of WWTPs.

Seasonal variation of diclofenac concentration and its relation with wastewater characteristics at two municipal wastewater treatment plants in Turkey

The pharmaceutically active compound diclofenac has been monitored during one year at separate treatment units of two municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) to evaluate its seasonal variation and the removal efficiency. Conventional wastewater characterization was also performed to assess the possible relationship between conventional parameters and diclofenac. Diclofenac concentrations in the influent and effluent of both WWTPs were detected in the range of 295-1376 and 119-1012ng/L, respectively. Results indicated that the higher diclofenac removal efficiency was observed in summer season in both WWTPs. Although a consistency in diclofenac removal was observed in WWTP_1, significant fluctuation was observed at WWTP_2 based on seasonal evaluation. The main removal mechanism of diclofenac in the WWTPs was most often biological (55%), followed by UV disinfection (27%). When diclofenac removal was evaluated in terms of the treatment units in WWTPs, a significant increase was achieved at the treatment plant including UV disinfection unit. Based on the statistical analysis, higher correlation was observed between diclofenac and suspended solids concentrations among conventional parameters in the influent whereas the removal of diclofenac was highly correlated with nitrogen removal efficiency.

Bioenergy production from diluted poultry manure and microbial consortium inside Anaerobic Sludge Bed Reactor at sub-mesophilic conditions

In this study, anaerobic treatability of diluted chicken manure (with an influent feed ratio of 1 kg of fresh chicken manure to 6 L of tap water) was investigated in a lab-scale anaerobic sludge bed (ASB) reactor inoculated with granular seed sludge. The ASB reactor was operated at ambient temperature (17-25°C) in order to avoid the need of external heating up to higher operating temperatures (e.g., up to 35°C for mesophilic digestion). Since heat requirement for raising the temperature of incoming feed for digestion is eliminated, energy recovery from anaerobic treatment of chicken manure could be realized with less operating costs. Average biogas production rates were calculated ca. 210 and 242 L per kg of organic matter removed from the ASB reactor at average hydraulic retention times (HRTs) of 13 and 8.6 days, respectively. Moreover, average chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal of ca. 89% was observed with suspended solids removal more than 97% from the effluent of the ASB reactor. Influent ammonia, on the other hand, did not indicate any free ammonia inhibition due to dilution of the raw manure while pH and alkalinity results showed stability during the study. Microbial quantification results indicated that as the number of bacterial community decreased, the amount of Archaea increased through the effective digestion volume of the ASB reactor. Moreover, the number of methanogens displayed an uptrend like archaeal community and a strong correlation (-0.645) was found between methanogenic community and volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentration especially acetate.

The feasibility of a centralized biogas plant treating the manure produced by an organized animal farmers union in Turkey

The aim of this study is to evaluate the feasibility and the energy recovery potential of mesophilic (30-35 °C) anaerobic digestion of animal wastes (manure) at a centralized biogas plant (CBP) for 35,000 cattle. The proposed CBP is composed of an equalization tank followed by pasteurization and 3+[1/2] modules; i.e. each module consists of four completely mixed anaerobic reactors with a capacity of treating the manure from 10,000 cattle. The effect of maize silage loading, as the co-substrate, both on biomethane production and feasibility of the system was also evaluated. Besides, the transport fuel substitutes of the produced biomethane with or without co-substrate were also investigated. Results of the proposed CBP indicated that biomethane production increased ca. 1.65 fold with co-substrate addition and pay-back periods for one module treating 10,000 cattle manure are calculated to be ca. 11 and 7.0 yr without and with silage addition, respectively. Besides, considering the potential revenue when replacing transport fuels, about 74 heavy goods vehicles or 1,560 cars may be powered per year by the biogas produced from the proposed CBP where the co-digestion of manure and maize silage is applied.

Anaerobic digestion of municipal sludges with high silt content using granular seed

The performance of anaerobic digestion of municipal sludge having high inorganic solid/silt in Tuzla Wastewater Treatment Plant (TWWTP) in Istanbul was evaluated using granular seed. High silt/solid content is the main problem related to wastewater collection system in TWWTP. Due to high TSS concentration of the influent, inorganic solid ratio reaches to 60-70% in the primary sludge that makes sludge digestion very difficult. The aim of this study was to evaluate the detrimental effects of inorganic silt/clay on anaerobic sludge solubilization of the primary sludge (PS), of the biological sludge (BS), and of the mixed sludge (50%PS + 50%BS). Anaerobic solubilization was carried out in continuously stirred anaerobic reactors at mesophilic temperature (35 degrees C). Results indicated significant total biogas productions in all reactors during digestion period. The biogas production of the primary sludge was higher than the biogas productions of the mixed sludge and the biological sludge. The methane contents of the primary, biological. and mixed sludges were found as around 72, 78, and 75%, respectively. When all types of sludges were used as substrates, the reactors removed VSS with a corresponding production of Soluble COD (SCOD). The greatest degree of hydrolysis/acidogenesis was observed in all types of sludges in about 10 days of operation and became almost stable which indicated that the reactors were still in the hydrolysis/acidogenesis phase. VFAs measurements were well matched with SCOD results. In all reactors, observation of the conversion into methanogenic phase in about 1.5 month was not possible which might be attributed to high inorganic silt/clay and salinity content of TWWTP. High inorganic silt/clay and salinity might have decreased the biodegradability of all sludges and methanogenesis could not operate in early periods of digestion. Higher SCOD decreases might have been possible if longer treatment time and more optimal conditions for anaerobic solubilization were applied. The pH did not fall below the unfavorable range in all reactors during the study.