Search results for "Bioengineering"
showing 10 items of 1963 documents
Sewage sludge acidogenic fermentation for organic resource recovery towards carbon neutrality: an experimental survey testing the headspace influence
2022
Volatile fatty acids (VFAs) produced by acidogenic digestion of sewage sludge are very interesting bio-products which can contribute to carbon neutrality of wastewater treatment plants. Studies on the production of VFAs from sewage sludge from fermenters with membrane are limited. In view of above, VFAs from a fermenter pilot plant equipped with a membrane bioreactor and fed with real sewage sludge has been monitored. The effect of headspace volume (HdV) on VFA production was studied for the first time to elucidate the optimal operation conditions. Specifically, three fermenter HdV values (namely, 20, 40 and 60% of the total volume) have been investigated. Results revealed that the HdV of 2…
Two-stage anaerobic digestion of tomato, cucumber, common reed and grass silage in leach-bed reactors and upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactors
2010
Abstract Anaerobic digestion of tomato, cucumber, common reed and grass silage was studied in four separate two-stage reactor configuration consisting of leach bed reactor (LBR) and upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor (UASB). LBR studies showed that COD solubilization for cucumber and grass silage was higher (50%) than tomato (35%) and common reed (15%). Results also showed that 31–39% of initial TKN present in tomato and cucumber was solubilized in the leachates and 47–54% of the solubilized TKN was converted to NH4-N. The corresponding values for common reed and grass silage were 38–50% and 18–36%, respectively. Biomethanation of the leachates in UASB reactors resulted in methane yiel…
Trace metals supplementation in anaerobic membrane bioreactors treating highly saline phenolic wastewater
2017
Biomass requires trace metals (TM) for maintaining its growth and activity. This study aimed to determine the effect of TM supplementation and partitioning on the specific methanogenic activity (SMA), with a focus on cobalt and tungsten, during the start-up of two lab-scale Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactors (AnMBRs) treating saline phenolic wastewater. The TM partitioning revealed a strong accumulation of sodium in the biomass matrix and a wash-out of the majority of TM in the reactors, which led to an SMA decrease and a low COD removal of about 30%. The SMA exhibits a maximum at about 6 g Na+ L−1 and nearly complete inhibition at 34 g Na+ L−1. The dose of 0.5 mg L−1 of tungsten increases the …
Multivariate Correlation between Analytical Data for Various Organics Dissolved during Autohydrolysis of Silver Birch (Betula pendula) Chips and Trea…
2014
Autohydrolysis pre-treatments were performed for the production of hemicellulose-rich autohydrolysates from silver birch (Betula pendula) chips prior to chemical pulping. Pre-treatment conditions were varied with respect to time (from 30 to 120 min) and temperature (130 and 150 °C), covering a P-factor range from 10 to 238. Hydrolysates were analyzed in terms of carbohydrates, lignin, volatile organic acids, and furanoic compounds. The analytical data were subjected to various chemometric techniques to establish the relationships between dissolved organic components, hardwood and softwood used in the experiments, and applied pre-treatment conditions. Using this method, differences between t…
Sulphate Removal from Water by Carbon Residue from Biomass Gasification: Effect of Chemical Modification Methods on Sulphate Removal Efficiency
2016
Sulphate removal from mine water is a problem because traditional chemical precipitation does not remove all sulphates. In addition, it creates lime sediment as a secondary waste. Therefore, an inexpensive and environmental-friendly sulphate removal method is needed in addition to precipitation. In this study, carbon residues from a wood gasification process were repurposed as precursors to a suitable sorbent for SO42- ion removal. The raw material was modified using ZnCl2, BaCl2, CaCl2, FeCl3, or FeCl2. Carbon residues modified with FeCl3 were selected for further consideration because the removal efficiency toward sulphate was the highest. Batch sorption experiments were performed to eval…
Sewage sludge management for phosphorus recovery as struvite in EBPR wastewater treatment plants
2008
The influence of separate and mixed thickening of primary and secondary sludge on struvite recovery was studied. Phosphorus precipitation in the digester was reduced from 13.7 g of phosphorus per kg of treated sludge in the separate thickening experiment to 5.9 in the mixed thickening experiment. This lessening of the uncontrolled precipitation means a reduction of the operational problems and enhances the phosphorus availability for its later crystallization. High phosphorus precipitation and recovery efficiencies were achieved in both crystallization experiments. However, mixed thickening configuration showed a lower percentage of phosphorus precipitated as struvite due to the presence of…
Struvite formation from the supernatants of an anaerobic digestion pilot plant
2009
This work studied the influence of the characteristics of the supernatants on the struvite precipitation process. Eighteen experiments with the supernatants generated in an anaerobic digestion pilot plant were performed in a stirred reactor. In order to obtain the pH control during the crystallization process, a Fuzzy Logic based controller was used. High phosphorus precipitation and recovery efficiencies were obtained. The composition of the supernatants was analyzed in order to study its influence on the solids formed from those solutions. The presence of calcium reduced the percentage of phosphorus precipitated as struvite leading to the formation of amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP), wh…
Formation of Levan from Raffinose by Levansucrase ofZymomonas mobilis
2004
Levansucrase (EC 2.4.1.10.) of Zymomonas mobilis 113S can perform the polymerisation of fructose moiety from raffinose to levan concomitantly with a release of non-catabolised melibiose into the medium. The kinetic parameters of the levansucrase-catalysed reaction provide even higher reaction velocities on raffinose as compared to sucrose, particularly at low substrate concentrations. A decreased value in the number of the average molecular mass (Mn = 1693 kDa), an increased intrinsic viscosity (η = 49.47 cm3/g), and a diminished Huggin's constant (K' = 0.67) are intrinsic to the levan synthesis from raffinose, indicating certain structural peculiarities compared to a polysaccharide obtaine…
The effect of organic loading rate and retention time on hydrogen production from a methanogenic CSTR.
2011
Abstract The possibility of shifting a methanogenic process for hydrogen production by changing the process parameters viz., organic loading rate (OLR) and hydraulic retention time (HRT) was evaluated. At first, two parallel semi-continuously fed continuously stirred tank reactors (CSTR) were operated as methanogenic reactors (M1 and M2) for 78 days. Results showed that a methane yield of 198–218 L/kg volatile solids fed (VS fed ) was obtained when fed with grass silage at an OLR of 2 kgVS/m 3 /d and HRT of 30 days. After 78 days of operation, hydrogen production was induced in M2 by increasing the OLR from 2 to 10 kgVS/m 3 /d and shortening the HRT from 30 to 6 days. The highest H 2 yield …