Search results for "Bioreactors"
showing 10 items of 230 documents
Fermentation and elutriation of primary sludge: Effect of SRT on process performance
2007
Abstract A primary sludge fermentation–elutriation pilot plant was operated using in-line and side-stream schemes. The influence of solids retention time, recirculation sludge flow-rate and solids concentration on the fermentation–elutriation process performance has been assessed in this paper. The use of high elutriation flows (12% of influent flow) improved the volatile fatty acids (VFA) concentration in the effluent stream. Suspended solids removal efficiency decreased in the primary settler when the solids retention time (SRT) was increased from 4 to 8 days. Disintegration step during hydrolysis process was pointed out as the main reason for that decrease. Maximum VFA productions were a…
Comparison between hybrid moving bed biofilm reactor and activated sludge system: a pilot plant experiment
2010
The paper presents the comparison between the traditional activated sludge system (AS) and a hybrid moving bed biofilm reactor (HMBBR). In particular, an experimental campaign has been carried out at the WWTP in Palermo (Italy), on a pilot plant consisting of two pre-anoxic schemes. The aerated tank of the HMBBR line was filled with suspended carriers (AnoxKaldnes™ K1), with a 30% filling ratio. The hydraulic load of the HMBBR line was increased up to two times the AS one. Further, in order to distinguish the additional contribution of the attached biomass for the HMBBR system, in the two lines the Mixed Liquor Suspended Solids (MLSS) was maintained as equal as possible. The monitoring peri…
Thermophilic Anaerobic Digestion of Industrial Orange Waste
2006
Thermophilic anaerobic digestion of industrial orange waste (pulp and peel) with subsequent aerobic post-treatment of the digestate was evaluated. Methane production potential was first determined in batch assays and the effects of operational parameters such as hydraulic retention times (HRT) and organic loading rates (OLR) on process performance were studied through semi-continuous digestion. In batch assays, methane production potential of about 0.49 m(3) kg(-1) volatile solids (VS)(added waste) was achieved. In semi-continuous digestion, loading at 2.8 kgVS m(-3) d(-1) (2.9 kg total solids (TS) m(-3) d(-1)) and HRT of 26 d produced specific methane yields of 0.6 m(3) kg(-1) VS (added wa…
Fermentation of municipal primary sludge: effect of SRT and solids concentration on volatile fatty acid production
2002
Laboratory bench-scale experiments were conducted to investigate the performance of primary sludge fermentation for volatile fatty acids production. Primary sludges from two major wastewater treatment plants located in Valencia (Pinedo and Carraixet) were used. Experiments were performed at solids retention times between 4 and 10 days, and total volatile solids concentrations between 0.6% and 2.8%. Operation at two temperatures (20 degrees C and 30 degrees C) was also checked. Results indicated the importance of feed sludge characteristics on volatile fatty acids yields, being approximately double for the Carraixet wastewater treatment plant sludge than for the Pinedo plant. In both cases, …
Design of perfusion bioreactors and PLLA-based scaffolds for in vitro tissue engineering
2022
L'ingegneria tissutale rappresenta un nuovo approccio che integra cellule e matrici ingegnerizzate per la formazione di nuovi tessuti. In questa strategia, tre componenti essenziali costituiscono la cosiddetta triade della Tissue Engineering: segnali regolatori, cellule e scaffold tridimensionali (3D) biodegradabili e porosi. Tali elementi sono combinati per sviluppare un tessuto funzionale organizzato e 3D che simula la matrice extracellulare (ECM) del tessuto da rigenerare. Le funzioni specifiche dei tessuti nativi sono correlate agli ambienti complessi che, all'esterno del corpo, possono essere imitati usando degli strumenti chiamati bioreattori. Questi sistemi forniscono un ambiente in …
Effect of pH and nitrite concentration on nitrite oxidation rate
2011
The effect of pH and nitrite concentration on the activity of the nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) in an activated sludge reactor has been determined by means of laboratory batch experiments based on respirometric techniques. The bacterial activity was measured at different pH and at different total nitrite concentrations (TNO 2). The experimental results showed that the nitrite oxidation rate (NOR) depends on the TNO 2 concentration independently of the free nitrous acid (FNA) concentration, so FNA cannot be considered as the real substrate for NOB. NOB were strongly affected by low pH values (no activity was detected at pH 6.5) but no inhibition was observed at high pH values (activity wa…
Sulphate-Reducing Laboratory-Scale High-Rate Anaerobic Reactors for Treatment of Metal- and Sulphate-Containing Mine Wastewater
2002
Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors were used in this study to evaluate the feasibility of the sulphate-reducing, anaerobic high-rate process to treat metal- and sulphate-containing mining wastewater (MWW). Four simultaneous reactors, inoculated with different inocula (mesophilic granular sludge from two UASB reactors, one treating sugar refinery wastewater and the other board mill wastewater) and operated with different loadings, were for 95 days fed with synthetic feed consisting of glucose and sulphate. In all reactors, 23-72% of sulphate and 12-93% of COD were removed. Subsequently, two reactors were fed with diluted MWW (zinc as the main metal) for 77 days with hydraulic re…
A probabilistic approach to radiant field modeling in dense particulate systems
2016
Radiant field distribution is an important modeling issue in many systems of practical interest, such as photo-bioreactors for algae growth and heterogeneous photo-catalytic reactors for water detoxification.In this work, a simple radiant field model suitable for dispersed systems showing particle size distributions, is proposed for both dilute and dense two-phase systems. Its main features are: (i) only physical, independently assessable parameters are involved and (ii) its simplicity allows a closed form solution, which makes it suitable for inclusion in a complete photo-reactor model, where also kinetic and fluid dynamic sub-models play a role. A similar model can be derived by making us…
Electrical conductivity as a state indicator for the start-up period of anaerobic fixed-bed reactors.
2016
The aim of this work was to analyse the applicability of electrical conductivity sensors for on-line monitoring the start-up period of an anaerobic fixed-bed reactor. The evolution of bicarbonate concentration and methane production rate was analysed. Strong linear relationships between electrical conductivity and both bicarbonate concentration and methane production rate were observed. On-line estimations of the studied parameters were carried out in a new start-up period by applying simple linear regression models, which resulted in a good concordance between both observed and predicted values. Electrical conductivity sensors were therefore identified as an interesting method for monitori…
Modelling hydrolysis: Simultaneous versus sequential biodegradation of the hydrolysable fractions
2018
Hydrolysis is considered the limiting step during solid waste anaerobic digestion (including co-digestion of sludge and biosolids). Mechanisms of hydrolysis are mechanistically not well understood with detrimental impact on model predictive capability. The common approach to multiple substrates is to consider simultaneous degradation of the substrates. This may not have the capacity to separate the different kinetics. Sequential degradation of substrates is theoretically supported by microbial capacity and the composite nature of substrates (bioaccessibility concept). However, this has not been experimentally assessed. Sequential chemical fractionation has been successfully used to define i…