Search results for "Bioreactors"
showing 10 items of 230 documents
Effects of temperature on post-methanation of digested dairy cow manure in a farm-scale biogas production system.
2003
A post-methanation process that could be adopted at farm-scale, operating at temperatures prevailing in farm manure digester post-storage tanks, was evaluated. Digested manure samples from a farm digester (35 degrees C) and post-storage tank (5-10 degrees C) were incubated in parallel batches at 5-20 degrees C and as reference at 35 and 55 degrees C. Specific methane yields (kg(-1) volatile solids (VS)(added waste)) were 0.20-0.26 m3 at 35-55 degrees C and 0.085-0.09 m3 at 10-20 degrees C for digester material (345 days of incubation) and 0.16-0.21 m3 at 35-55 degrees C, 0.053-0.087 kg(-1) VS(added waste) m3 at 15-20 degrees C and 0.026 m3 at 10 degrees C for post-storage tank material (250…
Impact of crop species on bacterial community structure during anaerobic co-digestion of crops and cow manure
2008
The bacterial communities in three continuously stirred tank reactors co-digesting cow manure with grass silage, oat straw, and sugar beet tops, respectively, were investigated by 16S rRNA gene-based fingerprints and clone libraries. The analyses revealed both clearly distinct and similar phylotypes in the bacterial communities between the reactors. The major groups represented in the three reactors were Clostridia, unclassified Bacteria, and Bacteroidetes. Phylotypes affiliated with Bacilli or Deltaproteobacteria were unique to the sugar beet and straw reactor, respectively. Unclassified Bacteria dominated in sugar beet reactor while in the straw and grass reactor Clostridia was the domina…
Two-Stage Anaerobic Digestion of Energy Crops: Methane Production, Nitrogen Mineralisation and Heavy Metal Mobilisation
2006
Energy crops (willow, sugar beet and grass silage) were digested in pilot scale two-stage anaerobic digesters. The specific methane yields obtained were 0.16, 0.38 and 0.39 m3 kg(-1) added volatile solids (VSadded) for willow, sugar beet and grass, respectively, corresponding to yearly gross energy yields of 15, 53 and 26 megawatt-hours (MWh) per hectare. With grass and sugar beets as substrate, 84-85% of the harvestable methane was obtained within 30 days. In pilot scale two-stage digestion of willow and sugar beet, 56 and 85% of the laboratory scale methane yields were obtained, but digestion of grass in two-stage reactors yielded 5% more methane than digestion in laboratory scale complet…
A comparative study of mechanical properties of fresh and frozen-thawed porcine intervertebral discs in a bioreactor environment
2016
Abstract Limited availability of fresh intervertebral discs (IVDs) necessitates the use of frozen-thawed samples in biomechanical investigations. Several authors have reported the mechanical properties of frozen-thawed IVDs, but few studies have investigated the effects of storage temperature and cooling rate. The validity and reliability of the applied freezing-thawing procedures are still relatively unknown. The study aims to compare the mechanical responses of fresh porcine IVDs and porcine IVDs, which were frozen at different freezing temperatures with a controlled-rate cooling process and then thawed. The specimens were obtained from pigs aged 6 months. A total of 18 functional spine u…
Investigating bacterial populations in styrene-degrading biofilters by 16S rDNA tag pyrosequencing
2014
Microbial biofilms are essential components in the elimination of pollutants within biofilters, yet still little is known regarding the complex relationships between microbial community structure and biodegradation function within these engineered ecosystems. To further explore this relationship, 16S rDNA tag pyrosequencing was applied to samples taken at four time points from a styrene-degrading biofilter undergoing variable operating conditions. Changes in microbial structure were observed between different stages of biofilter operation, and the level of styrene concentration was revealed to be a critical factor affecting these changes. Bacterial genera Azoarcus and Pseudomonas were among…
Shortcut nitrification-denitrification by means of autochthonous halophilic biomass in an SBR treating fish-canning wastewater
2017
Abstract Autochthonous halophilic biomass was cultivated in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) aimed at analyzing the potential use of autochthonous halophilic activated sludge in treating saline industrial wastewater. Despite the high salt concentration (30 g NaCl L −1 ), biological oxygen demand (BOD) and total suspended solids (TSS), removal efficiencies were higher than 90%. More than 95% of the nitrogen was removed via a shortcut nitrification-denitrification process. Both the autotrophic and heterotrophic biomass samples exhibited high biological activity. The use of autochthonous halophilic biomass led to high-quality effluent and helped to manage the issues related to nitrogen removal…
Mathematical modelling of greenhouse gas emissions from membrane bioreactors: A comprehensive comparison of two mathematical models.
2018
Abstract This paper compares two mathematical models (Model I and Model II) to predict greenhouse gases emission from a University Cape Town (UCT) – membrane bioreactor (MBR) plant. Model I considers N 2 O production only during denitrification. Model II takes into account the ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) formation pathways for N 2 O. Both models were calibrated adopting real data. Model comparison was performed in terms of (i) sensitivity analysis (ii) best fit and (iii) model prediction uncertainty. On average 6% of factors of Model I and 9% of Model II resulted to be important. In terms of best fit, Model II had a better capability of reproducing the measured data. The average effici…
A dynamic air–liquid interface system for in vitro mimicking of the nasal mucosa
2022
The development of an in vitro 3D model for the growth of the nasal mucosa cells can improve the therapy and the study of pathological states for subjects with chronic airway conditions. We have previously characterized a system consisting of a scaffold with an internal channel and a perfusion bioreactor with two independent flows provided by an external and an internal circuit, respectively. In this paper, this system was designed as a model of the nasal cavity, in which cells, grown on the inner surface of the scaffold channel, would be in contact at the same time with both culture medium, supplied by the external circuit, and air, provided with the internal flow. To ensure adequate nutri…
Widening the applicability of AnMBR for urban wastewater treatment through PDMS membranes for dissolved methane capture: Effect of temperature and hy…
2021
[EN] AnMBR technology is a promising alternative to achieve future energy-efficiency and environmental-friendly urban wastewater (UWW) treatment. However, the large amount of dissolved methane lost in the effluent represents a potential high environmental impact that hinder the feasibility of this technology for full-scale applications. The use of degassing membranes (DM) to capture the dissolved methane from AnMBR effluents can be considered as an interesting alternative to solve this problem although further research is required to assess the suitability of this emerging technology. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of operating temperature and hydrodynamics on the capture of…
Photocatalytic ozonation under visible light for the remediation of water effluents and its integration with an electro-membrane bioreactor
2018
Abstract Photocatalysis and photocatalytic ozonation under visible light have been applied for the purification of a complex aqueous matrix such as the grey water of Masdar City (UAE), by using N-doped brookite-rutile catalysts. Preliminary runs on 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) solutions allowed to test the reaction system in the presence of a model pollutant and to afford the relevant kinetic parameters of the process. Subsequently, the remediation of grey water effluent has been evaluated in terms of the reduction of total organic carbon (TOC) and bacterial counts. The concentration of the most abundant inorganic ionic species in the effluent has been also monitored during reaction. Photocatalytic…