A laboratory-scale membrane bioreactor (MBR) was fed with synthetic wastewater to investigate the possibility of simultaneous removal of organic, nitrogen and phosphorus by intermittent aeration. The MBR consists of two compartments using a microfiltration membrane with 0.2 μm pore size and a surface area of 0.35 m2. Hydraulic retention time was set at 24 hours and solid retention time 25 days....

The present study was done to shorten the start-up time of up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor. Two different nutrients were used during the UASB start-up period, which was designed to decrease the hydraulic retention time (HRT) from 48 to 24 and 12 to 6 hrs at average temperatures of 25-34 oC. In the first stage, start-up was with glucose for 14 days and then the reactor was also f...

Duckweed ponds have been successfully used in swine waste polishing, generating a biomass with high protein content. Therefore, the present study evaluated the efficiency of two full-scale duckweed ponds considering nutrient recovery from a piggery farm effluent (produced by 300 animals), as well as the biomass yield and crude protein (CP) content. A significant improvement in the effluent qual...

It has been reported that bacteria-mediated degradation of contaminants is a practical and innocuous wastewater treatment. In addition, iron oxide nanoparticles (NP) are wastewater remediation agents with great potentials due to their strong adsorption capacity, chemical inertness and superparamagnetism. Therefore, a combination of NPs and microbes could produce a very desirable alternative to ...

Implicit in discussions of plant nutrition and climate change is the assumption that we know what to do relative to nutrient management here and now but that these strategies might not apply in a changed climate. We review existing knowledge on interactive influences of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, temperature and soil moisture on plant growth, development and yield as well as on p...

Four wetland plant species (Scirpus validus, Carex lacustris, Phalaris arundinacea, and Typha latifolia) were grown in monoculture and as a four-species mixture to compare effectiveness of nutrient removal in controlled 18.93-l outdoor subsurface treatment wetland microcosms. A nutrient treatment that mimicked single-resident domestic effluent consisted of two levels of nitrogen (N) and phospho...

Objective To characterize the heterotrophic nitrifying bacteria. Methods The bacteria were isolated from membrane bioreactor for treating synthetic wastewater using the method newly introduced in this study. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was used to validate the nonexistence of autotrophic ammonia oxidizers and nitrite oxidizers. Batch tests were carried out to investigate the capab...

Unraveling nutrient imbalances in contemporary agriculture is a research priority to improve whenever possible yield and nutrient use efficiency in sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) systems while minimizing the costs of cultivation (e.g., use of fertilizers) and environmental concerns. The main goal of this study was therefore to investigate biomass and nutrient [nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and pota...