The effluent from anaerobic digestion process has high concentrations of nutrients, particularly nitrogen, essential for plant growth but is not suitable for direct disposal or application due to high chemical oxygen demand (COD), low dissolved oxygen (DO), odour issues and is potentially phytotoxic. This research explored the optimum conditions of anaerobic effluent for application and dilutio...

The potential for in situ biodegradation of 4-nonylphenol (4-NP) was investigated in three hydrologically distinct streams impacted by wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in the United States. Microcosms were prepared with sediments from each site and amended with [U-ring-(14)C]4-n-nonylphenol (4-n-NP) as a model test substrate. Microcosms prepared with sediment collected upstream of the WWTP o...

Fenton treatment (Fe(2+)/H(2)O(2)) and different ozone-based Advanced Oxidation Processes (AOPs) (O(3), O(3)/OH(-) and O(3)/H(2)O(2)) were evaluated as pre-treatment of a mature landfill leachate, in order to improve the biodegradability of its recalcitrant organic matter for subsequent biological treatment. With a two-fold diluted leachate, at optimised experimental conditions (initial pH 3, H...

The bullwhip effect is a phenomenon commonly observed in industry. It describes how the distortion of demand information in a supply chain amplifies demand variance as it moves from consumption point up the supply chain to layers of suppliers. The bullwhip effect has been a subject of intensive research activities. Researchers have tried to address questions such as: What causes the bullwhip ef...

The present study examined the feasibility of treating municipal wastewater by a UASB system under low-temperature conditions. Two reactors were started-up at 20 degrees C and subsequently operated at temperatures of 32, 20, 15, 11, and 6 degrees C applying several hydraulic retention times (HRTs) ranging from 48 to 3 h during an operational period of approximately 900 days. Chemical oxygen dem...

In this work, an electrocatalytic membrane was prepared to degrade aqueous tetracycline (TC) using a carbon membrane coated with nano-TiO₂ via a sol-gel process. SEM, XRD, EDS, and XPS were used to characterize the composition and structure of the electrocatalytic membrane. The effect of operating conditions on the removal rate of tetracycline was investigated systematically. The results show t...

A bioflocculant-producing bacterium, Bacillus megaterium SP1, was isolated from biofloc in pond water and identified by using both 16S rDNA sequencing analysis and a Biolog GEN III MicroStation System. The optimal carbon and nitrogen sources for Bacillus megaterium SP1 were 20 g L-1 of glucose and 0.5 g L-1 of beef extract at 30°C and pH 7. The bioflocculant produced by strain SP1 under optimal...

In the present study we examined the performance of a thermoalkalophilic bacterial consortium, where the predominant strain was Bacillus sp. SF, in the degradation of Reactive Black 5 (RB5). We used a reactor working in continuous mode and investigated the effects of pH, hydraulic retention time (HRT) and several added salts on colour and chemical oxygen demand (COD) reductions. For the chosen ...

High silica content of de-inked paper mill effluents is limiting their regeneration and reuse after membrane treatments such as reverse osmosis (RO). Silica removal during softening processes is a common treatment; however, the effluent from the paper mill studied has a low hardness content, which makes the addition of magnesium compounds necessary to increase silica removal. Two soluble magnes...

Cork boiling wastewater pollutants were fractionated by sequential use of four ultrafiltration membranes and five fractions were obtained: four retentates (>100, 50-100, 20-50 and 10-20 kDa) and one permeate (<10 kDa); which were used to study the correlation of molecular size with biodegradability and toxicity before and after ozonation. The results show that molecular size is correlated with ...