Bioflocculation of Wastewater Organic Matter at Short Retention Times
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Bioflocculation of Wastewater Organic Matter at Short Retention Times Lena Faust Thesis committee Promotor Prof. dr. ir. H.H.M. Rijnaarts Professor, Chair Environmental Technology Wageningen University Co-promotor Dr. ir. H. Temmink Assistant professor, Sub-department of Environmental Technology Wageningen University Other members Prof. Dr A.J.M. Stams, Wageningen University Prof. Dr. I. Smets, University of Leuven, Belgium Prof. Dr. B.-M. Wilen, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden Prof. Dr. D.C. Nijmeijer, University of Twente, The Netherlands This research was conducted under the auspices of the Graduate School SENSE (Socio- Economic and Natural Sciences of the Environment) Bioflocculation of Wastewater Organic Matter at Short Retention Times Lena Faust Thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of doctor at Wageningen University by the authority of the Rector Magnificus Prof. Dr M.J. Kropff, in the presence of the Thesis Committee appointed by the Academic Board to be defended in public on Wednesday 3rd of December 2014 at 1.30 p.m. in the Aula. Lena Faust Bioflocculation of Wastewater Organic Matter at Short Retention Times, 163 pages. PhD thesis, Wageningen University, Wageningen, NL (2014) With references, with summaries in English and Dutch ISBN 978-94-6257-171-6 ˮDa steh ich nun, ich armer Tor, und bin so klug als wie zuvor.ˮ Dr. Faust (in Faust I written by Johann Wolgang von Goethe) Contents 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................1 1.1 Wastewater treatment and energy- and chemical recovery .........................................................2 1.2 Bioflocculation and the role of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) .....................................5 1.3 Composition of EPS ........................................................................................................................6 1.4 EPS and soluble microbial products (SMP) .....................................................................................7 1.5 Factors impacting EPS production and concentrations in activated sludge systems ....................9 1.6 Role of cations in the bioflocculation process ............................................................................. 11 1.7 Outline of this thesis .................................................................................................................... 12 2 HIGH LOADED MBRS FOR ORGANIC MATTER RECOVERY FROM SEWAGE: EFFECT OF SOLID RETENTION TIME ON BIOFLOCCULATION AND ON THE ROLE OF EPS ................................................ 19 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 21 2.2 Material and Methods ................................................................................................................. 23 2.2.1 HL-MBR and other wastewater treatment systems ............................................................. 23 2.2.2 Chemical analyses and oxygen uptake rate ......................................................................... 24 2.2.3 Membrane fouling experiments ........................................................................................... 25 2.3. Results ........................................................................................................................................ 26 2.3.1 HL-MBR performance ........................................................................................................... 26 2.3.2 Bioflocculation efficiency ..................................................................................................... 28 2.3.3 EPS concentration and composition .................................................................................... 30 2.3.4 Membrane fouling ................................................................................................................ 32 2.4 Discussion .................................................................................................................................... 34 2.4.1 Recovery of wastewater organics ........................................................................................ 34 2.4.2 EPS concentration ................................................................................................................ 35 2.4.3 EPS composition and bioflocculation ................................................................................... 35 i 2.4.4 Distribution of bound and free EPS ...................................................................................... 36 2.4.5 Membrane fouling ................................................................................................................ 36 2.5 Conclusions .................................................................................................................................. 37 3 EFFECT OF DISSOLVED OXYGEN CONCENTRATION ON THE BIOFLOCCULATION PROCESS IN HIGH LOADED MBRS ...................................................................................................................................... 43 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 45 3.2 Material and Methods ................................................................................................................. 47 3.2.1 Lab scale MBR set-up and sampling procedure ................................................................... 47 3.2.2 Chemical analyses ................................................................................................................ 47 3.2.3 Physical analyses .................................................................................................................. 48 3.2.4 Membrane fouling experiments ........................................................................................... 49 3.3. Results ........................................................................................................................................ 50 3.3.1 Wastewater and HL-MBR concentrate and permeate characteristics ................................. 50 3.3.2 Bioflocculation ...................................................................................................................... 51 3.3.3 EPS and cations ..................................................................................................................... 53 3.3.4 Settleability and filterability ................................................................................................. 55 3.4 Discussion .................................................................................................................................... 56 3.4.1 Bioflocculation in relation to EPS and multivalent cations .................................................. 56 3.4.2 Impact of DO on bioflocculation .......................................................................................... 57 3.4.3 Practical implications ............................................................................................................ 58 3.5 Conclusions .................................................................................................................................. 59 4 CHARACTERIZATION OF THE BACTERIAL COMMUNITY INVOLVED IN THE BIOFLOCCULATION PROCESS OF WASTEWATER ORGANIC MATTER IN HIGH LOADED MBRS ........................................... 65 4.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 67 4.2 Material and Methods ................................................................................................................. 68 4.2.1 Experimental MBR set-ups and wastewater ........................................................................ 68 4.2.2 Sludge and supernatant samples ......................................................................................... 69 4.2.3 Fractionation and Chemical oxygen demand (COD) ............................................................ 69 ii 4.2.4 Total DNA extraction, amplification and DGGE analysis ...................................................... 69 4.2.5 Cloning, sequencing and phylogenetic analysis ................................................................... 70 4.2.6 Nucleotide sequence accession numbers ............................................................................ 71 4.2.7 Scanning electron microscopy .............................................................................................. 71 4.2.8 Fluorescence in situ hybridization ........................................................................................ 71 4.3 Results ......................................................................................................................................... 72 4.3.1 COD fractions ........................................................................................................................ 72 4.3.2 Microbial community analysis .............................................................................................. 73 4.4 Discussion .................................................................................................................................... 81 4.4.1 Bioflocculation at different SRTs .........................................................................................