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Triclosan (TCS) and tetracycline (TC) as common antibacterial agents are frequently detected in the influent of wastewater treatment plants. The TCS and TC exposure patterns may determine their impacts on wastewater treatment microbiomes, on which information remains unknown. In this study, the impacts of sequential exposure of TCS and TC on methanogenic digestion microbiomes in upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors were analyzed and compared with that of the same microbiomes being simultaneously exposed to TCS and TC. Results indicated that the UASB reactor 2 (MD2) with sequential TCS-TC exposure consistently demonstrated higher chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency (94.7 %). In contrast, in the MD1 reactor, COD removal efficiency decreased from 94.4 % to 82.7 % upon simultaneous exposure to TCS and TC. Accordingly, a 1.8 times higher enrichment of total antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) was observed in MD1 relative to MD2. Using a dissimilarity-overlap approach, the MD2 microbiome with sequential exposure was predominantly mediated by deterministic factors in their community assembly (largely contributed by abundant and intermediate biospheres), resulting in microbial interaction networks with higher average clustering coefficients and shorter average path lengths, compared to the MD1 microbiomes. Our results could support sustainable management of TCS and TC contamination in wastewater treatment plants. [Display omitted] • The MD2 reactor exhibited more stable COD removal. • The MD2 reactor showed less enrichment of antibiotic resistance genes. • Deterministic factors primarily governed the MD2 microbial community assembly. • MD2 microbiomes had higher clustering coefficients and shorter path lengths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) as a solvent is extensively used for the phenols extraction from the wastewater, so it is unavoidable to expose in the effluent due to the solubility and leakage problem. The present study evaluated the impact of MIBK on phenols degradation in an UASB reactor and analyzed its degradation properties. The results indicated that the continuous dosing (0.1 g L −1 ) and impact (10 g L −1 ) of MIBK had limited effect on phenols removal (1–2% reduction) in the UASB reactor, but the specific methanogenic activity (SMA) values of sludge decreased by 45–75% after MIBK exposure. Anaerobic degradation rate of MIBK fitted well to a pseudo-first-order kinetic equation with respect to the initial concentration of 35 mg L −1 (k = 0.0115 h −1 , R 2 = 0.9664). Furthermore, the relative methane generation rate constants of MIBK were 0.00816, 0.00613, 0.00273, and 0.00207 d −1 at the initial concentrations of 0.1, 0.5, 5, and 10 g L −1 , respectively. MIBK showed higher inhibitory effect on the methanogenesis than on phenols degradation. This study pointed out that the industrial installations should consider the influence of solvent on anaerobic treatment of phenolic wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anaerobic bioreactors are often used for removal of xenobiotic and highly toxic pollutants from wastewater. Most of the time, the pollutant is so toxic that the stability of the reactor becomes compromised. It is well known that methanogens are one of the most sensitive organisms in the anaerobic consortia and hence the stability of the reactors is highly dependant on methanogenesis. Unfortunately few studies have focused on recovering the methanogenic activity once it has been inhibited by highly toxic pollutants. Here we establish a quick recovery strategy for neutralization of an acidified UASB reactor after failure by intoxication with an excess of TCP in the influent. Once the reactor returned to pH values compatible with methanogenesis, biogas production was re-started after one day and the system was re-acclimated to TCP. Successful removal of TCP from synthetic wastewater was shown for concentrations up to 70 mg/L after restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monoethanolamine (MEA), a toxic organic chemical, is widely used in industries and is found in their wastewater. Anaerobic MEA degradation is an appropriate strategy to reduce energy and cost for treatment. Industry wastewaters also contain sulfate, but information on the effects of sulfate on MEA degradation is limited. Here, an up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) for MEA-containing wastewater treatment was operated under psychrophilic conditions (18–20 ºC) to investigate the effects of sulfate on the microbial characteristics of the retained sludge. To acclimatize the sludge, the proportion of MEA in the influent (containing sucrose, acetate, and propionate) was increased from 15% to 100% of total COD (1500 mg L–1); sulfate was then added to the influent. The COD removal efficiency remained above 95% despite the increase in MEA and sulfate. However, granular sludge disintegration was observed when sulfate was increased from 20 to 330 mg L–1. Batch tests revealed that propionate and acetate were produced as the metabolites of MEA degradation. In response to sulfate acclimation, methane-producing activities for propionate and hydrogen declined, while sulfate-reducing activities for MEA, propionate, and hydrogen increased. Accordingly, acclimation and changes in dominant microbial groups promoted the acetogenic reaction of propionate by sulfate reduction. [Display omitted] • Monoethanolamine (MEA) was satisfactorily removed by UASB treatment. • Increasing sulfate levels in wastewater caused deterioration of the retained sludge. • Propionate and acetate were detected as anaerobic degradation products of MEA. • Microbial community structure was markedly changed by increasing MEA and sulfate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Novel biological technique for gypsum removal from CDD. [•] CDDS leachate treatment performed using different sulfate reducing bioreactors. [•] Gypsum in CDD can be used as a source of sulfate for sulfate reducing bacteria. [•] High calcium concentration (1000mgL−1) did not affect the bioreactor performance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A novel mathematical model was developed to estimate the volumetric nitrogen conversion rates of a high-rate Anammox UASB reactor based on the packing patterns of granular sludge. A series of relationships among granular packing density, sludge concentration, hydraulic retention time and volumetric conversion rate were constructed to correlate Anammox reactor performance with granular packing patterns. It was suggested that the Anammox granules packed as the equivalent simple cubic pattern in high-rate UASB reactor with packing density of 50–55%, which not only accommodated a high concentration of sludge inside the reactor, but also provided large pore volume, thus prolonging the actual substrate conversion time. Results also indicated that it was necessary to improve Anammox reactor performance by enhancing substrate loading when sludge concentration was higher than 37.8gVSS/L. The established model was carefully calibrated and verified, and it well simulated the performance of granule-based high-rate Anammox UASB reactor. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: An upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) bioreactor was successfully used for the treatment of petroleum refinery effluent. Before optimization, chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal was 81% at a constant organic loading rate (OLR) of 0.4kg/m3 d and a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 48h. The rate of biogas production was 559mL/h at an HRT of 40h and an influent COD of 1000mg/L. Response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to predict the behaviors of influent COD, upflow velocity (V up) and HRT in the bioreactor. RSM showed that the best models for COD removal and biogas production rate were the reduced quadratic and cubic models, respectively. The optimum region, identified based on two critical responses, was an influent COD of 630mg/L, a V up of 0.27m/h, and an HRT of 21.4h. This resulted in a 76.3% COD removal efficiency and a 0.25Lbiogas/Lfeedd biogas production rate. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A full-scale novel combined anaerobic/micro-aerobic and two-stage aerobic biological process is used for the treatment of an actual chemical synthesis-based pharmaceutical wastewater containing amoxicillin. The anaerobic system is an up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB), the micro-aerobic system is a novel micro-aerobic hydrolysis acidification reactor (NHAR) and the two-stage aerobic process comprised cyclic activated sludge system (CASS) and biological contact oxidation tank (BCOT). The influent wastewater was high in COD, NH3-N varying daily 4016–13,093mg-CODL−1 and 156.4–650.2mg-NH3-NL−1, amoxicillin varying weekly between 69.1 and 105.4mg-amoxicillinL−1, respectively; Almost all the COD, NH3-N, amoxicillin were removed by the biological combined system, with removal percentages 97%, 93.4% and 97.2%, respectively, leaving around 104mg-CODL−1, 9.4mg-NH3-NL−1 and 2.6±0.8mg-amoxicillinL−1 in the final clarifier effluent. The performance evaluation of the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) by mathematical statistic methods shown that at most of time effluent can meet the higher treatment discharge standard. In addition, the fate of amoxicillin in the full-scale WWTP and the amoxicillin removal rate of each different removal routes in UASB, NHAR, CASS, BCOT and final clarifier processes are investigated in this paper. The results show that biodegradation, adsorption and hydrolysis are the major mechanisms for amoxicillin removal. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Anaerobic digestion of palm oil mill effluent (POME) and deoiled POME was investigated both in batch assays and continuous reactor experiments using up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) and expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactors. The methane potential determined from batch assays of POME and deoiled POME was 503 and 610mL-CH4/gVS-added, respectively. For the treatment of POME in continuously fed reactors, both in UASB and EGSB reactors more than 90% COD removal could be obtained, at HRT of 5 days, corresponding to OLR of 5.8gVS/(L-reactor.d). Similar methane yields of 436–438mL-CH4/gVS-added were obtained for UASB and EGSB respectively. However, for treatment of deoiled POME, both UASB and EGSB reactors could operate at lower OLR of 2.6gVS/(L-reactor.d), with the methane yield of 600 and 555mL-CH4/gVS-added for UASB and EGSB, respectively. The higher methane yield achieved from the deoiled POME was attributed to lower portion of biofibers which are more recalcitrant compared the rest of organic matter in POME. The UASB reactor was found to be more stable than EGSB reactor under the same OLR, as could be seen from lower VFA concentration, especially propionic acid, compared to the EGSB reactor. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This Study describes the feasibility of anaerobic degradation of United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) listed 4-chloro-2-nitrophenol (4C-2-NP), 2-chloro-4-nitrophenol (2C-4-NP), 2-chloro-5-methylphenol (2C-5-MP) from a simulated wastewater using four identical 7L bench scale hybrid up flow anaerobic sludge blankets (HUASBs) at five different hydraulic retention times (HRTs) under thermophilic condition (55±3°C). The substrate to co-substrate ratios were maintained between 1:33.3 and 1:166.6. Continuous monitoring of parameters like pH, volatile fatty acids (VFAs) accumulation, oxidation reduction potential, chemical oxygen demand (COD), alkalinity, gas productions, methane percentages were carried out along with compound reduction to asses the efficiency of biodegradation. The compound reduction was estimated by using spectrophotometric methods and further validated with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Optimum HRT values were observed at 24h. Optimum ratio of substrate (phenolic compounds) to co-substrate (glucose) was 1:100. Scanning electron micrographs show that the granules were composed of thermophilic Methanobrevibacter and thermophilic Methanothrix like bacteria. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The objective of this study is to evaluate the decolorization of Methylene Blue (MB) by an up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor. The UASB reactor was operated under batch condition with total treatment volume of 3l and operation time of 24h per batch. It was found that the color of MB disappeared within a few minutes after entering into the UASB reactor due to reduction by anaerobic biomass. However, the reduced MB was re-oxidized again by air after discharged from the reactor and thus caused low color removal efficiency. The presence of suitable amount of organic content (sucrose and peptone) as an electron donor played an important factor for color removal. It was observed that more than 90% of color removal efficiency was achieved in the UASB reactor with 0.627mmoll−1 of MB concentration and the presence of low amount of organic content (<0.45g COD/(ld)). Biological dye reduction kinetics depends on the concentration of dye and reducing equivalents. The kinetic behavior of MB biodegradation by microbes was also investigated to determine the model involved in the process. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• All the approaches significantly improved the biotransformation of SMX and TMP. • The removals of SMX and TMP increased from 6% to 75% with 100 μM of AQDS. • The addition of only 1 mL air min−1 ensured removals of 52% (SMX) and 63% (TMP). • Microaeration had a synergistic effect with the redox mediator, especially for TMP. • Removals of SMX and TMP over 85% were reached only when 400 mg NO 3 − L−1 were added. The present work assessed some engineering approaches, such as the addition of the redox mediator anthraquinone-2,6-disulfonate (AQDS) (50 and 100 μM), microaeration (1 mL air min−1), and nitrate (100−400 mg L−1), for enhancing the biotransformation of the antibiotics sulfamethoxazole (SMX) and trimethoprim (TMP) (200 μg L−1 each) in anaerobic reactors operated at a short hydraulic retention time (7.4 h). Initially, very low removal efficiencies (REs) of SMX and TMP were obtained under anaerobic conditions (∼6%). After adding AQDS, the anaerobic biotransformation of these antibiotics significantly improved, with an increase of approximately 70% in the REs with 100 μM of AQDS. Microaeration also enhanced the biotransformation of SMX and TMP, especially when associated with AQDS, which provided REs above 70%, particularly for TMP (∼91% with 1 mL air min−1 and 50 μM of AQDS). Concerning nitrate, the higher the added concentration, the higher the REs of the antibiotics (∼86% with 400 mg L−1). Therefore, all the assessed approaches were demonstrated to be very effective in improving the limited biotransformation of SMX and TMP in anaerobic reactors, ensuring REs comparable to those found in higher-cost wastewater treatment technologies, such as conventional activated sludge, membrane bioreactors, and hybrid processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]