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Anaerobic treatment of sedimented fibers collected from bottom of a bay that had been receiving pulp and paper mill wastewater for about 70 years were studied for the first time in semi-continuously fed continuously stirred tank reactors (CSTR). Anaerobic treatment of the fiber sediment was shown to be feasible, without dilution and with nitrogen and buffer supplement, at organic loading rates (OLR) up to 2.5 kg VS/m 3 d and hydraulic retention times (HRT) of 60 d resulting in methane yields of 201 ± 18 L CH 4 /kg VS. Co-digestion of sedimented fiber with sewage sludge at an OLR of 1.5 kg VS/m 3 d and HRT of 20 d resulted in a methane production of 246 ± 10 L CH 4 /kg VS. The techno-economic feasibility of mono and co-digestion process together with several case dependent factors such as maximum operable OLR, digestate utilization needs to be evaluated before making further conclusions for larger scale remediation applications., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

A hybrid upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB)-moving bed biofilm (MBB) and rope bed biofilm (RBB) reactor was designed for treatment of sewage. Possibility of enhancing granulation in an UASB reactor using moving media to improve sludge retention was explored while treating low-strength wastewater. The presence of moving media in the top portion of the UASB reactor allowed a high solid retention time even at very short hydraulic retention times and helped in maintaining selection pressure in the sludge bed to promote formation of different sized sludge granules with an average settling velocity of 67 m/h. These granules were also found to contain plenty of extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) such as 58 mg of polysaccharides (PS) per gram of volatile suspended solids (VSS) and protein (PN) content of 37 mg/g VSS. Enriched sludge of nitrogen-removing bacteria forming a porous biofilm on the media in RBB was also observed in a concentration of around 894 g/m 2 . The nitrogen removing sludge also had a high EPS content of around 22 mg PS/g VSS and 28 mg PN/g VSS. This hybrid UASB-MBB-RBB reactor with enhanced anaerobic granular sludge treating both carbonaceous and nitrogenous matter may be a sustainable solution for decentralized sewage treatment.

A pilot-scale upflow anaerobic sludge blanket-moving bed biofilm (UASB-MBB) reactor followed by a high-rate algal pond (HRAP) was designed and operated to remove organic matter, nutrients and pathogens from sewage and to facilitate reuse. For an influent chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration of 233 ± 20 mg/L, final effluent COD was 50 ± 6 mg/L. Successful biomass granulation was observed in the sludge bed of the upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor after 5 months of operation. Ammonia removal in HRAP was 85.1 ± 2.4% with average influent and effluent ammonia nitrogen concentrations of 20 ± 3 mg/L and 3 ± 1 mg/L, respectively. Phosphate removal after treatment in the HRAP was 91 ± 1%. There was a 2-3 log scale pathogen removal after treatment in HRAP with most probable number (MPN) of the final effluent being 600-800 per 100 mL, which is within acceptable standards for surface irrigation. The blackwater after treatment in UASB-MBBR-HRAP is being reused for gardening and landscaping. This proper hydro-dynamically designed UASB reactor demonstrated successful granulation and moving bed media improved sludge retention in UASB reactor. This combination of UASB-MBB reactor followed by HRAP demonstrated successful sewage treatment for a year covering all seasons.

Effluent of an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor was treated in a downflow rope-bed-biofilm-reactor (RBBR) to remove residual organic matter and nitrogen. Nitrogen removal was observed in phase 1 and phase 2 with and without aeration, respectively for 320days each. Organic matter, ammonia and total nitrogen removal efficiencies of 78±2%, 95±1% and 79±11% were obtained in phase 1 and 78±2%, 93±9% and 87±6% in phase 2, respectively. In phase 2, anammox bacteria had a specific anammox activity of 3.35gNm(-2)day(-1). Heme c concentration, sludge characteristics and reaction ratios of dissolved oxygen, alkalinity and pH corroborated contribution of anammox process. Using experimental results kinetic coefficients required for design of RBBR were estimated. Anammox gave more stable performance under varying nitrogen loading and this option is more sustainable for solving problem of nitrogen removal from sewage., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)