Search

[EN] According to previous research, it has been proved that wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) can retain more than 90 % of the MPs contained in wastewater. However, a significant fraction of the MPs removed in WWTPs is retained in the sludge floc and this may lead to an environmental issue since biosolids can be used as fertilizers. The purpose of this research was to evaluate how the presence of polyethylene (PE) could interfere with the activated sludge performance. For this, a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) was continuously fed during 93 days with synthetic sewage and PE microbeads. It was observed that 98 +/- 2% of the total amount of MPs that entered SBR was accumulated in the activated sludge. Despite the high accumulation of MPs in the sludge, the depuration performance of the reactor was not compromised. However, the presence of MPs decreased the richness (Chao1) and abundance-based coverage estimators (ACE) and diversity (Shannon) of the bacterial community on day 93. Based on the analysis of the diversity indices and the relative abundances of microbial taxa, it was concluded that MPs had selective effects on activated sludge microbial community. However, MPs did not affect the abundance of nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria in the sludge., Authors thank the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities for the financial support (Reference of the project: RTI2018-096916-B-I00)

[EN] Forward osmosis is a low-energy water treatment emerging technology, which has demonstrated improved solute rejection and low fouling propensity. In this study, the applicability of aquaporin-based forward osmosis membranes during separation of biogas digestate liquid fractions was investigated. The results showed that Total Ammonia-Nitrogen rejection was higher than 95.5% in all experiments, independently of the type of draw solution (NaCl and hide preservation effluents), experimental period and the use of feed acidification. The results also confirmed that high draw osmotic pressures (i.e. 3.5¿M sodium chloride and hide preservation wastewater) combined with feed acidification had a negative effect on the membrane water permeability. Membrane rinsing after fouling was also successful in recovering the membrane initial water flux as well as removing the remaining foulants on the membrane surface. The membrane inspection results from Scanning-Electron Microscope, Energy-Dispersive X-Ray analysis and Fourier Transform Infrared¿Attenuated Total Reflectance showed that fouling in this application was mild and reversible after membrane rinsing. The applicability of aquaporin-based forward osmosis membranes during separation of biogas digestate liquid fractions has been demonstrated. The results showed the potential of this technology to achieve enhanced ammonia-nitrogen rejections and low-fouling propensity., The authors thank the tannery factory in the region of Murcia (Spain) for providing the wastewater samples as well as Depuración de Aguas del Mediterráneo (DAM, Spain) for funding the forward osmosis project. Thanks to August Bonmatí from IRTA GIRO Joint Research Unit IRTA-UPC, for providing the digestate liquid fractions, to Rebeca Vidal-Pérez as student assistant during the chemical analysis and to the Electron Microscopy Service from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV, Spain). The authors further acknowledge funding from People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013/under REA grant agreement n° [289887].

Antecedentes: La dermatitis por contacto es una reacción eccematosa en piel causada por la exposición repetida y directa de un alérgeno; se estima que la prevalencia de dermatitis de contacto al níquel es de 17 % en mujeres y 3 % en hombres y que 1 a 3 % de la población general presenta dermatitis de contacto alérgica a cobalto y cromo. El níquel es la causa más importante de dermatitis ocupacional y presenta reactividad a otros metales, principalmente cromo y cobalto.Caso clinico: Hombre de 47 años, con previa sensibilización a níquel en la infancia, trabajador de la industria metalúrgica, con exposición laboral a níquel y cobalto, quien presentó dermatosis de predominio en miembros superiores.Conclusión: La sensibilización previa a níquel en la infancia y el trabajo en la industria metalúrgica incrementó el riesgo de nuevas sensibilizaciones a metales, como cobalto.

[EN] In this work, the influence of bisphenol A (BPA) on biological wastewater treatment was studied. For it, two sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) were operated for three months. Both SBRs were fed with synthetic wastewater (SW), adding 1 mg.L-1 of BPA into the feed of reactor SBR-BPA, while the other one operatedwithout BPA as a control reactor (SBR-B). In addition, batch experiments were performed with adapted and non-adapted activated sludge, simulating the reaction step of SBR-BPA, to determine the pathways for BPA removal. Results of batch experiments showed that adsorption and biodegradation were the only significant BPA removal routes. BPA removal by biodegradation was more efficient when adapted biomass was used in the tests (32.2% and 8.2% with adapted and non-adapted biomass, respectively), while BPA adsorption removal route was similar in both types of activated sludge (around 40%). Regarding the SBRs experiments, after 16 days no BPA concentration was detected in SBR-BPA effluent. In the adaptation process, SBR-BPA biomass was more sensitive to low temperatures resulting in higher effluent turbidity, COD and solublemicrobial products concentrations than in SBR-B. However, once temperature increased, adapted biomass from SBR-BPA presented higher activity than SBR-B biomass, showing higher values of sludge production, microbial hydrolytic enzymatic activities and specific dynamic respiration rate. The bacterial community study revealed the increase of abundance of Proteobacteria (especially Thiothrix species) and Actinobacteria (especially Nocardioides species) phyla at the expense of Bacteroidetes and Chloroflexi phyla in SBR-BPA during its operation., Authors thank the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities for the financial support (Reference of the project: RTI2018096916BI00).

[EN] The production of olive oil generates wastewater with a high organic load and toxicity due to the high concentration of phenolic compounds. In recent years, the study on the treatments of these waters has been intensified together with the search for a process to recover these phenolic compounds due to their great antioxidant potential. All this with the aim of implementing the concept of circular economy. In this study, four different organic ultrafiltration membranes were evaluated in order to recover the phenolic compounds present in olive oil washing wastewater (OOWW) from an oil mill in the Valencian Community (Spain). The tested membranes differ in materials and molecular weight cut-off (MWCO): two permanently hydrophilic polyethersulfone (PESH) membranes with MWCO of 4 and 50 kDa, respectively, one polyethersulfone (PES) membrane with a MWCO of 5 kDa and a regenerated cellulose acetate (RCA) membrane with a MWCO of 10 kDa. Transmembrane pressure (TMP) and crossflow velocity (CFV) were varied from 1 to 3 bar and from 1.5 to 3.4 m/s, respectively. The effectiveness of the different membranes and operating conditions were evaluated comparing the permeate flux and the rejection of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total phenolic compounds (TPhs). The membranes with lower MWCO showed stable permeate fluxes without significant changes over time, while the 50 kDa membrane showed a gradual decrease, without achieving a stable flux. Low rejection of phenolic compounds was observed in all cases, while the rejection of COD varied between 19.5 % and 62.9 % depending on the membrane and operating conditions tested. Except for the 50 kDa PESH membrane, initial permeability recovery greater than 95 % was achieved with a 35 °C water rinse, indicating that membrane fouling was not severe. Since the aim was to recover the TPhs in the permeate stream and separate them from the organic matter, the 5 kDa PES membrane at 2 bar and 2.5 m/s was considered to be the best option. At those conditions a stable permeate flux of 40 L/h·m2 was obtained, while the lowest TPhs rejection was observed (8.01 %) with a high COD rejection (61.18 %)., The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness through the project CTM2017-88645-R and The European Union through the Operational Program of the Social Fund (FSE).

[EN] Although wastewater treatment plants can retain a high percentage of microplastics (MP) arriving at the facilities, no method for extracting and characterizing these microparticles has been still standardized in these units. This study investigated three protocols of chemical digestion, prior to analysis of microplastics, one directed to the effluents, using peroxidation, and two for activated sludge (peroxidation and Fenton). The samples (primary effluent, secondary effluent and activated sludge) were collected from a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) located in Valencia (Spain). In addition, four common types of polymers (Low density polyethylene-LDPE, Polypropylene-PP, Polystyrene-PS and Polyethylene terephthalate-PET) were used to assess the influence of reagent exposure on microparticle integrity. Peroxidation was effective in treating the studied effluents (primary and secondary) and was also identified as the ideal protocol for activated sludge. The analysis showed that the use of H2O2 does not compromise the identification of the polymers evaluated by FTIR and also significantly reduced the concentration of suspended solids, resulting in an efficient visual separation of the microparticles. After been properly separated, the microparticles were characterized according to their size, colour and shape, and a fraction submitted to identification by mu-ATR-FTIR/ATR-FTIR. In all samples, a high presence of microfibers (MF) was observed, corresponding to more than 90% of the microparticles. However, in relation to secondary effluents, only 9% of these MF were identified as plastics, the remaining ones corresponded to cotton. The fragments found in the samples were classified as secondary in origin, and were mainly PE and PP, lower than 1 mm size., Authors thank the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities for the financial support (Reference of the project: RTI2018-096916-B-I00).

[EN] Management of wastewater is a major challenge nowadays, due to increasing water demand, growing population and more stringent regulations on water quality. Wastewaters from food conservation are especially difficult to treat, since they have high salinity and high organic matter concentration. The aim of this work is the treatment of the effluent from a table olive fermentation process (FTOP) with the aim of reusing it once the organic matter is separated. The process proposed in this work consists of the following membrane-based technologies: Ultrafiltration (UF) (UP005, Microdyn Nadir), Forward Osmosis (FO) (Osmen2521, Hydration Technology Innovation) and Nanofiltration (NF) (NF245, Dow). The FO process was implemented to reduce the salinity entering the NF process, using the FTOP as draw solution and, at the same time, to concentrate the centrate produced in the sludge treatment of a municipal wastewater treatment plant with the aim of obtaining a stream enriched in nutrients. The UF step achieved the elimination of 50% of the chemical oxygen demand of the FTOP. The UF permeate was pumped to the FO system reducing the volume of the anaerobically digested sludge centrate (ADSC) by a factor of 3 in 6.5 h. Finally, the ultrafiltrated FTOP diluted by FO was subjected to NF. The transmembrane pressure needed in the NF stage was 40% lower than that required if the ultrafiltration permeate was directly nanofiltered. By means of the integrated process, the concentration of organic matter and phenolic compounds in the FTOP decreased by 97%. Therefore, the proposed process was able to obtain a treated brine that could be reused in other processes and simultaneously to concentrate a stream, such as the ADSC., This research was funded by CDTI (Centre for Industrial and Technological Development) depending on the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the INNPRONTA program, grant number IPT-20111020.

[EN] The membrane process of ultrafiltration (UF) has been investigated as a pretreatment previous to the further recovery and concentration of phenolic compounds from residual table olives fermentation brines. Two UF membranes were tested: a permanently hydrophilic polyethersulfone (PES) membrane with a molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) of 30 kDa and a PES membrane with a MWCO of 5 kDa. Transmembrane pressure and crossflow velocity were varied from 1 to 3 bar and from 2.2 to 3.7 m s(-1), respectively. The best membrane in terms of permeate flux and selectivity was that with MWCO of 5 kDa and the best operating conditions were transmembrane pressure of 3 bar and crossflow velocity of 2.2 m s(-1). In these conditions permeate flux was 21.6 L h(-1).m(-2), while the rejection of COD and phenolic compounds were 50.0% and 21.9%, respectively and the removal of colour and turbidity was almost complete. In addition, an alkaline cleaning protocol was proposed, which was effective to restore the initial permeability of the selected membrane. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved., The authors of this work wish to gratefully acknowledge the financial support of CDTI (Centre for Industrial Technological Development) depending on the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (INNPRONTA program, ITP-20111020).

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad. (CTM2014-54546-P).

[EN] In the last years, forward osmosis (FO) has gained increasing prominence, new membranes are being developed and new applications are being considered. In this study, the recovery of nitrogen and phosphorus of the anaerobically digested sludge centrate was studied by FO using two industrial effluents characterized by high osmotic pressure (residual stream from an absorption process for ammonia elimination and brine from a seawater desalination facility) as draw solutions. The experiments were carried out in a laboratory plant testing two FO membranes (CTA-NW and Aquaporin Inside membrane). Results showed that nitrogen concentration was achieved with both membranes and both draw solutions. The use of the effluent from ammonia absorption enhanced of the nitrogen concentration in the feed stream to the FO membrane. The reached concentration factor in the laboratory tests was 1.61 when Aquaporin membrane was used. Phosphorus could not be concentrated because of its precipitation as calcium phosphate (confirmed by EDX analysis) as a consequence of the high calcium concentration of the municipal wastewater., This study was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the project RTC-2015-3582-5-AR.

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (CTM2014-54546-P).

An osmotic membrane bioreactor (OMBR) is a wastewater treatment technique that presents low energy requirements, low membrane fouling and high removal of nutrients and organic matter. However, reverse salt flux is the main disadvantage because causes conductivity increase in the bioreactor. This study compares the performance of a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) and an OMBR in terms of chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal, soluble microbial products (SMP) and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) production. For that, the influent conductivity in the SBR was increased as increases conductivity in the osmotic membrane bioreactor. Comparing the results obtained at two mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) concentrations in terms of membrane fouling, a concentration of 5 g · L−1 of MLSS was chosen for the comparison with the SBR. The SBR achieved slightly higher COD removal efficiencies than OMBR is spite of the accumulation of cellular debris in the membrane bioreactor. The accumulation of SMP and EPS in the OMBR was also higher than in the SBR due to the cellular debris and organic matter accumulation. In both reactors the microbial activity measured in terms of standard oxygen uptake rate decreased due to the increase of the salt concentration in the bioreactor.

[EN] Nowadays, alternative options to conventional wastewater treatment should be studied due to rising concerns emerged by the presence of pharmaceuticals compounds (PhCs) in the aquatic environment. In this work, a combined system including biological treatment by activated sludge plus adsorption with activated carbon is proposed to remove three selected drugs (acetaminophen (ACT), caffeine (CAF) and ibuprofen (IBU)) in a concentration of 2 mg L-1 of each one. For it three sequencing batch reactors (SBR) were operated. SBR-B treated a synthetic wastewater (SWW) without target drugs and SBR-PhC and SBR-PhC + AC operated with SWW doped with the three drugs, adding into SBR-PhC + AC 1.5 g L-1 of a mesoporous granular activated carbon. Results showed that the hybrid system SBR-activated carbon produced an effluent free of PhCs, which in addition had higher quality than that achieved in a conventional activated sludge treatment in terms of lower COD, turbidity and SMP concentrations. On the other hand, five possible routes of removal for target drugs during the biological treatment were studied. Hydrolysis, oxidation and volatilization pathways were negligible after 6 h of reaction time. Adsorption mute only was significant for ACT, which was adsorbed completely after 5 h of reaction, while only 1.9% of CAF and 5.6% of IBU were adsorbed. IBU was the least biodegradable compound., This work was supported by Spanish grants AICO/2018/292 of the Generalitat Valenciana.

[EN] Reduction of sludge production is one of the most desired goals in the wastewater treatment plants operation. Alternatives like the enhancement of metabolism uncoupling or the increase of endogenous respiration by different chemicals have been reported in the bibliography. In this work, two folic acid concentrations (0.8 and 1.6mg L-1) added to a laboratory sequencing batch reactor were tested in order to assess the effect of this vitamin on the biological treatment. For this purpose, in addition to study sludge reduction and organic matter removal, an exhaustive biomass characterization including soluble microbial products, cellular viability, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), microbial hydrolytic enzymatic activities and bacterial community analysis have been performed. Results indicated that a concentration of 0.8 mg L-1 led to the greatest sludge reduction (44.7%), due to the increase of endogenous respiration. In the reactor with folic acid addition, higher soluble microbial products, enzymatic activities, cellular viability and lower cellular ATP was observed. Regarding the microbial community, folic acid addition did not affect nitrifying bacteria although it did reduce the abundance of denitrifying, increased the amount of filamentous bacteria (Caldilineacaeae and Haliscomenobacter) and enhanced Bacteriodetes and Chloroflexi phyla. A continuous addition of folic acid drove to biomass adaptation that caused a diminution of folic acid activity after 40 days., This work was supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, Spain (grant no. CTM2014-54546-P-AR).

[EN] During the secondary treatment of Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTP) previous studies have reported that microplastics (MPs), which correspond to plastic fragments smaller than 5 mm, are mostly retained in the activated sludge. Since the sludge can be applied as a fertilizer in agricultural land, the presence of MPs in this matrix can lead to soil contamination. In this study, the application of ultrasounds at a frequency of 80 kHz was tested to remove polyethylene (PE) microspheres from activated sludge samples in order to reduce their concentration in this organic matrix. The application of ultrasounds at a power of 50 W and 8 min 45 sec promoted the removal of 48 ± 4% of MPs from the mixed liquor (2820 ± 51 mg/L of TSS). However, under the same operating conditions, 12 ± 4% of MPs were recovery from the concentrated mixed liquor (9395 ± 164 mg/L of TSS). For the concentrated sludge, a higher power and a longer sonication time (80 kHz; 90 W; 30 min) was necessary to improve the MP recovery. Under these conditions 38 ± 4% of MPs were removed from the sludge. This is the first study applying ultrasounds to remove MPs from activated sludge and the results indicate that ultrasonication can be a suitable instrument in minimizing the concentration of PE microspheres in activated sludge, and thereby minimizing soil contamination when biosolids are applied to agriculture., Authors thank the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities for the financial support (Reference of the project: RTI2018096916-B-I00).

[EN] Nanofiltration (NF) membrane with low-pressure operating conditions and high flux permeability seems to be an attractive alternative for water softening and desalination. In order to study the performance of NF membrane on treating real brackish water, with mixture of mono and divalent ions, two commercial flat sheet nanofiltration membranes (NF90 and NP030) were used. The experiments were carried out with transmembrane pressure from 4 to 12 bar with three brackish waters having different ions concentrations. The results obtained showed that the high hydrophilicity of NF90 and its small pore size were the main advantages that allow this membrane to have the highest permeability and salt rejection for both mono and divalent ions in comparison with NP030. The results also showed that the permeate flux and rejection increased linearly with increasing in TMP. NF90 membrane performance was assessed by studying the effect of feed ions concentration. It was observed that the permeate flux decreased with increasing in salts concentration due to concentration polarization. Additionally, the study of scaling problem showed that its contribution in permeate flux decreasing was not as much significant and that the membrane permeability, recovered after the cleaning step, was 90%. In the other hand, the salts rejection of NF90 remained high (more than 80%) for all the studied concentrations due to its separation mechanism., This work was carried out with the support of scholarship awarded by the National Center for Scientific and Technical Research (CNRST) - Morocco.

The biological treatment of hypersaline wastewaters with high COD and phenols concentration requires long hydraulic retention times and much energy for aeration. In this work aeration time reduction in the reaction phase was studied in two sequential batch reactors (SBR) treating fermentation brine from table olive processing wastewater. To study the influence of an anaerobic phase on the SBR performance (for COD and phenolic compound removal efficiencies), different anaerobic/aerobic reaction times were evaluated. SBR-1 was operated with an anaerobic/aerobic hours ratio of 0/22, 8/14 and 14/8 and SBR-2 with a ratio of 22/0, 14/8 and 8/14. Results showed that the maximum organic matter reduction was obtained under aerobic reaction conditions (ratio 0/22) with a 82.3% and 77.9% of COD and total phenols removal, respectively. However, optimal conditions were considered to prevail for an anaerobic/aerobic ratio of 8/14, since the reactors performances were similar with lower energy consumption. Thus, 82.3% and 79.5% of COD and 77.9% and 78.3% of total phenols were removed in SBR-1 and SBR-2, respectively., The authors of this work thank the financial support of CDTI (Centre for Industrial Technological Development) depending on the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation

[EN] The management of fermentation brines from the table olive processing is very complex due to its characteristics: high salinity and high organic matter concentration including phenolic compounds, which behave as slow degradable compounds when a biological process is performed. In this work, the management of these effluents by an osmotic membrane bioreactor has been assessed. This technique combines a biological reactor with forward osmosis membranes. For the study, a laboratory plant consisting of 1 L reactor and a forward osmosis module equipped with a membrane of 42 cm(2) of active surface has been used. Fermentation brine from table olive processing was fed to the system both as draw solution to set out the driving force for the membrane process and as a part of the feed to the reactor, mixing it with municipal wastewater. The experiments were carried out at a constant feed to microorganism ratio of 0.4 g COD.g SS-1.d(-1). Results indicated that the hypersaline effluent was able to produce the needed driving force by the process. Permeate fluxes ranged between 1 and 1.5 L.m(-2).h(-1) after the flux decay of the first operation days. Concerning the biological reaction, it has to be highlighted that phenols were eliminated after 24 days. Until that day, the biological process was jeopardized due to the quick increase of the conductivity in the reactor (ranging between 30 and 35 mS.cm(-1)), which was caused not only by the salinity of the influent but also by the reverse salt flux phenomenon. Soluble microbial products and extracted extracellular polymeric substances also increased in the reactor during the start-up., This study was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the project RTC-2015-3582-5-AR

[EN] Nowadays, wastewater reuse in Mediterranean countries is necessary to cover the water demand. This contributes to the protection of the environment and encourages the circular economy. Due to increasingly strict regulation, the secondary effluent of a wastewater treatment plant requires further (tertiary) treatment to reach enough quality for its reuse in agriculture. Ultrafiltration is a membrane technique suitable for tertiary treatment. However, the most important drawback of ultrafiltration is membrane fouling. The aim of this work is to predict membrane fouling and ultrafiltered wastewater permeate quality for a particular membrane, using the information given by an exhaustive secondary effluent characterization. For this, ultrafiltration of real and simulated wastewaters and of their components after fractionation has been performed. In order to better characterize the secondary effluent, resin fractionation and further membrane ultrafiltration of the generated fractions and wastewater were performed. The results indicated that hydrophobic substances were lower than hydrophilic ones in the secondary effluent. Supelite DAX-8, Amberlite XAD-4 and Amberlite IRA-958 resins were found not to be specific for humic acids, proteins and carbohydrates, which are the main components of the effluent organic matter. Two models have been performed using statistics (partial least squares, PLS) and an artificial neural network (ANN), respectively. The results showed that the ANN model predicted permeate quality and membrane fouling with higher accuracy than PLS., This study was funded by Generalitat Valenciana (Project AICO 18/319).

[EN] Pig slurry is highly polluted waste stream characterized by its high nutrients content and its high organic matter concentration. In this research, two alternatives in the management of this wastewater were studied. On the one hand, removal of nutrients from piggery wastewater by struvite precipitation was evaluated. Different molar ratios Mg+2/PO4-3, pH and temperatures were tested. On the other hand, an anaerobic treatment was performed with and without previous struvite crystallization and the methane production was analyzed. Results showed that the optimal experimental conditions to achieve the highest ammonium nitrogen and phosphate removal percentages (62.01% and 66.96%, respectively) were a molar concentration ratio (Mg+2/PO4-3) of 2.8, pH of 10 and temperature of 22 degrees C. In addition, images from FE-SEM microscopy demonstrated that the struvite morphology was orthorhombic. Concerning the anaerobic digestion, the chemical oxygen demand removal efficiencies were 59.87% and 52.25% for the treatment without previous struvite precipitation and with previous struvite precipitation, respectively. Furthermore, the maximum biogas potential was found when no previous struvite precipitation was carried out, with a biogas generation around 4 mLh(-1) and a percentage of methane in the biogas between 32.37 and 59.73%., The authors wish to gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the project PROVIP.ES (RTC-2014-2239-2).

[EN] The performance of an osmotic membrane bioreactor (OMBR) for treating tannery wastewater at laboratory scale has been evaluated in this study. The forward osmosis (FO) membrane tested was CTA-NW from HTI. As draw solution, actual waste water from an absorption column for ammonia separation, which consists mainly of ammonium sulphate was used. The study was focused on the salt reverse flux during the OMBR operation, membrane water flux, biomass characteristics and membrane fouling. Regarding membrane water flux change with the time, the measured values diminished from 3.44 to 0.72 LMH due to the membrane fouling and the salt accumulation in the biological reactor. The stable mixed liquor conductivity value at the end of the experiment was 29.8 mS·cm¿1. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiencies were maintained near 80% until the first 50 days of operation, considering the soluble COD in the reactor instead of the COD in the membrane permeate for the performance calculation. Thence, COD removal efficiencies decreased progressively due to the accumulation of non degradable COD coming from the tannery wastewater. Concerning to the membrane fouling, FESEM/EDX analysis corroborated that organic fouling was predominant on the membrane active layer., This study was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the project RTC-2015-3582-5-AR.

Background and Aims Combining simethicone (SIM) with a colon preparation agent has been shown to improve mucosal visibility during screening colonoscopy, but its effect on the adenoma detection rate (ADR) remains unclear. SIM is commonly used through the endoscope to eliminate bubbles during endoscopy. However, this practice recently has been associated with endoscope-transmitted infections. Our aims were to determine the role of SIM added to a polyethylene glycol preparation on the ADR, procedure times, colon preparation, and intraprocedural use of SIM. Methods This was a randomized, controlled, observer-blinded, clinical trial of patients undergoing screening colonoscopy. Patients with a high risk of colorectal cancer were excluded. Patients were randomly assigned to 2 different preparations: polyethylene glycol plus SIM or polyethylene glycol. Two endoscopists blinded to patient preparation regimens scored its quality by using the Boston Bowel Preparation scale (BBPS) and the bubble scale. Interobserver agreement was calculated. The polyp detection rate, ADR, intraprocedural use of SIM, cecal intubation time, and withdrawal time were recorded. For study purposes, cecal intubation time and withdrawal time were combined to determine the effective procedure time. Results No significant difference between the polyethylene glycol plus SIM and polyethylene glycol arms was seen regarding the ADR (33.3% vs 38.8%; P = .881) and effective procedure time (759.3 ± 253.1 seconds vs 800.2 ± 459.6 seconds; P = .373), respectively. Intraprocedural use of SIM as well as the bubble scale score were significantly lower in the polyethylene glycol plus SIM arm (1.6% vs 48.9%; P ≤ .05) and (0.1 vs 2.1; P ≤ .05), respectively. Conversely, no difference was found in the BBPS scores. The interobserver agreement for both scores was strong (bubble scale score kappa = .537; P Conclusion Adding SIM to a polyethylene glycol preparation did not improve the ADR or effective procedure time. Nevertheless, it resulted in lower bubble scale scores, and more importantly, in less intraprocedural use of SIM. This simple and inexpensive intervention may have the potential to reduce the risk of endoscope-transmitted infections. (Clinical trial registration number: NCT03119168.)

Herein, we report the rational design, synthesis and biological evaluation of conjugates consisting of the synthetic retinoid Am580 and biotin connected via a linker moiety. We found that the linking substructure between the retinoid part and the biotin part is critical for retaining the biological activity. Conjugate 4 with a shorter linker showed similar potency to endogenous retinoid ATRA ( 1 ) and the parent compound Am580 ( 2 ) for neural differentiation of mouse embryotic carcinoma P19 cells, and showed the same pattern of induction of gene expression. It is expected to be useful as a probe for investigations of retinoid function. The design rationale and structure-activity relationship of the linker moiety are expected to be helpful for developing biotin conjugates of other nuclear receptor ligands.

The authors of this work acknowledge the financial support of CDTI (Centre for Industrial Technological Development) through the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.

Biological treatment of hypersaline effluents with high organic matter concentrations is difficult to carry out and it can require a long start-up phase. This is the case of the treatment of fermentation brines from the table olive packaging (FTOP) industries. These effluents are characterized by conductivity values around 90 mS/cm, COD around 15,000 mg/L and total phenols concentration around 1000 mg/L. In this work, FTOP has been treated in two sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) operated in parallel. In each SBR a different start-up strategy has been carried out. In the SBR-2, biomass was previously acclimated to high salinity using simulated wastewater without phenolic compounds, meanwhile in the SBR-1, FTOP was added from the beginning of the start-up. Results indicated more operational problems in the SBR-2 consisting in a higher deflocculation that drove to high turbidity values in the effluent. Besides, at the end of the start-up, the SBR-1 reached higher COD removal efficiencies than SBR-2 (88% and 73%, respectively). In both reactors, an increase in gamma-Proteobacteria in the microbial population was observed for increasing conductivities. In addition, phenols were completely removed in both reactors at the end of the start-up, what implied very low toxicity values in the effluent., The authors of this work thank the financial support of CDTI (Centre for Industrial Technological Development) depending on the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.

[EN] In this work, six identical laboratory SBRs treating simulated wastewater were operated in parallel studying the effect of three food-to-microorganisms ratio (F/M ratio; 0.20, 0.35 and 0.50 kg COD¿kg MLSS-1¿d-1), two hydraulic retention times (HRT; 24 and 16 h) and two values of number of cycles per day (3 and 6). Influence of these operational parameters on the SMPs production and reactor performance, were studied. Results indicated that the highest F/M ratio, HRT and cycles/day produced 72.7% more of SMP. In a second experimental series, biological process yielding the maximal and the minimal SMPs production were replicated and both mixed liquors (ML) and treated effluents were ultrafiltrated. The flux decay in the conditions of minimum and maximum SMPs production were 52% and 72%, when the SBRs effluents were ultrafiltrated while no significant differences in the ultrafiltration of ML were found. In terms of permeability recovery, this was lower for the case of the ML (73% and 49% of initial permeability recovered for effluent and ML ultrafiltration, respectively)., This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (CTM2014-54546-P).

Quorum sensing (QS) is a mechanism dependent on bacterial density. This coordinated process is mediated by the synthesis and the secretion of signal molecules, called autoinducers (AIs). N-acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs) are the most common AIs that are used by Gram-negative bacteria and are involved in biofilm formation. Quorum Quenching (QQ) is the interference of QS by producing hydrolyzing enzymes, among other strategies. The main objective of the present study was to identify QS and QQ strains from MBR wastewater treatment plants. A total of 99 strains were isolated from two Spanish plants that were intended to treat leachate from municipal solid waste. Five AHL producers were detected using AHL biosensor strains (Chromobacterium violaceum CV026 and Agrobacterium tumefaciens NT1). Fifteen strains of seventy-one Gram-positive were capable of eliminating or reducing at least one AHL activity. The analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequence showed the importance of the Pseudomonas genus in the production of biofilms and the relevance of the genus Bacillus in the disruption of the QS mechanism, in which the potential activity of lactonase or acylase enzymes was investigated with the aim to contribute to solve biofouling problems and to increase the useful lifespan of membranes This work was supported by grant from URBASER S.A. (research fund project Biolix 4155519—201/2014) and also by the Spanish Commission of Science and Technology (CTM2016-76491-P). A.M. was supported by a predoctoral fellowship from the Consellería de Cultura, Educación e Ordenación Universitaria, Xunta de Galicia (ED481A-2015/311) SI

Chromium is one of the most important environmental concerns related to tanneries. The most often used process for hide tanning is chrome tanning. This implies the presence of chromium both in wastewaters and in leather wastes. Leather wastes have to be disposed in landfills what entails a considerable environmental impact and high cost. In this work, a study about the effect of a chrome-free tanning process using titanium salts instead, on the wastewater and on the solid wastes has been performed. In this way, a study of biodegradation of leather waste samples tanned with different tanned agents by composting together with food wastes is carried out in a laboratory composter. Results indicated that leather tanned with titanium salts met the required quality standards. Besides, the concentration of organic matter and salts in the tannery process wastewater was lower comparing with the chromium tanning agent. In the biodegradation study by composting, leather samples tanned with titanium were degraded, reducing around 10% the carbon content with the subsequent diminution of the C/N ratio. In addition, the size was reduced 41% in 45 days. However, leather sample tanned with oxazolidine was partially degraded in the composter; meanwhile chrome and vegetable tanned leather kept inalterable.

BACKGROUND Direct diagnosis of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) requires the collection and culture of fluid from the jejunal lumen, with a finding of over 105 viable bacteria per mL. More often, SIBO is diagnosed indirectly, using a non-invasive test of the exhaled hydrogen and methane generated by microbial fermentation when ingested glucose reaches the jejunum. Our objective was to determine how well this breath test detects chronic overgrowth of jejunal bacteria that is unrelated to gastrointestinal surgery. METHODS Eighteen patients reporting symptoms consistent with SIBO received a glucose breath test. On a later day, the jejunal lumen was sampled via aspiration during enteroscopy. Jejunal aspirates were cultured on aerobic and anaerobic media. DNA was extracted from the same samples and analyzed by quantitative pan-bacterial PCR amplification of 16S ribosomal rRNA genes, which provided a culture-independent bacterial cell count. KEY RESULTS Combined bacterial colony counts ranged from 5.7 x 103 to 7.9 x 106 CFU/mL. DNA-based yields ranged from 1.5 x 105 to 3.1 x 107 bacterial genomes per mL. Microbial viability ranged from 0.3% to near 100%. We found no significant correlation of glucose breath test results with either the number of bacterial colonies or with the DNA-based bacterial cell counts. Instead, higher signals in the hydrogen-methane breath test were significantly correlated with a lower viability of jejunal bacteria, at a P-value of .014. CONCLUSIONS & INFERENCES The glucose-based hydrogen and methane breath test is not sensitive to the overgrowth of jejunal bacteria. However, a positive breath test may indicate altered jejunal function and microbial dysbiosis.

Polyethersulfone ultrafiltration membranes prepared via immersion precipitation with similar pore size were modified using UV irradiation with two nano-sized hydrophilic compounds of a different nature (an organic compound and a metal oxide). Effects of PEG/Al2O3 nanoparticles on membrane structure and the resulting performance were compared to determine the material with the best antifouling properties. Membranes were characterized by hydrophilicity (water contact angle, porosity, equilibrium water content and average pore radius), surface microscopic techniques (ATR-FTIR, SEM, EDX and AFM) and cross-flow ultrafiltration experiments (hydraulic permeability, membrane resistance and antifouling measurements). Membrane antifouling properties were analyzed by several fouling/rinsing cycles using feed solutions of PEG of 35,000 g mol 1 with a concentration of 5 g L 1.Water contact angle measurements, ATR-FTIR spectra, SEM images and EDX analysis indicated the presence of PEG/Al2O3 nanoparticles on the membrane surface. All UV-grafted membranes had higher hydraulic permeability than the unmodified membrane. Furthermore, polyethersulfone membranes photografted with 2.0 wt% PEG and 0.5 wt% Al2O3 displayed superior antifouling properties and desirable performance compared to all membranes tested. Therefore, this study proved that UV photografting of PEG/Al2O3 onto membrane surfaces is an appropriate technique for modifying polyethersulfone membranes to minimize membrane fouling., The authors of this work thank the financial support of CDTI (Centre for Industrial Technological Development) depending on the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. The authors also thank the Center for Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering (Universitat Politecnica de Valencia) for ATR-FTIR and contact angle measurements and BASF (Germany) for supplying the polymers used.

[EN] A complete study about the effects of 3,3',4',5-tetrachlorosalicylanilide (TCS) on organic matter elimination performance, sludge production and on the microbial community of a biological wastewater treatment process has been performed. For this purpose two sequencing batch reactors (SBR) worked in parallel for 43 days with 0.8 mg.L-1 of TCS (SBR-1) and without this metabolic uncoupler (SBR-2). Results indicated that 63.3% of sludge reduction was achieved in SBR-1. However, COD removal efficiency was maintained in similar values in both reactors (89.1% and 92.1% in SBR-1 and SBR-2, respectively). The exhaustive mixed liquor characterization led to know deeply the action mechanism of TCS. In this way, a 69% of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) reduction was observed in SBR-1 in comparison with values measured in SBR-2. On the contrary, an increase in soluble microbial products (SMP) and DNA concentrations occurred as a consequence of TCS addition. Thus, it could be concluded that sludge reduction due to TCS addition was due to both uncoupling effect and cellular lysis. Also, increase in all microbial hydrolytic enzymatic activities measured was observed, which explained the stable performance achieved in SBR-1 despite to the results explained above. It should be highlighted that this uncoupler should not be used in biological treatments that require nitrogen elimination because nitrifying bacteria were affected by its addition (Nitrosomonas and Nitrospira). Finally, the 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing informed that an important reduction of bacterial diversity resulted in SBR-1 due to TCS addition. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved., This work was supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO), Spain (grant no. CTM201454546-P-AR).

[EN] The concern for the presence of pharmaceutical compounds in purified wastewater has grown in recent years. In this context, efficient and economically viable processes are required for their removal. In this study, adsorption was conducted to assess the removal of ibuprofen, caffeine, diazepam and acetaminophen, both as separated processes as in combination with a biological process in sequencing batch reactors. Removal efficiencies of these pharmaceutical active compounds were evaluated using two commercial activated carbons in granular and powder form and a discarded (after its use) activated carbon from a drinking water treatment plant. Concerning the biological treatment tests, simulated municipal wastewater was doped with 3¿mg/L of each pharmaceutical active compounds. Results showed that caffeine, acetaminophen and ibuprofen achieved excellent removal percentages, even without powder activated carbon addition (more than 94%); By contrast, whereas diazepam removal was low (lower than 50%); however, it was improved up to 68% with the powder activated carbon addition to the sequencing batch reactors. Regarding adsorption tests as separated process, ibuprofen was the pharmaceutical active compounds with the lowest removal percentage (around 50% for the granular activated carbon) and diazepam (around 80% for the granular activated carbon) was the compound with the maximum removal efficiency for the tested concentrations (between 0.5 and 3¿mg/L). Finally, results were very promising for the reused activated carbon since the removal efficiency of the pharmaceutical active compounds was higher than 90% (except for ibuprofen) when 0.5¿g/L of reused activated carbon was applied in powder form to solutions of 3¿mg/L of each pharmaceutical active compounds. In this way, a low cost activated carbon could be applied in wastewater treatment plants for pharmaceutical active compounds removal., This work has been carried out in the frame of the project IMIDTA/2017/73 granted to the company GECIVAL, S.L. by Instituto Valenciano de Competitividad Empresarial (IVACE) within the program for research and development projects for SMEs. This project has been co-financed (50%) by the operational program FEDER of Comunitat Valenciana 2014 2020.

One of the main operational problems in membrane bioreactors (MBRs) is membrane fouling. It can be stated that extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs) analysis is of paramount importance for membrane fouling prediction and subsequently to enhance the performance of the MBR process. In this way, the standardization of EPS separation and their analytical procedures is a non-solved problem that plays an important role in order to be able of comparing data of pilot and full-scale bioreactors. Prior to unveil this fact, it is necessary to assure the accuracy of the analyzed data. In this paper, the Standard Addition Method (SAM) is applied with the aim of studying eventual interferences by other mixed liquor substances or by reagents used in the extraction procedures on the analytical methods for determining proteins and carbohydrates and as a consequence, to improve the data accuracy and reliability. For that, several extraction protocols were applied and compared in order to obtain the EPS from the activated sludge. Moreover, DNA was measured and viability tests were carried out to evaluate cell lysis extent. BCA and Lowry methods were used to quantify proteins, meanwhile Dubois and Anthrone were applied for carbohydrates. Results showed that Triton X-100 achieved the highest extraction values in terms of proteins (81.64 ± 12.9 mg BSA/g VSS) and carbohydrates (10.3 ± 1.4 mg Glucose/g VSS) concentrations linked to lower DNA values (4.9 ± 0.8 mg DNA/g VSS). In addition, epifluorescence microscope images showed the high extent of the extraction achieved. For this protocol, BCA and Dubois analytical methods were chosen since SAM found out interferences with Anthrone and Lowry, and consequently, they were recommended for data comparison in MBR plants, and for fouling prediction., This research was supported by Universitat Politecnica de Valencia PAID 3260 and Generalitat Valenciana GV/2009/017 and Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Grant No. CTQ2011-29231-C05-02).

[EN] Osmotic membrane bioreactor (OMBR) is an emerging membrane process which has gained interest in the recent years because of the low energy consumption and the high effluent quality. The osmotic membrane bioreactor combines a forward osmosis (FO) membrane and a biological treatment. However, salt reverse flux is the main problem because of the negative effect of the salt concentration increase in the reactor on the microbial activity. This is the reason why the study of a suitable draw solution (DS) is very important in the overall performance of the reactor. This study compares the process performance using two draw solutions: a 53 g L-1 NaCI solution and a real waste water solution (waste water from an absorption column consisting mainly of SO42- and NH4-N with concentrations of 153 g L-1 and 19 g L-1, respectively). The comparison is focused on the salt reverse flux during the reactor operation, the mixed liquor characteristics, the membrane fouling and the overall performance. The results indicated that the industrial wastewater showed a higher salt reverse flux, but also a less severe fouling and a higher the osmotic pressure difference in comparison with the NaCl solution. In terms of chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiencies, both draw solutions attained values higher than 80%, though the efficiency was slightly lower when the industrial effluent was used as DS. This was related to the higher conductivity reached in the bioreactor when the industrial effluent was used as draw solution. In spite of it, the use of this industrial effluent as draw solution is strongly recommended because of the high permeate fluxes yielded, the low membrane fouling and the lack of necessity of regenerating the draw solution. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved., This study was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Spain) through the project RTC-2015-3582-5-AR.

[EN] The fermentation brines from table olive processing (FTOP) are hypersaline effluents (conductivities higher than 75 mS·cm-1) with high organic matter concentrations (COD around 10 g·L-1), which also include phenolic compounds (between 700 and 1500 mg TY·L-1). In this work, an integrated process for the FTOP reuse as brine in the table olive processing has been evaluated. This integrated process consisted of a biological treatment followed by a membrane system, which included ultrafiltration (UF) plus nanofiltration (NF). The biological treatment was carried out by 6 L laboratory sequencing batch reactor (SBR). UF and NF were performed in laboratory plants for flat membranes of 0.0125 and 0.0072 m2, respectively. Each stream generated during the FTOP treatment (SBR effluent, and UF and NF permeates) were evaluated. The SBR eliminated around 80% of COD and 71% of total phenols concentration. In the final NF permeate the COD concentration was lower than 125 mg·L-1; while the turbidity, colour and phenolic compounds, were completely removed., The authors of this work thank the financial support of CDTI (Centre for Development Technological Industrial) depending on the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.

[EN] Sludge production in wastewater treatment plants is nowadays a big concern due to the high produced amounts and their characteristics. Consequently, the study of techniques that reduce the sludge generation in wastewater treatment plants is becoming of great importanceIn this work, four laboratory sequencing batch reactors (SBRs), which treated municipal wastewater, were operated to study the effect of adding the metabolic uncoupler 3,30,40,5-tetrachlorosalicylanilide (TCS) on the sludge reduction, the SBRs performance and the microbial hydrolytic enzymatic activities (MHEA)., This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (CTM2014-54546-P).

[EN] Biological treatment of fermentation brines from table olive processing (FTOP) entails many difficulties due to their very high salinity and high COD concentration, which include some phenolic compounds. These extreme conditions limit the biodiversity of the microbial population. Experiments treating FTOP were performed in laboratory sequencing batch reactors (SBR) changing operating conditions during their operation, in order to study the effects on the SBR performance and on the protist population. The statistical study showed that the SBRs with high influent COD, pH and volatile solids and low influent phenol concentration, hydraulic retention time and temperature achieved the highest COD removal efficiencies. These operational conditions also provided the highest ciliate population and the lowest flagellate presence. (C) 2017 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved., The authors of this work thank the financial support of CDTI (Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnologico Industrial) depending on the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. We also gratefully acknowledge Pedro Cuesta (Apoyo a la Docencia y la Investigacion. UCM) for his suggestions and help with the statistical analysis and the use of SPAD v8.0 software.

[EN] Cost reduction and minimization of environmental impacts, based on by-product recovery, is the objective of applying the ultrafiltration technology for the treatment of cheese whey. In this work, ultrafiltration process was studied in an integrated way (filtration and membrane cleaning), focusing especially on the membrane cleaning. Membrane cleaning experiments were carried out with and without ultrasounds to evaluate the effect of ultrasounds on the membrane cleaning efficiency and, as a result, to reduce the consumption of chemicals. Tests were performed with two ultrafiltration polymeric membranes with molecular weight cut-offs of 30,000 Da (UH030) and 5000 Da (UP005). Fouling experiments were carried out with Renylat whey protein concentrate solutions and CaCl2 addition at a transmembrane pressure of 2 bar and cross flow velocity of 2 m/s during 2 h. Results showed that the presence of calcium increased the membrane fouling of both membranes. For UH030 membrane the reversible fouling prevailed over the irreversible fouling, meanwhile for UP005 membrane the irreversible fouling was the predominant one. Cleaning efficiency results demonstrated that ultrasounds application is an effective technique to clean ultrafiltration membranes after being fouled with whey protein concentrate solutions and may have a paramount importance on the overall process efficiency., This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (CTM 2010-20.186).

[EN] Tannery wastewater has a high environmental impact due to its low biodegradability. Sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) are an established method for treating highly polluted wastewater. To minimize the hydraulic retention time (HRT) of the SBRs, various HRT values were tested and the best value was chosen according to the removal efficiency of the soluble chemical oxygen demand (COD). A series of experiments was then carried out with two cationic polyelectrolytes added to the system in two different modes to improve the effluent quality. Both modes were evaluated in terms of the soluble COD, suspended solid concentration, and turbidity of the final effluent. The results showed that reducing the HRT to two days did not diminish the COD removal efficiencies., This work was supported by the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (Project Ref.: PAID-06-10-2269).

Biological treatment of hypersaline wastewaters such as fermentation brine from table olive processing (FTOP), was carried out using four sequential biological reactors (SBRs). These wastewaters were characterized by conductivities higher than 90 mS·cm-1 together with COD and total phenols concentration values of more than 15 g·L-1 and 1000 mg·L-1, respectively. In order to increase the organic removal efficiency and to reduce the hydraulic retention time (HRT), extra nutrients were added and pre-treatment by adsorption was performed. Results showed that the COD/N/P relationship, in the FTOP, of 250/5/1 was appropriate for the biological process reaching COD removal efficiencies of around 80%. The FTOP adsorption pre-treatment with powder activated carbon for the reduction of phenols concentration to 400 mg·L-1 led to a HRT reduction from 40 to 15 days, maintaining the COD and total phenols removal percentages around 78% and 97%, respectively. On the other hand, γ-Proteobacteria was the main bacterial class, representing around 74% of the microbial community in the reactors., The authors of this work thank the financial support of CDTI (Centre for Industrial Technological Development) depending on the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. Authors also thank Chiemivall for providing the activated carbons.

In the last years, biological treatment plants for the previously separated organic fraction from municipal solid wastes (OFMSW) have gained importance. In these processes a liquid effluent (liquid fraction from the digestate and leachate from composting piles), which has to be treated previously to its discharge, is produced. In this paper, the characteristics of the mixed liquor from two full-scale membrane bioreactors treating the effluents of two OFMSW treatment plants have been evaluated in view to study their influence on membrane fouling in terms of filterability. For that, the mixed liquor samples have been ultrafiltrated in an OF laboratory plant. Besides, the effect of the influent characteristics to MBRs and the values of the chemical and physical parameters of the mixed liquors on the filterability have been studied. Results showed that the filterability of the mixed liquor was strongly influenced by the soluble microbial products in the mixed liquors and the influent characteristics to MBR. Permeate flux of MBR mixed liquor treating the most polluted wastewater was considerable the lowest (around 20 L/m(2) h for some samples), what was explained by viscosity and soluble microbial products concentration higher than those measured in other MBR mixed liquor. (c) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved., This work was supported by the URBASER Company. Authors thank personnel of the full-scale MBR plants for providing samples.

Costs reduction in the activated sludge process in municipal wastewater treatment plants (MWWTPs) has nowadays become of paramount important due to the current economic situation. One of the saving measures that are being currently studied is the reduction of sludge production. In this work, the influence of the addition of chlorine dioxide to a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) on the sludge production and on the process performance has been studied. After preliminary jar-tests to select the ClO2 concentration range to be studied, two series of experiences were carried out. In the first series of experiments two laboratory SBRs were operated in parallel to test the effect of three different ClO2 doses. In the second one, three laboratory SBRs were operated in parallel to go on studying the influence of the chlorine dioxide addition on the SBRs performance and to compare two different dosing strategies (directly to the reactor and mixing the oxidant with a part of the sludge in a separated tank). SBRs treated simulated municipal wastewater and they were operated with the same operating strategy. Results showed that doses of 5 and 10 mg ClO2/gTSS entailed severe deterioration of the biological process, meanwhile the dose of 2 mg ClO2/gTSS hardly decreased the COD removal performance, implying a reduction of sludge production of 20.2%. An increase of the dose up to 2.5 mg ClO2/gTSS increased the reduction of the sludge production up to 43.4%, when the oxidant was added directly to the reactor in the anoxic reaction phase., Authors thank Fomento Agricola Castellonense S.A. (FACSA) for the support in the project.

Whey is the main by-product obtained from cheese production. It contains a high concentration of organic matter, mainly proteins and lactose, and mineral salts. Usually, pre-treated whey was discharged into sewer together with the other liquid effluents from the dairy industry. However, the increasingly stringent legal standards for wastewaters in contrast with the high COD and BOD of whey have entailed a change in the approach to whey management. The present paper is focused on the study of the concentration and diafiltration processes applying nanofiltration (NF) membranes for whey after its ultrafiltration. The NF membrane used in all experiments was DS-5 DL from GE-OSMONICS. For each test, different transmembrane pressures ranging between 0.5 and 2.5 MPa were tested. Results indicated that both the lactose concentration and the whey demineralization were achieved for a combination of the concentration and continuous diafiltration modes. The best operating conditions for the process (those entailing the lowest lactose loss) were 2 MPa and a VDF of around 2. Higher volume dilution factor (VDF) implied higher chloride removal from the whey but at the same time a lactose loss increase.

Wastewater reclamation and reuse are being widely implemented due to the lack of fresh water. When salinity is a limiting parameter to obtain the required water quality for agricultural uses, a desalination step is necessary to achieve it. Therefore, techniques such as nanofiltration (NF) or reverse osmosis (RO) can play an important role and have to be deeply studied in order to implement an economically feasible tertiary treatment. In this work, NF of a secondary effluent from a municipal wastewater treatment plant has been evaluated for increasing feed concentration in order to reach a final conversion of approximately 75%. Experiments were carried out with a laboratory plant containing a spiral wound membrane (DURASLICK-2540, General Electric) with an active area of 2.2m2. Tests were performed increasing volume concentration factors (VCFs) up to almost 4 and replicated three times to confirm the results statistically. After NF experiments an RO step of the retentate was carried out in order to concentrate the final brine. In NF experiments, for the highest VCF values, fluxes recommended for the membrane maker (17 Lm−2 h−1) were produced at a transmembrane pressure (TMP) of 3.2 bar. The TMP hardly increased with the VCF. NF membranes yielded a conductivity retention index around 42%, reaching nearly 99% for sulphate ions and only 23% for chloride ions.

Nowadays cost reduction is a very important issue in wastewater treatment plants. One way, is to minimize the sludge production. Microorganisms break down the organic matter into inorganic compounds through catabolism. Uncoupling metabolism is a method which promote catabolism reactions instead of anabolism ones, where adenosine triphosphate synthesis is inhibited. In this work, the influence of the addition of para-nitrophenol and a commercial reagent to a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) on sludge production and process performance has been analyzed. Three laboratory SBRs were operated in parallel to compare the effect of the addition of both reagents with a control reactor. SBRs were fed with synthetic wastewater and were operated with the same conditions. Results showed that sludge production was slightly reduced for the tested para-nitrophenol concentrations (20 and 25 mg/L) and for a LODOred dose of 1 mL/day. Biological process performance was not influenced and high COD removals were achieved. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved., This work was supported by Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (Project reference: PAID-05-12).

The combination of massive parallel sequencing with a variety of modern DNA/RNA enrichment technologies provides means for interrogating functional protein-genome interactions (ChIP-seq), genome-wide transcriptional activity (RNA-seq; GRO-seq), chromatin accessibility (DNase-seq, FAIRE-seq, MNase-seq), and more recently the three-dimensional organization of chromatin (Hi-C, ChIA-PET). In systems biology-based approaches several of these readouts are generally cumulated with the aim of describing living systems through a reconstitution of the genome-regulatory functions. However, an issue that is often underestimated is that conclusions drawn from such multidimensional analyses of NGS-derived datasets critically depend on the quality of the compared datasets. To address this problem, we have developed the NGS-QC Generator, a quality control system that infers quality descriptors for any kind of ChIP-sequencing and related datasets. In this chapter we provide a detailed protocol for (1) assessing quality descriptors with the NGS-QC Generator; (2) to interpret the generated reports; and (3) to explore the database of QC indicators (www.ngs-qc.org) for >21,000 publicly available datasets.

The aim of this study was to investigate the behavior of two ultrafiltration (UF) membranes after their fouling with different fouling solutions and cleaning with a surfactant, including the application of ultrasounds (US). Thus,two UF membranes (UH030 and UP005) were fouled with three different whey model solutions that consisted of bovine serum albumin (BSA) with a concentration of 1% (w/w), BSA (1%, w/w) plus CaCl2 with a concentration of 0.17% (w/w) and whey solution (Renylat 45) with a concentration of 2.22% (w/w). Chemical cleaning was carried out with P3 Ultrasil 115 solution at temperatures between 25 ◦C and 45 ◦C and concentrations in the range between 0.5% (v/v) and 0.9% (v/v). US were applied in some ofthe tests at a frequency of 20 kHz and nominal power of 300W. The results demonstrated that US cleaning was effective to enhance the permeability recovery, although this enhancement was only up to 9%. Concerning fouling, results from resistances calculations showed that for UH030 membrane prevails the reversible fouling whereas for UP005 membrane predominate irreversible fouling, This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (CTM 2010-20.186).

Table olive processing wastewaters (TOPW) have high salt concentration and total phenolic content (TPC) causing many environmental problems. To reduce them, ultrafiltration (UF) was applied for treating TOPW. However, NaCl, which is the main responsible of salinity in TOPW, and phenols are small molecules that cannot be separated by conventional UF membranes. They have serious problems caused by fouling, which can be overcome using membrane modification techniques. For these reasons, photomodification may be an effective technique to obtain a stream rich in TPC due to the changes in membrane surface properties. UV-modification in the presence of two hydrophilic compounds (polyethylene glycol and aluminium oxide) was performed to achieve membranes with high reductions of organic matter and to keep the TPC as high as possible. Commercial polyethersulfone (PES) membranes of 30 kDa were used. Surface modification was evaluated using FTIR-ATR spectroscopy and membrane performance was studied by calculating the rejection ratios of colour, chemical oxygen demand (COD) and TPC. Results demonstrated that UF is a useful pre-treatment to reduce organic matter from TOPW, obtaining a permeate rich in TPC. PES/Al2O3 membranes displayed superior antifouling properties and rejection values, keeping high the TPC (>95%). Therefore, UF using modified membranes is an appropriate and sustainable technique for treating TOPW., The authors thank the financial support of CDTI (Centre for Industrial Technological Development) depending on the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. The authors also thank the Center for Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering (Universitat Politecnica de Valencia) for FTIR-ATR and contact angle measurements.

The sludge water obtained from the dewatering processes following anaerobic sludge digestion contains high levels of ammonia. This sludge water is generally returned to the beginning of the waste water treatment plant process, thereby significantly increasing the nitrogen load on the biological process. In this project, the start-up of a full-scale sequencing batch reactor (SBR) process to separately treat the aforementioned sludge water is studied. Two parallel SBRs were operated over 8 hour cycles. The duration of the start-up was approximately 100 days until a hydraulic load of 225 m3/d was reached for each SBR. This paper presents the results of the start-up, highlighting the change in nitrogen concentration with time and the effect of other parameters such as temperature and suspended solids in that period. Following the project period of operation, the ammonium concentration was reduced by more than 95% on average.