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Pilot-scale tests were run with ozonation for reduction of 24 pharmaceuticals at 10 full-scale wastewater treatment plants in southern Sweden. Reduction was evaluated based on doses of 3, 5 and 7 g O3/m3 at all plants. The reduction of pharmaceuticals reached on average 65% at 3 g O3/m3, 78% at 5 g O3/m3 and 88% for 7 g O3/m3 in terms of total concentration of pharmaceuticals. Specific ozone dose (ratio O3:TOC) was found to be highly influential on pharmaceutical removal. At two WWTPs, the pharmaceutical removal was severely reduced.

Organic micro pollutants can be removed from water by ozonation. In this article we studied the performance of ozonation under real life conditions and compared results of the same ozonation pilot plant installed at different wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) thus operating with different waters. The comparability of the removal and reaction rate constants from one waste water treatment plant were low in respect to reaction rate, removal as well as to response to the specific ozone dose. Neither pH-value nor residual nitrite concentrations were the driving force considering these differences. Further tests with different loadings were conducted at the same WWTP under different weather conditions. For the different hydraulic loading of the biological plant, the ozonation was running with rather similar removal rates concerning the same specific (TOC normalized) ozone dose. The compounds that were removed quantitatively under dry weather were still removed well with three times dry weather flow. Using a dataset from one WWTP to optimize operation in another one is thus questionable.

The efficiency of nitrogen removal from leachate by different chemical and biological methods was explored. The leachate was derived from Filborna landfill (NSR AB, Helsingborg, Sweden) and was characterized as an old leachate with pH = 8.0 and comparatively low concentrations of nitrogen and organic compounds (ca. 150 mg/l NH4-N and 500 mg/l COD). Three treatment processes were tested in lab-scale experiments; combined nitrification and denitrification in a sequencing-batch reactor (SBR), one-reactor nitritation-anammox process in a moving-bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) in sequencing-batch configuration and nitrogen precipitation in the form of magnesium-ammonium-phosphate (MAP). State-of-the-art of these processes is described. The conventional combined nitrification/denitrification process allowed 99% removal of inorganic nitrogen with 23 mg NH4-N/(l·h) being the highest nitrification rate achieved. Aeration during nitrification step and addition of carbon source according to the stoichiometric ratio for denitrification was required, accounting for the operational costs. The nitritation-anammox process also allowed 99% removal of inorganic nitrogen with 3.7 g NH4- N/(m2·d) being the highest process rate achieved while running the reactor at 25°C and pH 8.0. The process is advantageous in comparison with the conventional biological removal process, as oxygen consumption is lower and addition of carbon source is not required. With MAP precipitation at the optimal Mg:N:P ratio (1.2:1:1) only 78% removal of inorganic nitrogen was achieved. The precipitation process led to a significant increase of phosphorous concentrations in the effluent, while external magnesium and phosphorous sources to be added resulted in high process costs. Detailed descriptions of the processes and obtainedresults are given in the article. Comparing the three processes, conclusions are drawn that it is possible to achieve effluent nitrogen requirements (15 mg N/l) by treatment of leachate with both tested biological processes, but not with MAP precipitation. One-reactor nitritation-anammox would require the lowest operational costs, while MAP precipitation – the highest.

The Nordplus Project: The Digital University Library, http://library.au.dk/blogs/nordplus Nordplus (NP) is the Nordic Council of Ministers' most important programme in the area of lifelong learning (http://www.nordplusonline.org/) and provides funding for activities and networking projects across the Nordic and Baltic region. This development project has applied for and received funding from the NP2016 and NP2017 programmes – and have applied again in 2018 – Lund University Libraries, University of Bergen Library, and The Royal Library Aarhus University Library. The aim of this project has been to meet and establish partnership with faculty and students as co-creators in the emerging blended learning environments. One important way of doing this has been (NP2016) to develop subject specific digital learning objects, supporting academic skills and students’ digital practice. The project group has leant on the method ABC (Arena Blended Connected) curriculum design, introduced to us by researchers from pedagogical departments at the universities. The NP2017 part of the project is focusing on the implementation and evaluation of the new practice. Regarding evaluation, the project is again leaning on research expertise at the universities, having been introduced to “Argumentativa kursusutvärderingsmodeller” (Carola Aili, Lund University), qualitative research design and mixed methods (Rune Krumsvik, University of Bergen). In addition comes a very important issue; the intercultural aspect of sharing experience and knowledge within the three Nordic organisations of Higher Education. A special sessionFirst we will present and discuss not only the products, but also the work processes and various methods used in the projects as well as the benefits of the intercultural Nordic collaboration. The format will we short presentations (pitches and posters) – and discussion. Secondly, the NP18 application includes a plan for extending the existing project network to several Nordic educational settings. Therefore, the project group invites Nordic conference colleagues, who would like to discuss an extended Nordic network, to join this session. The format for this part will be network dating and discussion in an open space framework.

Flooding is the most common natural hazard in Europe. Cities cannot rely only on underground solutions which are expensive and inflexible. In order to reduce the negative impacts of flood, open and surface solutions play a key role in the efficiency of urban drainage systems. Utilizing the earth's surface as part of sustainable water infrastructure, also as powerful element for creating the space, adds multiple values to our urban environments. This article suggests a framework to increase the likelihood of turning the idea of flood resilient city to a best practice. The paper is clarifying the design principles. The target is turning a space to a functional place by applying drainage techniques in urban design, which requires robust local integration between the urban space and technical solutions. The study of storm water management in the Swedish and Dutch contexts was an important base for this formulation. Considering the important share of urban design in urban transition success, the paper is focusing on categorizing the required steps of flood resilient urban design.

This study focuses on drivers for changing urban flood risk. We suggest a framework for guiding climate change adaptation action concerning flood risk and manageability in cities. The identified key drivers of changing flood hazard and vulnerability are used to provide an overview of each driver's impact on flood risk and manageability at the city level. We find that identified drivers for urban flood risk can be grouped in three different priority areas with different time horizon. The first group has high impact but is manageable at city level. Typical drivers in this group are related to the physical environment such as decreasing permeability and unresponsive engineering. The second group of drivers is represented by public awareness and individual willingness to participate and urbanization and urban sprawl. These drivers may be important and are manageable for the cities and they involve both short-term and long-term measures. The third group of drivers is related to policy and long-term changes. This group is represented by economic growth and increasing values at risk, climate change, and increasing complexity of society. They have all high impact but low manageability. Managing these drivers needs to be done in a longer time perspective, e.g., by developing long-term policies and exchange of ideas.

Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS) can be considered the joint product of water engineering and urban planning and design since these systems must comply with hydraulic, hydrologic, and social-ecological functions. To enhance this joint collaboration, a conceptual model of mesoscale SuDS is introduced based on the observed rainfall-runoff responses from two catchments with SuDS and a pipe-bound catchment. The model shows that in contrast to pipe systems, SuDS disaggregates the catchment into a group of discrete mini catchments that have no instant connection to the outlet. These mini catchments start to connect to each other (and perhaps to the outlet) as the rainfall depth increases. It is shown that the sequence of stormwater control measures (SCMs as individual components of SuDS) affects the system&rsquo, s overall performance depending on the volumetric magnitude of the rainfall. The concept is useful in the design and implementation of mesoscale SuDS retrofits, which include several SCMs with different retention and detention capacities within a system.

Ozone was applied to return activated sludge in full-scale to study how ozone impacts filamentous bacteria viability (Live/Dead®). Additionally, the ozonated sludges were subjected to anaerobic digestion trials and analysis of micropollutants (MPs). Ozone treatment (3–4.8 g O3/kg total suspended solids) improved the settling properties of the sludge by lowering the diluted sludge volume with 7–35%. Ozone inactivated filamentous bacteria outside the floc structures and the fraction of inactivated filaments increased with an increasing ozone dose. It was observed that ozone treatment may act selectively towards different types of filaments. With respect to the two dominating morphotypes present, Type 0041 filamentous bacteria were found to be more resistant to ozone attack than Microthrix parvicella. Thus, higher ozone doses may be required to mitigate sludge bulking caused by Type 0041 filaments. No effects could be discerned by ozone addition on neither the methane production of the sludge nor on the concentrations of MPs analysed for this study. The lack of effect on both methane production and micropollutant removal was deemed to be caused by insufficient ozone doses.

A new principle for mainstream nitrogen removal through nitritation followed by anammox was studied in a two-stage moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) configuration. The first stage was optimized for nitritation by using thin biofilms and a feed alternating between synthetic mainstream wastewater at 15°C and, for shorter periods, synthetic reject water at 30 °C. The exposure of the biofilm to reject water conditions aimed to improve the growth conditions for ammonia oxidizing bacteria, while inhibiting nitrite oxidizing bacteria. The biofilm thickness was maintained below 200 μm to ensure high exposure of the total biomass to the bulk reactor conditions. Nitritation was successfully achieved in the configuration, with a nitrite accumulation ratio above 75% during the majority of the study, and ammonia removal rates between 0.25 and 0.50 g NH4-N/L,d. The anoxic second stage, optimized for anammox, was fed with the effluent from the nitritation reactor, reaching nitrogen removal rates above 0.20 g TN/L,d.

A novel set up composed of an anaerobic biofilm reactor followed by ozonation was used for treatment of artificial and real textile effluents containing azo dyes. The biological treatment efficiently removed chemical oxygen demand and color. Ozonation further reduced the organic content of the effluents and was very important for the degradation of aromatic compounds, as shown by the reduction of UV absorbance. The acute toxicity toward Vibrio fischeri and the shrimp Artemia salina increased after the biological treatment. No toxicity was detected after ozonation with the exception of the synthetic effluent containing the highest concentration, 1 g/l, of the azo dye Remazol Red. Both untreated and biologically treated textile effluents were found to have mutagenic effects. The mutagenicity increased even further after 1 min of ozonation. No mutagenicity was however detected in the effluents subjected to longer exposure to ozone. The results of this study suggest that the use of ozonation as short post-treatment after a biological process can be beneficial for the degradation of recalcitrant compounds and the removal of toxicity of textile wastewater. However, monitoring of toxicity and especially mutagenicity is crucial and should always be used to assess the success of a treatment strategy.

Municipal wastewater treatment commonly involves mechanical, biological and chemical treatment steps to protect humans and the environment from adverse effects. Membrane technology has gained increasing attention as an alternative to conventional wastewater treatment due to increased urbanization. Among the available membrane technologies, microfiltration (MF) and forward osmosis (FO) have been selected for this study due to their specific characteristics, such as compactness and efficient removal of particles. In this study, two treatment concepts were evaluated with regard to their specific electricity, energy and area demands. Both concepts would fulfil the Swedish discharge demands for small- and medium-sized wastewater treatment plants at full scale: (1) direct MF and (2) direct FO with seawater as the draw solution. The framework of this study is based on a combination of data obtained from bench- and pilot-scale experiments applying direct MF and FO, respectively. Additionally, available complementary data from a Swedish full-scale wastewater treatment plant and the literature were used to evaluate the concepts in depth. The results of this study indicate that both concepts are net positive with respect to electricity and energy, as more biogas can be produced compared to that using conventional wastewater treatment. Furthermore, the specific area demand is significantly reduced. This study demonstrates that municipal wastewater could be treated in a more energy- and area-efficient manner with techniques that are already commercially available and with future membrane technology.

The combination of coagulation/flocculation and discfiltration with ozonation to reduce nutrients and organic micro-pollutants in secondary effluent was studied in pilot scale at Lundåkraverket wastewater treatment plant in Landskrona, Sweden. With a chemical dose of 4 gAl3+/m3 and 1.5 g/m3 cationic polymer as active material effluent water quality with regards to total phosphorous (Tot-P), suspended solids and turbidity were 0.03, 2 mg/l and 0.5 Nephelometric Turbidity Units (NTU) in average. The effluent water quality was similar whether ozonation with an applied ozone dose of 2–9 gO3/m3 was performed prior to or after coagulation/flocculation/discfiltration. The results were corresponding to removal efficiencies for the coagulation/flocculation/discfiltration process of 94, 74 and 85% for Tot-P, suspended solids and turbidity, respectively. For organic micro-pollutants removal, it was found to be beneficial to perform coagulation/flocculation/discfiltration prior to ozonation as the ozone requirements were lowered for the dosing intervals applied. The removal was in the range of 38–98% depending on process configuration and ozone dose.

The return sludge of one of the four treatment lines at Öresundsverket WWTP in Sweden was subjected to ozonation in full-scale to reduce filamentous bulking sludge. The biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal capacity along with effluent parameters were studied throughout the trial. Samples were also taken to track possible changes in microbial population due to ozone. 2.8-5.0 g O3 kg-1 treated SS-1 reduced the DSVI of the ozone-treated line from 170 to 100 mL g-1 and the reference line remained at 150 mL g-1. No adverse effect on the biological nitrification- or the phosphorus removal rates could be detected. The microbial population of the two lines did not exhibit any substantial changes which can be correlated to ozone addition.

The development of tools to help cities and water utility authorities communicate and plan for long-term sustainable solutions is of utmost importance in the era of a changing and uncertain climate. This study introduces a hybrid modeling concept for the cosimulation of mesoscale blue-green stormwater systems and conventional urban sewer networks. The hybrid model successfully introduces the retention/detention effects of mesoscale blue-green stormwater systems to the hydraulic dynamics of the sewer network. The cosimulation package was further facilitated with a cost-oriented multiobjective optimization algorithm. The aim of the scalar multiobjective optimization was to minimize the total cost comprising both flooding costs and action costs – both parameters solely representing the financial components of cost – through optimal placement of mesoscale blue-green systems of optimal size. The suggested methodology provides a useful platform for sustainable management of the existing sewer networks in cities from a hydroeconomic perspective.

The moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) wastewater treatment process is usually designed based on the assumption that all activity in the process occurs in the biofilm on the MBBR carriers, although there is always some active biomass in the bulk liquid due to biofilm sloughing and, sometimes, free-growing bacteria. In this study the removal of organic matter is evaluated in laboratory-scale MBBR reactors under varying load, hydraulic retention time (HRT), oxygen concentration and volumetric filling degree of carriers in order to determine the heterotrophic activity in the different fractions of the MBBR biomass. The results showed that the heterotrophic conversions in an MBBR can show the same type of diffusion limited dependency on oxygen as nitrification, even for easily degradable substrates such as acetate. The contribution to the removal from the suspended biomass is shown to vary depending on HRT, as the amount of suspended solids changes. The developed method in this report is a useful tool for determining heterotrophic activity in the separate fractions of biomass in MBBRs.

Municipal wastewater treatment commonly involves mechanical, biological and chemical treatment steps as state-of-the-art technologies for protecting the environment from adverse effects. The biological treatment step consumes the most energy and can create greenhouse gases. This study investigates municipal wastewater treatment without the biological treatment step, including the effects of different pre-treatment configurations, e.g., direct membrane filtration before forward osmosis. Forward osmosis was tested using raw wastewater and wastewater subjected to different types of mechanical pre-treatment, e.g., microsieving and microfiltration permeation, as a potential technology for municipal wastewater treatment. Forward osmosis was performed using thin-film-composite, Aquaporin Inside(TM) and HTI membranes with NaCl as the draw solution. Both types of forward osmosis membranes were tested in parallel for the different types of pre-treated feed and evaluated in terms of water flux and solute rejection, i.e., biochemical oxygen demand and total and soluble phosphorus contents. The Aquaporin and HTI membranes achieved a stable water flux with rejection rates of more than 96% for biochemical oxygen demand and total and soluble phosphorus, regardless of the type of mechanical pre-treated wastewater considered. This result indicates that forward osmosis membranes can tolerate exposure to municipal waste water and that the permeate can fulfil the Swedish discharge limits for small- and medium-sized wastewater treatment plants.

At a full-scale wastewater treatment plant, raw municipal wastewater from the sand trap outlet was mechanically and physicochemically pre-treated before microfiltration (MF) in a large pilot-scale study. MF was performed using a low transmembrane pressure (0.03 bar) without backflushing for up to 159 h (∼6.6 d). Pre-filtration ensured stable MF operation compared with the direct application of raw wastewater on the membrane. The combination of physicochemical pre-treatment, such as coagulation, flocculation, and microsieving, with MF meets the European and Swedish discharge limits for small- and medium-sized wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The specific electricity footprint was 0.3–0.4 kWh·m−3, which is an improvement compared to the median footprint of 0.75 kWh·m−3 found in 105 traditional Swedish WWTPs with sizes of 1500–10,000 person equivalents. Furthermore, the biological treatment step can be omitted, and the risk of releasing greenhouse gases was eliminated. The investigated wastewater...

Ethoxyethanol (ethylcellosolve) was administered to rats by inhalation and by feeding per os. Two metabolites were detected and identified: ethoxyacetic acid and N-ethoxyacetylglycine. The identity of these metabolites was confirmed by synthesis of N-ethoxyacetylglycine methyl ester, ethoxyacetic acid being commercially available.

Raw municipal wastewater from a full-scale wastewater treatment plant was physicochemically pretreated in a large pilot-scale system comprising coagulation, flocculation, microsieve and microfiltration operated in various configurations. The produced microsieve filtrates and microfiltration permeates were then concentrated using forward osmosis (FO). Aquaporin InsideTM FO membranes were used for both the microsieve filtrate and microfiltration permeates, and Hydration Technologies Inc.–thin-film composite membranes for the microfiltration permeate using only NaCl as the draw solution. The FO performance was evaluated in terms of the water flux, water flux decline and solute rejections of biochemical oxygen demand, and total and soluble phosphorus. The obtained results were compared with the results of FO after only mechanical pretreatment. The FO permeates satisfied the Swedish discharge demands for small and medium-sized wastewater treatment plants. The study demonstrates that physicochemical pretreatment can improve the FO water flux by up to 20%. In contrast, the solute rejection decreases significantly compared to the FO-treated wastewater with mechanical pretreatment.

Urban flooding is of growing concern due to increasing densification of urban areas, changes in land use, and climate change. The traditional engineering approach to flooding is designing single-purpose drainage systems, dams, and levees. These methods, however, are known to increase the long-term flood risk and harm the riverine ecosystems in urban as well as rural areas. In the present paper, we depart from resilience theory and suggest a concept to improve urban flood resilience. We identify areas where contemporary challenges call for improved collaborative urban flood management. The concept emphasizes resiliency and achieved synergy between increased capacity to handle stormwater runoff and improved experiential and functional quality of the urban environments. We identify research needs as well as experiments for improved sustainable and resilient stormwater management namely, flexibility of stormwater systems, energy use reduction, efficient land use, priority of transport and socioeconomic nexus, climate change impact, securing critical infrastructure, and resolving questions regarding responsibilities. Urban flooding is of growing concern due to increasing densification of urban areas, changes in land use, and climate change. The traditional engineering approach to flooding is designing single-purpose drainage systems, dams, and levees. These methods, however, are known to increase the long-term flood risk and harm the riverine ecosystems in urban as well as rural areas. In the present paper, we depart from resilience theory and suggest a concept to improve urban flood resilience. We identify areas where contemporary challenges call for improved collaborative urban flood management. The concept emphasizes resiliency and achieved synergy between increased capacity to handle stormwater runoff and improved experiential and functional quality of the urbanenvironments. We identify research needs as well as experiments for improved sustainable and resilient stormwater management namely, flexibility of stormwater systems, energy use reduction, efficient land use, priority of transport and socioeconomic nexus, climate change impact, securing critical infrastructure, and resolving questions regarding responsibilities.

This study evaluates the effect of biofilm thickness on the nitrifying activity in moving bed biofilm reactors (MBBRs) in a controlled environment. In-depth understanding of biofilm properties in MBBRs and their effect on the overall treatment efficiency is the key to optimizing process stability and efficiency. However, evaluating biofilm properties in continuously operated MBBRs can be extremely challenging. This study uses a carrier design which enables comparison of four different biofilm thicknesses, in otherwise equally operated lab-scale MBBRs. The results show that within the studied range (200-500 µm) and specific operation conditions, biofilm thickness alone had no significant effect on the overall ammonium removal. The nitrate production, however, decreased with a decreasing biofilm thickness, and the ratio between nitrite and ammonia-oxidizing activity decreased both with increasing load and decreasing oxygen concentration for all thicknesses. The suggestion that nitratation is disfavoured in thin biofilms is an interesting contribution to the current research being performed on nitrite-oxidizing bacteria inhibition for deammonification applications. By indicating that different groups of bacteria respond differently to biofilm thickness, this study accentuates the importance of further evaluation of these complex systems.

Little is known about how past forest management in Sweden influenced the quantity and quality of large woody debris (LWD) in streams. The present study provides information of the long-term dynamics of LWD in a reach of a boreal stream intersecting a managed forest. Dendrochronological methods were used to reconstruct mortality years of the pieces of LWD and the general history of fire and cuttings of the surrounding riparian forest. Today, spruce dominates among the living trees, whereas the LWD is dominated by birch in the forest and by pine in the stream. Fire frequency prior to active fire suppression was similar to values reported from boreal forests. Pine trees were more abundant in the riparian forest before selective logging operations and active fire suppression began in the 1800s. Many of the pieces of LWD found in the stream today died more than 200 years ago and derived from a cohort of pines that generated in the early 1600s. Pine LWD in stream channels is highly resistant to decomposition and can reside for more than 300 years. A substantial amount of the LWD found today in managed forest streams in boreal Sweden most likely derives from the time before extensive human influence and is likely to decrease further in the future. Management of riparian forests to ascertain future supply of long-lived LWD in streams should target to increase the proportion of pine trees.

The occurrence of substances inhibiting nitrification in Swedish municipal wastewaters was investigated using three methods: a screening method based on activated sludge and two pure culture methods based on Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter. Influent samples from 109 wastewater treatment plants collected every day during one specific week were investigated. The three test methods were also compared. The results of the screening method showed that about 60% of the plants received wastewater containing inhibitory substances, although only 4% had considerable inhibition (>20%). With the two pure culture methods, inhibition was found at about 45% of the plants investigated, with considerable inhibition found at 13% and 20% of the plants with the Nitrosomonas and the Nitrobacter methods, respectively. The limit of detection was determined to be 5% inhibition for the screening method, 11% inhibition for the Nitrosomonas method and 13% inhibition for the Nitrobacter method. The pure culture methods found more samples strongly inhibitory or stimulating than the screening method. The highest correlation between the inhibition results from the three methods was found between the screening method and the Nitrosomonas method. It was also shown for sludge from several activated sludge treatment plants, that they were adapted to the toxic compounds present in the influent. At high inhibition this acclimatisation was less pronounced. No correlation was found for any of the methods between the inhibition and parameters such as the size of the plant, the geographic location, the content of ammonia, COD or conductivity in the influent, the presence of leachate or the percentage of industrial wastewater in the influent, or types of industries in the catchment area. However, the constantly highest inhibition was found at a plant with a large number of different industries connected. Any clear pattern for the variation of inhibition during the week was not found.

The possibility of improving enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) by increasing the level of substrate for biological polyphosphate-accumulating bacteria in influent wastewater, achieved through enhanced hydrolysis and fermentation of primary sludge in the primary clarifiers, was studied at a full-scale University of Cape Town plant for more than 1 year. The sludge level in the clarifiers was increased to create anaerobic conditions and to increase the solids retention time in the clarifiers. Recirculation of sludge from the bottom to the top of the clarifiers was begun to wash out the fermentation products formed in the sludge phase into the water leaving the clarifiers. The performance of the EBPR plant improved considerably after enhanced hydrolysis and fermentation were established in the primary clarifier. Daily analyses at the treatment plant and laboratory-scale fermentation experiments on sludge from the clarifiers showed that the soluble chemical oxygen demand (COD) in the wastewater increased by up to 10 mg COD/L. Measurements of volatile fatty acid potential (VFA-potential) yielded an increase of 5 to 10 mg/L VFA-COD. Long-term fermentations in the laboratory showed that another 15 to 20 mg/L of VFA-COD could be derived from the sludge, should the hydrolysis and fermentation be prolonged and optimized; if applied to a full-scale wastewater treatment plant, this process would require the use of a separate reactor.

Enhanced biological phosphorus removal is based on the selective enrichment of bacteria accumulating inorganic polyphosphate, obtained at a cyclic regime of alternating anaerobic and aerobic conditions. In the University of Cape Town (UCT) process for combined nitrogen and phosphorus removal, polyphosphate-accumulating bacteria will also be exposed to nitrate in the anoxic zone, i.e. an electron acceptor that may be utilized as well as the oxygen of the aerobic zone. During a 1-year study of the full-scale UCT process run at Oresundsverket, Helsingborg, special attempts were made to quantify the relative contribution of an anoxic phosphate uptake at full-scale conditions: the dominant chemical oxygen demand (COD) uptake in the anaerobic zone could be identified as poly-β-hydroxy-alkanoates (PHA). PHA accumulation was at its largest during a test period with acetate added as an extra carbon source. At least one-third of the COD consumed in the anoxic zone could be identified as PHA. The anoxic sludge contained increased amounts of polyphosphate and reduced amounts of free orthophosphate compared to the anaerobic zone, approaching the levels of aerobic sludge. The metal bound orthophosphate remained largely unaffected, at a level of 25–30% of the total phosphorus content. After correction for the sludge recycling of the system, the formation of inorganic polyphosphate in the anoxic zone itself was estimated to be 30% of the total. When the metabolic activity was tested under controlled conditions in batch, the anaerobic sludge of the plant showed a high denitrifying activity accompanied by a phosphorus uptake and a simultaneous consumption of intracellular PHA corresponding to 2 g-COD/g-N, i.e. half the theoretical value needed for denitrification when biomass growth is included. It is concluded that intracellular PHA played a major role as a carbon source for denitrification in this full-scale UCT process, with a corresponding phosphate uptake also in the anoxic zone. The biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal must, therefore, be regarded as interconnected.

Carbon and phosphorus transformations in a full-scale enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) process was followed during 1 year. A correlation between the soluble phosphorus uptake in the process and the potential substrate for bio-P bacteria, measured as the volatile fatty acid (VFA) potential, in the influent wastewater was found. The results indicated that approximately 20 mg VFA-COD were required to remove 1 mg of soluble phosphorus. In the anaerobic stage of the process, poly-β-hydroxyalcanoic acids (PHA) were produced in an amount of 1.5 mg PHA-COD per mg of VFA-COD taken up by bio-P bacteria. Furthermore, a release of 0.31 mg of phosphate-P per mg of PHA-COD formed was observed in the anaerobic stage. Most of the released phosphate could be accounted for by a decrease in the polyphosphate content of the biomass in the anaerobic stage. Most of the results obtained were very well in agreement with the biochemical model for EBPR suggested by Smolders et al. (1994a).

In anaerobic digestion, the production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) can be beneficial or harmful to the overall process, depending on the concentration of accumulated acids. Therefore, the accurate determination of the SCFA concentration in both fresh and stored sludge hydrolysates is important. To select a suitable method for monitoring SCFAs during the anaerobic digestion of sewage sludge, the accuracy of three available analytical methods, including 5 pH point acid titration (TITRA5), gas chromatography (GC), and spectrophotometry, were compared in the present study. The results revealed that TITRA5 and GC displayed better agreement in the achieved measurements and higher precision and accuracy than the spectrophotometric assay, as supported by the application of different statistical models. TITRA5 excelled in titrating unfiltered hydrolysate while simultaneously measuring the alkalinity, whereas the GC method provided detailed information on the contribution of different fatty acids to the total acidity. In contrast, the spectrophotometric assay suffered from many forms of interference, depending on the sample's matrix. SCFA production followed the pattern of enzymatic reactions and fitted the Michaelis-Menten model. In addition to promoting TITRA5 as an accurate and robust analytical tool for routine SCFA analyses, this comparative study also demonstrated the possibility of storing hydrolysate samples at different temperatures and durations without altering the SCFA measurements.

After extension of Öresundsverket in Helsingborg severe nitrification problems have occurred. Complete inhibition of nitrification has been recognized once and a general reduction of nitrification capacity has been found compared to design, to other Swedish treatment plants and to internationally accepted design criteria. A comprehensive examination of inhibition of nitrification has identified industrial sources as the dominating contributors. Some industries have been identified as important sources but fighting inhibition of nitrification requires more than tracking down a few dominating industries, since examination shows that discharges of inhibitory substances are widespread among the industries in the catchment area. Naturally, fighting inhibition of nitrification requires the elimination of contributions from industries with identified discharge. Furthermore information campaigns directed towards the industries in general are required and finally it is necessary to include requirements for inhibitory substances in the industrial discharge permits.

An evaluation of 5 and 8 pH-point titrimetric methods for determining volatile fatty acids (VFAs) was conducted, and the results were compared for tap water and primary treated wastewater at the laboratory scale. These techniques were then applied to full-scale primary sludge hydrolysate, and the results were compared with those obtained via gas chromatography.The comparison showed that the VFA concentrations measured with the two titration methods were higher than those obtained via gas chromatography, differing by 9 and 13 mg COD∙ℓ-1 for the hydrolysate and by 5 and 6 mg COD∙ℓ-1 for the ordinary primary settler effluent. No improvement in the accuracy of VFA concentration measurement was obtained from applying the 8 pH-point titration method instead of the 5 point method. The 5 pH-point method was successfully applied to determine VFA in full-scale primary sludge hydrolysate and was shown to be equally efficient to the methods that are routinely-used for this purpose.Keywords: Multiple pH-point titration, volatile fatty acids, wastewater, full-scale, primary sludge hydrolysis

The potential effects of altering primary settlers during biological in-line hydrolysis and converting a nitrifying activated sludge process into a partial pre-denitrification process for the purpose of resource conservation were evaluated. A full-scale primary sludge hydrolysis experiment was performed at a wastewater treatment plant and implemented in a dynamic modelling tool based on ASM2d. The full-scale hydrolysis experiment achieved a volatile fatty acid (VFA) production of 43 g COD(HAc) x m(-3) with no release of ammonium. Additional nitrogen removal of 44 t N x a(-1) was simulated, and the produced hydrolysate was able to replace 50% of the annual ethanol usage. Furthermore, 196 MWh of electricity per annum could be saved through the reduction of ethanol production and the optimization of the operation strategy of the activated sludge tank by operating a different number of anoxic zones.

Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) trees growing on shingle fields offer a unique possibility to reconstruct precipitation and study climate variability in the fairly humid eastern part of central Sweden. Tree-ring characteristics were compared with monthly (1890–2001) and daily (1961–2001) climate data from an adjacent meteorological station. Chronologies for latewood (LW), earlywood (EW), and tree-ring widths (RW) were constructed from 73 living and dead trees. Correlation analyses show that tree growth is most sensitive to early summer precipitation. EW shows the strongest correlation with precipitation in May and June while LW is best correlated with June and July precipitation. A reconstruction model for May–June precipitation was calculated using principal component analysis (PCA) regression (regular regression) including EW, LW, and RW for present and previous years. The model explained 46% of the variation in May–June precipitation and allowed a reconstruction back to 1560. Information about wet and dry years was collected from historical documents and was used to validate the result. Periods with precipitation above and below the mean show agreement with previous reconstructions of spring precipitation from tree rings in Finland and of spring floods from estuary sediments in the region. Analyses of correlations between meteorological stations and reconstructed precipitation show that the model is valid for the coastal part of central Sweden. The authors conclude that Scots pine trees on shingle fields are well suited for precipitation reconstruction, and the separate analyses of LW and EW improve the reconstruction.

Laboratory experiments have been utilised as a tool to determine the possible yield of soluble COD and VFAs from settled influent and preprecipitated sludge at Klagshamn wastewater treatment plant and to determine the degradability of the organic matter. The release of ammonium and orthophosphate from the hydrolysed sludge has been estimated. It is possible to produce soluble organic matter of good quality from settled influent and preprecipitated sludge at Klagshamn WWTP. Denitrification rates of 3.1 mg NO3-N/(g VSS × h) were found for the hydrolysate in laboratory tests. Owing to the low phosphate concentrations in the hydrolysate from preprecipitated sludge, it shows a potential for postdenitrification despite stringent phosphorus outlet demands. Calculations based on data gained from the laboratory experiments show that about 50% of the external carbon source used today can be saved with minor changes in the plant operation except that the hydrolysis has to be established. Based on these findings, full-scale experiments with internal hydrolysis in the primary clarifiers were scheduled in one of the two lines at Klagshamn WWTP for the summer of 2007.

Birth characteristics and growth pattern in 76 children with congenital cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection were compared to Swedish reference data. Infection classification was based on maternal sera during pregnancy. In 31 children the infection was primary and 31 children had reactivated (recurrent or secondary) congenital CMV infection. Infection type could not be determined in 14 children. Transient neonatal symptoms were apparent in 22 children and eight children had classical neurological CMV sequelae. Heterogeneous neurological disorders were found in 13 children. No significant differences in height, weight, and growth were found. The median follow-up time was 10 years. From 4 years old children with congenital CMV infection were taller than the reference standard. At 1 and 2 years, those children with primary congenital CMV infection were borderline shorter than reference standard, and from 4 years children with reactivated CMV infection were taller than the reference standard. In conclusion, no evidence was found verifying that congenital CMV infection causes short stature.

Gasification is an important option for the swift implementation of biomass combined heat and power processes in the Danish energy supply system. Tar-water produced by the gas-cleaning system of gasifiers may contain substances toxic to nitrifying bacteria. As the gasification plants are small and often located in the catchment area of small wastewater treatment plants, discharge of the tar-water may be critical for wastewater treatment plants operated with nitrogen removal. Tar-water from a full-scale updraft gasifier has been thoroughly examined with respect to inhibition of nitrification and the toxicity for nitrifying bacteria has been evaluated for the dominating constituents in the tar-water. Simple organic substances make up the dominating part of the organic matter but phenol and phenolic compounds are also present in significant concentrations. The identified substances are biologically degradable and it has been demonstrated that most of the organic matter together with the toxicity can be eliminated in an aerobic activated sludge process.