scholarly journals Effects of Waste Activated Sludge Extracellular Polymeric Substances on Biosorption

Water ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 218
Author(s):  
Tiow Ping Wong ◽  
Roger W. Babcock ◽  
Theodore Uekawa ◽  
Joachim Schneider ◽  
Bing Hu
Keyword(s):  
Organic Matter ◽  
Activated Sludge ◽  
Humic Acids ◽  
Extracellular Polymeric Substances ◽  
Contact Process ◽  
Cation Exchange Resin ◽  
Waste Activated Sludge ◽  
Untreated Wastewater ◽  
Biosorption Process ◽  
Raw Wastewater

Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) reportedly make up approximately half of the organic matter in activated sludge (AS), and therefore strongly influence AS properties. This study evaluated the component fractions of EPS normalized to volatile suspended solids (VSS) in waste activated sludge (WAS) from a trickling-filter-solids contact process (TF/SC) and its ability to biosorb organic matter from raw wastewater with 30 min of contact time. Biosorption is the process in which organic matter (carbohydrates, proteins, humic acids, DNA, uronic acids, and lipids) in a sorbate, such as raw wastewater, sorbs onto a sorbent such as WAS. A statistically significant correlation was found between both the total concentration of EPS and the proteins component of the EPS and the biosorption removal of soluble chemical oxygen demand (sCOD) and truly soluble COD (ffCOD). Thus, the biosorption of soluble forms of COD can accurately be predicted by quantifying just the amount of proteins in WAS-associated EPS. No significant correlations were found for the biosorption of colloidal COD (cCOD). WAS biosorbed 45–75 mg L−1 of COD in 30 min. WAS absorbed or stored the proteins fraction of the soluble microbial products (SMP) during the biosorption process. Higher concentrations of humic acids were found in the biosorption process effluent than in the untreated wastewater, which warrants further study. Longer cation exchange resin (CER) extraction times yielded more total EPS from the sludge: 90 ± 9, 158 ± 3, and 316 ± 44 mg g−1 VSS, for 45-min, 4-h, and 24-h extraction times, respectively. Thus, EPS extracted represented only 9%, 15.8%, and 31.6% of the VSS, respectively, raising questions about whether the accurate characterization of EPS can be performed using the typical extraction time of 45 min due to different extraction rates for different components. It was found that the humic acids fraction was extracted much more slowly than the other fractions.

A new method for extraction of extracellular polymeric substances from biofilms and activated sludge suitable for direct quantification of sorbed metals

2001 ◽  
Vol 43 (6) ◽  
pp. 25-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Wuertz ◽  
R. Spaeth ◽  
A. Hinderberger ◽  
T. Griebe ◽  
H.-C. Flemming ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Activated Sludge ◽  
Extracellular Polymeric Substances ◽  
Microbial Population ◽  
Zinc Concentration ◽  
Extraction Procedure ◽  
Cation Exchange Resin ◽  
Laser Scanning Microscopy ◽  
Confocal Laser ◽  
Sorption Behavior ◽  
Gradual Change

A method for extraction of extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs) with a dicyclohexyl-18-crown-6 ether was developed to determine levels of organic and inorganic contaminants sorbed to EPS. The crown ether selectively binds alkaline and alkaline earth metals but not heavy metals. The effectiveness of the extraction procedure was higher than that of 2 other methods tested and comparable with that of a method based on a cation exchange resin. On average it was possible to extract 20% of the TOC, 12% of the total protein content, and 4% of the total carbohydrate content of sludge or biofilm biomass. Metal sorption studies in activated sludge showed no influence of exposure time on the fractionation of metals within the biomass. Metals sorbed mostly to cellular material. In biofilms 12.2% of the cadmium and 9.1% of the zinc added was found in the EPS. In activated sludge EPS contained only 2.9% zinc. The distribution of metals within the biomass was dose dependent. The percentage of metals found in EPS decreased with increasing metal concentration. This indicates a higher affinity of metals for cellular binding sites. Time course experiments in a rotating biofilm annular reactor, which consisted of an external cylinder with removable slides and an internal solid drum, revealed a gradual change in zinc concentration associated with EPS, although the total zinc concentration in the biomass remained constant. Concurrently, the amount of extractable EPS decreased. This was a consequence of a microbial population shift, with bacterial counts decreasing and algal and fungal biomass increasing. Using confocal laser scanning microscopy and the fluorescent metal complexing agent Newport Green for in situ detection of zinc it was shown that metals were bound to algae and fungi in the latter part of the experiment. The biofilm became more and more heterogeneous coinciding with a decrease in EPS. To summarize, the observed sorption behavior of metals cannot be explained with the conventional paradigm of EPS ashydrophilic gel. Obviously, different binding mechanisms must be invoked to explain the role of EPS in the sorption and removal of toxic substances in activated sludge and biofilm systems. It is important to consider the microbial population to understand differences in sorption in different matrices.

Extracellular polymeric substances and dewaterability of waste activated sludge during anaerobic digestion

2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (9) ◽  
pp. 1555-1560 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fenxia Ye ◽  
Xinwen Liu ◽  
Ying Li
Keyword(s):  
Anaerobic Digestion ◽  
Activated Sludge ◽  
Extracellular Polymeric Substance ◽  
Extracellular Polymeric Substances ◽  
Waste Activated Sludge ◽  
Sludge Dewatering ◽  
Capillary Suction ◽  
Relationship Analysis ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Insight Into

Anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge was conducted to gain insight into the mechanisms underlying change in sludge dewaterability during its anaerobic digestion. Unexpectedly, the results indicated that sludge dewatering properties measured by capillary suction time only deteriorated after 10 days of anaerobic digestion, after which dewaterability recovered and remained stable. The loosely bound extracellular polymeric substance (LB-EPS) content increased three-fold after 20 days of anaerobic digestion, and did not change significantly during the remaining 30 days. The tightly bound EPS (TB-EPS) content reduced slightly after 20 days of anaerobic digestion, and stabilized during the last 30 days. Polysaccharides (PS) and proteins (PN) content in LB-EPS increased after 10 days of anaerobic digestion. However, PS and PN contents in TB-EPS decreased slightly. The relationship analysis showed that only LB-EPS correlated with dewaterability of the sludge during anaerobic digestion.

Application of metaproteomic analysis for studying extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in activated sludge flocs and their fate in sludge digestion

2008 ◽  
Vol 57 (12) ◽  
pp. 2009-2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Park ◽  
R. F. Helm
Keyword(s):  
Activated Sludge ◽  
Protein Separation ◽  
Extracellular Polymeric Substances ◽  
Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis ◽  
Sodium Dodecyl ◽  
Cation Exchange Resin ◽  
Methanosarcina Barkeri ◽  
Extracellular Proteins ◽  
Sludge Digestion ◽  
Sds Page

Metaproteomic analysis, comprising protein separation and identification, was applied to study extracellular proteins in activated sludges and to track their fate in sludge digestion under both anaerobic and aerobic conditions. The complex sludge proteins were first separated by sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and further analysed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to search their identification. Base extraction and cation exchange resin (CER) method were used to extract EPS from sludges at 0, 12 and 30 days of batch digestion. Several important observations were made during this study. Firstly, protein bands were well separated by extraction/SDS-PAGE protocol used in this study. Secondly, numerous protein bands remained after digestion, indicating that these proteins are not easily degradable in sludge digestion. Thirdly, protein bands detected following anaerobic and aerobic digestion differed, suggesting that proteins degraded in two different digestion environments are not the same. Finally, protein bands that emerged distinctively following anaerobic digestion was found to be subunits of methyl-coenzyme M reductase, the enzyme involved in methane generation, in Methanosarcina barkeri. These results demonstrated that metaproteomic investigation on activated sludge EPS is useful for studying floc formation in activated sludges and their degradation in various digestion environments.

scholarly journals Enhancing Phosphorus Recovery and Dewaterability of Waste Activated Sludge for Combined Effect of Thermally Activated Peroxydisulfate and Struvite Precipitation

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 9700
Author(s):  
Zicong Liao ◽  
Yongyou Hu ◽  
Yuancai Chen ◽  
Jianhua Cheng
Keyword(s):  
Activated Sludge ◽  
Extracellular Polymeric Substances ◽  
Phosphorus Recovery ◽  
Waste Activated Sludge ◽  
Optimal Conditions ◽  
Capillary Suction ◽  
Radical Oxidation ◽  
Thermally Activated ◽  
Struvite Precipitation ◽  
The Cost

Phosphorus is a nonrenewable and irreplaceable limited resource, and over 90% of phosphorus in influenttransfers into sludge in wastewater treatment plants. In this study, thermally activated peroxydisulfate (TAP) treatment was combined with struvite precipitation to enhance waste activated sludge (WAS) dewaterability and phosphorus recovery. TAP simultaneously enhanced dewaterability and solubilization of WAS. The optimal conditions of TAP treatment were PDS dosage 2.0 mmol/g TSS, 80 °C, pH 4.0~7.0 and 40 min, which enhanced dewaterability (capillary suction time (CST) from 94.2 s to 28.5 s) and solubilization (PO43−-P 177.71 mg/L, NH4+-N 287.22 mg/L and SCOD 10754 mg/L). Radical oxidation disintegrated tightly bound extracellular polymeric substances (TB-EPS) and further released bound water. The acidification effect neutralized the negative surface charge of colloid particles. Compared with thermal hydrolysis, TAP effectively promoted the release of PO43−, NH4+ and SCOD. Cation exchange removed most Ca and Al of the TAP treated supernatant. The optimal conditions of struvite precipitation were Mg/P 1.4 and pH 10.0, which achieved phosphorus recovery of 95.06% and struvite purity of 94.94%. The income obtained by struvite adequately covers the cost of struvite precipitation and the cost of WAS treatment is acceptable.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document