The work investigated why anaerobic digesters treating food waste and operating at high ammonia concentrations suffer from propionic acid accumulation which may result in process failure. The results showed deficiency of selenium, essential for both propionate oxidation and syntrophic hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis, leads to this while supplementation allows operation at substantially higher organic loading rates (OLR). At high loadings cobalt also becomes limiting, due to its role either in acetate oxidation in a reverse Wood-Ljungdahl pathway or in hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis. Population structure analysis using fluorescent in-situ hybridisation showed only hydrogenotrophic methanogens. Critical Se and Co concentrations were established as 0.16 and 0.22 mg kg -1 fresh matter feed at moderate loading. At this dosage the OLR could be raised to 5 g VS l -1 day -1 giving specific and volumetric biogas productions of 0.75 m 3 kg -1 VS added and 3.75 STP m 3 m -3 day -1 , representing a significant increase in process performance and operational stability.

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Errors that are commonly made in the quantification of biogas from anaerobic digestion experiments were investigated.For liquid displacement gasometers where a barrier solution separates the biogas and the atmosphere, inaccuracy due to gas diffusion was examined experimentally. Acidified saturated saline solution was the most suitable barrier solution, as biogas characteristics changed least with time. Using acidified or tap water caused considerable biogas losses and should therefore be avoided where biogas is stored before measurement.Errors associated with volume calculation from three common liquid displacement gasometer types were investigated theoretically. Corrections that must be made to obtain gas volumes at standard temperature and pressure when using this equipment are discussed. Regarding experimental errors, gasometer designs where displaced liquid is weighed to determine the volume are the most versatile since errors depend mainly upon balance sensitivity. Using liquid heights to calculate volume requires appropriate sizing of the gasometer relative to the volume of gas measured.The calibration of a low flow gas meter was investigated and an approximately linear variation with flow rate was found; hence in-situ calibration is advised for this type of instrument. Correction for atmospheric conditions should be performed in real time to reduce errors. Subscripts refer to condition 1, condition 2, standard temperature and pressure, atmospheric, barrier solution, trough and column respectively.

The preparation and testing of thiol-functionalised silica-coated magnetite nanoparticles (TF-SCMNPs) is described. The characteristics of these particles are assessed at different stages in the production process using X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), and a magnetometer. The particles were found to be almost spherical with a uniform mesoporous structure with a pore size of ~2.1 nm. The particles were strongly responsive to an external magnetic field making separation from solution possible in less than 1 min. The adsorption characteristics of the particles were quantified in a series of isotherm experiments using Hg(II) solution concentrations between 40 and 1000 μg l -1 at adsorbent concentrations of 4 and 8 mg l -1 . The adsorption capacity was higher than for other commonly used adsorbents with 90% of Hg(II) removed during the first 5 min and equilibrium in less than 15 min. Both the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models were applied to the isotherm data and the maximum adsorption capacity was achieved when the ratio of adsorbent to adsorbate was low. temperature and pH had an effect on adsorption but when the TF-SCMNPs were used for removal of Hg(II) from tap water and bottled water, which contained other ions, there appeared to be no interference. Hg(II) could be successfully desorbed using thiourea in a 3M HCl solution; this did not result in the destruction of the nanoparticles and they could subsequently be reused without loss of their activity in repetitive adsorption tests.

An anaerobic digester receiving food waste collected mainly from domestic kitchens was monitored over a period of 426 days. During this time information was gathered on the waste input material, the biogas production, and the digestate characteristics. A mass balance accounted for over 90% of the material entering the plant leaving as gaseous or digestate products. A comprehensive energy balance for the same period showed that for each tonne of input material the potential recoverable energy was 405 kWh. Biogas production in the digester was stable at 642 m 3 tonne -1 VS added with a methane content of around 62%. The nitrogen in the food waste input was on average 8.9 kg tonne -1 . This led to a high ammonia concentration in the digester which may have been responsible for the accumulation of volatile fatty acids that was also observed.