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This study examines the performance and fouling potential of flat sheet (FS) and hollow fiber (HF) membrane bioreactors (MBRs) during the treatment of high strength landfill leachate under varying solid retention times (SRT = 5-20 days). Mixed-liquor bacterial communities were examined over time using 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis in an attempt to define linkages between the system performance and the microbial community composition. Similarly, biofilm samples were collected at the end of each SRT to characterize the microbial communities that evolved on the surface of the FS and HF membranes. In general, both systems exhibited comparable removal efficiencies that dropped significantly as SRT was decreased down to 5 days. Noticeably, ammonia and nitrite oxidizing bacteria were not detected at the tested SRTs. This suggests that the nitrifiers were not enriched, possibly due to the high organic and ammonium content of the leachate that led to low TN and NH removal efficiency. The steady-state fouling rate of both membranes increased linearly with the decrease in SRT at an estimated factor of 1.1 and 1.2 for the FS- and HF-MBR, respectively, when the SRT was reduced from 15 to 10 days and from 10 to 5 days. Similar dominant genera were detected in both MBRs, including Pseudomonas, Aequorivita, Ulvibacter, Taibaiella, and Thermus. Aequorivita, Taibaiella; Thermus were the dominant genera in the biofilms. Hierarchical clustering and non-metric multidimensional scaling revealed that while the mixed liquor communities in the FS-MBR and HF-MBRs were dynamic, they clustered separately. Similarly, biofilm communities on the FS and HF membranes differed in the dynamic bacterial community structure, especially for the FS-MBR; however this was less dynamic than the mixed liquor community.

Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP)-capped Pt nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized in mostly tetrahedral (TH-Pt, [edge] = 4.3 ± 0.7 nm) or spherical (S-Pt, [d] = 3.4 ± 0.8 nm) shapes and assembled layer-by-layer in poly(diallyldimethylammonium) chloride on electrodes driven by electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions. The nanostructured Pt electrodes were characterized using hydrogen underpotential deposition (H(upd)) in 1 M H2SO4. The H(upd) charge increased linearly with the PDDA-Pt NP adsorption cycle measured up to 10 cycles revealing a linear incorporation of Pt NPs per cycle, indicative of reproducible surface charge reversal despite the submonolayer NP coverage imaged by TEM on a PDDA layer, and showing the feasibility of charge and mass transport in the thickness of the films. H(upd) at both PVP-TH-Pt and PVP-S-Pt occurred in two states, a major weak-adsorption H(W) peak, and a minor strong-adsorption state H(S) appearing as a shoulder. H(upd) features and other electrochemical processes at assemblies of PVP-Pt NP in PDDA were compared to assemblies of 2.5 nm polyacrylate-capped Pt NPs in PDDA and to polycrystalline Pt. Results indicated that H(W) adsorption likely occurs on a PVP-modified Pt NP surface without being accompanied by PVP desorption, while H(S) occurs on free (100) sites. The PVP-Pt NPs were resistant to surface oxidation and were stable against usual surface restructuring when scanned into the Pt-oxide potential region as they remained modified with PVP. O2 evolution was also suppressed by PVP-capping compared to PAC-Pt NPs and polycryst-Pt, but the assemblies were electrocatalytic for hydrogen evolution, hydrogen oxidation, and oxygen reduction. Increasing anodic polarization increased the H(W) charge but without causing a potential shift, indicating absence of PVP decapping or Pt surface restructuring, but possibly some structural polymer rearrangement increasing the accessibility of buried sites for H-adsorption.

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