Performance and Mechanism of Improved Soluble Organic Carbon Recovery from Municipal Wastewater through the Coagulation-Enhanced High-Rate Contact Stabilization Process

Abstract

High-rate contact stabilization is promising to capture organic carbon from municipal wastewater; however, its engineering application is restricted due to its poor capability of removing soluble organic matter (particle size < 0.1 μm). In this work, the carbon capture efficiency and robustness of the coagulation-enhanced high-rate contactstabilized process for treating municipal wastewater with a varied content of soluble organic matter was comprehensively evaluated. Results showed that the high-rate contact stabilization process did not perform well in the removal and capture of influent organic substances with a high proportion of soluble components. Adding coagulants into the above process favored organic carbon capture, whose recovery efficiency could reach up to 60% even under the 90% influent soluble chemical oxygen demand condition. Mechanism analysis revealed that the hydrolyzed product of the coagulant would adsorb dissolved components to form colloid and subcolloid particles, which was favored for further capture by sludge. The fitting result of the neutral community model indicated that both deterministic environmental factors and random processes influence the succession of sludge community. This work implied that the coagulation-enhanced high-rate contact stabilization process is feasible to recover organic carbon from municipal wastewater, which may shed a promising light for sustainable carbon control and management.

Deciphering the Interplay of Sludge Age and Aeration on Reactor Performance and Microbial Dynamics in High-Rate Contact Stabilization

“…The rapid shifts between feast and famine conditions, typically lasting less than an hour, select microorganisms that can store excess substrates and nutrients in cells quickly as a survival strategy . Other carbon capture processes, such as coagulation-enhanced high-rate contact stabilization process, achieved up to 60% carbon capture efficiency and 30–40% phosphorus removal . The combination of HRAS systems with anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBR) is another feasible technology, where the COD capture efficiency of HRAS was as high as 43% and the total COD recovery in the form of methane in AnMBR reached 30%.…”

“…11 capture processes, such as coagulation-enhanced high-rate contact stabilization process, achieved up to 60% carbon capture efficiency and 30−40% phosphorus removal. 12 The combination of HRAS systems with anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBR) is another feasible technology, 13 where the COD capture efficiency of HRAS was as high as 43% and the total COD recovery in the form of methane in AnMBR reached 30%. An automated pilot-scale HiCS system, which used real-time responses to control the oxygen uptake rate (OUR) ratio between the contact and stabilization tanks, has been investigated to improve the carbon capture efficiencies.…”