The removal of heavy-metal ions from aqueous solutions by using dried activated sludge has been investigated in batch systems. Effect of solution pH, initial metal ion concentration, and temperature were determined. The results of the kinetic studies showed that the uptake processes of the two metal ions（Cd（Ⅱ） and Pb（Ⅱ）） followed the pseudo-second-order rate expression. The equilibrium data fitted very well to both the Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption models. The FT-IR analysis showed that the main mechanism of Cd（Ⅱ） and Pb（Ⅱ） biosorption onto dried activated sludge was their binding with amide I group.
WANG Xue-jiangXIA Si-qingCHEN LingZHAO Jian-fuCHOVELON Jean-marcNICOLE Jaffrezic-renault
A batch composting study was performed to evaluate the feasibility of co-composting sewage sludge with sodium sulfide and lime （SSL） mixture （Na2S/CaO= 1：1）, aiming at reducing the availability of heavy metals in the sludge compost. Sewage sludge with sawdust as a bulking agent was amended with SSL at 3% （w/w, dw）, and composted for 15 d in laboratory batch reactors. The four stages of the Tessier sequential extraction method was employed to investigate changes in heavy metal fractions of Cu, Zn, and Ni in sewage sludge composted with SSL. For all the three metals, the mobile fractions, such as, exchangeable and carbonate bound were mainly transformed into low availability fractions （organic matter and sulfide, Fe-Mn oxides bound and residual forms）, and the addition of SSL enhanced this transformation. Therefore, SSL is a suitable material to co-compost with sewage sludge to reduce the availability of heavy metals. According to the cabbage seed germination test, a SSL amendment of ≤3% （w/w, dw） is recommended to co-compost with sewage sludge.
In this study, the authors have investigated the effects of various factors on both aerobic and anaerobic degradation of 4-t-octylphenol （4-t-OP） in granular sludge. In comparison, the aerobic degradation rate was much higher than that of anaerobic degradation. The optimal pH values for 4-t-OP degradation in granular sludge were 9 and 7 under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, respectively. And the degradation rate decreased with an increase in the initial 4-t-OP concentration. Addition of yeast extract or homologous compounds such as phenol also enhanced the 4-t-OP degradation, especially under the aerobic condition. To investigate the bacterial community in this study, the denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis （DGGE） method was applied, based on the primers, for the 16S rDNA V3 region of bacteria, γ-proteobacteria and bacillus were identified as the major species of sludge.
The flocculating activity of a novel bioflocculant MMF1 produced by multiple-microorganism consortia MM1 was investigated. MM1 was composed of strain BAFRT4 identified as Staphylococcus sp. and strain CYGS1 identified as Pseudomonas sp. The flocculating activity of MMF1 isolated from the screening medium was 82.9%, which is remarkably higher than that of the bioflocculant produced by either of the strains under the same condition. Brewery wastewater was also used as the carbon source for MM1, and the cost-effective production medium for MM1 mainly comprised 1.0 L brewery water （chemical oxygen demand （COD） 5000 mg/L）, 0.5 g/L urea, 0.5 g/L yeast extract, and 0.2 g/L （NH4）2SO4. The optimal conditions for the production of MMF1 was inoculum size 2%, initial pH 6.0, cultivating temperature 30℃, and shaking speed 160 r/min, under which the flocculating activity of the MMF1 reached 96.8%. Fifteen grams of purified bioflocculant could be recovered from 1.0 L of fermentation broth. MMF1 was identified as a macromolecular substance containing both protein and polysaccharide. It showed good flocculating performance in treating indigotin printing and dyeing wastewater, and the maximal removal efficiencies of COD and chroma were 79.2% and 86.5%, respectively.
