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Investigation of the accumulation of ash, heavy metals, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to assess the stability of lysis–cryptic growth sludge reduction in sequencing batch reactor

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Abstract

The accumulation of ash, heavy metals, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (collectively called potential accumulating substances, PAS) was evaluated to ascertain the stability of lysis–cryptic growth sludge reduction process (LSRP) for municipal sludge treatment. One sequencing batch reactor (SBR) incorporated with homogenization was run to test the LSRP and another SBR as a control. The continuous monitoring results for 2 months showed that the ash and heavy metals slightly increased, and the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons decreased by 18.0%, indicating that there may be negligible accumulations during the LSRP. Their accumulations met pattern I, as demonstrated by statistical analysis, proving no PAS accumulation for LSRP. This was further confirmed by sludge activity and system performance. Moreover, the mechanism for no PAS accumulation was discussed. It was concluded that the LSRP was stable with no worries about PAS accumulation under the operational conditions.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Instrumental Analysis & Research Center, Sun Yat-sen University for heavy metals analysis; more thanks to China National Analytical Center, Guangzhou for PAH analysis.

Funding

This research was supported by Major Science and Technology Project of Guangdong Province of China (2016B020240005) and Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province of China (2016A030310317).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Culture Collection and Application, Guangdong Institute of Microbiology, Guangzhou, 510070, People’s Republic of China

    Yiyong Li & Meiying Xu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology, Southern China, Guangzhou, 510070, People’s Republic of China

    Yiyong Li & Meiying Xu

  3. Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Ecological Remediation for Industrial Agglomeration Area, College of Environment and Energy, South China University of Technology, No. 382, East Waihuan Road, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou, 510006, People’s Republic of China

    Yongyou Hu, Wangcheng Lan, Jia Yan & Yuancai Chen

  4. State Key Lab of Pulp and Paper Engineering, College of Light Industry and Food Science, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, People’s Republic of China

    Yongyou Hu, Wangcheng Lan & Yuancai Chen

Authors
  1. Yiyong Li
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  2. Yongyou Hu
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  3. Wangcheng Lan
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  4. Jia Yan
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  5. Yuancai Chen
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  6. Meiying Xu
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Correspondence to Yongyou Hu.

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Responsible editor: Angeles Blanco

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Li, Y., Hu, Y., Lan, W. et al. Investigation of the accumulation of ash, heavy metals, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to assess the stability of lysis–cryptic growth sludge reduction in sequencing batch reactor. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 24147–24155 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-0042-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-0042-y

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