Congruence in the performance of model nitrifying activated sludge plants located in Germany, Scotland and Spain

A laboratory model nitrifying activated sludge plant treating OECD synthetic sewage was designed and constructed by each of three laboratories in Germany, Scotland and Spain in order to produce a sludge inoculum for 5 rapid toxicity bioassays. The plants were run for 3 years and produced sludge for...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water research (Oxford) 2003, Vol.37 (1), p.177-187
Main Authors: Christofi, Nick, Aspichueta, Elena, Dalzell, David, De la Sota, Alejandro, Etxebarria, Javier, Fernandes, Teresa, Gutierrez, Monica, Morton, John, Obst, Ursula, Schmellenkamp, Peter
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activated sludge plant
Adenosine Triphosphate - analysis
ATP
Biological Assay
Bioreactors
Construction
Germany
Industrial Waste
Luminescence
Luminescent Measurements
Nitrification
Nitrogen - metabolism
Plants
Recovery
Scotland
Sewage
Sewage - chemistry
Sludge
Solids
Spain
Toxicity bioassays
Toxicity testing
Vibrio
Vibrio fischeri
Waste Disposal, Fluid - methods
Wastewater treatment
Water Pollutants - toxicity
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A laboratory model nitrifying activated sludge plant treating OECD synthetic sewage was designed and constructed by each of three laboratories in Germany, Scotland and Spain in order to produce a sludge inoculum for 5 rapid toxicity bioassays. The plants were run for 3 years and produced sludge for the microbially based bioassays Vibrio fischeri bioluminescence, ATP luminescence and respiration, and, nitrification and enzyme inhibition. Although the initial sludge inoculum for the plants differed, as did some of the running conditions such as temperature regime, the sludge produced within the different countries had similar characteristics with respect to sludge age, total suspended solids and volatile suspended solids. Nitrification was generally maintained over the 3-year period although there were occasions when the process was inconsistent. Nitrification recovery was afforded by reseeding with a nitrifying sludge from a local wastewater treatment works (WWTW) or imposition of starvation conditions for a period of time. The sludge produced was used to carry out toxicity testing and results compared well with those using sludge from a WWTW. Overall, the use of sludge generated in the laboratory could be used for toxicity testing negating the need to resort to the use of natural WWTW sludge, which may contain a range of toxic substances due to uncontrolled industrial and domestic inputs and an unbalanced microbial consortium.
ISSN:0043-1354
1879-2448
DOI:10.1016/S0043-1354(02)00119-7