The performance and stability of a thermophilic anaerobic digestion system are inherently dependent on the engineered environment within each reactor. While the selection of operational parameters such as mixing, solids retention time, and digestion temperature are often selected on the basis of certain desirable outcomes such as the deactivation of human pathogens, these parameters have been shown to have a broad impact on the overall sludge digestion process. Since the current time-temperature requirements for biosolids pathogen reduction are most easily met at elevated digestion temperatures within the thermophilic range, it is certainly worth examining the effect of specific digestion temperatures on ancillary factors such as operational stability and the aesthetic quality of biosolids. A series of experiments were carried out in which wastewater sludge was digested at a range of temperatures (35°C, 49°C, 51°C, 53°C, 55°C, 57.5°C). Each reactor was operated for a period at steady state in order to make observations of microbial activity, digestion performance, and biosolids aesthetics as affected solely by digestion temperature. Results of this study show that poor operational stability arises in reactors operated at 57.5°C. Elevated concentrations of hydrogen and short-chain fatty acids in the 57.5°C digesters are evidence that the observed temperature-induced digester failures are related to the temperature sensitivity of hydrogenotrophic (CO₂-reducing) methanogens. Reactors operated at other temperatures performed equally well with respect to solids removal and operational stability. In addition, peak volatile organic sulfur compound (VOSC) production from biosolids treated at 51°C and above was greatly reduced in comparison with mesophilic anaerobic digestion and a lower temperature (49°C) thermophilic system. Since the biosolids methanogenic community appeared to be equally capable of degrading VOSC over the range of thermophilic temperatures, the conclusion is that the activity of VOSC producing organisms in digested and dewatered biosolids is greatly reduced when operating temperature in excess of 51°C are used. This study shows that small changes in an operationally defined parameter such as digestion temperature can have a large impact on the performance and stability of a digestion process. Single minded selection of digestion temperature in order to achieve effective pathogen reduction can result in poor digester performance and the production of an aesthetically unacceptable product. Careful selection, however, of an appropriate digestion temperature can not only ensure successful pathogen reduction in compliance with current regulations, but can also improve the performance, stability, and aesthetic quality of digestion systems employing thermophilic anaerobic digestion. / Master of Science

Deep row incorporation of biosolids is an alternative land application method that may allow higher than currently permitted mine land reclamation application rates. Biosolids treated by various processes possess characteristics that uniquely affect metal solubility and mobility due to their influence on metal speciation. The objectives of this research were to compare the effects of biosolids stabilization type and rate on heavy metal solubility, mobility, and speciation. Two rates each of Alexandria, (Virginia) anaerobically digested (213 and 426 dry Mg ha-1) and Blue Plains (Washington, DC) lime-stabilized (329 and 657 dry Mg ha-1) biosolids were placed in trenches at a mineral sands mine reclamation site in Dinwiddie County, Virginia in June and July 2006. Vertical and lateral transport of heavy metals from the biosolids seams were determined by analyzing leachate collected in zero tension lysimeters below the trenches and suction lysimeters adjacent to the trenches. Chloride (Cl-), sulfate (SO42-), nitrate (NO3-), phosphate (PO43-), dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and pH were also determined within the dissolved fractions (< 0.45 µm) collected on September 8, 2006, November 3, 2006, January 5, 2007, June 8, 2007, and September 7, 2007 as input for the speciation program MINTEQA2. Silver, Cd, Pb, and Sn did not move vertically or laterally to any significant extent. Lime-stabilized biosolids produced higher cumulative metal mass transport per sampling period for Cu (967 g ha-1), Ni (171 g ha-1), and Zn (1027 g ha-1) than the anaerobically digested biosolids and control during the 15-month period following entrenching. Barium mass loss was similar for both biosolids. All metals moved primarily with particulates. MINTEQA2 predicted the majority of the metals within the dissolved fraction were present as free ions. As pH decreased and time increased, the amount of association with fulvic acids decreased allowing more free ions and binding with inorganic ligands. Little movement into groundwater demonstrates that anaerobically digested and lime-stabilized biosolids can be land-applied at high rates with little concern of heavy metal contamination of groundwater under these conditions. / Master of Science

Washington D.C. Water and Sewage Authority is planning to construct a new anaerobic digestion facility at its Blue Plains WWTP by 2008. The research conducted in this study is to aid the designers of this facility by evaluating alternative digestion technologies. Alternative anaerobic digestion technologies include thermophilic, acid/gas phased, and temperature phased digestion. In order to evaluate the relative merits of each, a year long study evaluated the performance of bench scale digestion systems at varying solids retention times (SRT) and organic loading rates (OLR). The digesters were fed a blend of primary and secondary residuals from the Blue Plains wastewater treatment facility. In each study phase, temperature phased anaerobic digestion was compared to single stage mesophilic digestion (the industry standard) at the same SRT. Single stage thermophilic digestion was evaluated by sampling the first thermophilic stage of the temperature phased digestion systems throughout the study. Additionally, the first phase study compared acid/gas phased digestion to temperature phased and single stage mesophilic digestion. Results of the study demonstrated that the temperature phased digestion system consistently performed better than the other systems during each study phase by having higher volatile solids reduction (VSR), higher methane production, and lower residual biological activity. The highest observed VSR during the study (67%) occurred in a temperature phased digestion system operated at 7.5 days in each stage. Based on these results, it seems a suitable candidate for the Blue Plains digestion facility. Additionally, odor studies performed in conjunction with the research presented in this paper have shown distinct advantages for the temperature phased process. / Master of Science

Dewatered sludges and biosolids generated from wastewater treatment facilities are known to emit malodorous odors causing public inconvenience. The odors typically comprise of reduced organo sulfur based compounds and nitrogen containing compounds. Lime stabilization is a technique which is commonly used in the wastewater industry to produce biosolids having reduced odors that can be safely land disposed. In this research, odors produced from dewatered sludges and lime stabilized biosolids were investigated. Lime dosing and incorporation in sludge play an important role in generation of reduced sulfur and trimethylamine (TMA) odor compounds. Results revealed that poor lime dosing can lead to an increase in odors due to biological generation of volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) during storage. In this study, a belt filter press gave a higher production of sulfur and TMA odors compared to a vacuum filter for the same sludge, which is attributed to the shear imparted to sludge during the dewatering process. Preliming studies suggested incomplete mixing of lime with sludge led to biological activity. The achievement of the correct pH and its maintenance during storage is considered critical for effective odor management from lime stabilized biosolids. A positive linear relation was obtained between sulfur based odor production and labile protein content in sludge. Furthermore, as the Al/Fe ratio increased, the labile proteins was observed to decrease. Trivalent metals are found to play an important role in binding of labile proteins thus effecting odor potential contained in sludge/biosolids. This was found true for most sludge irrespective of their liming status and independent of upstream process conditions. Further work in this area is needed to be able to provide a better understanding of odor production to aid in development of odor control techniques. Trimethylamine odors, having a characteristic fishy odor, are commonly found in lime stabilized biosolids. Cationic polymers used as dewatering aids are the primary precursors for TMA production. Proteins present in sludge are also associated with odor forming compounds but they produce much lower levels than polymers. These two components under the action of shear present in dewatering devices such as centrifuge are more likely to cause an increase in odor production from lime stabilized biosolids. It was also determined that abiotic polymer degradation to produce TMA either does not occur, or the rate is so slow that TMA production in this way is insignificant for actual field situations. / Master of Science

This study aims to provide the latest understanding of cutting-edge technologies that enable wastewater organic carbon diversion and recovery through the enhancement of sludge production and blending, digestibility, dewaterability, and dewatered cake odor emission control. A comprehensive literature review showed that iron-based coagulants tend to show less negative impact than aluminum-based coagulants. This can be attributed to the reduction of ferric to ferrous ions in the course of anaerobic digestion (AD), which leads to a suite of changes in protein bioavailability, alkalinity, and hydrogen sulfide levels, and in turn the sludge dewaterability and odor potential. In terms of the roles of thermal hydrolysis pretreatment (THP), the mechanism review indicated that the improvement of sludge dewaterability and anaerobic digestibility as a result of THP was because of the destruction of extracellular polymeric substances and increase of hydrolysis rate. However, THP also brings side effects such as high free residual ammonia and recalcitrant dissolved organic nitrogen (rDON) in the effluent. Besides, a comprehensive understanding of the formation of the odorous compounds in the sludge treatment processes indicated that sulfurous and nitrogenous compounds are usually regarded as the major odor-causing substances. A Pilot THP-AD study indicated that adding aluminum to produce primary sludge can improve overall plant sludge digestibility, dewaterability, and well as the rDON reduction. Moreover, results from a pilot THP-AD and biochemical methane potential (BMP) test study indicated that adding a secondary thermal hydrolysis after a primary thermal hydrolysis-AD system can still create new BMP. Finally, a pilot study was conducted to evaluate the effect of aeration in the sludge holding tank on biosolids odor emission. The two rounds of bench-scale aeration studies indicated that aerating the sludge in holding tanks reduced peak emission concentrations of sulfurous odorous compounds. Further full-scale validation confirmed that aeration can be used by utilities as a simple means for biosolids odor control. / Doctor of Philosophy / Public wastewater treatment annually consumed 3-4% energy production and contributed 1% greenhouse gas emission in the U.S. Meanwhile, the chemical energy contained in wastewater was estimated to be 9.3 times the energy it takes to treat it. Therefore, harvesting wastewater energy is proposed as a viable means for achieving energy and carbon neutral wastewater treatment. The approach to sending wastewater energy as much as possible to anaerobic digesters in which microorganisms help harvest useful energy in the form of flammable methane was evaluated in this study. From literature, we learned that chemicals used for upstream wastewater energy capture and nutrient removal may make the downstream energy recovery difficult. While, thermal hydrolysis pretreatment, an industrial-scale pressure cooker, can be used to improve the ease of microbial bioenergy harvesting by making organics more biodegradable. However, thermal hydrolysis may also bring side effect in terms of recalcitrant organic formation. Also, in the course of energy recovery, the production and emission of nuisance odor may occur but can be controlled. Building on this existing knowledge, this study evaluated the pros and cons of the approach to using chemicals to capture and recover energy from wastewater. The results showed that the extents of energy recovery and savings was greater than the compromised solids reduction from the process. Moreover, results from a biochemical methane potential test study indicated that adding a secondary thermal hydrolysis can recover even more chemical energy from wastewater. In the end, a pilot study was conducted to develop a simple and economical approach to mitigating the odor emission issue during sludge handling. Results showed that pumping air into the sludge holding tank can substantially reduce peak odor emission. This approach was later verified in a full-scale test and recommended to utilities as a simple means for biosolids odor control.

Biosolids are the nutrient-rich organic residual materials resulting from the treatment of domestic sewage at a wastewater treatment facility, and are increasingly land-applied for agricultural and land-reclamation purposes as part of the wastewater management process. While the presence and fate of estrogenic endocrine-disruptors (eEDCs) in wastewater has been extensively studied, much less focus has been given to examining the presence and fate of eEDCs during biosolids treatment. In particular, little work has been done to measure the net estrogenic potency of biosolids using in vitro bioassays, such as the Yeast Estrogen Screen (YES) assay. This is despite the fact that widespread land-application of biosolids provides for the direct introduction of eEDCs into terrestrial and aquatic environments. The relative scarcity of bioassay-based net estrogenicity data for sludges and biosolids is in large part due to the analytical challenges involved in working with such a complex sample matrix. Comprehensive sampling at wastewater treatment plants in Guelph and London, ON, demonstrated that the estrogenicity of anaerobically-treated biosolids is considerably lower (12.0-19.7 ng/g estradiol-equivalents) than that reported in earlier published studies. The results of the present study were made possible due to the development of a sample preparation methodology that overcame the toxic effects that sludge and biosolid samples typically exert on yeast cells in the YES assay. An anti-estrogenicity assay was also applied for the first time to sludges/biosolids to measure the extent to which antagonistic compounds ‘block’ the response of the YES assay. The results of these tests suggest that although the net estrogenicity of anaerobically treated solids is indeed low, up to twice the amount of estrogenicity measured by the YES assay may be masked in biosolids by the presence of antagonistic compounds. While aerobic treatment conditions reduced net estrogenicity to at-or-below detectable levels, net estrogenicity remained relatively constant throughout the unit processes of the anaerobic treatment train. Biosolid ageing during storage led to an overall decrease in net estrogenicity of both conventionally-treated “restricted use” and advanced-treated “unrestricted use” anaerobic biosolids. However, levels of net estrogenicity were observed to spike during the early stages of storage, particularly under freeze/thaw conditions. / Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) PGS-D3 scholarship, Water Environment Association of Ontario, Canadian Water Network

Master of Science / Department of Horticulture, Forestry, and Recreation Resources / Charles J. Barden / Contaminated water poses a major environmental and human health problem, which may be resolved by using the emerging phytoremediation technology. This plant-based cost-effective approach to remediation takes advantage of the ability of plants to concentrate elements and compounds from the environment, to absorb and transpire large amounts of water, and to metabolize various molecules in their tissues. The city of Manhattan’s Biosolids Farm located near Manhattan, Kansas is using the emerging technology of phytoremediation. The Biosolids Farm remediation began in the mid 1990’s; with a large planting of alfalfa with the goal of absorbing excess nitrates from soil and ground water. In 2004, hundreds of trees were planted, to serve as a protective buffer between the biosolids disposal area and the Kansas River. In 2006, a trench study was installed to improve tree establishment on a sandy outwash area close to the Kansas River using Siberian elm seedlings and rooted cottonwood cuttings from Nebraska and true cottonwood seedlings from Missouri. Treatments included trenching, dairy cattle composted manure, and tree shelters. This planting was done to serve as a vegetative barrier and to aid in reducing nitrate movement into the Kansas River. There were interaction between the tree sources and the trenching, compost and shelter treatments. The treatments showed significant interactions with tree sources with the addition of compost and shelters with a p value of 0.0438, and trenching and compost p-value 0.0021. Tree survival was significantly improved with the use of tree shelters.

<p>More than 50% of wastewater biosolids are applied to agricultural fields as fertilizer in the U.S. This technique has been used for decades as a widely accepted beneficial reclamation method for biosolids, which meet the established regulatory levels for nutrients, metals, and pathogens. A major drawback to land application is the potential environmental release of non-regulated organic contaminants, which accumulate in biosolids during the wastewater treatment process. Recent studies have been performed to identify and quantify the presence of emerging contaminants in biosolids, and others have investigated the effects of compounds already identified as `priority pollutants' and whose use is waning. However, there is limited research on the effect of emerging organic contaminants on soil microbial ecology and nutrient cycling. Because many of the compounds found in biosolids are specifically designed to elicit biological modifications (e.g., antimicrobials), there is a risk that these compounds will disrupt microbial soil functions, decrease soil productivity, and ultimately affect the long term viability of these ecosystems, resulting in unforeseen economic and social costs. Therefore, there is a clear need to characterize the effects of novel contaminants on soil health.</p><p>This dissertation was divided into three distinct parts examining the impacts of emerging organic contaminants on soil microbial ecology with increasing complexity to better reflect environmental conditions. To assess the ecological impacts, the functional endpoint of denitrification was selected because it provides a vital indication of soil health. Denitrifying bacteria play a critical role in this process, and thus, were used as indicator organisms for determining contaminant ecotoxicological potential. Furthermore, antimicrobial agents (a.k.a., bactericides or biocides) were selected as model contaminants because they are designed specifically to deactivate microorganisms, are heavily used in the U.S with over $1 billion in yearly sales, and have been measured in biosolids.</p><p>Overall, the objectives of this dissertation were to: 1) develop a rapid, high-throughput functional assay that measured denitrification inhibition for screening potential ecological impacts of biosolids-derived antimicrobial agents, 2) determine the potential effects of common and emerging biosolids-derived antimicrobial agents on denitrification by a model soil denitrifier, Paracoccus denitrificans PD1222, 3) examine the impacts of the most commonly used antimicrobial, triclosan (TCS), on wastewater treatment efficiency in bench scale sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) coupled with anaerobic digesters, 4) examine the impacts of biosolids aged and spiked with TCS on denitrification under simulated agricultural soil conditions, and 5) evaluate potential impacts of TCS in `traditional' biosolids on denitrification in agricultural soil under field conditions.</p><p>The first phase of research pertaining to Objectives 1 and 2 examined the baseline interactions between biosolids-derived antimicrobial agents and soil microbial ecology. However, to isolate the effect of an individual contaminant from the myriad of contaminants found in biosolids, there was a need for developing a rapid, high-throughput method to evaluate general ecotoxicity. In the first part of this dissertation, we developed a novel assay that measured denitrification inhibition in a model soil denitrifier, Paracoccus denitrificans Pd1222. Two common (TCS and triclocarban) and four emerging (2,4,5 trichlorophenol, 2-benzyl-4-chlorophenol, 2-chloro-4-phenylphenol, and bis(5-chloro-2-hydroxyphenyl)methane) antimicrobial agents found in biosolids were analyzed as model contaminants. Overall, the assay was reproducible and measured impacts on denitrification over three orders of magnitude exposure. The lowest observable adverse effect concentrations (LOAECs) were 1.04 &mu;M for TCS, 3.17 &mu;M for triclocarban, 0.372 &mu;M for bis-(5-chloro-2-hydroxyphenyl)methane, 4.89 &mu;M for 2-chloro-4-phenyl phenol, 45.7 &mu;M for 2-benzyl-4-chorophenol, and 50.6 &mu;M for 2,4,5-trichlorophenol. Compared with gene expression and cell viability based methods, the denitrification assay was more sensitive and resulted in lower LOAECs. Of the six compounds examined, four resulted in LOAECs that were below or within an order of magnitude of concentrations that were measured in the environment, indicating potential ecological impacts.</p><p>In the second part of the dissertation, the impacts of emerging contaminants were examined first under laboratory conditions mimicking wastewater treatment processes (Objective 3) and then agricultural fields (Objective 4). For this phase, TCS, which is the most widely used antimicrobial agent and identified in the first phase for potential ecological impacts, was used as the model contaminant. To mimic wastewater treatment processes, bench scale SBRs coupled with anaerobic digesters were set up and operated. The SBRS and digesters were seeded with activated and anaerobically digested sludge from the North Durham Water Reclamation Facility (NDWRF, Durham, NC). Reactors were fed synthetic wastewater with or without 0.73 &muM of TCS. Samples were taken periodically to monitor chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonium (NH₄<super>+</super>), nitrate (NO₃<super>-</super>), nitrite (NO<sub>2</super>-</super>), total suspended solids (TSS), volatile suspended solids (VSS), dissolved oxygen (DO), and phosphate (PO₄<super>3-</super>) and pH. In addition, biomass samples were collected for DNA extraction and microbial community analysis using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) of 16S SSU rDNA. Methane production was also monitored for the anaerobic digesters. In addition, the final digested biosolids that were generated from the SBRs fed with and without TCS were analyzed for TCS concentration, TSS, VSS, TKN, phosphorus (as P₂O₅), potassium (as K₂O), and pH. Overall, biological processes associated with nitrogen removal (nitrification and denitrification), were impacted by TCS entering the SBRs regardless of the starting microbial community. Both of the SBRs that were not receiving TCS reached steady-state at greater than 92% NH₄<super>+</super>, removal within the first week of operation, whereas the SBRs receiving TCS took 42 and 63 days to reach steady-state removal at that level. However, while NH₄<super>+</super> removal was temporarily inhibited, elevated levels of NO₃<super>-</super> and NO₂<super>-</super> in the effluent of the TCS fed SBRs, suggested longer-term impacts on nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) and denitrifiers. After Day 58, the NO₃<super>-</super> effluent concentration for the SBRs receiving TCS was 3.9 ± 0.16 mg/L, which was 2.4 times greater than the NO₃<super>-</super> effluent of the SBRs not receiving TCS (1.7 ± 0.08 mg/L). Similarly, after Day 58, the NO₂<super>-</super> effluent of the SBRs receiving TCS reached a steady-state concentration of 8.7 ± 0.75 mg/L. The mean NO₂<super>-</super> concentration in the controls after Day 58 was 7.7 times lower at 1.1 ± 0.78 mg/L, but was still trending towards 0 when the reactors were stopped. No inhibition was observed for COD and PO₄<super>3-</super> removal. In addition, non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMS) ordination analysis showed that the microbial communities between SBRS fed with and without TCS were similar on Day 0, but increased in difference to Day 41, around when the major changes in nitrification were observed. After a slight increase in similarity between the control and TCS SBR microbial communities on Day 41, the communities increased in difference to Day 63.</p><p>To mimic agricultural field conditions, containers of soil were amended with the biosolids generated from the SBRs. The containers were maintained in a growth-chamber to simulate field lighting and watering conditions. Three biosolids treatments were examined: 1) biosolids generated from the SBRs not fed TCS, but that still had low backgrounds of TCS (a.k.a., Control Biosolids); 2) biosolids generated from the SBRs fed with TCS (a.k.a., Aged TCS Biosolids); and 3) biosolids that were generated by the SBRs not fed TCS, but spiked with TCS 24 h before application (a.k.a., Spiked TCS Biosolids). Alfalfa was planted in half of the containers receiving the Control and Aged TCS Biosolids to assess differences due to vegetation. To assess the overall ecotoxicity of biosolids aged and spiked with TCS, the function, abundance, and diversity of the soil denitrifying communities were examined. The impacts on total bacteria abundance and diversity were also examined for comparison. Specifically, the denitrifying enzyme activity (DEA) assay was used to measure functional impacts, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was used to measure impacts on abundance, and T-RFLP was used to measure impacts on diversity. Correlations between these methods were also examined for possible interactions between denitrifier function and community structure and to provide insight into targets of inhibition. Lastly, a denitrification inhibition score was developed to quantify global impacts of TCS on denitrification. The containers with plants that received biosolids aged with and spiked with TCS showed potential long-term inhibition based on measurement of soil denitrification at 26.9 ± 4.6 &mu;g/kg and 68.6 ± 26.9 &mu;g/kg of TCS, respectively. Denitrifier abundance and diversity, however, were more sensitive to TCS in biosolids and inhibition was observed throughout the experiment, with maximum inhibition on Days 7 and 28. Inhibition of denitrifier abundance and diversity was observed at TCS concentrations as low as 17.9 ± 1.93 &mu;g/L, which was about 10 to 3000 times lower than concentrations reported by other studies that showed impacts on other functional endpoints (i.e., respiration, phosphatase activity, NO₃<super>-</super> and NO₂<super>-</super> production, and Cy17 stress biomarker abundance), even after taking pH into account. Five significant correlations were developed, three of which related qPCR and the DEA assay, or abundance and activity. However, the analyses that were correlated did not yield the same results as far as significant inhibition in the presence of TCS. Thus, while the results suggested some relatedness between activity, abundance, and diversity, the results generally support the use of multiple methods to determine the ecotoxicity of biosolids-derived organic contaminants. As a result, a denitrification inhibition score was developed that took into account all three methods to determine the overall ecotoxicity of TCS in biosolids. Overall, the denitrification inhibition score showed that denitrification was inhibited by both biosolids that were aged and spiked with TCS over the extent of the 84 day experiment, but maximum inhibition occurred after a week to about a month. While the denitrification inhibition score indicated that the TCS in the biosolids aged with TCS was less bioavailable than in the spiked biosolids, the impacts of the aged and spiked biosolids could have also been due to differences in TCS concentrations.</p><p>Objective 5 consisted of a long-term soil sampling campaign on four agricultural fields receiving Class B municipal biosolids. Soil samples were taken before and after biosolids application and were analyzed to elucidate potential impacts of TCS in the biosolids on denitrification. Again, to assess the overall impacts of TCS on the soil denitrifying community, the DEA assay, qPCR, and T-RFLP were used to measure impacts on function, abundance, and diversity, respectively. Similar to Objective 4, the analysis included an examination of potential correlations between denitrifying community structure and function, and quantification of global impacts using the denitrification inhibition score. As expected, the results in this pilot-study reflected the complexity of the system that was analyzed and many more samples, which account for variables including, but not limited to soil characteristics, biosolids characteristics, biosolids application rates, and chemical composition and quantities, would be needed to show any statistically significant differences. Nevertheless, several key results were obtained. Again potential long-term inhibition of denitrification was observed using the DEA assay, however the effects of exhaustion of resources, such as NO₃<super>-</super>, or significant changes in the local environment were suspected, but could not be verified. Inhibition was also observed for denitrifier abundance, but little to no inhibition was observed when examining the relative number of denitrifying species. Thus, while the abundance of denitrifiers was reduced, and denitrification was eventually depressed, the number of species in the soil remained constant. When looking at the denitrification inhibition score, which took all three measurements into account, increased inhibition over time was observed with the exception of the measurements on Days 30 and 103, which indicated overall, but weak inhibition of denitrification by the application of biosolids. NMS ordinations showed no correlation between the shift in denitrifying microbial community and TCS. Because of the complexity of the soil and biosolids and because of the myriad of contaminants likely in the biosolids, the results may not be significant and a more in-depth study was recommended.</p><p>Overall, the results presented in this dissertation provide a systematic evaluation of the effects of biosolids-derived TCS on agricultural soil microbial ecology. First, it was demonstrated that statistically significant inhibition of denitrification could be used as a potential indicator of biosolids-derived emerging organic contaminant ecotoxicity. The denitrification assay that was developed was then used to analyze ecotoxicological potential of six emerging biosolids-derived antimicrobial agents, and found inhibition of denitrification at environmentally relevant concentrations. The most widely used antimicrobial agent, TCS, was further shown to inhibit wastewater treatment processes, as well as, denitrification in simulated agricultural conditions after being aged with and spiked into biosolids. In addition, evidence showing potential inhibition of denitrification by TCS in `traditional' biosolids under field conditions was also obtained. Based on these results, this dissertation asserts that biosolids-derived emerging organic contaminants pose a potential risk to agricultural soil microbial ecology and overall soil health. Future studies, however, are needed to examine the impacts of other contaminants that might be flagged with the assay developed in this dissertation under more complex conditions mimicking the environment. Furthermore, other research is needed to examine the role microbial communities play in the bioavailability of emerging contaminants, especially TCS, and a more extensive, in-depth study is needed to characterize the individual impacts of emerging contaminants on soil microbial communities under field conditions.</p> / Dissertation

8 pp. / The land application (non-hazardous sewage sludge) biosolids has been in practice in Arizona since the 60s.

Wastewater sludge is considered a valuable source of nutrients and energy. Freeze/thaw treatment is an efficient dewatering method for wastewater sludge management in First Nation communities located in cold climate conditions. Natural freeze/thaw is a simple, practical and low cost method, which can effectively dewater sludge. The objective of this research is to evaluate dewatering, nutrient recovery and organics separation of wastewater sludge originating from different wastewater treatment processes using freeze/thaw processing. The results of experiments showed the effectiveness of this method in sludge dewaterability and solubilisation of organics and nutrients. The sludge solid content increased by approximately 10-fold after treatment. It was effective in solubilisation of about 15.2%, 33.5% and 21.5% of total nitrogen, total phosphorus and total chemical oxygen demand to soluble one, respectively for the non-BNR sludge. However, anaerobic digestion of the solid cake post freeze/thaw treatment did not show enhanced methane yield compared with fresh sludge. / February 2017