Bed filters using reactive materials are an emerging technology for on-site wastewater treatment. Chemical reactions transfer contaminants from the aqueous to the solid phase. Phosphorus is removed from domestic wastewater by sorption to filter materials, which can then be recycled to agriculture as fertilisers and soil amendments. This thesis presents long-term column and field-scale studies of nine filter materials, particularly the novel product Polonite®. Phosphorus, nitro-gen and metals were removed by the mineral-based materials to varying degrees. Polonite and Nordkalk Filtra P demonstrated the largest phosphorus removal capacity, maintaining a PO4-P removal efficiency of >95%. Analysis of filter bed layers in columns with downward wastewater flow, showed that phosphorus, carbon and nitrogen content was vertically distributed, with de-creasing values from surface to base layer. Polonite and Filtra P accumulated 1.9-19 g P kg-1. Nitrogen in wastewater was scarcely removed by the alkaline filter materials, but transformation from NH4-N to NO3-N was >90%. Pot experiments with barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) revealed that after wastewater treatment, slags and Polonite could increase plant production. Batch experi-ments and ATR-FTIR investigations indicated that amorphous tricalcium phosphate (ATCP) was formed in the materials, so some of the accumulated PO4-P was readily available to plants. Low heavy metal contents occurred in the materials, showing that they can be applied as soil amend-ments in agriculture without contamination risks. A full-scale treatment system using Polonite as filter material showed an average PO4-P removal efficiency of 89% for a 92-week period, indicat-ing the robustness of the filter bed technology. / QC 20100907

In previous studies on suction box dewatering, three mechanisms were identified that determine the dry content of a web, viz. web compression, displacement of water by air and rewetting. In the present work, the relative importance of the three mechanisms was investigated through direct measurement of the web deformation, the dry content changes during and after the suction pulse, the air flow through the fibre network and the saturation of the web after the suction pulse. Suction pressure, suction time and rewetting time were varied. The experiments were done with chemical and mechanical pulp webs of various grammages. It was found that a large web deformation took place during the suction pulse, particularly at its beginning. Compression dewatering was found to be the most dominant dewatering mechanism. Displacement dewatering started after most of the web compression had occurred. Its contribution to the increase in dry content was most pronounced for higher suction pressures, longer suction times and for chemical pulp webs. A surprisingly large expansion of the web was observed immediately after the suction pulse. This expansion was the effect of rewetting. This rewetting strongly reduced the dry content of the web if the web had not been immediately separated from the forming fabric at the end of the suction pulse. Under the conditions studied, the decrease in dry content amounted to the order of 3 to 6 %. Rewetting was smaller for longer suction times and higher suction pressures. A considerable air flow through the web occurred under these conditions. This air flow apparently moved water from the forming fabric into the suction box, thus making less water available for rewetting. Rewetting for mechanical pulp webs was more pronounced and took place faster than for chemical pulps. The use of a membrane on top of the web during suction box dewatering proved to be advantageous for reducing the air flow through the web. However, under the conditions investigated, the dry content could not be improved. Although the web compression was increased when using a membrane, especially at a higher suction pressure, rewetting after the suction pulse had an even larger negative impact on the dry content, which, as a result, was lower. / QC 20100924

The interplay of transporters and enzymes and their transporter-enzyme was examined in Caco-2 cell monolayer and recirculating perfused rat liver preprations via both theoretical and experimental approaches. First, a Caco-2 catenary model that consisted of the apical, cellular, basolateral compartments and encompasses influx, efflux transporters and enzymes was shown to be superior to the single barrier approach for data interpretation on transporter- and enzyme- mediated processes. The kinetics of baicalein, a flavonoid that undergoes glucuronidation and sulfation, were found to be described better by the catenary model for the complex kinetics of substrate inhibition in metabolism. Second, estradiol-17beta-D-glucuronide (E217G), a protypic substrate of Oatp1a1, 1a4, and 1b2 and Mrp2 that underwent futile cycling with its 3-sulfate metabolite (E23S17G) via estrogen sulfotransferase (Sult1e1) and arylsulfatase C, was examined in the perfused rat liver preparation. Solutions of the AUC and clearances were solved to relate the intrinsic clearances of transporters and enzymes to understand how these affected the apparent clearances in the presence of futile cycling. Transporters and enzymes were perturbed experimentally by the intraportal injection of CC531 colon carcinoma cells for tumor induction in Wag/Rij rat livers. The protein expression of Oatp1a1 and Oatp1b2 were reduced to half whereas Sult1e1 was increased by 40% with tumor development versus the sham-operated control. These data were well predicted by the physiologically-based liver model, showing the impact of increased sulfation intrinsic clearance but not the decreased influx clearance. The TR- (Mrp2 mutant) rat model was used to examine how the absence of Mrp2 for biliary secretion of both E217G and E23S17G affected futile cycling. Absence of Mrp2 was found to result in a pseudo steady-state and reduction of the total, excretion, and metabolic clearances in the liver. The work shed new insight on the interplay between enzymes and transporters and how kinetic processes mediated by enzymes or efflux transporters affected futile cycling.

Two methods for refining metallurgical grade silicon to solar grade silicon have been investigated. The first method involved the reduction of impurities from metallurgical grade silicon by high temperature vacuum refining. The concentrations of analyzed elements were reduced several times. The main steps in the second refining method include alloying with copper, solidification, grinding and heavy media separation. A metallographic study of the Si-Cu alloy showed the presence of only two microconstituents, mainly pure silicon dendrites and the Cu3Si intermetallic. SEM analysis showed a distinct boundary between the silicon and the Cu3Si phases, with a large concentration of microcracks along the boundary, which allowed for efficient separation. After alloying and grinding, a heavy media liquid was used to separate the light silicon phase from the heavier Cu3Si phase. Cu3Si residues together with the remaining impurities were found to be located at the surface of the pure silicon particles, and should be efficiently removed by acid leaching. Thirty elements were analyzed by the Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP) chemical analysis technique. ICP revealed a several times higher impurity level in the Cu3Si intermetallic than in the pure silicon; furthermore, the amounts of 22 elements in the refined silicon were reduced below the detection limit where the concentrations of 7 elements were below 1ppmw and 6 elements were below 2ppmw. The results showed that the suggested method is efficient in removing impurities from metallurgical grade silicon with great potential for further development.

Hydrogen sulphide (H2S) is a serious problem for many industries, including oil production and processing, pulp and paper, and wastewater treatment. In addition, H2S is usually present in natural gas and biogas. It is necessary to control the generation and release of H2S into the environment because H2S is corrosive, toxic, and has an unpleasant odour. In addition, the removal of H2S from natural gas and biogas is essential for preventing the emission of SO2 upon combustion of these gases. Physicochemical processes have been developed for the removal of H2S. These processes employ techniques such as chemical or physical absorption, thermal and catalytic conversion, and liquid phase oxidation. In comparison, biological processes for the removal of sulphide typically operate at ambient temperature and pressure, with the feasibility for the treatment of smaller streams, and the absence of expensive catalysts. The objective of the present work was to study the biooxidation of sulphide under denitrifying conditions in batch system and a continuous immobilized cell bioreactor using a mixed microbial culture enriched from the produced water of a Canadian oil reservoir. <p>In the batch experiments conducted at various initial sulphide concentrations, an increase in the sulphide oxidation and nitrate reduction rates was observed as the initial sulphide concentration was increased in the range 1.7 to 5.5 mM. An extended lag phase of approximately 10 days was observed when sulphide concentrations around or higher than 14 mM were used. This, when considered with the fact that the microbial culture was not able to oxidize sulphide at an initial concentration of 20 mM, indicates the inhibitory effects of sulphide at high concentrations.<p>The effect of the initial sulphide to nitrate concentrations ratio (ranging from 0.3 to 4.0) was also studied. As the initial sulphide to nitrate ratio decreased, the sulphide oxidation rates increased. The increasing trend was observed for initial nitrate concentrations in the range of 1.3 to 7.3 mM, corresponding to ratios of 4.08 to 0.83. The increase in nitrate reduction rates was more pronounced than that of the sulphide oxidation rates. However at nitrate concentrations higher than 7.3 mM (ratios lower than 0.83) the nitrate reduction rate remained constant. The percentage of sulphide that was oxidized to sulphate increased from 2.4% to 100% as the initial sulphide to nitrate ratio decreased from 4.08 to 0.42. This indicated that at ratios lower than 0.42, nitrate would be in excess and at ratios exceeding 4.08, nitrate would be limiting. In the continuous bioreactor systems, at sulphide loading rates ranging from 0.26 to 30.30 mM/h, sulphide conversion remained in the range of 97.6% to 99.7%. A linear increase in the volumetric oxidation rate of sulphide was observed as the sulphide loading rate was increased with the maximum rate being 30.30 mM/h (98.5% conversion). Application of immobilized cells led to a significant increase in oxidation rate of sulphide when compared with the rates obtained in a bioreactor with freely suspended cells. At nitrate loading rates ranging from 0.19 to 24.44 mM/h, the nitrate conversion ranged from 97.2% to 100% and a linear increase in volumetric reduction rate was observed as the nitrate loading rate was increased, with the maximum rate being 24.44 mM/h (99.7% conversion). <p>A second bioreactor experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of sulphide to nitrate concentrations ratio on the performance of the system. Sulphide conversion was complete at sulphide to nitrate ratios of 1.1 and 1.3, but decreased to 90.5% at the ratio of 3.1 and 65.0% at the ratio of 5.0, indicating nitrate was limiting for sulphide to nitrate ratios of 3.1 and 5.0. The increase in the sulphide to nitrate ratio (and the resulting limitation of nitrate) caused a decrease in the volumetric reaction rate of sulphide.<p>Nitrate conversion was complete at sulphide to nitrate ratios of 1.3, 3.1, and 5.0; however, at a ratio of 1.1, the conversion of nitrate dropped to 59.6%, indicating that nitrate was in excess, and sulphide was limiting. The volumetric reaction rate of nitrate decreased as the sulphide to nitrate ratio increased for ratios of 1.3, 3.1, and 5.0; this was due to the decrease in the nitrate loading rate. For sulphide to nitrate ratios of 1.1 and 1.3, 7.2% and 19.6% of the sulphide was converted to sulphate, respectively. At ratios of 3.1 and 5.0, no sulphate was generated. For ratios between 1.3 and 5.0, an increase in the ratio caused a decrease in the generation of sulphate.

Abstract Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is an environmentally hazardous, corrosive, and toxic gas, mostly generated in gas and oil industry. For small-scale natural gas processing sites (less than 10 tonne S/day), the use of regenerable iron oxide adsorbent to adsorb H2S from natural gas is still an economical and effective method. The objective of this research project was to understand the performance of an iron oxide adsorbent, recently emerging in the Canadian market, in removing H2S from gas streams. To accomplish this, the breakthrough behaviors of H2S adsorption in a fixed-bed reactor under elevated pressures were studied. The effects of variations in superficial velocity from 0.09 m/s to 0.26 m/s, operating pressure from 4 to 50 atm absolute, and the height of the fixed-bed from 11.7 cm to 24.5 cm on breakthrough curves and sulfur loading were investigated. In all the experiments, the H2S concentration profiles of the exiting gas from the reactor were measured until the bed was saturated. It was found that the shape of the breakthrough curves depend on the superficial velocity and the inlet H2S concentration in gas streams. Under both higher superficial velocity and higher inlet H2S concentration, the shape of the breakthrough curve becomes steeper. The sulfur loading of the adsorbent depends on the superficial velocity, the inlet H2S concentration in gas streams, and the bed height. The sulfur loading decreases as the superficial velocity and the inlet H2S concentration increase, but increases as the bed height increases. The change of operating pressure does not have a significant effect on the shape of the breakthrough curve or sulfur loading of the adsorbent. The investigation was also extended using the regenerated adsorbents. A mathematical formula was developed to describe the breakthrough curves.

The interplay of transporters and enzymes and their transporter-enzyme was examined in Caco-2 cell monolayer and recirculating perfused rat liver preprations via both theoretical and experimental approaches. First, a Caco-2 catenary model that consisted of the apical, cellular, basolateral compartments and encompasses influx, efflux transporters and enzymes was shown to be superior to the single barrier approach for data interpretation on transporter- and enzyme- mediated processes. The kinetics of baicalein, a flavonoid that undergoes glucuronidation and sulfation, were found to be described better by the catenary model for the complex kinetics of substrate inhibition in metabolism. Second, estradiol-17beta-D-glucuronide (E217G), a protypic substrate of Oatp1a1, 1a4, and 1b2 and Mrp2 that underwent futile cycling with its 3-sulfate metabolite (E23S17G) via estrogen sulfotransferase (Sult1e1) and arylsulfatase C, was examined in the perfused rat liver preparation. Solutions of the AUC and clearances were solved to relate the intrinsic clearances of transporters and enzymes to understand how these affected the apparent clearances in the presence of futile cycling. Transporters and enzymes were perturbed experimentally by the intraportal injection of CC531 colon carcinoma cells for tumor induction in Wag/Rij rat livers. The protein expression of Oatp1a1 and Oatp1b2 were reduced to half whereas Sult1e1 was increased by 40% with tumor development versus the sham-operated control. These data were well predicted by the physiologically-based liver model, showing the impact of increased sulfation intrinsic clearance but not the decreased influx clearance. The TR- (Mrp2 mutant) rat model was used to examine how the absence of Mrp2 for biliary secretion of both E217G and E23S17G affected futile cycling. Absence of Mrp2 was found to result in a pseudo steady-state and reduction of the total, excretion, and metabolic clearances in the liver. The work shed new insight on the interplay between enzymes and transporters and how kinetic processes mediated by enzymes or efflux transporters affected futile cycling.

Two methods for refining metallurgical grade silicon to solar grade silicon have been investigated. The first method involved the reduction of impurities from metallurgical grade silicon by high temperature vacuum refining. The concentrations of analyzed elements were reduced several times. The main steps in the second refining method include alloying with copper, solidification, grinding and heavy media separation. A metallographic study of the Si-Cu alloy showed the presence of only two microconstituents, mainly pure silicon dendrites and the Cu3Si intermetallic. SEM analysis showed a distinct boundary between the silicon and the Cu3Si phases, with a large concentration of microcracks along the boundary, which allowed for efficient separation. After alloying and grinding, a heavy media liquid was used to separate the light silicon phase from the heavier Cu3Si phase. Cu3Si residues together with the remaining impurities were found to be located at the surface of the pure silicon particles, and should be efficiently removed by acid leaching. Thirty elements were analyzed by the Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP) chemical analysis technique. ICP revealed a several times higher impurity level in the Cu3Si intermetallic than in the pure silicon; furthermore, the amounts of 22 elements in the refined silicon were reduced below the detection limit where the concentrations of 7 elements were below 1ppmw and 6 elements were below 2ppmw. The results showed that the suggested method is efficient in removing impurities from metallurgical grade silicon with great potential for further development.

I och med övergödningsproblematiken i Östersjön och Sveriges åtaganden i samband med Baltic Sea Action Plan kommer det i framtiden ställas högre krav på rening av kväve från de större avloppsreningsverken i Sverige. Anammox är processen där ammonium oxideras till kvävgas med nitrit som elektonacceptor. Anammox har under den senare tiden implementerats för rejektvattenbehandling i avloppsreningsverk runt om i världen.  När anammox används för att rena ammonium krävs att ca hälften av inkommande ammonium oxideras till nitrit genom nitritation. Detta steg utförs av ammoniakoxiderande bakterier (AOB) vilka kräver en aerob miljö. Den kombinerade processen med anammox och nitritation kallas deammonifikation. På Sjölunda avloppsreningsverk i Malmö har en pilotstudie, i sammarbete med VA-teknik på Lunds Tekniska Högskola, startats för att undersöka potentialen i att implementera deammonifikation i huvudströmmen på reningsverket. Detta examensarbete har syftat till att utarbeta metoder för aktivitetstest av anammox och AOB på bärarmaterial från pilotanläggningen. Med de utarbetade metoderna studerades sedan anammoxbakteriernas aktivitet vid förändrad temperatur. Eftersom anammox producerar kvävgas kunde en metod som baseras på tryckmätning utarbetas för att bestämma anammoxaktiviteten. Metoden visade sig vara tidseffektiv och enkel att utföra. I examensarbetet framkom resultat som visar på att anammox­aktiviteten är beroende av startkoncentrationen av nitrit vid startkoncentrationer under 75 milligram kväve per liter (mg N/l). Beroendet följer av diffusionsbegränsningar i biofilmen vid lägre koncentrationer. Vid startkoncentrationer i intervallet 75-150 mg N/l var aktiviteten oberoende av startkoncentrationen. Vid koncentrationer över 150 mg N/l konstaterades en aktivitetsminskning som troligtvis beror på nitritinhibering. Metoden som arbetades fram för aktivitetstest av AOB baserades på att mäta syrerespirationen innan och efter tillsats av ammonium i en alternerande syresatt reaktor. I metoden skulle en inhibitor för nitritoxiderande bakterier, NaClO3, tillsättas vid slutet av försöket för att säkerställa att dessa bakterier inte konsumerar syre och därmed påverkar resultatet. Vid tillsats av inhibitorn uppstod en orimligt stor aktivitetsförlust som tyder på att denna även inhiberar AOB.  Anammoxaktivitetens temperaturberoende analyserades genom aktivitetsmätning vid fyra temperaturer, i intervallet 11,1-24,9 °C. Försöken visade att förhållandet var exponentiellt och att vid en temperatursänkning från 24,9 °C till 11,1 °C förloras 93 % av aktiviteten. / Given the problem with eutrophication in the Baltic Sea and Sweden's obligations in the Baltic Sea Action Plan, a higher requirement on the removal of nitrogen from the major wastewater treatment plants is expected to be set in the future. Anammox is the process where ammonium is oxidized to nitrogen gas with nitrite as electron acceptor. Anammox has been implemented for treatment of the sludge liquor in wastewater treatment plants around the world. When anammox is used to reduce ammonium, the process requires about half the incoming ammonium to be oxidized into nitrite. This is conducted by ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) that require an aerobic environment. The combined process with anammox and nitritation is called deammonification. A pilot study is taking place at Sjölunda Wastewater Treatment Plant in Malmö in collaboration with Water and Environmental Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Lund University. The aim of the pilot study is to explore the potential of implementing deammonification in the main stream at the wastewater treatment plant. The aim of this Master Theisis is to develop methods for activity tests of Anammox and AOB on carrier material. The elaborated methods were then supposed to be used to study the change in activity with decreasing temperature.  Since anammox produces nitrogen gas a method based on pressure measurements was developed to determine the anammox activity. The results in this thesis showed that the anammox activity was dependent of the initial concentration of nitrite at concentrations below 75 mg N / L. This dependence is a result of the limitations of the diffusion in the biofilm at low concentrations. When the initial concentration of nitrite was within the range of 75 to 150 mg N / L the activity was independent of the initial concentration. At concentrations above 150 mg N / L there was a decrease in activity which probably occurred as a result of nitrite inhibition. To determine the activity of AOB a method based on the oxygen consumption rate was developed. The aeration switched between being turned on and off every five minutes and after some rounds of aereation, ammonium was added. The AOB activity was determined by calculating the difference between the oxygen consumption before and after the addition of ammonium. To ensure that nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) were not consuming any oxygen, NaClO3 was added at the end of the experiment. The resulting decrease in activity was too excessive to only represent the activity loss from only NOB which may suggest that NaClO3 also inhibits AOB. The temperature dependence of anammox activity was analyzed in activity tests at four temperatures in the range of 11.1 to 24.0°C. The experiments concluded that the relationship was exponential and by a drop in temperature from 24.9 ° C to 11.1 °C 93% of the activity was lost.

No description available.