A diminuição da disponibilidade de água de boa de qualidade em nível mundial é resultado, entre outros fatores, do consumo elevado exercido pela agricultura irrigada. A fim de minimizar os impactos ocasionados por essa atividade aos recursos hídricos, muitos países demonstram a viabilidade do emprego de efluentes de esgoto tratado na agricultura. Contudo, esta prática oferece riscos à saúde pública através dos organismos patogênicos capazes de sobreviver no esgoto. Entre estes patógenos a OMS destaca os protozoários e os helmintos parasitas do homem, pelo fato de apresentarem maior período de sobrevivência em condições adversas e alto poder de infecção. O presente trabalho tem como objetivo realizar um levantamento qualitativo e quantitativo dos parasitas intestinais de importância sanitária presentes no esgoto afluente, no efluente tratado e no efluente desinfetado de duas estações de tratamento localizadas na cidade de Piracicaba. A ETE Cecap é composta por um sistema australiano com uma lagoa anaeróbia, lagoas facultativas primária e secundária e tratamento por filtração e desinfecção por cloração. A ETE Piracicamirim é constituída por reatores UASB seguidos por lagoa aerada, decantadores secundários de lodo ativado, tratamento por filtro de areia e desinfecção por radiação ultravioleta. Entre maio de 2008 e dezembro de 2009 foram coletas amostras do esgoto bruto e dos efluentes tratado e desinfetado, seguindo as orientações de AYRES e MARA (1996). As técnicas de preparo e análises parasitológicas foram realizadas segundo YANKO (1987) e WHO (1999). A ETE Cecap apresentou uma freqüência de amostras positivas de 40 por cento para o efluente desinfetado, sendo Toxocara sp o parasita mais presente com 46,17 ovos/l. A média de ovos de helmintos para o período de estudo foi 3,78 ovos/l de efluente desinfetado. A ETE Piracicamirim apresentou uma freqüência de 100 por cento para o efluente desinfetado. Ascaris sp foi o parasita mais encontrado nos três pontos de coleta. A média de ovos de helmintos para o período foi de 0,89 ovos/l de efluente desinfetado. A ETE Cecap não apresentou um efluente final propício à utilização na irrigação. Já o efluente proveniente da ETE Piracicamirim atende as recomendações da WHO (2006), para a presença de ovos de helmintos, para utilização na irrigação irrestrita / Decreased availability of good water quality worldwide is a result, among other factors, high consumption exerted by irrigated agriculture. In order to minimize the impacts caused by this activity to water, many countries demonstrate the viability of using treated sewage effluent in agriculture. However, this practice provides a public health risk through the pathogens can survive in sewage. Among these pathogens, WHO stresses the protozoa and helminths of human, because they presented greater period of survival in adverse conditions and high power of infection. This paper aims to evaluate the quality and quantity of intestinal parasites of sanitary importance present in the raw sewage in the treated effluent and disinfected from two treatment plants located in the city of Piracicaba. The sewage treatment plant CECAP comprises an Australian system with an anaerobic pond, facultative ponds primary and secondary treatment by filtration and disinfection by chlorination. The sewage treatment plant Piracicamirim consists of UASB followed by aerated lagoon, activated sludge secondary clarifiers, treatment by sand filter and disinfection by ultraviolet radiation. Between May 2008 and December 2009 were collected and samples of raw sewage effluent treated and disinfected, following the guidelines of AYRES and MARA (1996). The techniques of preparation and analysis were performed according parasitological YANKO (in 1987) and WHO (1999). CECAP showed rates of positive samples of 40 per cent for the effluent disinfected with Toxocara sp parasite more present with 46.17 eggs/l. The mean helminths eggs for the study period was 3.78 eggs/l effluent disinfected. Piracicamirim showed rates of 100 per cent for the effluent disinfected. Ascaris sp was the parasite most commonly found in the three collection sites. The mean helminths eggs for the period was 0.89 eggs/l effluent disinfected. CECAP not produced a final effluent suitable for irrigation use. Already the effluent from the sewage treatment plant Piracicamirim meets the recommendations of WHO (2006), for the presence of helminths eggs for use in unrestricted irrigation

CoordenaÃÃo de AperfeiÃoamento de NÃvel Superior / O tratamento de esgoto à fundamental para a manutenÃÃo da qualidade dos corpos dâÃgua. O presente trabalho investigou os aspectos tÃcnicos e operacionais da estaÃÃo de tratamento de esgoto (ETE) por lodos ativados com aeraÃÃo prolongada do Campus do Pici, situada na Universidade Federal do Cearà e propÃs medidas corretivas para compatibilizar as eficiÃncias reais com as de projeto. Por meio da anÃlise dos parÃmetros fÃsicos, quÃmicos e biolÃgicos de qualidade de Ãgua no afluente e efluente avaliou-se a eficiÃncia real da ETE, sendo que os principais parÃmetros operacionais foram avaliados no tratamento preliminar, tanque de aeraÃÃo e decantador secundÃrio. De posse dos dados coletados, compararam-se os dados de eficiÃncia com os valores citados na literatura para a tecnologia de lodos ativados por aeraÃÃo prolongada, assim como os valores obtidos na avaliaÃÃo operacional da ETE. Adicionalmente, foram verificados quais parÃmetros atendiam aos limites da Portaria no 154 da SuperintendÃncia Estadual de Meio ambiente do Cearà (Semace). Constatou-se que a ETE està submetida à sobrecarga hidrÃulica, comprometendo desta forma a eficiÃncia de remoÃÃo de matÃria orgÃnica e patogÃnicos, alÃm da baixa remoÃÃo de nutrientes, que faz com que o efluente nÃo atenda aos limites da supracitada portaria para amÃnia e fÃsforo. Como principal intervenÃÃo na ETE, recomendou-se a construÃÃo de mÃdulos complementares para distribuiÃÃo da vazÃo afluente de forma a sanar o problema de sobrecarga hidrÃulica, alÃm da possibilidade de inclusÃo de tratamento em nÃvel terciÃrio para o problema dos nutrientes. Sà apÃs a realizaÃÃo desta intervenÃÃo, poderÃo ser propostas medidas para a otimizaÃÃo da ETE e adequaÃÃo do efluente a todos os padrÃes de lanÃamento estabelecidos e avaliados na presente investigaÃÃo. / Wastewater treatment is very important to maintain the quality of water bodies. The present work evaluated the technical and operational aspects of an activated sludge Wastewater Treatment Plant (WTP), classified as prolonged aeration, located at the âCampus do Piciâ of the Federal University of CearÃ, and propose some interventions to make compatible real and design efficiencies. The physical-chemical and biological water analysis of influent and effluent allowed to monitor the real WTP efficiency. Some operational parameters were assessed in the preliminary treatment, aeration tank and secondary settler. After the monitoring time, the real organic matter, nutrients and pathogens removal efficiencies were compared to values reported in literature for the activated sludge system in extended aeration, as well as for the operational parameters. Additionally, it was verified which parameters were below the limits reported in the regulation (Portaria no 154 of Secretaria de Meio ambiente do CearÃ, Semace). It was concluded that the WTP was hydraulically overloaded, which is compromising the organic matter and pathogens removal, beside the low nutrients efficiency. Because of this, the WTP effluent is not accomplishing the regulation limits for ammonium and phosphorous. As a major intervention, we suggest the construction of other modules to distribute the inflow, with the aim of decrease the hydraulic overload problem, beside the possibility of including a tertiary treatment to decrease the nutrients concentrations. Only after these improvements we can think of ways to optimize the WTP to achieve the design efficiencies and effluent limits.

abstract: Microbial electrochemical cells (MxCs) are a novel technology that use anode-respiring bacteria (ARB) to bioremediate wastewaters and respire an electrical current, which can then be used directly to produce value-added products like hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Ninety-five percent of the world’s H2O2 is currently produced using the anthraquinone process, whose production requires expensive and potentially carcinogenic catalysts and high amounts of electricity. However, the amount of H2O2 that can be produced from these microbial peroxide-producing cells (MPPCs) has not been thoroughly investigated. Predicting potential H2O2 production in MxCs is further complicated by a lack of mathematical models to predict performance utilizing complex waste streams like primary sludge (PS). A reactor design methodology was developed for MPPCs to systematically optimize H2O2 production with minimal energy consumption. H2O2 stability was evaluated with different catholytes, membranes, and catalysts materials, and the findings used to design and operate long-term a dual-chamber, flat-plate MPPC using different catholytes, ferrochelating stabilizers, and hydraulic retention times (HRT). Up to 3.1 ± 0.37 g H2O2 L-1 was produced at a 4-h HRT in an MPPC with as little as 1.13 W-h g-1 H2O2 power input using NaCl catholytes. Attempts to improve H2O2 production by using weak acid buffers as catholytes or ferrochelating stabilizers failed for different reasons. A non-steady-state mathematical model, MYAnode, was developed combinging existing wastewater treatment, anode biofilm, and chemical speciation models to predict MxC performance utilizing complex substrates. The model simulated the large-scale trends observed when operating an MPPC with PS substrate. At HRTs ≥ 12-d, the model demonstrated up to 20% Coulombic recovery. At these conditions, ARB required additional alkalinity production by ≥ 100 mgVSS/L of acetoclastic methanogens to prevent pH inhibition when little influent alkalinity is available. At lower HRTs, methanogens are unable to produce the alkalinity required to prevent ARB inhibition due to washout and rapid acidification of the system during fermentation. At ≥ 100 mgVSS/L of methanogens, increasing the diffusion layer thickness from 500 to 1000 μm improved Coulombic efficiency by 13.9%, while increasing particulate COD hydrolysis rates to 0.25/d only improved Coulombic efficiency by 3.9%. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering 2018

As lagoas facultativas mantêm uma biota característica, decorrente de sua área superficial, que permite grande disponibilidade de energia luminosa para a coluna de água e promove o estabelecimento da comunidade fitoplanctônica. A presença dos nutrientes na forma assimilável aos microorganismos autotróficos induz a síntese de biomassa, a qual provoca a supersaturação de oxigênio dissolvido, que se constitui como substrato necessário ao desenvolvimento de bactérias heterotróficas, responsáveis pela degradação aeróbia da matéria orgânica nas camadas superiores da lagoa. Este estudo teve como objetivo principal a caracterização da estrutura da comunidade fitoplanctônica em termo de diversidade de espécies, densidade abundância relativa e dominância na lagoa facultativa do módulo III da estação de tratamento de esgotos de mangabeira, na cidade de João Pessoa - PB. As amostragens foram realizadas em escala semanal e sazonal, com coletas entre 8 e 9 horas da manhã, no período de junho/2008 a fevereiro/2009, as regiões afluente e efluente. As alterações no comportamento sazonal das variáveis físicas, químicas e biológicas, assim como das climatológicas, foram analisadas através da ferramenta estatística multivariada da Análise de Componentes Principais (ACP). Foram identificados 36 taxa nas duas regiões de amostragem e apenas cianobactérias foram predominantes durante o período deste estudo. Contudo, não foi observada variação sazonal na composição da comunidade fitoplanctônica nas duas regiões de amostragem. Embora, algumas espécies foram mais frequentes na região afluente, a densidade total apresentou nítida variação sazonal, com valores entre 2,0 x \'10 POT.4\' e 1,2 x \'10 POT.5\' ind/mL. A cianobactéria Planktothrix agardhii, a qual pode produzir a hepatotoxina microcistina, foi a espécie que mais contribuiu para a densidade, assim como para o biovolume. / Facultative ponds keep a characteristic biota, as a result of its superficial area, wich permits high availability of solar energy to the water column favoring the establishment of the phytoplanktonik community. The presence of available nutrients to the autotrophic microorganisms leads to the synthesis of biomass cellular into the pond and it causes the oversaturation dissolved oxygen, which is necessary to the development of heterotrophic bacteria, responsible for aerobic stabilization of organic material at the upper layer of the pond. The main goal of this study was to caracterize the structure of phytoplanktonic community in relation to different species, biomass, relative abundance and dominance at the facultative pond of the module III of waste water plants of Mangabeira (João Pessoa - PB). Samples were taken in seasonal and weekly scale, with collects between 8 a.m to 9 a.m, in the period of June, 2008 to February, 2009, at the regions of inflow and outflow of effluents. Alterations in seasonal behavior of the physical, chemical and biological variables, as well as climatic, were analyzed through statistics multivariate tool of the principal component of analysis (PCA). It was identified 36 taxa on the facultative pond and only the cyanobacteria were predominant during the period of this study. However, it was not observed temporal variation in the composition of phytoplanktonic community at two collected regions. Although, it was noticed that some species were more frequent at the region of inflow than at the outflow. It was also observed that the high total phytoplanktonic density shows a clear seasonal variation, with values between 2.0 x \'10 POT.4\' and 1,2 x \'10 POT.5\' ind/mL. The cyanobacteria Planktothrix agardhii, which may produce hepatotoxic microcystins, was the species that more contributed for the density as well as the biovolume.

As indústrias químicas são consideradas como o segmento industrial que gera os efluentes mais perigosos ao meio ambiente. Em virtude das concentrações expressivas de poluentes, tanto orgânicos quanto inorgânicos, os efluentes dessas indústrias podem interferir na atividade da biomassa de estações de tratamento de efluentes (E.T.E.), diminuindo sua eficiência e gerando efluentes tratados, porém em desacordo com a legislação pertinente. Para prevenir tais efeitos, o recebimento de efluentes industriais em E.T.E.s pode ser precedido por pré-tratamento, dentre os quais, o biológico, otimizado pela adição de microrganismos com capacidade de degradar poluentes. Foram isolados microrganismos com capacidade de degradar os compostos identificados como responsáveis pela toxicidade do efluente final da E.T.E.: benzeno, clorofórmio, 1,2-dicloroetano, pentaclorofenol, tricloroeteno, tolueno e p-xileno. Foram realizados testes de bioaumentação para pré tratar o efluente industrial, que foram avaliados através de ensaios físico-químicos e de toxicidade aguda para Vibrio fischeri e Daphnia similis. Os resultados obtidos demonstraram que o pré tratamento reduziu a toxicidade do efluente final da estação de tratamento. / Chemical industries are considered the industrial sector that generates the most dangerous effluents to the environment. Due to the high pollutant concentration, either organics or inorganics, the chemical industries effluents may interferer in the biomass activity in wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), what may reduce its efficiency and generate treated effluents in disagreement to the concerned law. In order to prevent such effects, the industrial effluents disposal in WWTPs can be preceded by biological pretreatment, which can be optimized by adding microorganisms capable of pollutants degradation. Microorganism strains that are able to degrade the compounds identified as the responsible for toxicity levels in the WWTP final effluent: benzene, chloroform, 1,2-dichloroethane, pentachlorophenol, trichloroethene, tolune and p-xylene were isolated. Bioaugmentation tests aiming the chemical effluent pretreatment were performed and they were evaluated through physical-chemical analysis and acute toxicity tests for Vibrio fischeri and Daphnia similis. The results showed that the industrial effluent pretreatment reduced the toxicity levels in the WWTP final effluent.

In this study we compare the ability of nitrifying activated sludge (NAS) and nitrifying trickling filter (NTF) wastewater treatment to remove the following contaminants: acetaminophen, caffeine, 1,7-dimethylxanthine, cotinine, ibuprofen, sulfamethoxazole, triclosan, and trimethoprim. Removal of acetaminophen, cotinine and caffeine was greater than 99% and removal 1,7-dimethylxanthine, ibuprofen, and triclosan was greater than 90% using NAS and NTF treatment. Sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim were inadequately removed in both NAS and NTF treatments. The horizontal, subsurface flow treatment wetland showed removals of 45-89% for sulfamethoxazole and greater than 96% for trimethoprim. There was no statistical difference (P>0.05) between aeration, temperature and vegetation in the treatment wetland for the removal of sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim.

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) involve several complex physical, biological and chemical processes. Often these processes exhibit non-linear behavior that is difficult to describe by classical mathematical models. Safer operation and control of a WWTP can be achieved by developing a modeling tool for predicting the plant performance. In the last decade, many studies were realized in wastewater treatment based on intelligent methods which are related to modeling WWTP. These studies are about predictions of WWTP parameters, process control of WWTP, estimating WWTP output parameters characteristics. In many studies, neural network models were used to model chemical and physical attributes in the flow rate. In this Thesis, a data-driven approach for analyzing water quality is introduced. Improvements in the data collection of information system allow collection of large volumes of data. Although improvements in data collection systems have given researchers sufficient information about various systems, they must be used in conjunction with novel data-mining algorithms to build models and recognize patterns in large data sets. Since the mid 1990's, data mining has been successfully used for model extraction and describing various phenomena of interest.

The primary objective of this research is to model and optimize wastewater treatment process in a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). As the treatment process is complex, its operations pose challenges. Traditional physics-based and mathematical- models have limitations in predicting the behavior of the wastewater process and optimization of its operations. Automated control and information technology enables continuous collection of data. The collected data contains process information allowing to predict and optimize the process. Although the data offered by the WWTP is plentiful, it has not been fully used to extract meaningful information to improve performance of the plant. A data-driven approach is promising in identifying useful patterns and models using algorithms versed in statistics and computational intelligence. Successful data-mining applications have been reported in business, manufacturing, science, and engineering. The focus of this research is to model and optimize the wastewater treatment process and ultimately improve efficiency of WWTPs. To maintain the effluent quality, the influent flow rate, the influent pollutants including the total suspended solids (TSS) and CBOD, are predicted in short-term and long-term to provide information to efficiently operate the treatment process. To reduce energy consumption and improve energy efficiency, the process of biogas production, activated sludge process and pumping station are modeled and optimized with evolutionary computation algorithms. Modeling and optimization of wastewater treatment processes faces three major challenges. The first one is related to the data. As wastewater treatment includes physical, chemical, and biological processes, and instruments collecting large volumes of data. Many variables in the dataset are strongly coupled. The data is noisy, uncertain, and incomplete. Therefore, several preprocessing algorithms should be used to preprocess the data, reduce its dimensionality, and determine import variables. The second challenge is in the temporal nature of the process. Different data-mining algorithms are used to obtain accurate models. The last challenge is the optimization of the process models. As the models are usually highly nonlinear and dynamic, novel evolutionary computational algorithms are used. This research addresses these three challenges. The major contribution of this research is in modeling and optimizing the wastewater treatment process with a data-driven approach. The process model built is then optimized with evolutionary computational algorithms to find the optimal solutions for improving process efficiency and reducing energy consumption.

Dairy processing waste (DPW) can cause many environmental problems if not treated well. Various wastewater treatment technologies have been applied to reduce the organics and inorganics in DPW. The overall objective of this research was to develop cost effective anaerobic digestion technology for hydrogen and methane production from DPW. This search included three phases of studies. In phase 1, we investigated continuous fermentations of algae, lawn grass clippings and DPW, commingled and digested in duplicate 60 L and 3,800 L Induced Bed Reactor (IBR) anaerobic digesters at mesophilic conditions in trials that went for about two years. The goal was to commingle municipal waste in such a way that no pH control chemicals would be required. The research also yielded information about solids loading rate (SLR), efficiency of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and solids removal and biogas production. Under the conditions of the study, commingling algae or grass with DPW made it possible to avoid the addition of pH control chemicals. In phase 2, we investigated the effects of pH, temperature, and hydraulic retention time (HRT) and organic loading rate (OLR) on hydrogen production from DPW in semicontinuous 60 L pilot IBR. Results show pH played a key role on hydrogen production and the optimal pH range was 4.8-5.5. Digestion under thermophilic temperatures (60 °C) had advantages of gaining higher hydrogen yield and suppressing the growth of methanogens. The optimal OLR was 32.9 g-COD/l-d at HRT of 3 days. Under optimal conditions, highest hydrogen yield was 160.7 ml/g-COD removed with 44.6% COD removal. In phase 3, a mathematic model was built and implemented in R based on Anaerobic Digestion Model No. 1 (ADM1) for predicting and describing the anaerobic hydrogen production process. The modified ADM1 was then validated by comparing the predictions with observations of anaerobic hydrogen production from dairy processing waste. The model successfully predicted hydrogen production, hydrogen content, methane content, VFA concentration, and digestion system stability. This study provides a useful mathematical model to investigate anaerobic hydrogen production process and stability.

Approximately 25% of households in the U.S. treat their wastewater onsite using conventional onsite wastewater treatment systems (OWTS). These systems typically include a septic tank or a series of septic tanks followed by a soil absorption system. They effectively remove biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), total suspended solids (TSS), fats and grease but are not designed to remove significant amounts of nitrogen. High nitrogen loading to coastal and ground waters can be dangerous to aquatic life and public health. Hence, there is a need for advanced onsite wastewater treatment systems that can effectively remove nitrogen. Making enhanced nitrogen removal for OWTS as our primary goal, a laboratory scale Hybrid Adsorption and Biological Treatment Systems (HABiTS) was developed and upon observation of its effective nitrogen removal capacity, a pilot demonstration study with two side-by-side HABiTS, one with recirculation and one without recirculation (only forward flow) were constructed and tested at the Northwest Regional Water Reclamation Facility in Hillsborough County (Florida). HABiTS employ biological nitrogen removal and ion exchange for effective nitrogen removal. HABiTS is a two-stage process which uses nitrification for the oxidation of ammonium to nitrate and ion exchange for ammonium adsorption that helps buffer transient loading and also acts as a biofilm carrier in its stage 1 biofilter and it uses tire-sulfur hybrid adsorption denitrification (T-SHAD) in its stage 2 biofilter. These sulfur pellets help promote sulfur oxidation denitrification (SOD) and tire chips are used for nitrate adsorption during transient loading conditions, as biofilm carriers for denitrifying bacteria, and can also be used as organic carbon source to promote heterotrophic denitrification because they leach organic carbon. For this research, HABiTS without recirculation is considered as the control system and the performance of HABiTS with recirculation was tested for its ability to further enhance nitrogen removal from HABiTS. Nitrified effluent recirculation is a common strategy employed in wastewater treatment for enhanced nitrogen removal. It is the reintroduction of semi-treated wastewater to pass through an anoxic pre-treatment chamber to achieve better quality effluent. Recirculation is said to improve and consistently remove nitrogen at any hydraulic loading rate and/or nitrogen concentration. This is because of the dilution of high BOD septic tank effluent with nitrified effluent which lowers COD:TKN ratio and also improves mass transfer of substrates in the stage 1 biofilter. Recirculation also provides some pre-denitrification in the pre-treatment chamber, thereby reducing nitrogen load on the system. The HABiTS with recirculation (R) was run at 1:1 ratio of nitrified effluent recirculation rate to the influent flow rate for 50 days, and at 3:1 ratio for the remaining period of this research (200 days). The forward flow system (FF) was run under constant conditions throughout the research and comparisons between the two systems were made for different water quality parameters (pH, DO, conductivity, alkalinity, TSS, chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP) and various nitrogen species). The final effluent ammonium results showed that the system with recirculation removed consistently > 80% NH4+-N during 1:1 and 3:1 recirculation ratios whereas the forward flow system achieved 57% removal. Further, an average of 81% total inorganic nitrogen (TIN) removal from the system influent was seen in the recirculation system’s final effluent when compared to an average of 55% in forward flow system’s final effluent. This research explains in detail, the impact of nitrified effluent recirculation on enhanced nitrogen removal in onsite systems and the results presented in this thesis proved that nitrified effluent recirculation provides promising enhanced nitrogen removal in an onsite wastewater treatment system.