In the biotechnological desulfurization process under haloalkaline conditions, dihydrogen sulfide (H ₂ S) is removed from sour gas and oxidized to elemental sulfur (S ₈ ) by sulfide-oxidizing bacteria. Besides S ₈ , the byproducts sulfate (SO ₄ ^2- ) and thiosulfate (S ₂ O ₃ ^2- ) are formed, which consume caustic and form a waste stream. The aim of this study was to increase selectivity toward S ₈ by a new process line-up for biological gas desulfurization, applying two bioreactors with different substrate conditions (i.e., sulfidic and microaerophilic), instead of one (i.e., microaerophilic). A 111-day continuous test, mimicking full scale operation, demonstrated that S ₈ formation was 96.6% on a molar H ₂ S supply basis; selectivity for SO ₄ ^2- and S ₂ O ₃ ^2- were 1.4 and 2.0% respectively. The selectivity for S ₈ formation in a control experiment with the conventional 1-bioreactor line-up was 75.6 mol %. At start-up, the new process line-up immediately achieved lower SO ₄ ^2- and S ₂ O ₃ ^2- formations compared to the 1-bioreactor line-up. When the microbial community adapted over time, it was observed that SO ₄ ^2- formation further decreased. In addition, chemical formation of S ₂ O ₃ ^2- was reduced due to biologically mediated removal of sulfide from the process solution in the anaerobic bioreactor. The increased selectivity for S ₈ formation will result in 90% reduction in caustic consumption and waste stream formation compared to the 1-bioreactor line-up.

Phosphate is a vital nutrient but its presence in surface waters even at very low concentrations can lead to eutrophication. Adsorption is often suggested as a step for reducing phosphate down to very low concentrations. Porous metal oxides can be used as granular adsorbents that have a high surface area and hence a high adsorption capacity. But from a practical point of view, these adsorbents also need to have good adsorption kinetics. The surface area of such adsorbents comes from pores of varying pore size and the pore size distribution (PSD) of the adsorbents can affect the phosphate adsorption kinetics. In this study, the PSD of 4 different adsorbents was correlated with their phosphate adsorption kinetics. The adsorbents based on iron and aluminium (hydr)oxide were grinded and the adsorption performance was studied as a function of their particle size. This was done to identify diffusion limitations due to the PSD of the adsorbents. The phosphate adsorption kinetics were similar for small particles of all the adsorbents. For larger particles, the adsorbents having pores larger than 10 nm (FSP and DD6) showed faster adsorption than adsorbents with smaller pores (GEH and CFH). Even though micropores (pores < 2 nm) contributed to a higher portion of the adsorbent surface area, pores bigger than 10 nm were needed to increase the rate of adsorption.

Adsorption is often suggested for to reach very low phosphate levels in municipal wastewater effluent and even to recover phosphate. Adsorbent performance is usually associated with surface area but the exact role of the pore size distribution (PSD) is unclear. Here, we show the effect of the PSD on phosphate adsorption. Granular activated carbons (GACs) with varying PSDs were treated with potassium permanganate followed by reaction with ferric chloride to form iron oxide coated GACs (Fe-GACs). Energy dispersive X-ray and kinetics experiments confirmed that manganese anchored on the GAC is important for subsequent iron attachment. Mössbauer spectroscopy showed presence of ferrihydrite in Fe-GAC. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the iron oxide particles are not present in the micropores of the GACs. Phosphate adsorption isotherms were performed with the Fe-GACs and adsorption at lower phosphate concentrations correlated with the porous area of &#x003E;3 nm of the adsorbents, a high fraction of which is contributed by mesopores. These results show that high surface areas of GACs resulting from micropores do not contribute to adsorption at low phosphate concentrations. This can be explained by the micropores being difficult to coat with iron oxide nanoparticles, but in addition the diffusion of phosphate into these pores could also be hindered. It is therefore recommended to use backbones having high mesoporous areas. This information is useful for developing adsorbents particularly for applications treating low phosphate concentrations, for e.g. in municipal wastewater effluent polishing.

A novel approach has been developed for the simultaneous description of reaction kinetics to describe the formation of polysulfide and sulfate anions from the biological oxidation of hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) using a quick, sulfide-dependent respiration test. Next to H₂S, thiols are commonly present in sour gas streams. We investigated the inhibition mode and the corresponding inhibition constants of six thiols and the corresponding diorgano polysulfanes on the biological oxidation of H₂S. A linear relationship was found between the calculated IC₅₀ values and the lipophilicity of the inhibitors. Moreover, a mathematical model was proposed to estimate the biomass activity in the absence and presence of sulfurous inhibitors. The biomass used in the respiration tests originated from a full-scale biodesulfurization reactor. A microbial community analysis of this biomass revealed that two groups of microorganism are abundant, viz. Ectothiorhodospiraceae and Piscirickettsiaceae.