Tailoring polyvinyl alcohol-sodium alginate (PVA-SA) hydrogel beads by controlling crosslinking pH and time

Nice collaboration with Dr. Mari Winkler and her colleagues at UW in Seattle.  This paper furthers our understanding of hydrogels and points out the importance of controlling crosslinking pH and time when creating these artificial beads.  The findings of this work extends our knowledge to employ artificial biofilm systems during wastewater treatment.  

You can find our paper here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-25111-7

Impact of operational strategies on a sidestream enhanced biological phosphorus removal (S2EBPR) reactor in a carbon limited wastewater plant

Check out our latest paper published on Science of the Total Environment (STOTEN)! 

In this study, a full-scale S2EBPR pilot was operated with a sidestream plus carbon config-
uration (SSRC) at a carbon-limited facility. A model based on the pilot test was developed and calibrated in the SUMO platform and used to explore routes for improving orthophosphate (OP) effluent compliance. Overall, this pilot and modeling study shows that joint strategies, including RAS diversion, carbon addition and PE control, can be effective to achieve optimal control of OP effluent.

See paper here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969722063793?via%3Dihub

Enhancing resource recovery via cranberry syrup waste at the Wisconsin Rapids WRRF: An experimental and modeling study

Exciting paper just published in the Journal of Environmental Management ! 
This is the first study where cranberry syrup waste was used to successfully enhance EBPR
performance, resulting in 90% TP removal. A model was developed in the SUMO platform and was used to capture orthophosphate trends during the testing period. The model investigated microbial population dynamics and found that the operational changes including RAS diversion, chemical dosing shutoff and cranberry syrup waste addition impacted the enrichment of phosphorus accumulating organisms (PAO)

Check it out here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301479722017637

Effect of nitrous oxide (N2O) on the structure and function of nitrogen-oxide reducing microbial communities

Long overdue but nice to see this article published in Chemosphere! Here we showed that N2O alone as electron acceptor may select for a less diverse community with more denitrifying taxa potentially due to its cytotoxicity. The results from this research add information to the limited set of data available for the individual steps of the denitrification process. 

See here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0045653522023128

Simultaneous nitrification-denitrification in biofilm systems for wastewater treatment: key factors, potential routes, and engineered applications

Beautfiul collaboration with the University of Bari and colleagues, including Dr. Francesco Di Capua. This  paper critically reviews the factors influencing SND and its application in biofilm systems from laboratory to full scale. Operational strategies to enhance SND efficiency and hints to reduce nitrous oxide emission and operational costs are also provided.

It has now been accepted on Bioresource Technology, please see here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960852422010318

Lab-scale data and microbial community structure suggest shortcut nitrogen removal as the predominant nitrogen removal mechanism in post aerobic digestion (PAD)

Great to see my first first-author as a Process Engineering Associate at Black & Veatch! Here we used biomass from anaerobic digester and evaluated mechanisms of nitrogen removal in a process called “post aerobic digestion”.  We found that, while NOB are present, AOB are responsible for nitrite accumulation that then it’s further reduced via denitritation. This suggests that nitritation-denitritation (shortcut nitrogen removal) is the dominant mechanism of nitrogen removal in post aerobic digestion reactors. 

See here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/wer.10762

Integrated experimental and modeling evaluation of removal efficiency and energy consumption for an autotrophic denitrifying biocathode

This manuscript is the outcome of a collaboration started in 2017 with my friend and colleague, Dr. Daniele Cecconet from the University of Pavia. Here, we use modeling the predict removal efficiency and energy consumption in an autotrophic denitrifying biocathode. 

You can find the manuscript here:  https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2022/ew/d2ew00165a

Post aerobic digestion (PAD) is a solids sidestreamnutrient removal process that utilizes nativecarbon: performance and key operationalparameters from two full-scale PAD reactors

This is the first paper I co-authored as a Process Engineering Associate at Black & Veatch. Here, we evaluated a sidestream technology named Post Aerobic Digestion for nitrogen removal.  The technology is suitable for plants with existing and unused tankage. Important parameters to track while operating are SRT, pH, and temperature. You can find our Open Access manuscript here:  https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2022/va/d2va00045h

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