Elena Eijo-Río, Anna Petit‐Boix, Gara Villalba, María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda, Desirée Marín-Navarro, María José Amores, Xavier Aldea, Joan Rieradevall, Xavier Gabarrell,
Sewers are known as longitudinal reactors where gases such as methane, nitrous oxide and hydrogen sulphide can be produced. However, gaseous emissions have been mainly assessed in wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). This article presents a critical review of studies that quantify the generation of these gases in sewers and aims to identify the existing research gaps. Differences in sampling methods and site selection, as well as a limited number of studies, result in incoherent comparisons. To address ...
Tópico(s): Wastewater Treatment and Nitrogen Removal
2015 - Elsevier BV | Journal of environmental chemical engineering
Mariángel Martín‐Hernández, Julián Carrera, Julio Pérez, María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda,
The biological treatment of a high-strength p-nitrophenol (PNP) wastewater in an aerobic Sequencing Batch Reactor (SBR) has been studied. A specific operational strategy was applied with the main aim of developing a K-strategist PNP-degrading activated sludge. The enrichment of a K-strategist microbial population was performed using a non-acclimated biomass coming from a municipal WWTP as inoculum, and following a feeding strategy in which the PNP-degrading biomass was under endogenous conditions ...
Tópico(s): Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts
2009 - Elsevier BV | Water Research
María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda, Julián Carrera, Ian S. Metcalfe, Josep Font,
Wet air oxidation (WAO) was investigated as a suitable precursor for the biological treatment of industrial wastewaters that contained high concentrations of phenol, o-cresol or 2-chlorophenol. Two hours WAO semi-batch experiments were conducted at 2 and 9 bar of oxygen partial pressure (PO2) and at 215, 240 and 265 °C with total organic carbon (TOC) abatement up to 86%. The influence of hydroxyl-, methyl- and chloride ring substitution on the oxidation mechanism of aromatic compounds was established. ...
Tópico(s): Water Treatment and Disinfection
2008 - Elsevier BV | Chemical Engineering Journal
Julián Carrera, Mariángel Martín‐Hernández, María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda, Julio Pérez,
There are a number of publications in the literature that might indicate a connection between pH and the kinetics of the aerobic p-nitrophenol (PNP) biodegradation. In this study two hypotheses were postulated to elucidate the kinetics dependence on pH: (i) the substrate inhibition does not depend on the pH value, therefore the half-saturation coefficient and the substrate inhibition constant will be the same at any pH and (ii) the substrate inhibition depends on the pH value, therefore the half-saturation ...
Tópico(s): Analytical chemistry methods development
2010 - Elsevier BV | Journal of Hazardous Materials
Alicia Rubalcaba, María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda, Julián Carrera, Josep Font, Frank Stüber, Christophe Bengoa, A. Fortuny, Azael Fabregat,
The aim of this work is to study the viability of the H2O2 Promoted Catalytic Wet Air Oxidation (PP-CWAO) process, using activated carbon (AC) as catalyst, to increase the biodegradability of phenolic aqueous solutions. Seventy-two hours experiments were performed in a trickle bed reactor at 140 °C and 2 bar of oxygen partial pressure. Feed concentrations, in terms of theoretical chemical oxygen demand (ThCOD), were 11.8 g COD l−1 for phenol, 12.6 g COD l−1 for o-cresol and 8.0 g COD l−1 for p-nitrophenol. ...
Tópico(s): Environmental remediation with nanomaterials
2007 - Elsevier BV | Catalysis Today
Alicia Rubalcaba, María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda, Frank Stüber, A. Fortuny, Christophe Bengoa, Ian S. Metcalfe, Josep Font, Julián Carrera, Azael Fabregat,
Nowadays, there are increasingly stringent regulations requiring more and more treatment of industrial effluents to generate product waters which could be easily reused or disposed of to the environment without any harmful effects. Therefore, different advanced oxidation processes were investigated as suitable precursors for the biological treatment of industrial effluents containing phenol. Wet air oxidation and Fenton process were tested batch wise, while catalytic wet air oxidation and H2O2-promoted ...
Tópico(s): Environmental remediation with nanomaterials
2007 - Pergamon Press | Water Science & Technology
María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda, Azael Fabregat, Frank Stüber, A. Fortuny, Julián Carrera, Josep Font,
The influence of temperature (140 and 160 °C) and oxygen partial pressure (2 and 9 bar) on the continuous catalytic wet air oxidation (CWAO) over activated carbon (AC) has been investigated for the removal of phenol, o-cresol and 2-chlorophenol in aqueous solutions. Seventy-two-hour tests were performed in a fixed bed reactor in trickle flow regime. A commercial AC was employed as catalyst. The pollutant elimination effectiveness, the distribution of major reaction products and the AC behaviour were ...
Tópico(s): Water Treatment and Disinfection
2007 - Elsevier BV | Chemical Engineering Journal
María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda, Albert Guisasola, Juan Antonio Baeza, Azael Fabregat, Frank Stüber, A. Fortuny, Josep Font, Julián Carrera,
This study examines the feasibility of coupling a Catalytic Wet Air Oxidation (CWAO), with activated carbon (AC) as catalyst, and an aerobic biological treatment to treat a high-strength o-cresol wastewater. Two goals are pursued: (a) To determine the effect of the main AC/CWAO intermediates on the activated sludge of a municipal WasteWater Treatment Plant (WWTP) and (b) To demonstrate the feasibility of coupling the AC/CWAO effluent as a part of the influent of a municipal WWTP. In a previous study, ...
Tópico(s): Water Treatment and Disinfection
2006 - Elsevier BV | Chemosphere
Laura Pramparo, María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda, Julio Pérez, Julián Carrera,
The aerobic biodegradation of the three dihydroxybenzene isomers (catechol, resorcinol and hydroquinone) by an activated sludge acclimated to consume p-nitrophenol (PNP) was studied through batch respirometric tests. The PNP-degrading biomass was able to consume each isomer as the sole organic carbon source, as well as, mixtures of two or three dihydroxybenzenes. However, the biodegradation rates were significantly different for each isomer and were highly influenced by the simultaneous presence of ...
Tópico(s): Advanced oxidation water treatment
2012 - Elsevier BV | Bioresource Technology
Mariángel Martín‐Hernández, María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda, Julián Carrera,
Bioaugmentation with an enriched microbial population was applied in an aerobic sequencing batch reactor (SBR) receiving transient or continuous shock loads of p-nitrophenol (PNP). The effect of the amount of biomass added for bioaugmentation was assessed by using two different dosages (2% or 5% w/w of the total biomass in the seeded SBR). In both cases, total PNP removal was achieved during the transient PNP shock load occurring after bioaugmentation. However, after a long PNP starvation period the ...
Tópico(s): Analytical chemistry methods development
2012 - Elsevier BV | Bioresource Technology
Mariángel Martín‐Hernández, Julián Carrera, María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda, М. Бессон, C. Descorme,
p-Nitrophenol (PNP) is widely used as a raw material in several industries, therefore it can be released to the environment, being mandatory the treatment of the PNP-contaminated industrial wastewaters. In this sense, the influence of temperature, oxygen partial pressure, type of catalyst, pH and ionic strength on the wet air oxidation (WAO) of a highly concentrated PNP wastewater was studied. Several 480 min batch tests have been performed and four Pt and Ru-based catalysts have been tested. The ...
Tópico(s): Advanced Photocatalysis Techniques
2012 - Elsevier BV | Applied Catalysis B Environment and Energy
Zulkifly Jemaat, Albert Bartrolí, Eduardo Isanta, Julián Carrera, María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda, Julio Pérez,
A mathematical biofilm model was developed to describe nitritation in aerobic granular reactor operating in continuous mode. The model includes the automatic closed-loop control of ammonium concentration in the effluent. This is integrated in a ratio control strategy to maintain the proportion between the dissolved oxygen (DO) and the total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) concentrations in the reactor effluent at a desired value. The model was validated with a large set of experimental results previously reported ...
Tópico(s): Odor and Emission Control Technologies
2012 - Elsevier BV | Bioresource Technology
Eduardo Isanta, María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda, Ángeles Val del Río, Nicolás Morales, Julio Pérez, Julián Carrera,
Aerobic granular sludge is presented as an alternative technology to conventional activated sludge processes for the treatment of low-strength wastewaters. Results obtained with granular aerobic reactors at laboratory scale are promising but, there are few studies carried out at pilot scale. Therefore, more information about the stability of granules and their performance at larger scale is needed to establish if aerobic granulation could be a feasible treatment. With this aim, a 100 L granular ...
Tópico(s): Membrane Separation Technologies
2012 - Elsevier BV | Chemical Engineering Journal
María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda, Frank Stüber, A. Fortuny, Azael Fabregat, Julián Carrera, Josep Font,
Continuous catalytic wet air oxidation (CWAO) was investigated as a suitable precursor for the biological treatment of industrial wastewater that contained phenols (phenol, o-cresol, 2-chlorophenol and p-nitrophenol), aniline, sulfolane, nitrobenzene or sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (DBS). Seventy-two-hour tests were carried out in a fixed bed reactor in trickle flow regime, using a commercial activated carbon (AC) as catalyst. The temperature and total pressure were 140 °C and 13.1 bar, respectively. ...
Tópico(s): Advanced Photocatalysis Techniques
2005 - Elsevier BV | Applied Catalysis B Environment and Energy
Zulkifly Jemaat, María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda, Julio Pérez, Julián Carrera,
Industrial wastewater treatment plants must operate properly during the transient-state conditions often found in the industrial production. This study presents the performance of simultaneous partial nitritation and o-cresol biodegradation in a continuous aerobic granular reactor under sequentially alternating pollutant (SAP) scenarios. Three SAP scenarios were imposed during the operation of the granular reactor. In each one, a secondary recalcitrant compound (either p-nitrophenol (PNP), phenol or ...
Tópico(s): Membrane Separation Technologies
2014 - Elsevier BV | Bioresource Technology
David Sanjuan-Delmás, Anna Petit‐Boix, Carles M. Gasol, Ramon Farreny, Gara Villalba, María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda, Xavier Gabarrell, Alejandro Josa, Joan Rieradevall,
Previous studies assessing the environmental impacts of drinking water supply networks have considered a bottom-up approach, analysing single case studies . This paper presents a top-down approach for the assessment of the operational phase of a water supply network. A representative sample of 50 cities was statistically analysed to find relations between different variables regarding electricity and water consumption linked with the environmental impacts of the network. The results show that some ...
Tópico(s): Water Resources and Sustainability
2014 - Elsevier BV | Journal of Cleaner Production
Anna Petit‐Boix, David Sanjuan-Delmás, Carles M. Gasol, Gara Villalba, María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda, Xavier Gabarrell, Alejandro Josa, Joan Rieradevall,
In a world with an increasing urban population, analysing the construction impacts of sanitation infrastructures through Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is necessary for defining the best environmental management strategies. In this study, the environmental impacts of one linear meter of sewer constructive solution were analysed for different pipe materials and diameters used in Southern Europe; a unit of different sewer appurtenances (pump, manhole and inspection chamber) was also considered. The impacts ...
Tópico(s): Underground infrastructure and sustainability
2014 - Springer Science+Business Media | Water Resources Management
I. González Fernández, María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda, Julio Pérez, Julián Carrera,
A sequencing batch reactor (SBR) was inoculated with p-nitrophenol-degrading activated sludge to biodegrade a mixture of monosubstituted phenols: p-nitrophenol (PNP), PNP and o-cresol; and PNP, o-cresol and o-chlorophenol. Settling times were progressively decreased to promote biomass granulation. PNP was completely biodegraded. The PNP and o-cresol mixture was also biodegraded although some transitory accumulation of intermediates occurred (mainly hydroquinone and catechol). o-Chlorophenol was not ...
Tópico(s): Water Treatment and Disinfection
2013 - Elsevier BV | Journal of Hazardous Materials
Zulkifly Jemaat, María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda, Julio Pérez, Julián Carrera,
The chemical and petrochemical industries produce wastewaters containing ammonium and phenolic compounds. Biological treatment of these wastewaters could be problematic due to the possible inhibitory effects exerted by phenolic compounds. The feasibility of performing simultaneous nitritation and p-nitrophenol (PNP) biodegradation using a continuous aerobic granular reactor was evaluated. A nitrifying granular sludge was bioaugmented with a PNP-degrading floccular sludge, while PNP was progressively ...
Tópico(s): Water Treatment and Disinfection
2013 - Elsevier BV | Bioresource Technology
Zulkifly Jemaat, María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda, Julio Pérez, Julián Carrera,
Tópico(s): Water Treatment and Disinfection
2013 - Elsevier BV | Water Research
David Sanjuan-Delmás, Anna Petit‐Boix, Carles M. Gasol, Gara Villalba, María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda, Xavier Gabarrell, Alejandro Josa, Joan Rieradevall,
Until now, few studies had focused on the environmental impact of the construction phase of a drinking water transport and distribution network (DWTDN). Using the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology, this article compares the environmental impact of pipes made of different materials as constructive solutions for the DWTDN. Two pipe diameters (90 and 200 mm) commonly used in small to medium-sized cities are analysed. The results show that polyvinyl chloride (PVC), high density polyethylene (HDPE) ...
Tópico(s): Water Treatment and Disinfection
2013 - Elsevier BV | Journal of Cleaner Production
Clara Reino, María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda, Julio Pérez, Julián Carrera,
A granular airlift reactor enriched in ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) was operated at 10 °C performing stable partial nitritation in the long-term. The reactor treated a synthetic low-strength influent during 250 days with an average nitrogen loading rate of 0.63 ± 0.06 g N L−1 d−1. Nitrate production was barely detected, being the average concentration in the effluent of 0.6 ± 0.3 mg N-NO3 L−1. Furthermore, a suitable effluent for a subsequent reactor performing the anammox process was achieved. A ...
Tópico(s): Constructed Wetlands for Wastewater Treatment
2016 - Elsevier BV | Water Research
Carlos Ramos, María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda, Julián Carrera,
Long-term operation (390 days) of a continuous airlift reactor with aerobic granular biomass was successfully applied to treat a highly complex wastewater composed of: ammonium (1000 mg N L−1), o-cresol (100 mg L−1), phenol (100 mg L−1), quinoline (50 mg L−1) and salts (16 g salts L−1). High nitrogen loading rate (1.1 g N L−1 d−1) and organic loading rate of 0.7 (g COD L−1 d−1) were achieved for the simultaneous nitritation and complete biodegradation of the aromatic compounds. The successful operation ...
Tópico(s): Water Treatment and Disinfection
2016 - Elsevier BV | Process Biochemistry
Mari-Karoliina Henriikka Winkler, Christophe Meunier, Olivier Henriet, Jacques Mahillon, María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda, Guido Del Moro, Marco De Sanctis, Claudio Di Iaconi, David G. Weissbrodt,
Granular sludge aggregates are particular types of biofilms that display significantly different metrics and physical-chemical characteristics than activated sludge flocs. The efficiency of intensified processes using granular sludge relies on the application of selection pressures. Operational conditions are engineered to force microorganisms to form specific intrinsic physiological, phenotypic, and metabolic traits for granulation and high-rate biological removal of nutrients and/or recalcitrant ...
Tópico(s): Constructed Wetlands for Wastewater Treatment
2017 - Elsevier BV | Chemical Engineering Journal
Clara Reino, María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda, Julio Pérez, Julián Carrera,
The efforts for implementing the anammox process at mainstream conditions with high nitrogen removal rates have gained much attention in the race for achieving an energy-positive urban wastewater treatment plant. Here, the successful and stable long-term operation of an Upflow Anammox Sludge Bed (UAnSB) reactor treating a low-strength synthetic influent amended with ammonium and nitrite for 420 days, and a nitrite-amended pre-treated real urban wastewater for 110 days at temperatures as low as 11 ° ...
Tópico(s): Constructed Wetlands for Wastewater Treatment
2017 - Elsevier BV | Water Research
Gabriela Montiel-Jarillo, Julián Carrera, María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda,
Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are biopolymers that can be an alternative against conventional plastics. The study reported herein evaluated the enrichment of a mixed microbial culture (MMC) operated under feast/famine regime and different pHs in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) using acetate as sole carbon source to produce polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). The enrichment step was evaluated at controlled pH of 7.5 and also without pH control (averaged value of 9.0). The acetate uptake rate (− qS) of both enrichments ...
Tópico(s): Electrospun Nanofibers in Biomedical Applications
2017 - Elsevier BV | The Science of The Total Environment
Albert Guisasola, Carlos Chan, Oriol Larriba, Daniela Lippo, María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda, Juan Antonio Baeza,
Phosphorus recovery is usually based on the chemical precipitation of struvite from the supernatant comming from anaerobic digestion of surplus sludge of wastewater treatment plants. However, the recovery of phosphorus from the mainstream would be very beneficial to the operation of the plant. This work represents a step forward in this challenge. The configuration of a sequencing batch reactor performing Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal (EBPR) was modified to include the extraction of a P- ...
Tópico(s): Constructed Wetlands for Wastewater Treatment
2018 - Elsevier BV | Journal of Cleaner Production
Patricia Bovio-Winkler, Leandro D. Guerrero, Leonardo Erijman, Pía Oyarzúa, María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda, Angela Cabezas, Claudia Etchebehere,
Abstract Background The phylum Chloroflexi is highly abundant in a wide variety of wastewater treatment bioreactors. It has been suggested that they play relevant roles in these ecosystems, particularly in degrading carbon compounds and on structuring flocs or granules. Nevertheless, their function is not yet well understood as most species have not been isolated in axenic cultures. Here we used a metagenomic approach to investigate Chloroflexi diversity and their metabolic potential in three environmentally ...
Tópico(s): Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
2023 - BioMed Central | BMC Microbiology
Pía Oyarzúa, Patricia Bovio-Winkler, Claudia Etchebehere, María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda,
Biases on molecular techniques used to study microbial communities in the anammox process are not always considered. This work aimed to evaluate different molecular approaches to study bacterial communities in an anammox reactor treating real urban wastewater at mainstream conditions. 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing with different primer sets, metagenomics, and qPCR were evaluated. An enriched anammox reactor feed with synthetic wastewater was used as a positive control. We reported that, despite its ...
Tópico(s): Tracheal and airway disorders
2021 - Elsevier BV | Journal of environmental chemical engineering
Gabriela Montiel-Jarillo, Teresa Gea, Adriana Artola, Javier Fuentes, Julián Carrera, María Eugenia Suárez-Ojeda,
Acidogenic fermentation of wastes produces volatile fatty acid (VFA)-rich streams that can be used as low-cost carbon sources for polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) production. In this study, an inoculum collected from an anaerobic reactor of a municipal WWTP was conditioned to suppress methanogenic activity. The heat-shock conditioning method of the inoculum proved to be more efficient than acid and alkaline conditioning methods for methanogens inhibition. Then, the pre-conditioned inoculum was used to determine ...
Tópico(s): Microbial Metabolic Engineering and Bioproduction
2021 - Springer Science+Business Media | Waste and Biomass Valorization