The scope of the study presented in this paper is to determine the fate of the filamentous bacteria Gordona amarae and Microthrix parvicella in anaerobic digestion operating under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. In order to detect and quantify foaming bacteria in the anaerobic digesters, a fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) method was developed and applied. This paper presents the results of a laboratory-scale study that involved the operation of four lab-scale anaerobic digestion systems operating in the mesophilic (35 degrees C) and thermophilic (55 degrees C) temperature ranges at 20 days' detention time. According to the FISH counts of G. amarae and M. parvicella, it appears that thermophilic conditions resulted in a higher destruction of both filamentous bacteria, averaging approximately 97% and 94% for the single thermophilic digester and the dual thermophilic/mesophilic system, respectively. Within the context of this study, the overall performance of the four different anaerobic digestion systems was evaluated in terms of biogas production per mass of volatile solids destroyed, COD destruction, sludge dewaterability and foaming characteristics. The dual stage systems used in this study outperformed the single stage digesters.

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Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are compounds of mainly anthropogenic origin that interfere with the endocrine system of animals and humans thus causing a series of disorders. Wastewater treatment plants are one of the major routes for transporting such chemicals to the water courses. In the context of this study, several chlorination batch tests were performed in order to assess the effectiveness of chlorination to remove bisphenol A (BPA), triclosan (TCS), nonylphenol (NP) and its ethoxylates (NP1EO and NP2EO) from secondary effluent. According to the results, an appreciable removal of NP, BPA and TCS to the order of 60-84% was observed as an effect of moderate chlorination doses. This was not the case for NP1EO and NP2EO as even at high chlorine doses, removal efficiencies were lower (37% for NP1EO and 52% for NP2EO). Removal efficiencies of NP, BPA and TCS are practically independent of contact time, although this was not the case for NP1EO and NP2EO. Based on toxicity experiments, it is anticipated that following chlorination of the target chemicals, production of more toxic metabolites is taking place. Therefore the effectiveness of chlorination to remove EDCs is questionable and more research is needed to guarantee safe wastewater reuse.

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Increased anaerobic selector hydraulic retention times (HRTs) in a high-purity oxygen activated sludge process resulted in an increase in soluble orthophosphate release and biodegradable COD removal at aeration solids retention times (SRTs) ranging from 1.1 and 1.7 days. Under operating conditions that included biological foam recycling, a well established phosphorus accumulating organism community was observed at HRTs higher than 55 minutes that resulted in a decrease in filament counts and foam stability, providing effective operating conditions for foam control. While enhanced biological phosphorus removal was observed at HRTs between 20 and 60 minutes, its effectiveness with respect to foam control was compromised due to excessive foam trapping and recycling. Thus, increased anaerobic selector HRTs and low aeration SRTs can provide effective measures for biological foam control under conditions that minimize the impacts of foam trapping or that eliminate biological foam recycling.