Iron-based nanostructured reagents in the processes of biological wastewater treatment
The joint in the time and in the space biological and reagent treatment processes act as the modern innovative proposals in water treatment and sewerage technologies in order to increase the efficiency of removing various water impurities and improve the physiological characteristics, biochemical and operational properties of microorganisms - destructors of pollutants. Moreover, it is relevant to assess the effect of reagent which is introduced into the microbial community of the activated sludge (AS). One of the promising directions of development for joint biological and reagent wastewater treatment is the design of innovative reagent preparations based on nanostructured metals, in particular iron. This work presents the results of obtaining iron nanoparticles, experimental determination of the dosage for iron nanoparticles in wastewater treatment system. Comparative analysis has been performed to assess how the iron-based nanostructured reagents used in the processes of biological wastewater treatment remove phosphorus compounds. In addition, the efficiency of the treatment processes was evaluated by the extent to which the concentrations of organic substances, nitrogen compounds, phosphorus were changed, as well as by the enzymatic activity of the AS microbial community. The results of experimental studies have shown that the use of nanostructured reagents improves the most important technological parameter of the process - sedimentation of the AS. The results indicate the increase in the wastewater treatment efficiency in all samples with iron-containing reagents. The analysis of the microbial community state on the AS enzymatic activity has shown that the inhibition of microbial activity was not observed when applying the reagents based on nanostructured iron.