Iranian Journal of

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Background and Objectives: A conventional treatment to stabilize the excess activated sludge is the aerobic digestion process but due to long aeration time, it requires large equipments as well as high investment cost. Because of high oxidation potential of ozone, sludge ozonation enhances stabilization rate and reduces sludge treatment equipment size and cost. Therefore, in this study, the combination of pretreatment with ozone and aerobic digestion processes were investigated.
Materials and Methods: The experimental set-up consisted of an ozone generator and ozonation reactor with the total volume of 2 L. Removal percentages of TSS, VS, total and soluble COD, HPC, fecal coliform and settable solids were measured in integrated process compared to the single ones.
Results: The results of this research indicated that the aerobic digestion of waste activated sludge during 10 days could reduce 38% of volatile solids and thus obtaining the EPA standard. Also, the results of combined ozonation and aerobic digestion revealed that the pre-ozonation at 0.25 g O3/g TS or 0.5 g O3/g TS with 6 or 3 days aeration, respectively, could achieve 38% reduction in VS and hence the requirement set by EPA. Therefore, integration of pre-ozonation with aerobic digestion can significantly reduce the digestion time to attain the standards.
Conclusion: The sludge pre-ozonation with low dose of ozone due to solids disintegration can enhance the efficiency of aerobic digestion in waste activated sludge stabilization, and consequently decrease size of equipments, air requirement, investment and probably operation cost.

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Backgrounds and Objectives: Now a days modified activated sludge ways are used for standard removing nutrient substances from waste water that is named Enhanced biological phosphorus removal One of the most suitable ways is Anoxic-Oxic(A/O) process. The goal of this research is investigation and solving existing problems of Khoy power plant(P.P) waste water treatment plant(WWTP)and optimizing of phosphorus removal in it.
Materials and Methods: This research is done full scale in this treatment plant. The treatment plant was operating with extended aeration process, and some problems had, so in the first stage with in investigation of total efficiency, problems and their reasons determined. In the second stage after operational modifications existing problems was solved and real efficiency of treatment plant particularly for phosphorus(P) removal determined. In the third stage changes, system converted to A/O process and new system was tested with Changing parameters like food/microorganism(F/M), return sludge ratio(RAS)and sludge retention time(SRT)
Risults: In the first stage the most important problems were over concentration of BOD,TSS, and P in effluent of treatment plant and overgrows of alga observed in parts of treatment plant and effluent receiving conduit. The main reason of high concentration of P was considered releasing of sludge. In the second stage operating condition modification efficiency of P removal increased from 50to 62 percent. In the end of third stage value of P removal reached to %82 and the most suitable of anoxic contact time was determined 3to4 hours, SRT terry day and F/M ratio o.12,that the most effective change has been the decrease of SRT to three days.
Conclusion: Adjusting of operating factors like SRT,RAS, sludge processing way in WWTP can increase P removal in them with in total efficiency remaining, such as in this case it was %12. In waste water treatment particularly for P removal the A/O process is suitable so in this project its effect on P removal efficiency has been %20.

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Backgrounds and Objectives: in recent years, mobile bed biological reactors have been used progressively for municipal and industrial wastewaters treatment. Dissented experiment is a trial that significant changes will accrue for influent variables in the process, and generally used for identification of the effective factors and optimization of the process. The scope of this study was determination of the optimized conditions for the MBBR process by using of Taguchi method.
Materials and Methods: Reactor start up was done by using of the recycled activated sludge from Ahwaz wastewater treatment plant. After that and passing the acclimation period, with hydraulic residence time equal to 9 hours matched for 1000, 2000 and 3000 mg/l based on COD respectively, for optimization determination of the acclimated microbial growth, the variables change (pH, nitrogen source, chemical oxygen demand and salinity) were determined in 9 steps, and all of the results were analyzed by Qualitek -4 (w32b).
Results:In this study, organic load removal based on COD was 97% and best optimized condition for MBBR were (inf. COD=1000 mg/l, pH= 8, salinity = 5% and the Nitrogen source= NH4CL)
Conclusion: Based on our finding, we may conclude that Taguchi method is on of the appropriate procedure in determination the optimized condition for increasing removal efficiency of MBBR.

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Backgrounds and Objectives:Much attention has been recently paid on using waste materials as adsorbents for removal of contaminants from water and wastewater. A new low cost waste was examined for its capacity to adsorb RR198, an azo reactive model dye, from an aqueous solution.
Materials andMethods: The waste was dried, powdered and characterized before being used as an adsorbent. The effects of pH (3-10), adsorbent dose (0.2-3 g), dye concentration and contact time on the adsorption efficiency were investigated. Equilibrium study data were modeled using Langmuir and Freundlich models.
Results: The characterization analysis indicated that itwas composedmainly of ferric hydroxide. The powder had a BET and average pore size of 107 m2/g and 4.5 nm, respectively. The results showed that dye removal was highest at a solution pH of 7 to 8 and a powder dose of 2 g/L. The RR198 removal percentage decreased from 100& to 43& at 140 min contact time when the concentration of dye was increased from 25 mg/L to 100 mg/L, at optimum pH and dosage. The Langmuir equation provided the best fit for the experimental data. The maximum adsorption capacity was calculated to be 34.4 mg/g.
Conclusion: According to the obtained results, the water coagulation waste sludge appears to be a suitable low cost and effcient adsorbent for removing reactive azo dyes from waste streams.

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Backgrounds and Objectives: Oil pollution can be generated as a result of spillage, leakage, discharge, exploration, production, refining, transport and storage of crude oil and fuels in the environment. Consequently, many researchers have developed and studied the chemical, physical and biological methods to degrade crude oil. Among them, the biological treatments are the most interesting as they are simple and economical methods. The aim of this study was to determine biokinetic coefficients of crude oil degradation by pseudomonas aerogenusa. This microorganism was isolated in our previous work.
Materials and Methods: In this study the bio-kinetic coefficients of crude oil biodegradation were evaluated. Pseudomonas aerogenusa bacteria which had been isolated from the soil sample taken from a gas station in our previous work were used in this study. This microorganism was cultured in the liquid medium containing crude oil as sole carbon source. Finally with determining the amount of microorganisms and crude oil concentration during biodegradation process, the bio-kinetic coefficients based on modified Monod equation were calculated.
Results: bio-kinetic coefficients obtained from laboratory studies are vital factors in industrial applications. As a result, the bio-kinetic study was performed to find bio-kinetic coefficients for biodegradation of crude oil using the isolated bacteria. The results showed that ,Y, k and were equal 0.107 , 0.882 , 9.39 and 169.3 respectively.
Coculusion:Our results showed that pseudomonas aerogenusa is usable for treatment of oily wastewaters in the full scale facility. Results of this study indicated bio kinetics confections.

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Backgrounds and Objectives:Arsenic is one of the most toxic and dangerous elements in drinking  water that with increase in its application in agriculture, development of applications in agriculture, livestock, medicine, industry and other cases its entry to water resources and environment is much easier.Arsenic is a poisonous, cumulative substance and inhibitor of SH group enzymes and various studies revealed a significant correlation between high concentrations of arsenic in drinking water and liver cancer, nasal cavity cancer, lungs, skin, bladder and kidney cancer in men and women and prostate and liver in men. The aim of this was survey of arsenic removed from water using dissolved air floatation mechanism.
Materials and Methods: At present study in first step for determination best conditions of arsenic removal by dissolved air floatation method, optimum amount of coagulants determined and then synthetic solution of arsenic (50, 100 and 200 µg/L) prepared using sodium arsenate. In third step arsenic removal efficiency under various variables such as arsenic concentration, flocculation and floatation time and saturation pressure were analyzed. Finally residual arsenic concentration was determined by the silver diethyl dithiocarbamate method.
Results:Effect of optimum condition on arsenic removal efficiency at various initial concentration 50, 100 and 200 µg/Lshowed that the best coagulant for removal of arsenic is polyaluminumchloride. Also maximum efficiency (99.4%) was obtained in initial concentration equal 200 µg/L.
Conclusion: It can be concluded that dissolved air floatation method with poly aluminum chloride as coagulant have high efficiency for arsenic removal even at high concentrations and therefore this method can be used for removal of arsenic from water as a suitable and safe option.

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Backgrounds and Objective: In arid and semi-arid regions of the world, urban runoff as a source of water restoration and is considered valuable. Wastewater treatment, while preserving the environment, it can be considered as water source. The aim of this study to evaluate the possibility of using powder grain Peregrina in wastewater treatment in comparing with Alum and PloyAluminum Chloride (PAC).
Materials and Methods: Flocculation and coagulation tests were done by Jar test. Wastewater quality parameters were measured according to standard method.
Results: Studies have been showed that in optimum Peregrina concentration, efficiency of turbidity reduction, total hardness, calcium hardness, magnesium hardness, total E. Coli are 95.11, 38, 55.5, 46.6, 97 and 97 percent respectively. It is noted that turbidity reducing directly related with coli form reduction. As, with increasing turbidity reduction, coliform reduction is increased. The most reduction of E. coli with combination of Alum, Ploy Aluminum Chloride and Peregrina was 100 percent. In optimum concentration of Alum, Ploy Aluminum Chloride and Peregrina, the quality of treated wastewater would be in the range of environmental standards. Therefore, treated wastewater can be entering to surface water and reuse as irrigation water.
Conclusion: The results derived from this study showed that the treated wastewater can be use in a variety of irrigation except sprinkler irrigation due to burn the leaves of plants. (high electrical conductivity).Also, the low cost of seed Peregrina and good performance in the refining operations, it is suggested that Peregrina as a replacement for poly aluminum chloride and an alum to be used for wastewater treatment.

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Background and Objectives: Nowadays, most countries of the world have shortage of water due to many reasons such as population growth, rising of living standards, indiscriminate water use, and so on. Besides, in absence of adequate water resources, desalination of brackish and saline waters have been used to supply potable water. Freezing process is one of the methods which can be used to desalinate saline waters.The aim of this study was to survey freezing process to produce potable water from saline water of Persian Gulf shores.
Materials and Methods: This study was conducted in lab-scale by using indirect contact freezing. Three samples of 50 liter were provided from Bushehr shores. The implemented process steps were freezing (crystallization), separation of crystals, surface washing, and thawing. Freezing of the samples (each in 0.5 liter containers) were performed by a refrigerator at -20°C and 0.1KW/h energy consumption.
Results: The removal efficiencies of TDS in the first, second, and third samples by first freezing process were 56, 56, and 51 percent, respectively. Moreover, the removal efficiencies by EC were 42, 44, and 40 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, the removal efficiencies of TDS in first, second, and third samples by second freezing process observed 69, 69, and 68 percent, respectively. Moreover, the removal efficiencies by EC were 61, 60, and 63 percent, respectively. Also, the removal efficiencies of TDS in first, second, and third samples by third freezing process were 72, 73, and 72 percent, respectively. Moreover, the removal efficiencies by EC were 77, 78, and 77 percent, respectively. The production of the potable water by this method was 15-20 percent of the entry water.
Conclusions: According to the obtained results, potable water was obtained after third freezing of the saline water. Meanwhile, TDS of the produced water was less than maximum allowed concentration of Iranian standards.

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Background and Objectives: One of the complete treatment processes for industrial and municipal wastewater treatment is membrane bioreactor process which has dominant potential in process and operation sections. This study was conducted to compare the performance of extended aeration activated sludge (EAAS) with submerged membrane bioreactor (SMBR) systems in the treatment of strength wastewater, in the same condition.
Materials and Methods: The initial activated sludge was brought from the Plascokar Saipa wastewater plant. The Plexiglas reactor with effective volume of 758 L was separated by a baffle into the aeration and secondary sedimentation parts with effective volumes of 433 L and 325 L, respectively. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration of the influent wastewater of the EAAS and SMBR systems were between 500-2700 and 500-5000 mg/L, respectively.
Results: Results showed that the SMBR system produced a much better quality effluent than EAAS system in terms of COD, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), total suspended solids (TSS) and ammonium. By increasing the COD concentration, the concentration of mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) and the removal efficiency of organic matter in the SMBR system, were increased regularly, however the removal efficiency of COD in the EAAS system was irregular. 
Conclusion: The average BOD5/COD ratio of effluent in the EAAS and SMBR systems were 0.708±0.18 and 0.537±0.106, respectively. These show that the organic matters in the effluent of the SMBR system was less degradable and thereupon more biological treatment was achieved. Nitrification process was completely done in the SMBR system while the EAAS system could not achieve to complete nitrification.

 

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Background and Objectives: Cyanide is a highly toxic compound which is Normally found in numerous industries, such as electroplating wastewater. Release of this compounds in to the Enviroment has a lot health hazards.The Purpose of this study is to Determine the efficiency of electrochemical oxidation method for Cyanide removal from industrial wastewaters

Materials and Methods: This study conducted in a pilot system experimentally .In this study the effect of pH, voltage and operation time on total cyanide removal from industrial wastewaters by Electrochemical Oxidation was investigated by applying a Stainless Steel as a Anode and copper as a cathode .

Results: The average percentage removal of cyanide was about 88 with SD=2.43. The optimal condition obtained at voltage of 9V and pH=13 and The operation time of 90 minutes.The volume of sludge which formed in this condition was  about 20 percent of a one liter pilot reactor.

Conclusion: the results statistically confirmed the significant relationship between

input and cyanide concentration removal efficiency (p< 0.05), and confirmed  The this confirmed The  relation between cyanide & cyanat oxidation and hydroxyl ions consumption 1:2.( L.Szpyruowicz). therefore the best pH is 12.5-13.5 by Considering the need  of alkaline environment to remove cyanide.

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Background and Objectives: Microbial fuel cells are the electrochemical exchangers that convert the microbial reduced power, generated via the metabolism of organic substrate, to electrical energy. The aim of this study is to find out the rate of produced electricity and also treatment rate of simulated wastewater of food industries using dual chamber microbial fuel cell (MFC) without mediator and catalyst.
Materials and Methods: MFC used in this study was consisted of two compartments including anaerobic anode chamber containing simulated food industries wastewater as synthetic substrate and aerobic cathode chamber containing phosphate buffer, respectively. These two chambers were separated by proton exchange membrane made of Nafion. Produced voltage and current intensity were measured using a digital ohm meter and the amount of electricity was calculated by Ohm's law. Effluent from the anode compartment was tested for COD, BOD5, NH3, P, TSS, VSS, SO42- and alkalinity  in accordance with the Standard Methods. 
Results: In this study, maximum current intensity and power production at anode surface in the OLR of 0.79 Kg/m3.d were measured as 1.71 mA and 140 mW/m2, respectively. The maximum voltage of 0.422 V was obtained in the OLR of 0.36 Kg/m3.d. The greatest columbic efficiency of the system was 15% in the OLR of 0.18 Kg/m3.d. Maximum removal efficiency of COD, BOD5, NH3, P, TSS, VSS, SO42- and alkalinity, were obtained 78, 72, 66, 7, 56, 49, 26 and 40%, respectively.
Conclusion: The findings showed that the MFC can be used as a new technology to produce electricity from renewable organic materials and for  the treatment of different municipal and industrial wastewaters such as food industries.

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AR-SA MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Background and Objectives: Aerobic sludge granulation is an advanced phenomenonin which its mechanisms have not been understood. Granulation can be a promising and novel biological wastewater treatment technology to eliminate organic and inorganic materials in future. High salinity is a parameter which leads to plasmolisatian and reduction of the cell activity. This could be a problem for biological treatment of the saline wastewater. Aerobic granule was formed and investigated during this study.
Materials and Methods: This study is an intervention study on the treatment of wastewater with 500-10000 mg/L concentration of NaCl by sequencing batch reactor. Asynthesized wastewater including nutrient required for microorganism's growth was prepared. Input and output pH and EC were measured. Range of pH and DO varied between 7-8, and 2-5 mg/L, respectively. SEM technology was used to identify graduals properties.
Results: In terms of color, granules divided into two groups of light brown and black. Granule ranged in 3-7mm with the sediment velocity of 0.9-1.35 m/s and density of 32-60 g/L.Properties of granules were varied. Filamentous bacteria and fungi were dominant in some granules. However non filamentous bacteria were dominant in others. EDX analysis indicated the presence of Ca and PO₄.
Conclusion: Granules with non filamentous bacterial were compact and settled faster. Presence of different concentrations of salinity leaded to plasmolysis of the bacterial cells and increased concentrations of EPS  in the system as a result  of which granulation accelerated.

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Background and Objectives: Slaughterhouse wastewater contains various and high amounts of organic matter (e.g., proteins, blood, fat, and lard). In order to produce an effluent suitable for stream discharge, chemical coagulation and electrocoagulation techniques have been particularly explored at the laboratory pilot scale for organic compounds removal from slaughterhouse effluent. The purpose of this work was to investigate the feasibility of treating cattle-slaughterhouse wastewater by combined chemical coagulation and electrocoagulation process to achieve the required standards.
Materials and Methods: At present study, slaughterhouse wastewater after initial analysis was tested for survey of coagulation process using Poly aluminum chloride (PAC) at various doses (25-100 mg/L). Then we measured the concentrations of wastewater pollutants (BOD5, COD, TKN, TSS and fecal Coliforms). Later, we transferred the effluent to the electrocoagulation unit and we evaluated the removal efficiency of pollutants in the range 10 to 40 volts of electric potential during 60 min.
Results: It was found that the efficiency of chemical coagulation process using poly-aluminum chloride (PAC) as coagulant increases with increasing doses (from 25 to 100 mg/L) we achieved maximum removal efficiency during the chemical coagulation for parameters of BOD5, COD, TSS, and TKN at 100 mg/L of PAC equivalent to 44.78%, 58.52%, 59.9%, and 39.58% respectively. Moreover, the results showed that with increasing the electric potential and reaction time, the yield increases linearly so that maximum removal efficiency at a dose of 100 mg/L PAC, an electrical potential of 40 volts and a reaction time of 60 minutes for the parameters BOD₅, COD, TSS, and TKN was 99.18% 99.25%, 82.55%, and 93.97% respectively.
Conclusion: The experiments demonstrated the effectiveness of combined chemical coagulation and electrocoagulation processes for pollutants removal from the slaughterhouse wastewaters. Consequently, this combined process can produce effluent compliance with the effluent discharge standards.

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MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Background and Objectives: Cyanide is a toxic pollutant existing in the various industrial effluents such as iron and steel, coal mining, non-ferrous metals manufacturing and metal plating. Its presence in water resources and wastewater, as serious hazardous substances leads to undesirable effects on both the environment and human. Thus, its concentration control is essential for human health. The main goal of this study was to evaluate Fenton process efficiency in cyanide removal from aqueous solution.
Materials and Methods: This is an experimental study Conducted at Lab scale in a batch system. We investigated effect of different variables including pH, mole ratio of Fe²⁺/ H₂O₂, contact time, and initial concentration of cyanide. Data were analyzed using Excel software.
Results: We found that cyanide with initial concentrations of 0.4 mM/L was reduced by 92 %. This removal result was related to oxidizing agent of hydroxyl radicals under optimum conditions including pH = 4, molar ratio Fe²⁺/ H₂O₂= 0.046 (Fe²⁺=0.27 mM/L) after 6o min reaction time. An increase in reaction time was not improved cyanide removal efficiency. Moreover, the Fenton process efficiency in cyanide removal decreased from 92 to 60 %, by increasing the initial cyanide concentration from 0.4 to 0.6 mM/L.
Conclusion: It can be concluded that Fenton oxidation Process can be considered as a suitable alternative for cyanide removal to achieve environmental standards.

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Background and Objectives: Wastewater contains various pathogens including viruses, bacteria, fungi, etc. These microorganisms can easily become airborne during normal operations of wastewater treatment plant and contaminate the neighborhood environment. The aim of this study was to investigate the type and density of bioaerosols in a petrochemical wastewater treatment plant in Iran.
Materials and Methods: In this cross sectional study, bioaerosols density was measured in different units of a petrochemical wastewater treatment plant according to the NIOSH 0800 method and the values measured were compared with background level (control area). For this purpose, air samples were collected on blood agar and dextro agar in Andersen single-stage sampler with air flow of 28.3 l/min for 10 minutes. Samples collected were shipped to the laboratory immediately and were incubated for 48 hours. Then, incubated samples were counted for colonies concentration.
 Results: Average concentration of bacteria and fungi bioaerosols measured were 731.70±185.49 and 28.43±10.58 (M±SD) CFU/m3 respectively throughout the wastewater treatment plant units. These values were 35 and 1.45 times higher than background level (Control area). The differences between average concentrations of bacteria in all units of wastewater treatment plant with control area were statistically significant.
Conclusions: Generally, it was found that the density of bioaerosols, especially bacteria was much higher than the background level. The maximum density was measured at aeration chamber, where the emission of bioaerosols could be reduced through replacing nozzle diffused aeration system.

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Background and Objectives: Water complexes including Jacuzzi are among the most popular water recreation centers that noncompliance with health standards can lead to increased microbial growth in water and thus the risk of infection. This study aimed at comprehensive study of jacuzzis water in Yazd city and comparing the results with national and international standards. Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive - analytical study that statistical society included all Jacuzzis of Yazd city. Sampling of jacuzzis was performed every two weakes for 3 months (Summer 2011). We tested the water samples for parameters such as temperature, pH, amount of residual chlorine, turbidity, alkalinity, hardness, the population of heterotrophic bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, fecal streptococci, and fecal coliforms accordance with standard methods. The SPSS software and ANOVA, T-test statistical tests, and/or Kruskal-Wallis, and Mann-Whitney were used for description of data and the obtained results were analyzed by comparing with standards. Results: we found that the mean of residual free and combined chlorine was equal to 0.628 and 0.337 mg/l respectively. The alkalinityand hardness were 141.928 and 275 mg/lCaCo₃ respectively. Mean of pH, turbidity and temperature were equal to 7.88, 0.457 NTU and 38.121˙C respectively.Moreover, the mean population of fecal streptococci bacteria, heterotrophic bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and fecal coliforms were 20465.7, 120.77, 209.91 and 7131.4 in 100 ml respectively. Statistical analysis of data showed that there is a direct relationship between water turbidity and pH (Pvalue=0.018) however, population of heterotraphic bacteria and residual free chlorine had indirectl relationship (Pvalue= 0.026). Conclusion: According to the results achieved, the parameters of heterotrophic bacteria population and alkalinity had the least compliance with the standard indicating the need for continuous monitoring of physical, chemical, and microbial parameters of Jacuzzi water and control of the number and density of people using Jacuzzi and continuous monitoring of Jacuzzi water filtration and chlorination process performance.

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Background & Objectives: Listeria bacterium resists to the sludge digestion conditions and Listeria monocytogenes is the most important of them. Sludge produced in the north Isfahan wastewater treatment plant is stabilized by anaerobic digesters and is used for fertilizing agricultural lands after drying in the sludge drying beds. Based on the importance of the subject, the objective of this study was evaluation of sludge processing units efficiency, particularly anaerobic sludge digestion for reduction or removal of Listeria. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive study, samples were collected weekly from sludge processing units 13 times in north Isfahan wastewater treatment plant according to standard methods over three months. Listeria bacteria were enumerated and isolated by triple-tube fermentation method and U.S Department of Agriculture method respectively. Isolated Listeria were confirmed by phenotypic method and then bacterial species were diagnosed differentially by biochemical carbohydrate fermentation and CAMP test. Results: Contamination of raw, stabilized and dried sludge at least to one of L. Monocytogenes, L. Innocua and L. Seeligeri species was 100, 92.3 and 53.8 percent respectively. Anaerobic sludge digesters efficiency to remove L. Monocytogenes, L. Innocua and L. Seeligeri species was determined 64.7, 39.72, and 100 percent while the efficiency of drying sludge beds for L. monocytogenes and L.innocua species removal was 73.4 and 96.68 percent respectively. Conclusion: Listeria monocytogenes is more resistant than other identified species against the sludge processing conditions. Thus, the use of sludge as fertilizer can cause the spread of this bacterium in the environment and agricultural products pollution.

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Background and Objective: Phenol and phenol derivatives in industrial wastewater are among the pollutants with priorities. The high cost and low efficiency of some routine treatment processes of industrial wastewater has limited their use. One of the new methods under consideration is, nowadays, adsorption using carbon nanotubes. This study was conducted in order to evaluate the application of alumina-coated multiwall carbon nanotubes in eliminating phenol from synthetic wastewater. Materials and Methods: This study was performed in laboratory at batch scale. Multi-wall carbon nanotubes were coated with Alumina. The concentration of phenol was determined by spectrophotometer through photometry. The effect of pH changes, dosage of adsorbent, contact time, the initial concentration of phenol, temperature, and the concentrations of different salts on the efficiency of absorption was evaluated. Then, the absorption results were described using the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms and the synthetics of absorption. Results: It was found that absorption efficiency increased significantly by decreasing the initial concentration of phenol and pH and by increasing the carbon nanotube dosage, temperature, and contact time. On the other hand, the maximum elimination of phenol from the solution (98.86%) occurred at 4 mg/l phenol concentration, under acidic conditions (pH=3), at adsorbent dosage of 0.05 g/l, at temperature of 45°C, and contact time of 10 min. Evaluation of the regressions isotherms showed that the process follows the Langmuir model and second-degree synthetic absorption. Conclusion: The high efficacy (98%) of the adsorption process in this study showed that alumina-coated multiwall carbon nanotubes have a good capability in eliminating phenol and can be used as an appropriate and new method for eliminating phenol and its derivatives from wastewater.

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Background and Objectives: Qualitative evaluation of sewage sludge before any kind of application is essential. The present study was aimed to investigate Total coliform, Fecal coliform and Salmonella in sewage sludge produced at wastewater treatment plants in Azerbaijan Province, Iran.

Materials and Methods: Nine wastewater treatment plants were chosen in East Azerbaijan Province, and their sludge from drying bed was studied. Total coliforms, thermo-tolerant coliforms, and Salmonella spp., were surveyed during winter time, 2015. Total and thermos-tolerant coliforms were enumerated by EPA method 1680 and salmonella was counted using EPA method 1682.  

Results: In the case of total coliform, sludge sample from Jolfa with 1.82×10⁶ MPN/g showed the highest contamination, while Sarab showed lowest fecal coliform count with 2.02×10³ MPN/g. As in the case for fecal coliform, the bacteria count for thermo-tolerant coliforms was higher in Jolfa than other cities; on the other hand, Ahar with no fecal coliform count or less than 2.2 showed the minimum contamination rate to fecal coliforms. In case of Salmonella spp., sludge samples from Ahar and Bostan Abad did not show any salmonella. While sludge sample from Tabriz wastewater treatment plant was determined as the most contaminant sludge with bacteria count equal to 84 per  g. Moreover, sludge sample from Sarab wastewater treatment plant showed the least contamination rate, and bacteria count was 6 per  g.

Conclusion: From the stand point of microbial quality, all sludge samples met class B standards set by USEPA, while none of them could provide class A standards. Thus, special precautions must be taken in case of soil amendments by the sludge produced from wastewater treatment plants. 

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Background and Objective: Being low cost of building and operation, anaerobic baffled reactor is considered superior to aerobic methods of wastewater treatment, especially for small communities. However, it needs to be studded for upgrade and overcome of its limitations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of FABR and RABR reactors for the municipal wastewater treatment at laboratory scale and in field conditions to determine their optimum conditions in reaching effluent discharge standards.

Materials and Methods: This study was conducted in Khoy wastewater treatment plant. FABR was operated for 267 days with hydraulic retention time of 18-48 h and RABR was operated for 90 days with media bad rotation of 10-50 rpm. The reactors were fed in line from the wastewater canal. Using composite sampling, 224 samples were taken from the inflow and outflow of the reactors and each sample was analyzed for parameters of COD, BOD, TSS, VSS, TKN, and TP.

Results: The reactor startup took about 107 days. FABR removal efficiency was 93-80, 21-10, and 30-21% for COD, TKN, and PO₄ respectively at HRT of 48-18 h. FABR reached effluent disposal standard of TSS, COD, and BOD in all conditions and optimum HRT of 36 h. RABR reached to these standards at HRT 24 h and 50 rpm. However, none of them could meet the nutrient effluent standards.

Conclusion: FABR is an appropriate system for municipal wastewater treatment but for reaching N and P effluent standard, it should be combined with aerobic post-treatment. Moreover, in order to reuse the reactor's nutrient-rich effluent for irrigation; it can be reused as subsurface irrigation.