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Optimisation of anaerobic granular sludge reactors : speciation, bioavailability and dosing strategies of trace metals

Cel

The effects of the metals Co and Ni on the treatment performance of a continuously operated methanogenic UASB reactor fed with either methanol or glucose as the substrate will be investigated. Addition of trace metals does not guarantee that these are bioavailability, as ions must be in a soluble state to be bioavailable. The contracted research fellow will carry out a work program to characterize the bioavailable metal fractions in methanogenic granular sludge from a Up flow Anaerobic Sludge Bed (UASB) reactor treating a wastewater containing a mixture of heavy metals. Dissolved Ni and Co in the sludge could be operationally discriminated into labile (comprising the free ion, inorganic complexes and weak organic complexes) and total (comprising additionally strong organic complexes and colloidal forms) species by adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry (AdCSV) using dimethyl glyoxime (DMG) as the complexing ligand. The applicant will develop and optimize the AdCSV protocols to determine Ni and Co species. These data will be compared with the theoretical metal concentration, as predicted by speciation model (MINEQL+). The bio film itself will be analyzed using a sequential metal extraction to distinguish the exchangeable, adsorbed, organically bound, carbonate and sulfide residual fractions. Thus, a targeted dosing of heavy metals can lead to an optimization of the process performance by studying bioreactor performance which would be correlated with the bioavailability of the metals. According to applicant knowledge, he is very interested in studying metals bioavailability and mobility in UASB reactors. As he is also very interested to get international experience, working in a dynamic, multidisciplinary and international research team will be very helpful. This training position will let him acquire knowledge concerning analytical methods as well as bioprocess engineering applied to environmental technology. This will greatly enhance the academic carrier perspectives of the applicant. The host institute will benefit from the expertise in metal speciation and chemical analysis of the visiting post-doctoral researcher. As the applicant has worked in another laboratory, focusing on aquatic chemistry, he will bring specific expertise from another scientific field to the host institute. Moreover, as he anticipates to return to his home institute and continue to working the scientific area, the established contact via the Marie Curie Fellowship will increase networking with his home institutes. Thus, it can be a basis for other joint research projects, which could be supported by other E.U. programs.

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Koordynator

WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY
Wkład UE
Brak danych
Adres
Bomenweg 2
6700 EV WAGENINGEN
Niderlandy

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