title: Biological sulfate removal from construction and demolition debris leachate: effect of bioreactor configuration.
abstract: Due to the contamination of construction and demolition debris (CDD) by gypsum drywall, especially, its sand fraction (CDD sand, CDDS), the sulfate content in CDDS exceeds the posed limit of the maximum amount of sulfate present in building sand (1.73 g sulfate per kg of sand for the Netherlands). Therefore, the CDDS cannot be reused for construction. The CDDS has to be washed in order to remove most of the impurities and to obtain the right sulfate content, thus generating a leachate, containing high sulfate and calcium concentrations. This study aimed at developing a biological sulfate reduction system for CDDS leachate treatment and compared three different reactor configurations for the sulfate reduction step: the upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor, inverse fluidized bed (IFB) reactor and gas lift anaerobic membrane bioreactor (GL-AnMBR). This investigation demonstrated that all three systems can be applied for the treatment of CDDS leachate. The highest sulfate removal efficiency of 75-85% was achieved at a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 15.5h. A high calcium concentration up to 1,000 mg L(-1) did not give any adverse effect on the sulfate removal efficiency of the IFB and GL-AnMBR systems.
authors.affiliation: Pollution Prevention and Resource Recovery Chair Group, UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Westvest 7, 2611 AX Delft, The Netherlands. Electronic address: som_cheng00@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Pimluck
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kijjanapanich
authors.affiliation: Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, USA.
authors.forename: Anh Tien
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Do
authors.affiliation: Environmental Engineering and Management, Asian Institute of Technology, PO Box 4, Klongluang, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand.
authors.forename: Ajit P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Annachhatre
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, Via Di Biasio 43, 03043 Cassino (FR), Italy.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Esposito
authors.affiliation: Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Yeh
authors.affiliation: Pollution Prevention and Resource Recovery Chair Group, UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Westvest 7, 2611 AX Delft, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Piet N L
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Lens
mesh_terms: D000693:Anaerobiosis; D019149:Bioreactors; D002118:Calcium / Q000032:analysis; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis; D007220:Industrial Waste / Q000032:analysis*; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D012822:Silicon Dioxide; D013431:Sulfates / Q000737:chemistry*; D013440:Sulfides / Q000737:chemistry; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D007220:Industrial Waste; D013431:Sulfates; D013440:Sulfides; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D002244:Carbon; D012822:Silicon Dioxide; D002118:Calcium
keywords: Construction and demolition debris; Gas lift anaerobic membrane bioreactor; Inversed fluidized bed reactor; Sulfate reduction; UASB