A method for treating and improving the quality of pond water used in growing aquatic species for aquacultural applications by adding to the pond water active bacteria that are preferably grown on site in combination with a nitrification enhancement agent such as calcium carbonate or calcified seaweed, and an optional reaction surface area modifier such as calcified seaweed or plastic or metal particles or fragments.

A method for reducing recalcitrant chemical oxygen demand (COD) of a liquid in a water system is provided. The method comprises pretreating the liquid in a pretreatment unit (12) to remove indigenous bacteria or microbes to a population level below which the indigenous organisms can interfere with the screened and externally introduced microorganisms. The liquid is then provided to a reactor (20) that has a filter bed (22) formed with a carrier material (26). Special microbes are screened and used to colonize the carrier material (26) to remove recalcitrant COD. A biofilm is cultured on the surface of the carrier material (26) to immobilize the screened microbes in the reactor (20). The method further comprises adding a co-substrate as the liquid enters the reactor (20) and percolating the liquid through the filter bed (22) colonized with the screened microbes to degrade at least part of the recalcitrant COD under aerobic conditions. The screened microbes comprise at least one microbial species selected from the group consisting of Bacillus, Comamonas, Arthrobacter, Micrococcus, Pseudomonas, Pediococcus, Achromobacter, Flavobacterium, Mycobacterium, Rhodanobacter, Stenotrophomonas and yeast.

Providing essential oils and/or saponins such as, garlic oil, cinnamon bark oil or powder, and lemongrass oil to an environmental medium to disrupt the enzyme and coenzyme systems, that are integral parts of the methanogenesis process. The disruption limits the growth and reproduction of the methanogens that normally compete with slower-growing, halo-respiring bacteria for the hydrogen donors within the environmental medium (either naturally occurring or provided via fermentable substrates provided to the environmental medium of part of a reduction process). The amount of methane produced during in situ remediation processes is also reduced. The essential oils/saponins are harmless to the slower-growing, halo-respiring bacteria that are utilized to dechlorinate containments in the environmental medium. The essential oils/saponins can be provided alone or along with various organic hydrogen donors, zero-valent iron (ZVI) or other surfactants in order to enhance the biodegradation (reductive dechlorination) of the targeted contaminants.

A wastewater treatment system including a contact tank, a dissolved air flotation unit, a fermentation unit, and a biological treatment unit is disclosed. A method of retrofitting a wastewater treatment system by arranging the wastewater treatment system such that floated biosolids are fermented in an anerobic environment and fluidly connecting the biological treatment unit to receive at least a portion of the fermented solids is also disclosed. The method optionally includes providing a fermentation unit and fluidly connecting the fermentation unit to a biological treatment unit. A method of treating wastewater including combining the wastewater with activated sludge, floating biosolids from the activated wastewater, fermenting the floated biosolids, and biologically treating the effluent with the fermented solids is also disclosed. A method of facilitating delivery of soluble organic carbon to a biological treatment unit is also disclosed.

Three dimensional fabric media of the present invention are used with moving bed biofilm reactors, and are generally constructed of an open weave substrate that allows the diffusion of gas, nutrients and food, while protecting and serving as an attachment site for a variety of microbial colonies in both anoxic and aerobic zones. The media is preferably constructed of high-density polyester fiber and has a specific gravity of approximately 0.96.

A process in which a waste stream containing microbes and organic constituents is passed through a process environment comprising a solid media, microbes, and higher animals, such that some of the microbes and/or organic constituents within the waste stream are removed from the waste stream and some of the removed microbes are destroyed or consumed by the higher animals. The process environment may include an irrigated environment, a submerged environment, or a combined environment.

The invention relates to a process for producing a microbial storage compound, in particular polyhydroxyalkanoate, using micro-organisms capable of accumulating such microbial storage compound,wherein such micro-organisms are selected and the microbial storage compound is accumulated by carrying out the so-called feast phase of the selection step and the accumulation of the microbial storage compound in selected micro-organisms in the same reactor and carrying out the so-called famine phase of the selection step in a separate, smaller, reactor.

A method of biologically treating wastewater and, at the same time, incorporating processes that aim to increase the PHA accumulation potential of biomass used in the treatment of the wastewater. The method includes biologically treating the wastewater and enhancing PHA accumulation potential of the biomass by subjecting the biomass to a primary feast-famine process where the biomass is subjected to repeated cycles of feast and primary famine conditions. From time-to-time, the method entails deviating from the primary feast-famine process to a secondary famine process. The secondary famine process comprises subjecting the biomass to secondary famine conditions for a period of time that is substantially greater than the average time period of the primary famine conditions.

A method and an apparatus for biological wastewater treatment that includes a biological selector and a physical selector. The apparatus comprises an internal biological reactor where wastewater and recycled biomass are combined to provide a high substrate and high electron acceptor gradient for generating morphological biomass features that favor granule formation over floc and filament formation, and an external gravimetric or external screen selector operating on the biomass waste stream for collecting and retaining densified biomass aggregates including dense granule selection and for wasting lighter filaments and flocs. In the method and apparatus, particles may be added to provide cores to promote the formation of aggregates encapsulating the seeded particles. The particles may be added as various materials, for example, in the bioreactor, to initiate or seed the formation of a granule, that could then be separated by or integrated with either the external gravimetric or external screen selector. Further, organisms may be selected for biological phosphorus removal, denitrifying methane oxidizers, biological sulfur or sulfide oxidation, methanogenesis.

A methodology, system and apparatus are provided that include anoxic biofilms to perform partial denitrification and anammox (PdNA) reactions. The PdNA reactions can facilitate process intensification and carbon efficient biological nitrogen removal. The anoxic biofilms can be placed in a pre-anoxic zone or a downstream anoxic zone, where the biofilm and reactions are managed, including using storage compounds, to overcome mass transfer limitations in the biofilm. The methodology, system and apparatus can, when compared to state-of-the art technologies, improve the concentration gradient or reduce mass transfer limitations to facilitate PdNA reactions.