Daniel Puyol

King Juan Carlos University | URJC · Chemical and Environmental Technology

Propagation of emerging pollutants (EPs) in wastewater treatment plants has become a warning sign, especially for novel resource-recovery concepts. The fate of EPs on purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB)-based systems has not yet been determined. This work analyzes the performance of a photo-anaerobic membrane bioreactor treating a low-N wastewater c...

Purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB) have been proposed as a high-growth, assimilative option for wastewater treatment. The original partition-release-recover concept proposal requires their near complete digestion and release (and subsequent recovery) of energy and nutrients in an anaerobic digester. While the growth (partition) step has been extens...

Sustainable development is driving a rapid focus shift in the wastewater and organic waste treatment sectors, from a “removal and disposal” approach towards the recovery and reuse of water, energy and materials (e.g. carbon or nutrients). Purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB) are receiving increasing attention due to their capability of growing photoh...

The production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) with purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB) has been limited due to low yields and limited knowledge regarding the diverse routes used for carbon biosynthesis. The present study increases PHA accumulation yields using urban organic waste pretreated by steam explosion and acidogenic fermentation as substrate...

Bioelectrochemical systems are a promising technology capable of reducing CO2 emissions , a renewable carbon source, using electroactive microorganisms for this purpose. Purple Pho-totrophic Bacteria (PPB) use their versatile metabolism to uptake external electrons from an electrode to fix CO2. In this work, the effect of the voltage (from −0.2 to...

Refinery wastewater (RWW) treatment is outdated since new wastewater management and reuse challenges require more environmental-friendly and cheap alternatives. Conventional biological treatments focused on activated sludge are highly energy-intensive and resource-dissipating processes. However, anaerobic treatments are an excellent alternative to...

Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) production at a large scale by purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB) is hindered due to high production costs and limited recovery due to its consumption during starvation periods. The present study identified cost-effective inorganic acids as inactivation methods for PPB to obtain higher PHA recovery. The study was performe...

In this study, a photoanaerobic PPB-based biological system for the treatment of refinery wastewater and oily sludge pretreated by thermal hydrolysis has been studied within the framework of sustainability.

Purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB) are a novel driver to recover organics and nutrients from wastewater by assimilative growth. Depending on the source, assimilated resources from the PPB biomass can still be recovered after a releasing step. Anaerobic digestion (AD) releases carbon and nutrients, but the release is incomplete. Thermal hydrolysis (...

The EU's bioeconomy strategy has a strong commitment to the development of biotechnological approaches to convert municipal solid biowastes into value-added products. In this context, the current study investigated the thermophilic co-fermentation of pruning lignocellulosic and food wastes to co-produce hydrogen and carboxylic acids. Steam explosio...

An integrated method coupling of heterogeneous and biological catalysis has proven effective for producing biopolymers using lignocellulosic urban solid waste as feedstock. Catalysts based on cheap and earth-abundant metals, such as Fe, Mg, Ca, or Zr with basic or acid properties, were used in the pre-treatment step, and phototrophic mixed cultures...

Hospitals are one of the key contributors of pharmaceutical contaminants of emerging concern to the sewer systems. Hospitals wastewaters contain concentrations of pharmaceutical compounds between 3 and 150, which are higher than urban wastewater streams. However, dedicated treatments of the hospital effluents before discharge to the sewer system ar...

Purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB) showed an enormous potential for polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) production using the hydrolysate from lignocellulosic waste as feedstock. Thermal hydrolysis pretreatment was carried out at three different temperatures (120, 150 and 180 °C) aiming to improve the biodegradability of the lignocellulosic waste. After thi...

BACKGROUND Anaerobic treatments based on purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB) can be a more efficient and less energetic demanding alternative than current aerobic biological processes of refinery and petrochemistry wastewater (RPWW) treatment plants. Toxic compounds on the RPWW might compromise the PPB metabolism, limiting its feasibility. In this w...

The increasing volume of waste streams require new biological technologies that can address pollution concerns while offering sustainable products. Purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB) are very versatile organisms that present a unique metabolism that allows them to adapt to a variety of environments, including the most complex waste streams. Their s...

Mixed‐culture fermentation (MCF) enables carbon recycling from complex organic waste streams into valuable feedstock chemicals. Using complex microbial consortia, MCF systems can be tuned to produce a range of biochemicals to meet market demand. However, the metabolic mechanisms and community interactions which drive biochemical production changes...

Increased demand for effective waste management strategies, along with the need for a transition from a fossil fuel-based economy to a bio-based economy sharpens the need for synergies and scientific innovations. Food waste (FW) is an essential component of municipal solid waste, and its accumulation has become a global concern. This work discusses...

Domestic wastewater treatment by purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB) is based on the assimilative uptake of organics and nutrients into the bacterial biomass. Thereby, it strongly depends on the carbon/nutrients ratio of the wastewater. The physiological COD/N/P ratio for PPB growth in domestic wastewater makes the addition of an external organic ca...

One of the current challenges in the treatment of wastewater is the recovery and/or transformation of their resources into high value-added products, such as biohydrogen. The aim of the present study was to optimize the production of hydrogen by mixed cultures of purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB), targeting in low CO 2 emission. Batch assays were...

The development of novel wastewater platforms should include the analysis of the most critical functional factors including the effects of toxic or inhibitory substances. Due to the novelty of purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB)-based wastewater treatment systems, this analysis has not been done yet in mixed cultures. In this work, various relevant...

In this study, two different organic fractions of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) served as raw material in a novel treatment process that combines thermal hydrolysis (TH) pretreatment at different times, followed by anaerobic digestion of the solid fraction and photo-fermentation of the liquid fraction. The results indicate that both wastes performe...

The increase in natural water bodies pollution caused by intensive animal farming requires the development of innovative sustainable treatment processes. This study assessed the influence of piggery wastewater (PWW) load, air dosing, CO2/NaHCO3− supplementation and pH control on PWW treatment by mixed cultures of purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB)...

Link valid until August 19, 2019: (https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1ZJsr3QJ-dbKu-). Wet lipid extraction combined with residual biomass anaerobic digestion are alternatives to reduce the overall energy consumption of biodiesel production from microalgae. Solvents with different polarities have been studied to assess dry and wet lipid extraction proc...

Conventional wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are not able to remove completely some emerging contaminants, such as residual pharmaceutical compounds (PCs) with potential ecotoxicity to water bodies. An advanced bio-oxidation process (ABOP) using white-rot fungi (WRF) has been proposed as alternative biological treatment for degradation of non-b...

Domestic and industrial wastewaters contain organic substrates and nutrients that can be recovered instead of being dissipated by emerging efficient technologies. The aim of this study was to promote bio-hydrogen production and carbon fixation using a mixed culture of purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB) that use infrared radiation in presence or abs...

Lignocellulosic residues from energy crops offer a high potential to recover bioproducts and biofuels that can be used as raw matter for agriculture activities within a circular economy framework. Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a well-stablished driver to convert these residues into energy and bioproducts. However, AD of lignocellulosic matter is slow...

Concentrated wastewaters from agricultural industries represent a key opportunity for the upcycling of organics, nitrogen and phosphorus to higher value products such as microbial protein. Phototrophic or photosynthetic microbes very effectively capture input organics and nutrients as microbial protein. This study compares purple phototrophic bacte...

The influence of Zero Valent Iron (ZVI) addition on the potential resource recovery during the anaerobic digestion (AD) of domestic waste sludge is assessed. Potentially recoverable resources analyzed were nutrients such as struvite to recover P, and energy as biogas to recover C. Short term (biochemical methane potential tests, BMP) and long term...

This chapter reviews briefly the principles of anaerobic digestion with special interest in innovative technologies to enhance the methane production. Biogas production from anaerobic digestion has been widely described in literature but this chapter wants to give a step forward focusing on two topics recently reported in literature and with specia...

Soluble ions released by elemental copper nanoparticles (Cu⁰ NP) are toxic to key microorganisms of wastewater treatment processes. However, their toxicity to anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) has not yet been studied. Chelating agents occurring in wastewater may decrease copper ions (Cu²⁺) concentration; consequently, decrease copper toxicity...

This work presents a sustainable and cost-competitive solution for hardly biodegradable pesticides-bearing wastewater treatment in an anaerobic expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactor at mesophilic (35°C) and thermophilic (55°C). The reactor was operated in continuous mode during 160days, achieving an average COD removal of 33 and 44% under mes...

The objective of this study is to show the preliminary results of a (dynamic) mathematical model describing the effects of zero valent iron (ZVI) addition during the anaerobic digestion of waste activated sludge from wastewater treatment systems. A modified version of the Anaerobic Digestion Model No. 1 (ADM1) upgraded with an improved physico-chem...

This work investigates the biological treatment of synthetic wastewater contaminated with emerging pollutants (EPs) by anaerobic purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB) in a continuous photo-anaerobic membrane bioreactor. The effect of the hydraulic retention time (HRT) on the reactor performance has been analysed. Results indicate that the reactor perf...

Purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB) have been recently proposed as a key potential mechanism for accumulative biotechnologies for wastewater treatment with total nutrient recovery, low greenhouse gas emissions, and a neutral to positive energy balance. Purple phototrophic bacteria have a complex metabolism which can be regulated for process control...

Limits in resource availability are driving a change in current societal production systems, changing the focus from residues treatment, such as wastewater treatment, towards resource recovery. Biotechnological processes offer an economic and versatile way to concentrate and transform resources from waste/wastewater into valuable products, which is...

The effect of different oxidation processes at mild conditions including the coupled-Fenton (sono-Fenton, photo-Fenton and sono-photo-Fenton) and their blank systems (ultrasound, ultraviolet, zero valent iron and Fenton) on anaerobic digestion of the sludge for biogas production was investigated. Ultrasounds led to the highest organic matter solubi...

Low wastewater temperatures affect microbial growth rates and microbial populations, as well as physical chemical characteristics of the wastewater. Wastewater treatment plant design needs to accommodate changing temperatures, and somewhat limited capacity is a key criticism of low strength anaerobic treatment such as Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactors...

A key future challenge of domestic wastewater treatment is nutrient recovery while still achieving acceptable discharge limits. Nutrient partitioning using purple phototrophic bacteria (PPB) has the potential to biologically concentrate nutrients through growth. This study evaluates the use of PPB in a continuous photo-anaerobic membrane bioreactor...

Soluble ions released by zinc oxide (ZnO) and copper (Cu°) nanoparticles (NPs) have been associated with toxicity to methanogens. This study evaluated the role of biogenic sulfide in attenuating ZnO and Cu° NP toxicity to methanogens. Short- and long-term batch experiments were conducted to explore ZnO and Cu° NPs toxicity to acetoclastic methanoge...

Anaerobic process modelling is a mature and well-established field, largely guided by a mechanistic model structure that is defined by our understanding of underlying processes. This led to publication of the IWA ADM1, and strong supporting, analytical, and extension research in the 15 years since its publication. However, the field is rapidly expa...

Los reactores de manto de lodo granular expandido (EGSB) presenta un gran potencial en el tratamiento de aguas con diferente carga contaminante, gran adaptabilidad a diferentes temperaturas de operación, incluso por debajo de 10oC, así como tolerancia a algunos compuestos tóxicos. Este trabajo evalúa la viabilidad del reactor EGSB para la degradaci...

The anaerobic oxidation of ammonium (anammox) uses nitrite as terminal electron acceptor. The nitrite can cause inhibition to the bacteria that catalyze the anammox reaction. The literature shows a great divergence on the levels of NO2- causing inhibition. Moreover, the conditions influencing the resistance of anammox bacteria to NO2- inhibitory ef...

Anaerobic ammonium oxidizing (anammox) bacteria are be inhibited by their terminal electron acceptor, nitrite. Serious nitrite inhibition of the anammox bacteria occurs if the exposure coincides with the absence of the electron donating substrate, ammonium and pH < 7.2. Starvation of biomass occurs during underloading of bioreactors or biomass stor...

The successful operation of any type of hydrogen-producing bioreactor depends on the performance of the microorganisms present in the system. Both substrate and partial gas pressures are crucial factors affecting dark fermentation metabolic pathways. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of both factors on hydrogen production...

The biological abatement of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (246TCP) and its chlorinated degradation byproducts using anaerobic and aerobic biological reactors coupled in series has been studied. The performance of an anaerobic Fluidized Bed Biofilm Reactor (FBBR) and Expanded Granular Sludge Bed (EGSB) reactors bioaugmented with Desulfitobacterium strains w...

Ammonium is a substrate of the anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) process but it has been suggested as a substrate-inhibitor because of the action of its unionized form, free ammonia (FA). High pH of the medium is also an important limiting factor of the anammox bacteria. Both effects are difficult to discriminate. In this work the inhibitory e...

BACKGROUND Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) is a promising approach for removing nitrogen from landfill leachates and other nitrogen-laden wastewater. Although heavy metals, which are known for their microbial toxicity, are commonly present in those wastewater streams information on their inhibitory impact on anammox activity is still limited...

Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) is a recently discovered microbial process commonly applied to treat ammonium pollution in effluents with low organic carbon content. Modeling anammox processes is important for simulating and controlling full-scale plants. In this study, the anammox process was simulated using three models, and substrate and...

Nitrite is a substrate but also an inhibitor of anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox).There is currently no consensus on whether ionized nitrite (INi) or free nitrous acid (FNA) is the actual inhibitor of the process. The inhibition by INi and FNA on the anammox process has been analysed using a wide range of INi and FNA concentrations and by alte...

The biodegradability and toxicity of three commercial pesticides containing MCPA, imidacloprid and dimethoate were evaluated individually, and a complex mixture of these pesticides was treated in an expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactor. MCPA was partially biodegraded, while imidacloprid and dimethoate remained almost unaltered during the ind...

Anaerobic ammonium oxidizing bacteria (Anammox) are known to be inhibited by their substrate, nitrite. However, the mechanism of inhibition and the physiological conditions under which nitrite impacts the performance of anammox bioreactors are still unknown. This study investigates the role of pre-exposing anammox bacteria to nitrite alone on their...

Las aguas residuales de la industria cosmética se caracterizan por tener valores elevados de sólidos en suspensión, demanda química de oxígeno, grasas, aceites y detergentes, y suelen tratarse mediante coagulación/floculación y posterior flotación con aire disuelto para separar el lodo resultante. No obstante, la cada vez más estricta normativa par...

The anaerobic treatment of low-strength wastewater bearing pentachlorophenol (PCP) at psychro-mesophilic temperatures has been investigated in an expanded granular sludge bed reactor. Using an upward flow rate of 4mh(-1), a complete removal of PCP, as well as COD removal and methanization efficiencies higher than 75% and 50%, respectively, were ach...

In this study, kinetic analyses were conducted for two Brocadia-dominated enrichment cultures, granular and flocculent, retrieved from lab-scale anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) reactors. Substrate KS ranged from 0.35 to 0.69mMN and VSmax ranged from 0.67 to 0.88mmolNg(-1)VSSh(-1). The model respected the experimentally measured stoichiometry...

To improve bacterial hydrogen production, ten hydrogen-producing strains belonging to Clostridium spp. were isolated from various sludges under low vacuum. Hydrogenogenesis by dark fermentation in batch cultures of these strains was optimal at about 35 degrees C and an initial pH of 6.5, which for all strains gradually dropped to ca. pH 4 during th...

Anaerobic ammonium oxidizing bacteria (Anammox) are known to be inhibited by their substrate, nitrite. However, the mechanism of inhibition and the physiological conditions under which nitrite impacts the performance of anammox bioreactors are still unknown. This study investigates the role of pre-exposing anammox bacteria to nitrite alone on their...

BACKGROUND: This work is focused on the anaerobic biodegradation of wastewater from used industrial oils (UIO) recovery using a bench-scale expanded granular sludge bed reactor (EGSB) at room temperature. RESULTS: Biodegradability tests showed that this wastewater can be partially biodegraded under anaerobic conditions at mesophilic temperature. L...

Chlorophenols exert a crucial effect on the methanogenesis, considerably reducing both maximum methane potential and methanogenic rates. However, there is not enough information about the kinetic mechanism of chlorophenols toxicity on the methanogenesis, which is a key aspect for the control of the anaerobic digesters because of the sensitivity and...

The biodegradation of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (246TCP) was studied using expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactors and a fluidized bed biofilm reactor (FBBR) filled with activated carbon. One of the EGSB reactor and the FBBR were bioaugmented with Desulfitobacterium strains. 246TCP loading rate was gradually incremented from 10 to 250 mg L(-1) day...

The anaerobic degradation of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (246TCP) has been studied in batch experiments. Granular sludges previously acclimated to 2,4-dichlorophenol (24DCP) and then adapted to at a load of 330 μM 246TCPd(-1) in two expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactors were used. One of the reactors had been bioaugmented with Desulfitobacterium s...

Tesis doctoral inédita leída en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Química Física Aplicada, Sección Departamental de Ingeniería Química; Fecha de lectura: 20/07/2010 Bibliogr.: 303-348

Anaerobic treatment of pre-settled cosmetic wastewater in batch and continuous experiments has been investigated. Biodegradability tests showed high COD and solid removal efficiencies (about 70%), being the hydrolysis of solids the limiting step of the process. Continuous treatment was carried out in an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor. High...

The anaerobic degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) in upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) and expanded granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactors using glucose as main carbon source was studied. The performance of both systems was compared in terms of 2,4-DCP and COD removal efficiencies, methane production, stability, granular sludge adaptabili...

The influence of several co-substrates in the anaerobic biodegradation of 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (246TCP) by methanogenic granular sludge as well as in methanogenesis inhibition by 246TCP has been studied. 4 g-COD.L(-1) of lactate, sucrose, volatile fatty acids (VFA) acetate:propionate:butyrate 1:1:1, ethanol, methanol, yeast extract (YE), and 2 g-C...