Evaluating the Bioavailability of FP-Treated Sludge from Riverside California

Evaluating the Bioavailability of FP-Treated Sludge from Riverside California Evaluating the Bioavailability of FP-Treated Sludge from Riverside, California EB will receive two waste activated sludge samples from Riverside. One is from a conventional activated sludge (CAS) system, and the second is from a membrane bioreactor (MBR). EB will do FP treatment at a typical intensity and will do chemical assays on the treated and untreated sludges: Total and soluble COD, TSS, VSS, alkalinity, pH, NH3-N, volatile fatty acids, sugar, and protein. EB will then run biochemical methane potential (BMP) on the FP-treated and control sludges (4 samples). EB also will run one inoculum-only control and a positive control. EB will use 5 replicates for each sample to ensure good reproducibility and statistics. This adds up to 30 BMP bottles. EB will need to get both sludges delivered to us one time. EB will need 12 - 14 gallons per sludge type, and it would be best to receive both of them at the same time. EB will coordinate with OpenCEL for doing the FP treatment in the EB labs in the Biodesign Institute. This will be an intense three-month effort to include: ordering and receiving supplies, receiving the sludges, doing the FP treatment, doing the chemical assays, setting up the BMP assays, carrying out the BMP assays, and forwarding results as they are obtained, and interpreting the results in a final report. EB will devote one-half of a post-doc to the project for the three months. The anticipated start date is October 1, 2009.