Browsing by Author "Ali, Muhammad"

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Insights into the roles of anammox bacteria in post-treatment of anaerobically-treated sewage
(2018-01-01)
Wang, Qian
;
Tan, Giin-Yu Amy
;
Azari, Mohammad
;
Huang, Xiaowu
;
Denecke, Martin
Complete anaerobic treatment of sewage has the potential to achieve net energy production via capturing the energy of organics in sewage, but not nitrogen, which remains a concern. Anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) is potential for energy-efficient nitrogen removal from anaerobically-treated sewage. Given the sensitivity of anammox bacteria and the challenge of the low ammonium-bearing influent with reduced compounds such as volatile fatty acids, methane, and sulfide, this article critically reviewed and analyzed, using thermodynamic computation as a tool, the potential interactions of anammox bacteria with other microbes induced by the reduced compounds in anaerobically-treated sewage. The dynamics of anammox bacteria to cooperate with these microbes that metabolize non-ammonium pollutants and to outcompete for the common substrate, i.e., nitrite, are extensively discussed. The versatile metabolism of anammox bacteria on volatile fatty acids and iron, which would help facilitate the treatment efficiency, was also reviewed. The information offered in this review will be beneficial to researchers and engineers in controlling process stability, enhancing total nitrogen removal, and achieving better effluent quality in post-treatment of anaerobically-treated sewage by anammox-based processes.
Using in-situ synchrotron x-ray diffraction to investigate phase transformation and lattice relaxation of a three-way piezo-phototronic soft material
(2017-07-01)
Ko, Wen-Ching
;
Hsu, Yu-Hsiang
;
Weng, Shih-Chang
;
Chang, Chung-Kai
;
Lee, Ming-Tao
A poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-trifluoro-ethylene) piezoelectric polymer is blended with nano particles of titanium oxide phthalocyanine to bridge photoconductive and piezoelectric effects. In this study, a system is examined by in situ synchrotron x-ray to test a three-way piezo-phototronic soft-material design. The sample is heated for in situ phase transformation characterization. The semi-crystalline poly (vinylidene fluoride-co-trifluoro-ethylene) polymer gradually transforms to an amorphous structure. A complementary piezoelectric experiment before and after the heating experiment shows that the piezoelectric performance is proportional to the phase ratio. Secondly, the system is examined to test its phototronic effect. Piezoelectric responses are measured by controlling the light illumination. The positive and negative controls of light illumination which validate this newly-designed system can be modulated by a three-way piezo-phototronic effect. In-situ synchrotron x-ray diffraction experiments are employed to measure the microstructure evolution as a function of applied voltage up to 800 V. We then turned off both the light and the applied voltage to examine the kinetic behavior of the system. There is orientation-dependent anisotropic relaxation. We compared the lattice-strain evolutions. Piezo-phototronic creep is found in the (110), but not the (310) planes.