Jan Derco

Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava Slovakia

Prof. Ján Derco, DSc. has graduated from the Faculty of Chemical and Food Technology, Slovak Technical University (SUT) as M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering. Then he started working at the Department of Environmental Engineering at the same faculty where he has continued his research. Later he obtained his PhD. and DSc. (doctor of sciences) graduations from the same University. Main field of his scientific interest are environmental engineering, biological wastewater treatment, modelling, design and optimisation, ozone based oxidation processes and priority substances and micropollutants degradation and transformation. Presently he is working as Professor at the Institute of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, SUT.

2books edited

5chapters authored

Latest work with IntechOpen by Jan Derco

Municipal and industrial wastewaters contain a wide spectrum of pollutants. Their effective removal presents a challenge for water treatment technology. Biosorption of nutrients and pollutants has been used in sewage treatment since the discovery of the activated sludge process. It is a passive uptake process by which pollutants are adsorbed on the surface of cell walls and/or dissolved in structures of microorganism cells that are present in sludge. Sorbed pollutants remain in the sludge and can be potentially released back into the environment depending on their condition and the reversibility of the pollutant-sludge interaction. An overview of typical biosorption applications for the removal of nutrients, organic pollutants, and metals in wastewater treatment is provided in different areas of their use for the protection of aquatic ecosystems and human health. This book will be of interest to operators of wastewater treatment plants and sludge treatment and disposal facilities as well as to researchers and university students in the field of environmental engineering.

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Biosorption

Edited by Jan Derco

Books edited

Ozone in Nature and Practice

Edited by Jan Derco

Chapters authored

Removal of Selected Benzothiazols with Ozone

By Jan Derco, Michal Melicher and Angelika Kassai

Part of the book: Municipal and Industrial Waste Disposal

Influence of Phosphorus Precipitation on Wastewater Treatment Processes

By Ján Derco, Rastislav Kuffa, Barbora Urminská, Jozef Dudáš and Jana Kušnierová

Phosphorus stimulates aquatic plant growth and contributes to eutrophication process in rivers, lakes and the ocean. A large part of phosphorus is discharged into the receiving waters by wastewater. One of the solutions of this problem is represented by chemical precipitation. Simultaneous precipitation of phosphorus from wastewater with metal salts is commonly applied. Metal salts are dosed directly into aeration tank, and produced precipitates are wasted as a part of the secondary sludge. Thus, not only aerobic and anoxic processes of wastewater treatment plant are carried out in the presence of precipitant metals and precipitates but also the precipitates are, in many cases, accumulated in anaerobic sludge digesters. Operational research of phosphorus precipitation in lab‐scale encompasses the impact of Fe2+, Fe3+ and Al3+ salts on biological nitrification and denitrification processes, sedimentation and thickening characteristics of sludge as well as anaerobic sludge stabilisation processes. The measurements of specific oxygen uptake rate, nitrification and denitrification tests and monitoring of effluent values of quality standards were applied to evaluate the processes performance. Other objective of our research is to contribute to methodology for examination of thickening and dewatering characteristics of sludge with tested precipitation agents. Mathematically processed experimental results are used to compare sedimentation, precipitation and dewatering characteristics of activated sludge cultivated in the presence of selected precipitation agents. Better description of the experimental results was obtained with three parameters model of particles mass flow density curve. Comparison of minimum sedimentation tank size necessary for gravitational separation of individual sludge was used to examine sedimentation characteristics of activated sludge. Thickening characteristics of sludge were evaluated based upon thickening area needed to maintain the required sludge concentration in activated sludge model, which corresponds to maximum surface load in undissolved substances. Chemical precipitation of phosphorus produces metal precipitates. These are transported with the waste sludge to the digestion tanks. Impact of the precipitates on the anaerobic sludge stabilisation process as well as on the sludge water quality was tested in the work. The main aim of the research and proposed chapter submission is a pursuit of decision making regarding selection of type of precipitating agent and strategy of chemical phosphorus precipitation.

Part of the book: Operations Research

Removal of BTX Contaminants with O3 and O3/UV Processes

By Ján Derco, Katarína Šimovičová, Jozef Dudáš and Mária Valičková

The legal basis for the monitoring of priority and priority hazardous substances in water, sediment, and biota follows from Directive 2008/105/EC which defines the good chemical status to be achieved by all Member States together with the Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC. The BTX compounds are considered to be the most toxic components of gasoline. Thus, organic petroleum components can induce a serious problem to public health and the aquatic environment. The effect of ozone and ozone/UV on degradation of the BTX in a model water was studied. The results indicate that the highest BTX removal rates were observed during the first 5 min of the process for all investigated pollutants. The treatment efficiencies above 90% were observed in all investigated pollutants after 40 min of ozonation. The results show a significant proportion of stripping in the removal of BTX components. Higher overall efficiency was observed by O3/UV process after abstracting share of stripping process. Application of investigated processes appears to be a promising procedure for removal of petrol aromatic hydrocarbons from aquatic environment. However, for practical application, an improvement of process removal efficiency and investigation of impact of ozonation intermediates and products on aquatic microorganisms are required.

Part of the book: Physico-Chemical Wastewater Treatment and Resource Recovery

Introductory Chapter: Ozone in the Nature and Practice

By Ján Derco, Barbora Urminská and Martin Vrabeľ

Part of the book: Ozone in Nature and Practice

Introductory Chapter: Biosorption

By Ján Derco and Branislav Vrana

Part of the book: Biosorption

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