Nutrient and sediment removal by stormwater biofilters: a large-scale design optimisation study

A large-scale column study was conducted in Melbourne, Australia, to test the performance of stormwater biofilters for the removal of sediment, nitrogen and phosphorus. The aim of the study was to provide guidance on the optimal design for reliable treatment performance. A variety of factors were tested, using 125 large columns: plant species, filter media, filter depth, filter area and pollutant inflow concentration. The results demonstrate that vegetation selection is critical to performance for nitrogen removal (e.g. Carex appressa and Melaleuca ericifolia performed significantly better than other tested species). Whilst phosphorus removal was consistently very high (typically around 85%), biofilter soil media with added organic matter reduced the phosphorus treatment effectiveness. Biofilters built according to observed 'optimal specifications' can reliably remove both nutrients (up to 70% for nitrogen and 85% for phosphorus) and suspended solids (consistently over 95%). The optimally designed biofilter is at least 2% of its catchment area and possesses a sandy loam filter media, planted with C. appressa or M. ericifolia. Further trials will be required to test a wider range of vegetation, and to examine performance over the longer term. Future work will also examine biofilter effectiveness for treatment of heavy metals and pathogens.     

Nitrogen removal from on-site treated anaerobic effluents using intermittently aerated moving bed biofilm reactors at low temperature

On-site post-treatment of anaerobically pre-treated dairy parlour wastewater (DPWWe; 10 degrees C) and mixture of kitchen waste and black water (BWKWe; 20 degrees C) was studied in moving bed biofilm reactors (MBBR). The focus was on removal of nitrogen and of residual chemical oxygen demand (COD). Moreover, the effect of intermittent aeration and continuous vs. sequencing batch operation was studied. All MBBRs removed 50-60% of nitrogen and 40-70% of total COD (CODt). Complete nitrification was achieved, but denitrification was restricted by lack of carbon. Nitrogen removal was achieved in a single reactor by applying intermittent aeration. Continuous and sequencing batch operation provided similar nitrogen and COD removal, wherefore simpler continuous feeding may be preferred for on-site applications. Combination of pre-treating upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) -septic tank and MBBR removed over 92% of CODt, 99% of biological oxygen demand (BOD7), and 65-70% of nitrogen.     

贝壳填料曝气生物滤池的硝化特性研究

贝壳粗糙的表面及其合有的大量碳酸钙，可作为生物膜的载体及硝化反应的碱度来源。以海产弃物贝壳为生物膜载体，通过改变进水氨氮浓度及pH值，考察了贝壳填料曝气生物滤池的硝化脱氮规律。结果表明：对于氨氮〈120mg／L的原水，贝壳溶解提供的碱度能够满足硝化反应的需要，因此硝化反应进行得比较完全，对氨氮的去除率不受进水氨氮浓度的影响，可达90％以上；而当进水氨氮浓度达240mg／L时，因贝壳溶解提供的碱度不能完全满足硝化反应之所需，硝化反应将停滞，但对氨氮的去除率仍可达65％左右。此外，进水pH值对贝壳填料曝气生物滤池去除氨氮的效果及出水pH值基本没有影响。     

基于人工神经网络的反硝化滤池外碳源投加控制

针对反硝化滤池外碳源过量投加导致的出水总碳超标与碳源浪费问题,利用实际污水与小试装置研究了最适外碳源投加量的影响因素,并应用人工神经网络建立了外碳源投加模型与脱氮效果预测模型。结果表明,基于进水总氮负荷与碳氮生化反应计量守恒而进行的外碳源投加可缓解碳源浪费与污染问题,但脱氮效果缺乏稳定性,可考虑通过进水ORP、p H值、DO与温度的综合影响来进行改进。应用自适应学习速率动量梯度下降法建立了输入为5项进水指标、输出为最适投加量的外碳源投加模型,相关系数为0. 964 8,表明模型中进水参数与最适投加量具有很好的相关性,外碳源投加模型的改进具有可行性。应用贝叶斯正则化法建立了输入为5项进水指标、输出为NO₃^--N与NO₂^--N浓度的脱氮效果预测模型,相关系数为0. 908 5,表明预测反硝化滤池的脱氮效果具有一定可行性。外碳源投加模型可配合脱氮效果预测模型构建反硝化滤池外碳源投加控制系统,完善污水厂的自动化控制。     

Achieving biofilm control in a membrane biofilm reactor removing total nitrogen

Membrane biofilm reactors (MBfR) utilize membrane fibers for bubble-less transfer of gas by diffusion and provide a surface for biofilm development. Nitrification and subsequent autotrophic denitrification were carried out in MBfR with pure oxygen and hydrogen supply, respectively, in order to remove nitrogen without the use of heterotrophic bacteria. Excessive biomass accumulation is typically the major cause of system failure of MBfR. No biomass accumulation was detected in the nitrification reactor as low-level discharge of solids from the system balanced out biomass generation. The average specific nitrification rate during 250 days of operation was 1.88 g N/m² d. The subsequent denitrification reactor, however, experienced decline of performance due to excessive biofilm growth, which prompted the implementation of periodic nitrogen sparging for biofilm control. The average specific denitrification rate increased from 1.50 g N/m² d to 1.92 g N/m² d with nitrogen sparging, over 190 days thus demonstrating the feasibility of stable long-term operation. Effluent suspended solids increased immediately following sparging: from an average of 2.5 mg/L to 12.7 mg/L. This periodic solids loss was found unavoidable, considering the theoretical biomass generation rates at the loadings used. A solids mass balance between the accumulating and scoured biomass was established based on the analysis of the effluent volatile solids data. Biofilm thickness was maintained at an average of 270 μm by the gas sparging biofilm control. It was concluded that biomass accumulation and scouring can be balanced in autotrophic denitrification and that long-term stable operation can be maintained.     

Biological treatment of H(2)S using pellet activated carbon as a carrier of microorganisms in a biofilter

Biological treatment is an emerging technology for treating off-gases from wastewater treatment plants. The most commonly reported odourous compound in off-gases is hydrogen sulfide (H(2)S), which has a very low odor threshold. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility of using a biological activated carbon as a novel packing material, to achieve a performance-enhanced biofiltration processes in treating H(2)S through an optimum balance and combination of the adsorption capacity with the biodegradation of H(2)S by the bacteria immobilized on the material. The biofilm was mostly developed through culturing the bacteria in the presence of carbon pellets in mineral media. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to identify the biofilm development on carbon surface. Two identical laboratory scale biofilters, one was operated with biological activated carbon (BAC) and another with virgin carbon without bacteria immobilization. Various concentrations of H(2)S (up to 125 ppmv) were used to determine the optimum column performance. A rapid startup (a few days) was observed for H(2)S removal in the biofilter. At a volumetric loading of 1600 m(3)m(-3)h(-1) (at 87 ppmv H(2)S inlet concentration), elimination capacity of the BAC (181 gH(2)Sm(-3)h(-1)) at removal efficiency (RE) of 94% was achieved. If the inlet concentration was kept at below 30 ppmv, high H(2)S removal (over 99%) was achieved at a gas retention time (GRT) as low as 2s, a value, which is shorter than most previously reported for biofilter operations. The bacteria population in the acidic biofilter demonstrated capacity for removal of H(2)S in a broad pH range (pH 1-7). There are experimental evidences showing that the spent BAC could be re-used as packing material in a biofilter based on BAC. Overall, the results indicated that an unprecedented performance could be achieved by using BAC as the supporting media for H(2)S biofiltration.     

反硝化生物滤池用于污水深度脱氮研究

以酒仙桥污水厂的二级处理出水为研究对象,采用中试规模的臭氧／活性炭／反硝化生物滤池工艺进行生物脱氮,重点研究了反硝化生物滤池采用连续流自然挂膜法的启动速度和启动效果,以及碳源投量对总氮去除率的影响。结果表明：反硝化生物滤池是实现污水深度处理的有效手段,当外加乙酸钠作碳源并使C／N〉8时,对TN的去除率能达到80％以上;下向流反硝化生物滤池的生物量主要集中在滤池的上半段,对去除TN的贡献率可达65％。     

A biofiltration model for tertiary nitrification of municipal wastewaters

The main objective of this work concerns the evaluation of the biological aerated filtration model found in GPS-X^®, which had never been evaluated with adequate data. This model is interesting since it integrates the physical and biological phenomena involved during filtration with a low complexity of use. The validation of the model parameters combines experimental and theoretical approaches. Experimental data were recorded at a semi-industrial pilot scale submerged biofilter operated at a tertiary nitrification stage, receiving the effluent of a medium loaded activated sludge process for municipal wastewater. Also, several protocols were regularly applied to characterize the biofilm and the nitrogen removal performances: dry density and thickness of biofilm, nitrification rates and corresponding quantity of autotrophic biomass accumulated inside the filtering media, quantity of extracted autotrophic bacteria in the backwash water, nitrification capacity along the biofilter, as well as nitrogen compounds in the effluent. For short-term dynamic conditions, a set of reliable parameter values has been used to predict nitrogen removal for different data sets. For long-term dynamic periods, the need to adapt some of the parameters from one set of data to another is demonstrated. It is shown that the hydraulic loading rate and the backwashing frequency are the main parameters responsible for these modifications.     

序批式生物膜法的脱氮特性研究

对序批式生物膜工艺的脱氮特性进行了探讨，并提出了过量储存-SND脱氮作用机理，即厌氧段脱氮主要靠生物膜对含碳、氮有机物的过量储存作用，而好氧段脱氮则靠生物膜的同步硝化反硝化(SND)作用，反硝化的有机碳源主要为生物膜在厌氧段过量储存的有机物。镜检发现反应器中的优势菌属为假单胞菌属，其次为气单胞菌属、芽孢杆菌属、微球菌属、硝化杆菌属。     

Combined nitrification/denitrification in a membrane reactor

An ever stricter legislation regulating wastewater leads to an increasing demand for biological treatment plants which are able to selectively eliminate nitrogen from wastewaters with a high influent concentration, even when operating in partial influent mode. A membrane-tube-module (MSM) reactor (Membran-Schlauch-Modul-Reaktor) was constructed and realized in the IUV at the University of Bremen. The present approach makes use of all the various layers of the whole biofilm, enabling nitrification and denitrification processes to run simultaneously in one and the same biofilm under optimized conditions. The biological degradation capacity of the system was first successfully tested with synthetic wastewater, and subsequently in a real application with effluents from a recycling of animal carcasses plant and from a coke-oven plant. A mathematical model was devised which describes this biofilm system. The resulting equations were solved by means of the simulation software AQUASIM.     

H2S and VOCs abatement robustness in biofilters and air diffusion bioreactors: A comparative study

The robustness of a conventional biofilter and an air diffusion bioreactor (ADB) was comparatively evaluated in laboratory-scale plants treating a mixture of H₂S, butanone, toluene and alpha-pinene at gas residence times of 50 s. Under steady state conditions, H₂S, butanone and toluene were almost completely degraded, while alpha-pinene removal did not exhibit removal efficiencies (REs) higher than 11.0 ± 2.3%. Fluctuations in temperature from 8 °C to 30 °C did not impact significantly process performance in any of the biotechnologies tested. However, while the ADB unit was able to cope with three and six fold step increases in pollutant loadings, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) REs noticeably decreased in the biofilter when subjected to a six fold step change (i.e. 90% reduction for butanone and 30% for toluene). A process shutdown of five days resulted in the temporary loss of butanone and toluene RE in the ADB system. A lack of irrigation during five days caused a slight decrease in the biofilter REs, while a failure in the pH control system drastically affected the ADB performance. Finally, process robustness was quantified. The calculated overall risks showed that both biotechnologies were reliable for H₂S and VOCs treatment in wastewater treatment plants, ADB diffusion exhibiting a higher robustness towards fluctuations commonly found under routine operation. This robustness was further confirmed by the high stability of the DGGE profiles.     

Nitrogen mass balance across pilot-scale algae and duckweed-based wastewater stabilisation ponds

Nitrogen removal processes and nitrogen mass balances in algae-based ponds (ABPs) and duckweed (Lemna gibba)-based ponds (DBPs) were assessed during periods of 4 months, each under different operational conditions. During periods 1 and 2, the effect of cold and warm temperature was studied. During periods 2 and 3, the effect of low- and high-system organic loading (OL) was studied in warm seasons operation. The pilot-scale systems consisted of four similar ponds in series fed with domestic sewage with hydraulic retention time of 7 days in each pond. Overall nitrogen removal was higher during warm temperature in both ABPs and DBPs, but similar during periods 2 and 3. Nitrogen removal in DBPs was lower than in ABPs by 20%, 12% and 8% during cold temperature, warm temperature and high-OL periods, respectively. Depending on temperature and OL rate, ABPs showed higher nitrogen removal via sedimentation (46-245% higher) compared to DBPs. Also, ABPs also showed higher nitrogen removal via denitrification (7-37% higher) compared to DBPs. Ammonia volatilisation in both systems did not exceed 1.1% of influent total nitrogen during the entire experimental period. N uptake by duckweed corresponds to 30% of the influent nitrogen during warm/low OL period and decreased to 10% and 19% during the cold and warm/high OL period, respectively. Predictive models for nitrogen removal presented a good reflection of nitrogen fluxes on overall nitrogen balance under the prevailing experimental conditions.     

The anoxic extractive membrane bioreactor

The extractive membrane bioreactor (EMB) employs a dense silicone rubber membrane to selectively extract hydrophobic organic compounds from industrial wastewaters into a bioreactor in order to biodegrade them. The major drawback of the EMB is excess biofilm growth on the membrane, which limits mass transfer and creates oxygen limitations. In this work, nitrate has been used as an electron acceptor instead of oxygen. Due to the high solubility of nitrate in water, it is hypothesised that nitrate penetrates the whole biofilm, preventing the formation of inactive zones of bacteria. Four experiments have been performed with toluene as a model substrate under anoxic conditions. The effect of nitrate concentrations on the biofilm and on the toluene flux have been investigated. In addition, the production of soluble microbial products (SMPs), and bacterial hydrophobicity were studied.Under high nitrate concentrations, the performance of the anoxic EMB was stable and no biofilm was formed. The bacteria metabolised toluene, and the toluene flux remained approximately constant. Conversely, at low nitrate concentration, a decrease in pollutant flux concomitant with biofilm growth was observed. The production of SMPs increased under limiting nitrate concentrations, but the hydrophobicity of the suspended bacteria remained constant. However, the bacterial hydrophobicity of the attached cells was significantly greater than that of the suspended cells.     

Biofilter treatment of aquaculture water for reuse applications

Biotreatment of aquaculture water for recirculation purposes is a sensible mean to support the further growth of aquaculture industry without excessive water demands that are environmentally unsustainable. This study evaluates the efficacy of biofilter treatment of an eel (Anguilla japonica) culture pond water using different filter media and flow scheme arrangements. The experimental results demonstrate that biofilter systems packed with suitable filter media are capable of improving the quality of effluents for recirculation applications. The characteristics of the filter media appear to be more critical than biofilter flow scheme arrangements in affecting the efficacy of the biofilter treatment. Filter media with surface and structural characteristics are conducive to the development of biofilms and the capture of organic suspended matter are desirable to ensure good and consistent biofilter performance. Under such circumstances the bacterial "consortia" in the biofilter are capable of utilizing the captured organic suspended matter as an alternative substrate to support their metabolic activities when the concentration of the primary substrate (i.e., BOD) is low. For the eel pond water, a biofilter packed with filter media having cross-link structures and a high bed porosity, followed by another biofilter packed with a type of filter media having rough surfaces, produced the best results under the conditions tested. Moreover, a preliminary cost-benefit analysis confirms its cost advantages.     

Performance of a fungal biofilter treating gas-phase solvent mixtures during intermittent loading

Biological treatment processes used to remove and degrade volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from contaminated gases emitted by industrial operations or waste treatment processes are almost always subjected to transient loading conditions because of the inherently unsteady-state nature of contaminant generating processes. In the study presented here, a laboratory-scale biofilter populated by a mixed culture of fungi was used to study the transient response to various periods of no contaminant loading in a system treating a model waste gas stream containing a mixture of commonly used solvents. The biofilter, packed with cubed polyurethane foam media and operated with an empty bed residence time of 15s, was supplied with a four-component mixture of n-butyl acetate, methyl ethyl ketone, methyl propyl ketone, and toluene at target influent concentrations of 124, 50.5, 174, and 44.6 mg/m(3), respectively. This corresponds to a total VOC loading rate of 94.3g/(m(3)h). Biofilter performance was evaluated over a 94-day period for three loading conditions intended to simulate processes generating contaminated gases only during daytime operation, daytime operation with weekend shutdown periods, and with long term (9-day) shutdown. Results indicate that fungal biofilters can be an effective alternative to conventional abatement technologies for treating solvent contaminated off-gases even under discontinuous loading conditions.     

DEAMOX--new biological nitrogen removal process based on anaerobic ammonia oxidation coupled to sulphide-driven conversion of nitrate into nitrite

This paper reports about the successful laboratory testing of a new nitrogen removal process called DEAMOX (DEnitrifying AMmonium OXidation) for treatment of typical strong nitrogenous wastewater such as baker's yeast effluent. The concept of this process combines the recently discovered anammox (anaerobic ammonium oxidation) reaction with autotrophic denitrifying conditions using sulphide as an electron donor for the production of nitrite from nitrate within an anaerobic biofilm. To generate sulphide and ammonia, a Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Bed (UASB) reactor was used as a pre-treatment step. The UASB effluent was split and partially fed to a nitrifying reactor (to generate nitrate) and the remaining part was directly fed to the DEAMOX reactor where this stream was mixed with the nitrified effluent. Stable process performance and volumetric nitrogen loading rates of the DEAMOX reactor well above 1000 mgN/l/d with total nitrogen removal efficiencies of around 90% were obtained after long-term (410 days) optimisation of the process. Important prerequisites for this performance are appropriate influent ratios of the key species fed to the DEAMOX reactor, namely influent N-NO(x)/N-NH(4) ratios >1.2 (stoichiometry of the anammox reaction) and influent S-H(2)S/N-NO(3) ratios >0.57 mgS/mgN (stoichiometry of the sulphide-driven denitrification of nitrate to nitrite). The paper further describes some characteristics of the DEAMOX sludge as well as the preliminary results of its microbiological characterisation.     

COD and nitrogen removal by biofilms growing on gas permeable membranes

A bioreactor was constructed and used to treat a synthetic wastewater containing ammonium acetate and trace nutrients for about 190 days. The reactor was aerated by means of bundles of gas-permeable hollow-fiber membranes that were installed in the reactor. The membranes provided a specific surface area of 422 m(2)/m(3) and the external surface of the membranes rapidly became covered in an active biofilm. The membrane bundles were agitated by an internal gas recycle. The gas bubbles in the water encouraged fiber-fiber contact and were intended to control biofilm growth. Chemical oxygen demand (COD) removals in excess of 95% were achieved in a 6h nominal detention time. Nitrification developed rapidly and complete oxidation of the influent ammonium was evident within 20 days. Even though the reactor was equipped with a large membrane surface area, the oxygen was consumed within the biofilm growing on the membrane surface. As a result, the external dissolved oxygen (DO) dropped to zero and the reactor was able to support essentially complete denitrification. After about 3 months of operation the reactor showed excellent removals of both COD and inorganic nitrogen but the performance could not be sustained. Excess biofilm accumulation eventually contributed to a deterioration in process performance. This study demonstrates that while membrane aeration can provide simultaneous BOD and N removal in the same reactor, the membrane modules/bioreactor must be designed to allow for the development of thick biofilms. In addition, options for controlling the biofilm thickness need to be investigated.     

Performance and biofilm activity of nitrifying biofilters removing trihalomethanes

Nitrifying biofilters seeded with three different mixed-culture sources removed trichloromethane (TCM) and dibromochloromethane (DBCM) with removals reaching 18% for TCM and 75% for DBCM. In addition, resuspended biofilm removed TCM, bromodichloromethane (BDCM), DBCM, and tribromomethane (TBM) in backwash batch kinetic tests, demonstrating that the biofilters contained organisms capable of biotransforming the four regulated trihalomethanes (THMs) commonly found in treated drinking water. Upon the initial and subsequent increased TCM addition, total ammonia nitrogen (TOTNH₃) removal decreased and then reestablished, indicating an adjustment by the biofilm bacteria. In addition, changes in DBCM removal indicated a change in activity related to DBCM. The backwash batch kinetic tests provided a useful tool to evaluate the biofilm’s bacteria. Based on these experiments, the biofilters contained bacteria with similar THM removal kinetics to those seen in previous batch kinetic experiments. Overall, performance or selection does not seem based specifically on nutrients, source water, or source cultures and most likely results from THM product toxicity, and the use of GAC media appeared to offer benefits over anthracite for biofilter stability and long-term performance, although the reasons for this advantage are not apparent based on research to date.     

生物滤池/生态砾石床处理含氮微污染地表水

采用生物滤池/生态砾石床组合工艺进行了微污染地表水(含低碳、高NO3--N浓度)的脱氮研究,通过投加乙酸钠为碳源考察了C/N值、温度、水力负荷对反应器脱氮效能的影响。结果表明,C/N值对反应器的脱氮效能影响较大,在C/N值为10时可以取得较高的反硝化效率(>90%)。在低温下(2～10℃)反应器的反硝化效能受到严重抑制;在13～17℃条件下,反硝化效率恢复到60%左右;当水温>20℃时,在水力负荷为8 m3/(m2.h)的条件下(此时生物滤池和生态砾石床的水力停留时间分别为15、30 min),对NO3--N的去除率能够达到90%以上。生态砾石床能够将生物滤池出水中残余的碳源去除,保证了出水的水质安全。     

Treatment of a colored groundwater by ozone-biofiltration: pilot studies and modeling interpretation

Pilot studies investigated the fates of color, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), and biodegradable organic matter (BOM) by the tandem of ozone plus biofiltration for treating a source water having significant color (50 cu) and DOC (3.2 mg/l). Transferred ozone doses were from 1.0 to 1.8 g O3/g C. Rapid biofilters used sand, anthracite, or granular activated carbon as media with empty-bed contact time (EBCT) up to 9 min. The pilot studies demonstrated that ozonation plus biofiltration removed most color and substantial DOC, and increasing the transferred ozone dose enhanced the removals. For the highest ozone dose, removals were as high as 90% for color and 38% for DOC. While most of the color removal took place during ozonation, most DOC removal occurred in the biofilters, particularly when the ozone dose was high. Compared to sand and anthracite biofilters, the GAC biofilter gave the best performance for color and DOC removal, but some of this enhanced performance was caused by adsorption, since the GAC was virgin at the beginning of the pilot studies. Backwashing events had no noticeable impact of the performance of the biofilters. The Transient-State, Multiple-Species Biofilm Model (TSMSBM) was used to interpret the experimental results. Model simulations show that soluble microbial products, which comprised a significant part of the effluent BOM, offset the removal of original BOM, a factor that kept the removal of DOC relatively constant over the range of EBCTs of 3.5-9 min. Although improved biofilm retention, represented by a small detachment rate, allowed more total biofilm accumulation and greater removal of original BOM, it also caused more release of soluble microbial products and the build up of inert biomass in the biofilm. Backwashing had little impact on biofilter performance, because it did not remove more than 25% of the biofilm under any condition simulated.