Mitigation of biofouling in agricultural water distribution systems with nanobubbles

Yang Xiao; Sunny C Jiang; Xiaoyao Wang; Tahir Muhammad; Peng Song; Bo Zhou; Yunpeng Zhou; Yunkai Li

doi:10.1016/j.envint.2020.105787

Mitigation of biofouling in agricultural water distribution systems with nanobubbles

Environ Int. 2020 Aug:141:105787. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2020.105787. Epub 2020 May 8.

Authors

Yang Xiao¹, Sunny C Jiang², Xiaoyao Wang³, Tahir Muhammad¹, Peng Song¹, Bo Zhou⁴, Yunpeng Zhou¹, Yunkai Li⁵

Affiliations

¹ College of Water Resources and Civil Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China.
² Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Irvine, CA 92617, United States.
³ College of Water Resources and Civil Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China; College of Water and Architectural Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi 832000, Xinjiang, China.
⁴ College of Water Resources and Civil Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China; Key Laboratory of Technologies and Models for Cyclic Utilization of Agricultural Resources, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing 100125, China.
⁵ College of Water Resources and Civil Engineering, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China. Electronic address: yunkai@cau.edu.cn.

PMID: 32402981
DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2020.105787

Abstract

Biofouling poses considerable technical challenges to agricultural irrigation systems. Controlling biofouling with strong chemical biocides is not only expensive and sometimes ineffective, but also contributes to environmental pollution. This study investigated the application of nanobubbles (NBs) on minimizing biofouling in agricultural irrigation water pipelines. Treatment performances were assessed using low concentration bubbles (LCB) and high concentration bubbles (HCB) together with a negative control (CK: no-NBs). 16 s rRNA gene sequencing and X-ray diffraction were used to characterize the microbial community and mineral compositions of biofilms in water emitters. Results demonstrated that NBs effectively mitigated biofouling through reducing fixed-biomass by 31.3-52.1%. A significantly different microbial composition was found in the biofilm community with reduced biodiversity. Molecular ecological network analysis revealed that NBs were detrimental to the mutualistic interactions among microbial species - destabilizing the network complexity and size, which was expressed as decreasing in extracellular polymers and biofilm biomass. Furthermore, NBs significantly decreased the deposition of carbonate, silicate, phosphate, and quartz on the pipe surfaces, leading to reductions of total content of minerals in biofilms. Therefore, this study demonstrated that NBs treatment could be an effective, and eco-friendly solution for biofouling control in agricultural water distribution systems.

Keywords: 16s rRNA gene sequencing; Biofouling control; Drip irrigation emitter; Molecular ecological network; Nanobubble.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Biofilms
Biofouling* / prevention & control
Wastewater
Water
Water Purification*

Substances

Waste Water
Water