Treatment of heavily polluted river water by tidal-operated biofilters with organic/inorganic media: Evaluation of performance and bacterial community

Junjun Chang; Jian Mei; Wei Jia; Jinquan Chen; Xuan Li; Bohua Ji; Haiming Wu

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2019.01.060

Treatment of heavily polluted river water by tidal-operated biofilters with organic/inorganic media: Evaluation of performance and bacterial community

Bioresour Technol. 2019 May:279:34-42. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.01.060. Epub 2019 Jan 15.

Authors

Junjun Chang¹, Jian Mei¹, Wei Jia², Jinquan Chen³, Xuan Li⁴, Bohua Ji⁴, Haiming Wu⁵

Affiliations

¹ School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, PR China.
² School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, PR China; School of Architecture and Planning, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, PR China.
³ School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, PR China. Electronic address: chengjinquan@ynu.edu.cn.
⁴ School of Ecology and Environmental Science, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, PR China; Institute of International Rivers and Eco-security, Yunnan University, Kunming, Yunnan 650091, PR China.
⁵ College of Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, PR China. Electronic address: haimingwu14@nwsuaf.edu.cn.

PMID: 30710818
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.01.060

Abstract

In this study, biofilters (BFs) packed with inorganic (ceramsite and lava rock) and organic (fibrous carrier and biological ball) materials were applied in a tide-flow mode at three flooded/drained (F/D) time ratios (16/8 h, 12/12 h and 8/16 h) to treat heavily polluted river water. The results showed that higher ammonium and phosphorus removals were achieved with BFs filled with ceramsite (95-97% and 76-77%) and lava rock (87-92% and 84-94%), while fibrous carrier-packed BFs obtained better total nitrogen removal (37-44%). Moreover, the F/D time ratio of 16/8 h was slightly preferable for pollutant removal. High-throughput sequencing analysis illustrated that the relative abundance of potential denitrifiers that developed on organic media was much higher than those on inorganic substrates. The results indicated that the combination of inorganic materials and fibrous carriers as substrates could be an effective strategy for enhancing overall pollutant removal in BFs.

Keywords: Bacterial community; Biofilter (BF); Polluted river water; Substrates; Tidal operation.

Publication types

Evaluation Study

MeSH terms

Ammonium Compounds / isolation & purification
Bacteria
Filtration / methods*
Microbiota*
Nitrogen / isolation & purification
Phosphorus / isolation & purification
Rivers / chemistry*
Water Pollution / analysis

Substances

Ammonium Compounds
Phosphorus
Nitrogen