Application of isolated halophilic microorganisms suspended and immobilized on walnut shell as biocarrier for treatment of oilfield produced water

Reyhaneh Hasanzadeh; Behrooz Abbasi Souraki; Alireza Pendashteh; Gholam Khayati; Fakhru'l-Razi Ahmadun

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.123197

Application of isolated halophilic microorganisms suspended and immobilized on walnut shell as biocarrier for treatment of oilfield produced water

J Hazard Mater. 2020 Dec 5:400:123197. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.123197. Epub 2020 Jun 12.

Authors

Reyhaneh Hasanzadeh¹, Behrooz Abbasi Souraki², Alireza Pendashteh³, Gholam Khayati², Fakhru'l-Razi Ahmadun⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran; Department of Water and Environmental Engineering, Caspian Sea Basin Research Center, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran.. Electronic address: r.hasanzadeh87@gmail.com.
² Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran.
³ Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran; Department of Water and Environmental Engineering, Caspian Sea Basin Research Center, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran.. Electronic address: arpendashteh@guilan.ac.ir.
⁴ Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor D.E., Malaysia; Department of Civil Engineering, National Defence University of Malaysia, Sungai Besi Camp, Malaysia.

PMID: 32947738
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.123197

Abstract

Salinity expressed as total dissolved solids (TDS), is the most challenging parameter in bioremediation of produced water which may inhibit the microbial activities and cause sedimentation problems. The present study explores the feasibility of using walnut shell as an inexpensive and accessible adsorbent-carrier for the immobilization of isolated halophilic microorganisms for treatment of synthetic oilfield produced water. The moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) was examined with influent chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentrations from 900 to 3600 mg L^-1, TDS concentrations from 35,000-200,000 mg L^-1, and cycle times from 24 to 72 h. Comparison of the MBBR with the conventional sequencing batch reactor (SBR) indicated that both systems operated at lower influent COD and TDS concentrations satisfactorily; but at higher TDSs (above 150,000 mg L^-1) the MBBR was more resistant to the shocks of toxicity (salinity) and organic load relative to the SBR. Also, the effluent turbidity was lower and the free sludge settling property was more favorable in the MBBR with average sludge volume index (SVI) of 38.8 mL g^-1 compared to the SBR with SVI of 98.09 mL g^-1. Microbial identification confirmed the presence of eight dominant halophilic species which were hydrocarbon degraders and/or denitrifiers.

Keywords: Biocarrier; Halophilic microorganisms; Hypersaline wastewater; Moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR); Produced water; Walnut shell.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

Biofilms
Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis
Bioreactors*
Juglans*
Oil and Gas Fields
Waste Disposal, Fluid
Water

Substances

Water