Research progress in solid carbon source-based denitrification technologies for different target water bodies

Feifan Zhang; Chengjin Ma; Xiangfeng Huang; Jia Liu; Lijun Lu; Kaiming Peng; Shiyang Li

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146669

Research progress in solid carbon source-based denitrification technologies for different target water bodies

Sci Total Environ. 2021 Aug 15:782:146669. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146669. Epub 2021 Mar 23.

Authors

Feifan Zhang¹, Chengjin Ma¹, Xiangfeng Huang¹, Jia Liu¹, Lijun Lu¹, Kaiming Peng¹, Shiyang Li²

Affiliations

¹ College of Environmental Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, People's Republic of China.
² Key Laboratory of Organic Compound Pollution Control Engineering (MOE), School of Environmental and chemical engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200092, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: lishiyang@tongji.edu.cn.

PMID: 33839669
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146669

Abstract

Nitrogen pollution in water bodies is a serious environmental issue which is commonly treated by various methods such as heterotrophic denitrification. In particular, solid carbon source (SCS)-based denitrification has attracted widespread research interest due to its gradual carbon release, ease of management, and long-term operation. This paper reviews the types and properties of SCSs for different target water bodies. While both natural (wheat straw, wood chips, and fruit shells) and synthetic (polybutylene succinate, polycaprolactone, polylactic acid, and polyhydroxyalkanoates) SCSs are commonly used, it is observed that the denitrification performance of the synthetic sources is generally superior. SCSs have been used in the treatment of wastewater (including aquaculture wastewater), agricultural subsurface drainage, surface water, and groundwater; however, the key research aspects related to SCSs differ markedly based on the target waterbody. These key research aspects include nitrogen pollutant removal rate and byproduct accumulation (ordinary wastewater); water quality parameters and aquatic product yield (recirculating aquaculture systems); temperature and hydraulic retention time (agricultural subsurface drainage); the influence of dissolved oxygen (surface waters); and nitrate-nitrogen load, HRT, and carbon source dosage on denitrification rate (groundwater). It is concluded that SCS-based denitrification is a promising technique for the effective elimination of nitrate-nitrogen pollution in water bodies.

Keywords: Heterotrophic denitrification; Nitrogen pollution; Nitrogen removal; Solid carbon source; Water treatment.

Publication types

Review