Bio-reduction of nitrate from groundwater using a hydrogen-based membrane biofilm reactor

A hydrogen-based membrane biofilm reactor （MBfR） using H2 as electron donor was investigated to remove nitrate from groundwater. When nitrate was first introduced to the MBfR, denitrification took place on the shell side of the membranes immediately, and the effluent concentration of nitrate continuously decreased with 100% removal rate on day 45 under the influent nitrate concentration of 5 mg NO3^--N/L, which described the acclimating and enriching process of autohydrogenotrophic denitrification bacteria. A series of short-term experiments were applied to investigate the effects of hydrogen pressures and nitrate loadings on deniWification. The results showed that nitrate reduction rate improved as H2 pressure increasing, and over 97% of total nitrogen removal rate was achieved when the nitrate loading increased from 0.17 to 0.34 g NO3^--N/（m^2.day） without nitrite accumulation. The maximum deniwification rate was 384 g N/（m^3.day）. Partial sulfate reduction, which occurred in parallel to nitrate reduction, was inhibited by denitrififcation due to the competition for H2. This research showed that MBfR is effective for removing nitrate from the contaminated groundwater.

Simultaneous removal of selected oxidized contaminants in groundwater using a continuously stirred hydrogen-based membrane biofilm reactor

A laboratory trial was conducted for evaluating the capability of a continuously stirred hydrogen-based membrane biofllm reactor to simultaneously reduce nitrate （NO3--N）, sulfate （SO42-）, bromate （BrO3-）, hexavalent chromium （Cr（VI）） and para- chloronitrobenzene （p-CNB）. The reactor contained two bundles of hollow fiber membranes functioning as an autotrophic biofiim carder and hydrogen pipe as well. On the condition that hydrogen was supplied as electron donor and diffused into water through membrane pores, autohydrogenotrophic bacteria were capable of reducing contaminants to forms with lower toxicity. Reduction occurred within 1 day and removal fluxes for NO3--N, SO42-, BrO3-, Cr（VI）, and p-CNB reached 0.641, 2.396, 0.008, 0.016 and 0.031 g/（day.m2）, respectively after 112 days of continuous operation. Except for the fact that sulfate was 37% removed under high surface loading, the other four contaminants were reduced by over 95 %. The removal flux comparison between phases varying in surface loading and 1-12 pressure showed that decreasing surface loading or increasing 1-12 pressure would promote removal flux. Competition for electrons occurred among the five contaminants. Electron-equivalent flux analysis showed that the amount of utilized hydrogen was mainly controlled by NO3--N and SO42- reduction, which accounted for over 99% of the electron flux altogether. It also indicated the electron acceptor order, showing that nitrate was the most prior electron acceptor while sulfate was the second of the five contaminants.

Bioreduction of nitrate in groundwater using a pilot-scale hydrogen-based membrane biofilm reactor

A long-term pilot-scale H_(2)-based membrane biofilm reactor(MBfR)was tested for removal of nitrate from actual groundwater.A key feature of this secondgeneration pilot MBfR is that it employed lower cost polyester hollow fibers and still achieved high loading rate.The steady-state maximum nitrate surface loading at which the effluent nitrate and nitrite concentrations were below the Maximum Contaminant Level(MCL)was at least 5.9 g·N·(m^(2)·d)^(–1),which corresponds to a maximum volumetric loading of at least 7.7 kg·N·(m^(3)·d)^(–1).The steady-state maximum nitrate surface area loading was higher than the highest nitrate surface loading reported in the firstgeneration MBfRs using composite fibers(2.6 g·N·(m^(2)·d)^(–1)).This work also evaluated the H_(2)-utilization efficiency in MBfR.The measured H_(2)supply rate was only slightly higher than the stoichiometric H_(2)-utilization rate.Thus,H_(2)utilization was controlled by diffusion and was close to 100%efficiency,as long as biofilm accumulated on the polyester-fiber surface and the fibers had no leaks.

Nitrifying population dynamics in a redox stratified membrane biofilm reactor(RSMBR)for treating ammonium-rich wastewater

Nitrogen removal performance and nitrifyingpopulation dynamics were investigated in a redox stratifiedmembrane biofilm reactor(RSMBR)under oxygen limitedcondition to treat ammonium-rich wastewater.When theNH_(4)^(+)-N loading rate increased from 11.1±1.0 to 37:2±3:2 gNH_(4)^(+)-N·m^(-2)·d^(-1),the nitrogen removal inthe RSMBR system increased from 18.0±9.6 mgN·d^(-1)to 128.9±61.7 mgN·d^(-1).Shortcut nitrogen removal wasachieved with nitrite accumulation of about22:3±5:3 mgNO_(2)^(-)-N·L-1.Confocal micrographsshowed the stratified distributions of nitrifiers anddenitrifiers in the membrane aerated biofilms(MABs)atday 120,i.e.,ammonia and nitrite oxidizing bacteria(AOBand NOB)were dominant in the region adjacent to themembrane,while heterotrophic bacteria propagated at thetop of the biofilm.Real-time qPCR results showed that theabundance of amoA gene was two orders of magnitudehigher than the abundance of nxrA gene in the MABs.However,the nxrA gene was always detected during theoperation time,which indicates the difficulty of completewashout of NOB in MABs.The growth of heterotrophicbacteria compromised the dominance of nitrifiers inbiofilm communities,but it enhanced the denitrificationperformance of the RSMBR system.Applying a highammonia loading together with oxygen limitation wasfound to be an effective way to start nitrite accumulation inMABs,but other approaches were needed to sustain orimprove the extent of nitritation in nitrogen conversion inMABs.

Simultaneous removal of COD and nitrogen using a novel carbon-membrane aerated biofilm reactor

A membrane aerated biofilm reactor is a promising technology for wastewater treatment. In this study, a carbon-membrane aerated biofilm reactor （CMABR） has been developed, to remove carbon organics and nitrogen simultaneously from one reactor. The results showed that CMABR has a high chemical oxygen demand （COD） and nitrogen removal efficiency, as it is operated with a hydraulic retention time （HRT） of 20 h, and it also showed a perfect performance, even if the HRT was shortened to 12 h. In this period, the removal efficiencies of COD, ammonia nitrogen （NH4^＋-N）, and total nitrogen （TN） reached 86%, 94%, and 84%, respectively. However, the removal efficiencies of NH4^＋-N and TN declined rapidly as the HRT was shortened to 8 h. This is because of the excessive growth of biomass on the nonwoven fiber and very high organic loading rate. The fluorescence in situ hybridization （FISH） analysis indicated that the ammonia oxidizing bacteria （AOB） were mainly distributed in the inner layer of the biofilm. The coexistence of AOB and eubacteria in one biofilm can enhance the simultaneous removal of COD and nitrogen.